1987-June-19

Muslim Journal

If You Love God, You Should Follow Prophet Muhammad: Part 2

Imam Warith Deen Muhammad

Editor's Note: This article is reproduced from a lecture of Imam W. Deen Muhammad. Since the lecture Imam Muhammad has resigned from the position of Imam of a masjid.

What kind of people are we who really don't love Prophet Muhammad? You want somebody else as a prophet, that didn't receive the Qur'an, that didn't do those great things that we just mentioned, that wasn't pure and clean enough to receive the Qur'an from God; you want to make them the Messenger, and who didn't earn that high praise before God and before man; you want to give him that credit. Why? What kind of hypocrites are you? Foolish people, and you love the people that didn't give you anything but a lot of headaches, a lot of disappointments, a lot of division and fighting among yourselves, hating among yourselves and hating each other; that's all they gave you, and you want to love them and make them the Prophet and give them the gift that came to Muhammad, you want to credit them with it. You're crazy people. You have to come out of that silliness; you've been fooled and sometimes I think you are devils; and there is no help for a devil, no matter what skin he comes in and what color he is, there is no help for a devil.

Love Prophet Muhammad We should love Prophet Muhammad. Some of us want to fool outsiders, make outsiders think that it's your Imam Warithuddin Muhammad who's trying to keep out the real teachings of Al-Islam: they say "see, he won't give us this; we don't have these books." I tell you where Kazi's store is; how come you don't go get those books you want? I'm not obligated to pass out books to you in your hand. I tell you what this religion is, and I tell you where you can get good books; now why don't you go get those good books, and stop trying to fool these people? They're smarter than you think they are. You want to make the outsiders think that the Imam is holding back the religion, in this community. And I have to fight you to get the religion in the community; you are the problems, you are the ones that are trying to keep the religion out, and pretending to be true Muslims.

This is terrible. Allah says to Prophet Muhammad to tell the people, that if you love Allah, then follow me. How can you follow Prophet Muhammad when you don't know him? We have passed out in this community, a book called "40 Hadith", which are sayings of Prophet Muhammad; also we have 40 collective hadiths called the Qudze, from Jerusalem, that were given in Jerusalem by that name Qudze; holy hadiths, revealed and inspired by God, almost next to Qur'an, but inspired, not just his talk, but the inspiration in which he said those things, and we have also passed that out, and then we have told you about the authentic sources, Bukhari and Muslim, the great volumes that were collected by them. We told you where to go get those books if you want them. So what excuse have you now to blame the Imam for holding you back? It's you; you are holding yourself back and you want to hold others back, you don't want them to get this religion.

Prophet Muhammad Should Be Admired

But if you love Prophet Muhammad, then you should follow him. First of all, if you love God, then you should love Prophet Muhammad. There is no way to love God as a Muslim and not love Prophet Muhammad. That's impossible. And if you truly love God, as Allah says in Qur'an, then you should follow Muhammad. You follow people you admire. Watch how these youngsters copy the heroes they admire, how they copy the people in the environment, the peers, that they admire. They copy them, they try to be like them. And you are not jumping on them, saying, "what are you, a slave; are you worshipping that boy?" But you jump on him if I tell him to be a good Muslim —"what are you a slave? You're worshipping Imam Warith Deen Muhammad? He's no god, he's a man just like every body else." You would rather your children worship a criminal, and crazy people, than to have a good model, an excellent model such as Prophet Muhammad, as an influence in their life.

If we tell them to be good Muslims, you tell them he's trying to be a dictator; he's trying to dictate to you what you should be. That's how come the teenagers are out there on the corners now, instead on here at Jumah, because you parents of those teenagers, are so jealous, rather than see them admire their Imam, you will discourage them, and let them go away from the Masjid, go and let them have some Kentucky Fried Chicken, during Jumah — "don't let anybody dictate to you."

You can't handle them at home; the police can't handle them in the streets, they're just following the world with no direction, and we are trying to help you and them, because you are jealous of another human being and you won't support them coming to the Jumah. It's terrible.

Teenagers Have No Direction

When I came here, I saw practically all the teenagers out there on the street corner, just wandering and loafing around. And we are gathering here for Jumah. It's not their fault. That's the parent's fault. And we are going to hold the teachers responsible for it too. The last teacher that has those teenagers, you are responsible for coming with them to Jumah. If a young girl is on her cycle, and she is not presentable or not in condition for Jumah, that's different. You have already made the provision for that. We accommodate them in the library. We have arranged to have a responsible sister who also is in a situation like that, or who is not obligated to come to Jumah, for a duty that will excuse her from Jumah, to go over there with the students and see that they are using the library in a constructive Islamic way, and not just wasting their time if they can't come to Jumah.

But these young boys, it's no excuse for them not to come to Jumah. If we want these young boys to have a good future, if we are truly Muslims, we will encourage these young boys twelve and up, to join the men in Jumah. And the others, we have someone there for them too. We have arranged the situation so that no one will be neglected. And those children that can't join us, we have someone to take care of them. A few years from now, before you can blink your eyes two or three times, those kids are going to be men looking you in the face, with no direction, no purpose in life, and you're going to be regretting that, especially when that misery starts to come on you, and you start to pay for it.

Qur'an & Prophet Muhammad, The Best Examples

Let us take advantage of the great blessings of having the Qur'an and the example of Prophet Muhammad in this religion, and a leader who wants to see the best for this community. You should want a leader like that. I know I do. I'm a Muslim and I wouldn't choose the weaker leader; if I had a choice, I would choose the stronger leader. I wouldn't choose the one with low morals, I would choose the one with the better morals. I wouldn't choose the one who would go along with anything I'd do, I want to be strong; I don't want nobody to make me feel comfortable in my wrong. I would go along with the one that checks me, and says 'no, that's wrong,' because I'm a Muslim.