Imam Mohammed Speaks at the First Corinthian Church of Harlem (Imam W. Deen Mohammed gave the following address at the First Corinthian Church in Harlem, N.Y., on April 16, 2005.) Part 2 I want to address interests. Everybody must have interests in order to be alive. If you have no interests, you are dead. You might be living physically, but as a human being you are dead. Not only you, any thing - if it is a cat, a dog, a mosquito - interest is number one. Without interest, they are dead. And the first call into your ear wants you to give your ear to what is being said in the adhan There is no god but Allah and it goes on to its end. Once you give your ear to that, it becomes your number one interest. Responding to G-d becomes your number one interest. What is the Message of Islam saying to us? It is saying that your number one interest should be to respond to your Creator. Answer His Call - the call to prayer, the call to worship. Your number one response should be to your G-d Who provides everything to support your life in the sky and earth. Understand that that G-d is more important than anything else. And we dont need a lot of education in Islam in order to be successful as a Muslim. The adhan tells us that if you would just respond to the adhan and understand what is being said, understand what you are hearing, you are assured success in life. At the end of the adhan, we are told that we are being called to success. For the owner of the business that you work for, if you dont know he is the owner and he calls you and says, John. John turns around, when he hears his name. The person says, Bring me that Wall Street Journal there. John goes and picks up the Wall Street Journal and brings it to this man. And John may live the rest of his life out never knowing that he was called by his boss, who just asked him to bring that newspaper to him. John may not even respond favorably and say, Get the newspaper yourself. Then he gets fired. So we hear this call to respond to G-d and some of us take it lightly. You have to understand what is going into your ears. Dont just hear it; understand it. You hear music, but can you put it into language? And the adhan can be nothing but music to your ears. If I ask you, What is the importance of the adhan? Why is it called the adhan? Your correct answer would be, The importance of the adhan is for us to be conscious of G-d and remain conscious of G-d. The adhan is said at least five times; there may be more. But there are five prayers said with five adhans calling us to obligatory prayers of Muslims. Why five? It is because we are creatures of five senses -hearing, sight, smell, taste, feelings. We cannot get any-thing in our brains or on our minds, unless it comes by the way of those five senses. You either have to hear it, see it, smell it, taste it or feel it. Those are the means in your life for you to receive communication or experience and respond to it. If you can register and respond, then you are conscious. And consciousness is 10: Five for receiving and five for responding. I used to love to box, but not now like I used to; now you hate to see all of that damage done to a human being. You get a higher appreciation for the human vessel, and you are no longer interested in seeing people get battered in the ring for fame or entertainment. Although I got away from the love of the sport, I still love boxing. And at this age, I can still box. You have a chance to keep fighting, if you can get up before the count of 10. And sometimes, you can get up at the count of 10. Then the referee will look at you and say, This guy is out on his feet. He will have you look at his fingers and ask you how many are there. If you say, Four, the fight is over. He will ask you what is your name. If you respond incorrectly, the fight is over.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 16:04:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015