Faith and Following A Man With God’s Wisdom

[Editor’s Note: This is a repost and was published online April 15, 2008; and The Final Call will continue to reprint articles by our beloved brother and friend Minister Jabril Muhammad.]

“… I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” –Isaiah 42:16

I’m continuing some with excerpts from what I wrote starting in April 1988 in a series of articles for The Final Call that became part of a book.

Let’s begin with: “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad summed up the wisdom out of which he taught and worked by saying (in one of his Theology of Time speeches) it was “wisdom from the root of wisdom from the Creator (or Originator) of the universe.

“That’s the wisdom by which the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is being guided and it is this wisdom which far too many of us try to judge with our extremely limited understanding of this world’s limited and exhausted wisdom.”

*****

“We met the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (or Minister Farrakhan) symbolically, at the juncture of the two rivers, as Moses met the wise man. I agree with the observation of the scholars, who see the place where Moses met the wise man, at the point where, what is called ‘human’ knowledge and wisdom ends and divine knowledge and wisdom begins, to put it briefly.

(Then I went into the Messiah’s use of the word “warped” with respect to the state of our minds, as made by our open enemies, when we met him and/or his student–Minister Farrakhan–and a commentary on the verse placed above this article, which emphasizes Allah’s unfathomable love for us–the most rejected and despised of all people.)

*****

“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has said that this time period is the first time God has desired to make Himself known in 66 trillion years. That is a million billions (or a billion millions) times sixty-six! We are lucky to be alive at the time of the ending of what God has decided to end; including the mysteries pertaining to Himself. We are lucky indeed!”

*****

“However, as it was with Moses, who came upon events or situations, which his limited knowledge and experiences did not permit him to grasp, so it is with us. These events, situations and their consequences were produced by the God Who guided the one with whom he traveled. So it is with those (the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan) with whom we travel. The former was guided by God right to Himself. The latter is guided and backed by both.

“The student, who thought but did not know that which he saw in part, rejected the actions of the teacher, whose wisdom he did not know. So, the student recoiled indignantly–even in horror–at some of the actions of his teacher. Finally, at the third event, he was thoroughly puzzled. That was the parting of the two. Did ‘Moses’ ever learn what his teacher knew?

“In none of the three instances given, in the passage that we are looking at, would Moses have acted as his teacher did. He indicated that he would have acted very differently. He didn’t have this teacher’s knowledge, nor his insight. He, therefore, would have handled those situations differently. And he would have obtained terrible results! Yet, remember, Moses started out by strongly telling his teacher (at the beginning of their relationship) that he would not disobey him in anything, regardless. The text shows us that Moses did not anticipate what lay ahead. He did not foresee that which was in the future. He did not see deep enough into the present, so he could not see well into the future.

“However, at the root of his problems, with his teacher, was shallow knowledge of his teacher, and the principles he was acting on, in these incidents. Moreover, he did not have enough faith. If he had seen deep enough, into his teacher, he would have had the faith to travel properly with his teacher. He suffered from insufficient faith in his teacher. That was the key to properly follow his teacher: faith. The deeper one can see, into people, and into the events, situations and the circumstances that people produce, the further into the future, or into the consequences, or results (of actions and events people produce) one can foresee. The student, (Moses) did not trust his teacher as he thought he did and should have. The student thought he saw what his teacher did not see; or, he thought he saw better than his teacher. He didn’t.

“Moses’ teacher, according to the testimony of Allah, was a very special man. Allah had also granted special knowledge, to this man, and an understanding deep enough that this special man was enabled to act with the wisdom of Allah Himself. In effect, the teacher of Moses, at that stage of his life (the teacher’s), and at least in those circumstances, acted exactly as God wanted him to act. He acted for God. He acted as God would have acted. He acted as God in those circumstances. So rejection of him–at least in those instances in which Moses rejected him–was rejection of God. Such rejection produces blindness, or if we are already blind, we can’t gain sight, as long as we continue to reject that which produces sight.

“The wise man was able to do as he did, because he was filled with God’s spirit. His student (Moses) did not see as his teacher did, so he did not see into what his teacher did. Where the teacher had insight, the student had short-sight. Therefore, when he saw his teacher do things he would not have done–due to his limited grasp of right and wrong–he condemned his teacher as evil.

“Notice, Moses did not question his teacher for understanding from the spirit of really wanting to learn his teacher. He did not ask him anything. He raised no questions in the proper manner. And if he had, given his state of mind, it would not have been for wisdom, but for confirmation of what he (the student) already thought and felt, which was based on a short, narrow, and limited knowledge. Remember, Moses’ views were not rooted in the wisdom that was in the teacher, which he claimed that he sought from his teacher.

“Moses” only saw what he imagined to be the case with his teacher. In other words despite the fact that he desired to travel with and learn from his teacher, he was still predisposed to think, feel and act on the base of “wisdom” which he brought to this new relationship with his teacher, who acted by wisdom far beyond the student. He still was leaning on that which he claimed was leaving, even as he traveled forward with his teacher to gain what he had. So, he charged his teacher with evil motives and with doing evil. He had a quick mouth borne of impatience, narrow thinking, tunnel vision, and shallowness of sight.”

*****

“The more differently Moses thought the situations should have been handled, the more violent was his condemnation of his teacher. Again, the words of Moses, when he condemned his teacher, showed that he considered his views of good and evil as sufficient–at least in contrast to his teacher’s view. Could this be the reason that he did not really properly question his teacher for understanding?”

Now, let’s get deeper, next issue Allah willing.