1977-April-8

Bilalian News

Respect the Value of Islam

Imam W. D. Muhammad

Friday Congregational Speech (January 21, 1977)

With  the Name Allah (In the Name of God), the Gracious, the Compassionate.

As -Salaam - Alaikum

Dear Readers,
Whenever the signs of destruction or the signs of deterioration become strong in the world or in a particular society, the religious people begin to anticipate a major destruction (judgment). People continue to go on acting silly, not giving much thought to anything worthwhile. But as soon as a lot of misery comes into their lives and they see trouble all around them, they begin to think on God: "Oh, the end is here."

"Doomsday" Warnings

Brothers and Sisters, I hope that you do not fall into that kind of mind. Never give yourself to that emotional kind of fear of God that makes you get excited only when death or danger is on your doorstep. You should be excited everyday! The saying of Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is that Muslims should live as though today is judgment, and again Muslims should live as though they are going to live on forever. If you live this way, you will do your best everyday. Do not live like most of the so-called religious people of today, not caring about all of the important things that life requires of us until death and trouble are at your door. Then they run out screaming that the world is on fire and that judgment is here.

Even though this world continues to try to incite fear in the people by warning of possible "doom," those warnings should not bother us. On the contrary, those warnings should make us stronger believers. Some scientists are warning the people about the possible coming of a new ice age. Other scientists are saying that a warming trend in the weather at the North Pole is raising the possibility of great icebergs sliding down from the north regions into heavily populated areas of Europe and the United States. But all of this speculation should not affect you in such a way that you become occupied with "doomsday" thoughts and fears. I see everything as a sign of Almighty God and I take His signs in the spirit of a Muslim.

The Works Of Man

Man is a big boaster. He does great things to make society look at him, and soon the people forget that there is any other power besides man. In this modern day and time, it is of great importance that people have faith in the Creator, God Almighty. This is especially important for those people who live in the so –called advanced societies, or the so-called civilized, modern world. Brothers and Sisters, you must have faith in Allah and you must close your eyes against man's world (which is not God's world). When you open your eyes in the morning, you are opening your eyes on man's world, not God's world. The inventions of man have so filled up the environment that when we wake up and when we retire we see nothing but the works of man. In fact, the modern environment is so cluttered with the creations of human beings that people are no longer in the habit of even looking up at the sky. Years ago, the first thing that most people would do when they came outside in the morning was to look up at the sky. In these days, people are not conscious of anything except what man has done. So for people who really believe in God today, it is a great, great blessing.

The Ordered Way Of Life

We are never out of the reach of God, in every way. Some of you think, "Maybe God can get my spirit but He cannot get my body." Yes, He can get your body too. God has not made anything that He cannot reach with His grip. It is necessary to remind you of the great works of our religion, Islam. In fact, the reason that Muslims come together in unity is so that our fire of love for Allah, the fire of love for truth; the fire of love for the message of God, and the fire of love for the righteous will not go out. It is very important that we keep our eyes open, our vision alive, and that we never lose sight of our objectives. Muslims do not live their lives haphazardly. Islam is an ordered way of life, so we are about the business of doing things systematically. We know that we have to take charge of our own individual lives so that we can do the best that we can with our individual selves. We have to make ourselves healthy, strong, and most of all obedient to Almighty God. We also have to take responsibility for those persons who are in our charge.

The Subjects Under Your Rule

Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that each of us is a ruler and that each of us has subjects in our charge. One day Allah is going to call us to account for how we discharged our responsibility. Did we rule our subjects or did we let our subjects rule us? Did we give guidance and direction to our subjects or did our subjects go loose and wild? The first subject is yourself. If you allow yourself to rust, to corrode, to deteriorate, or to take on filth and decay—you are' committing the greatest sin that any individual can commit. A man is not as close to others as he is to himself. If a man will not take the power that is his and do the things for himself that he knows he must do, then it is obvious that he is not going to be very good for anybody else. There is no one to blame but yourself when you fail to do what is right for yourself.

If we ask you why you do not get your daughter in line with truth or why you do not get your son in line with truth, you might come up with some very good excuses. But if we ask you why you do not get yourself in line with truth, what is your excuse? One of the excuses that the weak people are always bringing up when they are questioned about the manner in which they discharge their duties to themselves is that "this society is hard." But God in His Quran says that this earth is spacious. Those who come up in the judgment and say that they wanted* to do right but that the persecution was severe will be asked by God if they could not see that His earth is spacious. If your excuse is that the persecution against righteousness was too severe where you lived, why didn't you go where there was less persecution?

The Opportunity To Serve God

So if someone is standing between you and yourself, preventing you from doing the things for yourself that you know you should do, you should leave that person. You are your own boss. You do not have to stay in an environment or in a situation that is preventing your growth as a righteous person. If you cannot overcome it, leave it! You should not mind leaving any person or any situation if it means an opportunity for you to serve God. How can you serve God if there is no opportunity for you to serve God? You have to go where there is an opportunity to serve God if you cannot make an opportunity where you are. Muslims are obligated as believers in Allah to first fight the fight and try to make opportunities for themselves. But if you are in a situation in which you are just fighting a losing battle, do not stay there and die day in and day out, week in and week out, year in and year out, because you have no opportunity to be a Muslim. Leave whatever is standing between you and yourself that is preventing you from being a Muslim. If it is your mother, your father, your wife, your husband, or your children—leave them! If we are not aware of the many tricks of this society, we will be slaves to our own husbands or wives, slaves to our own children. Where (care for) minors is involved Emams must assist to improve the relationship.

Acknowledge Islam

Brothers and Sisters, the devil is very, very cunning and very, very subtle in his evils and in his deceit. He is so subtle that you cannot see him unless Almighty God shows him to you. If you do not follow God's guidance, you will not be able to see him. We know how wonderful and how beautiful our religion (Islam) is. As much as the Western world pretends to be lovers of humanity, lovers of humanitarian ideas, lovers of charity, and lovers of beauty— why do not they acknowledge the great work of Islam? Why do not they call the attention of the people to the beauty of Islam, to the charity that is in Islam, or to the brotherhood of Islam? These people are lying hypocrites. The majority of them want to do all in their power to keep the people from recognizing the beauty of Islam. They are beginning to be a little bit more tolerant of Islam now, not because there is movement among them, but because they now know there is a great movement among us. If I see evil working against truth, I am going to point my fingers at it so that others can see it.

Remembrance of Allah

Let us work to keep the Muslim mind and to keep the Muslim heart. Let us not forget that our strength and our health depends upon our remembrance of Allah and upon our remembrance to read the Quran. You do not have to wait for Ramadan to read the Quran. In Ramadan we expect to read the whole of the Quran in thirty days, but everyday you should read it. Our prayers are really recitations of verses from the Quran. This keeps us in touch with Allah's guidance. Even if you have not yet learned to pray in the Arabic language, you can at least keep yourself in touch with Allah's word by reading the Quran. If you should pass the day without making your prayers, do not pass the day without reading the Quran. Wash your hands, clean yourself, get the Quran and read it. You will restrict your growth if you only read your favorite chapter or your favorite verse everyday. Read all of the Quran from Al-Fatiha to Al -Nas. Allah will bless us if we respect what we have, but if we do not respect the value of what we have we are not going to be blessed.

Slavery Habits

Three hundred years of slavery in America killed the respect in most Bilalian people for work. It made them hate work and it made them hate fine things especially if they were not theirs. The tearing down (destruction) of decent neighborhoods is a slavery habit. It is a condition that was fed into us by slavery. Because the Caucasian people owned all of the fine material things of life, we began to hate what we saw of beauty and decency. The world we saw was beautiful but it was not our world. So we hated it and we wanted to neglect it so that it would go down. We would even tear it down if we got a chance to do so. That same habit is in our people's lives today.

You need to understand the self-destructive habits in your own psychological makeup. Slavery created the conditions that have made you neglect to keep your property up, that have made you not be concerned about your neighbor's property going down, that have made you destroy things without being concerned about it, that have made you not give a thought to the value of such things in the society. The same things can happen to us as Muslims. We can be acting in response to conditions that have been established in our lives by neglecting ourselves; by neglecting to appreciate our religion; by neglecting to appreciate the value of the Creator, God Almighty, in our lives; by neglecting to appreciate the value of religious leadership; and by neglecting the value of our brothers and sisters in Islam.

Two Thoughts Of Wisdom

The Muslim brother and sister that believes in Islam and who practices Islam is a very, very valuable possession to have in the society. You should appreciate them enough to always show them love and kindness. Love each other. Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "None of you are Muslims unless you love for your brother what you love for yourself." He also said, "Keep the safety of your brother and sister with your hand and with your tongue." How many of us are strong enough to practice these fine principles? Just think how great the society would be if we would just act on these two thoughts of wisdom. Love for your brother and sister what you love for yourself, and keep the safety of your brother and sister with your hand and with your tongue. Do not act to destroy their safety, their security, or their peace. Do not speak things that will destroy their security or their peace. If we live up to these two great sayings of Prophet Muhammad, our-society will be greatly improved.

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

Your brother in service to Allah,
W.D. Muhammad