by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

[Editor�s note: The following text is from Sept. 1 remarks delivered by Minister Louis Farrakhan at the Muslim
American Society (MAS) convention at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion. Min. Farrakhan was a special
guest of Imam W. D. Mohammed, son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and leader of the Muslim American Society.]

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the  Merciful. We give Him praise and thanks for His mercy and His goodness to the human family. The greatest of Allah�s (God�s) mercies is that He sends into the world prophets and messengers, great divine revelation and scripture to guide those who have gone astray back to the path of His divine favor. We thank Him for Musa (Moses), and the Torah. We thank Him for Isa (Jesus) and the Gospel. We thank Him for Muhammad and the Qur�an, peace be upon these worthy servants of Allah (God).

As a student of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I could not thank Allah (God) enough for intervening in our affairs and giving us a man who started us on the road into a process that would one day make us what Allah (God) intended for us to be, and that is Muslims, the righteous people of the planet. My dear brothers and sisters, I greet all of you in the greeting words of peace, As-Salaam Alaikum.

To Brother Imam Warithudeen Mohammed, distinguished guests, members of the Mohammed family, followers of Imam Warithudeen Mohammed, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hebrews, agnostics, it is a great honor and privilege for me to be here with my family. I am honored to be home with you.

Darkness is what Allah (God) ordains, and He has ordained light. He says in the Qur�an, �In the alternation of the day and the night, there are signs for those who reflect. The night is made for rest and sleep, and the day is made to rise up again.�

No matter how dark the time may be, yet in that darkness there is light, for in every problem there is an opportunity. Today Islam is under attack. And it appears to be a dark day, for many scholars are saying that Islam is an evil religion, and the god of Islam is a god of hate. They say that the god of Christianity is the god of love. But when we say, �La-ilaha illa-llah� we know there is but one God and his proper name is Allah, though He has many, many attributes. But beloved brothers and sisters, in my coming home to meet with you and to be with my brother, Imam Warithudeen Mohammed, I remember the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, when he said, �I am here to give you a picture of what Islam looks like.� And now we are here today to give the world a picture of what Islam is.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad in his last message to us while two Muslims from our world of Islam were seated on the stage, He said, �These men are not here to see whether you are dressed in the long white dress or a long black dress.  They are here to see if you are clothed in the principles of your religion.� Those words to me, along with many others that he said, mean that he wanted to see us really taking a vanguard position in promoting Islam in the western hemisphere, but also reviving Islam throughout the world.

The Imam and I took different paths, but it�s so wonderful when each of us takes a path that sometimes causes us to think we are enemies. Allah (God) says in the Qur�an, �And remember Allah�s favour to you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts so by His favour you became brethren. And you were on the brink of a pit of fire, then He saved you from it.�

Today, we must say that Allah (God) is uniting our hearts and even though we have taken different paths to the one God, it is wonderful to see that two tracks are becoming a monorail.

I thank Allah (God) for my dear brother Imam, and I thank Allah for each one of you who stood by him and walked with him as you grew into the deen or into the religion. Now America is in deep trouble, and the only thing that will bring America out of the trouble that she is in is Islam. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said once, �Islam comes after everything else has failed.� It�s clear that everything has failed to produce a genuine brotherhood in America.

When I think of the song, �America, the Beautiful�  (it says) �O, beautiful for  spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, the purple mountains majesties above the fruited plain. America, America, God shed His grace on thee.� I will stop right there, because everything else that makes America beautiful came from Allah (God).  �And crowned thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.� That has not happened yet, and it has not happened because the truth of Jesus, the real message of Jesus, would have eliminated racism; it would have eliminated sexism; it would have eliminated materialism. In the scripture, it says, �In Christ there is no Greek nor Jew, no male nor female, no bond nor free, all are one in Christ.� That has not happened yet.

So Islam, as taught by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his example of Islam, taught us that all human beings can become brothers if we recognize the oneness of God and bow down to do His will. I believe that what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wanted to see was a real nation of Muslims. I heard him say that he would not rest until the Holy Qur�an became the law under which all of the people lived.

What a beautiful law for the people to live under, but how will they know how beautiful that law is except that there is an example. So to me, and I hope that the Imam and I see this together, because I believe we should not be loose masjids or mosques that are not tied together in a system that makes us one. Our brotherhood must be so magnificent that when they see us, they would admire the brotherhood of Islam�all the hues, all the races, all the nationalities bowing together in one divine brotherhood. That is what America needs; that is what the world needs.

Suppose we see a nation rather than a mosque. Suppose we see a nation rather than our just having Ramadan (annual fast) or having Salat ul-Jumu�ah (Friday prayers) or trying to be good believers but not in a social system that is Islamic, not under a political system that is Islamic, not under an economic system that is Islamic. I believe that even in the midst of America, we can do exactly what the Prophet (Muhammad) did when he made a nation out of tribes in Arabia. I believe it is our destiny, following that Sunnah, to make a nation out of tribes in America. And as we show the world what a social system in Islam is, what an educational system in Islam is, what a judicial system in Islam is, and what an economic system in Islam is, then we will be a comprehensive ummah with a complete Islamic way of life. I believe that is what Allah (God) intends for all of us to bring into existence. I believe that Imam Warithudeen Mohammad has a great, great role to play in bringing that kind of Islamic nation into a reality.

Lastly, it may sound strange but I believe that America will one day become Islamic. And that would be the greatest proof that Allah is God, that He can come into a house of disbelief through the work of those who believe and turn it into a house of belief.

Will there be differentiations between Christians and Muslims? I heard the Honorable Elijah Muhammad say that every good Christian is a Muslim and every good Muslim is a Christian. If we follow the sunnah (way of the Prophet) properly, they would hardly be able to tell the difference between a real Christian, a real Muslim and a real Jew. All will look almost exactly alike when all are in complete obedience to the Will of Allah (God).

I believe that Imam Mohammed and myself and you and we together and all those immigrant Muslims that are in America�that�s why you�re here. You thought you came to get a job. You thought you came to make your family secure. But the higher purpose is that Allah (God) allowed you to come so that Islam would be planted in America. And what Allah (God) has planted no one can uproot.

May Allah bless you as I greet all of you, As-Salaam Alaikum.