[Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint that was published online on June 1, 2004; and The Final Call will continue to publish articles by our brother and friend, Minister Jabril Muhammad.]
“And obey not the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and disregard their annoying talk, and rely on Allah. And Allah is enough as having charge (of affairs).” (Holy Qur’an 33:48)
“Surely those who annoy Allah and His Messenger, Allah has cursed them in this world and the Hereafter, and He has prepared for them an abasing chastisement. And those who annoy believing men and believing women undeservedly, they bear the guilt of slander and manifest sin.” (Holy Qur’an 33:57, 58)
Years ago, I picked up a book and saw a sentence that to me was worth the price of the entire book. I’ve read nothing else in that book since. I’ve misplaced it and don’t recall the title or its author. But I’m looking for it. The quote is “The more unlikely an event, the more information it yields.”
I’ve quoted this statement in previous articles because it points to a spiritual law that’s relevant to the primary purpose of this column. I intend to use it in this series because it’s relevant to a point the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan made in his May 3 press conference.
I originally wrote this article for the last issue of The Final Call. When I got to its end, I realized I needed more space to complete my point. I needed more time to think over how to present this vital point. So, I wrote what appeared last issue and used it, among other purposes, to lead into this vital point. I won’t rush it. It may take a few articles to state it clearly enough so that, even if it’s rejected, it won’t be because it was not clear.
We know that a statement may be clear, but yet false. However, true knowledge of a subject empowers us to see through clear, but false statements.
***
I recently saw a White pastor on TV who was preaching “Jesus.” He made the point that those who sought Jesus’ life were spiritually blind. In their blindness, he said, they didn’t see that they were serving God’s purposes in their crucifixion of Jesus. He stated that they were too blind to see that their crucifixion of Jesus served to bring in the Kingdom of God on earth.
If his words were properly applied to the right people, time and place, he would be right. But he spoke of 2,000 years ago. Therefore, he was wrong. The world of the wicked is still here.
Immediately after the May 3 press conference, I reflected on what my Brother had just said to America and to the world. My article (Vol. 23, No. 33) had already been written except for the space I left at its top to make a comment on his press conference statement, after he made it.
I reflected on the warning Minister Farrakhan gave to those who hate him to be careful how they handle him. I thought over how he issued this same warning at the end of his February worldwide Saviours’ Day speech. In both instances, he was firm, but humble. I decided to comment on his last warning. I also decided I would wait a few weeks to see how the media of America would handle his statement before I would comment further.
To me, it was obvious that there was, and is, an executive decision by the powers of America’s media to minimize the reporting on his Saviours’ Day speech. They whited–not blacked–it out. So, I thought they would do the same with his May 3 statement. But I wanted to wait and see. Meantime, I immediately wrote the following three paragraphs which appeared in Vol. 23, No. 33. Their whiting-out of his statements is to their detriment–not his or ours. Allah is Independent.
“Early in my experience in the Nation of Islam I learned, from reliable sources, of a comment made by a captain in the Detroit police force, respecting Master Fard Muhammad, when He allowed Himself to be jailed in that city. He was making a demonstration to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad of His love for and the price of redemption for Black people in America.
“This captain warned the ignorant to be extremely careful of how they handled Master Fard Muhammad for “He is a capsule of the highest explosives.” Later, I heard of similar statements regarding the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan stated it firmly and humbly, in his May 3 press conference in America’s capital when he warned the powerful of America to be careful how they handle him. He issued this warning from confirmed knowledge and understanding of his value in the eyes of God Almighty and His Christ. More on this vital point next article Allah willing.”
Here is that “more.”
My only lesson from any scripture, before I became a follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, came from my mother when I was four years old. She read a passage from a Bible to my brother and I, which included: “Prepare Me a body and I will go down and redeem man.” I don’t recall the rest of what she read or said to us.
My next scriptural lesson came years later when I first met Brother Malcolm. In our discussion, he made excellent use of part of what I later came to learn were Lessons, which registered Muslims in the Nation of Islam receive. I did not know, at that time, that those lessons were “scriptural.”
Parenthetically, by “scriptural” I mean that they were answers the Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave to his Teacher, Master Fard Muhammad, in the early 1930s. Those answers were based on his understanding of his Teacher’s teachings, at that time, which included the perfect interpretation of the scriptures.
Several years later, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad shared with some of us, something of his stupendous growth in his ability to answer those same questions far beyond the answers he gave his Teacher in the early thirties.
One day, early in my experience in the Nation of Islam, as I was listening to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad deliver one of his illuminating speeches, he cited those same words my mother read to my brother and I: “Prepare Me a body and I will go down and redeem man.” I was impacted.
He said this appeared in an older translation of the Bible, in English, which most people did not have. Then, he concisely interpreted it.
I can’t overestimate the importance of the truth of the understanding of that passage of the Bible and its relevance to each of us; to every nation on earth now and forever. I intend to get into what he taught of this extremely pivotal, crucial, essential, key, fundamental, critical, central and vital passage, which is indispensable to our understanding of everything now happening in America and throughout every part of the world.
Sounds like I’m overdoing it, doesn’t it?
We can convey a truth in a way that contributes to misunderstanding. One way is by being too brief. If you paint a picture in two minutes, that naturally takes an hour, you won’t communicate effectively.
Go to a Black man or woman and say: “Accept your own and be yourself.” What will happen? Smile. I intend to touch this next article.
But, I’ve also heard the Honorable Elijah Muhammad say that you can explain how the universe was created if you make it simple enough.
Of course, there is another reason for misunderstandings of another kind, regardless to how plain a truth is conveyed: hearts that are too wicked.
Now for the relevance of Minister Farrakhan’s warnings to “Prepare Me a body and I will go down and redeem man.”
More next issue, Allah willing.
