March 5, 1993

Muslim Journal

The Purest Light Unites All Colors

Imam W. Deen Mohammed

We come from the unknown about ourselves and want to have light and not darkness on ourselves. We want to be comfortable with what appears once the light is on. We want to see in ourselves what is in any other people. That it is of its own natural creation equipped and qualified to compete with other human beings in a competitive world.

If your ears are open and you are sincere, I am speaking to and touching your very soul. I don't speak to your whims, your excitements, your fads, your desperation to grab anything and say it is real. I am speaking to your soul with respect for your intellect and with respect for your rational mind. And that is what we want other "Black leaders" to do.

Our soul and its ego want established identity. When we say "identity", we are talking about meaning, real meaning, true meaning, actual fact and true to life meaning. Our soul and its ego want established identity of self. We want it upon common sense basis, not in the shroud of myth, error, misconceptions, untruths.

Allah Most High in the Qur'an says that He has made us nations and tribes for the purpose of having us attracted to each other out of curiosity, to want to know the truth of each other, for us to get acquainted with each other. A philosopher in his rights and a psychologist in his rights understand this and see great wisdom in this. Especially the historian who is also a philosopher and also a person with the benefit of psychology will look at that statement and appreciate it as one that is very significant and with great ramifications.

We know that we were isolated from ourselves. The great histories of advances for civilization could not have come about until there was the great migration and great opportunity with the invention of boats for man to go from his little small world and meet another world of his own fellow man. In venturing out from our small worlds we meet other worlds of other men of other races and other nations, it enables us to have much greater progress for civilization.

We speak of the great weapons of America and of the West. But where did this great movement for advancing artillery and weaponry of war come from? It came from China with Marco Polo, the great adventurer. Now if you get an idea for advancing your own self, your own race and your own people and your idea discredits other nations, then you are deprived of the condition you need in order to develop and advance your civilization. For you have a selfish way of looking at everybody's accomplishments. You will discredit the accomplishments of your enemies and will try to keep from the ears of your followers knowledge of the greatness of other people.

That is the very knowledge they need in order to be inspired to be bigger themselves and in order to benefit from the common resource. We all have One Creator and all of our resources come from a common resource and all owe its existence to One Creator. God wants us to have the benefit of all that He has created. That is what will really make us a giant of a people on this earth.

It is now being said that we African Americans have a worse showing for our unity than we had even before the movement of integration. Except for the Nation of Islam and a few other black nationalist movements, our people on the whole had a better sense of unity in Abraham Lincoln's day. In spite of the Nation of Islam's separatist idea, Malcolm was known to address the problems of the black community. He related to other leaders that he disagreed with. There was Adam Clayton Powell and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; even in spite of the sharp differences between the Nation of Islam and the Civil Rights Movement for integration, you saw that Muslims had a better sense of closeness and brotherhood with African American and African people.

All of us, no matter what bag we are in, want to see this condition improve. We want to see us have a better sense of unity. It is hurting all of us. It hurts the way the world sees us in their eyes. It is hurting our individual efforts. Some of us want to establish ourselves as doctors, lawyers, preachers, and even as mathematicians. Some of us want to establish institutions and businesses and corporations and operate medical facilities in our own communities.

However, we cannot get our people's support for our work and our aspirations. It is because our people are turned on so much to some false destiny for blacks and so much to getting things without any social obligation or moral sense. Too many work to just get over without any respect for obligation. We cannot have the support for our very positive and very much needed works.

The need for us is the same need that we have in the total world. It is the need to find our many colors agreeing in truth and in one truth, agreeing in one light. That is the answer. The many colors of the rainbow agree in one light. They are manifested or made visible by one light aided by something that will reflect or give individual image or visible picture of the colors in the light, in the one essence. I am comparing our oneness and our colors now with oneness of light.

Light in its purest form shows no colors. We have to come to the excellent state of the human mind that respects other people and ourselves, a mind that when it views other people has no color. It is pure like the pure light. Then we have to have the sense to see our particular circumstances in our separate history and in our separate light and in our separate aspirations.

We have to see and appreciate and love our distinction as an African American people, as black people. Our color is not really all black, our color is "black and beautiful" and all colors. The majority of the people on the earth are not black or white. The majority of the people on this earth are of color between the two extremes.

Therefore, if somebody is justified in leading a movement based upon color, it should be somebody of the majority color. Even the U.S. Senate wants a majority before they make conclusions. But Hitler disrespected majority opinion and so did Pharoah.