Self-Improvement Study Guides - Study Guide 18:

Rising Above Emotion Into The Thinking of God

MINSTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN
NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HONORABLE ELIJAH
MUHAMMAD AND THE NATION OF ISLAM
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL. I
BEAR WITNESS THAT THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH AND I
BEAR WITNESS THAT MUHAMMAD IS HIS SERVANT.
March 29, 1991
As-Salaam Alaikum
Dear Students:
I have prepared this Study Guide for you, !Rising Above Emotion
Into The Thinking of God!, for a specific reason. I wish to share that
reason with you to increase your chances of success in handling this
subject matter properly and passing the test that the Nation of Islam
failed in the past.
The devastating effect of the, Domestic Life of the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad is at the root of the fall of His family and the fall of the
Nation of Islam.
In a situation like this, it was natural for His family and followers to
focus on the pain of Sister Clara Muhammad and ourselves.
However, we allowed ourselves to succumb to the pain of the
moment --- a pain so overwhelming that it would not permit us to
ask the question, !Why did Allah (God) order His Servant to enter
this aspect (wives) of his Domestic Life!?
If we had succeeded in moving beyond Emotion, we would have
been able to get up into the mind of Allah (God), where we would see
the Domestic Life of Muhammad as Allah (God) sees it and ultimately
judge it as Allah (God) judges it, then we could move on to higher
ground.

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Our focus on pain and the resulting failure to question Allah (God)
caused us to question the Servant; it caused us to forget all the
good the Servant brought into our lives. Thus, we threw the Servant
away as unworthy and cast aside the Body of Knowledge revealed
to Him as the means of our Salvation.
No wonder the Honorable Elijah Muhammad asked the question,
'How strong is the Foundation? Can we survive?" The Foundation is
the forty-four (44) years of the Work of the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad, the Nation of Islam and its successes.
If only we were mature enough to put our emotions in check, our
focus would not have been on our pain and the pain of Sister Clara
Muhammad and the Muhammad family; our focus would have been
on asking Allah (God) why He ordered His Servant to have what
others did not have (wives); then we would have grown into the Wise
Thinking of the God and been more prepared for this reality in our
own lives when or if it became necessary.
The improper handling of Emotion does not allow us to grow beyond
Self. It makes our reasoning subjective and clouds our judgment of
individuals, circumstances and events. It makes us judge individuals,
circumstances and events by how we are affected personally, thus
we never see the bigger picture. Improper handling of Emotion
makes us judge selfishly.
Our great test today will be whether we can rise above Emotion to
begin to think and act more like Allah (God). We are in His
classroom. What kind of test has He devised to see if we are ready
to think and act on a higher level?
It is written in the Holy Qur!an:
!See they not that they are tried once or twice in every year? ... Yet
they repent not, nor do they mind.! 9:126
In this Study Guide, we will take under critical analysis, the subject of
Emotion, which is !intense feeling!. As you study and analyze
every word of this Study Guide, I want you to step into the many
shoes of the many different people whose names and circumstances
bf their lives will be mentioned, with particular focus on Sister Clara
Muhammad, that you may know something of her sorrow, grief and
pain over this aspect of her husband!s life.
Most of all, I want you to step into the shoes of the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad, whom we are attempting to follow, who loved his wife,
Sister Clara Muhammad, who was with him when he was considered
nothing and aided him in his growth from nothing; yet he had to
carry the tremendous weight of his Mission even while he was in
anguish over the knowledge of his Domestic Life which was tearing
his family apart.
If we are to survive our test, we must see beyond the view of the
onlooker who sees with limited knowledge, understanding and a lack
of faith. We must be careful, lest


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we become one whose emotions cause us to judge this situation as
a grievous one and end up sentenced to death by virtue of our own
judgment.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was not the cause, he was the
agent of that which Allah (God) ordered and which he obeyed. The
Best Knower set this in motion and it would benefit us greatly to
grow into seeing through His eyes.
It is written in the Holy Qur'an:
!We take Allah's colour, and who is better than Allah at colouring,
and we are His worshippers.! 2:138
Best wishes for your successful growth through the study of this
subject matter, I am, Your Brother and Servant, LOUIS
FARRAKHAN Minister Louis Farrakhan Servant to the Lost Found
Nation of Islam in the West LFM/am

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RISING ABOVE EMOTION INTO THE THINKING OF GOD -
INTRODUCTION TO STUDY GUIDE #18

!I AM THE LORD: THAT IS MY NAME; AND MY GLORY WILL I
NOT GIVE TO ANOTHER, NEITHER MY PRAISE TO CARVED
IMAGES ... I HAVE FOR A LONG TIME HELD MY PEACE; I HAVE
BEEN STILL, AND RESTRAINED MYSELF. NOW WILL I CRY LIKE A
TRAVAILING WOMAN; I WILL DESTROY AND DEVOUR AT ONCE.!
Isaiah 42:8,14
Allah (God) experiences Emotion. According to the Scriptures, He
Loves, He Hates, He Grieves, He Sorrows. He is referred to by some
writers as a Jealous God. However, He rises above all emotions in
the decisions He makes. His decisions are based upon how the
temporal affects generations eons into the future.
The Domestic Life of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave rise to
such great emotion that it clouded our vision of a man of God. We
were taught to live according to the Restrictive Laws of Islam. The
Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us that Law and He Himself was
the example of perfect obedience' to it. When He grew, through
obedience, to master the law, He was given a superior law to
function from; one that was unknown to us at our level of
development.
When we learned of His Reality, many of us became corrupted in our
reality and laid the blame for our corruption at his doorstep. Rather
than accept and master our own reality until guided otherwise, we
desired to be in His Reality and then imposed upon His Reality our
shame and filth; we encroached on a Reality that we were not ready
spiritually, morally or economically, to embrace.
Proof of this encroachment can be seen in the way in which Malcolm
X handled the knowledge of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's
Domestic Life. Although Malcolm knew the proper language with
which to describe the Domestic Life of Muhammad, he chose to call
the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's relationship to his wives, having
sex with his teen-aged secretaries.' This was to conjure up emotion
and cause us to paint the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the light of
a dirty old man, blinding us to the practical reality of God's
Judgment with regard to His Nation, as well as His Servant.
In this emotional state, some called the Honorable Elijah Muhammad
immoral, even though many were well able to defend the fact that
Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was allowed by Allah
(God) nine (9) wives. At one point, the Prophet had eleven (11) wives,
then Allah caused him to reduce that number to nine (9). It is written
in some accounts that he possessed concubines as well. His
youngest wife, Aishah, was eleven (l1) years old when given to him,
although he did not have conjugal relations with her until she
reached the age of fourteen (14).
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Being overwhelmed by Emotion sent us failing backwards, causing
the destruction of all that we had sacrificed to build., making it
necessary, out of Allah's (God's) Mercy, for me, with His Help and
Guidance, to bring us up again. Now we face a test of a similar
nature to determine if we are mature enough, spiritually, emotionally
and morally, to get over the hurdle that the Nation stumbled over
yesterday, without its corrupting our own reality, leading us to
encroach upon a reality not ours at this time. There is a saying
among the Native Americans, !You cannot judge a man until you
have walked in his moccasins (shoes).! The object of this Study is
to try on the shoes of the persons whose lives are used as examples
of proper or improper handling of Emotion and analyze how we
might act in that situation.
Every actor, when reading a script, must determine if he or she is
able to "feel" the part of the character to be played. We are not
actors---the Bible and the Holy Qur'an are giving us characteristics
of persons that we are going to fulfill in this time; righteous or
wicked, believer or disbeliever, helper or opposer. We will find
ourselves in one category or the other.
As we step into the shoes of each character, both those who were
successful and those who failed, we want to try and !feel! what
that person must have felt when Allah (God) tried them with certain
commands. In order to be successful in such an effort, we must
summon up the same emotional reaction to the command that was
theirs and then see by what means we can overcome the emotional
reaction to God's command.
From my vantage point, Sister Clara Muhammad was a wonderful,
faithful wife and follower of Master Fard Muhammad and her
husband, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. She was a person of
stern bearing, sharp of tongue, truthful in expression and faithful to
the Teachings she received directly from the mouth of Mater Fard
Muhammad and her husband.
I remember one day she came to me, saying, !Brother Farrakhan, I
notice that every time you look at me your eyes settle full of water
and I asked my husband why you do this. He said, 'why don't you
ask him', so, I am asking you.! I said to her, !Every time I look -at
you, I think of the sacrifice you have made of your husband so that
thousands like me might have a Leader, Teacher, Guide and Father.
Every time I see you, I think of your sacrifice and my eyes fill up with
tears.! She said, 'Thank you very much" and turned and walked
away.
Sister Clara Muhammad told me there was one part of the Holy
Qur'an she hated, and that was the part that allowed a man more
than one wife. This is not hearsay, this is what she told me directly
from her mouth. She also told me that in the 40 years that she
followed Master Fard Muhammad, she knew of nothing she had
done that would make her ashamed to stand before Allah.
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Master Fard Muhammad warned Sister Muhammad, according to
her words to me, not to let Him catch her weighing other than
herself, in regards to living the life and weighing properly (1 20
pounds). Even though she gave her husband 8 children, she kept her
weight at 120 pounds and worried when it went above that.
Whenever it did, she told me she fasted to keep her weight constant.
Sister Clara Muhammad passed from this Earth in her 70's with the
youthful figure she had as a very young girl. What an example for
every member of the Muslim Girls Training and General Civilization
Class.
When Sister Muhammad was on her deathbed at Mercy Hospital,
she sent for me. She lamented, on at least 2 occasions, over her
sons not being a help to their Father. She began to weep and I took
a tissue and wiped her eyes. She looked at me and said, several
times, whelp my husband. Help my husband. Help my husband. He
is getting old now, and he cannot do as he used to do. Help my
husband. He won't let you help him; but, you help him anyway,
because that's nothing but jealousy. You help him anyway." I
promised her that I would help her husband.
I never saw her alive again after that day, and I am proud to say that
I am keeping the promise that I made to her. I am helping her
husband, my Spiritual Father, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
I love Sister Muhammad with a deep, indescribable love and I have
been made by Allah (God) to understand her pain. If Sister Clara
Muhammad hated what Allah (God) had ordered for her husband for
the development of our future and our Nation, then that intense
dislike for an aspect of her husband's life, which painfully affected
hers, would ultimately lead to a dimming of the light of her faith, both
in Master Fard Muhammad and in her husband.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad asked her, !Do you mean to say
that you hate what Allah has written in this book Holy Qur!an)?!
According to what I heard, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave his
wife time out of the Temple for making that statement. This has not
been corroborated to me by close family members, but I believe it to
be true.
In her hating what Allah (God) ordained, there is an underlying sense
of being betrayed. There is the thought, 'I have been faithful to God
and to my husband and His Mission; but-Master Fard Muhammad
and my husband have rewarded me with pain. What a way to be
rewarded for my faithfulness."
Would that Sister Clara Muhammad had grappled at that moment
with her emotions. I believe, however, with all my heart, that in the
end, she did. But she had suffered so much torment, pain and
mental anguish over this aspect of her husband's life, that it brought
on a sickness she had conquered in the beginning of her Husband's
Mission that ultimately led to her demise.
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Whether we are male or female, we must try and step into the shoes
of Sister Clara Muhammad. If you were she, how might you have
handled your emotions in this situation?
It is easy to handle a situation intellectually as long as the situation is
dealing with some one other than ourselves in some other period in
time. But in our own lives, would our emotional reaction to what
Allah (God) ordained uproot our intellect and impair our judgment?
Let everyone who earnestly desires to rise above emotion and
achieve understanding of how Allah (God) thinks, begin by trying on
the shoes o Sister Clara Muhammad.
I believe that f have tried to be a faithful witness to Allah (God) in the
Person of Master Fard Muhammad and the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad. I have suffered much as a result of my witness.
In 1975, when it appeared to me that the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad was dead and the Nation of Islam had turned in a
completely opposite direction and all seemed lost and my faith was
broken; 1, like Sister Clara Muhammad, wondered, !What was MY
faith for?! Why had I worked so hard and sacrificed so much --- my
family, my music, my career? What for? To be an outcast, rejected
and despised? To have the very people for whom I worked, seeking
my death?
In my pain and frustration, I became bitter, and in my bitterness, I
became livid with anger. I resented religion. I resented, indirectly, the
God Who brought the religion and I looked narrowly on the
Messenger of God who taught the religion.
It was at this low point in my life that I had to wrestle with my
emotions by questioning Allah (God). Emotion had caused me to
view events, circumstances and persons subjectively and
improperly. It was questioning Allah (God), asking Him, in the right
spirit, !Why?!, that saved me. Only after I was able, with the Help
of Allah (God) and others, to rise above my pain and anguish to see
the bigger picture, was I able to get a grip on my life and come back
from the pain of death.
I know something of the pain of Sister Clara Muhammad. I know
something of the pain of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as well as
some of the pain of the women who were involved in his life. These
women did not come into the Nation of Islam to be a part of that
aspect of his life, for they knew nothing of it; but time and destiny
called them to be a part of his life in a way that brought pain to them,
as well as Sister Clara Muhammad and her children, and, ultimately,
the Nation of Islam. That pain still lingers.
There are many broken men and women who have not yet gotten
over this aspect of the Life of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
Blinded by pain, bitterness and emotional reaction to God's Will,
they cannot and do not see Him, His God, events circumstances or
the persons involved in His Domestic Life properly, nor do they see
the children who were born as a result of His Domestic Life, properly.
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Brothers and Sisters, when we do not learn the Lessons of History,
we then have to repeat it. It is clear that we failed the first part of the
First Term Examination of Mr. Elijah Muhammad, and in failing, we
lost ourselves and what came from ourselves as a result of our Faith:
virtue, righteousness, schools, businesses, farms, banks ... Shall we
lose again?
I repeat, if we can rise above Emotion to see the bigger picture,
which is Allah!s (God's) Will, Aim and Purpose, we shall never have
to repeat this History again. We can close the book on this aspect of
our History and move on to higher ground: !the Elevated Places.
!And as for those who believe and do good - We impose not on
any soul a duty beyond its scope -- they are the owners of the
Garden; therein they abide.! Holy Qur!an, 7:42, !The Elevated
Places!. And We shall remove whatever of ill-feeling is in their
hearts - rivers flow beneath them. And they say: All praise is due to
Allah, Who guided us to this! And we would not have found the way
if Allah had not guided us.! Holy Qur!an, 7:43, !The Elevated
Places!.
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EMOTION: AN INTENSIFIED FEELING
The dictionary defines !Emotion! as !an affective state of
consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like is
experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of
consciousness. Any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by
experiencing love, hate, etc, and usually accompanied by certain
physiological changes, as increased heartbeat, respiration, or the
like and often overt manifestation, such as Trying or
shaking.! Emotion is intensified feeling. It can become so strong
and overpowering that it masters the mind or judgment.
Though !love!is generally defined as an emotion, I would say that
Love is not an emotion; Love is the Mother of Emotion. Love is the
Creative Force out of which all things come. Love can be broken
down into 4 principles: Freedom, Justice, Equality and Obedience to
the Will of Allah (God). We call our intense feeling of like or dislike
!Love! and !Hate!. But Love is not just an intense feeling. That
is a limitation that this world has placed on it, making it our
emotional reaction to something.
The Creative Force is separate from the intense feeling that we have
toward the created thing. Allah (God) created the jackass, yet He
states in the Holy Qur'an that the most hateful sound to Him is the
braying of the jackass He created. He created the hog, yet He has an
intense dislike for it. The Devil is made out of the Creative Force, and
He certainly has an intense dislike for the Devil.
The jackass, the hog, the Devil, all serve as a means to facilitate the
Creative Act of Love, Beneficence, Mercy. Allah (God) does not
desire disease on His planet. So He makes a detestable thing, the
Hog, which is used to extract a medicine to remedy some of the
effects of a diseased thing that He has allowed to run wild and loose
on the Earth; its presence facilitates a Divine Purpose.
We must not narrow Love to an emotional reaction. But when we
say, !God is Love!, the word !is! is represented by the symbol,
then Love has to be complete, because God is not an emotion. All of
His Attributes are embodied in the Creative Force we call Love; an
intense like for something is only one of its manifestations.
WHERE EMOTION COMES FROM
The Brain is not only an organ of intellect and logic; it is also the
source of Emotion. Emotions are brought to life in what is known as
the !limbic system!. The limbic system is a collection of parts that
constitute approximately 20% of the brain's area. The forces of
pride, fear, joy, grief, anger, lust, hatred, envy, jealousy, arise from
this region of the brain.
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The limbic system is found surrounding the most primitive part of the
brain and is found in almost the same form in all mammals. It is that
part of man that is hardly distinguishable from beast.
God says, in the Bible, !For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways. For 83 the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts-
than your thoughts.! Isaiah 55:7
The limbic system works with both the cerebrum above and the
brainstem below. Its connections with the brainstem help maintain a
state of emotional balance and alertness. Its connections with the
cerebrum allows a person to temper emotion with reason. The goal
is for the two processes to work in harmony, but the balance can be
easily upset. The limbic system can become so highly activated that
it overwhelms rational thought, making a person speechless with
anger or joy. On the other hand, through conscious effort, a person
can resist the natural urge to eat or drink, can fight back tears, or
suppress sexual desire.
There are nerve pathways interwoven throughout the limbic system
which send a continuous flow of electrochemical impulses that direct
human drives and emotions. The !hippocampus! converts
information from short-term to long-term memory. It constantly
checks information relayed to the brain by the senses and compares
it to experience. The !thalamus! serves as a major relay station,
passing information from sensory and motor nerves to the brain.
Nestled between the thalamus above and the brainstem below, there
is a small cluster of nerve cells called the !hypothalamus!. It has
one of the richest blood supplies in the entire body, though it is only
the size of a thumb tip. From the !hypothalamus! arise intense
feelings, or emotions. Pleasure and pain, sexual arousal, aggression,
rage, as well as hunger and thirst, all emanate from this point.
The hypothalamus is also a complex thermostat system that reacts
to messages from skin receptors and heat-sensitive nerve cells, as it
maintains the body's internal balance, holding the temperature at
approximately 98.6 degrees. For this reason, our emotional reactions
cause a change in temperature. The phrase "heat of passion" refers
to the climb in temperature.
Hunger and thirst- centers in the hypothalamus track glucose levels
in the blood. When supplies of glucose (energy food) are too low, the
brain, not the stomach, generates hunger pangs. The sensation of
thirst does not originate in the throat, but here in the brain, when
receptors indicate the salt level in the blood is too high.
Above the hypothalamus is the !amygdala!, a mass of nerve cells
that is specifically related to feelings of outrage and aggression. The
!septum!, linked to the hypothalamus at the front of the limbic
ring, contains a pleasure center.
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They hypothalamus has connections to the pituitary gland so it has
an effect on growth and sexual behavior. It actually orders the
pituitary to organize the endocrine glands' release of hormones into
the blood.
Our response to fear in times of emergency is also controlled by the
hypothalamus. If a gun is pointed in someone's face, the emotional
stress is of such magnitude that his body undergoes immediate
changes. First to react is the hypothalamus, which organizes a chain
reaction of defenses with a single purpose: to place the body in
maximum condition to survive the impending threat.
The chain of command is as follows:
1) Hypothalamic chemicals signal the pituitary gland of danger,
possibly fatal.
2) Pituitary signals one of its endocrine gates to bolster defenses. It
does this by flashing a message, secreting a stress hormone which
finds its way through the bloodstream to important stations.
3) The stress hormone, ACTH (adrenocorticotropic), first travels to
the fighting adrenal glands on the kidneys. Another adrenal chemical
begins converting fats and proteins into sugar.
4) The adrenals spew out adrenalin and noradrenalin, causing the
heart to pump faster, blood pressure to rise and the pupils of the
eyes to dilate wildly for improved vision.
b) The combined surge of hormones relaxes the bronchial tubes for
deeper breathing; increases the blood sugar to supply maximum
energy; slows down the digestive process to conserve muscular
energy; shifts blood supplies so they are able to clot more easily on
an open wound.
In a matter of seconds, a threatened body becomes a tight coil of
altered substances, prepared to meet the challenge. In this state it
can perform feats of strength and endurance far beyond normal
capacity.
It is important to note that what triggers this chain of reactions is the
brain's interpretation of external forces as life-threatening. It is not a
question of whether we are actually threatened, but whether we think
we are threatened.
According to Western scientists, individual neuronal circuits are just
as unique as fingerprints. This means that the same situation may
activate different clusters of nerve cells in different people.
Every biological act of the physical body is directed to one
predominate goal: to stay alive. To do this, every organism must
preserve itself in the face of external forces which threaten its
existence; and when it ceases to work energetically on its own
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behalf, something finally will destroy it. There are many forms of
disaster: poisons in the environment, temperatures beyond limit,
food supplies fail, competing organisms move in and take over its
living space.
As part of the defense against external forces, the organism walls
itself off from alien elements. The skin is such a wall, forming a
natural barrier between the individual and the environment. But no
barrier is completely effective, and the human body, which is a large
community of cells, is vulnerable to attack like any other community.
Foreign substances sneak in and attack the internal systems,
endangering the body.
There is a second line of defense which stands ready to repel any
invaders which breach the protective barriers. Manning this line is a
certain type of white blood cell called the lymphoid. These defenders
swim through the blood ready for action when trouble occurs. They
respond aggressively to invaders, producing a different weapon or
countermeasure for each type of intruder.
When antigens get into the bloodstream the body is alerted to the
presence of invaders. Each antigen stimulates the lymphoid cells to
manufacture proteins on a large scale and dump them into the
bloodstream. It is these proteins that lead the defense against
invaders.
During the period of war, there is activity inside the lymphoid cells.
Some of these cells manufacture molecules which form a match with
the contours of germ antigens. These substances, called antibodies,
pour into the bloodstream, attach themselves to the germs and
cause a chemical change in the germs making them vulnerable to
the next step. The next step is carried out by a crew of wandering
scavenger cells called phagocytes. They attack specific types of
germs which have been tagged by the antigen-antibody interaction
and eliminate the invaders by swallowing them whole. The combined
offensive by the antibodies and phagocytes continues until the
disease or illness subsides, or, until the body's defenses prove
inadequate and death results.
In the same context, there is a defense mechanism which serves to
protect the peace of the community of our beliefs. Our beliefs
support us in our actions and overall approach to life. Any principle
or fact, whether real or imagined, that we encounter in life, either
supports our beliefs or threatens them.
Once something is perceived as a threat to our accepted beliefs,
there is a reaction in the brain similar to the body's antigen-antibody
reaction, and instead of lymph cells, it is our emotions which rush to
the defense of our threatened belief.
Thus, the emotional reactions to persons, events and circumstances
are a defense mechanism which quickly surrounds the accepted
belief to protect it from succumbing to a new one. We may react
with one of many different emotions, depending upon the nature of
the threat -- fear, anger, pride, etc. - but in any case, the emotion
rises with great speed to ward off that which disturbs the community
of beliefs. This is what is
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meant by the phrase, !rush of emotion!. It requires great and
concentrated effort to take control over our emotions.
APPROACH TO SUBJECT MATTER
In the study of Emotion and its impact on our responses to the
expressed Will of Allah (God), let us begin with the following verse
from Surah (Chapter) 3, Verse 6, of the Holy Qur!an:
!He it is Who has revealed the Book to thee; some of its verses are
decisive -- they are the basis of the Book -- and others are
allegorical. Then those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part of
it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead, and seeking to give it (their
own) interpretation. And none knows its interpretation save Allah and
those firmly rooted in knowledge. They say: we believe in it, it is all
from our Lord. And none mind except men of understanding.!
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that He would not give two
cents for the combined work of all of the scholars and what they
have written as their interpretation of the verses of the Holy Qur!an.
That is a powerful statement.
In the above-cited verse, Allah (God) tells those seeking to give the
Book their own interpretation that none knows except Him. So even
if they claim to be scholars, Allah (God) has already overruled their
scholarship, in these words, !None knows its interpretation except
Allah!.
Those !firmly rooted in knowledge! are the Believers who submit
to it because it is all from Allah. What they understand is that they do
not comprehend Allah's Book in totality. They await the One Whom
Allah will teach the Interpretation of the Book to directly. That One is
the Messiah, the Mahdi, the Christ. That One is the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad.
!Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou did set thy heart to
understand and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were
heard: and I am come for thy word"3 sake." Daniel 10:12
!And lean not upon thine own understanding; in all thy ways
acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths.! Proverbs 3:5,6
The first step toward growing into the Mind of God is to desire to do
His Will. Then, we must learn to obey His Commands. Allah (God)
tests and tries His Servant to see how well he will obey Commands
that he does not understand. He gradually brings the servant into
understanding of what he has obeyed, but only after obedience.
Through the suffering that accompanies obeying Allah (God) comes
understanding and the Servant gradually grows into the Thinking of
Allah (God).
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!Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things
which he suffered.! Hebrews 5:8
Allah (God) may try a servant with a certain command. Since a
servant of God is always desirous of doing His Will, giving such a
person a command can only be a trial if that person believes that the
command is against what he or she has been taught is right, fair, just
or in keeping with our understanding of Revelation.
Through the command of the expressed Will of God, the servant's
level of understanding up to that point in time causes an emotional
reaction that could result in disobedience if it is not put in check. In
this manner, Allah (God) helps us climb above Emotion, using our
own desire to obey Him for sustenance during the steep climb.
!For this cause also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to
pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the
knowledge of His Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.!
Colossians 1:9
In order to obey Allah!s (God's) command (s), we must overcome
our emotional reaction to His command (s). At the root of the
emotional reaction is frustration over something we personally
desire, think, or believe. He challenges us where we are most
comfortable with a command calculated to disturb our comfort.
Thus, He says in the Holy Qur!an, !none comes between a man
and his heart, except Allah!.
When He says, in Isaiah 55, !My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways!, His ways are higher than our ways
as the "heavens are higher than the earth", He is speaking on many
levels of mind.
The Original Man is from Allah!s Thinking, which is above, while the
made man is made from the testicles, found in the lower region of
the Original Man, Allah (God) produced Himself, not from testicles,
but from His own Thinking; then He formed what we call the
!testicle!, that there might be the physical reproduction of the
form. It is from the lower portion, or weaker germ of the Original
Black Man, that the devil was made manifest.
To get into the Thinking of God, we must rise above our present level
of thought, which emanates-from beneath.
There is a gulf between the thinking of man and God and the ways of
man and God. The process by which we cross that gulf is called
Resurrection.
The way to think like Allah (God) is to be exposed to His Thinking. In
our Lessons, we are given the Actual Facts as a beginner and as a
start in thinking mathematically rather than emotionally.
Jesus said, !I and my Father are One!. How was he able to
become one with the Father? Jesus was born of a woman and came
through the vicissitudes of life. In time, through obedience, he
became the interpreter of God's Will. You cannot serve as the
interpreter of the Will of God unless you know God and what He
thinks and what gave rise to His thoughts. And we cannot get up into
the mind of Allah (God) except by His Permission.
When we are able to see beyond the effect to the Cause that
produced the effect, then our decisions are no longer emotional,
they are made with precision. This does not mean we will act without
intense feeling, it means that we will be in such complete control of
our feelings that our decisions will be completely rational.
In !The Theology of Time!, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad
stated that Allah (God) !went to War with the Darkness!, using
sunlight to manifest all that the darkness was hiding. It is evident that
He had an intense dislike for the darkness, and that intense dislike
manifested in the fact that though we were once in complete
darkness we are now in a Universe of Light.
In going to war, Allah (God) was not acting irrationally. He made a
rational judgment based upon His Idea of what He wanted in terms
of a Universe. That Idea stimulated an intense dislike for the
darkness because it stood in the way of His Idea, so He banished it.
Today, Allah (God) is bringing about the destruction of the present
world order. His intense dislike for this contrary world and the one
who made it is the result of a mathematical understanding of what
He desires for His creation. His precise understanding of what he
Wills and what stands in the way of His Will summons an intense
dislike for the impediment. When He says, !Away with you!, this is
not an emotional reaction; though there is intense feeling in it, it is
the result of reasoning.
We, on the other hand, are just the opposite in our approach to a
problem. Instead of being guided by reason, our emotional reaction
clouds our reasoning and distorts our judgment. We react to things
emotionally first, and the power of passion dominates over reason
instead of being called into service by means of reason.
The propagandist-summons the passion of the people by giving
them a reason to dislike a person, a thing, a nation. The elite, or
those in authority, supply the people with the reason that summons
the passion against the object of the authority's disapproval. There
must always be a reason to like and a reason to dislike. He who
supplies the reason directs the passion.
If I were to speak against many in the manner they have spoken
against me, I could summon the passion of this Community against
any object of my disapproval. But I have Never chosen to do so; I
have directed the passion of the people toward Allah (God). I have
given the people a reason to love Master Fard Muhammad and the
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Honorable Elijah Muhammad while the Caucasian has worked
tirelessly in supplying reasons to dislike them.
Thus, the reason the devil accuses both myself and my Father, the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad, of teaching Hate, is actually because I
point out the wickedness of the devil. By pointing out his evil, I give
the people a reason to summon their passion against that evil.
PORTRAITS OF EMOTIONAL REACTION
In the very beginning of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, we get a
portrait of emotional reaction (intense feeling in response to
someone or something) and the destructive power of Emotion when
it is unchecked. Whenever Emotion overpowers Reason, it covers
Reason and replaces it with a new rationale; the new rationale then
leads us to disobey a command of God.
!Pride! is an emotion. It is an intense feeling of self-importance
and superiority; an inordinate opinion of one's own merit.
God gave both Adam and Eve clear instructions not to eat of the tree
in the midst of the garden. The Serpent (subtle suggestion in the
mind) led them both into disobedience by appealing to the feeling of
Pride:
!For God knows that when you eat the fruit, your eyes shall be
opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.!
Satan's suggestion incited Pride; the feeling that Adam and Eve were
entitled to something that God was actually attempting to keep them
from having, out of fear that it would threaten His position. Adam
and Eve did not envy God, nor did they feel hatred or jealousy
toward Him. But they had an intense feeling of pride which
overpowered reason, so that they placed themselves directly in
opposition to the Will of God. The consequence was the Fall of
Adam.
!Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.!
Proverbs 16:18 Most of us are familiar with the story of Adam's sons,
Cain and Abel. We know that God accepted an offering from Abel
and rejected an offering from Cain and that Cain killed Abel over
God's selection.
How many of us ever asked, !Why did God accept the offering of
Abel and reject the offering of Cain?! Have we ever considered the
effect of God's choice on both men and on the future? Have we ever
stopped to reflect on whether God cared how they felt?
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Is it possible that He had a Purpose that was not perceived by either
Cain or Abel at the time?
The Bible describes Abel as a !keeper of sheep! and Cain as a
!tiller of the ground!. And, !in process of time, it came to pass,
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat
thereof!.
In making a comparison of the actual effort each man put into his
offering, there is much to reflect upon. Remember, we are trying to
walk in Cain's shoes; to feel what he felt when his offering was not
accepted. We must look into Cain's efforts in order to know
something of the level of his expectation.
The word !till! means !to labor, as by plowing!. !Labor!
means to !work to the point of exhaustion!. Cain worked the field
to produce his offering. His time, sweat and pride were tied up in his
work. In his mind, the rejection of his offering was tantamount to a
rejection of him.
Abel sacrificed a sheep. In reality, Abel had nothing to do with the
creation, development and growth of the sheep; Allah (God) was
responsible for the process by which the sheep came into existence,
as well as for producing the grass the sheep took its nourishment
from. Abel offered that which grazed on the grass and his offer was
accepted.
In understanding Cain's feelings, we must ask ourselves how we feel
about something we work diligently to produce and what our
reaction is when what we produce is turned down. His ego was
crushed by the rejection of his offering and in applying the rejection
to himself, he then began to sense a feeling of being lesser; now
there is remorse over this apparent lowering of self. God is abasing
him, in his mind, in rejecting his offering.
At this point, what would have saved Cain from being overpowered
by his emotional reaction would have been to question God in the
right spirit: !Did you reject me in rejecting my offering, and if so,
why?! The emotion of pride connected to his work and suffering
clouded his ability to get into the mind of God. The first mistake that
God would have-been Able to correct was Cain's misperception that
God was rejecting him. He took it personally and in doing so, his
emotions clouded his ability to get into the mind of God. He made
himself and his offering the center, rather than what God wanted as
the center.
Once his ego was deflated, Cain began feeling a dislike for God.
Unable to act effectively against God Himself, he focused his feeling
of dislike on the person he believed God had chosen over him.
The nature of the sheep is humbleness. What God rejected in Cain
was his pride over his work that gave him the exaggerated feeling of
worth. It is only the humble at
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heart that will be able to obey God. God will ask you to do things
against the pride of' yourself.
!Say: My prayer, my sacrifice, my life and my death are all for Allah,
the Lord of the worlds.!
Many in the last days would offer money, substance from the
ground. But Allah does not asks us to give money alone; our charity
is but a symbol of our willingness to give Him our lives. He asks us
for the very essence of our being: the Will. That is why in the last
days, the only religion that will be accepted is Islam, the complete
surrender of our will to His Will.
His acceptance of the sheep was a symbol of His lost sheep, a
people, among them a lamb, who would be willing to give his life for
the salvation of the whole.
We cannot buy our way into the Kingdom of God. This is not the sale
of indulgences. We cannot even work our way into the Kingdom of
God, if we are not willing to offer Him the essence of our being. Our
charity, our service, our acts of kindness, could be turned down
unless we surrender our will to His Will. That is the best of all
sacrifices.
THE EXORCISM OF MAN
There is another, perhaps even more profound dimension to the
portrait of Cain and his emotional reaction to God's expressed Will.
The emotional reaction that stirred within him was complex:
disappointment, frustration, anger, envy and eventually, he grew to
hate his brother. From the depths of his being, the turbulence of
hatred produced the thought of Murder.
In the Book of Psalms, David speaks of a sea monster that dwells in
the depths of the ocean. It is called Leviathan and it is a frightening
thing.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad explained to me that his sea
monster is actually a reference to the devil's submarines. He said
that we can bring the submarines up out of the water by using the
force of Wind in a circular motion. This powerful motion forces a
submarine up on its end; once forced up, the waters part and the
power of the Wind causes the water to slam against it, crushing it to
pieces.
There are monsters in the bottom of our consciousness. God brings
these things up with Winds (Trials) that He sends to stir up the
Waters of Emotion. These monsters rest beneath the surface of our
being, unseen and undetected in our daily interactions.
Cain and Abel were from the same womb. On the surface, they
looked alike. But they were not the same beneath. The Holy Qur!an
says that Allah brings us forth from the womb and !one of you is a
Believer, the other a disbeliever!.
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To force that which is hidden beneath to come forth, Allah creates a
Test that will stir the emotions and dislodge and bring up that hidden
monster.
!Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, We believe and
will not be tried?...and indeed We tried some before them, so Allah
will certainly know those who are true and He will know the liars. Or
do they who work evil think that they will escape Us? Evil is it that
they judge! Whoever hopes to meet with Allah, the term of Allah is
then surely coming. And He is the Hearing, the Knowing.! Holy
Qur!an 29:2-5
THROUGH QUESTIONING ALLAH (GOD] IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT,
WE MAY BE SAVED
In the Story of Cain, there is failure. In the Story of Job, there is
success. Job, in the midst of extreme duress, still did not curse his
God, rather, he questioned Him. In questioning Allah (God), we are
able to rise above the emotional reaction to our stress to think as He
thinks.
Allah is not obligated to present trials one at a time, nor is He
required to allow some minimal time lapse between them so that we
can recover. He may confront us with many trials together, or one
particularly long, grievous and painful trial.
At the peak of our trial, He may create circumstances that will cause
us to be, or at least feel, completely deserted or abandoned. In the
experience of abandonment by friends, family, even fellow believers,
there is a sense of hopelessness; nothing to be thankful for. The.
Emotion usually associated with this condition is Depression.
!Why art thou cast down O My soul? Why art thou disquieted in
me? ... My tears have been my meat day and night, while they
continually say unto me, !Where is your God?! Thou didst hide
Thy face, and I was troubled.! Psalms 42:11
The situation can become almost unbearable:
!Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror has
overwhelmed me...my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?!
Psalms 22:1
When he speaks the exact words spoken by Jesus in the New
Testament as Jesus is undergoing torture and death, David is
describing his own living experience. Yet, David is described as
having a heart after God's heart. But he was not only a prototype of
Christ in God's Love for him, he was also a prototype in his suffering.
He was a prophet and a king, yet he suffered.
Perhaps the most oft-repeated Psalm of David is the 23rd, 'The Lord
is MY Shepherd, I shall not want".
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The Lord is our Shepherd, but this does not mean that for reasons
we may not perceive on our level, He will withdraw His Presence and
diminish the Help he affords. He will chastise the Believer and He will
put the Believer through severe trials.
Walk a moment in the shoes of Job, who lost everything he had.
When Job, in the midst of his suffering, called on Allah (God) for a
reason for his overwhelming losses, the Scriptures say "Then the
Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind!. Job 38:1
This -means He responded right out of the core of Job's swirling
emotions and confusion. And when He answered Job, it was not
with specific explanation, it was with Declarations of His Power and
Glory. This increased Job's humility and dependence and in the end
he was once again blessed.
THE STORY OF HAGAR
One of the greatest Scriptural displays of patience and humility
during times of trial and suffering is in the story of Hagar, the mother
of Ishmael by Abraham.
!I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my
help? My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.!
Psalm 121
!The Safa and the Marwah are truly among the signs of Allah; so
whoever makes a pilgrimage to the House or pays a visit to it, there
is no blame on him if he goes round, them. And whoever does good
spontaneously--surely Allah is bountiful in rewarding, Knowing.!
Holy Qur!an 2:158
Of the more than one billion Muslims on Earth, many millions have
made Umrah and/or Hajj in Mecca. In this ritual, each pilgrim, male
and female, must follow the path of Hagar and run between the two
hills named in the above verse.
Why must we, as Muslims, follow the path of Hagar? What lesson is
in her life that Allah (God) desires to ingrain into the life of every
Muslim?
Hagar was the handmaiden of Abraham's wife, Sarah. A !maiden!
is defined as a young, unmarried female, usually a virgin". It is a term
"relating to or befitting a girl".
Here we have the opportunity to look into the Domestic Life of a man
whom Muslims, Christian and Jews honor as a great prophet, whom
the Qur'an refers to as a !model of virtue!. In this instance,
Abraham was a man in his 80's; an !elderly! man by today's
standards, going into his wife's handmaiden, Hagar, who is by
definition hardly more than a child. The act which produced Ishmael
took place at Sarah's request, she herself an elderly woman having
been unable to bear children up to that time.

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When Hagar became pregnant, with Ishmael, Sarah caused
Abraham to put the woman and her baby out of the house. Put
yourself in Sarah's shoes. Was there an emotional reaction to the
fact that while she had been unable to give a child to the man she
loved and had been with for so long, this young girl had succeeded
where she had failed? Did her emotions overpower her reason to the
point she lost sight of the fact that the child had been conceived at
her behest?
Banished from the home of her child's father, Hagar found herself in
the wilderness without food or shelter. Although these essentials
were in the house of Abraham, the baby's father, apparently none
would be forthcoming for Hagar or the child.
She ran to and fro in quest of water, between the two hills, Safa and
Marwah, until she was exhausted. Finally she decided to give up the
effort and die. She bent to lay the baby down on the ground when
there at his foot a well suddenly sprang up. This was the place now
known as Zamzam. Water flows from it today, 5,000 years later.
What is the lesson in this?
Every servant of Allah (God) has at some time been expelled from
home, or put out from the protection of family, clan or tribe, running
from persecution with no one to rely upon except -Him. If, in the
distress of the moment, we are overpowered by our emotions, we
may react improperly and lose a great reward.
Hagar did not succumb to the common emotion of bitterness
caused by deprivation; she did not curse Abraham or Sarah. She
looked to her God; she looked to the hills, from whence her help
came: the Lord.
Every Muslim is made to walk after this young woman, Hagar, who
was an outcast for bearing a child that would become a Prophet of
Allah (God). Some of the wives of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,
when they became pregnant, left the city and went running into the
wilderness. Some accepted the death of banishment, disgrace and
evil talk, so that the Messenger of Allah could be covered and we, in
our infancy, could be covered, because we had not the proper
foundation to bear the Truth.
Pain and deprivation are severe trials. Distress may be so intense
that the sufferer is too distracted to be able to concentrate; unable to
pray, except in a very emotional way. The Holy Qur'an says that
when we are in distress we are !sincere in prayer! and !lengthy
in supplication!.
If we can keep the presence of mind and summon up the necessary
strength to seek the solution to the problem from Allah (God), then
we may be upheld until we reach understanding.
!When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame
kindle upon thee.! Isaiah 43:2
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To each that overcomes the Emotion of bitterness because of pain
and deprivation, there is a great reward.
FAITH: THE ESSENTIAL QUALITY
!Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen ... But without Faith it is impossible to please Him;
for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a
rewarded of them that diligently seek him.!
The Bible & and the Holy Qur!an tell us that our faith will be tried
and tested. They also tell us that Allah (God) will not allow us to be
tried beyond our ability to endure, though it is difficult to remember
this in the throes of the trial.
!There is no temptation before you but such as is common to all
men; but God is Faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above
what you are able; but He will, with the temptation, also make a way
that you may be able to bear it ...! I Corinthian10: 13
The Holy Qur!an states that no soul will have imposed on it a
!duty beyond its scope!. However, Allah (God) may test us right
up to the limit of our ability to endure.
Faith is necessary to endure the trial long enough to rise above our
emotional reaction that we may obtain understanding through
knowing Allah!s (God's) view of the situation.
The word !suffer! means to !experience pain in soul or body!.
The word translated !affliction! in the New Testament means
!pressure!. To suffer affliction is to suffer pressure, or to be
!pressed down!. Peter refers to !heaviness" through many trials.
If we just attempt to obey Allah (God) we undergo suffering; or being
brought low through the pressure and weight that is placed upon us.
Jeremiah was lowered into a pit.
The word !tribulation! means !straitness or distress!.
Tribulations and afflictions bring suffering in their wake. The Holy
Qur'an states that we will !surely! be tried with deprivation:
!Loss of life and property!.
When a man or woman is spiritually sensitive and any Servant of
Allah (God) is, then he or she can experience acute suffering through
temptations, relationships and attachments to persons who are not
interested in God's Will; anxiety, debt and the oppression of men.
Unlike the disbeliever, the sincere believer does not find any real
relief in worldly pursuits. Though he or she may enjoy lawful
recreation, these offer no permanent solutions to the peculiar
problems of the Believer.
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The Believer takes pleasure from living according to the Law of Allah
(God) and fears deviation from it. So when Allah (God) issues a
command that is contrary to His own Divine Law according to the
Believer's understanding of it, there is a trial for the Believer.
MARY AND JOSEPH
!Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When, as his
mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together,
-she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her
husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public
example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought
on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a
dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee
Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Spirit.! Matthew 1:18-20
Joseph loved Mary since they were children, however, her father
would not permit her to marry him. Out of respect for the law that
prohibits intimate relations outside of marriage, Joseph suppressed
his love for Mary and took another for a wife. He had six (6) children
by the woman he married and it appeared that he had succeeded in
completely suppressing his desire for Mary.
But there came a time when Mary called to him for assistance and
he responded. In the 3 days they were together, Jesus was
conceived.
In the context of their understanding of the Law of Moses which
governed the society, Joseph, Mary and Mary's father all suffered
the Emotion of Fear and great Distress. Joseph was absolutely
certain, in his mind, that he had offended the law and that he and
Mary would suffer a terrible price.
What Joseph did not know was that there was a Superior Law
working. That Superior Law conformed to Allah!s (God's) plan to
make a sign that would not be fulfilled until 2,000 years later.
Meanwhile, relief from fear came to Joseph only when an old
prophetess informed him that the child Mary was carrying was to be
the last prophet to the Jews. Joseph then informed Mary's father of
what he was told by a servant functioning from a higher law.
The religious legalists of the day were unaware of this and they
functioned according to their understanding. Thus, Mary's
pregnancy could not be spoken of publicly. It was a secret to be
kept that authorities would not kill the baby and its parents.
!And she brought forth her first-born son and wrapped him in
swaddling clothes!. Luke 2:8

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Jesus is referred to as her firstborn because Joseph already had
children. Joseph did not have the mind of an adulterer; he was not a
lustful man. Mary called him to assist her during a dust storm (an Act
of God). Allah (God) having ordained the birth of Jesus, there were
no existing circumstances that could prevent it, even the fact that
the child's father was married to another woman.
!She said, How can I have a son and no mortal has yet touched
me, nor have I been unchaste? He said: So It will be. Thy Lord says:
It is easy for Me; and that We may make him a sign to men and a
mercy from Us. And it is a-matter decreed...Then she conceived him;
and withdrew him to a remote place.! She suffered the pain of labor
as any flesh and blood woman delivering a flesh and blood child
must suffer:
!And the throes of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree.
She said: Oh, would that I had died before this and had been a thing
quite forgotten So a voice came to her from beneath her: Grieve not,
surely thy Lord has provided 8 stream beneath thee. And shake
towards thee the trunk of the palm-tree, it will drop on thee fresh ripe
dates.! Holy Qur'an 19:23
Like Hagar, Mary depended upon her Lord for relief.
Consider the series of emotions that Joseph, Mary and Mary's father
went through over the conception and birth of Jesus. Also consider
the emotional reaction of the family, not seeing beyond their
embarrassment and shame, to ask, !Why did Allah (God) permit
this to happen this chaste young girl?!
!Then she came to her people with him, carrying him. They said: 0
Mary, thou hast indeed brought a strange thing! O sister of Aaron,
thy father was not a wicked man, nor was thy mother an unchaste
woman!!
How did Mary feel, knowing she was not an unrighteous person
while being treated as though she was?
There is no record of Joseph and Mary ever Living together as
husband and wife; the actual existence of a family unit was not
necessary to effectuate God's Will, which was to produce a
particular child; to do so, he needed the seed of David and Joseph
carried that seed. He was of the lineage of David. Once he provided
the life-germ, he had performed his service for Allah (God) insofar as
this child was concerned.
RELATIONSHIPS When Noah was commanded to build the ark to
save himself and the believers from destruction, naturally he desired
to save his own wife and son. In the Holy Qur'an, we read:
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!At length when Our command came and water gushed forth from
the valley, We said: Carry in it two of all things, a pair, and thine own
family--except those against whom the Word has already gone forth-
and those who believe. And there believed not with him but a few ...
And it moved on with them amid waves like mountains. And Noah
called out to his son, and he was aloof. O my son, embark with us
and be not with the disbelievers.!
How would it feel to be told by Allah (God) that His Word has already
gone forth against one of our loved ones? Shock, bewilderment?
Certainly your child has faults, but to be condemned to destruction
by the God you are working so hard to serve? How many years did
Noah devote to building the ark? How long did he endure the scorn
and mockery of the community he was a part of? At the end of his
suffering for the sake of Allah (God), could not Allah excuse his son's
aloofness?
!And Noah cried to his Lord and said: My Lord, surely my son is of
my family, and Thy promise is true and Thou art the Justest of the
judges. He said: O Noah, he is not of thy family; he is an
embodiment of unrighteous conduct. So ask not of Me that of which
thou hast no knowledge. I admonish thee lest thou be of the
ignorant.!
No parent wants to see their child destroyed, no matter what the
child has done. We petition the teacher on behalf of the child; even
after maturity, we may petition the child's employer for
consideration; when he or she goes astray, we petition the judge for
leniency. How painful it must have been for Noah to be denied his
humble petition on behalf of his son And yet, he obeyed his Lord.
Lot loved his wife, but !We ordained her to be of those who
remained behind ... So We delivered him and his followers, except
his wife --- she was of those who remained behind.!
Allah (God) ordained something adverse to the emotional
attachments of the prophet.The wife of Lot looked back because
what she was leaving behind in Sodom and
Gomorrah was dearer to her than what Allah (God) was calling her to
through her husband.
Both Noah and Lot were faithful servants of Allah (God), but neither
of them was able to save his family members when the family
member (s) went against the Message the prophet brought.
!Allah sets forth an example for those who disbelieve --- the wife of
Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of our righteous
servants, but they acted treacherously towards them, so they availed
them naught against Allah (God), and it was said, Enter the Fire with
those who enter.! Holy Qur!an 66:9
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Just as Noah had to part with a disbelieving son, Abraham had to
cease his quest for forgiveness on behalf of a disbelieving father.
Apparently, Abraham was close to his family, but had to disassociate
himself from them. This must have been very painful. However,
because of his faith, he was blessed with two sons who were
prophets.
!Your relationships and your children would not profit you on the
day of Resurrection--He will decide between you. And Allah is the
Seer of what you do.
Indeed, there is for you a good example in Abraham and those with
him when they said to their people, We are clear of you and of that
which you serve besides Allah. We disbelieve in you and there has
arisen enmity and hatred between Us and you forever until you
believe in Allah alone--except Abraham's saying to his 3ire: I would
ask forgiveness for thee and I control naught for thee from Allah.!
60:3
Yet, after blessing Abraham with his beautiful son, Ishmael, Allah
(God) commanded him to give his son's life as a sacrifice.
What must Abraham have felt upon receiving this instruction? To kill
any child, but especially his own, whom he had been blessed with as
an answer to a prayer; a righteous child -- How could the same God
Who gave him the son now ask him to kill it?
!So when they both submitted and he had thrown him down upon
his forehead, And We called out to him saying, 0 Abraham, thou hast
indeed fulfilled the vision. Thus do We reward the doers of good.
Surely this is a manifest trial.! Holy Qur'an 37:1 00
How was Abraham able to overcome the emotional reaction to the
command?
!By faith Abraham ... obeyed.!-Hebrews_11:7
JOSEPH'S FIRMNESS UNDER TEMPTATION Joseph, the son of
Jacob, was sold into slavery by his envious brothers. This act of
treachery set off a series of trials that he was forced to undergo.
Purchased for !a small price!, he found himself in the home of an
Egyptian couple. Study the emotional conflict that took place in this
instance. How would you have handled your emotions in that
situation?
!And she in whose house he Was, sought to seduce him, and made
fast the doors and said: Come. He said: Allah forbid! Surely my Lord
made good my abode. The wrongdoers never prosper.
!And certainly she desired him, and he would have desired her,
were it not that he had seen the manifest evidence of his Lord. Thus
(it was) that We might turn away
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from him evil and indecency. Surely he was one of Our chosen
servants.! Holy Qur!an 12:23,24
It was only through the direct intervention of Allah (God) that Joseph
was able to resist the efforts of the seductress to lead him into evil
and indecency.
The Holy Qur'an states that after word traveled that the wife of a
dignitary had been so attracted to Joseph that she was willing to
commit adultery, the other women in the city were critical of her
actions:
!And women in the city said: The chief's Wife seeks to seduce her
slave. He has indeed affected her deeply with his love. Truly we see
her in manifest error...So when she hear of their device, she sent for
them and prepared for them a repast, and gave each of them a knife
and said to Joseph: Come out to them. So when they saw him, they
deemed him great and cut their hands in amazement and said: Holy
Allah! This is not a mortal!, This is but a noble angel.! 12:31
What was it about this Servant of Allah (God) that the women
actually cut their hands at the sight of him? How do you think you
might react in that situation?
Joseph turned to his Lord: !My Lord, the prison is dearer to me
than that to which they invite me ... So his Lord accepted his prayer
and turned away their device from him. Surely He is the Hearer, the
Knower.!
DOMESTIC LIFE OF MUHAMMAD The Domestic Life of Prophet
Muhammad was a source of emotional conflict in the community of
Believers as well as within his household.
There are principles inherent in the marriages of Prophet Muhammad
that remain hidden to this day, covered by emotional reactions to his
Domestic Life. The question must be answered, !What did Allah
(God) want us to learn?!
His first marriage was to Khadijah, whom he was devoted to for 25
years of marriage until her death at the age of 65. She was 1 5 years
older than he. She was to him, as Sister Clara Muhammad would be
to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, his wife, friend, companion and
among the first to accept Islam when he was called to the Mission.
Her loss caused him great pain and suffering.
After the loss of his beloved Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad married
Aishah, the daughter of Abu Bakr. Aishah was only 11 years old
when the marriage ceremony took place and she remained in her
parents home another 3 years before the marriage was
consummated.
In all the marriages that followed, Muhammad's wives were women
who had been previously married. Only Aishah came to him a virgin.
She was actually brought up,
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shaped and fashioned under his care. Thus she acquired a spiritual
radiance that made her ultimately stand out in history as a guide, for
not only Muslim women, but for all of the Believers.
it was on the return from an important expedition in the 5th year of
the Hijrah, that Aishah, who had accompanied the Prophet, went
away from the caravan in search of a lost necklace. The bearers of
her litter, thinking she was still inside, marched off leaving her
behind. One of her husband's soldiers who was coming in from the
rear, came upon her and brought her safely to Madinah.
A hypocrite learned of the incident and in it found a pretext to
slander the Prophet an his family and erode the love and admiration
of the Believers, so he started a campaign of vilification and several
gullible Muslims gave ear to the slander.
What thoughts had those Muslims harbored, that they would
respond to slander against a wife of Allah's Servant with such
enthusiasm? Were there some hidden feelings toward his marriage
to Aishah that were brought to surface by this incident? Why did
Allah (God) Himself attach such importance to the matter that He
would issue such a Revelation as the one which follows?
!Surely they who concocted the lie are a party from among you.
Deem it not an evil to you. Nay, it is good for you. For every man of
them is what he has earned of sin; and as for him among them who
took upon himself the main part thereof, he shall have a grievous
punishment.
!Why did not the believing men and the believing women, when
you heard it, think well of their own people, and say: This is an
evident falsehood?...
!And were it not for Allah's Grace upon you and His Mercy in this
world and the Hereafter, a grievous chastisement would certainly
have touched you on account of the talk you indulged in.
When you received it on your tongues and spoke with your mouths
that of which you had no knowledge, and you deemed it a trifle,
while with Allah it was serious.
And why did you not, when you heard it, say: It beseems us not to
talk of it. Glory be to Thee! This is a great calumny.
Allah admonishes you that you return not to the like of it ever again,
if you are believers... Those who love that scandal should circulate
respecting those who believe, for them is a grievous chastisement in
this world and the Hereafter. And Allah knows, while you know
not.! Holy Qur!an 24:11-19
One of the Prophet's marriages was to Zainab, his cousin. Her
parents wanted him to take her as a wife, but he expressed a desire
that she be given in marriage to Zaid, his own freed slave whom he
adopted as a son. The Prophet wanted to abolish the
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barriers of class and economic status and felt that the marriage
between a former slave and a women of high birth would facilitate
bringing equality within the community. The marriage was not happy
and eventually ended in divorce. Once the marriage he had arranged
proved to be a failure, the Prophet consented to the wishes of
Zainab's parents and married her himself.
Had he been a man just interested in having wives for his personal
gratification, it would seem that he would have accepted Zainab's
hand when it was offered to him while she was a virgin. Yet, he took
her in marriage after she became a divorced woman. Study the
status of women, particularly divorced women, at the time. What
effect did this action of Allah's Servant have on the social standing of
divorced females in the community? What emotional reactions did it
create among the class-conscious people of the community?
There was great consternation among the Prophet's wives when the
Ruler of Egypt sent Mariyah as a gift to Him. She accepted Islam and
became his wife. This Black woman bore him Ibrahim, his only son.
The child died in infancy. What emotional effect did the birth of a son
by one wife have on the others? How did Aishah, who enjoyed the
position of being the 'favorite', feel toward Mariyah? What effect did
the child's death have on the Prophet himself? What effect did it
have on the child's mother?
One of the Prophet's wives was Maimunah, a widow, who offered
her hand to him and he accepted. Historical accounts relate that
some wives did not desire to see him enter any more marriages after
they themselves were accepted. What effect did his marriage to
Maimunah have on his other wives, when there was no apparent
reason for marrying her, other than the fact that she offered herself
to him?
The giving of wives to Muhammad was not done merely for sexual
gratification, it was that Allah (God) might give His Servant deeper
insight into the woman through women he married, as well as deeper
insight into himself by virtue of what each woman brought out of
him; to confer a greater reverence for the womb.
In the Holy Qur'an, a Servant of Allah pleads with Him:
!My Lord, expand my breast for me and ease my affair for me; and
loose the knot from my tongue, that they may understand my
word.! 20:25-27
The expansion of the breast may be compared to the enlargement of
the womb when a woman carries a child. In the womb is the
capacity of the female to produce children. As her womb expands
and she feels the growing life within her, her breast expands also.
She grows to love more than herself and her husband.
With every child, her breast expands to love that child. The test she
faces is not to make distinctions between them, but to be just and
equitable in her treatment of her children. Allah (God) has given
mothers an inexhaustible love for their own children
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as well as the children of others. They are sympathetic to other
mothers who have experienced the pain and suffering of birth.
Allah (God) gave wives to Muhammad, among whom were women
from tribes that were hostile to the Quraish. Through the marriage of
the Prophet to one member of a tribe, the entire tribe was embraced.
This is the meaning of the expansion of the breast: Allah (God)
expands the heart of His Servant for the Salvation of Nations.
IN CONCLUSION There are many Servants of Allah (God) in the
Bible and the Holy Qur'an whose names and the circumstances of
their lives could be mentioned for further study and analysis.
However, if we just try to walk in the shoes of the Servants of Allah
(God) presented in this Study Guide, we will have experienced the
full range of Emotion. Hopefully, this Study Guide will have prepared
us for the onslaught of the devil:
!And when the dragon saw that he was Cast unto the earth, he
persecuted the woman who brought forth the male child...And the
serpent cast out of his mouth water like a flood after the woman that
he might cause her to be carried away by the flood ... And the earth
helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and, swallowed
up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth ... And the
dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the
remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God...!
Revelations 12:13-17
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said to us that the flood represents
propaganda. As the enemy in his attack on Saddam Hussein went to
the air with such a terrific bombardment that the ground war ended
in less than a week, the enemy of Allah (God) and our enemy may
take to the air in a vicious barrage of propaganda, like a flood.
Floods uproot strong trees; floods bring snakes Out of their hiding
places. Floods undermine the foundations of buildings and railroad
tracks. How strong is your Foundation in the face of a flood of
propaganda?
The Earth helped the woman by swallowing the water. With this
study guide, properly digested and acted upon, we may be able,
with the Help of Allah (God), to make the enemy's evil slander of no
effect.
Our prayer is that the Nation of Islam will be seen like Noah's Ark:
!A Mercy floating on before our eyes!!
May Allah (God) bless each and every student to master the Wisdom
contained herein.

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WARNING
This Study Guide is in no way intended to inspire, in any brother or
sister, a movement toward polygamous relationships.
The Black male must qualify himself spiritually, morally, emotionally
and certainly economically, to even approach this subject matter
intelligently in terms of its practical reality.
The Black man's view of the Black woman at this time is so
underdeveloped that it must be characterized as filthy. Because of
this, the practice of polygamy today would constitute the disrespect
of the Black woman through sexual promiscuity in the Name of Allah
(God).
The Holy Qur!an teaches that one wife for one husband is better for
us, if we but knew. If and or when', certain aspects of the Holy
Qur'an will be fulfilled by us, we will be guided into this. At this time,
however, I warn you: No one is to enter into this practice, lost we fall
victim to the Restrictive Law which is the Reality that Master Fard
Muhammad and the Honorable Elijah have imposed upon the
Believers.
The Aim of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the Reformation of
both the Black man and the Black woman, with special attention on
the Black woman, because, as He has said, !Where there are no
decent women, there are no decent men, for the Black woman i3 the
Mother of Civilization.!
The Reformation of the Black man must include a reformation of his
view of himself and the Black woman, who is his second self. His
reformation must include the removal of any and all tendencies to
abuse the Black woman and/or to use her as an instrument of sexual
pleasure without accepting the responsibilities imposed upon us by
Allah (God) when in our relationships with the female.
It is out of the Desire and Will of Allah (God) for the Reformation of
the male and female that He set up two independent classes for their
instruction: The Fruit of Islam and the Muslim Girls Training and
General Civilization Class.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad threatened me and all of His
ministers with expulsion from the Nation of Islam if any minister
interfered with the MGT Class. No male member of the Nation of
Islam is qualified to teach the Black woman what Allah (God) Desires
for her.
Therefore, we are to be by the MGT Class and the Black woman in
general, as Zacharias was by Mary, knowing fully well that we will be
judged by Allah (God) by how we treat any female placed in our care
and under our charge. Zacharias was a righteous caretaker of a
righteous young girl who grew up in the Mosque. Every Minister,
every FOI, Must strive to be a righteous caretaker of the MGT. Until
there is such righteousness in his attitude and actions toward the
female, the Black man is not yet reformed.
Allah (God) will punish us severely for violation of these principles of
conduct concerning the treatment of the woman. Where there is
disrespect for the woman, there is disrespect for Allah (God), for in
the secret of the womb is the secret of His Work that is taking place
within the womb. When this reverence is displayed, only then will the
Kingdom of God be Established.
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