1982-September-24

A.M. Journal

Muhammad Speaks

Imam W. Deen Muhammad

QUESTION: What advice do you have for Muslim and non-Muslim students returning to school?
—Chicago, Ill.

IMAM: My advice would be to make a decision or a promise to themselves that they are going to perform better this term than they did last term; that they are going to please their parents more and please their teachers, their instruc­tors more and that they are going to please themselves more bymaking a better effort this term than they did last term.
That should be the way they should come into each new term or each new semester. They should come into each new semester with a determination to perform better than they did before.

QUESTION: Is it possible to be a non-Muslim and a follower of Imam Muham­mad simultaneously?
—Atlanta, Ga.

IMAM: No sir. Impossible!
I don't think anyone can follow me and not be a Muslim. .A person can follow me in part and not be a Muslim, but if they follow me wholly or completely, then they will be a Muslim and they will be a follower of Prophet Muham­mad peace be on him, because I follow my religion and I take as my leader and my example Prophet Muhammad, to whom the Quran was revealed.

So if they follow me, they will be a Muslim, and they will be a follower of Prophet Muhammad.
But there are people who identify with a lot of our concerns, and I think a lot of them like the way we approach prob­lems.
I meet people who are non-Muslims, and we talk a common language; I'm sure those people will say, "Oh, yes, I follow your leader."
They don't mean it in the whole area of my religious life or my life. They mean, I think, in that area that they identify with.

So I don't think we should say that non-Muslims are not following our com­munity or our community leadership, because that would be incorrect. But we should understand that for Muslims, to follow me is to be a Muslim and to accept the religion as I have accepted it.