The Final Call

'EconomicBlueprint.org': Muhammad's Program to End Poverty and Want Pt. 2

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[Editor’s note: As the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan continues to heal from the health condition that prevented him from delivering the October 20th Holy Day of Atonement keynote address in Tuskegee, Alabama, we proudly present in the following article a distillation of the October 27, 2013 message delivered by Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, his National Assistant Minister, as “Part 2” of the keynote address themed “Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint to End Poverty and Want (EconomicBlueprint.org).”  This message also serves as Part 43 of Minister Farrakhan’s 52-week Lecture Series on “The Time and What Must Be Done,” which aired on Saturday, November 2, 2013.  Click here to order this address on MP3, DVD and CD or call 1.866.602.1230, ext. 200.  Be sure to visit http://www.NOI.org/TheTime each Saturday at 6 p.m. CST (5 p.m. MST and 7 p.m. EST) to view the ongoing series.]

For those of us who were touched by what Allah (God) permitted to happen last Sunday (October 20th), it is clear that no man can want for his people more than what the people desire and want for themselves.

“Leaders” are born to fulfill the desire that is in the hearts and breasts of the people for change, for freedom, and for justice:  God brings forth a leader out of the longing and the yearning of the people; God brings forth and produces a leader out of the dissatisfaction of the people, and a leader is born from the people to produce the desired change.  The leader that God brings forth becomes “The Voice” of the people, for he directs and guides The Cause …

Ishmael Muhammad, Student National Assistant Minister to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

‘Changing a condition’:  The role of the leader and the responsibility of the people

The people, at some point, have to mature:  They have to grow into the principle of freedom, the principle of justice, and The Idea of “nationhood”; so much so, that it becomes a part of their very being.  And when that is accomplished, then change is realized.  And guess what?  Then a nation comes into existence.

Again, brothers and sisters, “no man can want for his people more than what the people want for themselves.”  For example, no matter how much a father wants good for his son; no matter how much a father or a mother wants one of their children to grow up to be a lawyer or a doctor or an athlete, or some other career or profession:  If the child does not want that for himself, then the parents remain with “the dream”—and it is unrealized in the child.  And when it comes to “the freedom of a people”:  The people have to want to be free in order for them to realize the light of their own freedom! 

History has shown that no people who fought, who sacrificed or who died for freedom were denied!  No people that desired to be free were denied, because once they were willing to “pay the price” for their freedom—no matter how strong or vehement the opposition was—they were always able to realize the freedom that they desired if they were willing to “pay the price” and sacrifice their lives for freedom.  No people in  history who desired for themselves to be separate and independent were kept from realizing that independence; though a heavy price had to be paid … 

So I believe that Allah (God) permitted the circumstances of a bacterial infection in the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to produce the event on Sunday in order to cause us to “grow and mature” in The Invincible Word and Teaching that Almighty God Allah has given to us through the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. 

With a proven Economic Blueprint to “end poverty and want” to secure that which will give us the basic necessities of life, create jobs, and make us builders instead of “beggars,” Allah wants to grow us into a nation!  And He wants us to have confidence in Him—and in Him alone; for in the Holy Qur’an, Surah 2 Al-Baqarah (“The Cow”), verse 186, Allah (God) says:  “And when My servants ask thee concerning Me, surely I am nigh.  I answer the prayer of the supplicant when he calls on Me, so they should hear My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way.” 

“The Answer of God” always comes when we turn our faces towards Him.  Consider the following scriptures from both Holy Qur’an and Bible:  “Surely I have been turned to thee, O Allah, striving to be upright …” (Surah 6:79); and “If My people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways, and seek my face, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)  God’s Love may, at first, appear to be “unconditional,” but at a certain point:  There is something required of the people! 

God is not going to continue to love us in our madness, in our wickedness, in our deviation, in our rebellion!  We have to turn from our wicked ways, turn from the lifestyle that you already know God disapproves of.  Without “the turning,” there can be no “blessings from heaven”; without the turning, there can be no “response from God and heaven”—the people have to turn towards Him. 

His “unconditional love” is manifested in a man that He raises up from the people to stimulate in the people the desire to change; and, to help them to make “the turn.”  But after a while, if the people don’t turn, then they die where they are.

The Example, The Personification of the type of love that establishes and secures ‘nations’

In order for The Nation to survive and be firmly established, it must depend on Allah, and Allah alone.  “Prophets” come, and they go.  “Messengers” have come, and they have passed from among us.  Leaders have been born from the people as guides; and great teachers have imparted knowledge and wisdom that allow for the people to grow.  But in the end, Allah remains:  He is The Ever-Living, The Everlasting; The Self-Subsisting One on Whom we all depend—as verses 1-4 of Surah 112 Al-Ikhlas (“The Unity”) state:  “Say:  He, Allah, is One.  Allah is He on Whom we all depend.  He begets not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like Him.”

There is always an “I” that produce a “We”; and as long as the “We” remain true to the “I,” then there is nothing that can stop the “We” from accomplishing what they will—as we are taught, “Up you mighty nation, you can accomplish what you will.” 

Please study the Book of John, Chapter 15.  In verses 1-4, Jesus said:  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener:  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. …”—and that’s the key to our success as a nation! 

“If we remain in him…”  “Him” who? 

“Him,” Elijah Muhammad. 

“Him,” Louis Farrakhan. 

“Him,” Master Fard Muhammad.

This is the power of “the one” regenerated in “three”!  If you say, “We don’t believe in ‘The Trinity’,” well, mathematically, you can’t put “three” into one—but you can put one in “three”:  So Allah appeared in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad; and then He reproduced Himself in Elijah Muhammad, and Elijah Muhammad reproduced himself in Louis Farrakhan!

As Paul said in the Book of Romans, Chapter 8, verse 19 that “creation eagerly awaits the sons of God to be revealed”:  It takes “one son” to become a man and to become a God; and then be about the business of reproducing himself. So, brothers and sisters, you are the sons and daughters of God!  And the world waits for the sons and daughters to be revealed; that they will now “step up to the plate,” and bring in “The Kingdom of God on Earth.” 

But remember!  Verse 4 concludes with Jesus saying:  “…No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me”; and then states in verses 5-11:  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch [and] withers …  Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 

And in verses 12-13, Jesus says:  “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.”  Here, this is saying “I leave you with a new command,” because after learning the 1st Commandment, in the 2nd Commandment we now have to have The Example of Love; The Personification of “Love”…  And it is that “Love” that will secure The Nation!  It is that “Love” that will allow The Nation to survive! It is that “Love” that will secure 46 million Black people!  It is that “Love” that will protect us against our enemies!

And if we love, we love because he, first, loved us.

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Jesus was the powerful one in the midst of the people; and it is his love that allows for a nation to become established.  Study his personal relationship with The Father:  See, “The Father” is absent, yet present, for “Jesus” does not represent a “dead Christ”!  “Jesus” is The Messiah to the world that is guided by “The Christ” Who is in that most exalted place; but The Christ is making Himself known through an obedient servant. 

And the servant cannot ascend to The Right Hand of his Father until “Christ is formed in the people.” 

Study “The Dragon” that is spoken of in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 12:  Once it went for The Woman, to devour her Child as soon as it was born, a flood came out of The Dragon’s mouth.  “The Woman,” which represents The Divine Servant of Allah, The Messenger of Allah, The Anointed One, was taken out of the reach of “The Dragon”; and was given the wings of a bird, and taken off into The Wilderness “for a time, and times, and half a time,” out of the reach of The Dragon!  And The Dragon became enraged, and went after The Offspring …  “The Offspring” are The Disciples and The Followers of The Messenger of God!

But if The Messenger of God can take his leave to The Father, it is because a nation has been formed in the likeness of The Father; and they can stand firmly against “The Dragon”—because you don’t read where The Dragon defeats The Offspring.  All praise is due to Allah … 

“The Ultimate Defeat of The Enemy” is when a nation “rises to the occasion.”

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So “The Dragon” is coming after The Disciples—but if we remain in him, Farrakhan Muhammad, then he is “always with us”!  And if we have not love, we are nothing!  We will not produce from our hands what we say from our lips unless we 1.) Love The Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength; 2.) Love “the brotherhood,” and respect each other’s gifts and talents, and what each one of us has to contribute to the building of a nation (“love our brother as we love ourselves”); and 3.) Love The Messenger of God, and The Truth.  It is this “Love,” The Awesome Power of Love, that will allow us to do great works, secure us, and protect us. 

However, a “nation” cannot grow and become firmly established on the Earth until the soldiers of that nation become so infused with The Idea of “A Nation,” and embodied with The Principles of Truth, Freedom and Justice; that “they want nothing more than”  to be separate, free and independent. 

So leaders come, and leaders go, but The Idea of “A Nation” shall forever remain in the hearts and minds of the soldiers and the people.  That is why you have monuments that show the soldiers lifting up the flag of their nation; because once you are so committed to The Idea of “being free,” you may, in “a moment,” be disheartened, and your heart may fall if you see “a leader here” or “a leader there” go down on “the battlefield”…

But because you have bought into The Idea of “being free”:  Then you pick up that flag, and onward march—soldiers—until victory is won.  Now that’s a “price to pay” for your freedom! 

“Sacrifice”:  What is the price we must pay to see our desires fulfilled?

We can’t continue in the condition that we are in, but we have yet to “pay the price” that other nations on this Earth have paid for their sovereignty.  The Enemy tortured us and killed us for their own purpose, but what have we sacrificed to fulfill The Purpose of Our Existence?  And that is why, in the scriptures, Moses and Aaron are leading “The Children of Israel” out of Egypt to a land that God Promised them; but they had to go through a “Red Sea.”

You can’t get to freedom without the willingness to pay a price; and the scriptures were not referring to any “Red Sea” over there (in the Middle East)!  The “Red Sea,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, represents “war,” “bloodshed” and “revolution”; for “Life” doesn’t come into the world without blood flowing …  In birth, just as “the head” forges the way for “the body”:  God first makes a leader—but the body (the followers) has to follow the head to its freedom.  And if the body is not willing to follow the head, then it cannot “get across,” it cannot “get through.” 

And that is why I stated during the Holy Day of Atonement on October 20th that Almighty God Allah has given to us our “Moses” and “Aaron” in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Brothers and sisters:  At what point will our prayer, our sacrifice, our life and our death really mean something?  In the Holy Qur’an, Surah 6 Al-An’am (“The Cattle”), verses 162-163 it reads: “Say: My prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are surely for Allah, the Lord of the worlds—No associate has He. And this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit.”  What has Allah commanded us to do?  And have we submitted to His Command?  As I quoted from the Book of John above, what we are learning is that it is The Father’s Desire that “we bear much fruit,” showing ourselves to be His “Disciples.” 

What more could we ask of Allah than what He has already done for us?  But we must ask ourselves these “Questions”: Do we want to be free?  Do we want a future for ourselves?  Is our desire for this world greater than what God has Promised?  Do you love this world’s life more than The Hereafter?

In the book The Fall of America by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, “Chapter 1” features the monumental speech he delivered in Washington, D.C. on May 29, 1959 from The Uline Arena.  On pages 1-2, I quote the following opening paragraphs:  “My people, I am here to fulfill a promise made long ago.  I am here to bring you the truth.  I am here with a solution to the problems of the so-called Negro and his White slave-masters.  You are seeking something.  You are seeking an answer to your 400-year-old problem of slavery, servitude and fifth-class citizenship.  I am here”—(there’s your “I Am”)—“with the solution to that problem.”

There is no “Negro” that can come before Black folks, speaking with such confidence, than what you have heard (and have read) from the mouth of Elijah Muhammad!  No “leader” has come before us to offer his life if what he is directing us to, or what he is saying, is “false.”  Why wouldn’t you want to get behind a leader like that—the Honorable Elijah Muhammad?  No, you want “the leaders” that your Enemy validates and approves for you; but you don’t want The Leader that God raises up for you …  If that is the case, then a people like that deserve to die with the enemy—because you are too cowardly, and too punktified to claim what God wants for you!  God wants to give it all to us!  He takes the kingdom from whom He pleases, and He gives to another …

Elijah Muhammad continues:  “I am here with the solution to that problem.  … For more than 400 years your pleas for justice, freedom, equality, a decent place in the sun have reverberated like thunderclaps sounding in the dark valleys of Lebanon.  Yet, there has been no answer.  Never in the history of human evil have so many asked for a just pittance, so loud, so long and received in return so little, if anything at all.  The church has failed you.  Christianity has failed you.  The government of America has failed you.  You have not received justice from any quarter.  As prophesied, you, my fellow Black men, are as sheep among wolves and, as is to be expected, every wolf is taking a bite at you.  You approach the Senate, the House, the White House, and you ask for justice.  You get injustice.  All our prayers have come to naught because we have proceeded out of ignorance.  We have not known the true God.  We have not known who are our brothers.  We have not known who are our enemies.  We have not known who is God; nor have we known who is the devil.  In a nutshell, we have not known the truth about God and the devil, and until that truth is made plain to us, our prayers for justice will forever go unanswered. …”

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For the last 42 weeks, Farrakhan has made it so clear to us 1.) “Who” God is and 2.) “Who” The Devil is; “Who” Satan is!  He has exposed “The Liar” and “The Lies”—so there is no excuse for us! 

He goes on:  “…We will be the subject of scorn and laughter.  By now, it should be ever so clear that politics will no more solve our problem than it did the difficulties facing Israel during her bondage in Egypt.  We have come to the brink of extinction. …”—this is 1959 (53 years ago!)—“We must now and here make an agonizing reappraisal of our way of life if we care anything for ourselves, our lives, our people, our race, the future of our properties, wives and children.”  These words that Elijah Muhammad spoke 53 years ago are for us today!  And as we gathered in Tuskegee on October 20th, we have to make a “reappraisal” of our way of life if we care anything for ourselves, our lives, our people, our race!  Our Future!  The future of our wives and children! 

“Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint” is for Our Survival.  And we, The Members of The Nation of Islam who know this, have a duty to our people—and a duty to our children if we want a future for them!  We don’t embrace this because somebody “told” us to; we recognize the validity in what God is giving to us; because our children’s future is at stake!  Don’t you think because you wear “the white dress,” and we wear our “suits and bowties” that we have a place secured with God and His Christ!  No.  Everyone has to pick up their own “cross,” and “deny themselves,” because if any man is to “follow” The Christ, then there is a price that all of us have to pay!

‘A Sound Economic Program’ eliminates the bad habit of reckless spending

In Message To The Blackman in America, the Chapter titled “Economic Program,” under the section “A Sound Economic Plan I,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote about “the economic plight” that Black people in America suffer; how our condition has “long been neglected” by our so-called leaders, and even by us.  He lists “four points”; and “Point No. 4” states, in part:  “I have set before you a program, according to the Divine Supreme Being and His Prophets. You have neither produced a better program nor anything to equal it. …” That is a fact! 

You don’t hear any Black leaders out here stopping the reckless and foolish spending of our people; they’re not encouraging us to go out and secure land for our people, which is the basis of “wealth creation”!  And that is how you know you have a true “leader from God” in the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.  During the Holy Day of Atonement in Tuskegee, Alabama, Minister Farrakhan had us to focus so much on the principles and work of Booker T. Washington!  This is because we want to show Tuskegee, show the Black community and the mayors of that state what we can do and accomplish if we are willing to go to work, and make the necessary sacrifice to produce something of benefit for our families, our communities, and be a benefit to others.

Why did we lift “Booker T. Washington” for our people suffering all over this country?  If Booker T. Washington could build a kiln, and bake clay land, and turn it into bricks to build his schools, and to build benches, and to build chairs and tables; if Booker T. Washington could sacrifice his last dollar, that shows you that when you are committed, and you believe in what God has given to you, you give it “your last” and you give it “your all”!  And that’s when God blesses you:  When you give it your all! 

When Elijah Muhammad met Master Fard Muhammad in Detroit, he went to “The Temple” (as they were called in those days), and he gave the last of what was in his pocket, because he believed in The Message and The Cause.  Do you know how this Nation got rebuilt?  The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan didn’t have any money!  He was “broke”—I’ll say it like that!  But, he loved his Father so much that he mortgaged his home; and it was from his house that the first printing of The Final Call newspaper took place.  It all started from his home:  He took what was under his foot, what was in his own means and meager resources, and look at where we are today!

“Sacrifice”:  What are you and I willing to do for our freedom?   “Sacrifice”:  No greater love does a man have than he lay down his life for his friends. 

And so, Booker T. Washington made bricks; and he put everybody to work, with a brick!  You look at a brick, and you don’t even attach any value to “a brick”; and if you tell your children, “Do you know you can make a lot of money with bricks?” they’ll look at you like you’re crazy!  But Booker T. Washington put all the young people to work!  He started an “industry”; the young people went across the state with their knowledge of brick masonry.  Also from that same land in Tuskegee where we were, George Washington Carver developed over 100 products from a peanut from the land, and other discoveries; from the sweet potato and the soy bean.  Brothers and sisters, this is from God’s creation! 

So you mean to tell me that what is around Tuskegee, from the land that is there:  That we “can’t” bring forth a product from the land that is already there, and put our people to work for the benefit of themselves, their families and the community?  There has to be a vision put before our people that is greater than what is put in front of them.

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How much money are we spending recklessly?  “The U.S. Black population”:  According to The U.S. Census, the U.S. Black population is 43 million—some say “46 million”; and we are larger than 163 of the 195 countries in the world including Argentina, Poland, Canada and Australia.  So when Elijah Muhammad said we are “a nation within a nation,” there are only 33 countries on our planet that are larger than the population of Blacks in The U.S.!  “The State of The African-American Consumer”:  According to a 2012 Nielsen’s report titled “African-Americas: Still Vital, Still Growing,” the Black economy, or buying power, is estimated to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015; and, Blacks still remain at the forefront when it comes to social trends and media consumption.

Sacrifice …  The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, “We have to stop this reckless spending of our people.”  How much do we spend in getting “tipsy” every year?  On just “beverages and alcohol” we spend ­­$3 billion!  These are all our “vices,” habits that are killing us—and we’re paying to die!  (And when you “pay to die,” you don’t have any money to get buried!)  We’re in bad shape …  On “tobacco products” we spend $3.3 billion; on “entertainment and leisure,” $3.1 billion.  See, we are already at nearly $10 billion … 

You’re going to tell me that we “can’t” support “Muhammad’s Economic Program to End Poverty and Want” with “a nickel a day”; “35 cents a week”; “$18.20 cents a year”?  That’s why The Minister said it would be “painless”—and he gave us the figure:

From 16 million wage earners:  If they gave “a nickel a day”—$18.20 in a year—that would give us in a “National Savings Treasury” $291,200,000!

But if 46 million of us did it—that means every member of The Black Nation, sacrificing “a nickel a day”—it would give us $891,000,000 in one year! 

Now, that’s just a “fraction” of what we’re throwing away in foolishness! … So everyone that is reading these words, everyone that believes, and everyone that knows that this Program works, and that we need to do it:  Make sure you go to EconomicBluePrint.org, and begin donating right now!