Powerful prayer service punctuates Saviours’ Day

By Jehron Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Feb 23, 2017 - 12:13:41 PM

Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad Photos: Michael Muhammad

Muslim women participate in prayer service. (R) Alimah Muhammad recites the Holy Qur’an.

DETROIT (Cobo Center)—Over 3,000 Believers crowded into a Cobo Hall ballroom for the Jumu’ah, or the traditional Islamic prayer service. The khutba or sermon is one of the highlights of the annual Nation of Islam Saviours’ Day Convention.

This year’s Jumu’ah, as Baltimore Student Minister Carlos Muhammad said, the “beauty” of the service was that it “was webcast throughout the world” and was part of the groundwork done leading up to SD 2017. It included outreach to different Muslim communities in Detroit and the greater metropolitan area. Detroit and the surrounding area are home to one of the largest immigrant Muslim populations in the country.

The khutba, delivered by N.O.I. National Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad, explained the importance of paying honor, tribute and respect to the N.O.I.’s founder, Master Fard Muhammad, who the Muslims believe to be the Great Mahdi of the Muslims and the Messiah of the Christians, a powerful and prophetic figure. After Jumu’ah, the imam told The Final Call, “We have been guided by one who was a migrant, Master Fard Muhammad. He exemplifies one who did not impose upon us the law of Islam, but the love of Islam.”

Call to prayer.

Showing by example “true love and our true ways of devotion, he as a migrant from Arabia displayed the best representation of the continuation and mission of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),” the imam continued Feb. 17. Instead of trying to appease immigrant Muslims, the Nation’s Believers should go to them following the example of Master Fard Muhammad, he said. “In our insecurity we’ve been tapping up to the Arab world, when we should be secure with what our brother, Master Fard Muhammad came to offer … true Islam,” said the imam.

During his sermon, the imam, referencing the Qur’an, the Muslim book of scripture, said, “Allah has shown “two conspicuous ways, two clear ways,” one representing life, one representing death.

“But those who have been destroyed by chattel slavery … we find ourselves unable to discern the conspicuous ways,” said Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad, a great grandson of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who was taught by Master Fard Muhammad and built a powerful Islamic movement despite major opposition in America.

Referencing the Qur’an, he said in tasfir, or explaining the work of Minister Louis Farrakhan, that freeing the slave is a major accomplishment. The Minister, he said, is “freeing the two life veins so that blood will flow to the brain and life is given to the mind, so that there is knowledge of self.”

Islam Today talk show host Jihad Ahmed of Philadelphia said after the prayer service, “This was one of the best Jumu’ahs I’ve ever heard. I think that Imam Sultan definitely is bridging that gaps and bringing the immigrant and indigenous African American Muslim communities together. His message, was a message of togetherness and love.

“It’s like he said, it’s time that the Believers in the Nation of Islam not be ashamed of the Islam they have. Just like you have Islam. We have Islam too,” Mr. Ahmed said.

Mayor Marcus Muhammad of Benton Harbor, Mich., told The Final Call, “I think it was a watershed message for the Nation of Islam.” “Not just to the broader world of Islam, but to those new to learning Islam inside the Nation, and those who are here to increase their knowledge of Islam,” said the Muslim politician. “Prophet Muhammad said 40 years of prayer does not amount to one congregational prayer, this is going to have future ramifications,” he predicted.

Detroit resident and attorney Muddasar Tawakkul was ecstatic. He had nothing but praise for the imam’s lecture. Atty. Tawakul, whose family is from Pakistan, was speechless. When he did say something, he declared, “all praise be to Allah, there is nothing else that is needed to say. It was powerful. The imam’s message showed you the manifestation of the fruit that the Hon Elijah Muhammad has given birth to.”

“We are a rising nation and we will accomplish much,” added the attorney.

The Final Call