Theology Thursdays: Exclusive Q & A With Minister Abdul Khadir Muhammad, East Coast Regional Representative Of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Re: Saviours' Day 2005
On February 27, 2005, live via satellite from Christ Universal Temple in Chicago, Illinois, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan will deliver his Saviours' Day 2005 Keynote Address, "He Came That We May Have Life". The highlight of the Nation Of Islam's annual convention, long promoted as the crowing event of Black History Month will be broadcast in over 120 cities in the United States and numerous locations around the world.
The event will come one day after Minister Louis Farrakhan participates in a symposium hosted by Tavis Smiley, “The State of the Black Union: Defining the African American Agenda," featuring an array of Black leaders. The symposium be broadcast live via C-Span across the country.
BlackElectorate.com Publisher Cedric Muhammad recently visited Minister Farrakhan's East Coast/Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic Regional Minister, Abdul Khadir Muhammad, at Muhammad's Mosque #4 in Washington D.C. to discuss Minister Farrakhan's scheduled address; the spiritual development of Believers; the material progress of spiritual communities; the problem of violence among Blacks; and the ten year anniversary of the Million Man March to be observed later this year in October.
Minister Abdul Khadir Muhammad and the Believers of Muhammad's Mosque # 4 will be viewing Minister Farrakhan's address via satellite and observing Saviours' Day at the D.C. Armory at 2001 East Capitol Street, NE. Doors Open at 12 PM. For More Information Call 202-399-1010
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Cedric Muhammad: As-Salaam-Alaikum Brother Minister Khadir.
Minister Abdul Khadir Muhammad: Wa-Laikum-Salaam.
Cedric Muhammad: As we have done the last couple of years we wanted to speak with you at a time close to our celebration of Saviours’ Day in the Nation Of Islam, and check in with you to see what the last year has been like. What have been some of the things that you have been working hard on in the region where you have responsibility and your base, Washington, D.C.?
Minister Abdul Khadir Muhammad: Well, number one, dear Brother Cedric I am honored to be alive to do such an interview and the past interviews, thank you. And I want to thank the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for allowing me to be a servant and one of his ministers in the Nation Of Islam to represent him here in Washington D.C., and to be Mid-Atlantic, Eastern Region Minister for him as well.
Over the past year we have had, in Muhammad’s Mosque #4, a great excitement in terms of what we want to do to survive as a family. It will be a test for us. We want to be able to be steadfast in our help to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan when he is with our Lord. Our testimony has been our work – our fishing for the members of the Lost-Found Nation Of Islam in the West, our love, and the purification of our hearts and our spreading of the Word of God.
So this year we were tested in going after our people and bringing people to the Mosque to accept the word. We have not done as great a job in this area as I would have liked. Our ideal function of course is to provide sincere help to the Honorable Minister Farrakhan although it appears as if some of us are losing the anxiousness, that excitement and zeal. That fully developed and informed personality to be a follower of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. We have to be properly insulated, that no matter what comes at us it would not get us out of our work.
Now, of course in the region we have experienced tremendous development in cities that have grown to do terrific things in helping in this cause. We have made great achievements in Massachusets, in Boston and Springfield, with economic development. We have made tremendous progress in New York City in terms of the radio broadcast of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s words across the air. We have made tremendous progress in Newark, New Jersey in terms of fighting the problem of gang violence there between the Bloods and Crips. And then as we travel down to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of course there is the Delaware Valley which has made great and tremendous strides in helping out with the work of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Right there in Baltimore, Maryland, the work is being done with the Lost-Founds and in Washington D.C. In the state of Virginia – Richmond, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia; in North Carolina, in Durham, in Greensboro, in Charlotte and even in Columbia, South Carolina we have all made tremendous strides.
Cedric Muhammad: For a minute I would like to discuss spiritual development and material development. I think there is confusion over their relationship to one another and identifying the proper standard in evaluating the progress of both when it comes to Divine work. Could you talk a little bit about your view of building people versus building physical buildings. Because in many respects, some churches, mosques and temples are seen as successful because of the amount of apartment buildings they have, or restaurants and economic development. And others are known more for what they do in terms of transforming human lives. What is the appropriate balance in your mind? And how do these two relate to each other, in your work and from the perspective of any Believer?
Minister Abdul Khadir Muhammad: Well, what comes to mind on this spiritual part is that we have to build the Believers while balancing the building of the economic base. The economic base is needed to bring a balance to the Muslim life. The progress of course, in this area, allows us to satisfy the basic needs of our people. This allows the Believers to take pride and to demonstrate to their people, family members and others the accomplishments that we have made in helping the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. That would be housing, new homes, malls, restaurants and small acres of farm land owned by Believers – that which brings the balance with the Holy Qur’an readings, and Mosque and Study Group settings. That there is something more to the Muslim life than just the normal everyday, principled life of a Muslim believing in Allah and His Messenger. It helps to create an attractive atmosphere allowing the Believer to say that this is why I am a member of the Nation Of Islam and a follower of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. The physical surroundings are important to making a home.
Now of course, on the other hand, the very first line of business is the spiritual development of the people. For instance, in our promoting of this Saviours’ Day 2005 when I speak to people in the street, I am not just interested in ticket sales. I want to know if you are coming. My position is don’t buy a ticket if you are not going to come. There are those that say to me, ‘Well, Brother you need the money.’ And I say, ‘No. we need the people to hear the Word.’ That is far more important than the money although we need money as well. I don’t want to have a venue that is sold out, ticket wise, but where we have to go out and give the tickets away in order to get the people to fill the building. No. If you purchase the ticket, thank you, but we want you to come and attend so that you can finish saving your soul. We need salvation while we are still alive above everything else.
Now the study aspect of the life of a Muslim is a necessity in spiritual development. But we have to study more than books. We have to study exemplars of righteous conduct. We often wonder how it is that the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan do what he does. He receives the light, from its source, Allah, and when it comes his way, he never, ever has another love for something else that would turn that light away. Everything is secondary to him when compared to the love and the light that comes to him from Allah. Now many of us will elevate other ‘loves’ and see the light of God coming in our direction and tell Him to wait, putting God on the backburner. We need to do the same thing that the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan does, in taking the light of God as it comes to us, inside of our souls. We do not want to be a dressed up Muslim whose face looks good, wearing a nice suit and garments but on the inside there is nothing there. No source of light for our survival.
The 81st Surah is called, “The Folding Up”, and it talks about the recorded time of that Sun that has given its light for many, many years. This chapter talks about the dust-colored stars and mountains that are made to pass away and the camels that are abandoned. All this refers to the lifestyle offered to us by the American system. Of course to have a camel would be to have a nice car. The mountains are the ruling political powers; the stars are those who think that their light is so bright that it would never have become dust-colored, and the sun that is folded is the end of the recorded history of 6,000 years. But the book goes on to say that another sun will begin to start with another record. This means that us, as Muslims, have a spiritual sun. If this world’s light goes out, our light will not. We have stars in us that will not be dust colored. We have a stabilized government that will not go away. And of course we have an economic base to take us further than their lifestyle and government.
Cedric Muhammad: I have right in front of me one of the beautiful advertisements for “Saviours Day 2005”, Sunday February 27, 2005. For those of us here, it will be broadcast live via satellite in the D.C. Armory. The title of Minister Louis Farrakhan’s address is, “He Came That We May Have Life”. I just wanted to know what are you thoughts on Saviours’ Day 2005 and what you have heard from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan regarding this Saviours’ Day?
Minister Abdul Khadir Muhammad: Well, at first, Brother, Minister Farrakhan talked about how we are at the time where it is recognizable that we are a nation within a nation. And then he also talked about how we must have some earth that we can call our own. He along with that said we must prepare a proper destiny for our people. So to have this title that he arrived at, “He Came That We May Have Life”, well you cannot have a nation within a nation where there is no life. You have got to have life. You cannot have any earth that you can call your own if there is no life in it. And the proper destiny is one that leads us to the very life of God. So, as always his hints toward the talk for Saviours’ Day are always kept close to himself. It is very intimate to him. He wants to let us know it at a time when God permits him to speak and where God releases it from Himself through the Honorable Minister Farrakhan, that it be more of an intimate setting. Not just to us as Members of the Nation Of Islam, but for the entire Black community, or as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan told me, ‘From now on, when you see all of our Brothers and Sisters, Brother, they are Members of the Lost-Found Nation Of Islam.’
So this talk will be geared to getting across to us that there should be no shock or divisive attitude in anyone saying ‘Well, I am a Christian, or I am a Hebrew, or I am this or that.’ The bottom line is that those who want to follow God have to be those who completely submit themselves to do God’s will. Now, what do you call a person that does that – submits themselves completely and entirely, leaving nothing out, to do God’s will? I have found that is the very definition of the word Muslim. And there is nothing wrong with following Jesus because Jesus is an example of what the God wants us to be. He is filled up with what God gave him - so much so - that those around Jesus worshipped him almost. But he always let them know that they should not worship him, they should follow him to God, the Father. He guided them to understand that they are to worship That which has given him (Jesus) life. So as he received the life, he is also now, offering that to us.
And as Brother Minister Farrakhan talks to us, he wants us to see that the chance is still there, for us today, and we have to make our view of God, the scriptures, and the prophets relevant to our circumstances and this time. “He Came That We May Have Life” will be understood on Saviours’ Day, February 27, 2005 by those who listen.
Cedric Muhammad: Yes Sir. Brother Minister, it was reported in the Washington Post and in the Final Call newspaper article about a recent meeting and efforts to begin planning and organizing around the observance of the ten year anniversary of the Million Man March. I wanted to know what that meeting was like and what came out of it as we move forward to October of this year.
Minister Abdul Khadir Muhammad: Well, of course as always we have to have the guidance of our great Minister, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, who has called for the Million Man March. It is recorded in history about A. Philip Randolph with the idea back in the 1950s and that which was explored by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and then completely fulfilled by the beloved Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
This March is needed again because we go back to the topic, the subject – “He Came That We may Have Life”. It goes back to see the two circles that Ezekiel saw, the Wheel within the Wheel, a nation within a nation. We have to see that the Million Man March was a glimpse of heaven and a base for finishing this important work of liberating our people. It gave us an alternative view to consider what our unity can result in, in the midst of a decaying society and nation. We have been given a tremendous opportunity to capture the dissatisfaction that exists within this nation and more specifically our people – a nation within a nation.
Think of the rebelliousness of those who are going against the system because they see no life, no light, no power left in it, they would love to have something that they can call their own. And to have Minister Farrakhan call again for an anniversary to also drive home the point of how it happened the first time and to discuss the beauty of the first time it took place. And also to have some good things to say and do as you would with such an anniversary, so we can show the unity and marriage of all of us since October 1995. Anniversaries call for the giving of gifts, cards and some form of gregarious or friendly gathering that would cause us to show the love that many others outside of our nation would not want to see.
So we see this 10th anniversary in terms of the National Agenda that we were given. We had 8 years to work on ourselves and to get things in line. And many of us did not take that seriously. This is again, a lesson, that this could very well be the last time for us to remind ourselves of our work and need to come together to consider what the next ten years will be like. And if we don’t get together, as you stated earlier to me, economically, in terms of study and in terms of having earth that we can call our own, and a proper destiny and form of leadership as Black folks, then we are off the pages of life as a people, because we have proven that we have become lifeless and are more concerned with the ways of Satan and the devil.
And when we look around the country at the great sense of rebelliousness, it is coming from those who are sick and tired of the same leadership that is not saying anything to help us with this great work. The rebellious group is talking to themselves and with others about what they don’t like about today’s leadership. Many of them of course, love the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. He speaks their language and talks directly to them. He speaks and has spoken, and will continue to speak straight words. They are turned off by leadership that has no concern for them and no love. So they do not follow traditions and customs of the current order. They will drop their pants six inches below their waist. They will have their hair braided today, and you can’t tell a male from a female because a female gets her hair closely cut like a ceasar. All of us have children with earrings in their ears, their tongues and their bellies. It is a big mess.
They ride by and drive by violently and they don’t fight the way they normally would and disagree the way they once did. Now, they shoot and gun each other down in the cold streets of America. The peers of the group are now taking the place of the parent. The gangs have leaders where one is like the father and another is like the mother and they keep things organized for their own effort. So they do as they will, because there is nobody to give them proper guidance.
Our job as Muslims - and this is one of our last chances as well - is to go and get our young Brothers and Sisters off of the streets. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said to us that they are watching, even the Muslims, and they can tell which of us is faking or is real. And when the time comes, those out there who are the real leaders, will stand up, unafraid of the other system that has kept them down. In their demonstration of violence, they don’t give a good skip about what goes on in this country. They say, ‘Let it be, come what will, it is a showdown, we are going to have it our way or else.’ And so they would rather die. There are more funerals for young folks than older folks, who should be dying at the normal rate. But it appears that the death rate among Black people today, for those 13 years of age to 21 or 24 years old is greater than any other people in America.
So that is one part of what we will talk about in the March that is coming up. This tenth anniversary again, is a time when we have to get marching orders for the oncoming ten years. We have this view politically about what may happen to America, and we have not come together to do anything for ourselves. We need farmland. We need to open up a couple of factories. We need our own homes being built. We need to even find some kind of way to adopt our Brothers and Sisters back into a Black family. We find more and more Black babies being adopted by other groups and nationalities and races that don’t even have the same love for us that they have for themselves. We are just cash tickets for them to get support for their own means. We grow up in their families and they just do us any old kind of way. The love is just not there. So the cry this year will be the ten-year anniversary of the Million Man March and to have this time, women there also, to show their support for their man and to make sure that the man is behind the wheel driving the car in terms of leadership in terms of doing something for themselves. We need our Sisters by our side.
Cedric Muhammad: Now last October in Minister Farrakhan’s Day of Atonement Address he spoke at a certain point in reference to the ten year anniversary of the Million Man March about our need in our communities as Muslims to be peacemakers – ambassadors of peace – ending the gang violence; the violence among the street organizations of our youth. And he also mentioned the impact that attending The Source Awards had on him, in terms of seeing the condition of our young people. You began much of your work in Islam in Newark, New Jersey, a city where there has always been violence among the youth. You demonstrated a great amount of leadership in addressing that. Now you have left Newark, as your base, and you see the problems with the Bloods and the Crips, and some very promising efforts being led there to stop the violence. Even Minister Farrakahn just visited there to help provide guidance. In D.C. in many of our high schools we have had violence and young people gunning one another down. I wanted to know if you could tie all of this together, our Saviours’ Day Address, “He Came That We May Have Life”, and what you just said about the ten year anniversary of the Million Man March and what is going on in our communities everyday with gang violence and our young people.
Minister Abdul Khadir Muhammad: Well to give it the proper context and with all that is going on around us. It is sad to see the environment in which all of this is taking place. You know, it is funny, because I have written down how many Black mayors we have and have had, and Black city council persons, and Black Senators and Congresspersons and Democratic Chair persons. The list goes on and on. Black police chiefs etc…So then you have to ask yourself, for us to gain all of this and to do the enemies bidding for them, and to become their titled leadership, are we really more in their scheme of things, anything more than puppets on a string? They are controlling us the way they want us to be. The result is that we in many cases are “in charge” where Blacks are dying at greater and greater rates. New leadership, in deed and not title, has to take its rightful place among us.
And we have to understand that the enemy sees this new leadership and the people it comes from as its greatest threat. This year that will work greater than ever to oppose our unity. They will oppose us in many different ways. We have to think of this in terms of the scriptures in preparation for the flood that will come soon; that might be drawn out before the woman, as it is pictured in Revelations 12. This woman was really giving birth to a nation and they tried to spew out propaganda, and talk negative about this baby nation so that it could never be born to guide people from all segments. They want to prevent us from doing the work of ending violence in our communities, and to build on the example of the Million Man March, and to slow the inspirational force that have been provided by our Saviours’ Day Celebrations. This spewing out is an effort to destroy all that we have done. And it will show that this enemy does not ever want to see us get together in our lifetime or ever. His bottom line from the beginning was to destroy us. And even those who appear sympathetic have problems with us really practicing self-rule. They are threatened Brother.
So when you find Black people fighting Black people, think in terms of history. You will find out that during slavery they had to take a big Sister from one tribe and have her marry a big Brother from another tribe, and they didn’t know each other. They were from different Black families in Africa. And they mated us together. And they made Black folks for themselves – new Negroes. And by this pattern you see that they have continued to shape us their way and God forbid, some of these Negroes really believe that they belong to the enemy. So now, today, we have found a way to get us away from that ‘Democracy’ or shackled chain that will not fully release us from what they have done to us. To see Minister Farrakhan go after our people and get us all back on track like he is trying to do is really the equivalent of our last chance. There is a newspaper that we sell. It is called The Final Call. When you board the train, most conductors will say, “All Aboard. This is the final call”. If you are a drinker at some bar or tavern, God forbid, in most cases when the bar closes at 2 o’clock they will say, ‘this is the final call for alcohol.’ This is the final call for Black folks in America to seek and do something for themselves before God comes and destroys this place that they call Babylon. As-Salaam Alaikum.
Cedric Muhammad: Wa-laikum Salaam.
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For More Information On How To Obtain Tickets To Attend The February 27, 2005 Satellite Broadcast Of Minister Louis Farrakhan's Address in the Washington D.C. area, Please Call (202)-399-1010 for Muhammad's Mosque Number 4, located at 1615 Kennilworth Avenue NE Washington D.C.; 202-722-0428 for Tape Connection, located on the corner of Georgia Avenue and Harvard, NW Washington D.C.; (202)-547-6440 for the Abundant Life Clinic; and 202-723-9850 for Modern Scientific Barber Shop located on Georgia Avenue NW Washington D.C. and Salaam Cafe (202)-392-3803 located at 3019 Georgia Ave. NW
For information on where the event will be broadcast via satellite, nationally and internationally, please visit The Final Call Website and specifically:
http://www.finalcall.com/savioursday/
Thursday, February 24, 2005