2001-July-27

Muslim Journal

Justice In Islam: How Close Are We Muslims To Western Democracy?: Part 4

Imam W. Deen Mohammed

(Imam W. Deen Mohammed gave the following address on June 16, 2001, in Detroit, Mich., at Orchestra Hall)

The soul of the uneducated slave spoke out and said to the master - the name of this soul was Julia in history, the woman slave - and speaking to all of the masters, she said: "You all look like G-d in the face.,.." They had told her that Jesus was G-d and they looked like Jesus in the face, "... but you act like the devils in your hearts."

That was an uneducated slave woman who had some trouble inside accepting that the White world was all right. Therefore, they could deceive the mind of the slave, but they could not deceive the soul. That is the sacred vessel that G-d made, and they cannot take it away from us.

You can't even take it away from yourself. I don't care how much corruption you allow to take over in your life, your soul will occasionally let you know that you are wrong. G-d created the soul and it has a sentry in it. You can blind the outer perimeters of the soul and have the soul supporting your corruption in its outer perimeters, but every now and then it will speak out of the core that you can't touch. That is the sanctuary of G-d that you can't touch. It will say to you that you ought to clean up your act.

So we can't talk about Islam without talking about our lives. Muhammed was never sent to human beings to talk about Islam without talking about their lives. He addressed human life, and G-d educated him to address the problems of human life so the human being would see that what G-d wants for you is to have the excellence of your life. G-d wants you to rise up from the inferior matter of your life and to build yourself up on the superior matter of your life - that inherent dignity.

G-d says: "We have certainly made honorable every human being born of your father Adam," our common father. That honor or G-d-given nobility is never pleased to be reduced to dishonor. It always wants to live up to what G-d created it to be. So human beings, by virtue of their creation or their original nature given to them by G-d, are motivated to make improvement on their lives. They are motivated and inspired until they reach that honor that G-d created them for.

From Europe to America, those who paid a heavy price to have freedom of religion paved the way for the development of this democracy and for the freedoms that we now enjoy in America and in Europe and in many places of the world. They are the ones who made possible this great society that we have in the New World.

Patrick Henry said: "Give me liberty or give me death." Thomas Paine wrote the pamphlet on "Common Sense." These were great men and great factors in the creation of this great society who saw the need to leave those who were in the ivory towers and with the great academic ideas. Thomas Paine asked the society to return to common sense. And that means to "return to what G-d created you with," That is a testimony to what I am saying and it supports my point.

"Give me liberty or give me death." When Patrick Henry was saying that, he was asking the people of the society to follow him. He was saving, ''Let's tell these oppressors that we would rather have death than to live without the life that G-d intended for us."

And a great man long before Patrick Henry, who was about to go to battle with the people who were persecuting them, said: "Before we begin the battle, we want you to know that we have fighters over here with us who love death more than you love life. Now, let's get it on." The opposing side was defeated right then with that statement.

What were they saying? "Give us death or give us life." They were saying the same thing that Patrick Henry said, just in a different way. And that is what Prophet Muhammed was saying, when he was taking his men into battle against those who persecuted them.