1987-July-3

Muslim Journal

Eid ul-Fitr Address

Imam W. Deen Muhammad

May 28, 1987 U.S.C. campus

Al-hamdu-lillahi rabbil al-amin. Allah-u-Akbar, Allah-u-Akbar, Allah-u-Akbar, Allah-u-Akbar. La-illaha il-lallah, wa il-llahi-Hamd. Allah-u-Akbar, Allah-u-Akbar, La-illaha il-lallah, wah-dahu-la-sharika-la.

Dear beloved Muslims, in these scientific times, the state of Muslims' life everywhere on this earth is begging for Muslims to distinguish themselves. Allah Most High has instructed us with the Qur'an and with the Sunnah of His Prophet, His Messenger, Muhammad, (peace and blessings be on him), to follow the best and to shun or stay away from the bad things, to saturate our lives with the Attributes of God, and the virtuous teachings of the Qur'an, and the virtuous life of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be on him; we are to remember Allah much.

In the fast-paced life that we find ourselves in here in America, it is much more important for us to stay in constant remembrance of Allah. Allah Most High says, "qalla subhana wa ta'alaa, (Arabic given...) and promises us that if we accept Him as our Lord and only Lord, that if we follow the Last Messenger Muhammad, the mercy to all the people and the guide for the believers, He will make us successors in the earth. He will make us succeed other ruling people in the earth.

Al-Islam: A Religion Of Perfect Morality

But we must not forget that our religion is a religion of perfect morality, of the highest virtues, and therefore our conduct must be the best. We must pursue excellence in all of our endeavors excellence of mind, excellence of heart, excellence of human nature.

Allah Most High says in His Book, that He will not leave the Muslims in the state that we are in, until the corrupted be separated from the good. Not only the good people as we identify ourselves by religious titles or names, as Muslims, from the "kafir," from those who failed their religion, the Christians or Jews who behaved like the corruptors; it does not only mean that kind of separation, but we must also separate from our own selves. We must separate the bad of ourselves from the good. We must be able to identify the bad that we are carrying along with ourselves and the corruption that we are accepting in our own individual lives; identify it and separate it from that corruption in yourselves and in your families and in the Muslim community. We must be able to distinguish the corrupt people in the Muslim community, and separate ourselves from the corrupt ones and then the good ones can band together and meet the opposition and meet the bad influences and actions of the bad ones.

Allah Most High, in His Holy Book, subhana wa ta'alaa, says: "They ask you the Prophet, Messenger of God," (peace and blessings be on him), "What is permissible, what is halal, what is acceptable for us as good." And God instructed the Prophet to say to them, "Qul, (say) He has made acceptable for you, permissible for you all the good things." Again, subhana wa ta'alaa, "qul..." they asked, "What has God forbidden?" "He has forbidden the bad things." They ask what is permissible; it is all the good things. And God says, "Say, who has forbidden the wonderful things, the beautiful and attractive things, the appealing things that God has brought out for His servants? And the good things from the provisions; (say) it is for those who believe in this world, in this world's life, and it will be for them perfect and complete on the Day of Resurrection."

No Compulsion In Al-Islam

Dear Muslims, we have to understand that we can go to extremes and we can become blind in following what we think is a perfect, saintly life, and we start imposing things on people and instructing people to do things that Allah did not reveal. We are not to impose upon people our own idea of what a virtuous life is in this religion. We are not to tell them things that are forbidden, that Allah has not given us any grounds or basis for. We are not to force our life style on people; if our life style is not supported by the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad. Some of us make ourselves saints and mystics and follow a way that we think is perfect, and we forget the broad teachings of Qur'an and the Sunnah and impose our own personal life style on another believer, and start telling him/her that certain things are forbidden that have no basis in the Qur'an and no basis in Sunnah; that he/she has to conform to a certain way of dress that there is no basis for in Qur'an nor in the sunnah.

Allah Most High says, "Oh ye who believe, eat of the good things that Allah provided for you and be thankful to Allah, if it is Allah that you worship. Oh ye who believe, do not make prohibited or forbidden the good things that Allah has made lawful to you, and do not transgress the limits. Surely Allah does not love the transgressors."

Again, dear believers, we must understand that in this world of Western America, there is the way of Satan and the way of the good people, the