“Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book and keep up prayer. Surely prayer keeps (one) away from indecency and evil; and certainly the remembrance of Allah is the greatest (force). And Allah knows what you do.”— The Holy Qur’an, 29:45
On July 14, for the Nation of Islam’s weekly Sunday message broadcast from Mosque Maryam in Chicago, Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, took up the subject, “The Remembrance of Allah is the Greatest Force.”
The subject had been in his heart for weeks. A conversation with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan gave him the fuel to deliver it.
“I was blessed to speak with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, and he gave me and us our subject today. Not directly; indirectly by the things that he was sharing with me,” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad said. “Allah inspired him to say words from the Holy Qur’an that opened the subject matter that’s been on my heart, which is ‘The Remembrance of Allah is the Greatest Force,’” he said, referring to the Islamic book of scripture.
Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad opened the subject by defining the word “remember.” According to Webster’s Dictionary, to “remember” means “to bring to mind or think again”; “to recall”; “to keep in mind for attention or consideration”; “to retain in the memory”; “to record or commemorate.”
He went on to recite Surah 112 of the Holy Qur’an, titled, “Al-Ikhlas” (The Unity), in both Arabic and English:
“Qul: hu Allahu Ahad Allahu Samad
Lam yalid wa lam yulad
Wa lam ya kulahu kufuwan Ahad”
“Say: He, Allah, is One.
Allah is He on Whom all depend.
He begets not, nor is He begotten;
And none is like Him.”
“Why does He tell us to remember Him, and why is it so easy and common to forget about God when He is the Author of everything?” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad questioned. He explained that all the honor and praise goes to God because every idea the human being has and everything the human being makes comes from creation.
God at the Center
Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad urged the listening audience at Mosque Maryam in Chicago as well as those viewing the broadcast via webcast, to center themselves around God and to live their heaven on Earth by making the right decisions.
“The first law that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us of the universe is motion, and the second law is order; and Allah says in the Qur’an He regulates the affair,” he said. “Our lives are not regulated, so it’s not a smooth ride. It’s bumpy as hell.”
He used the Earth’s revolution as an example of what a “smooth ride” should feel like, as the earth travels at 1,037 1/3 miles per hour revolving around the sun.
“If you don’t have a smooth ride right now, and most of us don’t, it’s because we don’t have order, meaning we lack discipline, and we don’t have regulation for our affairs. This is an ordered universe. There’s no chaos in God’s creation. Everything is following a pattern. Everything is on time. Everything is being regulated according to the Will of God and the aim and purpose for everything that He has brought into existence” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad explained. “Your life, my life, has aim and purpose, and when you and I accept God into our life, then our life has meaning. We have a purposeful living instead of just living for tomorrow, but meaningful because of the Hereafter. I am sure. I see my future. I know where I want to go. I know what I want to do. I know what I want to be.”
He displayed an image of an archery target board and walked the audience through a metaphorical exercise of imagining God as the target.
“What happens when you don’t practice on the target and the goal, and the target is God? You miss everything that’s in the circle of your own existence. You’re throwing a dart, and the dart isn’t even hitting anything,” he said.
He explained how without practice, the eye initially takes in everything, but the more the eye focuses on the target, the more everything else is blurred and the target is the only thing in sight.
“From all of our activities in life and life itself, it starts with the God who is the Originator,” he said. “But I have to pray every day. That prayer to keep the focus, keep the goal, keep the target of my life in view, otherwise I get caught up or caught in some of the other circles of activity and affairs that become a distraction from the goal.”
Killing the satanic mind
Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad described Satan as “the distractor and the distraction.” When the focus is not on God, then people become drawn to the atmosphere and the influence of other people. This then causes a disconnect between man and God, he said.
Using the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he defined the “Hereafter” as not only the destruction of Satan and his world, but the destruction of the satanic mind and the killing of the demons of self, which would grant the human being peace, contentment of mind and happiness.
“But it’s a work. It’s a fight. Life is a fight. Life is a struggle,” he added, noting that struggle was present even when the human being was a sperm swimming against the current.
“Your little life, it wasn’t distracted. Your little life didn’t say ‘Oh, this is hard. This is so difficult. Oh my God, look at all of this opposition and hostility.’ Your little life said ‘Uh huh, fine. Keep on coming baby, because I can handle this. I can overcome this,’” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad said.
“Now you come out of that hostile environment. You come out of that place where there was resistance, opposition, into another environment that’s hostile and a world of Satan that has a gravitational pull and force on your life to hold you down and keep you from reaching your goal,” he continued. “Satan is a force of evil, and He wants to hold you down. You got resistance. There are obstacles in your life.”
Yet, God also faced resistance in bringing in Creation, he reminded the audience. It’s important to access God through prayer and to seek Him out for guidance, direction, protection and mercy.
“The Remembrance of Allah is the Greatest Force. What is force? It’s strength. It’s power. It’s energy. It’s an attribute of physical or mental action, but it all involves movement. That which is not in the presence of light has no motion or movement,” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad said.
He explained that light is synonymous with knowledge, and knowledge is power.
“You can’t have power without the knowledge of self and the knowledge of God and the knowledge of the devil and the knowledge of the time that you and I are living in. So Black people are powerless because we don’t have the requisite knowledge that gives us power and makes us powerful,” he said. “Do you want to be powerful? Then it’s through the acquisition of knowledge, and the greatest knowledge the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said is the knowledge of self.”
Through the deprivation of knowledge, the White slavemaster actively deprived Black people of light, causing Black people to walk in darkness, he said. But God would raise one, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who would impart “Life-Giving Teachings,” causing a new pattern of thought that would do away with the old mind of Satan.
He placed emphasis on plugging into God and recharging through prayer, charity, fasting and acts of kindness.
“See that sun out there? It’s a big mystery. Been there for trillions of years. It’s a self-refueling source of energy. Do you and I have that potential? Absolutely. To be a self-regenerating force and power. How do I do it? The Remembrance of Allah is the greatest force for my life,” he said.
Operating at the highest level
Right now, the Black man and woman have been breathing in carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas that can cause death. They have inhaled the lies and falsehood of Satan, including the White man’s education, religion, culture and system of things, Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad said. Yet, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is a man giving out pure oxygen filled with God’s will, instructions, knowledge, wisdom and revelation.
“We breathe in or inhale such wisdom. The brain cells begin to operate at their highest level of efficiency,” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad said. “The brain cells begin to operate at their highest level of efficiency when we bring in and inhale God’s truth. It lights up the brain. It increases the energy of life in your life because you’re feeding from the source of life itself, which is God.”
“When you start feeding on the revealed word, the Minister said it’s the highest form of energy that is contained in that divine revelation and the brain begins to oscillate, vibrate, function at its best level,” he added. “And the more it feeds from that source, the stronger the brain becomes, the stronger is the mind of God operating in the brain from the brain for the success that you and I want in life.”
Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad concluded the message by reminding the audience that to “remember” is a mental exercise to make Allah (God) the target.
“Simply obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong, and if you do, it will be like good medicine healing your wounds and easing your pain. So don’t let yourself get so busy or distracted that you forget God and allow other things or people to take His place in your life,” he said.
“The men and the women that remember Allah much, Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a mighty reward. If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord, Allah, and remembering the Lord is the greatest force. Keep God at the focus of your and my life. Keep Him where He belongs, and you will see that if we make Him the focus, everything else will find its proper place because God is at the center of our existence,” he concluded.
To view this message in its entirety, visit media.noi.org.
