1977-April-1

Bilalian News

The Message of Light

Imam W. D. Muhammad

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O ye that believe!
Fear God, and believe
In His Apostle, and He will
Bestow on you a double
Portion of His Mercy:
He will provide for you

A Light by which ye
Shall walk (straight
In your path), and He
Will forgive you (your past):
For God is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful:

Holy Quran Translation by Yusuf Ali: Sura LVII: Verse 28
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In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; Peace and Blessings upon His Servant and Messenger, Muhammad, forever. Amen.

There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

As -Salaam -Alaikum My Dear Brothers and Sisters:
We thank Allah for His blessing to us of Islam, the blessing of truth that has come to us from His servants, His prophets, or His messengers as they are called in the scripture from the beginning of time for us in the religion until this very moment. We thank Him for this universal message, for completing the religion, for clearing up the religion for us, and for perfecting our religion for us. Allah says in the Quran, "This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon yon, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion." (Sura V; Verse 4)

The Protected Book

We ask Allah's blessings upon Prophet Muhammad, to whom the Quran was revealed. We ask Allah's blessings upon all the righteous servants, upon us here in the United States, and upon the leadership of the World Community of Islam in the West so that we will remain true in the Faith and not turn back from our religion. No matter how much we come to know, we will lose all that we have learned if Allah does not bless us. Allah is the only One Who can protect our Faith (our religion) for us. The Quran is called "the Protected Book." Since it was revealed 1400 years ago, it has not been diluted, distorted, or changed. It still remains today as it was when it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). We read the same Arabic text today, without a change of one word, that was given to Prophet Muhammad. We do not have interpolations or individual interpretations of the Holy Quran.

We have the Holy Quran in its original text in the Arabic language. So we thank Allah that Muslims have been blessed in this way because we are the only religious community in the world that has been blessed like that. The religious texts that the other religious communities have received from their great heroes in religion have been changed over a period of time by different ones making interpretations and interpolations. We have an original scripture that Allah alone has revealed for us and Allah alone has protected it for us. We thank Allah for His prophet, Muhammad, the universal messenger—prophet for all people, for all times. He was not just a prophet, but he was a prophet with a message for all mankind. Allah revealed His message to us through Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in the form of the glorious Quran. It is a message of truth in which there is no falsehood.

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No falsehood can approach it
From before or behind it:
It is sent down
By One Full of Wisdom.
Worthy of all Praise.

Holy Quran Translation by Yusuf Ali Sura XLI: Verse 42
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The Dark Ages

Dear Beloved people, I would like to caution you against being a people who follow the falsehood of mysticism, superstition, magic, and witchcraft. All of these things have grown into the knowledge of the people because of deceitful persons and because of. ignorance. Arabia in the time of Prophet Muhammad was a land of what we call "darkness." In those days, the European or Gentile world was also in what we call "the dark ages." A study of the history of that time proves that the Arabian peninsula was perhaps the darkest area of all the world. By that we mean that the knowledge of civilization was lacking more in Arabia than it was in any other part of the world. It was in that darkness and ignorance that Allah manifested the great light of truth, the universal message (Quran), to Prophet Muhammad. The message of light had to overcome all of the ignorance that normally comes into the lives of the society and holds the society down. Ignorance enslaves the mind (the mentality), the morality, and the spirituality of the people. Arabia in the days of Prophet Muhammad was a place reflecting the problems that civilizations have had all around the world. There was no respect for women, no respect for justice, or no respect for children's lives. The people were arrogant, proud, and boastful bullies. If they could not conquer you with their wealth or with their superstitions, they would come against you physically and try to kill you with their gang. It was a time of great ignorance, superstition, hooliganism, and cruelties against life, against women, against children.

A Quick And Thorough Change

It was only the light of Islam that quickly changed that dark and ignorant peninsula into the most thriving and the best civilization in its day. Historians say that they do not know of any change ever taking place in the life of a people that was as quick as the change made in the lives of the people of Arabia in the time of Prophet Muhammad. Changes have been made that fast before, but they have not been made that thorough. The Arabs were a people who were converted from a life of extreme ignorance and corruption to a life of simplicity, clarity, knowledge, and purity. They were converted from a belief in polytheism and idolatry to the belief in one God. They were converted from an ignorant material belief that nothing exists but this life to a belief in a Hereafter. All of this was done in a period of about twenty years. Not just part of the country was converted to Islam, but the whole country was converted to Islam. It was not just a surface conversion, it was a deep conversion.

The Arabs not only professed Allah and His prophets, but the people who had learned the religion were seen praying and crying tears of joy and tears of appreciation for the message that had come to them. They were seen standing firmly on the principles of Islam. Twenty years, ten years, or even five years before the revelation of the Holy Quran, they were so far away from the righteous life that they would not have even been able to think of those principles. But their lives were suddenly changed. People who ate anything and who thought it was alright to eat whatever they wanted to eat suddenly stopped eating pork and drinking liquor. People who had felt that because of their individual power they could treat people any kind of way, including enslaving people, produced great women like Ayesha, and great men like Abu-Bekr and others. We see in the history of the Arab people that their new faith that came to them through Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) suddenly cleansed the land of slavery, of superstition, and of the proud boastful nature of the people. The greatest boasters are the ignorant of the people. People who truly have intelligence do not make great boasts.

The Perfect Light

Today, we have to be aware of that history and know that Islam is a powerful religion. Islam is more powerful than anything in existence because it is the truth. It is not part truth, it is "the" truth. Light has power over darkness—darkness is never a match for light. The darkness of the whole earth is not enough to put out the light of one match. Light is powerful and we have perfect light in Allah's revealed religion. We should always remember this and never forget the great victories of Islam in Arabia. Only Allah's religion can perform real miracles like that and Allah's religion is here in America with us today. Even if such a transformation would be performed again, it would only reflect the same power that was manifested among the people of Arabia in the time of Prophet Muhammad. It could never be done better. I doubt that anyone will ever be born again in an environment like Arabia of 1400 years ago and have to be faced with the many problems with which Prophet Muhammad was faced. He was successful alone, by himself. When the Faith came to him, there were no Muslims existing. He was a man alone without a witness. Allah was his only witness, but with that strong faith he converted his friend, relatives, and many, many people.

The Best Religion

Islam has grown on the earth until today, we have the whole world quivering, and there are good signs that soon we may find the whole world confessing Islam. I do not mean that every individual will be Muslim, you will always have some people who will reject truth. But I believe the time is here when people are going to turn from their foolish, backwards, crippling religions and begin to profess Islam. Islam will become the predominant religion, although it may not become the only religion. We expect differences to exist for as long as the earth exists. Only Allah will settle the matter. Because we do expect that human beings are true to their nature, we expect the majority to choose the better way if they get an opportunity to hear the better way. I believe that there are more Muslims in Islam than there are believers in any other religion. Although it is said that Christians are still in the majority, I do not believe it. They will have to prove it to me. Right here in America we do not have a majority of Christians, we have a minority of Christians. They just wear the Christian names that they got from their foreparents, but they are not true Christians. The Muslims can present more people who really believe and live their religion (Islam) then Christians or Jews or any other religion. It is wonderful to know that we have the best religion and that we are in the majority.

Tie Your Camel

Because we have the best religion, we are not vulnerable to falsehood and lies like people who are following messages of darkness. The Quran lets us know clearly without any doubt in our mind that superstition, witchcraft, magic, astrology, etc. are corruptions in religion. They cannot be tolerated by those who are Muslims. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Trust Allah but tie your camel." This saying is very short, but look at the great clarity and the great wisdom in it. We know that Allah can save us and we know that Allah can save the camel, but we should not be foolish. Allah has given us a camel and a rope, and the camel agrees to have the rope put on him. So why shouldn't we put a rope on the camel when we know that the rope will hold the camel and that the camel is not going to reject the rope? If we ignore these facts and say, "Oh, we do not have to tie our camel, Allah will keep our camel for us," we are the ones who will lose our camel.

The Evils Of Created Things

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Say: I seek refuge
With the Lord of the Dawn,

From the mischief
Of created things;

From the mischief
Of Darkness as it overspreads;

From the mischief
Of those who practice
Secret Arts

And from the mischief
Of the envious one
As he practices envy.

Holy Quran Translation by Yusuf Ali: Sura CXIII: Verses 1 – 5
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In the Holy Quran Allah tells us that we should seek His protection from evils. Those evils are the evils of ignorance and the evils of superstition. The above Sura is speaking of the evils of created things, not of the creation itself as evil. Evil comes when our minds misinterpret what we see. Superstitions, ignorance, wickedness, and all sorts of unreal things can come into our minds and into our lives because of our failure to rightly understand creation. When the Holy Quran tells us that we should ask Allah's protection from these evils, it is telling us that Muslims cannot believe in such evils. We have no fear of darkness nor do we believe that darkness carries demons or special evils. We do know that darkness forces us to be more cautious simply because we do not have physical vision in darkness. We have to turn the light on so that we can move around with more comfort. In darkness we have to be careful, and in ignorance we have to be careful. When we do not have knowledge of a thing, we have to be careful and not move about as freely as we do when we know.

If we are not careful, we will end up accepting something that will be false or superstition. So Allah tells us to seek His protection from darkness when it is intensified. Sometimes you may be in a situation when you do not see any guidance at all. You may not see any light of Quran or Hadith or any light of truth to guide you. We cannot act in that kind of situation. If you are in a conversation you either have to be quiet or, if you have light that shows you that the conversation is wrong, then you have to speak out. Say, "This is an evil that is trying to be established here, brother. The Holy Quran says such and such or our religion says such and such, so I have to reject it." But if you cannot see any clear way to attack the point and you cannot see any clear truth of Islam in it, you are to be neutral. Do not get involved, leave it alone.

Astrologists, Witches, And Palm Readers

We cannot establish the foolish beliefs and superstitions of astrology as truth. Astrology is nothing but a business. The astrologists have studied enough about human nature to know your weaknesses. They pretend that your "sign" is a certain sign and they say things that they know are going to touch you. They say that you are a natural leader or something else good that you naturally like to hear. They will also say that you nave a few problems. They have already conditioned you to admit those few problems, since they have said so much about you that is positive. If you notice, they never say too much bad about you. They establish that you have a lot of good going for you, then they say a few things about your weaknesses that every human being has to admit. I am not saying that there is absolutely no truth at all to astrology. In every darkness there is a little light, but who can see it? So brothers and sisters, be very careful of these things. Some of the Bilalian people of the West had no knowledge to live on, so they reached back into their primitive past and pulled out witchcraft.

There is nothing spooky about affecting a person's actions by putting something in his food or in his drink. The human body is made of earth, so chemicals affect it. If you give a person something that is bad for his mind, certainly it is going to mess up his mind. It is no power that you have to make the person sick or to make him lose control of his wits and submit to; something that you want to put over on him. You just put something in his body system that affected his mind. The licensed doctor is the best and the most powerful of all "witch doctors." He can give you something to do whatever you want to have done to yourself. But he chooses not to be a witch because he does not believe in lies. He believes in being: truthful.

The doctor who really gives j himself to medicine tries to serve, medicine as God has intended for him to serve it. He tries to serve the good health of the people. But any doctor could be a powerful witch. Those who are witches are weak in knowledge. They get a little knowledge and they mess up people's lives by feeding them things that mess up their system. Do not believe in them. They can hurt you no more than you allow them to hurt you. The Holy Quran says j that the devil only says, "come, and you come. He has no power to make you come.

Astrologists. witches, palm readers and other fakers are no more than wicked business people with a little knowledge of human nature. They know how to exploit and to take advantage of your weaknesses. Be aware of their mischief and evil. Read the Holy Quran, the clear book. The Holy Quran will lift your mind up above slavery to that kind of wickedness, evil and ignorance. Muslims do not carry rabbits' feet, incense, powders, crosses, or any other kind of emblem as a power to give good luck. Allah is the only One Who has power.

Slaves To Other Than God

Islam is the only religion that will give you peace. The Muslims know that Allah is God and that Allah is the only One Who has the power, so they can deal with everything else. Muslims know what to do with chemical powders. We study them and master them. The same powder that drove the ignorant man out of his mind can be mastered by the intelligent man who uses it as it is supposed to be used. When the intelligent man reads the astrology column in the newspaper he says, "Look at the tricks they put in this. Look how they are inviting people to give their money for nothing." It does not affect him. The ignorant man will read it and cannot do anything until the astrologer tells him that it is a good time for him to go out and look for a job or to look for a wife. Such people are slaves to an evil astrologist who is not God. They have given themselves to something that is not God. As Muslims, we give ourselves to no one or to nothing but the one true God, Allah, to Whom belongs all the forces of the heavens and of the earth.

Thank you for honoring us with your time to read these few words.

Your brother,
W.D. Muhammad