[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Final Call, Vol. 10, No. 19, October 7, 1991.]
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful
“My servants, the Righteous, shall inherit the Earth.”—Holy Qur’an 21:105
Master Fard Muhammad, the Great Mahdi, to Whom praise is due forever, warned us (the Sisters, in particular) about the effects of weighing other than ourselves in regards to living the life and weighing properly. Being overweight is devastating to the proper functioning of the life organism that we call the human body.
The weight of the Earth is constant. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that the Earth has a weight of six sextillion tons (a unit followed by 21 ciphers). What you see above the Earth came from within it, therefore, the weight of the Earth is constant.
The Holy Qur’an teaches us of a Time when the Earth will cast off its burden. What burden? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, “unrighteous people.” The Earth was created for the righteous; the wicked are an unwanted burden. Allah (God) intends to remove this excess weight, according to the Bible and Holy Qur’an, “root and branch.”
The attitude of Allah (God) toward the wicked is the same attitude we should adopt toward the excess weight we are carrying on our bodies. If the Earth is casting off its burden (excess weight of the wicked), should not we cast off ours?
We have overburdened our skeletal muscles with unwanted FAT. Bone, muscle, tendon and ligament are designed to work together in a harmonious relationship to move the body. When we stand, our entire weight is carried by the power of our legs down to our feet. If taxed by excess weight, muscle wears down and eventually falters.
There is a precise, mathematical relationship between skeleton, height and weight. Like the bones, the skeletal muscles range in size and shape to suit the particular functions they perform. Their ability to perform with speed and power can be literally of life-or-death importance, enabling us to move in response to sudden danger.
When it is not overburdened, skeletal muscle can move into action within a few hundredths of a second and, when necessary, support 1,000 times its own weight.
The spine, our most central structural member, would collapse without muscles and ligaments. Health experts blame poor diet and excess weight as primary reasons why the number one daily physical complaint in America is backache.
The hundreds of millions of dollars spent on pain relievers specifically for this problem are misdirected. The human frame was designed to carry a precise amount of weight. When that amount is exceeded, there is a breakdown of the structure that painkillers will never repair.
When you begin to shed excess fat, you take on different thinking, as well as a different appearance. Allah (God) has given us a pattern for Life. All of the prophets gave us Guidance from Him for healthy living.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that the brain cells of the Original people are constructed to “think right.” To “think right” means to think in accordance with Truth and Actual Facts. Thinking contrary to Truth does damage to brain cells and impairs the vision. If we are created to think right, we are also created to do right.
Any act we participate in that is contrary to right thinking and acting creates an unwanted burden on the mind. The burden of sin covers the intellect, veils the vision and impairs the power of the mind to do the wonderful things Allah (God) created the mind to do.
It is said that we use only a small portion of our brain. Why? Could it be that sin impairs our ability to use the Power of the Mind?
Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death.” The burden of being overweight with sin causes spiritual and mental imbalance, then spiritual death, leading to imbalance of the systems of the physical body and ultimately, physical death.
I am appealing to all members of the Original Nation and to all people who desire the betterment of Self, to cast off the burden of being physically overweight, then let us begin to cast off the burden of sin (Transgression of Divine Law).
The mental burden people carry, particularly the American people, has exceeded the natural ability of the brain’s hormonal secretions to soothe and comfort us during stressful events in our daily lives.
There are 15 pounds of atmospheric pressure for every square inch of the human body; but we do not feel this pressure because, through the process of breathing, we are able to exert force from within us that is equal to the force outside of us.
Mentally, however, the burden of sin has rendered people incapable of exerting sufficient force from within to neutralize the stress and tension from without. This is why the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad are vital to mental and physical health and well-being.
Let us cast off the burden of excess weight and begin to cast off the burden of sin. “When the earth is shaken with her shaking, And the earth brings forth her burdens, And man says: What has befallen her? On that day she will tell her news, As if thy Lord had revealed to her.
On that day men will come forth in sundry bodies that they may be shown their works. So he who does an atom’s weight of good will see it. And he who does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.” -Holy Qur’an, Surah 99, “The Shaking”
To be “overweight” is to carry a burden that we were not made to carry. Your frame was not made to carry the swill (garbage) that you put in it and on it. Nor was our mind made to carry the burden that comes from sin. The Holy Qur’an says that the Earth will cast off its burden. The burden that the Earth will cast off is not physical weight; it had at one time more than five billion inhabitants. It is now over four billion, so it is not overburdened with the number of people that are on it, but the kind of people that are on it.
“The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” The Earth was not made for the wicked, it is the home of the righteous. But the Earth is burdened by a civilization that does not belong here. This is why, in both the Bible and Holy Qur’an, you read of a destruction coming to the people of this world.
Dormant volcanoes are coming to life, burning people up with lava; earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones and hurricanes are destroying people. Allah (God) says, “I am getting rid of a burden on my earth and I am going to kill human beings until there is hardly anything left, because this Earth was made for the righteous.”
Now, you and I must rid ourselves of the burden that we carry. If you are awake and conscious, you cannot do things you know are wrong and not bear the burden and scar of your own actions. When you know what is right and willfully go against what is right, then your mind carries a burden. That is called “the burden of sin” and sin produces the death of the mind and spirit.
The way to relieve yourself of the burden of sin is to recognize that confession is good for the soul. Do not go to the preacher to confess, go to Allah (God). You have no intercessor between you and your Creator. You do not need any minister, priest, father or pope. Go to your Creator and talk to Him, because He already knows.
Then you openly confess. No one has to be there, just you; if you are sincere and sorry over what you did, you will start crying as you pray because you are so sad for what you did. When you finish your prayer, you will feel clean and when you come out from the private place where you confess your faults, the burden is lifted. Don’t ever go back to that behavior ever, ever again. When you make up your mind and not go back to that behavior, you are free of it.
So, you go home, Beloved, and get that long mirror as I told you to do in Part I of this series. When you are alone, take your clothes off and look at yourself. Make up your mind you are going to cast off the unwanted burden of excess fat.
Do not take any crash diet. That is madness. The excess fat did not arrive in a crash diet. Losing weight is a slow, painful process. Select the right foods to eat and discipline yourself. Say, “I am not going to eat between my meals. I am not going to do it.”
Beloved, there is nothing more powerful than a made-up mind. Don’t say, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” Don’t tell me about “tomorrow.” Don’t tell me about tomorrow, because you know nothing about tomorrow. All that you have is this moment in time. Make up your mind, now! No more swill, junk or filth in the House of Allah (God).
May God bless you with success in your endeavors to do His Will for the benefit of yourself, your family and your Nation.
