JABRIL.MUHAMMAD
In the Holy Qur’an Surah 16:82-89 we can read:
“Then if they turn away, thy duty is only clear deliverance (of the message).
“They recognize the favour of Allah, yet they deny it, and most of them are ungrateful. And on the day when We raise up a witness out of every nation, then permission (to offer excuse) will not be given to the disbelievers, nor will they be allowed to make amends.
“And when the wrongdoers see the chastisement, it will not be lightened for them, nor will they be respited.
“And when those who ascribed partners (to Allah) see their associate-gods, they will say: Our Lord, these are our associate-gods on whom we called besides Thee. But they will throw back at them the word: Surely you are liars.
“And they will tender submission to Allah on that day, and what they used to forge will fail them.
“Those who disbelieve and hinder (men) from Allah’s way, We will add chastisement to their chastisement because they made mischief.
“And on the day when We raise up in every people a witness against them from among themselves, and bring thee as a witness against these. And We have revealed the Book to thee explaining all things, and a guidance and mercy and good news for those who submit.”
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I asked the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan some questions, for the book Closing The Gap. On pages 104-106 you can read these words.
Brother Jabril: Brother Minister, what is the value of the six written Lessons we were given? Why should we study them?
Minister Farrakhan: The value of those Lessons first, cannot be perceived, unless we properly understand who is giving the questions and who is giving the answers. Once we have an appreciation of the value of Who the Author of the questions is then we can begin to assign greater value to each and every question and by understanding the value of him who was being questioned and the state of mind that he was in at the time of his answers to that question.
Then we will learn that the questions are deeply profound, in that they stretch our minds from the past, to the present into the future. If we start with the study of the answers given by one born to meet the Questioner, born to see and know the Questioner, then his answers have to be the basis of our beginning study of the course that would not just make us Muslims, in the common understanding of the meaning of Muslim, but make us into Gods, the very uncommon understanding of being a Muslim.
So one must approach the study with deep honor and respect and love for the One Who came; Who studied forty-two years to deliver us; for the One Who broke the circle of the Gods to bring us into equality with those men–these very great scientists. When we begin to look at it in this manner, we can begin to perceive the value of the six Lessons, that Master Fard Muhammad, to Whom praises are due forever, left with us for us.
Brother Jabril: Why were we given, as the first Lesson, these 20 statements, called the ‘Actual Facts?’ Why not real or true facts? Why “Actual Facts” and why should it begin like that? And how does this Lesson called the “Student Enrollment” enroll us?
Minister Farrakhan: I think that Master Fard Muhammad wanted us to always begin our process of study and growth with that which is actual, in the sense of that which is presently real, and that which is true at the time we are studying what we are studying of the subject.
The cells of the brain, as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us, were/are created by God to think rightly. One cannot think rightly except that the basis of our thought is on the actual or that which is factual. So the student must always search for the real, the truth; the actual facts–the way things are at the moment he or she begins their study.
Some of those Actual Facts (in our Lessons) are not actual facts today. ‘What is the population of the Original Nation in the wilderness of North America and all over the Planet Earth?’ ‘What is the population of the Colored People in the wilderness of North America and all over the Planet Earth?’ Those were facts in those days (the early 1930s) but they are not actual facts today.
So how do you ascertain what is actual today from what was actual yesterday? But we start with those ‘Actual Facts’ to ground us in the time period of Master Fard Muhammad’s manifestation to His servant and from that point our process of growth begins.
Now how do we enroll? Well, whenever you go to any course of study, you first must know what it is you want to study. Then you must know who the professor or the teacher is of that course. Then you must go and sign up for such course and gather the materials for such course and then be in attendance in that classroom, so that you can grow in that chosen course.
The moment we hear the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad two or three times, and we sign that form, we are acknowledging the headmaster of the school. We are acknowledging the teacher of the course. We are acknowledging what the course is and we do want to sign our names. Unfortunately, we were handicapped because we didn’t know what our real name was so we signed our slave name.
Then to make sure that we were serious, we had to declare our intention and then we received what can be termed as an entrance exam to complete the process of enrollment. Once we answered the ten questions and answers properly, we were accepted in the classroom as a student of a new Islam. These ten questions and answers are the rules of Islam, meaning that, they teach us principles that will guide our study and the application of what we study until we come to the point of graduation.
May Allah bless us to be serious about our enrollment in this great class with such illustrious headmaster and magnificent teacher.
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Before we go further, consider this. During all of the years I have interviewed Minister Farrakhan, only once did he have an idea of what I was about to ask him. Look at the questions.
Then think over the fact, that his answers have always been immediate, impromptu, or spontaneous, without hesitation! Heavy! Deep!
More next issue, Allah willing.