bismillah. mashaAllah! jazak Allah khayr for posting such a good article. and for adding the video and audio — both would have been a great addition to the article initially announcing the death of imam wd Muhammad, RahimAllah. may Allah accept from him his good deeds, overlook his mistakes, and open for him the doors of His Mercy. may Allah permit Him to be of those who see His Face.

may Allah keep steadfast the Muslims whose love and respect for him brought them close to Allah and distanced them from the mistakes of his father.

may they pardon and overlook the faults and excesses of their brothers from Muslim lands, and the children of those immigrants. well-intentioned brothers who in their zeal to make dawah to the Muslims of America, nevertheless fail to practice the best qualities of the Prophet sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam. qualities of kindness, mercy, and patience that not even the mushrikeen could deny. may Allah be pleased with the Muslims of America, those born here, those whose parents were born here, those who are descended from other lands, and make us one ummah in every good sense, one ummah united on His deen and reflecting the strength of diversity of opinion that also strengthened the sahabah and the generations that followed.

Asalamu alaykum,

May Allah reward you Saqib for the excellent effort. We ask Allah to forgive the Imam and grant him thadhbit in his grave.

SDW

Excellent Post!

Great Post!

Another book that I would like to recommend is the Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley. This is a must read for all, immigrant or native, muslim or non-muslim.

Also, one thing that all of us can do, especially if we live in a major city like New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles etc. is to visit the African American communities and masajid in your localities. Work with them and organize some activities together.

One African American brother was asking me once if I knew people that could come to their masjid and teach them how to read the Quran with tajweed. He said that so many people in his community are eager and thirsty for Islamic knowledge, but they don’t quite have the resources to provide for this. They also organize many humanitarian events where they can use all the help that they can get.

Subhanallah, these are simple opportunities for us to work together. Each and everyone can do something to their own capacity even if it is something that seems quite small. Remember what may be small to us, can be heavy on the scales if done with sincerity.

JZK for the post!

Here is a video link from Chicago news. Imam Muhammad was asked, why dont he have an entourage like Minister Farrakhan. He replied, ” I dont need an entourage, Allah is my protector.”

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/wd.mohammed.services.2.815324.html

The video is in the top right hand corner.

You can download the biography of Malcolm X here

JazaakAllaahu khairan. This is one of the best articles I’ve read at MM mashaAllaah. Watching the slideshow Sh. Yasir linked to was just amazing and undescribable. Seeing the thousands of people from all over the US, prostrating themselves to Allaah (swt), making du’a to Allah (swt), and gathering for His sake, with the guidance of Allaah and then Imam WD is very humbling. May Allaah forgive Imam WD and grant Him Jannatul Firdous, ameen.

Asalaam Alaykum,

Subhanallah! Thanks for sharing this brother……….the turnout is a testament to the massive impact Imam WD Muhammad had. May ALlah (swt) reward him for his efforts.

The Realist: What a sad commentary……….it’s also rather short on logic, please reexamine your thoughts on the matter.

As-salaam-alaikum:

I thank you for your kind words. As a student of Imam Muhammad (ra) for almost forty years, I am confident in saying that he has made a great contribution to inviting people, especially African-Americans, to Al-Qur’an and the Life example of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). Like everyone he will have his detractors….that is the state of mind of some individuals. I would only ask them two things….restrain your tongues and hands. Ask yourself if you will have as many people bearing witness to your veracity and commitment on the day that it is announced that you have departed this world? Ask yourself how many people have taken shahadatain because you told the truth. Please, do not look at this great inviter to Al-Islam in the dark wilderness of North American ignorance as being insignificant. May Allah grant his faith servant the highest place in the Company of our dear Nabi Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (peace be upon him) and the choicest blessings…Ameen

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُحِبُّونَ أَن تَشِيعَ الْفَاحِشَةُ فِي الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ (24:19)

24:19 Verily, as for those who like [to hear] foul slander spread against [any of] those who have attained to faith grievous suffering awaits them in this world and in the life to come: for God knows [the full truth], whereas you know [it] not.

Respect The Life Of A Good Man And A Believer

It is with great humility and appreciation to our brother Yasir Qadhi for his kind words on the passing of our Sheik and Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (raheem’ullah)that offer these few comments. May he be richly rewarded for his struggles in the cause of Al-Islam and be forgiven any errors. We are reminded that “No man charges another with corruption or unbelief, save that the charge return against himself if the other is not as he said.” We also recall that our elders taught us not to revile the dead. Why, because, they have gone to meet whatever they have sent ahead. Al-hamdulilah.

We were blessed to know Imam Mohammed for almost 4 decades. We can say that he was a good man, a sincere man who loved Allah subhana wa ta’ala, loved our dear Nabi Muhammed ibn Abdullah (the peace and blessings be upon him) and loved the muslims. The Imam was tolerant of his critics and patient with those who praised him greatly. Those of us who are his students will try as best we can to emulate his behavior. It is the example of the Prophet who was patient, tolerant, forgiving and merciful because he had hopes that even his worst enemies would accept the truth.

On the authority of Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar bin al-Khattab, radiyallahu ‘anhuma, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, say:
“Islam has been built upon five things – on testifying that there is no god save Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger; on performing salah; on giving the zakah; on Hajj to the House; and on fasting during Ramadhan.”
[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

There is a beautiful book on prayer that Imam W. Deen Muhammad wrote and on page 143 he said:
“Muslims are drawn together by one force in their lives the will to obey and worship Allah. The coming together of Muslims as members of one humanity first begins within our families and communities and it grows as we become more aware of our membership in a universal society based on one truth: there is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.”

This is the essence of the understanding of aqeedah (the creed) of Al-Islam. It reflects what Allah has ordered and what the Prophet Muhammad worked for and the belief that the Imam called his students, followers and supporters. This is a simple and concise proof. Who can argue with that but a disbeliever, rejecter of faith or a hypocrite?

It can be suggested that even in his earliest period of leadership of the old so-called “Nation of Islam” he was evolving toward the truth in an article written in 1976 entitled, The Lost-Found Nation of Al-Islam in the West he said:
“We are thankful to Allah for the many blessings He is bestowing upon us. In a cruel and savage environment, He alone has given to His believers in America the help that we needed. Now He is blessing us with success. No people can be strong without Islam. If any people have strength, it is because they have some measure of Islam no matter what spiritual, political, or social label they may put on it. Any philosophy which ignores Allah will eventually have weaknesses to develop in it, grow in it and destroy it (the Teachings of W.D. Muhammad, p. 204, 1976).”

We see Imam Mohammed as a sincere worker in Al-Islam who invited those of us who were his students to study the two sources: the Book of Allah and Life example of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). We also acknowledge that we have a great deal of work ahead of us to grasp the great sciences of Al-Quran, its exegesis, the knowledge of the tafsir of our righteous predecessors and the insights provided by the scholars of hadith. But we are grateful to Allah that this humble and kind man was patient enough to strive in Allah’s call to bring us out of the ignorance in which he found us and call us to the truth. He was blessed to provided us a unique perspective on Al-Qur’an and the life example of our Nabi Muhammad (pbuh). Someone who is outside of the old nation of Islam may not be able to appreciate the challenge he inherited.

In 1985 Imam Mohammed stated:
“We have started in the right way. We have done our best to bring a healthy Islamic environment to be a reality for us through the teachings, the Daw’ah, the propagation. We have stressed the importance of education (Challenges that face man today, p51).”
During this talk the Imam pointed out that there were still a number of people who were not willing to follow Al-Qur’an and strive to be true Muslims. This was a major part of the challenge he faced during the first decade of his leadership. Moving hundreds of thousands of the followers of his father to reject the ideology of the old Nation of Islam and accept the responsibility to study Al-Qur’an, the life example of the Prophet and to implement the teachings into their individual, family and community lives. He was attacked within and without the movement. His detractors within the movement insisted he had abandoned the “truth” that his father taught for Islamic spirituality. Those outside the movement criticized him for not teaching the “true aqeedah” and holding on to the ideas of the nation. However, to his credit he bore it patiently and kept working.
“So we find that Prophet Muhammad is called the ‘Ummi Prophet’, and his people are called the ‘Ummi’een’, which means those people who are not scholars, those people who were not highly cultured or highly educated. They were not the children of the academic class. They were the common people who no more than mother-wit, common knowledge. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was one of them, and he was made the leader for all the people (Imam W. Deen Muhammad speaks from Harlem, N.Y., p.34, 1984)”
We can safely say that statement reflected his hope that those of us who had followed his father would eventually “grow-up” into a better understanding of this wonderful way of life that Allah subhana wa ta’ala gave us in Al-Qur’an and the life example of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَن يَرْتَدَّ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ وَلاَ يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لآئِمٍ ذَلِكَ فَضْلُ اللّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَاء وَاللّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ (5:54)

5:54 O you who have attained to faith! If you ever abandon your faith,” God will in time bring forth [in your stead] people whom He loves and who love Him – humble towards the believers, proud towards all who deny the truth: [people] who strive hard in God’s cause, and do not fear to be censured by anyone who might censure them: such is God’s favour, which He grants unto whom He wills. And God is infinite, all-knowing.

An important point was made by the Imam in October 2006 that should help us further understand that he was willing despite the critics to compel us to reflect more deeply on the significance of Quranic revelation. While discussing the Mi’raj—the ascent of the Prophet from the holy precincts to the furthest Mosque, he stated:
“Allah took him to the great peak for excellence in the life of those people (the Bani Israel) symbolized as the government under Solomon the wise (upon him be peace). And you know what happened. Later almost right away, he decided to go to Madinah. And with the experience and knowledge that Allah gave him in that ascent and that travel, night visit, he was prepared to go and establish the first Muslim world in Madinah. We say government but it was a world. It was a new world. He went there to Madinah and became the leader for the establishment of the ummah, the new world of Islam (Ramadan session, 2006).”

These are the kinds of things that our Sheik was criticized for. Simply, because he saw more in Al-Qur’an and the life example of Prophet Muhammad than his critics believed was in the scripture. It really is not our fault that they missed the richness of his visions, ideas, thoughts and teaching. We have been exposed to many great Islamic thinkers from the past and in our own times. We are grateful to Allah that he blessed the Imam to teach us to understand the criticizers and nay-sayers. We realize that in time as we continue to work in the Islamic movement we will see the spread of this faith despite those amongst the ummah who are more wedded to speaking about the example of our Prophet than living out his example. Our vision of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is that of a sincere devotee who was busy trying to invite the humanity to truth—we believe that was his sunnah. The amazing thing about that great man was he never back bit people nor assaulted the character of man despite his dislike for the person’s bad behaviors, instead he called them to the truth of the words of his Lord.

It is important to appreciate a good man and it is destructive to one’s own soul to criticize without having done a thorough study of what he actually taught. We can only invite the students of faith to take the time to study 4 decades of the teachings of W.D. Mohammed. As a student, I believe one will find more to appreciate than to criticize. Personally, I discovered that over time the things that I did not believe my Sheik was correct on were either clarified and explained, supported by the evidence from the two sources or he openly declared that he had made an error in judgment. It is rare to find a man like that who will acknowledge his own errors.

…..”When I was taken up in the Ascent M’iraj, I passed by people with fingernails of copper who were raking their faces and chests with them. I asked, ‘who are they Jibril?’ and he said, ‘they are those who slandered others (literally: ate people’s flesh) and attacked their reputations.”

My hope for all of us, his supporters and critics alike is that we take this historical moment and reflect on what we can do to contribute to the growth of vital and productive Islamic community here on the North American continent that will reflect the best of our faith. I pray that we rise up to meet the challenge in providing leadership to the people of the Americas so that they may more greatly appreciate the greatness of our Lord and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him). Perhaps, our failure to take that course of action will do us more harm than good. Insha-Allah we won’t engage in petty partisan bickering and criticism over the veracity of the Imam’s life, he is with his Lord. Our challenge is to attempt to bring more insight to the people from Al-Qur’an and the life example of our wonderful Nabi Muhammad in order to establish the Islamic community life not to argue and debate over our various opinions. As the Imam had so enthusiastically stated, “We can’t stop now!”

If I have said anything to offend the reader, I beg Allah to pardon my errors. If I have added some value in some way to the hearts and the minds of the readers, we give all praise to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds and systems of knowledge.

13 Ramadan 1429
Imam A. Mustafa Ali
Atlanta, Georgia

Salaam ‘alaykum & thank you for your reflections. Indeed, we have much work ahead of us to integrate our community.

Warmly,
Baraka

AsalamuAlaikum

JazakAllahKhair for your reflections

http://rickshawdiaries.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/be-the-brothers-and-sisters/#more-1335

Alex: ‘Alayk as-Salam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh;

I’m sorry you so horribly misread, as my post mentioned nothing of applied judgment. That’s a whole other story. Rather, the problem is that even the theoretical aspect of what was once taught is also now ignored.

Even if final judgment on a specific person is what is up to the scholar, the kufri nature of beliefs/acts/words themselves is clear and does not require a degree from Madinah to determine. So, it is with that that I’m finding it hard to swallow how one who at the very least fell into many instances of kufr (more accurate word than ‘mistakes’) can be referred to as an Imam, an example, etc., even if you aren’t making takfir of him.

Once again, problem = lack of consistency. If beliefs are changing behind the scenes, coming out and saying so will clear things up.

I was under the impression that a discussion forum was to be a forum for discussion. If this is not the place for such, then what is?

And what seems fruitless to you might be a subject of importance for someone else, so let’s not be so selfish in our thinking.

Subhan Allah, it’s sad how insignificant kufr is nowadays in the eyes of the Muslims.

innalhamdolillah. bismillah. i would like to see more editing/moderation of the comments in this article.

perhaps it should become a new MM policy that articles announcing the death/janazah of any person who said “la ilaha illAllah” should be treated as FULLY moderated.

you should screen each and every post. immediately posting written comments is not working out. even if a latter comment corrects misinformation, or advises to better akhlaque, or apologizes for the conduct of others, or any other good — the harm done by an inappropriate written word cannot be undone.

sadly people who speak and write without fear of Allah dispute even what it means to write with fear of Him.

so moderate all the comments in articles of this nature. defend those who have died, who cannot speak in their own defense anymore. protect those who love them and are still in the period of grieving, and do not insult or promote the grieving lest someone innocent then transgress the bounds of Allah.

and pray that Allah will defend us when we have returned to Him. that He will make easy the lives of those who love us when they are grieving.

Salaam alaykum all,

Abu Sabaya, if you want to ask questions about Light of Guidance, then you should do so in the appropriate place, that being the AlMaghrib forums, or see if you can speak to Shaykh Yasir directly to get his views.

I think it’s legitimate that you have concerns that you want to have addressed (the cure to ignorance is asking), but I have to agree that the time, place, and tone of such discussions ought not to be as it is right now.

Siraaj

jazak Allah khayr, Tariq ibn Jamil. “O Allah protect from every tariq (night visitor), except that tariq which brings good.” MashaAllah, your post brought much good. and, alhamdolillah, by sharing the ‘ilm and ‘adab you learned from Imam Muhammad, you know well that your post increases him, too, in reward.

and it bears repeating how much good Imam Muhammad will find, inshaAllah, in his favor from all the ‘ilm, ‘adab, and dawah that he put forth during his life, which his students and those who answered the Call of Allah — which the Imam was not afraid to announce openly and often — which these people will likewise pass on to generations to come. this is the kind of knowledge and dawah that earns good even after death.

may Allah give us so much tawfiq to call people to Islam, to be heard, to be listened to, and to be successful in this life and, inshaAllah, in the next.

As salaamu alaikum,

Thank you for sharing. I am wondering, are there special circumstances where women are allowed to follow the jinazah to the burial site? Or allowed to put flowers or dirt on the coffin as we see some of the women doing in the pics posted in one of the links above?

Much Peace to the Umma of Al-Islam
As-Salaamu-alaikum

To any who respect mankind AND who with his or her inner being reach for the heart and soul of the humanity,.. such was the heart and mind of Imam W.D.Muhammed, to do. It was a reach that had nothing but what… is better than best… for those who would gather in humility to hear and learn of the message of Al-Islam from a trusted spokesman. I hope that the community will remember WD Muhammed with a breath of prayer and understanding. I cannot… with my limits understanding for those who would compete for the acceptance of their Lord… to do so with mockery of his innocence of him who loved them more. Such was the cause and the agenda of WD Muhammed. Peace, Love and Acceptance be in the hearts of those who respected his leadership, his efforts and his presence among us. Let us who are grateful, leave him legacy intact with service to the way his Lord as he best knew, and to give as best that he could… to those he hoped to point in a direction of trust to a better life… and for that, the hope for tomorrow to the end of his days… in this Presence has obtained a greater measure of hope our times–for me, I owe it to the life and times of W.D. MUHAMMED, Son of Elijah Muhammad, NOI. See how our history marches on. Be then of good faith.

As Salaamu’Alaykum WaRahmatullah..
Love from Malaysia..
I’d like to share that our brother Abu Taubah has been caught by the Feds.
Marcus Robertson, Imam at Orlando’s Masjid Al-ihsaan.
accused of handgun posession.
anyone whom may reach please help aour Muslim brother because Muslim Matters..
InshaAllah..
love from Malaysia..
AsSalaamu’Alaykum WaRahmatullah..