DETROIT—The Nation of Islam’s Saviours’ Day 2026 convention concluded a weekend of workshops, presentations and righteous entertainment with a reminder that the duty of civilized people is to help make their communities into safe and decent places to live.
During the closing plenary session, “What is the Duty of a Civilized Person & What is the Meaning of Civilization?” held February 21, presenters explained to the audience that the fallen nature of mankind has poisoned the entirety of humanity.
And that a community’s success or failure rests upon whether or not its people desire the righteousness of a new world prophesied to come in as the old world of the wicked is removed, according to scripture.
“(From) today’s plenary, we’re dealing with two questions,” said Student Minister Jeffrey Muhammad of Chicago’s Mosque Maryam. “What is the meaning of civilization and what is the duty of a civilized person? As we go through this august body, it’s not just the question, but who is asking the question,”
He said, referring a question that Allah (God) in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, The Great Mahdi asked of His Student, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam.
“When we look at the word civilization, when we look at civilized human beings, one of the answers is: ‘One having knowledge, wisdom and understanding, culture, refinement and is not savage,’” Student Min. Jeffrey said of the Supreme Wisdom Lessons given by Master Fard Muhammad to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
According to the Supreme Wisdom Lessons a savage is defined as “… a person that has lost the knowledge of himself and who is living a beast life” and that it is the duty of those striving to become civilized is to share knowledge, wisdom and understanding for the betterment of society.
“We have a message. We have a teaching that had been given to us by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and it’s being taught to us by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan that will allow us to drop a seed;
It will allow us to put an idea in the minds of the Lost-Found brother and sister,” said panelist and presenter Sister Marcia Muhammad a registered nurse and a member of the ministry class at Mosque Maryam.
“That message, that seed, that idea will awaken them. We have a divine duty to go out and teach those who are in that state (of savagery), civil behavior, civilization,” Sis. Marcia said. “We that have been awakened, let us know that we’re not fully civilized yet. We’re in the process of being civilized under the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.”
Sis. Marcia said the process of perfection first requires introspection and an honest critique of self.
“We have more refinement that needs to be done,” she explained. “Refinement meaning cultivated, polite, which is good manners, good morals. We are in that process of removing the vulgarity, of removing the coarse behavior, removing the savagery because we are in the process of resurrection,” she added.
Student Minister Ilia Rashad Muhammad of Memphis, told the audience that Allah’s (God’s) Coming in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad is not only a demonstration of His profound love for the rejected and despised.
But through His Teachings, are also a roadmap to making the last the first, the tail the head and to raise the bottom rail to the top of civilization. Student Min. Ilia is a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group, an author, educator and documentarian.
“It’s about The God who came not just to take us from a savage condition and make us civilized, but we’re dealing with The God that loved us so much that He wanted to take us from that position of ignominy to a civilized state and ultimately, according to the lessons, He wants to put us on top of civilization,” Student Min. Ilia Rashad said. “So, the question is asked, ‘What is the duty of a civilized person?’”
Sister Aminah Bayyinah Muhammad is the Administrative Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and a member of the Nation of Islam Shura Executive Council. Sharing words from Minister Farrakhan.
She said to the audience that the Lessons given by Master Fard Muhammad are not to be taken lightly, and that within them are formulas for not only problem-solving, the proper way of handling people and a mathematical understanding of theology, but also for introspection regarding self-examination, self-analysis and self-correction as qualifiers for leadership during the change of worlds.
“In the Supreme Wisdom Lessons by Master Fard Muhammad, there are 13 Original Rules of Instruction given to the Laborers by our Saviour,” Sis. Aminah said, stating in part that the 13th rule equates the process of resurrection and being awakened to opportunities provided to a farmer working in an open field.
“Lost-Found Lesson number two, the first-term examination assignment of Mr. Elijah Muhammad, contains 40 questions answered by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad on February 20, 1934,” Sis. Aminah continued.
“Questions 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 address the meaning of civilization, the duty of a civilized person, and the consequences for a civilized person not performing their duty,” she added, as outlined in Ezekiel 3:18 and St. Luke 12:47 in the Bible.
Noting how negative consequences can befall both the righteous and the unrighteous, Sis. Aminah implored those listening to take heed of the knowledge imparted by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as taught by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, and to understand the nature of the law of cause and effect, as well as other formulas for success.
“If you have knowledge, you use it with wisdom to show people the error of their thinking or the correct way that they should think,” Sis. Aminah said, again quoting Minister Farrakhan.
“If you tell me I am the chosen of God, I ask you, chosen for what? What purpose did He choose you for? He didn’t choose you just because you’re Jewish or Muslim or Christian,” she insisted. “He chose you because He wanted you to show forth His Beneficence, His Mercy to others.”
Pointing out the heavy responsibility that falls upon those claiming to represent Allah (God), Sis. Aminah added that the failure to correct oneself before correcting others often yields negative results, and when a person or a people are chosen by God, He puts upon them a duty first to self, which makes falsehood, arrogance, jealousy and envy, dangerous exercises of self-righteousness.
“If you take the knowledge and do not carry out the responsibility of that knowledge, then that knowledge is a curse,” Sis. Aminah said, again quoting Minister Farrakhan.