READING MATERIAL

FACTS The Bible and The Holy Qur'an both teach us that man's beginnings are in mere "dust". Yet, both books also teach us that Allah (God), the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, has created us from dust and given us dominion over His Creation.
 

QUESTIONS

Would Allah (God) give us power and dominion over His Creation if we lacked the potential to rule it?

What does this signify concerning what is in you?
 

DISCUSSION

1) First, let us review some key words and their definitions. Please look at the GLOSSARY.

2) Read Surah 22:5-7. This Surah is called "The Pilgrimage". Why, in this chapter, does Allah speak to us of our creation from dust? In his opening letter to us, how did the Minister define "Resurrection"? Is the process of Resurrection similar to the Pilgrimage? If yes, why is it similar?

3) Read Surah 23:12-14. This Surah is called "The Believer". The same process described in the previous chapter is repeated. What is the significance of mentioning this process in a Surah of this name, "Believer"?

4) Read Surah 32:6-9. This Surah is called "The Adoration". What is the significance of this word, "Adoration", in the process of resurrection?

In the same chapter, Allah (God) declares that He created man from "dust" and made him of "...an extract, or worthless water." What is the "extract" referred to here? What makes it worthless? Does the Black man have worth in the eyes of Civilization? Did he ever have respect and worth? Can he have it again?

What parables are we given in the Holy Qur'an to assure us our own potential to be consequential?

Supplement

5) Read Surah 14: 32-34. This Surah is called "Abraham." In it, we see that Allah (God) has made the Sun, Moon, Heavens, Earth, all "subservient" to us. What is the meaning of "subservient"? Are we being served by nature now? Are we in control of nature? Do we have the potential to gain mastery of the forces of nature? What evidence is there that we have such potential?

What is the connection between the man Abraham and the mastery of man over the forces of nature?

Supplement

6) Read Surah 96:1-5. Have you ever seen a blood clot? Was it beautiful to behold? Is a Nation of unlearned people a beautiful sight in the eyes of civilization? By what means does a clot develop into a complete human being? By what means must a people evolve into its beauty?

Supplement

7) Read Surah 86:5-12. What is the significance of the process of man's development from sperm being described in this Surah, called "The Comer By Night"?

Supplement

8) What is the significance of the life of Jesus to one who is studying and seeking to build human potential in himself and others? What is the significance of the life of Muhammad in the study of building human potential?

What is the significance of studying the life of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as an example for us in building our own potential?

Supplement
 

SUPPLEMENT

4) The "extract" is sperm. Sperm issues from the same part of man's body as waste fluid, therefore it is lowly, even despicable in man's sight. But the sperm is the quintessence of every part of the human body. In the act of conception, the essence of man is extracted from him; his being, his genetic make-up. Sperm is only worthless because of the state that it is in.

The Holy Qur'an repeatedly speaks of a barren, dry Earth, that appears dead, but when Allah causes clouds to come over it and water falls from those clouds, the life that is in the earth swells and blossoms.
 

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Sperm must be placed in the right environment, i.e., the womb. What is the proper environment for spiritual development to take place? The Mosque. Review what Minister Farrakhan said of the mosque in his letter.

The Qur'an says: "Then He made him complete and breathed into him of His spirit." What makes us complete is the Spirit of God. This is manifested in the language of the Holy Qur'an. Once Allah has breathed His spirit into man, He ceases to refer to him in the third person, "him" and begins to refer to him in the second person, "you". He says, "...and gave you ears, and eyes and hearts; little it is that you give thanks!" Man is thus addressed as a spiritual counterpart to whom the Creator has given ears, so that he can hear the Message; eyes to see clearly with the vision of a Divine being; a heart for love and understanding and compassion. Yet, with all of these divine gifts, we are ungrateful.

5) Abraham is the example for us of what we must do in order to be given dominion over the world as -Allah planned for us. Abraham represents belief in ONE GOD and total submission to His Will and His Alone. Review the Minister's letter where he gives us excerpts from the Muslim opening prayer.

6) Allah says, "complete in make and incomplete, that We may make clear to you..." When you and I come forth we are complete yet incomplete. How do we become complete? By being fed and nourished. Food develops the body. Words develop the mind. Just as we must eat the right food to grow right physically; we must read right, from right material, to grow our minds properly.

7) The 86th Surah, "Al-Tariq" contains an invaluable lesson. The Comer by Night signifies that we must never give in to the darkness of despair and hopelessness. Remember the Minister's words last Sunday: "In the darkest mind there is a spark of light", There is a Being --- the same Being that delivered Moses, Jesus, Noah; He will deliver you and me.

If you even think of being in despair, then do what the 86th Surah says, "let man consider of what he is created." The same God Who brought that sperm through that tortuous journey to meet the egg and become you and me; that same God will deliver us.

Master Fard Muhammad came "unobserved", and in the darkness He gave the Word to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The Word is symbolized by Water. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, filled with the Word, became as a "cloud giving rain" to you and me. He built men and women from nothing into that which the world had never before known.

And so this Surah says "It is a decisive Word ... and not a joke". This means we must not play with the teachings of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
 

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8) Review the statements made by Minister Farrakhan in SELF-IMPROVEMENT, pertaining to Jesus. Be ever mindful in the discussions, of the potential for complete harmony with those who profess Christianity, through our own understanding of the man Jesus.

There are profound statements made by Minister Farrakhan and Jesus in this speech. For example,

"...in Jesus is a witness, not that God is coming, but that God is present...Jesus gives man a glimpse of his potential. Jesus is not here for you to worship him; he is here for you to follow his example, that where he is, you may be...Because if you follow that example, Jesus is only manifesting what is really in yourself ... He is the perfect example of human potential ... he was born of a woman and came through the vicissitudes of life, just like you."

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad accomplished what he accomplished through the guidance of Master Fard Muhammad. The Holy Qur'an and many, many books. Though he had only completed the 4th grade, he followed the first command from His Teacher: "Read." For 7 years, while on the run from the hypocrites, he managed to go back and forth to the library of Congress (Washington, D.C.) reading 104 books as assigned to him by Master Fard Muhammad.

If Malcolm X, with an 8th grade education, accomplished what he accomplished under the guidance of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, read every book in the prison library, beginning with the dictionary; if individuals and people can manifest hidden beauty and potential through reading, then each one of us must challenge our aversion to reading and begin to: READ, READ. "READ IN THE NAME OF THY LORD WHO CREATES, CREATES MAN FROM A CLOT. READ AND THY LORD IS MOST GENEROUS, WHO TAUGHT MAN BY PEN, TAUGHT MAN WHAT MAN KNEW NOT..."

These are the 2 lost arts among our people: Reading and Writing (use of the pen). If there is one among us who cannot read, that is one too many. If one of you is unable to read, then we shall establish a Mosque reading class.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Your assignment (to be completed by December 26, 1986) is as follows:

1 Re-read the Holy Qur'an references from Study Session #1 and the references from Study Session #2.

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2) Continue to read SELF-IMPROVEMENT.

3) Read newspaper each and every day. Read the Chicago Tribune and/or The Sun Times. In addition to one of these two newspapers, read the Chicago Defender.

Do not read the sports section, leisure, etc. Read the NEWS.

4) Read the article entitled "ONE MEAL A DAY" from HOW TO EAT TO LIVE (Book One) by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Be prepared to discuss this article next Friday in your study circle.

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GLOSSARY

BUILD (verb) To frame, construct, mold, form or create. To establish, increase, strengthen, prepare in stages.

HUMAN (adj) Pertaining to or characterizing man. From "humus": a dark, organic material in soil, produced by the decomposition of animal or vegetable matter essential to the fertility of the Earth.

POTENTIAL A Latent excellence or ability that may or may not be developed; capable of being or becoming; possible but not actual; having capacity for existence but not yet existing. (Potent: Powerful).

EXCELLENCE Possession of eminently good qualities; great merit; superiority in worth or value.

PILGRIMAGE A journey, especially a long one, to a sacred place as an action of devotion. A long journey undertaken in quest of something for a particular purpose.

EXTRACT "To get, pull or draw out. To obtain, derive or elicit. A concentrated form."

DUST A particle of matter with no use or function. Powdery earth or matter in bits fine enough to be easily suspended in air; anything worthless.

SUBSERVIENT "That which is useful, helpful, of service, especially in an inferior or subordinate capacity."

Holy Quran

22:5-7

5 O people, if you are in doubt about the Resurrection, then surely We created you from dust, then from a small life-germ, then from a clot, then from a lump of flesh, complete in make and incomplete, that We may make clear to you. And We cause what We please to remain in the wombs till an appointed time, then We bring you forth as babies, then that you may attain your maturity. And of you is he who is caused to die, and of you is he who is brought  back to the worst part of life, so that after knowledge he knows nothing. And thou seest the earth barren, but when We send down thereon water, it stirs and swells and brings forth a beautiful (growth) of every kind.

6 That is because Allah, He is the Truth, and He gives life to the dead, and He is Possessor of power over all things,

7 And the Hour is coming, there is no doubt about it; and Allah will raise up those who are in the graves.

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23:12-14

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32:6-9

6 Such is the Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Mighty, the Merciful,

7 Who made beautiful everything that He created, and He began the creation of man from dust.

8 Then He made his progeny of an extract, of worthless water.

9 Then He made him complete and breathed into him of His spirit, and gave you ears and eyes and hearts; little it is that you give thanks!

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14:32-34

32 Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth and sent down water from the clouds, then brought forth with it fruits as a sustenance for you, and He has made the ships subservient to you to run their course in the sea by His command, and He has made the rivers subservient to you.

33 And He has made subservient to you the sun and the moon, pursuing their courses; and He has made subservient to you the night and the day.

34 And He gives you of all you ask of Him. And if you count Allah’s favours, you will not be able to number them. Surely man is very unjust, very ungrateful.

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86:5-12

5 So let man consider of what he is created.

6 He is created of water pouring forth,

7 Coming from between the back and the ribs.

8 Surely He is Able to return him (to life).

9 On the day when hidden things are manifested,

10 Then he will have no strength nor helper.

11 By the cloud giving rain,

12 And the earth opening (with herbage)!

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96:1-5

1 Read in the name of thy Lord Who creates  —

2 Creates man from a clot,

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Self-Improvement

Page 2

There is a song that they sing in the Christian church, "God Is Not Through With Me Yet". So, you have to be careful how you judge something that is on the move. In fact, the only time that you can judge a thing is when God puts a period to their life and their testament is finished. Then you can adequately judge. But, while the Testator is still writing His Testament, be careful what you say; you might have to retract your words.

I have chose for my subject: "SELF-IMPROVEMENT: THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT." Now, there are many, many developers who buy land and develop that land into communities, towns and cities; placing on this land magnificent structures costing hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars.

This activity of land development is going on in Phoenix and in cities around the country, and, indeed, around the Earth. However, to those who spend those hundreds of millions and billions of dollars building structures: unless we build people; unless the human potential of people is developed; then man, in his underdeveloped state, will ultimately destroy the cities that he has built because of revolution and war.

So, the Scripture is right in teaching, 'What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?' What would it profit us to build magnificent structures, beautiful buildings, magnificent bridges, built with magnificent technology and the soul of those human beings are wretched and deprived and underdeveloped and rotting from within? How does one lose one's soul? What is so important about the soul, or the essence of our being, that if we lose it, we lose everything?

There is a verse in this Book, the Qur'an, that says that on the Day of Judgement that if a man owned all of the wealth that is in the Earth, he would ransom it to keep himself from the chastisement of God. Well, what is it about the chastisement of God that is so great and what is it about the wealth that people abundantly seek that is so little, that you would give it all away just to save your life in a time of trouble? This is why I have chosen the subject, "SELF-IMPROVEMENT: THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT." Because it is the improvement of each of us as human beings that is lacking in the world, and because instead of human beings improving, they are degenerating. Then there is no hope for the nations, for they are all on a path of self-destruction.

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Page 4 Para. 3-6

This Book, the Holy Qur'an, teaches that man is created complete, yet incomplete. How is man complete, yet incomplete? There are stages of evolutionary development. We start, as the Qur'an teaches (and biologists will bear witness), from a cloudy drop of water called sperm, mixed with ovum. Then we evolve into a clot, then into an embryo, then into a fetus, then we come forward --- complete, yet incomplete. You are today complete, yet incomplete.

Human life has a pre-determined goal. The pre-determined goal of all human life is not to walk the streets of Phoenix with dope, no hope, no direction, no guidance. The pre-determined --- now listen to this --- I didn't say 'determined', but, 'pre-determined'. Before you came into existence, there was a goal set for your life and that goal for your life is written in the Bible and in the Qur'an: that goal is to make that life meet with its Source; its Creator.

This Qur'an says that many of you deny meeting with God. Some of you think that the only way you meet with God is that you have to die physically, and they say 'I am sending you' or 'You are going to meet your Maker.' No, no, no, no, no, that is the wrong way to understand Scripture, Brothers and Sisters.

Did you think that when you meet with God it's going to be a sit down --- 'How ya' doin', God! Glad to meet ya. Sure nice. I been thinkin' about you. 'Been prayin, now I get a chance to see you, talk to you.' This is not a meeting. To 'meet with' means to 'join' the essence of your being to the Essence of The Originator of all of this life. To 'meet with', to 'join with', that is the pre-determined goal of human life.

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Page 5 Para. 5,6

Now Brothers and Sisters, the greatest goal of all life is to meet with, or to form a perfect union with, Almighty God Allah. When there is a perfect union with God and when we become one with our Creator, then the Attributes of God come right across our own personality and character, so that we become one with the Source of life, so that when you see the person, you are actually looking at God.

Wait, now I don't want to throw you off. I want you to follow this carefully. If you can become one with the Creator, join with Him in a perfect union, which is a great struggle, then His Attributes, His own unique Personality, will impress Itself upon you and His own being will come across your being, so that you die, He lives, in you---through you. When they see you, they see Him, for you are in Him and He is in you. Is that clear? Are you alright?

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Page 6

This is what is meant in the Scriptures by the 'transfiguration' of Jesus of the Mount. It didn't take place in the valley; it never does. You have to go up in the Mount. Why? Because to climb a mountain tests your will, test you heart, test you endurance, tests all the fibers of your being. So, when you reach the summit---not the summit of a mountain---but the summit of life's struggle when you become one with your Creator. Then you can absolutely have His figure come across you.

This is why Jesus is so important in the New Testament. His life, according to the Qur'an, is a 'perfect example'. We need to understand why the life of Jesus is a 'perfect example'. I will touch that in a minute. We are talking on "SELF-IMPROVEMENT: THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT".

Now, all Muslims who are present, we have a ritual in Islam that is called 'Hajj' or 'Pilgrimage', where once in a lifetime every Muslim is to make a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca, in Arabia. I have been blessed to make that wonderful pilgrimage. But, when I made that pilgrimage, it was clear to me that the pilgrimage was nothing more than a sign of another journey; the journey of the sperm to its goal, which is to meet in Mecca, but to meet with that which Mecca represents, that which the Ka'bah represents.

When we get to Mecca, we say, 'labaika Allah-umma labaika' 'Here I am O Allah, in Your august Presence.' When you are in the Presence of God, when you have met with God, you have performed the real pilgrimage. And that, each one of us is to perform in our lifetime. Our whole life is a struggle to meet with the Source of our life.

The Qur'an says when you meet with God, you become a soul at rest and it says, 'O soul that is at rest! Well-pleased with thy Lord and thy Lord well-pleased with thee.' When you reach that point in your development where you have improved and developed to the point where you are a soul that is no longer fighting, no longer struggling, but you have reached the goal and soul is at rest; you are well-pleased with God and God is well-pleased with you. That's the goal. But to reach this great goal, there is struggle at every stage. After overcoming one stage, there is ease to build you up for the next stage of struggle. This is the path to God and this is the path to Self-improvement.

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Page 7

Now, if you look at the prophets, all of them are examples of this struggle. Every prophet that God sent into the world is an example of this struggle to meet with God.

Though the prophets' examples are not what I would call a perfect example; (because) the prophets struggled in the absence of God with Light from God that is considered, in symbolic language, 'moonlight'. Since the moon represents the Sun, in the absence of the Sun it has no light of its own; it borrows light from the Sun and reflects it to the Earth. Likewise, in the absence of God, prophets reflect the Light of God to the people of the Earth. But, they do not see. They are not a witness of God's Divine Presence; they are only a witness that God is interested in the affairs of men. Do you follow what I am saying? If you have a limited light, you can only be a limited example. The prophets of God had limited light; therefore, their example is limited. It is not the apex example of human beings.

This is why in the Christian context, Jesus Christ is the Supreme Example. Why is Jesus the Supreme Example? Jesus is the Supreme Example because he is not a 'prophet', in the classical sense of that name; he is the Master of prophets. He comes, not as 'a' star of God, but 'The Star' of God---for in Jesus is a witness, not that God is Coming, but that God is Present. Listen, listen, listen now.

Jesus becomes the Supreme Example because he is not moonlight, but he is actually sunlight, or, 'The Light of the World'. So, Jesus gives man a glimpse of his potential. Jesus is not here for you to worship him; he is here for you to follow his example, that where he is, you may be. Meaning that what he has become you also can become if you follow that path. Do you follow what I am saying?

Listen, Reverend. You know, Reverend, we waste a lot of time getting the people to worship Jesus, when in reality, we should be getting the people to follow his example. If the group had followed the example of Jesus, you wouldn't just have Jesus, Peter and Paul, but everywhere you look, you would see another Jesus. Because if you follow that example, Jesus is only manifesting what is really in yourself.

Are you following what I am saying? 'This is a different message from Farrakhan. I thought Farrakhan was telling us we should hate people.' You don't know where Farrakhan is coming from. You really don't listen. You'll understand me better if you stop trying to pre-judge and do some post-judging. Listen to what I am saying about this man, Jesus.

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Page 8, Para. 1,2

He is the perfect example of human potential. Therefore, he should be shown to men, not as some being that is out there in space, that we can never attain. That is the wrong way to preach Jesus. If you make Jesus acceptable, he becomes reachable. But If you put him out there on Cloud 9, saying, 'Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Master, Jesus has control of the forces of nature', and you don't show every human being that he was a born of a woman and came through the vicissitudes of life, just like you. He struggled and overcame and the last test that he had to overcome was death. Not this death that you are thinking about. I'll get to that later on. Not too long from now, don't worry.

But, he overcame death to give us an example of how death is to be overcome. But, once you get past a certain point, you are out there. It is like an astronaut going out in space. I mean, Brother, those first few minutes---they are rough. When they reach the ceiling of gravity, where there is pure fire; they are going through fire; they have the heat shield around them. It's rough Brother. But when they get out in Space they have gotten out of the pull of gravity of this sphere; then there is smooth sailing. But, getting out there--that is the test.

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