1977-June-17

Bilalian News

Prophet Muhammad: The Excellent Example

Imam W. D. Muhammad

The following article is from excerpts of a Jumah Prayer lecture that was delivered by Emam W.D. Muhammad on May 27, 1977.

With the Name Allah (In the Name of God), The Gracious, The Compassionate.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord and Sustainer of all the worlds. I beg for His guidance, for His assistance. I seek His mercy and forgiveness and I praise Him. I do not break with Him. I bear witness openly that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah alone, that there is nothing like unto Him. I bear witness openly that Muhammad is His slave servant and His messenger. Peace and blessings upon Muhammad, the last of the messengers, the universal messenger — prophet, to all the worlds. Peace be upon his companions, upon his descendants, upon the believers, the Muslims, all of us. Amen.

Dear beloved people, Muslims, brothers and sisters: As-Salaam-Alaikum. For this khutbah today, I want to begin with a verse from the 33rd chapter of the Quran, called "The Confederates." It says to us that we have in Muhammad, the messenger - prophet to all of the world to whom the Quran was revealed, the most excellent example (model). If we follow that model, if we live our lives after the way in which Prophet Muhammad lived his life, we are certain to gain success and great favors and blessings from Almighty God Allah. This great messenger - prophet is the last of the great prophets to us. In him all the others are proven right and separated from the falsehoods that were previously ascribed to them.

Jesus: A Sign

In Jesus, called "the Christ" or "Jesus Christ,” we have a sign of many things. One of the signs of Jesus Christ is a sign that became a reality in the life of Muhammad. That sign is, according to the words of the New Testament, "Lift me up and all men will be drawn up unto me." In Prophet Muhammad that sign is fulfilled. It is not that Muhammad had to be lifted up. The translation is not as correct as it could be. It should be, "Support me, join me, follow me, and men will be lifted up."

If we look at what Jesus said and if we try to apply that to Jesus, we will soon come to understand that Jesus couldn't have meant to lift him up on the cross and all men would be drawn up unto him. He meant the same thing that we mean today when we say to each other, "Man, stop trying to raise yourself and lift me up." A boss will say that to his workmen or a leader will say that to his followers if he finds among them ego problems — some who want to lift themselves up or some who want to be seen. He will tell them, "Look, stay low. Stop trying to raise yourself up and support my leadership. Lift me and we all will come up. That's exactly what Jesus was saying to his people: "If you support me, all of you will be lifted up." That's not the only time in the New Testament that the people are rebuked for this weak tendency in them. On other occasions, too, Jesus reminded them to be careful of trying to go out on their own. They were taught to refer things back to the teacher.

An Excellent Example

Jesus taught that concept and in Prophet Muhammad we have an excellent model, an excellent example. It can't be improved upon. If we try improve upon it, we will take it out balance. It's made right to guide the world right. We have in him an example, which if all of us follow it, will bring others into this fold, into this faith, or into Al -Islam. They will be lifted up by the same thing that lifts us up. It is God s revealed truth that lifts us up. His truth lifted Prophet Muhammad up, but the grand thing about Prophet Muhammad or the special beauty in the model we see in Prophet Muhammad, is that that model was at all times a fit model to be imitated or emulated. As a little child, he was upright. As a young man, he was upright.

When Almighty God revealed the Quran to Prophet Muhammad, according to the history that was collected scientifically or by a scientific method, he was forty years old. The Quran says of him, "I have lived a lifetime among you." A man forty years old has already lived a lifetime among his people. So here was a man who had already lived a lifetime among his people and God chose him, then, to be the leader for all people — to be His last messenger - prophet to the world. God chose him not because he was suffering or because he was pitiful, but because he was right for that position. The man was upright in his morals and upright in his mind. He was not weighted down by the ignorance of primitive society. He didn't have in him the prejudices against the slaves. He didn't have in him the old customary prejudices against women. He didn't have in him the long established prejudices against Bilalian or "black" people.

This man treated people fairly and squarely even before the Quran was revealed to him and he began to follow the Quran. He had already established himself among his idolatrist, heathen people as an upright man who never bowed to the idols and who never worshipped their idols. He was so trustworthy among them that when their rich people would leave Mecca they would go to Muhammad, He was their safe, their trustworthy bank, and they would leave their wealth (their belongings) with him because they knew with him they were safe. When he was chosen by Almighty God Allah he had already gained the title among his people of "Al- Amin," the honest one, the trustworthy one.

God had picked men before who were groping in the dark and, in a real sense, Prophet Muhammad was groping in the dark, too. He wasn't groping in the dark for moral direction, but he was groping in the dark for spiritual direction. He wanted to know how that life was wrong and how he was to lead the people out of that life. He wanted to know how he was to guide them to a right spiritual life. This is what he was groping for and God gave him the Quran.

The Last Man

We do have in history men who were groping for moral strength, for moral guidance, so that they could have some moral strength in their life. Some of those men God picked. But in the case of Abraham, God didn't pick a man who was sinning, who was unrighteous, or who was wicked in his conduct. In Abraham God picked a man like he picked in Muhammad. He picked a man who had already established himself among his people before God missioned him.

Abraham had already lived an upright life among his idolatrist people. So it is not a bad thing to have on us that we committed crimes without knowledge, but isn't it an extra feather in a man's cap that even in a society that was dark he was strong enough to at least obey the rules of decency? These are the kinds of men that we have in God's great prophets. These are the kinds of men that He chooses, and Prophet Muhammad was the most upright when we consider all the desires or aspirations of the human being.

Prophet Muhammad was the most upright and he was the most balanced of all the messengers of God. He had to be like this to fulfill prophecy. God wouldn't have picked any other model. This is the model of prophecy. This is the model of the scripture. The scripture says that in the end God will balance the world. He will balance and equalize the society. The scripture says that He will weigh everything in the balance and that He will measure and make everything agree with the plummet line. In the Bible you get a lot of description of the kind of work that had to be done in the last man. When you come to see the model of Prophet Muhammad, when you come to see what Al -Islam means to us, and when you come to see the full life of a Muslim — then you see the answer to prophecy. It is the answer to old prophecy, ancient scriptures.

The Hope For Balance

Human beings have been at all times struggling and pulling to get the complete life. That's what they wanted (the complete life) and they had trouble. There were conflicts. Something inside was conflicting with something else. The desire for moral excellence was threatened by fleshly weaknesses. The desire for spiritual excellence was threatened by dualism — the belief that darkness holds a power and that light holds a power, a belief that the physical holds a life or a soul and that the spiritual holds a life and a soul. It was the belief that light is at odds with darkness and that flesh is at odds with spirit. These things kept the world divided. People divided in themselves against themselves and the world divided in itself against itself.

It was the hope of people from the time way back to bring this world together and to bring this life of ours together and make it agree with itself. It was the hope to make the spiritual agree with the material, to make the light serve the darkness and the darkness serve the light so that we won't have conflicts in our creation and so we won't have conflicts in ourselves. This was the hope of the people — to bring about some balance.

The walking stick became popular because men felt that within they needed a walking stick. They felt that the two legs were not good enough. So you find that a lot of wise men walk with a third stick, though their leg is not broken. Their legs are good and they don't need that stick. But they walk with the third stick because they feel that they are cut short: "I need a third stick." What is the third stick? The third stick is a rod of knowledge. But Prophet Muhammad never asked anybody to walk with a stick. He taught the people to walk by the light of God. The light of God can feed your body and your two legs are good enough to carry you, but walk evenly. As the Quran says, walk with an even gait. If you walk with "a limp/1 you are giving more importance to one leg than to the other one.

Question The Intention

God says that He is going to level the earth. The scripture says that the mountains shall be scattered like powdered wood. So we are living in that time when the knowledge must come down to the masses. Those who previously kept it as their own private, secret possession must now join the masses and come down off their high horses or have their horses killed and they fall down.

We have in Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) the most excellent model of conduct. This world has accused him of being a lustful man. They say that he had more than one wife, but they never accuse Solomon, who had hundreds of wives, of being a lustful man. When speaking of Prophet Muhammad, they say, "Oh, this man was a lustful man. He was a war - like man” But they never accuse David, who was nothing but a warrior, of being a war like man. So let us question the intention and the sincerity of these people who are pointing fingers at our great hero for all the worlds but who don't question their great heroes that they want us to worship.

Solomon had many wives. I haven't read yet in the teachings of Solomon that he tried to curtail or to limit the number of wives that his people should have. David warred and warred, but I don't have in the teachings of David a real excellent example of how war should be conducted. But in Prophet Muhammad, wives were limited. Men who could have as many wives as they could snatch were told to limit their number to four on the condition that they could meet the heavy restrictions required for more than one wife. The teaching of Muhammad and the teaching of the Quran is that "one is better for you if you but knew." No other prophet did this for the polygamist mankind. It was Prophet Muhammad who worked against polygamy. The very man that worked against polygamy is charged by these people with polygamy. They forget to charge their polygamist heroes of the Bible with the same thing.

The Sword Of Truth

It is hypocritical, double - minded people who pull out of their pocket whatever card they think you like. Wake up! Stand up for your faith and fight fearlessly! Fight not with sticks, not with physical weapons, but fight with the sword of truth and you will be successful.

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke wise word? in his last sermon in a world that was then heavy with the mind of racists, heavy with old Aryan white supremacy. Prophet Muhammad said that there is no superiority of a black over a white or of a white over a black, of an Arab over an non - Arab or of a non - Arab over an Arab. He said the only superiority is your obedience to God. The one who is best in his obedience to God is the superior one. Allah-u-Akbar.

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

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