The question: What is fun?

JABRIL.MUHAMMAD

Previous Farrakhan The Traveler Articles

The contents of Matthew chapter 24 and 25 were in my mind when I asked this question of the Honorable Minister Farrakhan on July 12, 2006. These chapters are filled with prophecies that are being fulfilled during these times.

As was the case with all our sessions, he did not have any idea of what I was going to ask him: “What is fun?” Tomorrow, at the time of this writing would be Halloween. Many use this event as a “fun” time. Please, study his answer. This should cause us to appreciate the quality and the value of his answer.

Brother Jabril: Brother Minister, how would you advise us in this awfully turbulent world, to help our children with proper fun? Toy manufacturers, of course, are greedy and are not really looking deeply into the interest of children. What advice would you give us with regard to buying toys for our children? What is fun?

Minister Farrakhan: The question is what is fun? Fun to one person is ignorance to another. Fun to another person is what is trifling to another. The question we have to ask is what is fun with God? Does God engage in trifling things? Does He engage in things that are foolish?

So what I found as fun is the joy of learning today what I did not know yesterday. I literally enjoy my teacher teaching me things, on the violin that I didn’t know, and then making a joke out of what I did wrong that I now am learning to do right.

We don’t have time for trifling things. Children should not be engaged in just silly things; playing with toys that do not teach. The joy of living is the joy of learning. Since Almighty God Allah created us as a reflection of Himself, it would seem that from as early as we can think, we should find joy in the discovery of truth. We should find fun in the discovery of things that grow us; that edify us; that evolve us toward God.

Mindless games are valueless with God because they misuse youth. Children are mischievous. Then find something that we can learn from mischief–games of learning; games that increase one’s dexterity; that teach skills in doing things; games that challenge us mentally.

I was talking to Bobby Brown in Houston, a great performer. He said, “Brother, I really need your help.” I pulled him close to me, because there was a lot going on. I whispered in his ear, “Brother, you don’t need me. You need a closer relationship with your Creator.”

In answer to your question, which dovetails into what I said to him, I said, “When you were a sperm mixed with ovum your mother wasn’t conscious of this until she missed her menses that something was happening with her. But the intelligence that was in the sperm knew what it had to do. So it made contact with the egg and the first cell of life began. Mom, unaware. Dad, unaware. But you, in that stage, were aware and the Creator was aware and the Creator was present with you.”

As that first cell of life began rotating, in the darkness of the womb, there was light present in it that caused it to rotate. Then you became a clot. You became an embryo. You became a fetus and God was ever present before anyone had a relationship with you.

Your duty is to create, or to make a right relationship with your Creator. I said, “When you came forth, parents looked at you and loved you, happy to see you, and mama either gave you her breast, or she gave you milk and you began to grow. You couldn’t talk. You couldn’t walk. You couldn’t crawl. But something was going on in the brain.

Mama didn’t teach you to crawl. You just did that. Mama didn’t teach you to pull up on something sturdy that you can stand up. You did that. Then everyone was amazed when you took your first step. But no one taught you that. It was an intelligence that was already in you and a relationship with your Creator that was nurtured by your mother; your father; and the environment in which you lived.”

Well wasn’t that fun? It was fun for us on the outside watching our baby crawl. It was fun watching the baby coo, to say, “Thank you.” It was fun watching you take your first step. So fun was the joy of watching growth, development. That’s fun with God.

If I want to have fun let me engage in that which grows me into Him. That is real fun.

Toys and things that parents give their children should always be with careful thought. The enemy wants us to waste time. With God there is no time to waste on foolishness. Children are ready to learn if we are ready to teach. So get no mindless games or foolish things. But if there is a toy that you want to give your child, give your child that which challenges growth; development; dexterity; skills. Then you watch the child grow and watch the smile come on your face and that is not that of a comedian. That’s the joy of watching the evolution of life.

In closing, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, “As the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.” So it is in education. The child should know at six years old what its future is. What it wants to do with its life. If it engages in mindless foolishness and triviality, it will not get in tune with itself to know at six where it wants to go.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, “At eighteen years of age, we should have finished our doctorate degree, ready to go out into the world to practice that which we have learned in theory. So if you get a doctorate degree at eighteen, how much time do you have for mindless activity? None.

God does not waste time. Neither should we.

The first thing that I remember that my mother gave me to play with was a violin. She was not about mindless pursuits. When she brought me toys, it was like Chinese checkers, something that engaged me. Or, a puzzle, something that engaged my mind and then something to read.

I thank God Allah for my mother who never, ever, engaged me with mindless stupidity and called it “fun.”

Brother Jabril: Thank you, Brother Minister.

More next issue, Allah willing.