1986-August-15

Muslim Journal

We Must Project The True Image Of Al-Islam: Part 2

Imam W. Deen Muhammad

(Editor's note: The following is excerpted from the Muslim convention address Imam Muhammad delivered July 20,.1986 at Cobo Hall in Detroit: Insha'-Allah, Muslim Journal will print the entire address. This is the second installment.)

Efforts To Contain Us

I recall the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, being supported by many that he called devils. Some of them were in government offices, but they admired the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, they wished him well. But I also recall that there were those who were quiet, they neither came out for or against him, they were very quiet. They used their power and influence to limit the effect of his works, to make sure that his positive good words, would always be in a situation where they could end it any time they chose.

I recall when he would have his big conventions, yearly Savior's Day conventions that they would always put something in the news to hurt the spirit of his followers, or to frighten them away from the meeting place. They used the threats of retaliation from Malcolm's death...they'd say somebody's going to get Elijah Muhammad. Or, if it wasn't that, they would associate the Nation of Islam with the Ku Klux Klan, and give it such an ugly, ugly name and image, that they felt sure that hardly any normal, good citizen would respond to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's call or come to his meetings. They would bring out their strongest influences at the time when the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was getting ready for his great yearly mass meetings.

But it didn't stop people from coming to hear the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Many were stopped, yes; but there were still enough numbers to fill most of the facilities that were secured for that purpose.

Use The Weak Among Us

Today, they are surprised that we still have activities. They thought that with the death of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, we would be so taken aback that we wouldn't have any interest in meeting anymore. They thought the few die-hard fanatics that would be left around would be easily manipulated and sent to their destruction. But instead, the son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad came up in his spirit of faith and determination and hasn't sat down a single day since the Honorable Elijah Muhammad rested. They are amazed.
Someone has to keep standing up and coming before you. Someone has to tell the truth about our religion, because we are in a society, that has many persecutors who live just to persecute Al-Islam.

We have to remember that in this situation under the civilized and democratic laws of the United States, they cannot come out openly against us. So they have to recruit the weak among us for their job. They have always been able to find the weak ones among us. They found the weak ones among us when Garvey was preaching his message of unity, dignity and self-determination for the African-American people. They were able to find the weak ones to carry out their dirty work then and they are able to find weak ones now.
So don't think that we are not making progress because of our own situation; we are not progressing mainly because of the situation that the devils have created for us. It's amazing that we have the support that we do have today. They are so sophisticated now, in fighting the influence of righteousness, the influence of Al-Islam, that we are being bombarded and are not even aware of it.

Slave to the Media

They have made the people so dependent upon media leadership that people hardly respond to any call for anything of a public nature without the media not only announcing it, but supporting and promoting it.

We used to be a people that didn't depend upon so much outside help for what we were about. I'm talking about true freedom fighters, African-American nationalists and people who wanted something for themselves and wanted to do something on their own to get it. In the past, we were not without a spirit to move on our own, as we are today. Today, most of the American people don't have a spirit to move on their own, they don't move unless media moves them. Whether it’s the entertainment media or news media: they need some media to move them. They don't move on their own anymore.

As powerful as some of these entertainment figures are, they cannot get big audiences without the media. They have to have the media to get bigger audiences. Now we think we're going to get a bigger audience without the power of the media on our side? The only way we will get a big audience without the power of the media, we have to go back to the spirit we had before big media became the slave master. We have to go back to depending on our self to carry the word to impress the brothers, to impress the sisters, to impress the neighbor, to alert the community that something great is happening here. But all of us waited, because we have been conditioned to depend upon big media to arrange our affairs, and guarantee us an audience.
The Imam knows the power of the media, he knows the importance of the media, Imam Dawud Alim. So he ran and he made sure that we had some time on some stations.

But look how small the influence of those stations is. Those stations are not popular. He couldn't get on prime time, on a major network. No. In order to get on prime time you have to kill somebody. in a savage way, or commit some horrible, perverted act, or represent something very gross and outrageous. Then they will flash you on as the spokesman for the black man.

Al Islam, Not For One Race Only

Knowing what we have to deal with shouldn't make us weaker in our commitment to be Muslims and to propagate our life. It should make us stronger. There are some strong among us, but they are so few. So few.

We have to bring the truth to the people and tell them that this religion is not an unpopular religion. There is a quiet work going on; it has been going on all the time, to make the American people and the people of the world think that our religion is an unpopular religion. They tried hard until I pushed the truth to the forefront, on this country. With the help of God, it was my own efforts that pushed the truth to the forefront here in this country, that this religion is not the religion of Black nationalists of America, that this is a religion of human beings all over the world. This is not a Black religion; this is a religion for all colors.

They had contained the productive good in the works of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad so that it wouldn't spread and reach the many lives of our people. But they had also projected the Nation of Islam in such a way the American people would think that Muslims were Black people recently converted from crime life.

You have to understand the devilishment of the American people. Those hidden devils in the system of life we call America.