1987-September-11

Muslim Journal

New Medina: Part 1

Imam W. Deen Muhammad

(Editor's note: This is an excerpt from Imam W. Deen Muhammad's address in New Medina, Mississippi. August 22, 1987)

The words of ALLAH, the words of GOD to us, in the Holy Book Qur'an, the last of the revealed books — Say: "Praise Be To God, who sent his messenger with the guidance and with the true religion...Al-Islam. That it should prevail over all religions." This is what Allah has promised, it is declared by revelation to Muhammad The Prophet, Peace And Blessings Be Unto Him (PBUH) for Muslims and for the world — that Al-Islam will become the more popular religion, will become the more prevalent religion, and the most widespread religion. It does not mean, that this religion will become a religion to stamp out all other religions, or a religion to oppress others. NO, it does not mean that at all. It simply means that God revealed this religion, he made the religion perfect after it had been affected by guess work, wrong interpretations, etc., and sometimes by wicked people who intended to distort and misrepresent religion.

God sent Muhammad, the last of his messengers, the last Prophet with the religion and its perfected form in its pure and complete form. This means that it (Al-Islam) should not be changed, altered, corrupted ever again on this Earth. It also means that the Holy Book 'Qur'an remain forever in tact as it was revealed and that this is the religion God intended for man from the very beginning. This religion should become in time the most prevalent, the most widespread of all religions. And today if you understand it, this religion is the most prevalent. Al-Islam is the most prevalent religion, Al-Islam is the most widespread religion of all religions on earth. You will find many people who say they are Buddhists and many say that they are Hindus and many say that they are Christians, etc.

But, when it comes to people really having the religion they profess in their life or operating in their lives, the Muslims are the people with a religion serving their life and operating in their life.

No one can say Christianity is established just because someone says he is a Christian and lives a life contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, Peace Be Unto Him (PBUH). But when Muslims follow the practice established by the Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of God, when they do their prayers as he himself demonstrated them for us, when they accept the (5) basis of the religion, when they fast during the month of Ramadan, when they make Hajj to Mecca and when they celebrate the great Eids. They do it with knowledge. Our religion is a religion operating in our lives.

It is not just a religion to be professed or to be claimed. It is a religion to set patterns for our life and to that extent we live our religion. We are the greater numbers on this Earth. You must understand that there are One Billion Muslims now on this planet Earth. If you could gather all the people on Earth together, we would represent (1) out of every (5) people on this planet Earth. That should give you an idea of the size of the Muslim population on this Earth.

However, when we look at Mecca, we see a small peninsula where the Prophet, Peace and Blessings Be Unto Him (PBUH), began his mission. One may say, well, what about Mecca, it is a small place? The Arabs there are a small number of people and a small nation. It doesn't look like this religion is that big to me. Al-Islam was not meant to be a religion for Arabs. It was meant to be a religion for all people. To see its followers, you have to look at all people. The information that we have now, says that Indonesian, an Asian people, has the greatest population of Muslims of all the nations on this Earth. Indonesia, in the days of the Prophet, Peace Be Unto Him (PBUH), was not a nation of Muslims. The religion had not yet reached Indonesia. But today, there is Indonesia and it represents the largest country and nation in population for Muslims.

The population of Muslims in India is bigger than the population in Arabia. There are more Muslims in India than there are in Arabia. And that is true for many other countries. So, when we think of the population of Muslims we cannot look to Arabs, they represent a small group. They are a minority in the world population of Muslims. Arabs are a minority. With that, I say, the promise of God has already come true.

That this religion will become the most prevalent, the most widespread of all of the religions on this Earth. It has already come true. Because you are a minority in America, should not make you feel a minority on the Earth. You are a majority on the Earth. Muslims are the majority on the Earth. When it comes to adhering to a religion, identifying with any single religion, we represent the biggest religious community on the Earth. I know there are some who claim the Catholic represents the biggest, that is false. The biggest is not the Catholic community, although they are very large.

The biggest, is the Muslim community. Some think there are more Christians. The Protestants and the Catholics put together, if you can put them together are smaller than Muslims in number. They could not put themselves together. But, if you put them together, some people think that they represent the biggest. That is not true. Muslims represent the majority. Our numbers, in spite of the difficulties that we have in the world, are always on the increase. Muslim numbers are increasing now in England, Europe, and Japan. This also includes many parts of Asia. In places where Muslims were not known to be accepted are being accepted in very few numbers.

Now Muslims are increasing even in those places in impressive numbers. So do not feel yourself a weakling, do not feel yourself an unimportant people, you have to realize that you are in the final religion. You are in the religion that was the aim of every Prophet that came before. In fact, it was the religion of every Prophet that came before. And it was their hope to see the religion established as it was established in the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and in the lives of his excellent companions. God, says we would not have sent you Muhammad except for the mercy of all the world, a mercy for all the worlds. A mercy for all the world, for all nations, for all people, for all the world. God says, he would not have sent Muhammad except as a giver of good news and a warner. God says, he would not have sent Muhammad, except as a sufficient benefit to all people. A
good news giver and a warner. In the Holy Qur'an Allah tells the prophet that we have sent you to be enough. In plain simple language, we have sent you to be enough for all people. They do not need anymore. We have sent you to be enough for them.

How come people after one messenger come to them, God sends them another, they need another? God sends them another and finally they do not need any more. Because God has created us with development and with a goal with an aim, with a destiny. And every Prophet that he has sent to us He sent them to us to advance the destiny.

To advance our movement, our community a little closer to that destiny to that aim that he intended for us. When Prophet Muhammad came, it was time. God created him, God made him, God determined the time. When Prophet Muhammad came, Peace and Blessings Be Unto Him (PBUH), it was time for man to be brought into the clear light, the full light of his destiny, the order of his life on this earth. Time had brought about an opportunity for man to be graduated into the full light of his aim, purpose, destiny, role or whatever you want to call it on this Earth, as it was divinely intended to be.

Prophet Muhammad came as a mercy for all the world and he came as the answer for all people. He is enough for their hopes, enough for their dreams, enough for their aspirations. So how can one man be enough? I hope before we conclude, you won't have to ask that question.

God says: Surely, we have sent you, indeed we have sent you Muhammad, to be a witness, a good news giver, and a warner.

I have used these several quotations, that is, from our Holy Book, the last of the revelation, the Qur'an. You noticed that I have selected quotes that are very similar most of them carrying the descriptions of Muhammad as a good news giver, as a warner and I have stressed or emphasized that Prophet Muhammad is enough for all people.

Secondly, that he is a mercy for all the world. And, again, Allah most high, says in the Holy Book, the final Book, You most definitely had in the messenger of God for yourselves, the most excellent model, the most excellent model. For what? Human beings, we need models, we need role models in our home, we need a model of the right parent in our home. So, we need many models, but what specifically is this model? It is a model for human behavior and many of the Qur'anic translations in English will say, a model for your conduct.