1979-June-29

Bilalian News

Special Report On Islamic Foreign Ministers Conference: Part 4

Imam Wallace Deen Muhammad

(Editor's note: In December, 1969 at the initiative of King Hassan II, the first Islamic Summit in history was convened at Rabat, Morocco, following the criminal burning of the Mosque ofAlAqsa at Qods.
The conference aimed at two objectives: 1— to confer a universal dimension to the Palestinian problem, and; 2—to encourage the Muslim community to make an examination of conscience and bring about a return to its source.
On May 9, 1979, the 10th Islamic Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs opened at Fez, Morocco in honor of that nation's dominant role in the Muslim Renaissance and the fact that Morocco's history throughout has been merged with that of Al-Islam. [In the Middle Ages, Morocco was one of the cornerstones and bases of the expansion of Al-Islam.]
In this symbolic setting, ministers of Foreign Affairs from 43 Islamic states, as well as many other key dignitaries and Islamic leaders, met to resolve their positions on certain economic and political issues affecting the conditions of their Muslim brothers.
Attending this historic conference in the status of observer was World Community of Al-Islam President, Wallace Deen Muhammad.
Following is part four of an exclusive interview with Bilalian News assistant editor Wali Akbar Muhammad.)

BN: Earlier, Brother Imam, you mentioned that you were impressed by Moroccan King Hassan II. Would you please elaborate?

WDM: King Hassan impressed me when he took away the pressure that was built up by the praise that was being given to the King from his people.
When I say pressure, I am afraid of people making a deity out of a human being. I have lived with problems like that and I know about them.
It's easy for a man to oblige his people and let them make him a god. A good man can become a god-image simply because he wants his people to be happy, and the people want God to be near. When people love God, they want Him to be near.
The Prophet (PBUH) said, "When my devotees ask about me, tell them I am near."
God is always near. But people who don't know it have to be told, or they will erect a god to have him near.

I was sitting with all the other spectators, guests, and observers waiting for the arrival of
King Hassan II. He was to make the speech opening up a dam that would send water throughout the land for the people.
Many times, it seemed that the King was coming. A procession of cars would drive up, the crowd would start cheering and getting excited but the King didn't come.
Another procession — no King. Over and over again but no King.
Then two or three helicopters came in — "he'll certainly be here with the helicopter" — no King. Another helicopter group — I think a third group of helicopters came in — still no King.

Finally, the King comes, and when he does, he comes in so quietly and just walks right up. A group of cars arrived, and the people ... by now are not too excited over a procession of cars. The King walks in looking very humble and meek. A well-dressed man, dignified and royal looking, yet with a humble spirit about him. He goes up and greets the people around him first, then he goes up and takes his stand to address the people.
The people were cheering the King, what they were all saying I couldn't understand ... there were so many. It looked to me like hundreds of thousands of people on the hills, on the flat-land, all around. I've never seen so many people. The hills were clustered with people. People were standing everywhere and cheering and shouting words of praise for their King.

At the site there was a sign in big lettering, huge lettering in Arabic. I don't know how high, but those letters must have been 20 maybe, 30 feet high.
At the top was written, "Allah." The next line had two words, the first word was, "The People." The next word was, "The King."
That helped me digest some of the praise that the King was getting, because Muslims are not supposed to heap praise upon a man, not that much praise.
By seeing "Allah," then "The People" and "The King," I said, the King can't be too bad. A tyrant would have put himself first — "The King," "The People," "Allah."

They were really praising him. The people were so excited and they had been standing out there for hours, many of them all day long, waiting on his arrival — in the hot sun, too.
When he approached the mike, the very first thing King Hassan said was, "All praise is due to Allah."
That made me feel so good.  Ail of the pressure, all of the anxiety that was building up in me was removed. It was like a breath of heaven came into my life.
Before he said anything else, he said, "Al-Hamdu-lillah" — all praise is due to Allah. I said a King like that can stand the praise that his people give him.
A King that can come to a reception like that and see hundreds and thousands of people cheering and pouring praise on him and the first words he says are "All praise is due to God," he's strong enough — a little man — but he is strong enough to hold the weight of all of this praise.

The King made his speech and ended it with a Du'a — prayer to Allah. It was on Jumah day — Friday.
Then he lead the people to the upper row over the dam site where you could look down and see the dam and valley below.
The gates were opened and the water flowed out to 300,000 peasant people who need that water, bringing irrigation and 40,000 new jobs.

(To be continued)