1980-March-14

Bilalian News

Highly Glorified is Allah: Part 3

Imam W. Deen Muhammad

With the Name Allah, the Gracious, the Compassionate.

As-Salaam-Alaikum

 (Editor's note: Following are excerpts from Imam Warith Deen Muhammad 's Jumu'ah  Prayer lecture at Masjid Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Feb. 1, 1980 — continued from last week.)

We have to exist on a principle of dualistic operation — negative-positive, male-female, etc. This is not only "our" characteristic; this is the characteristic of every created thing. Allah says everything that He created operates on this pattern. But He is the only One that differs; He is separate from His creation.

He is not creation; He cannot be studied objectively, except by revelation. You can only come to know His being from revelation. No objective study can be made of Him. You can study the physical manifestation of His work, of His will; you can study the manifestation of His will objectively, but you cannot study Him objectively. "No vision catches Him"; no human vision catches Him. "But He overtakes all visions in his vision" — Qur'an

"He is the One who gave everything its nature and thereafter its guidance." Do you want to worship nature or do you want to worship the God that gave the nature? He is first — the One "who created, then gave balance." This is referring to the settling of what He created.

Allah said that the skies, the universe, these galaxies were in a state of confusion — in a state of disorder. And then He directed His being to bring balance and order in the universe. He brought balance and order, and science gives the report.

I don't know if they stole it from the Quran, which was revealed fourteen hundred years ago, or if they just lucked upon the right answer. However, science gives the same idea. The beginning state of creation is chaotic —confusion, disorder. It evolves to order, and is brought to order, and comes to order in time.

"...The One who gave the power and the guidance."

What is "qadr"? Force, power: these powers and forces that man sees operating in the creation, in the material World, are not their own maker. Allah made them. Allah brought that about. They came about as natural consequences after creation. Once He has created, the creation bears His influence. He created it, don't you think that it obeys Him? Certainly —He created it; it must obey His will.

Therefore the creation bears the influence of Allah's will. So once He creates, the creation begins to come into order. The power is manifest; the power operates, creation follows a discipline.

"The One who brings out the pasture" brings out the life from the Earth. Or we may say, who "brings out the fertility, and the hidden potential for growth. These words are speaking to these troublesome ideas in the minds of people who are trying to find correct worship. The life forces are not God either —no. Allah alone is God; He has created, He has brought about all these other manifestations. He is the One who has caused the life to spring out of the dead Earth. Don't worship fertility, worship Allah who created and made all these things possible.

"Then He brings about a withering, and a harvesting as with bundled-up stubble." Now we glimpse the problem for those who worship death forces. Don't you know that in the history of the Western society, recently in the history, there was a big problem with some people breaking off from true Christianity and falling into the habit of devil worship?

Satan worship was a big problem for Western church society at one point in Western history. There are still secret cults that worship insanity. Those weak minds struggling for the pure concept of God have stopped there at that point examining the material world, trying to find a likeness of God in the objective world. They cannot do it, because He is the Creator of the objective world; and He is not object but cause, the Creator.
If we think now on this idea that has come step-by-step or stage-by-stage, we see in the conclusion here a very touching lesson. It is not just the case for the green herbs, for the green plants, for the things that spring up out of the dead Earth, it's the case also for the individual human being.

Look how we come up young and beautiful —so beautiful that the people want to worship youth. We have a youth cult right now in Western society. They want to worship youth. It's no surprise, dear people, that the Western culture is having this problem with the youth worship. The very picture of the deity is first presented to them as a fresh newborn baby.
If we examine this problem of this worship in the light of the Quran, we see what is the conclusion of this thing. Certainly the baby comes and he's young and beautiful and tender and fresh-looking. Oh — and he touches our hearts.

But as 10 years go past, there is a change in our relationship with him. Another 10 years go past, there is still more change in our relationship with him. After a while, 50 years have passed and there is even a greater change in our relationship with him. Soon 60 or 80 years pass and the relationship is almost turned around completely. We're taking care of the baby that we were once worshiping.

You see how Allah caused the sap of life to dry out, how He withered up that thing that at-attracted you so. Dear beloved Muslims, I conclude this Khutbah with the words from Quran: "For Allah, nothing at all serves as a comparison." Allah is Greatest!