“And those who respond to their Lord and keep up prayer, and whose affairs are (decided) by counsel among themselves, and who spend out of what We have given them; And those who, when great wrong afflicts them, defend themselves. And the recompense of evil is punishment like it; but whoever forgives and amends, his reward is with Allah. Surely He loves not the wrongdoers.” –Holy Qur’an, Surah 42, verses 38-40
As we begin this fifth part of our Reflections on an extraordinary Expedition into the Mind of God, we will read the testimony of Brother Hakeem Khaaliq Muhammad, our marketing strategist and video documentarian from Phoenix, Arizona. We will also hear from Sister Deborah Muhammad from Columbus, Ohio, both of whom had very different, yet similar, experiences in the change of environments from the clutter of the United States’ community life to that of the more resonant and peaceful habitats of the Afro-Mestizo communities and villages we visited in the Pacific Coastal areas in the Mexican States of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas.
From Brother Hakeem we read:
“I was asked by Mother to help document the journey visually. It is always an honor. On the first day of shooting, I pulled my best camera lens out the camera bag and it was broken into pieces from the plane trip. Ouch! Not to mention all the other technical milestones one could say my 10 days of shooting video and photos would be extremely difficult. One of the problems I foresaw was RAIN. Mid-September in Mexico is the rainy season and it was raining hard the first day I arrived. Needless to say, rain and camera equipment don’t mix (smile). Pause. Everyone while reading our personal testimonies and witness bearing with Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, please focus your mind on the sound of water, i.e., waterfalls, streams, oceans, or raindrops because this is one of the most amazing witnessing of our expedition while traveling on the bus, it rained so hard…but once we stopped and we exited the bus, the rain stopped almost every time (except once). We walked in the jungle for hours, sat by a waterfall, no rain only sun and beauty. When we got on the bus and drove away instantly…storms, thunder, lightning! Same goes for our boat rides. We were protected the whole trip with the presence of God and His Christ.
Aside from giving books away and making friends across the entire country of Mexico, Mother turned our (new) touring car (bus) into a university. At every stop guest speakers, professors, Shamans, museum curators and historians shared their research and knowledge with our team. With the knowledge God gave to The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who in turn taught Brother Jabril, Minister Farrakhan, and Mother Tynnetta, you can see we are very blessed with divine knowledge and wisdom because Mother’s knowledge of all subjects discussed was on par or extremely more advanced than the presenters. Along the Eastern and Western coastlines of Mexico consists small communities of Black people. In Acapulco, we were greeted by historian and researcher Nadia Nolloa, a young woman with Black and Indigenous features. When asked of her ethnicity she said she was Black, not Mexican. She told us how dark skinned was considered ugly or nothing and how some of her family members pray that the baby come out light. It reminded me of my youth and how I hated myself and how I wanted to be any and everything except my dark skinned self. I was holding back tears more than once on this trip seeing our people live in very poor conditions and having to live off very little pay. They have no connection with their original history just like us in America.
Thank you to Sister “Lulu” of Laguna de Corralero and her family of strong Black women who hosted and cooked the best fresh fish, coconut juice in their modest scenic ocean view restaurant. Even Hollywood would marvel over the view! Thank you to the Mayan Scientist Hunbatz Men who gave us a dynamite example of how the Mayans used the sound of Allah in their morning prayers in the ancient city of Palenque. He drove seven hours to meet us and also brought his Tibetan Crystal Skull. I want to publicly thank my beautiful, lovely wife Sister Queen who was so supportive of my efforts and the team while traveling. Sisters and Brothers, if you read your little brother’s words, please find time to communicate with Nature. How do I communicate with nature? Take some time and get to a quiet place, get out of the city and concentrate on Allah’s majesty, it will help us all to tune up. It’s about that time we do. Our physical powers will never outdo or persevere the spiritual. Thank you, Mother Tynnetta, for showing me the beauty that rests within you. I pray that it expands, radiates and consumes our people (and me) into the path of harmony with the Mind of Allah which is attuning to nature itself.”
Some of Sis. Deborah’s
Reflections are as follows:
“Taking this trip was magical and healing for me personally. On this research expedition, there were many, manythought-provoking experiences, but there are two that stand out in my mind. My first profound experience in Mexico was adream. It was our first night in Piedra de Cuesta on the other side of Acapulco. That night in mysleep, I had terrible dreams. It seemed as if allthe negative things that happened to me before I came on the trip were being released. When I woke up in the morning, I was confused. I didn’t understandwhy I had had such horrific dreams in such a beautiful and peaceful place. I felt compelled to ask Allah what this experiencemeant. I didn’t get an immediate answer.
On the second day, Allah revealed to me thatbefore I could go any further on this journey and experience what he desired of me was to eliminate all the old, useless,negative stuff. I wanted to share this experience because Ibelieve it is so important to empty out the old in order to receive the new and perhaps unknown.Everything that we saw in nature reminded me of the lessonsgiven to us by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. One example was seeing the Pacific Ocean. It wasbreathtaking and at the same time frightening because it was so powerful.
As we rode deeper through the canyon, we began to experiencethe healing affects of being there. We seemed to go into anatural state of meditation without even trying. The very atmosphere of the canyon gently demanded our contemplation and wesubmitted naturally. I felt as though we were truly in another dimension, another world, each of us in a state oftranquility, peacefully reflecting on our own thoughts and Allah.”
“And whoever defends himself after his being oppressed, these it is against whom there is no way (of blame). The way (of blame) is only against those who oppress men and revolt in the earth unjustly. For such there is a painful chastisement. And whoever is patient and forgives–that surely is an affair of great resolution.” –Holy Qur’an, Surah 42, verses 41-43
To be continued.
