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Our way of devotion: Rebuilding people, communities

By Brian E. Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Feb 27, 2014 - 10:33:24 AM

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Muslims attend the Friday, congressional prayer service at Saviours’ Day 2014 in Detroit, Mich. at the Cobo Center.

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DETROIT (FinalCall.com) - Returning to the birthplace of the Nation of Islam for Saviours’ Day, thousands filled the Cobo Center Ballroom for Salat ul-Jumu’ah, the weekly Friday prayer service obligatory for Muslims. Keeping in line with the theme of this year’s convention, “How Strong Is Our Foundation; Can We Survive?” Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad delivered a khutbah, or brief sermon, that gave spiritual strength, encouragement reflected on the duty of Muslims. 

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Imam Muhammad stressed the importance of being mission-minded, dedicated to personal transformation and the reformation of humanity.

“What did you accept when you accepted Islam?” asked Imam Muhammad, adding the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan posed this question and answered it—explaining accepting Islam meant accepting “a man and his mission.”

The resident imam at the Nation of Islam’s flagship Mosque Maryam in Chicago warned Feb. 21 if that understanding was not clear, Muslims could find themselves seeking other than God, not knowing the man to model their lives after or engaging in idolatry.

“We must go to war with the darkness of ourselves, so that we may be worthy of this mission; once we have accepted this mission we cannot stay, as Muslims, unchanged having heard the message and having been shown the example,” Imam Muhammad added.

Sultan Rahman Muhammad is the first imam appointed by Min. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. The imam used verses from the Holy Qur’an—the scriptural book of the Muslims—to illustrate accepting Islam means making a covenant with God. Abraham’s prayer in the Qur’an, asking to be shown his way of devotion and raising of the Ka’aba in Mecca was a sign of Black people today coming into Islam and receiving a way of devotion from Master Fard Muhammad, the Great Mahdi, Imam Muhammad said.

The unification of “Muhammads” means to know the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, patriarch of the Nation, requires understanding the life and mission of Prophet Muhammad of Arabia and the character of these divine men.

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“Muhammad, peace be upon him, did not have a mission to build a nation of Arabs; he had a mission to build a Nation of Islam,” Imam Muhammad explained. “Muhammad, peace be upon him, fought against tyranny and oppression; he taught against tribalism, racism and slavery. He championed the rights of woman and stood against materialism and idolatry.”

Imam Muhammad recalled how Prophet Muhammad restored the black stone to the wall of the Ka’aba which averted bloodshed among the Arab tribes and serves as another sign of a current work. Muslims have a duty to restore broken people in their families and communities and must leave their mosques to bring life to dying neighborhoods, he said.

“This is the way of the Muslim, nothing else!” declared Imam Muhammad. And, he asked, “If one does not change the condition of his heart, how can the condition of the community then be changed? We must stand for our people and pick up the mission and transform ourselves and transform our people and communities.”