Heaven Lies at the Feet of Mother

By the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan | Last updated: May 8, 2018 - 11:29:27 AM

[Editor’s note: The following article is based on excerpts taken from a Mother’s Day address delivered by Minister Farrakhan on May 13, 1984 at The Final Call Administration Building in Chicago, Illinois.]

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.

“Heaven Lies at the Foot of Mother.” This quotation was spoken by Prophet Muhammad, Ibn Abdullah, 1,400 years ago in his great work of reform and civilizing of the Arab people in the days of their ignorance. This quotation is applicable to us as well today. Heaven represents a state of peace where the citizens of heaven live in accordance with the laws, rules, statutes or commandments of Allah (God). This is also called in scripture the Kingdom of God. Again, it is called the hereafter. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that the hereafter means here on the earth after the works of Satan are destroyed. Some Islamic Scholars say that the hereafter is a continuation of this life. Only, it is lived on a higher plane.

In the Qur’an there is a chapter referred to as the elevated places. In the Bible, Allah (God) says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. I am from above while you are from beneath.”

It is our disconnection from the thoughts and ways of Allah (God) that cause us to live the hellish life and existence that the people of our planet presently experience. If we believe that heaven lies at the foot of mother, what kind of mother is it that heaven lies at her feet? It is a mother whose heart, mind, and soul is fixed on Allah (God) His Thoughts and His Ways that are found in the Words of Allah (God) in the scriptures of the Bible and Qur’an. In order for heaven to be at the woman’s foot or mother’s foot, mother has to be in complete submission or surrender of her life to the Will of Almighty (God) Allah. This becomes exceedingly difficult if the woman is not in the charge of or in the company of a righteous man. Mary was blessed to be this kind of virtuous woman because she was prepared from the womb, but, she was also under the authority of a righteous male figure.

The value of a virtuous woman is more than the value of the wealth of the earth, but, the female and the value of her as a virtuous woman has been devalued by the societies of the earth. To devalue the currency of any nation weakens that nation financially. When the price of gold as a standard of value goes down, then we cannot purchase what we could at the rate when gold had a higher value. The devaluation of the female and the devaluation of virtue in the society has caused us to live on a plane that is far beneath that which we are capable of.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

This is why every religion and every society must reevaluate how we look at the females in our society. To think of her as only being valuable for procreation and pleasure is devaluing her. To think of her as not being talented or gifted, that she may be an equal sharer in the development of the society, nation or civilization, is to devalue her. To make her a sex symbol is to devalue her. To show her off before the world in an indecent manner is to devalue her. Rubies have no consciousness and do not know of their value. Neither do diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds. It is we who place a value on these stones. In this world, the man has not given or placed a proper value on the female, and thus, has caused the female to devalue herself. The behavior of our women and our girls demonstrate the thinking of a devalued human, for woman to accept to be displayed or kept in an inferior status is to accept the devaluation of herself by the men of this world. Heaven Lies at the Foot of Mother.

No wonder the earth has plunged into hell and the pit into which we are falling appears to be bottomless. This means that there is no limit to the depth to which we (men) have caused the woman to fall. Heaven begins with a virtuous woman. This is why a virtuous woman is more valuable than precious stones. We all want peace in our lives. We all would love to see the people of the earth act better by one another, but, it is clear by our stumble and fall and by the hatred that exists between man and man, and between man and woman that we do not know the way to peace.

Paul says in his writings, “What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way; for we have before proved both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become uprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans Chapter 3 verses 9-18

Heaven Lies at the Foot of Mother. This is why the Prophets of Allah (God) worked so hard with women. This is why they put protection on the woman. This is why men will fight, die and kill to protect women. Any man that will not fight for the respect and protection of the female is no man at all. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote that the farmer protects the field that produces his crops. He uses pesticides and insecticides to kill the enemy of his crop. How much more should we be in protecting our females, who are the producers of our nation? It is in the nature of a man to kill that which breaks into his family and goes after his wife and his daughter. It is also in the nature of the female. Too many of our men are languishing in prison today for killing someone that has interfered with his wife, girlfriend, or daughter. When we as men are in a right state of mind, we will go to war with anyone or anything that devalues or destroy our families.

If the female is unprotected, disrespected, and devalued, then, what comes from her womb is the same. Heaven Lies at the Foot of Mother.

Look at the disgraceful styles of the clothing of our women. Did not you know, my dear sister that your bodies were made to excite the sexual nature of the man? It is difficult for a man to think decent thoughts with a disrobed woman in his sight. To walk the streets with your flesh showing, with the beauty of your hair showing, and parts of the body that attract a man to you on display, this puts the man’s thinking on a low level. Therefore, his conversation will follow his thoughts.

Allah (God) asks the woman in the Qur’an to lower the garment over her bosom and cover her adornments. The breasts of a woman are an adornment, parts of the female body are an adornment, her hair is an adornment. Allah (God) asks the female to cover not because he desires to make a slave of the female, He wants her to be protected from the insults that come from a man who is attracted by their adornment of the female. He wants to protect her from a man whose mind is low down. He wants to protect her from involvement with such a man. He wants to protect the man from the weakness of his own nature that he will not be an agent of Satan in the devaluation of the female. Heaven Lies at the Foot of Mother.

My dear sisters, you can be beautiful and covered. This is better for you if you but knew. Cover yourselves so that men will not be attracted by the beauty of your body, but, through righteous conversation let them be attracted to the beauty of your mind and your spirit.

Would not you like to replace the hell that is on the earth with a heavenly life? Would you not like to see your children grow up in a more peaceful environment? What will you give to see such a heavenly state come into existence? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that, “He would give all that He has and all within His power to see such a day when Satan’s world will be destroyed and a better world come into existence.”

Every one of us as men should say with Him that, “I will give all that I have and all within my power to produce a heavenly life for myself, family and the unborn generation yet to come.”

Heaven Lies at the Foot of Mother. This means that we must help in the production of a righteous woman. As men, we must know that the little girls that come into this world come in pure and we as husbands, father, brothers, uncles and cousins must commit ourselves to protect the purity of females that we come in contact with, particularly fathers, uncles, and brothers, for, oft-times it is family members that are destroying the virtue of our young girls.

Heaven Lies at the Foot of Mother. We will never have a heavenly life until we have Godly females who love Allah (God) with their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and, who will never come down from the elevated place that Allah (God) desires for the female. If she is elevated in consciousness, filled with the Word and Spirit of Allah (God), filled with the knowledge of self and Allah (God), then, when she is with child we can expect that she will be like Mary, a good mother. Heaven lies at her feet, which means that children must be in submission to the Godly woman to let her shape and mould them into good boys and girls. The scripture teaches, “Train up a child in the way he should go and, when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Then and only then can we produce the heavenly life on earth. Then and only then can we as a nation ascend to that elevated place and witness the Kingdom of Allah (God) on earth. Then and only then, we will be in the Hereafter where there will be no vain discourse and everywhere we look we will see and hear nothing but peace, peace, peace.

Heaven Lies at the Foot of Mother.

The Final Call