Say: “O people, if you are in doubt as to my religion, (Islam) then know that I do not serve those whom you serve besides Allah, Who will cause you to die” (Holy Qur’an 10:104)
According to the past histories of prophets and reformers, the very people to whom they were sent with the light of truth were their rejecters and even their enemies. When the time comes for a change in the life of a people, there are those who will not appreciate a change. They are suspicious and doubt that which is other than what they have been believing all their lives. The people of Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus doubted that which these prophets brought to them from Allah (God), until Allah brought about a showdown between the two.
The so-called American Negroes have been so gravely deceived by the White man’s Christianity and Bible that they doubt everything that does not have the White man’s approval. Again, the time has arrived for a change. This time is universal, and the great problem now is to awaken the American so-called Negroes.
The so-called Negroes are made to believe that all religions other than the Christian religion are false and idol worship, while the Christians worship idol gods in their churches and religious literature. They bow in reverence to statues and imaginary pictures of God, the angels, the prophets and the disciples as if they could speak. Worst of all, the pictures and statues are not of God, His angels, the Prophets, or the disciples of Jesus. Therefore, they are false worshipers and ignorant enough to love the falsehood. Isaiah and Ezekiel have well described them. The Christian believers claim to believe in One God. Should not the Divine Supreme Being destroy those who serve and worship gods other than He? Allah (God) does not approve of you and me worshiping His angels and prophets as His equal. It is a disgrace.
The religion of Islam teaches that Allah is One God, and the Holy Qur’an teaches that what you worship besides Allah is the firewood of hell. You doubt the Truth of Islam, while it is the religion of Allah (God) and the prophets whom you claim to believe in.
Again, the principles of belief in Islam are: One God, His Prophets, His Scriptures, His Judgment, His Resurrection (of the mentally dead). The main principles of action in Islam: keeping up prayer, spending in the cause of truth, fasting especially during the month of Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca, speaking the truth regardless of to whom or what, being clean internally, loving your brother believers as yourself, doing good to all, killing no one whom Allah has ordered not to be killed, setting at liberty the captured believer, worshiping no god but Allah, and fearing no one but Allah. These are the teachings of the prophets.
(Reprinted from “Message To The Blackman,” 1965.)