[Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint and was published online on Dec. 30, 2006.]
“Jesus wept” (John 11:35)
Some of the major news magazines have covers that are intended to focus the public’s attention on major subjects concerning Jesus. On the front cover of the current U.S. News & World Report (12/18/06) is an imaginary painting of mother Mary and baby Jesus.
The other time when there is a proliferation of articles on varying aspects of the history, teachings and work of Jesus appearing on the front covers of such news magazines is Easter. One of the main interesting facts about what the scribes sometimes write about Jesus during these two holiday seasons, Christmas and Easter, is that he could not possibly have been born during either time. Furthermore, many of these types of writers and others who take part in such televised programs make varying observations as to whether or not such a man ever existed.
›In the 1950s, when I was first learning some of what Master Fard Muhammad revealed to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad of Jesus, one of the facts I came to see was that the scholars of the Western world had a very different view of Jesus than did the masses of the people.
In connection with that, one of the facts was a growing realization of the significance of the power of this statement made by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad some time in 1957 (or 39 years ago): “Of course, there are many student ministers in the theological seminary colleges who probably know, or are learning, that most of what the Bible gives us of Jesus’ history has got to be a future man and not one answering any such description of 2,000 years ago.” How many more are there now? What does this signify?
(Of course, I’ve been blessed continuously, from then to now, to see this truth ever clearer and share the little that I know of it with others. This is not being modest.)
Some years later, I wrote a tiny chapter in the book, “This Is The One.” I placed it as the third chapter of that book and titled it “Rejected of Men.”
I opened that chapter with words that emphasized the fact that he was rejected and why. I ended the chapter by emphasizing that, at a certain time, he would be accepted by all those who rejected him and why.
Many years later, I wrote a chapter that I added to “This Is The One” which is longer than all of the first nine chapters of that book combined. I opened that chapter with the same words of Minister Farrakhan that I opened the book with his teacher in mind. I wrote it in two weeks. It’s somewhat over 67,000 words. I hope to rewrite it, be it the Will of Allah, with a fuller explanation of why I chose to put material on Minister Farrakhan with material on his teacher under the same title. I hope to also explain, in a new introduction, the why of that title.
One of the areas I intend to cover in that future edition of “This Is The One” would be based on the interview of Minister Farrakhan in “Closing The Gap” wherein he spoke of his trials. In that interview, he uncovered what was going on in himself as he suffered through what he did for the first 19 years of his experiences in the Nation of Islam.
That interview begins on the bottom of page 346 of “Closing The Gap.” Before making a few comments here, I’d like to refer the reader to the ending of the previous interview. It ended with these words.
“Minister Farrakhan: I don’t know that those persons who will write and research can write and research unless they have something like this book as a basis. Without this, they can’t write about me.
“So these kinds of questions and answers will have to be a part of my autobiography.
“In my autobiography, the world must be shown my heart; a heart formed by God for them. If the book does not show that, then it is not an autobiography of me. It’s something else. It has to be my testimony. That will begin to cause people to see God’s interaction with a man who was made for them and it will help them to see our father.
“Jabril Muhammad: Exactly. I have asked you what I have for years now for the benefit of others who intend to write on you.”
I could have said for the benefit of others, some of whom will be writers—PERIOD. Why? Because there will be many, many writers, the world over, who will write on the person and works of Minister Farrakhan.
***
For the interview that took place on June 13this year, I wrote the following.
“This day began like the previous day and afternoon. I’m now going to skip to the afternoon. He slowly got out of his car and acknowledged me with a slight smile. He walked up to my door and entered my home slowly. I knew the question I intended to ask him would emotionally affect him. But I knew that so many of us need to know how to better handle our trials as our trials are a necessity and an essential factor in our growth into our divinity.
“I intended to ask him to go deeper into himself, which meant asking a man, whom I love, to go deeper into years of pain while he was yet in pain. So I began.
“Jabril Muhammad: Brother Minister, I would appreciate it, for myself, and everybody who reads this book, that you take us sequentially through your trials. What are trials?”
He answered. That interview took an hour and 55 minutes. It composes 30 pages of this book. It was and is deep. It was and is very profound. It was and is very personal. He opened his heart up to the reader to allow the reader an in-depth look into his heart while he was under pressure. He offers a clear view of the workings of his mind under unusual conditions and in perplexing circumstances.
A few Believers have told me that their lives have been almost immediately improved by reading those 30 pages as they finished that book. They told me that they learned how to handle their trials far better than ever.
I observed him as he spoke that day on June 13. I observed him as he answered that question. I was an observer, with some knowledge of his teacher’s suffering and with some knowledge of the prophecies and the fulfillment of those prophecies in the lives of both men.
On a few occasions, I witnessed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s eyes tear up as he summed up certain aspects of his past experiences.
About five or six times as Minister Farrakhan answered my question, for you and for me, he sobbed as he wept.
Urge others to purchase this book.
I intend to continue this deeper next issue, Allah willing.
