1980-August-29

Bilalian News

The Believers Will Be Victorious: Part 2

Imam Warith Deen Muhammad

With the Name of Allah the Gracious, the Compassionate.

(Editor's note: Following are excerpts from Imam Warith Deen Muhammad's Jumah Prayer Khutbah delivered at Masjid Honorable Elijah Muhammad, April 4, 1980.— Continued from last week.)

All praise is due to Almighty God, the Guardian, Evolver and Sustainer of all the worlds. The blessings and peace be upon Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah to us all.
O Allah, guide us, forgive us our faults, and grant us the blessings of faith. I bear witness there is no deity except Allah, and I bear witness Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger. Peace be upon him, his descendants, his companions, the righteous servants, |, all of them, and upon us in America and throughout the world.

They call this day "Good Friday." Once before the days became bad, they were all good. The Bible says, God did such and such, and that was the first day; and He saw it, and it was good. And He did such and such in the second day, and it was good. And the third day, that it was good. And the fourth day, that it was good. And the fifth day, that it was good. And the sixth day, that it was good. And the seventh day, that it was good. Now, how come only Good Friday is good?

Muslims do not accept the crucifix or the crucifixion of Jesus. What that crucifixion suggests is wrong. It suggests to the average mind, the death of a righteous prophet, peace be on him. It suggests for the so-called scholars in the Christian religion, something else that is also wrong, although not blasphemous. It suggests to them the idea that flesh is sinful; flesh has no capacity to follow God or His law, and flesh has to die so that spirit can live. Again, that's wrong.

We don't want the flesh to die. We don't want the nature of the flesh to die. The flesh has sense; the flesh has a regulation, a metabolism; the flesh is the most obedient part of us.
The baby comes here obedient. After the baby gets out here and becomes born in the world, trouble starts. How is the flesh to blame, since we are born right in the flesh and wrong in the world. The world is to blame.
See how the world has taken us astray, even Muslims. I am the "orthodox" Muslim, and if there is another orthodox Muslim, then I meet my friend and my brother.

How is it that the flesh is sinful? No, not the flesh! We are told in the Quran—Prophet Muhammad also told us, peace and blessing be upon him—that the Muslim has to die. But his death is the death of a Muslim. We have to die to worldly desires that are in opposition to God's will. The flesh didn't have them before, the flesh got them after coming into the world of lies.
"Die so that you will live." But don't die physically, don't kill the flesh. Marry, have a wife. Perform every function of the flesh; eat food, drink the good drinks. "Eat the good foods" Have exercise. Fight in war with your physical might, if you have to. Sleep—the flesh needs rest.

Perform all the functions of the flesh, because all of the functions of the flesh have been ordained by Allah. He has ordained in the very nature of the human being that we eat, that we drink, that we sleep, that we have activities—that we work, that we defend ourselves, that we marry women of our own-selves and have children from our own-selves.

The self that is prone to sin is not the flesh, it's the blind worldly mind that comes into flesh. That's simple, easy to understand. When the funeral procession passed by, Prophet Muhammad told the Muslims that they should stand in respect for that dead body. He didn't tell them to stand in respect of each other. No Muslim is to stand for another living Muslim, not even the Imam.

Prophet Muhammad himself didn't allow that Muslims stand when he comes in. We stand in prayer to Allah, and we submit in prayer to Allah. We obey the direction that Allah gave us through His Prophet, and we obey the example that His Prophet set for us. We don't worship His Prophet, we don't pay flattery to the Prophet. This world encourages flattery.

"Yes, Brother Imam!"—Bowing down! "Stand up, the Imam is here stand up!"
Allah is always here. That's who you should be standing up for. All praise is due to Allah. This is Good Friday, you shouldn't have anything more important to do. "When Jumah Prayer is called leave business (for the hour of Jumah)."

Allah says—highly glorified is He—"For those who are pious, reverent, fearful, obedient, fearing the presence of their Lord—that is Allah, the Evolver and Cherisher—for them are Gardens of Paradise under which rivers flow to abide therein; and pure mates, and the good pleasure in having Allah's approval."
Who is this coming to? Those who have reverence, fear, obedience, love, devotion in their hearts for Allah.

It's not going to come to those following formalities, without their life being in what they are doing. It's not going to come to those who take liberties to live the life that they want for their own personal convenience. It's going to come to those who will shake up their home life, who will shake up their personal life, who will disturb their own peace, who will make great sacrifices from their own conveniences to please Allah.

Human beings live in consciousness. We live in consciousness more than we live in anything else. You are living for a time in your bed at night, for a time on your job, for a time in the streets; for a time her, there or in this or that, but all the time you are living in consciousness.

What is this consciousness? It is the environment of our feelings and our thoughts. Then shouldn't we try to keep our feelings and our thoughts right for Allah? Don't we have to give thought to what Allah asks of us? Don't we have to protect our hearts and our sentimental makeup? Don't we have to keep watch over our own state of being? And isn't each of us, as an individual Muslim, responsible?

Who can look into your mind and be a watch for you? Who knows what you are thinking all the time, except Allah? Who knows what feelings are stirring inside of your sensitive makeup that are going to create trouble for you, except Allah and you? Don't you have to be responsible to both self and your Maker? Those who feel that burden on them are the ones who give Allah proper reverence.

Peace be to you
Your brother in service to Allah, Warith Deen Muhammad

(To be continued)