1976-June-18

Bilalian News

The Growth Of Self: Part 2

W.D. Muhammad

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1. In the name of God, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful."

2. Praise be to God,

The Cherisher and Sustainer   
of the Worlds ;

3. Most Gracious, Most Merciful;

4. Master of the Day of Judgment.

5. Thee do we worship,
And Thine aid we seek.

6. Show us the straight way,

7. The way of those on whom
Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace,
Those whose (portion)
Is not wrath,
And who go not astray.

Holy Quran- Yusuf Ali Translation: Sura 1: Verses 1 -7
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In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful; Peace and Blessings upon His Servant and His Messenger, Muhammad, forever. Amen.

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

My dear Brothers and Sisters:
The Holy Quran says that Allah is "Rabb" (the Cherisher and Sustainer), which means that He is the one Who raises you up step by step until you are able to stand on your own feet in your completed form. The idea compares to the function of the father in the human family. He is also "Malik," which means king, ruler, or master. Thirdly, Allah is described as "Illa", which means something that is worshipped as a god. The child who is raised in the home gradually moves out from involvement with "Rabb" to "Malik" and finally to "Illa". He first moves out from his parents (his home life) that raised him step by step until he was able to make it on his own. After moving into the society life, he comes under the influence of the king, the ruler or the president, who is the head of the political or social structure of the community. Eventually, he comes to an involvement with God.

Many people do not think about God at all when they are young, but when they get old they become very concerned about God and righteousness. When they reach old age, they are not too much interested in what the government is doing or in what is happening in politics, unless they are in that field themselves — they are more concerned about resting in a spirit of peace and in seeing a better life for human beings. They begin to express concern for the spiritual neglect in the society and for the human neglect in the society. Some parents never correct their children when they are young, but when they get old they become interested in the kind of moral life that their children are living. This is a beautiful example of the growth of the self of the individual. The Holy Quran is telling us that the human being naturally grows from an individual or a creature depending upon his parents into an individual that depends upon his society, which is represented by the king or the president. After he has lived along time, however, he learns that the king is also fallible.

There was a time in past history when the majority of the people were kept ignorant. They thought that the leaders of the society were all-knowing and that they did not make mistakes. When a person grows to old age, he learns that the leaders not only make mistakes, but that they also can mess up the world. After a man loses confidence in everything else in his life, he naturally turns to Almighty God. The human being's identity must move towards oneness. The move towards oneness does not mean that we have to lose our identity as individuals, but we must move in bigger fields of identity. If you are to survive in America or anywhere, your identity must move from an individual identity into a family identity.

Family life is worse in America than any other place on earth. Husbands do not have any respect for wives, nor do they value their wives. Wives do not respect husbands, nor do they value their husbands. When children see this kind of blindness and ignorance on the part of the parents, they come up from the very cradle tearing down the parents. Little children resist the authority of their parents and threaten them without speaking. They dare their parents with their eyes and question everything they say as though they have lived as long as their parents have lived. This is doomsday in America. The only thing that can save America is for it to get back in touch with the natural truth, which is God's truth. There is no respect for the relationships in the family life of America.

The individual in America has no encouragement to sacrifice his individual identity and place it in a larger identity. We should train our children to view the other family members as enrichments of themselves. A family of ten has more power than a family of two because there are more people, more representation, more man power, more power for production and more power to protect itself. Women in Western society should learn to respect their husbands. If the day comes that you realize you cannot respect him any more as a husband, separate from him and divorce him (only if necessary). Do not disrespect him in front of your children. Do not let your disrespect reach a point
where it begins to destroy your family unit, which is the first unit in the building blocks of society. Rather than tear down the cornerstone of society (the family), you should separate rather than to corrupt the society.

If you try to raise children in that kind of hellish state, you will destroy them. They will have nothing to live for because there is no peace or cooperation between their parents. The mother calls the child at one moment from the kitchen and the father calls him at the same moment from the front yard. This kind of disunity will tear the child to pieces. It forces the child to make a choice between the mother and the father when there should only be one choice, and that is the family's choice. They should see mother and father as one. The Bible teaches that the man and the woman should become one flesh. The children should not see the family members competing with each other. Some mothers try to get a hold on the child so that they will have the child against their husbands and some husbands try to get the greater grip on the child so that they will have the child against their wives. If you are wrong, admit that you are wrong and let the child choose the better parent.

You should never lie to your children. In many homes, the parents are engaged in a war to drown the ears of the child so the child will not hear the other parent. This is terrible. Once you get your house in order, what is the next step in the development of self? The next step is to keep your home identity, but put it in a bigger field (a community identity).

The community is yourself. When you look at the community, you should look at it as though you are looking at your own home. When you see needs existing in your community, you should be concerned about those needs. You should try to satisfy the needs in your community as well as satisfying the needs in your home.

In that way when we move as a nation, we move as one and the identity is one. We move from our individual self to a family self, even though we do not stop thinking about our individual needs. When you look at your family, you should see your family. Some of you look at your family but you see nothing but yourself. You spend more money on your own self than you do on your wife and your children. Some of your children have to walk to school while you are riding around in your luxury automobile. This shows that you still see your family in your own individual identity. You have not grown up enough to see the family when you are looking at the family, and you cannot see your nation when you look at your nation. Almighty God moves life out of small circles of identity into bigger circles of identity, yet maintaining unity, harmony, agreement and oneness. We are one in ourselves, we become one in our family, then we become one in the community. As small communities, we become one in bigger communities.

We become one in Chicago with other communities, Chicago becomes one in Illinois with other communities, Illinois becomes one in the United States with other communities, and the United States becomes one in the United Nations with still other communities. Religion was first to come up with the concept of the natural growth of self. Religion, not science, is the father of social learning and social growth. The concept of God is to move us from smaller circles of identity (from smaller circles of oneness) into bigger circles of oneness. It is only when we come into the universal circle of oneness that we see ourselves as one with all creation. It is only at that time that we really become full-grown in the development of self.

If you want to become full-grown, you must keep moving from smaller circles to bigger circles until you move into the circle of the universe and see yourself as one with creation. You will not lose your individual identity, you will keep it. But when yon look at the whole picture, you should see the whole picture and yon should attend to the needs that are in the whole picture.

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

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165. It is He Who hath made
You (His) agents, inheritors
Of the earth : He hath raised
You in ranks, some above
Others: that He may try you
In the gifts He hath given you :
For thy Lord is quick
In punishment: yet He
Is indeed Oft-forgiving,
Most Merciful.

Holy Quran-Yusuf Ali Translation: Sura 6: Verse 165
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Your Brother,
W.D. Muhammad

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The Wisdom Of W. D. Muhammad

As Muslims, we do not want to go to the extreme and overdo things. The more burden we bring on ourselves, the less we have to offer our loved ones. After a while, those who go to the extreme cannot give anything to their children, to their husband or their wife or to their community — then they become "dead." Do not become like self - righteous people who think that they only have to have a closet to pray in and that they do not have to live with other people. We do not want to adopt that unrealistic and unnatural way of life.

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