Last night we were blessed to receive a very timely message from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. As always he shared with us words of encouragement as we are navigating through a very dark time on our journey toward liberation as a people. The words he shared resonated with me deeply because I know for a fact that I am not doing all that I could do to become a better reflection of God. We should all be working harder than ever since the conditions we are facing as a people are continually worsening. We have to work harder than ever to make sure that our youth have a future to look forward to. The task looks impossible especially whenever we read the news and learn that our people, particularly our young black men, are being killed off at an alarming rate. If they do not leave this life prematurely they are herded off to prisons and used as modern day slaves for the prison industrial complex. Our young women are being bombarded with methods of birth control whether they want it or not in an attempt to control our population because Black people are not useful to this society any longer. As the resources of the planet decrease, competition for the remaining resources increase and we stand at a disadvantage because of the veil of ignorance that we as a people exist under. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan shared with us that Master Fard Muhammad told the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that he had been given the hardest job of any man that ever lived. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad responded by saying, “I will do it if you back me.â€
That job is the resurrection of the mentally dead Black man and woman of America. It is now 2008 and I have to bear witness that 78 years since the coming of God in the person of Master Fard Muhammad the job has not gotten any easier. From my vantage point the job looks more difficult than ever. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad displayed a super natural degree of faith which propelled him to become successful in this great work of resurrecting the mentally dead Black man and woman. He put his faith to work and produced a change right here in America despite some of the fiercest opposition any group, organization or man ever had to come up against. He did a work that He was mocked and scorned for in America and throughout the world but if it were not for that man many of us would not know of Islam today. He paid a price for Black people in America today. Many of our advances in this country were made possible as a direct result of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, “When you don’t do this work your soul is burdened. You can’t find peace or rest.†I can bear witness to this fact. After accepting Islam and the Mission of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad it lays on us a duty that we have to be found striving to live up to. If not, we are burdened by the stress and grief of the world. Just last year I found myself being overwhelmingly stressed out behind every aspect of my existence. I felt like my life was without purpose and much of it was a result of my own hands. I could not even see clear enough to reverse the course even though I knew what it would take to reverse the course. I had fallen victim to my own doubt and hypocrisy. I had fallen victim to the hurt and pain that living in a world like this produces. In some ways I thought that all hope was lost although I had experienced the transformative effects the teachings had in my life first hand. Black on Black crime is on the rise again and the odds don’t seem to be in our favor. If you look at the condition of our communities it looks like all hope is lost. I let this perception engulf me. My personal trials coupled with the difficulty in making a change in our overall reality made life more difficult. I fell into a period in my life where all I wanted was comfort for my soul but I was still being called upon to be the comforter of a hard hearted people.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said that we had all been wounded. Our faith had been wounded by our interaction with this world and hypocrisy. I have definitely been wounded. There were times over the last four years that I just wanted to give up the fight totally and die. My trials came hard, heavy and back to back. I had been in the Nation of Islam for 10 years before I experienced a hard trial. Allow me to rephrase this a little. I had never noticed the trials that Allah placed in my life because by the grace of Allah I had the spirit to handle them and keep moving. Then in 2004 Allah decided to call home one of His creations. It hurt me in a profound way because I had never lost a loved one so close to me before. It was and is a particularly hard trial for me. I have been battling depression over the last 4 years as I wrestle with the question of why. It is still very hurtful to me and I have to admit that I have not handled the death of a loved one in the best of ways. I have listened to lectures by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan that have been healing to my soul but I have still not fully recovered. This trial also brought me face to face with my own hypocrisy because I almost allowed my lost to be an excuse for me to excuse myself from the work of helping to resurrect the mentally dead Black man and woman of America. I find myself questioning Allah’s choice to take the life of my loved one when there are so many others who are not doing what they should with their lives. In my eyes I see others whom Allah could have taken instead.
The next year, which would be 2005, brought another particularly difficult trial into my life as well as the lives of every one of the Believers in Muhammad Mosque #46 in New Orleans. You probably know about this one as well. Hurricane Katrina delivered God’s wrath upon one of America’s cities on August 29, 2005. Our lives haven’t been the same since. Everyone who has been affected by this great “natural disaster†has a story to tell. Everybody has a Katrina story. In the wake of Katrina our work has been compounded and is more difficult than ever which requires a Herculean effort on our part to face the challenge that lies ahead. Some days I feel like I am up to the challenge but most days I don’t. It is a constant battle with self to do what I know is necessary for us to do in this difficult hour. I can bear witness to the truth and the timeliness of Minister Farrakhan’s message last night. My faith has been wounded. My interaction with the world and my own hypocrisy are the main conspirators against my own maintenance. My maintenance is necessary for me to become successful, but the question remains successful at what?
The Leader (Minister Farrakhan) directed our attention to point #10 in the Instructions to the Laborers: The RESTRICTIVE LAW OF ISLAM is our Success at any time.
He went on to say that some of us are successful at what we do. We may have accumulated some money, a vehicle or fine home. Does this make us successful?
He asked the question, “How do you measure success?â€
That is an excellent question because the answer varies depending on who you ask or in what field are you attempting to be successful in. We have committed ourselves to become successful in carrying out the Mission of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. This mission entails work and the work we have committed to requires a large degree of faith. Minister Farrakhan briefly defined restrict as something that keeps us within limits. This would seem contradictory to Point #1 of What the Muslims Want which can be found on the last page of the Final Call Newspaper.
1) We want freedom. We want a full and complete freedom.
He continued, “everything Allah creates has boundaries.†Our success lies in our ability to operate within the boundaries that Allah created for us. Our success goes hand in hand with our ability to observe and adhere to the Restrictive Law of Islam. Minister Farrakhan teaches us that Islam is the nature of God and the nature in which we were created. Our interaction with the world and hypocrisy weakens faith and the works that faith accomplishes.
The Million Man March was a demonstration of faith. Minister Farrakhan put those powerful words out there but had to work this whole country to make it happen. He did not wait on a mystery God to make it happen for him.
Here in New Orleans the believers have just finished writing our personal testimonies about how we came into the Nation of Islam and the words that Minister Farrakhan said from his mouth about the Million Man March absolutely captured my imagination. Nothing like it had done before or since. The greater you faith and trust in Allah the greater your works.
When those words left his lips and found their way into my mind I knew at that time that I would be joining the Nation of Islam if for no other reason but to help to make the Million Man March a reality. Little did I know that Minister Farrakhan had infused me with his faith because he was so confidant that it was going to happen that all he needed was a few helpers to pull it off because the rest of the work was being done by God through him. When the thought of the Million Man March captured my imagination it captured the imagination of millions of Black men all over the country as the Leader traveled all over this country working hard to make it a success. He started out promoting the Million Man March almost two years prior to it becoming a reality but it was already a reality in his mind and he had the faith to bring forth a mighty work.
As a result of me accepting the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad my life took on new meaning and changed for the better. Looking back at the early years it is easy to see why Allah blessed me to make so much progress in my life. I put His work before anything else. My life revolved around the work. I was a young soldier with no other aspirations other than doing something to help my Nation. When I think back to how much progress we made during that time it really confirms for me the power of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In recent years I can’t find peace and it has to be because the teachings have taken a back seat in my life. My interaction with the world has caused my faith to wane over the years. When I look at the condition of our people I can’t help but think that it is a futile fight because our people seem to love filth and indecency. I have to thank the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for reminding me that I used to be like that too. I came from that same behavior that I condemn my brothers and sisters for. I have to learn how to be more patient and forgiving when it comes to our people. I am the direct beneficiary of Allah’s mercy so how can I not repay the favor Allah has bestowed upon me.
I am forever thankful to Allah for coming in the person of Master Fard Muhammad and raising up the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I am thankful for the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan being who he is in this day and time serving as a divine reminder in our midst before this world goes out totally. As I reflect I am also thankful for a list of other persons Allah has placed in my life to serve as examples of what to do or what not to do as I attempt to navigate my way through this dark hour. We have a lot of work ahead of us and I have to pray that Allah opens my heart to receive His guidance and recommit to doing what is necessary to help in the Cause of Islam in this dangerous hour. Allah has truly blessed me in ways that I cannot fully appreciate yet but I am thankful.
I am thankful to Allah for the life He has blessed me to live so far. Last year I can say that in my pain I may have been guilty of being ungrateful at times. Allah knows the heart. I know that the feelings of dissatisfaction come from my frustration with what I see as a lack of progress in my life in terms of where I think I should be at this point in my life. I am not quite sure which measuring stick that I am using to measure my own success at this moment but I do know that I am not satisfied with my lack of progress as it relates to the carrying out the Mission of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Whenever I think about it too much it brings me face to face with my own hypocrisy because if I was really that dissatisfied with my lack of progress then I would do something about it. I have the power to change my own reality just like you have the power to change your own reality.
In closing the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan shared with us a verse from the Holy Quran, Chapter 6, verse 126:
So whomsoever Allah intends to guide,
He expands his breast for Islam, and
whomsoever He intends to leave in error,
he makes his breast strait (and) narrow as
though he were ascending upwards. Thus
does Allah lay uncleanness on those who
believe not.
He asked us to take a look in the mirror and ask ourselves if Allah has expanded our breast or made our breast strait. If our breast has not been expanded for Islam then we should pray that Allah opens our breast for Islam because it will open our breast to become more compassionate with our people as we attempt to do this difficult work that lies ahead. Thank you for your time and patience with me in my attempt to define what success means in my life and maybe you can help to share your experiences in an attempt to provide a resource for those who need to heal themselves. We have to maintain ourselves properly in order for Islam to grow beyond us. May Allah bless you with the light of understanding.