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12-17-99 Comments on The Holy Quran What is the Quran, Islam, Prophet, Muslim
Masjid Bilal Cleveland, Ohio
Imam Warith Deen Mohammed
Transcript 1st draft unedited Nasir Ahmad
no D = dictionary of terms P = printed hard copy
No Q = Qur’an Tafser no X = excerpted
Ramadan Session #1 Friday
Tape 1 Side A
As Salaam Aliakum. Bismillaher Rahmaaner Raheem. Ashadu an la elaaha illalahu wahdahu la shareka lahu wa ash hadu anna Muhammadan abduha wa rasuluhu. Sallallahu alayhe wa sallam amma buad.
Q. 2.183; Ramadan prescribed for fasting
“O ye who believe! fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that you may (learn) self-restraint.”
1999 RAMADAN SESSION
Well this is the month of Ramadan, we’re witnessing it and fasting in this month, those who qualify and are able to fast the month of Ramadan, it is a month of blessings, great blessings, many blessings. I’ve never fasted the month of Ramadan and weren’t aware of special blessing being given or receive by me during the month of Ramadan. I’ve never fasted the month without being aware that I was receiving special blessings that I didn’t receive in other months.
Also as you know, when someone completes the fast the month of Ramadan and have done it sincerely, fasted sincerely, not to lose weight, not to try to get pretty and wear your small clothes that you use to wear or not to improve your health, but you did it because Allah says fast in the month of Ramadan.
And the Prophet established fasting for us in the month of Ramadan. He did it because you knew that was your obligation as a Muslim to do it. If you did it for that reason and you reason was not corrupted with other interests you had too, that you combined with it, made something else as important as the fasting as a Muslim, then you got great blessing if you fasted. And you will get great blessings every time you fast that way.
m. 23 Ramadan Karriem
So this is a very special month for us and we will celebrate it on the Eid day, on the Eid Al Fitr at the end of the fast en sha Allah. So we wish each and everyone of you a blessed Ramadan and as they say Ramadan Karriem, that’s something lately put in the greeting.
Ramadan Karriem, that’s something, its nice, Ramadan Karriem. Ramadan we expect for us to be blessed generously, karriem means generosity and karriem means honorable, honorable, noble, noble, honorable and karriem means yes, generous, generous. Most noble people and honorable people they are generous, so the two go together, noble, nobility, nobleness and honor they go together. That’s why its translated sometime honorable or honor and translated sometime generous, generous both meanings are in karriem.
So when you say Ramadan karriem it’s a very good expression but Allah says of Ramadan the month in which He’s given great blessings, G-d, Allah called it Mubarak, He didn’t call it karriem. So I don’t follow the trends, I don’t follow the trends but please keep saying to me, Imam Ramadan Karriem, its fine.
I think the immigrant Muslims introduced that into America to tell you that you’re not blessed, first be honorable, clean up, be respectable, be respectable, karriem, honorable with respect and be generous. Don’t be asking for so much, give something, I think that’s what they’re trying to tell the blacks and I’m not in that, I don’t fit in that group. I’ve always tried to give as much as I could and I’ve always tried to respect what is to be respected. So I don’t need them to tell me to say Ramadan karriem.
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The Holy Quran is Karriem, that’s an attribute of the Quran. So we’ve started the session already, you taking notes? Good, good.
Now we want to read some Quran before, then I’ll continue. From the last of surah Baqara, beginning with mentioning of the Prophet, Ar Rasul meaning Muhammad the Prophet (pbuh) to whom the Quran was revealed who is the Messenger of G-d.
Q. 2.285; The Prophet and believers believe
“The Apostle believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his Lord as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in Allah His angels His books and His Apostles "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His Apostles." And they say: "We hear and we obey; (We seek) Thy forgiveness Our Lord and to Thee is the end of all journeys."
The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from His Lord and so, also have the believers. Everyone of them believe in G-d, Allah that is, means G-d and His angels and His Books of Revelation and His Messengers. They do not discriminate among or between His Messengers. Discriminate means to say one is better than the other or one is more legitimate than the other. As far as them being the Messengers of G-d they accept them all. That they all have equal respect, qualification as the Messengers of G-d, that’s what it means, that we don’t say one was a half Messenger of G-d and the other one was a full messenger of G-d. One was a weak Messenger of G-d and one was a strong messenger of G-d, we don’t question, we don’t make distinctions between their legitimacy. They are all equally legitimate as Messengers of G-d like you can’t say one of us born of a mother and a father is more legitimate than another born of the same mother and same father. No matter what you think of us individually or how we rate with each other according to our own performance, each one of our performance, it does not at all affect the legitimacy of each one of us. So that’s what it means.
We do not give more legitimacy to one Messenger than another Messenger, that’s what it, exactly what it means, we don’t not make distinctions. We know there is distinction, Moses received a much bigger responsibility from G-d than did Aaron, two Prophets, his brother, his brother was a Prophet. So we know there’s a difference, there’s a big difference between Moses and Aaron, two Prophets, brothers peace be upon them. So it doesn’t mean that, it means we do not question their legitimacy.
m. 86
Anybody else question the legitimacy of Prophets? Certainly, the Jews have not accepted Jesus Christ yet peace be upon him as a Prophet. Only a few Jews, modern Jews today, maybe its a few back then but the numbers are so few they are not even known.
Somebody sleeping they have to go, if you sleep here you have to go, now brother you have to go and wake up or you have to get out of here, you can’t, I can’t look at somebody sleeping and they stay in here, no.
How many of my students, my students? Raise you hands, if your hand went up slow you should get out of here, no, no joke, believe me this is no joke, I’m dead serious. If your hand went up slow you should just leave, if you’re gonna grade me you should not have come here, I don’t need you to grade me. You didn’t teach me how you’re gonna grade me?
m. 108
And I’ve had you grading me, brother Imam that was pretty good that time, brother Imam I think you did pretty good that time, that’s the best I ever heard, I really like how you explained such and such a thing. And its not what you say as much as it is the spirit that you say it in, your attitude and your spirit tells me that you think you know something and you come just to listen to me to see can you find fault, find some weaknesses, find something to say was wrong. And if you’re pleased then you say “oh you got a ”A” today brother Imam. You’re wasting me time and your time. So don’t do that, anybody see someone sitting among them and they look like they don’t belong here, please come and give me their names.
Okay, now returning to this, this reading from the last of surah Baqara, the last ayaat, verses of suratul Baqara.
Bismillaher Rahmaaner Raheem
and they say, who say? The believers say, don’t lose what we’re talking about, the believers say. And who is the first of the believers mentioned here? I want to hear you, Muhammad the Prophet (pbuh) Ar Rasul, yes brother.
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Ar Rasul, Ar Rasululaahe is the first of the believers that’s mentioned here.
Q.2.156; We return to Allah
"Who say when afflicted with calamity: "To Allah we belong and to Him is our return."
And they say, means Muhammad (pbuh) say too, and they say we hear and we obey, we seek forgiveness of You our Lord and to You is our destination, where we’re going. We’re going to You. And that doesn’t mean you’re dying. I’m going to be hitting on things that I know you doing wrong. You have a Christian saying when someone die, they return to Allah. How do you know? Everything returns to Allah but what is the meaning of that? Everything returns to Allah but what is the meaning of that, what is the meaning of everything returns to Allah? Allah says everything will return to Him not just you, everything, what does it mean? And Imam want to answer that for me? Lets see the hands of those who want to answer that question for me. What does it mean that you return to Allah? I want someone close so I can hear them when I speak, so I can hear them, don’t have to strain to hear them, yes brother right here with the white shirt.
Comment:
As Salaam Alaikum Bro Imam I believe it means that Allah will make the final summing up of what his worth was, the determination of his value in
W.D. Mohammed:
Yes sir, yes sir you’re correct a perfect answer, perfect answer. All accounts will be settled by G-d, all accounts will be settled by G-d the last, the last payment is to G-d. That’s exactly, that’s a perfect answer I don’t have any question, any criticism of it at all. But it also means everything got its beginning from G-d, because of G-d and because of the power of G-d, the Will of G-d. And things go astray from His Will, they break with the Will of G-d and in the end everything comes back under G-d’s Will, under G-d’s authority and under G-d’s Will.
[Le] means possession
The word [Le] means possession, it indicates possession and its stronger than [enda, ende] if I say [ende ketab] that’s correct, it means I have a book, [ende ketab] “I have a book”. But if I say [Le walid] “I have a son” that’s stronger, that’s a stronger possession. That means I have rights to this son as a father because of natural ties, natural ties, we are naturally tied to each other. And because of first rights, first rights.
So Allah use the expression [Le] in fact in the beginning of this reading we just made I didn’t start at the beginning, it says “to G-d is whatever is in the, for G-d, means it belongs to Him, for G-d is whatever is in the skies and whatever is in the earth. To G-d you’re returning, they’re returning, to G-d is the destination, the final abode.
“Le” = For “Enda” = With
m.181 First title (ownership) with G-d
So this strong word [Le] whatever, whenever G-d says something is His, He never uses [enda], He never uses [enda] because things are always His. The first right to anything is always G-d’s, if we believe in G-d, if we believe in G-d then the first title was G-d’s. The first title to the universe, the first title to human beings, first title to anything, it was G-d’s, so that’s why [Le] is always in use with G-d. with G-d its always [Le].
If any, any softer language was used like [enda, endee] means I have something” like [ende] for possession, for possession, if something like that is used then usually its not just G-d, but the angels or the Messengers, others are included and it is saying that not so much that they possess that, but they were present. They were present and had knowledge of what was going on regarding a particular thing whether it you a person or anything or a happening. The destruction of the town or city or whatever and to them were the reports or the news or the information, this thing is not as close in the relationship to the possessor as to say the object belong to G-d. This is just a happening that occurred, its different, its different, alright.
We hear and we obey
So the Messenger of G-d (pbuh) says, along with all the other believers, we hear and we obey, what does that expression bring to your mind? We say we hear and we obey, it means that we do not question what G-d said, we don’t question what G-d says. We hear and we obey.
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Like a soldier in the army he hear the cadence and he carries them out, he doesn’t think about it, say “hey should I left face or should I right face”? He doesn’t think about it, he knows he’s suppose to hear and obey those cadence. Islam, if we know G-d said this, now hesitation, hear and obey. [aqamis salat] you don’t think about it, you get up and do your prayers, you don’t think about it, you don’t hesitate because you know G-d established that [aqamis salat], right? Yes, we hear and we obey.
Now right after that it comes “forgive us, we ask Your forgiveness our Lord”, so that tells us they don’t always hear and obey, but their wish and their obligation is to hear and obey. Now this doesn’t include the Prophet (pbuh) but for all others they hear and they don’t always obey as soon as they hear. They have to learn the obedience of the Messengers of G-d from the Messengers of G-d, from the Word of G-d and the Messengers they learn this obedience. And to You is our eventual destination or eventual coming, where we will end up eventually.
Nafs feminine
Q. 2.286; No soul has burden it can’t bear
“On no soul doth Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray): "Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; help us against those
who stand against faith."
Now, “G-d does not burden a soul, any person except with what it has a capacity to bear. [wus-aha] means its capacity, G-d will not put on it more than it has the capacity to bear. For it is what it has earned and upon it, its what has been recorded, what has been recorded, but look at the ending of the word here, this is the [nafsun] right? The [Nafs] is feminine in grammar, grammatically speaking, in grammar, Arabic grammar the [Nafs] is feminine. [Ma kasabat] upon it is what it has earned and against it or upon it [Ma kasabat].
Now it means what has been recorded. Now the angels record don’t they? Are the angels masculine for feminine? Raise you hand if you know, anyone close up here or back there, I want to see all the hands who know. Are angels masculine or feminine in Islam, raise you hand if you know, no one closer, you all should have been in the back and the others should be up here. The first students are back in the back.
m. 228 Angel are masculine
Q. 50.17, 18; Angels record actions
17. Behold two (guardian angels) appointed to learn (his doings) learn (and note them) one sitting on the right and one on the left.
18. Not a word does he utter but there is a sentinel
by him ready (to note it).
Soul records all your actions
Commentor:
Masculine
W. D. Mohammed:
Masculine, that’s correct, I saw some hand, I just want to get more response from you don’t be shy, you listen to me and you grade me let me listen to you and grade you. Yes, the angels are masculine, so its not talking about the angels and the angels record don’t they? They record our deeds but this is not talking about the angels, something is recording, its your own soul. Your own soul registers what you do good or bad, you’ll forget it but its in your soul, your soul will never release it, it’ll stay there forever. Everything that happens in your life is recorded upon your soul and it will stay there forever. Your soul records it.
Now look how the connection is made, see this is how you test someone to see if they know what they’re talking about or not; if they don’t know what they’re talking about it won’t follow through with --the meanings won’t be consistent, the meanings won’t be consistent and this is Revelation. Shouldn’t only be consistent it should be powerfully unfolding, powerfully unfolding, should not be just a little simple unfolding, it should be a powerful unfolding a mighty unfolding if its Revelation, and it is Revelation
Soul mind different Mind forgets soul records
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Our Lord do not charge us with or punish us if we should forget or make a mistake, if we should forget or make a mistake.
The mind forgets, the mind makes mistakes the soul records perfectly everything that happens, but the soul and the mind are different. So you see how it starts? Hear and I obey, we hear and we obey, that’s perfect obedience right? Hear and immediately obey, perfect obedience and then the soul, the self is not burdened except by what it has the capacity to bear, that’s the soul.