1980-August-1

Bilalian News

On Moral Consciousness: Part 6

Imam Warith Deen Muhammad

With the Name Allah, the Gracious the Compassionate.

(Editor's note: Following are excerpts front Imam Warith Deen Muhammad's Feb. 17, 1980 Sunday address at Masjid Honorable Elijah Muhammad Chicago, Ill. —Continued from the last five weeks.)

The little baby, when he's born, is fed from his mother's breast. The mother has two breasts. Now when weare raised up as youngsters or fed as youngsters, we feed upon two branches or two kinds of knowledge. One knowledge is the knowledge we live by, but don't always understand. The other knowledge is the knowledge we understand, the knowledge we, ourselves, can command.

You see, if you are a right-handed person, the left hand is the hand that has not been trained. If you give it anorder, it can't carry it out like the right hand, because it hasn't been trained for that specific work. If you give the order to the left hand to write, the left hand starts off like a new student in the classroom knowing nothing. The right hand has been trained: there's no problem because it has understanding. It knows what you want.

Say. "Write the word 'speak’. " It goes and it writes. You tell the left hand, “Write the word 'speak' " — it's heavy. The hand gets heavy; says, "Hey, what is he talking about?What is he talking about — writing? I don't do this.” Then you have to use your willpower out of knowledge. You make the left hand try to follow, you have to concentrate and urge it on.

The right hand will carry it out, while you're talking to somebody — that's understanding. Oneside knows, one side doesn't know. One side can follow; if you give an order, it can follow. But you have tostay right with the other side.
One side can follow and you can be thinking about something else, it's still doing it — carrying it out, doing a good job, you see. When understanding comes to you, it gives you a command over something. But what you don't understand, you don't have a command over.

Nobody back then got a double-breasted suit but me. Nobody understood what was being taught, what the Nation of Islam was all about. I didn't understand then; that understanding hascome to me. They did not understand! They knew some, and some knew more than others, but they all were laborers and students. In fact, that's what he called them — laborers and students. One teacher! Only one teacher.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was taught how to answer certain questions and was given certain knowledge. I know you don't like to hear this, some of you, but the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wasn't to understand it all. That wasn't his job. His job was to teach it like he received it. Then the one to come behind him, his job is to explain it Thanks be to Allah.

"Oh that man, for all his works, you mean to tell me he got no understanding? For all of his works?"

He got what he was promised — plenty money, good homes, friendship in all walks of life. Yes, believe me, in the last 10 or 15 years of his life he had plenty money, good homes, and friendship inall walks of life. among the wrong and among the good people. That's right, right here in Chicago he had friends and supporters in and out. He got what he was promised.

Now I wasn't promised plenty money, good homes, friendship in all walks of life. I was pro­mised the leadership after the Honorable Eli­jah Muhammad, and I got that. I got what I was promised.

Iwas promised even more. "Oh — what is that?" I was promised to inherit the teacher of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. "How can you inherit him?" Well, it's done. Yes, he gave mehis name and then told them to take special care of me. They knew what they were sup­posed to do.

Before the Honorable Elijah Muhammad passed — when he was in good health — he took a picture of me. In the picture, he has the picture of his teacher, Fard Muhammad, hanging on the wall in the background; the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is sitting and I'm standing by his side.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is sitting with his hands folded, the right hand on the left. His teacher is holding the Quran, and his son is holding the Quran. He's wearing a cap; his teacher is bareheaded and his son is bareheaded. He has his hair with no part; his teacher has his hair parted; his son has his hair parted — and on the same side, exactly. I didn't arrange that.

What is the picture saying? The picture is saying that "This man won't succeed me, this man will succeed my teacher." Yes — he was telling us with the picture.
"Who was 'he’?" The Honorable Elijah Muhammad but mainly Allah! The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was arranging something, but Allah was arranging something bigger. He's saying with that pic­ture that this man here will get that man's pic­ture on the wall, he will get his knowledge — all of it. And I challenge anybody to challenge me — I got all of it.

Send the word around the Earth. I don't bar anybody — nobody is excluded. Anybody on this Earth who wants to challenge me, tell them I welcome the challenge right now. Not part of it, all of it! The cracking of the atoms and the 14 square feet — everything!