The Final Call

A prescription for humanity

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[Editor's note: The following edited text is taken from an Oct. 17, 2002 message by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in Springfield, mass.  For an audio or videotape of the complete message, click here.]

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

The Holy Qur’an says that by nature we are born to surrender our will to do the Will of Allah (God). That’s the nature of the human being. We have been other than that, but we hope and pray that Allah (God) will bless us to come back to the path of surrender to Him and to His Will that we might change the way we live and come again into the path of Divine Favor.

We have to understand what our purpose (as human beings) is and do what our purpose is. The Qur’an teaches that Allah (God) created nothing without an aim and a purpose. In everything that He creates, He had something in mind for it; and it justifies its existence by fulfilling its purpose. He had something in mind when He created the human being. Unfortunately, we are not fulfilling our purpose; and because we are not fulfilling our purpose, we have not yet justified our existence. Instead of our working in harmony with nature and its laws, we are working in opposition to nature and its laws. Therefore, we don’t have long life. We don’t have healthy life and, ofttimes, we don’t live a meaningful life. Thus, many of us live and die having not contributed much to the onward march of human civilization. We must reverse that.

What was the plan of Allah (God) in creating a human being since the sun, the moon, the stars, the birds, the bees, the leaves, everything that He created, has a purpose? He didn’t miss when He created a human; and nothing that He created is less than excellent.

Everything that you see—the bee, the ant, the flowers, the planets, and the stars—is excellent. It’s just a magnificent creation, but look at us. He didn’t create us to be less than excellent. He created us with that same excellence that He created everything else. In fact, He created us with more because He gave the human being something that He never gave any of His creatures. He gave us the free will to choose and then He offers us the right way. But He lets us choose if we wish to follow His Way.

Nobody gave us life but Allah (God). Mom and dad are agents of creation, but He and He alone is Creator. So if He gave us this precious thing called life, why shouldn’t we let Him direct us on how we should live this precious life that He gave us? When you go to your doctor and he looks at you, he will tell you this is wrong and that is wrong. He will give you a prescription. When you read the bottle and it says take two pills after your meal but you take 10, then you overdose. You saw what was on the bottle and you did something contrary; so you were attempting to harm yourself by disobeying the instructions.

Well, if we go back to the Genesis of the Bible and the Al-Baqarah (The Cow) of the Qur’an, we have something similar in the story of creation. In the Genesis, Allah (God) creates the human, saying He’s going to create us in His own image after His own likeness. From the biblical point of view, we are called, "the Glory of God." Every human that you see walking has something in him from the Creator that sets him or her apart from the lower animals. When you say we’re created in the image and the likeness of Allah (God), that means that when I see you, I’m looking at a miniature reflection of Him whom I worship. The Bible says, "How can you love God, whom you have never seen, and hate your brother whom you see everyday?" When we’re in each other’s presence, we should honor and respect one another on the level that we operate as though we’re in the presence of the Unseen Power that gave us all the life that we have. So I don’t have to wait to see Allah (God) to show honor and respect for Him. When I see you, that’s enough for me. I show honor and respect to Allah (God) by showing honor and respect to you.

Since He created us, He has to give us direction. So He starts in the Genesis where He creates a man and tells him to multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it. Then the Book says He gave the man dominion over the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and every creeping thing that crawls upon the earth. When Allah (God) gives you dominion, that means He gives you the capacity to rule what He created: The fowl of the air, the fish of the sea and every creeping thing that crawls. He’s not only giving you dominion on that level, but He has a universe that when you can master one level, He can make you able to master other levels.

A human being, as a reflection of Allah (God), can master the universe that He created. But you don’t see yourself as a potential master of the universe. In fact, we hardly see ourselves as a potential master of anything. Therefore, we fall into the trap that Jesus talked about: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." If I can make you think that you are not able to master anything, then I’ve got you in a state that is less than what Allah (God) intended for you. So your whole psyche, your whole mind, your process of thinking has to be changed because you are able to master whatever you put your heart and mind to. And you can master it with degrees of excellence.

If you look at our slave experience, the slave master never wanted us to see ourselves as a master. He deliberately worked to destroy your ability to think beyond what he wanted you to think. He was acting in opposition to Allah (God) when he made another human being a slave and then made you think less of yourself than what Allah (God) intended for you to be.

Rebellion to Allah (God), who created you, literally stifles your own growth into Him. No matter how great the science and technology of this world is, it produces death because the persons who are advancing civilization are still in rebellion to Allah (God). Even though civilization is advancing, even though you’re taking steps forward for life, your mind in rebellion to Allah (God) causes you to make mischief with the ideas that He gives you. So we have a messed up world where what happened in the Genesis literally has become full grown now to the book of Revelation, biblically, and full grown from Al-Fatihah (The Opening) or Al-Baqarah (The Cow) to the Surahs or the chapters of refuge that close the Qur’an.

In the book of Revelation, the serpent has grown to be a dragon, a great beast, and violence is so pervasive that the mark of the beast is in the forehead and in the hand of everybody in that society. Look at the level of violence that pervades this nation. This nation has been blessed to be the greatest nation in terms of wealth and technological advancement and medical science.

We who call ourselves Muslims are trying to live a good life, a moral life, an exemplary life. We’re not perfect at it, but we’re striving to be better than what we were. Islam (submission) is what Jesus taught, meaning that Jesus said, "not my will, but Thy Will be done." Jesus was an example of perfect obedience. That’s what made him so great. But Jesus could never be an example for us if he didn’t suffer the things that we suffer and overcome them to master Satan. Jesus said, if any man would be his disciple, that person must first deny himself, pick up his or her cross and then follow him (Jesus).

Jesus said we must let the Holy Spirit into our lives that would allow us to live a life as he lived. We’ve gotten so confused because Satan does not want right religion taught to the people. Satan doesn’t mind you saying that there’s a God as long as you just can’t locate Him. Satan knows that while you’re running around looking for Allah (God), he (Satan) is playing god. Whatever you want, he (Satan) has it and he’ll offer it to you on condition. All of us need money. Satan prints it and you want some, but he says, do this, and for money you kill your brother. For money, you’ll sell your daughter. For money, you’ll sell your soul. For a piece of paper that somebody else put a value on, you will rob another human and kill another human because he has no value. You take a piece of paper with a dead president on it, with a number on it, and that means more than a fellow human being? That’s degradation.

You (human family) are on your deathbed right now and you don’t know it. Stress is killing us. Young men are dying of heart attacks. Children are having strokes because mother doesn’t shop anymore, so you’re feeding your children fast food death. Your health is shot—high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. We’re in the valley of the shadow of death and there is no place to hide but to hide in Allah (God). I think that’s why Jesus said, "Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest." All of you that are burdened down, come and I (Jesus) will lift those burdens up off of you.

I’m saying to you, my dear family in Springfield, let’s come back to Almighty Allah (God), Who created our life, and let Him order our lives. We who are Muslims have an ordered, regulated life. It’s a beautiful life. As a Christian, you should have an ordered life—a life that starts with prayer and a day that goes on in service of Allah (God) by the way you live your life, and the night is ended with thanksgiving to Allah (God) for bringing you through the day. Then you ask Him to take you through the night and wake you up again tomorrow and let you be in your right mind.