STUDY GUIDE 20
CLOSING THE GAP

FORWARD
“I AM YOUR MERCY.”
These words were humbly spoken by out Beloved Leader to the Believers in 1982. I had
accepted Islam one year earlier and was sitting in the audience in New York’s Mosque Number 7
that evening.
A former cancer patient who had undergone the agony of chemotherapy, my health had been
slowly improving since coming into the Nation. But that night, his words penetrated my entire
being and I felt a surge of life and light rush through me. I knew, with certainty, that I would
fully recover. Since then, I have noticed that certain circumstances will bring those words back
to the surface of my consciousness where I can actually look at them. One such circumstance is
the release of this remarkable series of interviews between our Beloved Leader and Brother
Minister Jabril Muhammad. The profound knowledge, wisdom and above all, guidance, which
is contained in these questions and answers could only come to us this way and in this hour
through Allah’s (God’s) Divine Attribute of Mercy.
Study Guide Number 20, “Closing the Gap”, was ready for publication in October, the
eighth (8th) month of 1999, the year of the severe trial of Minister Farrakhan and The Nation of
Islam. This is significant in many ways, the first being mathematical.
As pointed out to us in the “Unveiling the Number 19" series by Mother Tynnetta
Muhammad, 1999 marked the 44th year since Minister Farrakhan accepted the Teachings of the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The number 44 resolves into the number 8.
Surah (Chapter) 44 of the Holy Qur’an is entitled, “The Drought”. A drought is a period of
dry weather, extended in time and injurious to life. It is brought about by the absence of rain. As
Minister Farrakhan’s period of silence became protracted, the Believers were forced to draw
upon that which we had already received and absorbed from him, because no new water was
coming down to replenish us. During a drought, only deep-rooted plants survive. They provide
their own water. Relief from our thirst must come from within. We must ponder over what we
have been given. We must demonstrate gratitude for what we have been given. We must reflect
upon what we have been given. We must prove the truth of what we have been given by being
successful. We owe our lives to Allah, in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, His Christ and
Their Anointed Servant, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
Let us look into the significance of the number 44, which resolves into 8, during our
observance of the Holy Day of Atonement. The number 8 represents, among other things,
infinity. Infinity, by its nature, embraces both creation and destruction at the same time. The
Honorable Elijah Muhammad has taught that the Divine Attributes of Allah (God) have a
“theological” order; the first one being Creator.
STUDY GUIDE 20
Closing The Gap

In the Holy Qur’an, the revealed Word of Allah (God) which takes us to the end of this cycle
of time, every surah or chapter — except the 9th—begins with two Divine Attributes: Rahman
(Beneficence) and Rahim (Mercy). As noted by Maulana Muhammad Ali in The Religion of
Islam, these Names, along with Rabb (Lord {and Nourisher unto perfection}) and Malik (Master
{of the Day of Requital}) must be considered among the “chief attributive names of the Divine
Being, and all His other attributes are but offshoots of these four essential attributes.”
The Attribute of Mercy is not only a chief attribute in its importance, but in the degree of selfdevelopment
that Allah subjected Himself to in order to attain it. Based upon the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad’s declaration that al-Khaliq (The Creator) was the first Attribute manifested,
and his declaration in The Theology of Time that the God Who created Himself was a “warrior
god”, we can conclude that Allah had to evolve Himself through time and experience in order to
manifest this highly refined and delicate quality called “Mercy”. Maulana Muhammad Ali
writes, “The Prophet himself is reported to have said, ’Al-Rahman is the Beneficent God
Whose love and mercy are manifested in the creation of this world, and al-Rahim is the
Merciful God Whose love and mercy are manifested in the state that comes after.’”
Dear reader, can we now understand why the most Honorable Elijah Muhammad instructed
us to look at Minister Farrakhan, to listen to Minister Farrakhan, to go where he says go and stay
away from that which he says to stay away from? In following the man Farrakhan, we are
moving within a golden circle of protection that is Allah’s Mercy in the hour of Destruction. The
closer we follow him, the deeper we move spiritually into the protected area. This Study Guide
will help us close the gap before it’s too late.
Minister Farrakhan is the manifestation of Allah’s Mercy, not only on the Black man and
woman, but all of humanity. When you look at him you see what Mercy looks like: beautiful,
elegant, impeccable in style and movement; when you listen to him, you hear what Mercy
sounds like: the clear and precise statement of God’s View of what is happening; what He
intends to do about it; how and when He will take action. When you go where he says go, you
are following Allah’s Mercy; when you stay away from where he says stay away from, you are
avoiding that which is not within the embrace of Allah’s Mercy.
Farrakhan Muhammad does not represent religion, he represents Reality. And as he reminds
us in one of the interviews, Allah is the only Reality.
We are at the end of this world. The Minister’s long period of silence was a signal that we
are at the end of Allah’s Mercy which is the end of this cycle in history. Allah is bringing in a
new world, He is on the verge of recreating. So we experience His Attributes starting with the
first: Creator. When He creates, He must destroy that which is contrary to what He desires to
create. He starts from nothing. This Study Guide, “Closing the Gap”, is virtually our last
chance. Our distance from Minister Farrakhan is equal to our distance from the Mercy of God--
not distance in miles, but distance in our state of mind.
STUDY GUIDE 20
Closing The Gap

We should thank Allah (God) for Brother Minister Jabril Muhammad, who possesses a
remarkable quality we must all seek to attain: the ability to be near a man of God and see his
humanity, without ever losing sight of the fact that he is indeed a man of God.
Sister Minister Ava Muhammad
February, 2000

 

Study Guide 20 – Closing the Gap

 

Introduction

Among the fascinating aspects of my experiences in interviewing the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is that every one I have ever done with him is thoroughly extemporaneous-they are never rehearsed. He never knows what I am going to ask him. Oftentimes I don't either, beyond the first or second question.

 

This little book is comprised of Minister Farrakhan's answers to; questions I asked him about a number of subjects.

 

My motive was to present the reader with certain insights into the mind and heart of a very significant Black man.

 

A few days ago, when Minister Farrakhan saw a draft of this work, he immediately said he wanted to give it to the Believers as a Saviours' Day Gift. He hoped I would have been able to include my comments in this volume. However, there was simply not enough time. It is my intention however, to present those comments as soon as I am able. Meanwhile, this is a Saviours' Day Gift to you from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

 

May this little book stimulate the reader to think deeper than ever before into the significance of this wonderful Black man - a real Brother and friend to humanity - the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

 

Jabril Muhammad

Phoenix, AZ

February 14, 1999

 

CLOSING THE GAP

PART I: THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF GAPS

 

 

MAY 17, 1998 

Phoenix, Arizona

 

Brother Jabril Muhammad: Brother Minister, this first question concerns a universal phenomenon which affects the relationship between a leader and his staff and followers - divine leaders in particular.

 

From time to time, gaps develop as the leader moves ahead and the followers work to keep pace. There has been a degree of misunderstanding among some with respect to certain moves Allah (God) has directed you to make in the fulfillment of the Mission of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Among them involves the way you have come to relate to the broad community, including the Caucasian race. Please comment.

 

Minister Louis Farrakhan: The first thing I shall do is analyze why gaps appear between leaders of consequence - particularly Divine Leaders - and their followers at given times in the growth and development of them in their mission.

 

Whenever a leader is chosen by Allah (God), he is chosen oft-times thousands of years before he comes to birth. He is formed in his mother’s womb under certain circumstances which make him for the specific job he is to do, by equipping him with the basic material at birth. As he comes into the knowledge of his assignment, or mission, the next and greatest need for him is to find the adequate and proper help to fulfill the mission that Allah (God) has given him. This is where the problem begins.

 

First, he has to grow to understand his mission. In the course of his growth, persons come to help him at every stage of his evolution. As' people do not always evolve with the leader, some fall off when the leader is in the seminal stage. Some fall off when the leader is a clot. Some fall off when the leader is embryonic. Some fall off when the leader is in the fetus stage, and, some fall off when the leader is a child in understanding. Some others fall off as he begins to mature.

 

There are those who think they fully know him and his teachings when they became acquainted with him in the clot stage. However, such people lose sight of him, as he evolves, and they go out thinking they fully know him and his teachings. They teach what they know, but, a gap develops and widens between them and the leader, as he goes through the “clot stage; the embryonic stage; the fetus stage; the child stage; and finally becomes the mature man.

 

What can prevent this? His help has to evolve with him. All of his help may not necessarily have been formed under the unique circumstances that led to his evolutionary development from before he was actually in physical form, even while that which produced him was being formed. So, now he comes into the world constitutionally fit for his mission, but his helpers may or may not have that base; that brilliance; that insight; that foresight which comes from being Divinely Prepared.

 

So, his helpers, at best, come according to their own understanding of this man, his mission, and his teachings, at the moment in time when they first encounter him. But as he continues to grow and evolve, change and mature, perhaps they will not see him in the same way in the next phase of his development as they saw him in the stage when they first came to help him. Why? Because he sufficed a particular need that was very personal and individual for them. When that need is met, they claim him as their leader. As he evolves more and more, if they do not grow with him, a gap develops. therefore, Allah (God), gives His servant helpers from Himself. That help is the best help because these persons grow along the same lines [the servant] grew. They are formed in the same way he is formed; their hearts are formed in the same way his heart is formed. Therefore, these helpers see into this man what other helpers may not see, because the latter were not made from Allah (God) to be his helpers, in the same way or degree, as the former.

 

However, they (the latter) accept the role of a helper. Nevertheless, if they don't stay in constant submission; in constant obedience; in constant study; and in constant growth then gaps will develop between the teacher and the student that will lead the student (sometimes) to be critical of the teacher when the teacher grows beyond the particular need of that helper that motivated that helper to first want to help. That is the way I would answer that question.

 

 

PART II: EVOLUTION OF THE DIVINE MESSAGE

 

Minister Louis Farrakhan: With respect to your question about changing attitudes toward the Caucasian people: In the 1970s, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad advised me, as His National Representative, to stop using the term 'devil' but to use the term "Satan"; "the enemy"; or the "slave- master's children", in describing Caucasian people-at least in describing some aspects of Caucasian people and their work.

 

I never asked the Honorable Elijah Muhammad why he would ask me, as his National Representative, to stop using the term "devil", since that term had been used from the '30s into the '70s. His directive to me comes now, 40 years into his work, and he is telling me don't use that term anymore.

 

Well, I never asked him why. But as I matured in the Teaching, I saw this:

 

First, Master Fard Muhammad, the Great Mahdi, was born from a white mother and a Black father. We were taught that Master Fard Muhammad's father "cleaned up" or "purified" His wife from the Caucasus Mountains so that she could give birth to this very special human being.

 

What means and methods did He use to accomplish the 'cleaning up', or as the Bible puts it, the "casting out of seven devils"? Did He alter the nature of this human being? Or did He destroy the inclination toward the teachings of Yacub that was responsible for the making of "devil"? The Holy Qur'an teaches us that "evil" is a bad name after faith-if the mother believed in Allah and submitted her will to do His Will, then, in her obedience to Allah, how could she be given a nickname or an evil name after faith?

 

Then I looked again and deeper at the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's Teaching that white people could be our brothers and sisters in faith, though not by nature. I then compared that way of life-of the descendants of the whites who were in the Middle-Eastern area and did not go into the hills and cavesides of Europe 6,000 years ago-to the descendants of the whites who were rounded up and driven out of that part of the world.

 

The Lessons teach us that we rounded up all we could find, which, means there were some we could not find, as they were hidden by some of our people. Those whom we could not find married into the original family, grew up under Islam, and knew nothing of Yacub and his teaching of lying, stealing and how tomaster the original man. So these are white people, or Caucasian people, who grew up under the influence of the nature of Islam.

 

Well, if that is so, and it is, why did the Honorable Elijah Muhammad tell me not to use the term 'devil'?

Secondly, as I studied more, I learned that the term 'devil' applied to them (Caucasian people) all right enough, but it also applies to any human being who devotes the essence of his or her life to rebellion against God, and leading others in that rebellion. This makes any person who does that a devil.

 

Of course, we learned from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that the essence of 'devil' is in the nature of the Original Man. If the original man, gives in to the weakness of self; or the rebelliousness of self; then that person - no matter what the color - that gives into the weakness and rebelliousness of self, against the Wisdom and Will of the Eternal God- they make themselves not only fools by rejecting and rebelling, but they make themselves' devils' as well.

 

He told me to use the term 'Satan'. 'Satan' is a devil maker. 'Satan' is an arch-deceiver who uses the skill and wisdom of right in a way to lead those who would seek right into the doing of wrong. This is much different than a 'devil'.

 

A devil is a person that can give in to the weakness of themselves and rebel and do acts in rebellion against Allah (God). But Satan is an enemy that is a sworn enemy; a knowing enemy. Satan is a wise enemy who not only started as a little devil, but grew up in devilishment to become a master of evil and then leads others into evil and rebellion against Allah (God).

 

So now who are these? Who is the Satan? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us Lessons outlining the 85%, the 10% and the 5%. What does this have to do with devil, Satan, enemy, slavemaster's children?As I studied that, it means to me that the 85% are the ignorant who are poison-animal eaters; who don't know the Living God; who are unaware of the law of cause and effect; and who have been made to believe in a mystery god.

 

He deals with 85% because this has nothing to do with color. It has to do with Satan's reach to master the entire planet and its people and he has gotten 85% of them. So, this Satan has to be the 10% who know the Living God and teach the contrary. Satan is a knowing arch-deceiver who is mastering the 85%, by keeping them in ignorance and fighting against anyone who would bring them knowledge; that he might continue his wicked rule over them; that he might live in luxury by sucking the blood of the poor and ignorant.

 

The 5 % are those poor righteous teachers who also know the Living God, but do not wish to be satanic or devilish, and desire to take the 85% out of the control of the 10% by making manifest the wickedness of the 10%.

 

As I grew into this kind of knowledge - you cannot reform a devil, therefore, devil must be destroyed - I began to gain a deeper understanding of what was meant by: "Why does Muhammad and any Muslim murder the devil?"If Allah (God) is to survive in us, we have to murder that in ourselves which sets up associate gods with Allah, which would lead us contrary to the Will of Allah (God).

 

In my increased understanding of this, I began to see that the devilis not only a product of physical grafting, but a product of spiritual grafting. This altered my thoughts, not concerning the nature of white people as they are, but deepened my understanding of the nature of human beings. The question of how to murder the devil effectively - whether that devilis in a White man, a Yellow man, a Brown man, a Black man, a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew or Buddhist - the devil is a universal factor. Therefore, if the devil is to be slain, he must be slain by a universal knowledge of God, a universal knowledge of self, and a universal knowledge of the devil.

 

A knowledge of the devil must not just be the rudimentary knowledge that we learned of the grafting of White people or the birth control methodology that was used to bring White out of Black, but we also must understand how a devilis made by grafting - on all levels - and what does that mean? By knowing how to make a devil, in the deepest sense, you also know how to kill the devil.

 

Brother Jabril: Please comment on the response you made to Brother Rodney in Boston, many years ago, when you first heard the concept from him, that the white man was the devil. What is the relationship between that and the very wide mission the Honorable Elijah Muhammad put you on before He left, when He said, 'Through you, I will get all of my people.'

 

Minister Farrakhan: While I knew that white people were evil, and I hated the evil that they had done to all of us, I was not ready to concede that they were the source of all evil actions. So I raised this question to the Brother: If I came home and found another man in bed with my wife; both of them have committed adultery, and, if I, in passion, murdered my wife and the strange man, then, I committed murder. So I asked him where was the white man in that sin? He could not answer.

 

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that Master Fard Muhammad was born of the two people that He could give justice to both people. So it is not only that the Mahdihas to give justice to Black; He has to give justice to White. Well, then, what is justice for Black, and, what is justice for White?

 

Many of us would feel that justice for [white people] is the complete slaughter of them; and justice for us is paradise. In a simplistic sense, in a very infantile look at justice, we might think that. But as we mature in the principle of justice, we would better understand the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In His last speech to us, He gave us a more mature look at the principle of justice. He said, "Allah didn't raise us up to be mockers of anybody. You can call him the devil, but he could easily say, '1 didn't make myself, you made me.' "

 

So, who is responsible, the clay or the potter? That is another mature aspect of growth into the principle of justice for both. Unless we mature in the process of understanding the root of devil and the root of evil, we will never be able to give justice to ourselves, our people and we will never be able to give justice to the Caucasian.

 

Brother Jabril: How does this apply to the statement of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that through you he would get all of people, especially now, in the light of your three world tours.

 

Minister Farrakhan: The Honorable Elijah Muhammad signed off on His articles, "Elijah Muhammad, Messenger of Allah to you all." Well, who is "you all?" Since the book is titled; Message to the Blackman in America, does "you all" mean all Black people in America? Why then did He plant a part of His family in Mexico? When they asked what teaching would He give to the Mexicans, He answered that Mexicans should be given the same teachings that He gave us.

 

Messenger to "you all"then, has to mean to the whole human family. If I am answering your question correctly, all of His people are certainly Black people. But all of His people are certainly the righteous - wherever they are, and from whatever people they come, they belong to Allah, and they belong to the Messenger of Allah, or the Christ, or the Messianic figure.

 

This is why understanding the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as Messiah, or as Christ; understanding the Body of Christ, or the Messianic Mission makes you outgrow looking for all of God's people to come out of one people. You look for all of God's people to come out of the human family that exists on earth.

 

Brother Jabril: So there is a relationship between that and the Biblical statement, or words from the mouth of Jesus, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold."

 

Minister Farrakhan: Yes, and it also relates to Joseph's coat of many colors; "Come and see, they, all will come to thee."And "Surely I will clothe you with them all."All who? Who is this all?

 

Brother Jabril: "And even the Gentiles shall come... "

 

Minister Farrakhan: "... to the brightness of thy rising.”

 

Brother Jabril: There are those who have criticized your moves with respect to this world’s political system. How would you respond?

 

Minister Farrakhan: My answer will be based on a natural law and scripture. Daniel prophesied that a stone would be hewed out of a mountain without hands, and it would roll down a mountain, and it smote an image, and then became a mountain that would fill the entire earth.

 

When a baby is conceived, it is conceived in a system that is already working. It feeds from that system as it is developing an independent system. It takes from a system already in existence. Through the placenta, it purifies as much as it can to feed on to grow itself into a new creation coming from that system. But now, it is developing an independent system that will take on a life of its own. I believe we are to grow like that.

 

We live in America. We have no other nation to go to. We live in the world leader. We pull whatever we can and filter it through the placenta, or the blood of The Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that forms around us as a protection for us. What we draw from this satanic mother is filtered through this screening system called Actual Facts; Student Enrollment; Lesson No.1; Lesson No.2; the Problem Book and English Lesson #C1. The wisdom in these Lessons is the filter, so that through this filter we can take what we need from the larger system, as we develop our own system, hopefully somewhat free of that which is corrupting and destroying the larger system or body.

 

Brother Jabril: How would you react to those who still criticize you for teaching in the Christian churches?

 

Minister Farrakhan: I say to them, as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said to the Arabs who criticized him, "You don't have my Mission. You don't have my assignment."

 

I believe that Master Fard Muhammad's coming and work is the initial fulfillment of what was prophesied of the coming of the Messiah of the Jews, and the Christ of the Christians. I believe His coming was the fulfillment of the coming of the Mahdi of the Muslims.

 

Master Fard Muhammad gave a demonstration of the first phase of the Messianic, or the Jesus Mission, which the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was to fulfill. Ifall these churches are named after Our Man, Jesus, and, have His Title on their door, should I not go into a house that represents such a man, and help them to understand Him, and truly live by His Eternal Message?

 

Any house that has the name of Jesus or Christ on it, I feel is my house. I have every right to enter and give its inhabitants, or congregation a better understanding of the Jesus Christ that they have come to love and now improperly worship.

 

Brother Jabril: What would be your response to those who criticize you for holding out an olive branch to Jews?

 

Minister Farrakhan: First, as a student of the Bible and the Holy Qur'an-particularly the Holy Qur'an-AllahHimself holds out an olive branch to the members of the Jewish community when He says, Those who are Jews, and those who are Sabians, those who believe in Allah and the Last day, they have their reward from their Lord.”

 

He, Allah (God), holds out an olive branch to a community that He sent prophet after prophet after prophet to, and, our Father, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, told us to study Israel, for they are a sign of us; should I , not respect the sign of us and appeal to that sign to come into the wisdom and behavior that would bless them and their children? Of course I should.

 

Regardless of what people think of me, I am doing exactly what Allah (God) would want me to do-not what the emotional instability of our people would have me to do. I must offer them the olive branch; as time goes on, they will come to see that I am the representative of the Messiah, and a little messiah myself. They have been looking for me for a long, long time. I am here now, and through me they can access the Big Messiah, Allah's (God's) Forgiveness and a place with Allah (God). Why should I not then offer them a way that Allah (God) has made me to offer?

 

Brother Jabril: Where are we now with respect to our relation to the Jewish people?

 

Minister Farrakhan: I think it is moving as Allah (God) would have it to move. Slowly, but gradually, they are beginning to see me more, and more, and more. As they see me more, and more, and more, they are going to become more and more divided over me. Some say, "Kill him," others say, "Leave him alone. He is our passport to heaven. "

 

Brother Jabril: How would you summarize the response of the Muslim world to you, during your last world tour and since?

 

Minister Farrakhan: The response of the Muslim world has beenmarvelous. I was well received everywhere I went, as a son of Islam, s-o-n - and a sun of Islam, s-u-n - or a star in the jeweled crown of Islam; a hope for our brothers and sisters in the Islamic world.

 

They see Brother Farrakhan in a spiritual sense like they saw Muhammad Ali years ago in a physical sense. They take pride in my strong stand and fight for Islam, and for justice in America against the wickedness of the U.S. Government, and against Zionist manipulation of the Government, and they praise Allah (God) for me.

 

I believe as time goes on, their arms will open wide, as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said to us, "at a certain point, we will flee out of America into the open arms of the Muslim world."I do not know how those arms could open for us, unless they came ultimately to see us as true Muslims and lovers of Prophet Muhammad (peace Be Upon Him). Also, they would come to see the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, not as a prophet, but as one whom Allah (God) has raised up to establish Islam in America, and, to revive the faith of Islam in the hearts of Muslims throughout the world.

 

Brother Jabril: In your speech during this past Saviours' Day Convention (1998), you made it very plain that you would seek to unite Imam Warith Deen Muhammad, a long time critic of yours. How would you respond to critics of your stand with respect to the Imam -- that you would seek to unite with him for the cause of Islam?

 

Minister Farrakhan: One of the prophets said: "Look and see. They will come to thee."

 

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, before his departure "You all will leave me."And when that sunk in, great pain came into our hearts, and into the expression on our faces. "But,"he then said, "You all will return."He said, "All the bones will live."

 

One night, in the 1960s, at his table, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad accused me of stealing a play written by Mother Tynnetta Muhammad and putting my name on her play to steal credit from her. He beat me, and beat me, and beat me, and beat me, and I bowed to my Messenger. Finally, He exonerated me.However, He did this after He tried me. At the end of the evening, He pulled me off to the side and said to me, "You and my son, Wallace, go and mop up the wilderness."

 

We must consider this carefully.

 

I believe, Insha' Allah, that ultimately we will be together for the good of Islam; for the rise of our people, and, for the Universal Truth of Islam.

 

 

 

PART III: THE PROCESS TOWARD PERFECTION

 

June 21, 1998

Phoenix, Arizona

 

Brother Jabril: Brother Minister, this is three points, or (three) questions in one. It is based on what you said yesterday in response to my most recent articles [Final Call Newspaper, Vol. 17, No. 35 and 36]. It is about your forward motion; the need for the believers to keep pace with you; forward motion is designed and directed by Allah (God) Himself. It is also about the crucial need for patience among the believers - with yourself in particular, and with themselves, in general.

 

The third part of this question is integrated into the above part of this compound question. As you already know, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that it takes 75 years to learn how to live. What is your response to all of this and to His words?

 

Minister Farrakhan: A period of transition is the most difficult period in human development, for during periods of transition the life that is in transition is not where it was, and it is not where it is intended to be. So such periods of time are always very dangerous for the life that is in transition.

 

When we speak of Messengers of Allah (God) or men and women who are involved in a Divine Work guided by Allah (God), we must always keep in mind that the first verse of the Holy Qur'an is, "Praise belongs only to Allah, the Lord, Nourisher, Sustainer, and Evolver of all of the worlds."

 

Some of the scholars of language say "Rabb" or "Lord" means "He who makes a thing attain stage after stage until it reaches its eventual perfection.”  

 

Whenever a life is in transition from imperfection toward perfection, there is a constant process of change, growth and transition; stage two, change and growth and transition; stage three, change, growth and transition. We are constantly in stages of growth, and between each stage is a transitional stage. This is the most dangerous part of the journey, because many things can get lost in transition.

 

This life we are living during the last 6,000 years is called a transitory life. This is a life which gets us from the infinity of time before this limited time period to the infinity of time after this life. This time period-atransitory life-is a life that is dangerous for those who are involved in it, and it could be dangerous for those who judge life that is in this transitory stage.

 

Now, I say that to say, the Minister and the Nation are evolving toward perfection. Jesus said, “Be ye perfect, even as I am perfect." If Jesus is telling a disciple to be perfect, it means He is Lord and Master of the evolutionary process that will lead the disciple to where the Master is. When the disciple is in transition, and the Master is hidden, but, the Master's hand is on the disciple, then, the disciple is in a period that is considered dangerous.

 

Peter started to evolve the message of Jesus and feed it to the Gentiles, while before, the message was exclusively toward the Jews. The Jews felt that Peter was stepping out of line of where he should go, but Peter was the transition to Paul. Praise Be to Allah.

 

So it is with Brother Farrakhan. I am not what I was. I am not yet what Allah (God) desires me to be. The Nation, in following me, is not what it was, and it is not what it is destined to be. So the Minister and the Nation are in transition. During this period of transition, those who watch the man in transition may have a tendency to be judgmental. They are not sure of where he is. They are not sure of where he is going.

 

The only thing they understand is where they' were, and the level of comfort they had where they were. This can sentence them to stand where they were, then misjudge the man in transition before he gets to where Allah (God) wants him to go. This disallows them to travel with the man who is in transition. Therefore, they stop in the process of growth toward perfection and the process of death begins for the individual or the group.

 

Therefore, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, during his Theology of Timelecture series, when I was sitting in the audience, looked directly in my face, and quoted these words from the Holy Qur'an: "Seek assistance through patience and prayer."Why patience? Because if we are impatient with a man in transition, we will make a judgment, and if we are locked into that judgment by our emotional attachment to our own sense of what is correct, or what is right, based upon what we believe we understand of the Divine Message, then, our judgment will sentence us to death.

 

With reference to what is in the 18th Surah of the Holy Qur'an, about Moses traveling with the wise man, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "this is not Moses-it is a type of the way His followers follow Him. They follow Him in doubt and with suspicion.”   These two things - doubt and suspicion - are the enemies of faith and the mother of hypocrisy.

 

Faith will allow you to have patience where you do not understand exactly what you are looking at, or are not aware of what you are looking at, which is in transition.

 

The demand by Allah (God) for the believer is that the believer acquire the virtue, and, the characteristic ofpatience. The only thing that will give us patience is greater and greater faith.

 

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad openly started the process of transition in 1974 with His Last Message to us. Imam Warith Deen took the Message of transition and did what he thought was in sync with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's guidance toward the perfection that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad desired for His Nation. Unfortunately, the Nation fell. Fulfilling the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's words that the Nation would fall, but, it would rise and never to fall again.

 

Now, we picked up from the Message before 1974 then, bringing us to the Message of 1974, that set the process of transition toward the Message that would ultimately take us into the Hereafter. So, the command that the wise man gave to Moses, according to the Holy Qur'an, was "You cannot have patience with me because you do not have a comprehensive knowledge."

 

If a person does not have a comprehensive knowledge, yet is full of faith, he or she can make the journey with the wise man. But, not having comprehensive knowledge, and then not having faith - following in doubt - and in suspicion - there had to be an eventual parting of the ways between the follower and the Leader and Teacher.

 

The teacher told the student: “You cannot have patience with me." So what ever the wise man did, the student made a judgment. The student never questioned the wise man in the proper spirit: "Why did you do this?" To seek a greater understanding.  Instead, he made a judgment. "This is terrible what you have done.  This is awful.”   

 

Once he made the judgment, his mind and whole being were wrapped up in this judgment, which came out of his own sense of morality, his sense of what is proper, his sense of what is correct, his sense of what he understood of life. Therefore, it was difficult for him to have patience with that of which he had no comprehensive knowledge. In the end, after three failures, which came after three serious misjudgments that he made of the wise man, there had to be a parting of the way.

 

I am under the control, by the Grace of Allah (God), of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I cannot say I know tomorrow. I only understand to the degree that Allah (God) gives me leave to understand the day I have come through. I know where I am. I know it is connected to where we were. I know that it is definitely the link to lead us where Allah (God) wants us to go.

 

But those who are watching me in transition - if they are following in doubt and in suspicion and have not faith nor patience - then they will judge me based upon their misunderstanding, or their thought or idea of their understanding of the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. They will judge me based upon their understanding of morality; their understanding of what is good; based upon their life experiences; based upon what they were  taught and based upon what they understand of what they were taught.

 

So, the Holy Qur'an says, "Do not malign me as you maligned Moses."The journey in the wilderness was a 40 day journey that took the- children of Israel 40 years because they followed in doubt and suspicion.

 

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in The Theology of Timelecture series, said, "I have done nothing wrong or improper. You just do not understand what a Fulfiller looks like."

 

People were judging this and that aspect of His life. But they judged improperly because they did not have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of that out of which He acted; that out of which He acted was that which was written of Him thousands and thousands of years before He came onto this planet.

 

Therefore, if we who claim to be Muslims will not study the scriptures; will not study the Holy Qur'an; will not study the Bible;and, will not study our Lessonsthat will give us keys to the past, present and future - then, we will misjudge the transitional stage, and end up wrapped up in our egos; or judgment made by what we perceive of knowledge; what we perceive of reality; what we perceive of morality, based upon our limited knowledge, and our limited life experience. We will then find a parting of the ways with us and Allah (God), and the man that we claim to follow to Allah (God) and His Christ.

 

Remember, it is written in the Bible, "I will lead them by a way that they know not."Again, it is written,"My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. I am from above while you are from beneath. "

 

 

PART IV: CHARACTERISTICS OF A REDEEMER

 

December 12, 1998

 

Brother Jabril: Brother Minister, several times in the 1960s and the early 1970s, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, at His table - both in Chicago and in Phoenix - spoke about mud. Sometimes He would talk about mud as that which the wicked put on him. On other occasions He would talk like Allah (God) was putting the mud on Him.

 

He would use the word mud in very interesting ways. He said and wrote that he was to live, for a time, the life that we live and he explained the reasons why this had to be.

 

The implications of his words are that certainly after he met Allah (God), he would live a life seemingly like us, in some respects, but with Wisdom Allah (God) would have by then brought to him and would later lift him up from this life. Please comment.

 

Minister Farrakhan: When the Honorable Elijah Muhammad met with Master Fard Muhammad, he said he was so deep in the mud that only his eyeballs were out of the mud. This means to me that he was covered with mud.

 

He talked about his people being in the mud of civilization. Well, what is mud? Mud is earth that is full of water, it is not firm. If you stand on it, you will sink.

 

He said the people threw mud at him, then you said he said sometimes Allah (God) put mud on him. The thought that came to me was an ayat of the Holy Qur'an, "Betake yourself to the mud." In that state, when you place mud on your skin, allow it to dry and then take it off, it becomes a means of purification. That means to me, enemies who look for things to muddy your reputation - if they throw enough mud on you and you survive it - it will be a means of your own purification. So mudslinging-in the cheap sense-is when people throw things at each other that they know of one another's weakness or fault or sin. That is calledmud-slinging

 

Why did the Honorable Elijah Muhammad say, "if they took out full-page ads and cursed Him out, word for word and line by line, they would only be helping Him?His whole attitude toward mud was different from one who is like a child playing in mud. The child comes in and gets mud allover the floor and allover the furniture. This enrages the mother because she has to clean it up. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's attitude toward mud was that no matter what they slung at him, it only ended up being a means of his purification, which was also a means of his elevation.

 

Since that was his attitude, what should our attitude be? It should be the same as his; for He is taking us from the mud and if mud is slung at us there has to be truth in it, because water is in the mud. So, whenever somebody is throwing mud, there is truth in it that is a means of purification.

 

Brother Jabril: The other night you talked about gross blindness and you spoke on the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's words about certain kinds of minds that were so dark no light would get in. Then we discussed this in relation to a certain history and a certain phenomenon in nature. Please comment.

 

Minister Farrakhan: I think I was talking about the law that Moses brought; a law that disciplined the members of the body, but did not necessarily discipline the mind.

 

If the law is that a person is guilty of fornication, or adultery and that person should be stoned to death, then in carrying out that law, we take up a stone and throw it at the person who is guilty of this act. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. By our stoning the person who is guilty of that act, we are, in effect, stoning the thought in ourselves to commit such an act, which then is a preparatory stage for helping us to deal with the origin of sin.

 

Now, some of the people who followed Moses, loved The Law. David said, "The Law is a lamp unto my feet. I delight in That Law." But, there are others who do not delight in The Law; their minds are against The Law, but, they fear to break The Law because of. the consequences.

 

Seventeen hundred years from the birth of Moses, Nimrod was born.  

 

Nimrod gave freedom to those who were rebellious and those whose hatred of The Law was in their hearts. Evidently, the majority of the people who were living under That Law hated That Law. So, when Nimrod freed them from The Law, which is light, they could only go into darkness. As they reveled in their rebellion against the law, they added darkness upon darkness; the darkness of their thoughts; the darkness of their deeds; the darkness of consequences and all that it goes for - lying and trying to get around consequences - they added darkness to darkness.

 

Jesus was born into the world to take Israel out of their fall to a level of spiritual growth, never before attained, by trying to get the people to see that sin starts in the mind. They were in gross darkness and He came with light but they were so in love with the darkness, they hated the light. So that poor man who carried the light had to suffer because of the gross darkness of the people's minds.

 

What I was attempting to say the other night, was that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us a Law. Oft-times we obeyed The Law, not out of love for The Law, but, out of fear of the consequences of being put out of society and being rejected by our peers. But, that did not stop us from lusting after a female or fantasizing to do this or that which was against The Law.

 

When the Nation fell, The Law was literally vacated and this gave rise to all of the evil of our hearts The Law appeared to suppress. Then, this evil was free to burst forth. The Law was like a dam holding back the torrent of evil that was in the hearts of the people, but, when the dam was removed the torrent broke forth. It was destructive of the house; destructive of the families; destructive of our marriages and, ultimately, destructive of our lives. So the process of rebuilding or resurrecting starts with enticing people to come to The Truth, and, to have love and respect for The Law.

 

In The Truth is The Law. But, in The Truth is not necessarily the Love of The Law. That has to come from the heart when it is connected to Allah (God). When the heart is connected to Allah (God) it sees The Law as a Blessing from Allah (God), to give order and regularity to our lives and to discipline our affairs, then, we grow in Love with Allah (God) and in Love with The Law. When we Love Allah (God), and Love The Law, we outgrow the need for The Law. So, then, LOVEis the end of The Law.

 

Brother Jabril: The next question is based on a few verses from both the Bibleand the Holy Qur'an. It all deals with the same subject you just touched on.  

 

The Holy Qur'ansays, "Repel evil with what is best."Then it teaches that you can return the like of that with which you've been treated, but it would be better if you were patient.

 

2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise"- some say the word "slack" also means dull of mind - "but is long suffering to us and not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

 

Psalms 32:1 says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered.”

 

Proverbs 10:12reads: "Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all sins."Of course, this is put in various ways in different translations.

 

And in 1Peter 4:8 is this: "And above all things have fervent charity [love] among yourself for charity [love] shall cover a multitude of sins."

 

And then of this last part, I want to give more of the context because of how it involves the name Elijah. It is from the Book of James 5:16-20: "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it rained not on earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain andthe earth brought forth her fruit.

 

"Brethren if any of you do error from the truth and one converts him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins."

 

Of course, these passages impact many, many aspects of our duties including our going out 'fishing' (bringing people to the Mosque) and helping us gain strength, as well as the selling of The Final Call.These passages revolve around the same point you made earlier, and with what you just said, as well as what you said the other night, about the process and the price of redemption. Please comment.

 

Minister Farrakhan: The person who is given the task of redemption is a person who is willing to pay the price of redemption.

 

What is the price of redemption? The price is that your love must approach the Love of Allah (God), that you may be long suffering. Because without long suffering, you interrupt the process by which people are redeemed.

 

Consider the quality of being slow to anger. Well, you could return like for like. But, if you are a redeemer, or if you are following a redeemer, returning like for like would not be sin, but, it would injure the process by which the sinner would eventually come to redemption.

 

Since the sinner is by nature of God, but the nature of God in the sinner is thoroughly impacted with evil, we have to get past the layers of evil to contact the nature of God in the human being to affect redemption.

 

Master Fard Muhammad, in His coming, made a demonstration for His servant for three years and four months of long suffering; of taking abuse to show him the price of redemption. Then, on leaving, He tells His servant, "Take plenty." He wanted him to be long-suffering so that all may come to life.

 

He did not want one to perish. We may think that one is so ugly, so terrible, we would want that one to die, because in our judgment, he has earned death. Yet, He said He would pull some out of the fire that have done no good at all. My Lord!

 

In the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthiansare these words: "Though I speak with the tongue of angels,though I have the gift of prophecy, though I give my body to be burned, if I have not charity or love, I am nothing.”

 

In this dispensation, it is love that makes you something in the eyes of Allah (God). Because it is only loveof Allah (God) and love of the truth and love of the purpose for His coming and love of the people for whom He came that would cause you to have value in His sight. Love is not proud. Loveis long suffering.Loveendures all. It hopeth all. This to be the spirit, the attitude of a person that has been called by Allah (God) to act as a redeemer. The' price he must pay is to be all but completely selfless. Because, wherever the self is, the ego is, and the desire to retaliate is, and the nature of vindictiveness is, and the unwillingness to suffer is.

 

Allah (God) has to make you selfless, and, only when you are selfless, are you not offended by the wickedness of those whom you have come to save. I do not say you are unaffected in that it does not hurt you, but, you cannot respond as a natural man/woman, you must respond according to the nature of loveand the nature of yourself as a redeemer.

 

"For Allah (God) so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son."He Gave. He sacrificed him, and, the son was willing to be sacrificed. I have no life of my own. My life is for the redemption of a people, and, that is pretty hard. However, that is the necessary requirement to affect resurrection: redemption; restoration and reconciliation of the soul that is lost.

 

In concluding, when a person is like that, he has no sin. He has shortcomings, for sure, and he may commit sin, but by his long-suffering and continuing to pull on the good nature of Allah (God) in the people to make them better and better and better, Allah (God) just wipes away sin that he has and throws it in the sea of forgetfulness and covers his sin, because of the work that he does of redemption. This is why Jesus is looked at as absolutely perfect and sinless.

 

 

 

PART V: SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS

 

Brother Jabril: Here we have President Clinton. We were talking the other day about the hearings involving President Clinton. Among the points you brought up, one had to do with the general self-righteousness of the Republicans, and their staffs, and how they are tearing up the country and are blinded by the bent of their minds - bent on going in that direction - how this was ill-affecting the country and at the same time they were ignoring the will of the majority.

 

Your observances were different than those of the reporters and the commentators. It has a direct bearing on us - the Nation of Islam. It included the source of the spirit of these people and their alienation from the Mind of Allah (God). I don't remember all the details of what you said at this moment.

 

Minister Farrakhan: I don't either, Brother (Both laugh).

 

Brother Jabril: I know you dealt with the bent of their minds. It is a blindness rooted in self-righteousness. I think that may have been a factor leading to the blindness and the gross darkness of the minds of the people, which the prophets spoke of coming to a people, at a certain time.

 

Minister Farrakhan: I think I was talking about the United States “Constitution and the founding fathers and words on pages written by men who loved this country and wanted to preserve and protect this country from the things they knew historically and had, themselves, experienced in Europe.

 

They wanted to make a new nation that was free of the ills that caused the continuous rise and fall of the nations in Europe.

 

So they wrestled with each other, with themselves, with history and with wisdom, to formulate a constitution that I literally believe was guided by Allah (God). But to look on words and the intent of the writer, those words are now subjected to the interpretation of the intention of the writer and the words he wrote.

 

If the intent is different from the intent of the writer, yet, the person believes in his or her own heart and mind that he or she are in sync with the writer, then, in their blindness, they persist on a course that could be destructive to the very thing that they say they desire to uphold.

 

Now, I am looking at the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, a man who wrote hundreds of thousands of words and spoke millions of words- some of which we know, some of which we don't know-but enough of what he wrote and said, we do know. When that man is no longer here, his words are subjected to how we evaluate, perceive, interpret and then carry into practice his words, based upon our perception.

 

The Holy Qur'anteaches, "We take Allah's colouring and Allah is best at colouring."That is a very powerful statement. But who is the "We"? If you take Allah's (God's) colouring, then you see things through His eyes. When you see things through the eyes of Allah (God), you cannot see wrongly, because you see as He sees. But, if you see things through the eyes of your vanity; if you see things through the eyes of your perversity; if you see things through the eyes of desire; then, you can misperceive what you are looking at. Because you feel you are right, and believe you are right, you go forward with power in a wrong direction, thinking you are right, and you end up possibly destroying the very thing you say you desire to uphold.

 

Such is the case of those followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who see his words through the eye of vanity. "I am this person. I am the son of man. I am this."

 

If you see yourself as that - more than what you really are - what does your self-perception do to your perception of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad; the words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad; the intent and motivation of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad? From that you get a splintering. From that you get sects and parties. From that you get the destruction of the unity that was present when the principal party was present. From that you get variations on the Theme and Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, or Prophet Muhammad, Moses, or Jesus.

 

So it is today with the Constitution. I think you have 535 members of Congress - the Senate and the House of Representatives - all of whom are sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Some are ill- prepared for such a task. Some ran for governmental office for the sake of vanity, not for the sake of being a protector of the real aim and intention of the founding fathers of this Republic. Some run for public office as a job.  Some run for public office and spend inordinate sums of money so that through that office, and the corruption of that office, by big business, they can double, triple and quadruple what they spent to becomethat.

 

No one should run for public office in the United States of America without a profound understanding of the struggle of the founding fathers to write a constitution that they are going to take an oath to defend and protect against all enemies, foreign and domestic. No one should attempt to become a leader, on the basis of the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, without the willingness and the effort to enter into a profound study of the man, his message and his motives; and the history of the Nation -lest we get into a position where our sight is colored by desire or vanity or ego. Of course, every follower must enter into that study to effectively follow and benefit from following the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

 

And so, it appears to me that the Republicans-so bent on a narrow construction of the rule of law - have not really listened to the arguments of the Democrats, which have fundamental soundness, in that they are trying to interpret the will of the founding fathers on what they meant by high crimes and misdemeanors. But on the Republican side, they are looking at-it appears to me-a very narrow view of perjury; a narrow view of the President's lying. And it seems as though their desire to get Clinton is more important than what the intention of the founding fathers was and the will of the American people is. So their bent of mind is, "We must do this regardless!"

 

It appears to me they are oblivious to the damage it is doing-first, to the country, and second, to the party they represent. The anger of the people now grows greater and greater against the Congress, against the Government, and the militia movement gets stronger. The people's malaise and feeling that government does not represent them gets stronger. Dissatisfaction gets stronger.

 

So their honest perception - and I do not think they are all dishonest, they are just blinded by desire - should cause us to stop a moment and reflect on our Father, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and His intent, to make sure that when we interpret His Word, our mind is in sync with His Mind and our mind is insync with the Mind of Him Who Came and Raised the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Then, we know we are on a right course. 

 

I believe that is why the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "I want your mind. I want you to line your mind up with my mind that there be one mind."That is what I believe creates the value in the brother and what the brother is attempting to do for all of us and humanity. [Note: Minister Farrakhan is humbly referring to himself in the third person as 'the Brother. ']

 

I am seeing, by the help of Allah (God), not out of desire, but out of trying to understand the intent of our father that I may properly interpret him. This is what I meant in Washington (October 17, 1998) when I talked about Beethoven. I talked about being in sync with Beethoven's mind and spirit as he wrote, so that when you play Beethoven, every nuance is brought out because you have become one with his mind and spirit. Beethoven is on one level. Allah (God) is on another.

 

When you become one with Allah (God), then you know Him in a hint. You know Him in a sign. You hear His word. You see His word and you bring things out of the word that maybe others cannot see, because of the quality of your heart and its closeness to Allah (God).

 

Brother Jabril: The other night we dealt with the relationship between the attitude that certain congressmen and women have, which manifests self-righteousness, because that's obviously the blinding factor-

 

Minister Farrakhan: Well, that is the blinding factor.

 

Brother Jabril: Right. Exactly. Of course, that applies in our own overall situation, for as your book, A Torchlight for America,is written for them, it is also written for us. So here we have this huge study in front of us to further plumb.

 

Minister Farrakhan: They are showing us how to destroy our government in a few easy lessons. Some are talking falsely about Farrakhan wanting to overthrow the government. They are overthrowing their own house. "If satan cast out satan how then can his Kingdom stand?”

 

 

 

PART VI:DETERMINING THE QUALITY OF OUR PERCEPTION

 

Brother Jabril: Brother Minister, I want to begin with the concept of mood and how mood affects our perceptions and our understanding of the critical Word of Allah (God). You commented yesterday, on this subject, with reference to a recent Farrakhan the Traveler article, which included the bearing our moodshave on our efforts to learn the Word of Allah (God). Please give us the benefit of your comments.

 

Minister Farrakhan: What we bring to whatever we look at is what gives us our perception of that which we are looking at. Knowledge influences perception. However, if we do not know what we are looking at, then, the perception we have of that at which we are looking is not as full or complete as it could be, or would be, if only we had knowledge and further understanding.

 

In the Holy Qur'an, there is a verse that reads, "We take Allah's colouring, and Allah is best at colouring."I believe it means we take Allah's (God's) view and how Allah (God) views His own creation is how the believer views Allah's (God's) creation. But we cannot see His creation without His help. His help comes by introducing the knowledge to us of that which He created, and, the deeper aspect of perception is understanding the purpose for which He created what He created. It is only when we understand the purpose for the creation of the thing at which we are looking, and the lessons He intended in it, that we can say we have taken fully Allah's (God's) coloring.

 

There is, however, something that alters perception. As you wrote in one of your articles (Vol. 17, No. 41) recently, mood can disallow one to perceive properly. Sometimes mood is not able to be controlled because of the things that happened in the course of a day that can alter one's mood. That altering ofmood from happy to sad, from peaceful to agitated and irritated can cause us to misperceive the reality of that at which we are looking.

 

I was with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad one day, and he had just finished reading a letter from his nephew, the son of his brother, Kallatt. He said, the night before he was laying in his bed reading his nephew's letter, and he had a negative view of that letter and the person who wrote it. But the next morning he read it again, and he perceived that letter totally different than he did the night before. What altered his perception?  It was that mood that was created by the daily work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The negatives of that day influenced his perception.

 

So I would imagine that in order to perceive anything correctly, we must first check the state of mind we are in, then ask ourselves, how much we do know about that at which we are looking or on which we are looking? How deep is our knowledge of this thing? How deep is our understanding of its purpose? And when we can answer those questions properly, then we can say whether we perceive or misperceive reality.

 

I do not know how anyone can perceive reality properly without Allah (God). The God-conscious individual is less likely to misperceive reality, than one who forsakes Allah (God). When we forsake Allah (God), we forsake Him who is the Only Reality and the Creator of that which we are trying to perceive.

 

So only through the eyes of The Only Reality can we really perceive reality. One must, therefore, study the Word of Allah (God) in order to perceive the reality of life better. One must study the Word of Allah (God) to come into the proper mood and attitude for understanding.

 

[Note: Minister Farrakhan went on to cite another occasion while he was at the dinner table of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad dismissed one of the believers who went to sleep at the table. Minister Farrakhan recalled the Honorable Elijah Muhammad then said: "If you are talking to someone, and they don't seem to be receptive to what you are trying to teach, it limits your willand desire to try to teach."

 

Minister Farrakhan continued, in our interview, with these words: "So, the attitude of receptivity is the precondition for perceiving and receiving the word.”

 

Brother Jabril: We know that one day the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said to you that you did not have to study. You have said to some of us that this puzzled you. I bring this up in relation to your appointment of Sister Minister Ava Muhammad as a minister over a mosque in the Nation of Islam. Please comment.

 

Minister Farrakhan: As I came to understand the words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I came to see, not that I should not study, but what he is going to bring through me and from me, is that which is revelation. If it is revelation, I cannot study it, because I have not knowledge of what it is until it comes. After it comes through, then we can study it more deeply to understand and interpret it for those who believe.

 

I said that with respect to the appointment of Sister Minister Ava Muhammad as minister of the mosque, it was an act of inspiration. I had another person in mind. As I was sitting at the table, knowing I was going to make a change in Atlanta, I looked at Sister Ava, and in an instant, it came to me that she should be the one.

 

In order to explain my moves to others who might not understand, I said I am not an individual who sits in contemplation and meditation in planning the next step for the Nation's development. Everything we have done has come from inspiration that comes in an instant. I do not know when its coming, or in what context it is going to come. I only know that it comes, and when it comes, I am convinced almost instantly that it is something I should do.

 

Sometimes after I say it or do it, there are some reservations, there are some 'misgivings', if that is a proper word. But they are quickly dispelled, because the reservations and the misgivings come out of a fear, sometimes, of a consequence for the revelation, an inspiration that has been acted upon. Then, Allah (God) confirms me, so that fear or anxiety over what He has inspired me to say or do goes away. Then, I go forward with zeal and strength and total commitment, knowing that Allah (God) is with me in what I am about to do.

 

Brother Jabril: That happened in the process of the idea of the Million Man March.

 

Minister Farrakhan: Absolutely.  Absolutely. The Million Man March came as a moment of inspiration in the middle of a speech.  After it left my lips, I looked at it. I could not believe that this was coming out of my mouth and that we were going to do such a thing. Then I had reservations, not just for a moment, but I had reservations for a little time; "Oh, maybe I should put it off for a year or two. May I should plan it better."

 

Then I came to realize, more deeply, that my life is already planned. The Best Planner has planned my life through to the end and the plan was written long before I was born. So I need not sit around and plan. I just have to wait for aspects of His Plan to be given to me to be carried out.

 

 

 

PART VII: THE WOMAN IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

 

Brother Jabril: At some point in your Atlanta speech, when you were installing Sister Minister Ava Muhammad, you spoke about the woman being kept in. Would you say that there is a connection between that fact and the woman coming out now? How does this relate to the fact that prior to 6,000 years ago, as we have been taught, there was no "mosque" as such. The establishment of "mosque" is a relatively recent development-where we have edifices here and there, throughout the earth-and that one day, the whole earth would be a Mosque. What is the relationship between these two sets of issues?

 

Minister Farrakhan: Before the coming of the wicked, our whole activity of life was an activity of worship. I am sure that prayer, as a principle, was always a part of our life. Charity, fasting, struggle against human weakness in order to be obedient to Allah (God), was always a part of the principles of our daily activity.

 

However, it was seen in the beginning of this 25,000 year cycle, that in the year 8400 one would be born from among us who would bring in a world contrary to the Nature of Allah (God) and the nature in which He created creation. The scientists agreed that such one should come, which they could have altered, or the Judge of that cycle could have altered. But He, in His wisdom, said, "Let it be." So this one was coming by the Permissive Will of Allah (God) to act as the god of this world.

 

In order to keep this new people from using our ancient wisdom to build his world, we started the process, then, of preparing for the arrival of the god of this world. Part of that act of preparation was to cover up the signs of the Wisdom of the Original man in the earth. We could not cover up the signs of the Original people in the heavens, and the new man would take many, many, many, years before he could even begin to read the Wisdom of the Originator in the heavens. But, we could keep him from reading our science in the earth by burying our ancient civilizations under the sea, under the sand and under forests. So the new man came to build his contrary world.

 

Knowing that the female is the critical part of the building process- that one cannot bring in a new civilization until and/or unless one affects the way the female thinks. So in the Wisdom of God, He pulled our women in, and part of the discipline of salvation for us was that our woman should be kept in the house. Not that this is permanent, but, this was an act of protection. The man would go out and meet the new people while his woman was kept behind the door.

 

We did not have churches. We did not have mosques, tabernacles or cloisters, because the Way of Allah (God) was practiced freely and naturally by the original people wherever they lived. But, when an enemy was coming, whose way of civilization would be so contrary to God, we had to set up a particular house where the people of God could go in remembrance of God, to be instructed in His Way, that they might struggle against the way of civilization that was to hold sway over humanity until the Coming of God at the end of their time of rule.

 

So Moses was commanded to build a tabernacle. Then we had, in the Christian era, churches and in the Muslim era, mosques. These are houses of repair. They are like an automobile repair shop that you go outof the world to mend what is broken that you may go out on the bumpy highway of life to see how well you do until you need a place of repair again. The mosques, the churches and the tabernacles were called places where we repair; we go to mend a broken spirit. We go to restore a soul. We go to be reminded of the way of God.

 

So the woman, generally, was kept out of the affairs to keep her from getting entangled in the wicked way of civilization that was to hold sway. She was kept out of government. She was kept out of Church affairs. She was kept out of everything but home affairs, because Satan was going to rule church affairs, government affairs, and all other affairs.

 

Allah (God) did not want her entangled in Satan's way, because the more she is entangled in such way, the more difficult it would be for Allah (God) to bring forth out of her a new civilization.

 

It is written of Mary in the Holy Qur'an that the angels argued over who would take charge of the life of Mary. If you look at Mary, she was put in a place where she could not be contaminated with the wickedness of the world. She grew up under the care of Zacharias, a righteous man, and grew up in the temple under the Law of God; she was a purified female through whom God would bring forth a manchild who would become the Power that would end the world of Satan. Allah (God) needed a good woman, uncontaminated by the world, through whom He could bring the Messiah.

 

This is why we kept women in the house, or we tried to (smile). Many of them got out, because they felt this was against the nature of the woman to not be involved. So they kept sneaking out, or being let out, and, of course, when the wicked conquered the man, then they could go in the house and take his woman out of the house and spoil her. But he never got to Mary. So it is through Mary that a new world would come.

 

One day Master Fard Muhammad told the sisters that a time would come when they would let the devil into their living rooms and entertain him. Little did we know that when the television was made and we put it in our living rooms that the wicked ideas of a satanic mind that governs this world would come into our homes and spoil our women and children.

 

Sister Minister Ava Muhammad's appointment as a minister over a mosque to head the mosque in teaching and administration is a' sign now of new rulership. This is a sign that it is becoming time now for the female to come out into Allah's (God's) new world, as well as to master the home to bring forth a brand new civilization. It is also a sign of the irreversible Will of Allah (God) - that nothing Satan can do will alter the establishment of Allah's (God's) Will. The woman can come out now because Satan's power over her is waning. 

 

All over the world, women are crying out for freedom; crying out for justice. Allah (God) is inspiring their cry and He will answer their cry and make them a party to and a partner with the new Adam in bringing about a very functional family, and a very functional nation on the basis of proper male-female relationships and partnerships in serving the Will of Allah (God). She will be His helpmeet.

 

Brother Jabril: Brother Minister, would you say that warfare has had the effect of liberating the woman?

 

Minister Farrakhan: Yes. That has contributed toward her total liberation. In World War II, when the men were called to fight, the presence of women in factories to produce the weapons or ordinance of war showed that women could do effective work outside of the home. Women's suffrage in the last century has contributed to her coming out and becoming a partner in society. That push for her liberation has begun and it continues.

 

Brother Jabril: What is the relationship between a man honoring his mother and a man honoring women in general?

 

Minister Farrakhan: Mother is next to Allah (God) and the Messenger of Allah (God), who brings the Word of Allah (God) and is the example of how that word should be carried forth into life. Next to those two, nothing supersedes mother.

 

When a man learns to honor and respect his mother and perceives her in accordance with Allah's (God's) Will and Purpose for her creation, then it flows from that perception (of his mother) and understanding that all women who are mothers potentially should be given the same honor and respect that one would give to one's mother. 

 

When you see your sister, a potential mother, you honor your sister.  You protect your sister, as you would protect your mother, your aunt, your cousin. This flows from the proper perception of mother, from which comes the proper perception of women.

 

 

 

PART VIII: THE TIME WARP

 

Brother Jabril: How would you relate the fact that so many are in a "time warp," to the parable of Jesus, given in Matthew 25, about the talents? How, in your view, does this parable relate to helping us out of time warps, and coming fully into the present, to be in accord with Allah's (God's) Will for this time period-from 2975, or from whatever time period of the past?

 

Minister Farrakhan: There is a saying, “the only thing that is permanent in creation is change." As long as we live, we are engulfed in an eternal process of change. Sometimes, however, we get locked into an era of time that gives us great comfort, because in that era of time we became possessors of a certain knowledge that acquits us in that time period and we become successful.

 

Success, in any period of time, means the mastery of difficulty. The success that demonstrates the mastery of difficulty produces the ease that comes after difficulty. When the ease comes, we are in a position of danger - the Holy Qur'anwarns those of us who live the easy life, because the life of ease takes the struggle out of life.

 

When one does not have to struggle to know; when one does not have to struggle to become successful; when one does not have to struggle, then in that stage of development, one becomes comfortable. But another stage is coming which will cause us to face difficulty again. And, it is the refusal to face the difficulty that accompanies change that leaves those in ease unwilling to struggle again. They get involved or caught up in a time warp which then sentences them to death.

 

So it is when prophets come into the world bringing revelation.  Every new aspect of knowledge produces a new challenge. Those in the older aspect of knowledge who have mastered that aspect of knowledge and have found ease, then, the struggle of life is gone for them, and they are more unwilling to accept the challenge of a new revelation which demands struggle, which demands change, which furthers their evolution toward perfection.

 

Ease makes a person not want perfection. They say: "I'm happy where I am; don’t disturb me." So when the new knowledge comes, the people that oppose it most are the people who live the easy lives, or who have become '; comfortable in their understanding of their revelation (Torah, Gospel, Qur' an). This is why Jesus said, "It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man toenter the Kingdom of God." 

 

Why? Because the kingdom of God demanded a new knowledge. That new knowledge demanded of those who had previously acquitted themselves greatly with the old knowledge, that they become as a child to learn the new. That became difficult for the arrogant and the lofty. So they got lost in a time warp.

 

In order for us to continue the evolutionary journey toward perfection, we must remain humble and know that nature and life is critical. History shows that there is difficulty, and, after you've mastered the difficulty there is ease. When ease comes, a new challenge is going to be presented. If we can accept the discomfort of the new challenge and rise to that challenge to struggle to overcome the difficulties presented by that challenge, then we will have ease again. As the Holy Qur'anteaches, "In the alternation of the day and the night, in this are signs for those who reflect.”

 

Brother Jabril: The Holy Qur'ansays Allah (God) straightens in means whom He pleases. He's not trying to destroy the person. Please comment.

 

Minister Farrakhan: There are some of us whom God keeps in struggle, that He may teach them lessons through struggle and allow them to teach others through their struggle.

 

The Holy Qur' anteaches, "He straightens the means of subsistence for whom He pleases and He amplifies it for whom He pleases."In both instances, the human being is being tried. If your means are straightened, how would you react to that, where Allah (God) is concerned? If your means are amplified, how will you act toward Allah (God), Who has amplified your means? In both instances, the human being is under trial. How we react under both circumstances determine how Allah (God) will favor us in the next season.

 

Brother Jabril: So, in each instance He is advancing each person towards that which pleases Him and His pleasure is in bringing us closer to Himself.

 

Minister Farrakhan: Absolutely. Absolutely. His pleasure is really the pleasure of the faithful. This is why Job was so beloved of God. No matter what it pleased God to do to Job - which was really for Job - Job would never curse God. His words are there, according to the Bible, "I will wait until my change comes."

 

This meant that he was patient and long suffering. It meant that he knew his change was coming. It did come. Although the story ends with Job in great wealth, what he learned through the time of the straightening of his means of subsistence was complete reliance on Allah (God). So that when he came into wealth, the wealth never altered his perception of God and great became the character that was developed in him through the struggle to survive when he lost everything.

 

Brother Jabril: Now, Brother Minister, last night you shared with us information that provides us with deeper insight into the relationship between getting out of the 'time warp' and tying it in with the talent. Please comment.

 

Minister Farrakhan: To capsule it. It is a picture of The Day of Judgment. Each human being will be called to account for what that human being has done with what that human being has been given. In the parable of the talents, there is a man who was going away to a far country. At the time when that parable was spoken, the means of transportation were such that, if a man was going away into a far country, it would take that person an awfully long time to go and return from a far country.

 

I think the parable was trying to tell us that the person would be gone for a while. The absence of that person was a test for the servants of that person. So, he calls them before he goes and he gives to each talents. One he gives five; one he gives three; one he gives one.

 

In those days, a talent was money. The man that he gave five increased it to ten. The man that he gave three increased it to five. The man that he gave one, buried it. When the master returned, he called his servants. "To a Day of Judgment. He asked the question, "What did you do with what I gave you?"

 

One servant said, "You have given me five and I increased it to ten.” And the master said, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a little, I will make you a ruler over much."Then he called the man that he had given two talents. That man also increased his talent to four. The Master was pleased with him because of the increase.

 

But the man that he had given one talent, buried it. He never put it to use. He wanted to give it back to the master the same way he received it. Needless to say, the master was greatly displeased with him and took from him his talent. He took that one talent and gave it to the man who brought about the biggest increase. The man with the one talent began accusing the master. "Ah, you're a hard man. You reap where you have not even sown. “He is making excuses for his lack of the proper use of his talent.

 

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that the talent here represents faith. The greatest money a person has is their faith in Allah (God). But, faith counts for nothing except it is put to an exchange. As money should secure you some of the things that you need to make life more comfortable and the quality of life better for you and your family, it is putting faith to an exchange that will improve the quality of your life.

 

The man that buried his faith was in a time warp. He refused to grow.  He was comfortable with the one talent that he had and did not see any need to improve on what the master had given him. He thought he would be accepted by giving back to the master what the master had given him.

 

He found himself cast into outer darkness and that which he had was taken from him.

 

[Note: Minister Farrakhan shuddered a bit as he paused and said: "My Lord! My Lord! "]

 

What I see in that, is everyone whom the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught, who claims belief in him, has to put their faith to an exchange. For as surely as the day follows the night, he will return. We will be called to account for our use of our faith; our use of our life; our use of our gifts, skills and talents. If we have not done properly, then we will suffer the judgment of our master, rather than the joy of having pleased him and being made governors and rulers over territory in his name.

 

So it would behoove all to come out of the comfortability of what you believed yesterday, because what you believed yesterday and the way you believed yesterday may not be acceptable in today's circumstances. However, you cannot come into today without a guide. So Allah (God) says, "I will not leave you comfortless. I am going to give you someone who will guide you in the absence of your Master- as a Comforter, but also as a Guide to a higher level of Comfort after the difficulty of change. "

 

Unfortunately, the rejection of that guide, as the continuation of the work of the Master (the Honorable Elijah Muhammad), is absolutely confining us to a stage and a period of time that sentences us to death.

 

Brother Jabril: You just reminded me of something I said to some of us the other day. We ofttimes refer to you as the Reminder. We ofttimes say this in our opening statements before an audience and sometimes in our prayers, thanking Allah for a "reminder" in yourself. But the Holy Qur'analso says, in more than one place, "If you reject this reminder then chastisement is coming."So, I want to bring up that point in this context.

 

Minister Farrakhan: Yes, they are not confident that he is guiding them aright, so they stay in that which they were sure of that was sanctioned by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad when he was among us. They do not realize that this new stage of their development was and is also sanctioned by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

 

When the Holy Qur'an teaches of Moses and Aaron it says, "Go you both to Pharaoh, I give you both a criteria and an authority."This tells us that as Moses was given a certain criteria and an authority, Aaron was also given the same. Those who came up under the man like Moses did not have the same trust in the man like Aaron. They were more comfortable teaching that which they didn't have to struggle to grow to understand.

 

Brother Jabril: Then we have that warning in the Bible, which tells us, in symbolic form, that all twenty years old and older were divinely done away with. So those nineteen years old and younger had the big chance to make it. The youthful or the childlike eager state of mind, to learn and move ahead, as you’ve mentioned, these are all interconnected and the keys to our salvation today.

 

 

PART IX: REFLECTIONS FROM A MAN WITH A MISSION

 

September, 1998

 

Brother Jabril: For those who didn't get a chance to see him or hear him or sit at his table, tell us about the sense of humor of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

 

Minister Farrakhan: The Honorable Elijah Muhammad lived the majority of his life with a very heavy weight on his head. His heart was with the "weighty word" and the Mission that Allah (God) had given him. Those were great blessings, at his dinner table, where we were involved in discussions and in hearing him expound on the Wisdom of Allah (God), as found in the Bible and Holy Qur'an and methods of going after our people, to bring them into the light of a knowledge that had been kept from them. Our discussion with him at his table were of a serious nature. So, it was most refreshing to sit at his table sometimes and hear him tell a humorous anecdote and laugh.

 

When he laughed his cheeks became so rosy. For me it was joy to see him laugh and sometimes he would laugh until tears welled up in his eyes. His sense of humor was unique because one would not think a man of his station, of his tremendous wisdom, would even take the time to be humorous. But even in his humor he was always teaching lessons.

 

Brother Jabril: Now I am among the witnesses of the humor of both the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and of yourself - two men with the heaviest missions conceivable. I am among those who had the privilege of sitting at his table and now at your table there in Chicago. I have personally witnessed the same quality of humor in him as well as in you.

 

One of the fascinating experiences we have gone through was of course, the tremendous number and array of vicious attacks via the mass media of America, which often came through cartoons against yourself- especially beginning in 1984. You have shared with some of us the use you would like to one day make of those cartoons. Would you repeat what that was, if you had the opportunity to do that?

 

Minister Farrakhan: First, I am amazed at genius, no matter how genius is displayed. I marvel at genius. The way the cartoonists would depict me was literally hilarious. I saw the genius of these cartoonists used in a way to make light of me and the word. But I found them so funny that I wanted to devote a whole room in my house to gather all of these cartoons and make it into wall paper and just paper my wall with all of these cartoons. Then when I get in a depressed mood I could go and just look at these cartoons and laugh myself back into mental preparedness to do my job.

 

I can look at myself now, at my own sense of humor, and I realize that sometimes a funny story that makes a person laugh is something that makes a person comfortable in a situation where they might not be comfortable.

 

When people sat at the table of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, believing he was a man who met with Allah (God); believing he was a man who could read your thinking; well, it was very frightening to be sitting in the presence of a man of whom you believe such. So he would always say something humorous, to relax the persons that did not know him who were there at his table for the first time. That little joke, that little humorous word that he would say, would sort of take the edge off of those at the table, and set a friendly tone and open a person up for serious teaching and dialogue.

 

I have found in my own life that life is hard, but people love to laugh; especially when they are not the focus of the laughter. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad would make people laugh. Yet, there was wisdom in what he was saying and sometimes there was just folly. But it was hilarious even to hear the Honorable Elijah Muhammad say something that seemed like folly. However, he used folly for the foolish and he used folly to open the foolish up to wisdom.

 

So, I find myself, just naturally-not imitating our father-but naturally doing the same thing to make people to know that I am not a boogie man. I am their brother and I love them and I desire them to know the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I desire them to know the truth and you cannot always jump on the person with heavy truths. You have to be skillful to open their hearts and their minds to truth and nothing does it better than a humorous anecdote or something that causes laughter.

 

Brother Jabril: Would you say that the ability to laugh at ones self is related to selflessness rather than self-centeredness?

 

Minister Farrakhan: Of course. You know a person who is humble of heart can see things of self that are funny and laugh at self and laugh at what people do and think of self because they know that that is not the self. Just having a knowledge of yourself and who and what you really are; to be humble to recognize the Majesty of Allah (God), then what people write of you of evil, what people say of you of evil, what people plan against you of evil, never makes you evil.

 

It hurts you sometimes, to know it, to hear it, but, then you get over it. As far as my own self is concerned, I do not focus on those things at all. Sometimes I forget the evil that people say and the evil that people plan and do that I know of them. They could come in my presence and I will treat them just as well as I would treat a member of my own family or one of my helpers in this cause. I guess it takes people aback to know that I may know the evil that they have thought of me, that they have said of me, and yet, I am kind to them.

 

An example of that is that I gave a four or five-hour interview to Dr. Henry Louis Gates of Harvard University earlier this year. The article he wrote in The New Yorker hardly represented much of what I gave him. He said what he wanted to say and left out what he wanted to leave out. The article did not represent the truth of what I said nor me as I naturally would like to have been represented.

 

When I was in Africa, in the wonderful, wonderful country of Ethiopia, he was in the same hotel as I. He was working on a piece on Christianity and Islam and their origins in Africa. When he learned that I was in the hotel, he wanted to interview me for his documentary. Of course, I obliged him. When he came up in the suite, with his camera crew, I am sure he was somewhat shocked that I never showed displeasure toward him. I may have mentioned my displeasure with the way that he characterized our interview, but, I was kind to him and went on with him as though he and I were long lost friends. Why? Because no matter what people write or say in their misrepresentations of me, I am always thinking that one day, Allah (God) willing, I will win them for the cause of Islam.

 

Brother Jabril: This is a two part question. Would you say that your wonderful sense of humor has been a factor in your ability to persevere under this most difficult set of circumstances? And what are some of the other factors that have enabled you to so persevere?

 

Minister Farrakhan: Yes, and I also think the greatest factor in my being able to persevere is being blessed to be humble enough to see the Greatness of Allah (God). I know that I am just an atom in the Universe of billions and trillions and quadrillions of atoms. I know that I am so blessed to be able to serve Allah (God), in this time, and in this way.

 

In serving Allah (God), our people and humanity as best I can, and not taking myself seriously in terms of who I am and how people view me, I think, is the underpinning of my sense of humor. This is the underpinning of longevity and perseverance. This is the reason the evil that people do to me really does not affect me; it is because they never reach me. They cannot find me. I am so low to the ground that everything they shoot at me always goes above me; and they could only hit me if I began to think more of myself than I should.

 

Brother Jabril: Your wonderful sense of humor a factor in your ability to persevere under this tremendous pressure. The very source of the quality of your sense of humor, as I have had a chance to witness, is tremendously illustrated in the work of the cartoonist against you, which we have just discussed. The way you reacted and handled that entire episode is a perfect illustration of the truth of what you just said; the ability not to take oneself so seriously which is related to not making oneself at the center of reality, but to be God-centered. This is what I was driving at. Your sense of humor comes from a quality of character which the Honorable Elijah Muhammad demonstrated among us.

 

Brother Minister, it is a fact that any of us who had the privilege of working with you up close well knows; anyone who has observed you from a distance, but has knowledge of you will bear witness to the same. I am referring to your stupendous and the strenuous nature of your travels; which you have kept up non-stop, going on twenty-two years, in fulfillment of your assignment. It is a fact that you have a schedule which is practically unbelievable, especially the traveling schedule, which is "unreal". To what degree do you feel love motivates and fuels you to do what you do in the way that you do it?

 

Minister Farrakhan: That is the answer. Love is the power. Love is \ the force. Love is the gasoline or the fuel that allows one, such as myself, to do what I do and appear indefatigable, untired, not worn by what one does and it is precisely because I love so much of what I am doing.

 

I love to impart knowledge. I love to see the eyes of a human being come open to truths that mean something or can be a motivating factor to make their personal lives more meaningful. This is what gives meaning to my own life. As I give, I get; as I feed, I am fed; as I energize others, I too, am energized because I believe that is what I am born into this world to do.

 

Brother Jabril: Thank you, Minister Farrakhan.

 

Minister Farrakhan: You are welcome

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

What comes below grew out of a lengthy discussion between Minister Farrakhan and me one night last December, over the implications of points made in articles [Farrakhan: The Traveler, Vol. 18, No. 10 & Vol. 18, No. 11] about himself. In the course of that conversation, and in response to points respecting his identity, he attempted to describe how he saw himself. What he said was to me very interesting and highly significant. I was so moved by what he said to me, that I could not sleep that night. That discussion was not taped.

 

Two nights later, and again at dinner, with a few others present,  including his wife, Mother Khadijah, Minister Farrakhan made a statement that seemed to me that he was going to include what he said of himself two nights earlier. This was to me a valuable opportunity to capture something of great value to share with you, by means of this little book. He permitted me to tape his statement, which he held up for the moment it took me to get my tape recorder.

 

One more thing. Usually there is only very minor editing to be done in final drafts of interviews I have done with Minister Farrakhan. This is due to the magnificently clear manner he has of expressing himself. However, in this instance, he was expressing himself on the core of himself. This is never easy for anyone to truly do. It wasn't for him that night either.

 

I hope you are not offended by my near verbatim transcription of his words, but I want the reader to get a sense of that scene as we experienced it. Again, it was that valuable, in my eyes. So, for the purposes of this little book, and the one to come, here is the relevant part of that dinner discussion. I hope you will find it as valuable as I did.

 

Here are his very touching, moving and stirring words.

 

"Any man who is made in haste is made of a fiery temperament. The creation of the universe and Allah's own Self-creation is not a hasty thing. He makes everything to go through stages and stages and it takes great time. He said He created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time. He does not say what those periods of time are, whether they are billions or trillions of years.

 

It takes time for a person to grow into the knowledge of self. And then the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "After you grow into the knowledge of self, then you have to learn how to hold yourself down, lest you get carried away with yourself"

 

I was telling Brother Jabril [two nights earlier] that no matter what people say of me-and now people are saying things allover the world-I feel like a little boy inside of a mature man.

 

Now look at that picture: a little boy inside of a mature man. As the man is getting older and wiser, the people outside are relating to this mature man who is representing Allah (God), the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Prophet Muhammad and the Truth, but, on the inside there is this little boy who is almost oblivious to the kudos and the praise and all that is being said to the mature man on the outside.

 

The little fellow on the inside may want to play, he may want to do some little silly thing. He is not even aware of the greatness that Allah (God) is making of him. He is just happy being a little boy on the inside of this mature man.

 

I keep thinking, as I look at myself, no matter what people say, "how great he is," yet I see myself just like I was when we (looking at his wife) were back in Roxbury, Massachusetts and I am this little fellow respectful of my elders and always willing to do little things to help this one and that one; never taking myself seriously. That is my protection. The little boy on the inside is protected from all of the praise and the kudos - fame, popularity, adulation, acclamation – on the mature man growing on the outside.

 

The little fellow - if there is a cartoon that could be drawn of a man growing in stature and the lines in his face and the wisdom that he speaks and the audiences cheering, and on the inside there is this little boy playing hopscotch or playing with his marbles and he is oblivious to the people outside saying great and wonderful things about him. He is hitting that marble. He is just doing his "little boy" things.

 

So, no matter what people say; no matter how much they praise me; it does not affect me, because it only reaches the head of the old man, but the little fellow on the inside didn't hear it. He doesn't know it. You know? I don't know why I made that picture; but that's the way I feel inside.

 

Even though I know these words that you [Jabril] write are true and I know I am the representative of this Messianic dispensation; I know that I am that. I know that. I know that. But, then, I don't know it. Do you know what I mean? I know that I am becoming a very great man. But I am not aware to the point where I am carried away with myself, because the little boy on the inside does not allow it.

 

You know how old people can sit at a table and talk and the little boy is looking for a way to get away from table so he can do "little boy" things?  Am I making sense? [We all laugh; for he is crystal clear and in a very touching and sensitive manner.] that's a heck of a picture, isn't it?

 

So I don't know what games people have on their minds, but little children do not [arrogantly] judge people. Little children have a way of looking at people - they may not go to everybody, but they are innocent. And because they are innocent, they have to be protected. That's that little fellow within. Now, the old guy might be wise enough to protect the little fellow within, but I think the little fellow within the old fellow outside just looks mature and sounds mature and affects the world as a mature man. But on the inside, he's just a little boy, innocent, and will never be affected by the praise of the people.

 

And when death overtakes him, he won't know anything of his so- called greatness. He will only know he is grateful that he was blessed to live to serve a Great God, Allah, and a Great Cause, Islam, and a Great Teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

 

I was telling Brother Jabril how young people get fame and fortune quickly and lose it almost as quickly as they get it. It destroys them, because it really takes time to produce greatness. Real greatness-just takes time.

 

And so God, in allowing me to grow - I don't care if millions of people applaud me and cheer me, the little boy inside is oblivious to that. He hardly hears it and that is not his interest. His interest is in the game of marbles; not really marbles but, you know - I just don't know how to explain it.

 

Everyone there smiled and was moved by the beautiful and humble way Minister Farrakhan clearly expressed himself.

 

Thank you for reading this little book, your Saviours' Day Gift from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

 

More next volume, Allah willing.

Jabril Muhammad

February 14, 1999