1981-September-25

Bilalian News

Submission To Allah's Will: Part 4

Imam Warith Deen Muhammad

(Editor's note: Following are excerpts from a Khutbah delivered by Imam Warith Deen Muhammad at Masjid Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Friday, June 19, 1981 — Continued from Sept. 18, 1981.)

You can find people who live virtuous lives in spite of the overwhelming odds. In spite of the temptations, they live virtuous lives. They don't become thieves, though everybody around them is stealing. The thief comes in and empties their house out or takes their car. but they never resort to crime themselves. People are being unfaithful to their husbands and wives — the virtuous see it all around them. They have financial difficulty too; they have strained relations too, yet they don't resort to doing things that displease Allah.

Prophet Muhammad was that kind of person before God revealed the message to him. He was a man who did not resort to anything that would cheapen his character. He was called "EI-Amin" before he received the revelation from God. "EI-Amin" the trustworthy one.

People would trust him with their goods when they were going on a long trip. He was like a safe bank for them. They would say, "Muhammad, would you keep my precious goods for me until I return?" He earned respect before he was missioned the last Prophet.

It's a tribute to every man! That one common man, not the son of a Rabbi, not one nourished by the scholars — one overlooked among the ignorant masses. One without entrance into the secret occult, one oppressed in the world with others of the common humanity — unlearned, untrained, unschooled. Allah blessed him with the gift of this final revelation. I say it's a tribute to us all irrespective of nationality and race.

Some of us want to know. "Oh. what nationality was Prophet Muhammad?" That's not the question to ask. What nationality was Karl Marx? What race was Lenin? They don't have any problem when it comes to following some of those big-headed men. But when it comes to Prophet Muhammad: "What was his race? Was he a black man? Was he a white man?" What difference does it make? He was a human like you. That's what Allah says in the Quran.

This isn't for us. this is for the narrow minded. Prophet Muhammad was a so-called Negro. A so-called Negro means one who has some native African blood in him. According to history. Prophet Muhammad's lineage is from Abraham but also from Hagar. Hagar, according to history, was an African slave girl to Sarah. So by the white racist classifications. Prophet Muhammad was a so-called Negro. Prophet Muhammad was less Caucasian than Ralph Bunch.

"Oh — what nationality was he? Prophet Muhammad was a white man, wasn't he?" Yes, he was a white man -- white as the purest snow! And he wants you to become morally pure and innocent too.

The light of real faith and pure intentions is the whiteness of true believers: "Some faces that day will beam (in brightness and beauty), looking attentively to their Lord-Creator; and some faces that day will be troubled, anticipating the fate of. the most miserable, most destitute" -Quran.

All praise be to Allah. O Allah, we ask mercy, forgiveness, and the straight way. Amen.