Sunday, April 1, 2018
ISLAMIC CALL, LOST AND FOUND BILALIAN-AMERICAN DESTINY, AND A MEANING FOR PATRIOTISM IN THE NEW AMERICA
Delivered by: Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed Representative of Imam W. Deen Mohammed
As-Salaam Alaikum, that is Peace be on you, as Muslims greet.
Praise be to Allah. And our praise for Allah is based in faith and knowledge. It is an educated and guided and sincere recognition of Gâd and His Mercy and Authority. It proceeds from the knowledge of what we have been created in the first instance and what we are created to become according to how Allah planned the human life. And we believe in that plan and we abide by that plan. We are not guessing about it and it is in that plan where we find education to support us in ordering our affairs in the way that is best and most beneficial for our human life. This is what we mean when we say the praise is for Allah. These are not just ritual words with no knowledge to support them. It is our grasp of the knowledge that supports the words we say that earn respect for us as a Muslim people. It shows us to be a Muslim people thinking and building. A people growing upon sound reasoning in our faith. Not blind faith or ignorance.
We witness that nothing is to be worshipped but Allah alone and we witness that Muhammed is His Messenger and His Prophet and His Servant and we should say His Slave but it requires an explanation to those who are not familiar and perhaps cannot perceive the meaning of that without an informed explanation. It is the obligation of the best informed of the teachers of al-Islam to make this explanation to the faithful and the followers, and all people. We pray the choicest blessings on Muhammed and the peace upon him and his companions and all of the truthful and pious followers that include even those approaching our time, this Time in this America.
In this Time we have experienced a unique set of circumstances. We are now observing and understanding these circumstances to have universal implications as they have unfolded in this America. And so, we see that we have been helped by Allah in a special way because our circumstances were so different and peculiar in this environment and to this environment. That help we received is best seen in the focus and language of our Islamic tradition. We believe it is a guided tradition and we can support that belief with very strong evidences from the primary and most reliable sources of Islamic knowledge. That guided tradition is expressed in a very special language of Islamic instruction and understanding in Islamic knowledge that does not begin with the schools of traditional Islamic knowledge that are followed throughout the Muslim world.
It begins for us with the story of the crushed dignity of an orphaned people whose inherent human nobility was disavowed by America and the world, but restored with a direct help from Gâd. It is the story of an orphaned people separated from their mother-land and father-land with no education to nourish their human developmental urges except that which was permitted and fed to them by those who orphaned them. An oppressed, denied, enslaved people in America, whom Gâd saw abused and struggling in the American environment and lost, severed from their connections and continuity as a people from Africa. This history may very well spell out the most damnable of the crimes against the human soul ever known or ever perpetrated. But we are not recalling it to charge an indictment, or for bitterness against those who perpetrated it.
We could devote a lot of time to that specific crime, and we could lecture the white race on their crimes against this people over hundreds of years even up to this present America. We could include how they introduced their race as the image of Gâd and used the sacred essence of Scripture to justify their trade in the human flesh and souls of this people. We could directly relate how the profits from this abominable trade created their dramatic rise in material dominance throughout the world and how the rationale for pursuit of more wealth and control contributed to a sick reasoning that justified for them the wholesale destruction of the cultures of indigenous, non-white peoples on every continent of the earth.
We could make the argument so well that the present-day purveyors of that reasoning and the beneficiaries of that trade would have no alternative but to plead guilty in the court of universal justice with all non-white peoples of the earth standing ready as witnesses for the prosecution. We have the truth, proof and knowledge to do it. But that is not our purpose today. Too many a great mind has been taken off the task of focusing on the needs for our living human destiny by wading too long and for no good reason in that pool of pain and tears.
What we want to point out is that within the context of that historical crucible a new people were born in America without the support of any spiritual or cultural father or mother. I repeat, a new people were born on this earth, on this continent, in this land without a father or mother! So, we acknowledge these circumstances in America, this America, and we see it as witnessing to the planning of Gâd for the purpose of reintroducing to the world an improved and renewed human awareness and Islamic thinking⌠a new mind brought into the world through a new people who were once Muslims in Africa, to be applied in a new world and a new society. We witness that this new time meets the qualifications for what enlightened souls have pointed to as the time of the great Redemption.
And the leader in this Time, the one who labeled it in the best and clearest language is the Guided-Reformer, Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Imam Mohammed labeled it the Day of Religion. He called this time the Day of Religion. And we witness that he is the Guided-Reformer, and those that accept him follow the guided path of knowledge, understanding, and application. And this is well-known and expected among the learned scholars in al-Islam no matter the school of thought they belong to. And this is our firm witness based in sound knowledge and clear proofs without conjecture or guess-work.
We intend this address to reach the general public, not only the Muslim public, and so we greet the Christians and others. But, especially the Christians who may be reading this and who are celebrating this the day they call Easter.
We want all of the people of faith in this land we are citizens in to know of our plans and that our plans include an honorable respect for them in their religious and community identity, and our plan for ourselves respects their plans for themselves. We are thinking of the Islamic teachings on Jesus the Christ, as he is named in the Qur’an, and his mother, upon them be the peace.
We have Qur’an-Arabic expressions that are most comfortable for and familiar for Muslims, but we are speaking today in the public spaces and so we are using the language most familiar and inviting to the public. Muslims who cannot be patient with this should be more attentive and obedient to the Islamic teachings and requirements for Islamic call.
Your Islam is not exclusive, it is inclusive and includes recognition of those who are named in our Qur’an and are central figures in the serious and productive life of others who are not identifying with Islam as their faith. Sane Muslims know that Christians and Jews and any serious people wanting for themselves and all others the honorable life Gâd planned for human beings are not the enemies of each other. The Qur’an says we are drawn together in this earth, and so it is a demand upon us to live and prosper together.
Jesus is called the Christ as it is given from a Greek word, and the Qur’an says that his mother was chosen above all the worlds or all the nations. In fact, there is a chapter or Surah of the Qur’an named for her and another one named for her family or environment of faith. We see this as speaking to her pure and obedient nature and its complementing social environment. One description of al-Islam is the religion seeing the human nature and the natural world as complementing each other, and the one attracted to the other in its objective beauty and purpose.
Mary, the mother of Christ Jesus, is presented in al-Islam as of the highest and purest human nature, the perfectly obedient nature, the nature in its best form. And her story is presenting the role of that nature in its perfect, obedient state that has been prepared by Gâd for His enlightenment and guidance, and to build what He intends upon it. And He builds upon that perfect, obedient nature so that it benefits from His Mercy.
So, Mary is a representation for the function and purposes for that nature in society.
This is one of the descriptions for the first standing, the first breath, the first lifetime of the human existence. It is given in the Qur’an also with the description of our first father Adam who was standing upon that excellence in his nature before Gâd breathed into him, and with Prophet Muhammed when the Qur’an says, “and you have lived already a lifetime among them.” That first excellent “lifetime among them” qualified him for his role in establishing the society Gâd wants for human beings.
That nature is necessary as a foundation to begin the processes for what comes next. That which is built upon that nature cannot come until that nature has been established and is functioning. And what comes next? What is the consequence of that functioning nature? It is the rise and development of the intellect that eventually meets with the Divine guidance that directs it so that it may build and establish the Life, the promised Life, the good Life in society. And that is what we are introducing in this address today, or I should say re-introducing.
For ten years our people have been methodically losing their connection to this language and appeal and knowledge. But it is not all of your fault. Our enemies put us to sleep, and I know that, even if you who sleep do not know that. So, I am required to use mercy in waking you. We awaken the sleeper with the true call, not by an alarm. We don’t startle the sleeper, but we don’t whisper either. This call is distinguishable from other calls. You may be called to what is referred to as al-Islam but it may not awaken you from your slumber. You may continue to slumber in another language environment that destroys your natural dignity just as slavery did and think you are a righteous Muslim. No, this call is to you to be free and responsible. It is clear and firm, and just. It is also kind.
Today and forward I mean to deliver it to you in the name of Imam W. Deen Mohammed and with his methods, his language, and upon the authority of his guided path. So here we have the first of the sacred entitlements that I would like to discuss with you today. That is the entitlement to the benefits of our own nature, our own pure, human nature. When this address is concluded I feel confident that you will appreciate more how respecting this entitlement for its full value will provide us a powerful platform for advancing our life in this America and for helping this America with its struggle to find and define a healthy patriotism again. We cannot support an unhealthy patriotism. Our good nature cannot swallow it. Our good nature will throw it up. No healthy people will stay healthy long if their idea of their worth and purpose has been corrupted and becomes separated from the design and purpose in their Gâd-given nature.
The first teachers of the American idea understood the promise and potential in the Gâd-given nature. They referred to it with great respect and wanted to guarantee that this land, its people, and its government recognize that no ambitions for their American idea would be possible without a profound, thoughtful respect for it. It is true that they were slave-owners and slave-traders but they knew their sin. And they warned the republic they were building that that sin must be addressed or it will mean the destruction of the society they hoped to be established.
There is a lesson to be taught to this America from Muhammed the Prophet on the treatment of slaves and captives. This America would do itself well to see and to study what the true report of al-Islam says in addressing the rights and the supports that are due to oppressed peoples. I say the true report of al-Islam. And where will this America get the true report? It can be heard from the humane and informed preachers of al-Islam who come from any of the nations who have Islamic heritage. But it can be heard best from the people I described earlier–the people of Imam W. Deen Mohammed.
And so, the founders of the American idea saw the great potential in the nature–that if it were trusted and liberated and respected properly it could develop to become a society enabling and sustaining levels of human brilliance and productivity not known before.
The founders knew also that there were dimensions to human possibilities for maintaining society and that it could not develop properly without a connection to the Creator, or Judge, or Supreme Authority.
Those dimensions are best identified in what Allah has revealed in His Guidance to mankind. For this society to endure in the picture that the founders had for it, it cannot rely only on the decisions of justices of the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution; or the elected officials in the Congress or the occupant of the White House. It cannot rely only on the powerful commercial interests, even though all of these are necessary and all of them should be conscious of it. The founders identified that the Republic cannot endure and will not endure except that it finds complement and compliance with what the nature demands of respect.
The general citizenry must have an accurate perception of that entitlement and it must look to those who are best acquainted with what Gâd has revealed to assist man’s intellect and to direct it properly in respecting the inherent demands of the nature. That has historically been addressed by the religious establishment. But even there we have seen increasing acts of intolerance and ignorance. There is an obvious breakdown in that perception in the common people, and there are clear signs that basic decency, and the quality, elementary, common relations even on the local community level and between neighbors has been on a rapid and steady decline. Basic, fundamental, structural bonds have been and are being pulled apart.
It is in the political language. It is in the behavior and choices of law enforcement in their widely documented aggression against young, black males throughout this America. It is in the influences from media which actively and daily manipulates the public’s trust in leaders. Those who in the population of this America understand that a fresh look is needed at our bonding ideas and principles comprehend well what is at stake. If these structural bonds are not repaired we will see in plain view and real-time the destruction of the American idea and the essential bonds of the American people. Some of you might say that is exactly what we are looking at now. I don’t disagree; however, I know that Muslims in their right understanding are not permitted to flee difficult circumstances without making a strong effort to improve them.
Every ethnic group in America is entitled by nature to develop their own idea of community that best serves their inherent right for social, educational, economic and cultural establishment. That entitlement cannot be dominated by another people. We have the dignity of citizenship rights and laws to defend that dignity and those rights. Islam teaches that every newborn, by his or her birth, makes an undeniable, free and unobstructed claim to the human identity. Even a child born with deformities or retardation of their mental ability are absolutely entitled to the acknowledgement and respect of their humanity. These facts are well-known by the people acquainted with Revealed knowledge. Muhammed the Prophet said that every child is born upon the nature. Society under that influence obligates itself to therefore respect the human life and its inherent rights and entitlements.
America’s immigration policy once invited and guaranteed opportunity to any human being from any place on the earth, to enjoy not the blessings of America as such, but the blessings of liberty defended by the American idea of respect for the human nature. America will not survive as an all-white nation inviting immigration from only white nations. There may be language to support this notion and movements to this end from persons motivated by language coming from high places. But America as an idea does not support the notion that whites are the only race entitled to human respect.
How we measure the meaning of our bonding-language, our patriotism, and what we understand to be a healthy patriotism is something that the religious establishment must examine and contribute to. All people of the religious knowledge and faith traditions must speak more clearly to respecting the human nature entitlements in the context of improving our perception of patriotism. Our healthy patriotism based in a reevaluation of the founding principles is our redemption. I am a leader among Muslims representing a learned tradition of Muslims in America. Whether the majority of Muslims recognize me or not, I am obligated by my devotions and my knowledge to contribute to the strengthening of the bonds between peoples in my society. I do not deny that in that process there will be misunderstandings or conflict.
But, the Qur’an and Muhammed the Prophet’s teachings do not show me a picture of human society without problems. It shows me what human beings are entitled to and it makes a demand of me to work to see that those entitlements are responded to properly. That is our struggle. That is our jihad.
To be a patriot in this America is to work for the salvation of its founding premises and clarity about them. If no others have an attachment to that but the followers of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, then it is we who have been chosen to lead America to its redemption. That would not be unexpected. We have certainly been prepared.
However, I believe that calling attention to respect for the fundamental human life and the plan for that life that we see clearly designated in Islamic teachings using this language will be an important factor for helping others see the same from their own stores of knowledge and perspective. And if we Muslims will speak that specific language of patriotism into the ears of all Americans this healing medicine will course through the veins of the society.
We do not believe that the heart of America is damaged, it is her thinking. We can reach her thinking and this emphasis on a different perspective of patriotism introduced into the veins will rise to the heart and through the arteries reach the brain. We are drawn to the heart of America, not only as its seat of emotions, but its seat and hub of intelligent sensitivities.
Muhammed the Prophet was attracted to the ancient center of religious faith for the Arabs, but it had been thoroughly corrupted from its original purpose. He never worshipped the idols deposited there and rejected all behaviors that defiled its sanctity even before he was missioned as Gâd’s Messenger. It was upon the original meaning and importance of that ancient shrine or House at Makkah as the Qur’an describes it, that was established with Adam and then Abraham, upon them be peace, that Muhammed ascended.
He ascended upon the recognition of its first meaning, the meaning established before ignorance and selfishness and materialism as symbolized in idols crept in. He sensed its true meaning as the hub of mankind’s highest nature, that which connects all humans to each other and obligates them in their best behaviors and thinking. He ascended upon that recognition and Gâd showed and taught him, enlightened him of the important lessons of the farthest mosque at Jerusalem.
This is from the teaching in the Qur’an. And Gâd invited him to the highest reality, the highest expression and perception for the human soul and he brought that knowledge from that experience as a mercy to his people for the establishment of human life in society as Gâd intended and planned. And this is the second great entitlement.
The second great entitlement is that human beings have a right to an honorable life in society.
We intend to address more concerning these two entitlements in future addresses. But for now, it is important to focus on the first one in the context of improving our sense of unity as citizens in this America. If we accept the American citizenship then as people obeying Islamic teachings we are also accepting responsibility to serve the best possible life for all citizens.
In a sense we ascend to greater roles of responsibility the more clearly we perceive the central idea that organizes us as a people within a national or citizenship identity. If America had no realizable destiny for Bilalians (African-Americans) then the majority of us would have left its citizenship.
A few of our people have done that because they were so hurt and offended by the public language and behavior of disrespect for our humanity through the years from slavery and the cultural arrogance of the white race in its structural and institutional defiance preventing us the very basic franchises of citizenship, that they could not allow their souls to perceive that any good life could be enjoyed in America for them. I don’t think any self-respecting Bilalian in America knowing its history has not one time or another considered the possibility of leaving America.
The followers of the Honorable Elijah Mohammed concluded that there must be at the very least a mental and spiritual separation and exodus, if not for anything but sanity as a potential citizen. There is no way to serve the society thinking as an inferior. The Honorable Elijah Mohammed and his following were the foremost influence for African-Americans in breaking the chains of mental slavery. They outwardly rejected all vestiges of the white world’s attempt to dominate their lives and cast out all language to describe their worth given them by the white world.
When I refer to mental slavery I am referring to slavery of the psychological type which was necessary to maintain chattel slavery and continues today in many forms. One of its forms is the lie of race supremacy–that one, particular race has been exclusively entitled to the blessings of human identity and therefore an absolute right to control and manage all resources of the earth. Too many of our people are still slaves in this way and to these influences. They believe they are free but their choices and behavior say they are slaves to the oppressor’s view of their worth. The author of all lies that distort the true picture of humanity and human nature is the Chief of the oppressors. That crime cannot be charged only to dupes or followers or victims. I am speaking now of the one who rejected and deceived Adam and refused Gâd’s plan for him when Gâd announced his creation as the one to be trusted with the rule of society.
Patriotism, the language of bonding, is in our hands to help reform this America. If we look carefully at our religious teachings we will see the honor and respect Gâd pays to His human creation and we will also see the obligation on us to share our perception. No one will oppose our commitment to this but a devil or an ignorant fool.
In proclaiming our recognition of the original promises of the founders and demonstrating our enlightened understanding of it by pointing to what our religion promotes, we have a most significant and timely role in this America and the world. An America with a corrected language of patriotism protects our bonds as Americans-the bonds across only imaginary boundaries and displays to the world watching that these ideas are worthy of belief and support.
The New America lives in the language of a new patriotism. That new patriotism respects the dignity of human beings above territory or wealth or political messaging or political advantage. It pays tribute to human culture in all decent expressions. It is in fact the true human culture and it comes in every intelligent language and respects every intelligent humane demand. It values the roles of men and women without exclusivity and supports the nature-based importance of masculinity and femininity. It is the only salvation.
We pray Gâd’s continued favor and protection on all people–those whose lives are comfortable and those whose lives are not. We pray that He strengthens us to increase the effectiveness of our work for addressing the human dignity in this America, improving our perception of patriotism and its language, so that it helps our society here and so that it is help to all human beings struggling for common human respect and attention in this world. We pray always for Allah’s help and guidance.
Thank you, As-Salaam Alaikum.
The Propagation Congregation 