One day the Honorable Elijah Muhammad spoke to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan about a vision his Brother Charlie had of his heart. That was around 46 or so years ago.

In this vision, his blood brother saw a little black spot on his heart. He (Brother Charlie) also saw, in his vision, that there was a light emanating from the heart of his Brother, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. At the end of this light were people of every nation and hue. This light more than touched them. It engulfed them.

Why did he share that experience with Minister Farrakhan? And, what are we to learn from it and do by it?

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, continued, in his conversation with Minister Farrakhan, that "If you can stand the praise of thousands you will teach millions."

By the time the Honorable Elijah Muhammad spoke to Minister Farrakhan of his brother�s vision of his own heart, he (the Honorable Elijah Muhammad) was teaching millions. The spot had been removed.

Some years earlier, before the time of the above words that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad spoke to Minister Farrakhan, he had, by the power of his prayer to Almighty God Allah, for Minister Farrakhan, removed the physical spot of tuberculosis from the lungs of his Minister. The removal of that physical spot was a sign of the eventual divine removal of a spiritual spot from this mighty Minister�s heart.

So, in sharing what he did of his Brother�s vision of his own heart, several years ago, with Minister Farrakhan, what was he putting on his Minister�s mind and heart? And, again, what does this have to do with us?

In short, we all must�like the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Louis Farrakhan�go through the same purifying process, to remove the spots we have acquired as the result of being born and raised in this wicked world, if we are to fulfill the ultimate purpose for which each one of us was born.

To this end�among other things�Minister Farrakhan produced study guides, which came out of a speech he made in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 21, 1986. It�s title: "Self Improvement-the Basis for Community Development."

He wrote a letter introducing these study guides that includes these words:

"As-Salaam Alaikum.

"Dear Helper in the Cause of Allah:

"This letter is to introduce you to the new study guide material. These study and training units are based upon a speech which I delivered September 21, 1986 in Phoenix, Arizona.

"This speech, in my judgment, formally ushers in that which is the launching pad of a worldwide movement.

"Each study session is designed on the guidance of Allah to produce: self-examination; self-analysis; self-correction; and, to quicken in each of us, the self-accusing spirit. For, it is only when we are awakened morally that we have to face the self-accusing spirit which leads to our resurrection.

"Resurrection is that process that begins with the self-accusing spirit and does not end until we become one in perfect harmony or peace with Allah and His Creation.

At another point, in his speech, he stated:

"The Black man is a problem; he is a problem to himself and he is a problem to others. Listen. The Chicano is a problem, but he is a problem to himself. The Indian�Native American�is a problem to himself. All human beings are suffering from a problem and the problem is not somebody else; the problem is yourself.

"We have a problem. And tonight, what we want to do, is just analyze what is giving us all of this hell. Will you help me to analyze this thing?"

Analyze this problem he did with brilliance!

Elsewhere, in his speech he beautifully stated:

"The Qur�an says when you meet with God, you become a soul at rest and it says, �O soul that is at rest! Well-pleased with thy Lord and thy Lord well-pleased with thee.� When you reach that point in your development where you have improved and developed to the point where you are a soul that is no longer fighting, no longer struggling, but you have reached the goal and soul is at rest; you are well-pleased with God and God is well-pleased with you. That�s the goal. But to reach this great goal, there is struggle at every stage. After overcoming one stage, there is ease to build you up for the next stage of struggle. This is the path to God and this is the path to Self-improvement.

"Now, if you look at the prophets, all of them are examples of this struggle. Every prophet that God sent into the world is an example of this struggle to meet with God. Though the prophets� examples are not what I would call a perfect example; (because) the prophets struggled in the absence of God with Light from God that is considered, in symbolic language, �moonlight.�

"Since the moon represents the Sun, in the absence of the Sun it has no light of its own; it borrows light from the Sun and reflects it to the Earth. Likewise, in the absence of God, prophets reflect the Light of God to the people of the Earth. But, they do not see. They are not a witness of God�s Divine Presence; they are only a witness that God is interested in the affairs of men. Do you follow what I am saying? If you have a limited light, you can only be a limited example. The prophets of God had limited light; therefore, their example is limited. It is not the apex example of human beings." [Italics mine.]

Today is the time when human beings can now really begin the journey�in the fullest sense of the word�towards the apex of what a human being was intended by Allah to be.

I fully expect the spirit of Allah to be with and in, and around us at our Saviours� Day Convention at the end of this month, in Chicago. I expect that it will be ample evidence that God is now present; that such prophecies as these can be read, for example in the following verses are today being fulfilled:

Isaiah 35:5 "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein."

This is taking place today within a people, today, in America, as 1Peter 2:10 puts it, "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

It�s happening to a people, of whom it was written in Malachi 3:17, these words: "And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."

I am thankful to Allah for creating Minister Farrakhan with the kind of heart that He created within this man whom I call my "Big Brother."

More next issue, Allah willing.