Every day I am reminded of God’s mercy on me. Just to be allowed to live and behold His creation is a blessing. We as a people have entered some very dark days that, according to the scriptures, will get darker than this before the light can shine through in its fullness. On a very personal level I have been engulfed in the darkest days of this short life that Allah has blessed me to live thus far. I have hit what I thought was the lowest point in my life only to find more darkness and despair. I have come face to face with my own hypocrisy. The wages of my sins past and present hover over me like a death angel waiting to claim another lost one. I am eternally grateful that the Honorable Louis Farrakhan recognized my suffering and reached out to me once again that I may see the light and walk therein. He stepped into my affairs in a nick of time because I was surely of those who was losing it. What he is doing for e he is currently doing for the whole Nation of Islam. And that is giving us the chance to get back on the ark before the Great Flood comes and removes all those who ignored God’s Messenger in their midst.
My own personal hurt, pain, disappointment, loss and suffering caused me to deviate. Trial upon trial upon trial proved more than I was ready to handle. I was angry with Allah for taking somebody so close to me. I couldn’t get over that hump no matter how much I tried. Every time I would see people during my day to day activities I would wonder why He couldn’t have taken ones whom I considered “worse†than my baby sister. I am still wrestling with it today. However, I do understand that my sister was His before she was mine. He has a greater right over the life that He gives. I’m not going to say that it is easy for me but I am growing in my understanding which was so limited before. And if that wasn’t enough for me to wrestle with one year later we lost nearly everything to Hurricane Katrina. In addition to the obvious loss caused by Hurricane Katrina is the considerable amounts of collateral damage left in her wake. Years of rebuilding shattered lives. All of the lesser trials that came about during the aftermath of Katrina. There are even those who are dealing with trials more severe than they could have imagined as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
We have been given this second, third, fourth or fifth wake up call just in time. Just just in time to help us to weather a terrible storm that will be introduced into all of our lives. We, the so-called Muslim followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad under the guidance of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan have been blessed once again with Grace and Mercy from Allah through His infinite wisdom. I was reading through the last two issues of the Final Call Newspaper today and was overwhelmed with this great publication as usual. Most notably, especially for those of us who say we believe, are Brother Jabril Muhammad’s articles. He was dealing with the intense darkness that has engulfed us all. Honestly, I never imagined that the entire Nation Of Islam was dealing with the same levels of darkness that we from New Orleans and scattered by Hurricane Katrina were dealing with. Our struggles in the face of our difficulties are expected on a number of levels. Unfortunately we are not alone in our struggle to overcome this dark period. Our lives have been impacted in a visible way but it bears witness to the hurricanes that have wreaked havoc on all of or spiritual and mental lives. As a result we are not making the progress that we should make individually nor as a Nation. We must reverse this trend. That is what this time is about. It is time for us to do what we all do best. Overcome all odds by stepping up to help the Honorable Minister Farrakhan carry out his Mission which is the Mission of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and that is to resurrect the mentally dead Black man and woman of America and then the world. Look inside the January 29, 2008 issue of the Final Call Newspaper, Volume 27, Number 17 and turn to page 26. Farrakhan: The Traveler by Jabril Muhammad. His article is titled “Seeking Refuge in Allah.†Read the entire article a minimum of three times. The article is comprised an excerpt from his book entitled “Closing the Gap.†In the article Minister Farrakhan states:
“When we turn away because of a misfortune or because of an untimely death of someone that we love or any loss of property or diminution of fruit, if we turn away, then we lose the love of our Protector, for He says, ‘I’m going to try you.’
“Sometimes we turn away from refuge. ‘Why me? Why do I have cancer? Why must I suffer? I’ve been good. I’ve been faithful. I’ve tried to be true.’ Then God watches. And from deep within yourself, the voice will say, ‘Yes. Why not you? Do you think that you would be left along on saying you believe and will not be tried? How dare you say that you are a servant of God?
These small excerpts illustrate the point that I was making about my own personal hurt and pain clouding my judgment of what Allah wants of me today. I turned to other things seeking refuge in that which could not offer me refuge in a dark time such as this. I gave up my protection by not turning to Allah for refuge. By the time I realized that I was outside of his way it was almost too difficult to come back. I couldn’t humble myself and ask his forgiveness for turning away because I still blamed God for taking from me those who I held dear to me. I couldn’t see pass my hurt. It didn’t really matter that I couldn’t humble myself because God has His own special way of humbling us. Especially those of us who aspire to be servants of God. He has to try all those who seek to serve Him because it is no lightweight job. He has to bring us through a number of obstacles in order to ready us for what awaits.
As a community of believers we have been striving to get back into what we in the Nation refer to as soldiering. We have been making consistent efforts to get out into the community with the Final Call Newspaper on a weekly basis. It is a tremendous trial for us as a scattered body. We have less than half of the believers we had in the city prior to Hurricane Katrina and several believers still commute in and out of town making consistency a real challenge. Most of the time we only go out with a handful of Brothers at the most. It is a real challenge to have to depend on so few to accomplish so much. This past Saturday three of us went on our first door to door campaign in a very long time. The neighborhood wasn’t as vibrant as it could have been due in part to one of the largest Mardi Gras parades of the year was going on at the same time we were soldiering. The people we did encounter on our excursion were very receptive and excited to see us back in the neighborhoods. They kept asking if we would be coming back again. The warm response was very encouraging. As we walked from house to house I couldn’t help but think of two of our Brothers in particular who had cultivated quite a customer base utilizing the door to door method of delivering the Final Call Newspaper to the people. They both were successful in creating full time employment for themselves through the Mission and the program of the Nation of Islam. I could hear one of them now explaining why we should get off of the street corner and adopt a neighborhood. He even presented the entire FOI class with a scientific approach to building your customer base effectively. It created an avenue by which he was able to introduce other products to them as well as the Final Call Newspaper. He delivered water to their doors. Admittedly, I am an advocate for dealing with the people on the corner because of the high visibility it affords our cause. However, I do recognize the effectiveness of coupling both approaches together strategically for the best overall results. Since we are starting all over as a city we will have to utilize multiple approaches as we embark on this effort to rebuild the work of resurrecting the dead here in New Orleans. One of the biggest challenges will be engaging the young who are definitely ready for change as was proved by the overwhelming turnout by young persons supporting the Jena 6 last Fall. When talking to them many of them have not heard of Minister Farrakhan or the Million Man March. I found that more had heard of the Million Man March but did not know the man responsible for calling two million men to Washington D.C. Empowering our youth has got to be one of our top priorities as we move forward with the work of resurrecting the mentally dead because they are the ones in the trenches and stand the most to lose and the most to gain by what they know, or don’t know and how they use what they know.
In closing, I would like to share with you a short excerpt from the keynote address delivered by Minister Farrakhan to the Mass Assembly of the Millions More Movement held on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on October 15, 2005 in Commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Million Man March:
“The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God,” but the Word did not stay a Word. The Word became flesh and dwelled among men. It makes no difference what we say, because a lot of us are good talkers. It will make a difference what we do. What we say can only become flesh if we go from this place and mobilize and organize, street by street, block by block, house by house so that we can accomplish that which we desire for the good of ourselves and our people.
