Self-Improvement Study Guides - Study Guide 12: Four Great Impediments To Self-Development
STUDY GUIDE 12
FOUR GREAT IMPEDIMENTS
TO SELF-DEVELOPMENT
READING MATERIAL
Holy Qur'an
Surah 3 "The Family of Amran"
Section 1 "Rule of Interpretation"
Surah 13 "The Thunder"
Section 1 "Truth of Revelation"
Section 2 "Fall & Rise of Nations"
Pages 21-27(end)
Message To The Blackman
Who is the Original Man? Page 52
The Making of Devil Page 103
FACT (S)
(THESE ARE BUT A FEW VERSES FROM THE HOLY QUR'AN THAT HELP US UNDERSTAND THAT WE SEE THINGS CORRECTLY WHEN WE TAKE ALLAH'S VIEW AS OUR OWN)
"WE TAKE ALLAH'S COLOUR, AND WHO IS BETTER THAN ALLAH AT COLOURING, AND WE ARE HIS WORSHIPPERS." (2:138)
"SAY: ALLAH GUIDES TO THE TRUTH. IS HE THEN WHO GUIDES TO THE TRUTH MORE WORTHY TO BE FOLLOWED, OR HE WHO FINDS NOT THE WAY UNLESS HE IS GUIDED? WI-FAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU? HOW DO YOU JUDGE? AND MOST OF THEM FOLLOW AUGHT BUT CONJECTURE. SURELY CONJECTURE WILL NOT AVAIL AUGHT AGAINST THE TRUTH. TRULY ALLAH IS KNOWER OF WHAT THEY DO."(10:35,36)
"SEEST THOU NOT THAT ALLAH SENDS DOWN WATER FROM THE CLOUDS, THEN WE BRING FORTH THEREWITH FRUITS OF VARIOUS HUES? AND IN THE MOUNTAINS ARE STREAKS, WHITE AND RED, OF VARIOUS HUES AND (OTHERS) INTENSELY BLACK ... AND OF MEN AND BEASTS AND CATTLE THERE VARIOUS COLOURS LIKEWISE. THOSE OF HIS SERVANTS ONLY WHO ARE POSSESSED OF KNOWLEDGE FEAR ALLAH. SURELY ALLAH IS MIGHTY, FORGIVING." (35:27,28)
DISCUSSION
LAW OFTTIMES IS A COVER FOR HYPOCRISY, IT CAN MAKE US APPEAR RIGHT, THOUGH WE MAY BE INTERNALLY EVIL. SUCH WAS THE RELIGIOUS CLASS WHO OPPOSED JESUS. THEY WERE OUTWARDLY RIGHT, BUT INWARDLY HYPOCRITES. JESUS SAID TO THEM, "WOE UNTO YOU, SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES! FOR YE ARE LIKE WHITED SEPULCHERS (TOMBS), WHICH INDEED APPEAR BEAUTIFUL OUTWARD, BUT ARE WITHIN FULL OF DEAD MEN'S BONES, AND OF ALL UNCLEANNESS. EVEN SO YE ALSO OUTWARDLY APPEAR RIGHTEOUS UNTO MEN, BUT WITHIN YE ARE FULL OF HYPOCRISY AND INIQUITY." MATTHEW 23:27,28
JESUS WAS INTERESTED IN PURIFYING MAN FROM THE INSIDE AND THE LAW OF ITSELF CANNOT DO THAT. SOMEONE HAS TO GROW MAN OUT OF THIS CHILDLIKE STAGE. (I USE THE TERM "CHILDLIKE" BECAUSE CHILDREN ACT FOR THEIR PARENTS' SAKE, BUT THE REAL CHILD IS SEEN WHEN THE PARENTS ARE NOT AROUND.) WHAT IS THE FORCE THAT GROWS, EVOLVES, FEEDS, NURTURES, NOURISHES? THE NEW TESTAMENT IS CALLED; THE "TESTAMENT OF LOVE". LOVE FULFILLS THE LAW. MAN GETS A PERIOD OF GRACE AND IN THAT GRACE THERE IS LOVE. IF THAT IS REJECTED, THEN COMES DESTRUCTION.
FOUR (4) GREAT IMPEDIMENTS TO SELF-IMPROVEMENT ARE: RACISM, SEXISM, NATIONALISM AND MATERIALISM.
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW THESE TERMS AND OTHERS IN THE GLOSSARY ON THE NEXT PAGE BEFORE DISCUSSING THE SUBJECT MATTER CONTAINED IN THIS STUDY GUIDE.
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ATTITUDE Manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a thing or a person; tendency or orientation of the mind; position or posture of the body appropriate to or expressive of an action or emotion. The tendency of an individual to act in response to specific social situations resulting from his or her innate biological and psychological characteristics of from the environmental factors which condition his or her existence.
INFERIORITY COMPLEX (Psychiatry). Intense feeling of inferiority, producing a personality characterized either by extreme reticence or, as a result of overcompensation, by extreme aggressiveness. Lack of self esteem; feeling of inadequacy; lack of self-confidence.
SUPERIORITY COMPLEX (Psychiatry). Exaggerated feeling of being better than or above others; not yielding or susceptible; showing a consciousness of being above the average in place, position, excellence, merit, intelligence, station, rank, degree, etc. Often the mark of an overly assertive personality.
PERCEPTION The act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or the mind; cognition; understanding. Immediate or intuitive recognition, as of moral or aesthetic qualities; the result of perceiving as opposed to the act of perceiving; a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present (psychiatry). Comprehension.
INTERPRET To set forth the meaning of; explain; explicate; elucidate. To construe or understand in a particular way; to render according to one's own understanding or sensitivity; to translate. An interpretation is an understanding or conception of another's words or deeds.
FACT That which actually exists; reality; truth; that which has happened. The actual event or circumstance as distinguished from its effect or consequence.
DEVIATE To turn aside, as from a way, course, etc. To depart or swerve, as from a procedure, course of action or acceptable norm. To digress, as from a line of thought or reasoning. To wander from the most direct or desirable approach to a given moral, intellectual or physical end. To go aside from a path.
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EGOCENTRIC Having or regarding the self as the center of all things; having little or no regard for interests, beliefs or attitudes other than one's own; self-centered.
IMPEDIMENT Obstruction; hindrance; obstacle. That which retards in movement or progress by means of obstacles.
NOTE: In Study Guide Number 1 0, we defined "ISM", which is a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice, state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic. Below are just a few such terms.
EGOISM (EGOTISM) The habit of valuing everything only in reference to one's own personal interest; self-conceit; regarding one's own welfare as the supreme end of his or her actions. Excessive and objectionable reference to oneself in conversation or in writing; obtrusive emphasis upon one's own importance, often to the extent of monopolizing attention and showing disregard for other's opinions.
RACISM A belief that human races have distinctive characteristics that determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others; a policy of enforcing such asserted right; a system of government and society based upon it.
SEXISM Discrimination against a group of persons because of the fact or character of being male or female.
NATIONALISM Devotion to the interests of one's own nation; policy of asserting the interests of one's own nation, viewed as separate from the interests of other nations or the common interests of all nations. A desire for national advancement or independence. An idiom or trait peculiar to a nation.
MATERIALISM The philosophical theory that regards matter and its motions as constituting the universe and all phenomena, including those of mind, as due to material agencies; attention to or emphasis on material objects, needs and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual values.
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CAPITALISM An economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.
COMMUNISM A theory of system or social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state; all economic and social activity controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuated political party.
SOCIALISM A theory or system advocating the vesting of ownership and control of the means of production, capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole; in Marxist theory, the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.
QUESTIONS
THE STUDENT ENROLLMENT STATES THAT:
The Original Man is the Asiatic Black Man, the Maker, the Owner, the Cream of the Planet Earth, God of the Universe.
The Colored Man is the Caucasian (white man), or Yakub's grafted devil, the Skunk of the Planet Earth.
1 What is a fact?
2) Is the first statement a fact? Why or why not?
3) Is the second statement a fact? Why or why not?
4) Is there a difference between a "fact" and an "actual fact"? If so, what is the difference? Are the above facts 'actual"?
5) What is an interpretation? What is a perception?
6) Is there any danger in treating a fact and our interpretation of a fact as one and the same? If so, what is the danger?
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7) If you accept the first statement in the student enrollment as a fact, what is your interpretation of it as it relates to your attitude about yourself? What are your feelings about it?
8) If you accept the second statement in the student enrollment as a fact, what is your interpretation of it as it relates to your attitude towards Caucasian people? What are your feelings about it?
9) What actions on your part flow from your attitude about yourself and others as it relates to these statements? That is, in what way does your attitude determine the manner in which you conduct yourself in your daily life?
10) The statements we are discussing are the answers given by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to questions presented to him by Master Fard Muhammad:
1. Who is the Original Man?
2. Who is the Colored Man?
Why does Master Fard Muhammad introduce these facts, in this time, in this manner, to this people? Is he desirous of producing a racist mind?
11) Have you ever misinterpreted a fact?
12) What were the results of your misinterpretation?
13) How can we best avoid misinterpretation?
14) If we are in fact better (more suitable) in some respects than another, then what is our duty by that which is less than ourselves?
COMMENTARY
Consult the GLOSSARY. A "fact" is truth, reality, what exists. An "interpretation" is our own understanding or conception of another's words or deeds.
There are those who have accused the Honorable Elijah Muhammad of racism and point to the STUDENT ENROLLMENT as evidence of that charge. In doing so, they are projecting their own interpretation onto the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The words are the words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, but their meaning is affected by the understanding of the person reading, repeating or acting upon them.
As spiritual children, it was inevitable that we would go through a phase of development where we might make mischief with the facts we were given. "And
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when thy Lord said to the angels, I am going to place a ruler in the earth, they said, wilt Thou place in it such as make mischief in it and shed blood?" Holy Qur'an 2:30
The balance we were given by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was in his declaration to us: "You are the righteous and you must treat every man with respect and do justice by all men."
Attitude when they harden, become beliefs. From beliefs, we get laws.
A prevailing attitude among whites says that Black people are inferior, doomed to be servants of theirs. From that attitude, there is a belief system: 'I believe that God created them to serve us...l believe that I am superior." Based upon these beliefs a constitution is developed that embodies them. "I believe they are subhuman. I am codifying my belief into a law that says they are 3/5 of a person, which will forever determine the way in which we deal with them."
Religion sanctifies what we do. We read the scriptures to facilitate and feed our colouring. Once religion is used to justify beliefs and laws, an educational system is developed to facilitate the belief system.
Thus, when a prophet or messenger comes to give the people Allah's colouring (view), he is charged with heresy, because he is not just attacking laws, but the belief system the unjust laws grew out of. Martin Luther King attacked the laws of the government of America; the Honorable Elijah Muhammad attacked the belief system the laws grew out of. In so doing, he was breaking up what was the root of this world.
"NAY, WE HURL THE TRUTH AGAINST FALSEHOOD, SO IT KNOCKS OUT ITS BRAINS, AND LO! IT VANISHES..." HOLY QUR'AN 21:18
By changing laws, we do not affect conditions, because changing a law does not change attitudes or systems of belief. Pharaoh feared that Moses would change the religion, which means he feared the drastic altering of the belief system which his world, was built upon.
This world is based upon a belief in the superiority of white over Black. There can be no new world until the destruction of inferiority in one and superiority in the other.
At the same time that the attitude of white superiority hardened into beliefs that grew into laws, the Caucasian people produced an attitude in Black people toward ourselves. What was that attitude? "We are niggers ... I believe niggers will never be nothin'." Out of this attitude grew a system of belief, and from that a set of actions. It is an unwritten law that Black people disrespect and destroy one another.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad stands between the two attitudes, a written law of white superiority and unwritten law of Black inferiority. He must expose the condition for what it is and then break up the mental attitudes that brought it about.
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In the definition of "inferiority complex" we see aggressive behavior is a form of compensation for feelings of inadequacy.
The Self needs feeding. When the physical stomach is unfed it produces discomfort in the person. Likewise, when self-esteem is not fed, it also causes discomfort Hunger, whether physical or emotional, causes the hungry person to engage in extreme forms of behavior, sometimes unlawful, in order to satisfy the need.
The Self comes from Allah (God). How does He feel? In His view, polytheism is the gravest sin. What about the Self of God being fed by nothing? How do we respond ? We develop an overly aggressive, belligerent, hostile attitude, mostly toward members of our own group. Because we lack self-esteem and self-worth, we have developed an unwritten law that says if you get rid of a member of your own group, you have done nothing wrong. You have done something good in getting rid of this object of disapproval.
On the other hand, "the superiority complex" of the Caucasians is a mind set in which the person becomes God. Thus, they want worship, adulation and service. Not only are they the center of their own existence, they want to be the center of everyone's existence. Their attitude of superiority has so hardened, they will do anything to force submission of others to themselves.
The attitudes and beliefs which produces these complexes result in damage to the faculty of perception. Now the mind is colored by attitude and projects that colouring onto reality, making us spiritually blind, deaf and dumb.
"THE VILEST OF BEASTS IN ALLAH'S SIGHT ARE THE DEAF, THE DUMB, WHO UNDERSTAND NOT. " HOLY QUR'AN 8:22
"THEY HAVE HEARTS WHEREWITH THEY UNDERSTAND NOT AND THEY HAVE EYES WHEREWITH THEY SEE NOT, AND THEY HAVE EARS WITH WHEREWITH THEY HEART NOT. THEY ARE AS CATTLE: NAY, THEY ARE MORE ASTRAY." (7:179)
We cannot interpret anything outside of our ability to see it. We create a set of facts that reflects our own perception and is limited by our own perception.
Our lessons called "actual" facts are so named because they are real; they are that which actually exists. We can create a contrary fact by damaging the individual's perception of what really is. In order to destroy the present reality, we must get to the root reality.
The Black man is the Original Man. Why does Master Fard Muhammad introduce that fact, in this time, this manner, to this people? Is He desirous of producing a racist mind? Or, is He confronting both the Black man and the Caucasian with Truth, that there be balance (justice) in the Earth?
The Caucasian people have taken the fact of their own rule to an extreme position that is detrimental to themselves and humanity, fact that the dark people of the Earth are asleep has enabled them to rule. They have interpreted this fact to mean, "God has made you (dark people) to be our footstool."
For example Rep. Alexander H. Stephens, in an 1861 address at Savannah, Ga., declared that "the cornerstone of the Confederacy rests upon the great truth, that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery is his natural and normal condition."
This selfishness produces race-consciousness to the extreme and it becomes racism. This interpretation of the fact of being in rulership avoids the question, "By Whose permission are you exalted?" Since Allah (God) is the Possessor of power over all things, He is the Giver and when He makes us excel in any way, He lays greater duty, greater responsibility, greater work on us. But it is His Greatness, not our own, that causes us to be exalted, for His Purpose and His Glory.
The Holy Qur'an opens in the first surah (chapter): "Praise belongs to God!" The Believer repeats this over and over until he or she understands that a greater degree of excellence is a trial for the individual and a trial for a nation. We pass the test by not becoming Satan when we are given power.
How do we not become Satan?
The Muslim says, "I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan." If we see Satan as a force of Self that can damage our perception as a result of some desire or uncontrolled need, then we realize that we must always have God with us in order to perceive properly. We always run the risk of perception being coloured by our own mood, attitude or limited knowledge.
By becoming Satan, we mean adopting an attitude that we are better. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad says, that in one thousand (1,000) years, all of the races will disappear. As a Black person, what does this mean to you? What is your interpretation of this statement? Does it mean kill all of the brown, yellow, red, until no one is left but the Black man? If you believe that, then how do you perceive the Holy Qur'an verses which say that Allah produces various hues and colours?
In making this statement, could the Honorable Elijah Muhammad mean that when Truth is present and there is understanding, colour will not be a reality, but all human beings will take the colouring of Allah? Could this mean that colours will no longer clash when we outgrow our focus on colour and focus on that which really makes man superior --- duty to God?
When the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that America is to be destroyed by God for her treatment of the Black man and woman is this a racist statement?
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America is impeded in her judgment because of extreme consciousness of her whiteness. The America that was envisioned by the "founding fathers" and the one that it is actually becoming are two (2) different things. The vision was of a privileged, white society. There was no vision of an America where justice was rendered to Black people or where every colour of human being would live together with freedom, justice and equality.
The 13th and 14th Amendments sentenced the old America to death and signaled the beginning of a new one. Legally, the death of old America came with the Civil War. But the real death of old America could never come until the system of belief it was based upon was destroyed. That destruction takes place only with the Coming of Master Fard Muhammad.
The Truth of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is setting America on fire. Fire destroys everything it touches and turns it back into dust. The fire in His Message caused the awakening of Black people and a clear perception of the reality we have lived under. This is bringing a new America to birth.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that Allah (God) was to make us a nation of Gods, as the Sun is to the Solar System. As the Kabah sits in Mecca and the people circumambulate, He will allow us to be the reference point that the nations of the world revolve around, while we revolve around Him.
It is alright to love and be loyal to our own nation. But we must recognize that we are in a world with other nations. If one nation misuses or abuses other nations for its own exaltation, then we have mass self-centeredness and mass vanity.
Throughout the world, we see Black nationalism, white nationalism, Arab nationalism, etc. In striving to assert a national identity and impose it on others, we instill a false sense of patriotism in the people of that nation. This is manifested in the refusal of the Arab world to stand up with Imam Khomeni. Nationalism has been placed above the Universal Truth of Islam.
We are taught, "SELF FIRST, THEN OTHERS." Development of self and devotion to self has its place, but it is not confined to self and no one else.
The struggle is in conquering selfishness. Whether individually or nationally, we must get away from being self-centered and make Allah (God) the Center. When He is the Center of our thinking, then we have room in our thoughts for all of His Creation.
Some of us say, "I am Black and I am better", yet we go to the Caucasian seeking a job.
Have you ever seen one exceedingly gifted, who would not train or practice to develop his gifts, and ultimately one with inferior capability excelled over him?
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In God's eyes, it is he who keeps his duty who is better. So even though the objective fact makes one better in physical form or otherwise, the Bible tells us that Allah (God) is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34)
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that Allah (God) did not reveal the Truth to us to make us mockers of one another. The Holy Qur'an sounds the death knell to mockers. It gives us the yardstick by which we are measured: performance of our duty, willingly and correctly.
"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." (Luke 12:48)
"My dear beloved brothers and sisters, your identity is not your color, your identity is not the landmass from which you come or originated. Your identity is the nature in which you are created. Since your nature is to obey the Will of Allah (God), your nature is Islam. You are by nature a Muslim and any name other than that is not a proper name for you. You are a Muslim. "Accept your own and be yourself." of God - Part III)
In the lessons given to us from Master Fard Muhammad, we are taught that the duty of a civilized person is to "teach the uncivilized people who are savage, civilization, righteousness, the knowledge of himself, the science of everything in life, love, peace and happiness." We are also taught that "If a civilized person does not perform his duty, which is teaching civilization to others, they should be punished with a severe punishment."
The Black man is in fact the Original man. We are more suited to the requirements of nature and in that sense we are "better". But it is how we interpret that fact that produces self-worth in a positive way, or racism, which is negative. We negate the consequences or effect of facts in our own lives by what we bring to them.
It is Allah (God) Who made superior and inferior; all things are not created equal, but all things are created equally. Allah (God) loves he who is most careful of his duty.
"And Allah delivers those who keep their duty with their achievement -- evil touches them not, nor do they grieve ... Allah is the Creator of all things and He has charge over everything ... His are the treasures of the heavens and the earth. And those who disbelieve in the messages of Allah, such are the losers." Holy Qur'an 39:61
The Holy Qur'an provides an example of misinterpretation resulting from a damaged perception of reality:
"And We indeed created you, then We fashioned you, then We said to the angels: Make submission to Adam. So they submitted, except Iblis: he was not of those who submitted...He said: What hindered thee that thou didst not submit when I
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commanded thee? He said: I am better than he; Thou hast created me of fire, while him Thou didst create of dust." (7:11,12)
Satan is produced by a mind which says, "I am better"; a mind that contains false pride. But fire and dust were both created by Allah. In giving us this dialogue, He is showing us the attitude and expression we must not use. We must not take our excellence to be from ourselves, or Allah may use "dust" to put out our "fire".
Misinterpretation of fact (reality) can produce very negative results.
Racism is produced by misinterpretation. A "race" has a beginning and an ending It is finite. If the Caucasian people hold on to their view of themselves as a "superior race" and all that implies, they are actually assigning an eventual end to their own existence. Anyone interested in eternal life must give up "race". Do not stop being what we are, but give up glorifying it, based upon some contemporary advantage associated with it. People and nations occupy positions of rulership in turns.
The effort of the current government of America is to return to the original intent of the "founding fathers", which is limited to their ability to perceive the future. The legacy of their will, however, is being overshadowed by the establishment of an enlightened, stronger will. But to return to the original intent of the "founding fathers" is to return to a mind that is not fully illuminated.
We can best avoid misinterpretation by taking guidance from the Best Knower:
"And upon Allah it rests to show the right way, and there are some deviating ways And if He please, He would guide you all aright...And He has cast firm mountains in the Earth lest it quake with you, and rivers and roads that you may go aright, and landmarks. And by the stars they find the right way. Is He then Who creates like him who creates not? Do you not then mind? And if you would count Allah's favours you would not be able to number them. Surely Allah is forgiving, merciful. And Allah knows what you conceal and what you do openly. And those whom they call on besides Allah created naught, while they themselves were created. Dead are they, not living. And they know not when they will be raised." Holy Qur'an 16:9, 15-21
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