WEB POSTED 04-04-2001
The Most Precious of All Knowledge: THE KNOWLEDGE OF SELF - PART II
Overcoming Satan's World
by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

[Editor�s Note: The following text is excerpted from a message delivered by
Minister Louis Farrakhan on March 11, 2001 at Mosque Maryam in Chicago]
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In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

What is Revelation? When you say something is being revealed, that means you cannot go to the library and get it because it is not there. I don�t care how many books you have the command of, there is knowledge that is not in the library. We are living in a universe of knowledge. However, when Allah (God) chooses to reveal knowledge, it means He is disclosing or opening up truth that has not yet been known in the world. If it has not yet been known in the world, then, this means that the people who rule the world do not have this knowledge. When Allah (God) chooses an innocent, inexperienced babe-like people to give them Revelation, He is giving them the scepter of rulership over those that once ruled over them.

If you are the ruler, and, wisdom that you did not know is now being revealed to an inexperienced people, this excites the ruler because in what they hear is the end of their power to rule. No man can rule you except that he has greater knowledge than you. When the babies start speaking things that the wise and prudent men never heard, then, they [rulers] will be the opponents of Revelation. They will be the opponents of the Revelator, and they will be the opponents of the people who believe in that Revelation. As the Holy Qur�an teaches, they will not be happy until they bring you back to where you were which will put you back under their rule.

Can you imagine the strength that Christopher Columbus had to have to stand up in the face of the European religious leaders and scholars that believed that the earth was flat, while he believed that the earth was round? Here is a man challenging what the rulers believed. He was lucky to get Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to give him three ships, but the naysayers were saying he was going to fall off the end of the earth. Who were the naysayers? The rulers and intellectuals of that day.

Have you heard of Galileo? In the face of people who believed that the earth was the center of the universe, Galileo said, "No, the sun is the center of the universe." Imagine how strong he had to be to say to the religious leaders and scholars of his day that the sun is the center of the universe, not the earth. They opposed that poor man until he recanted.

I want to talk to you a moment about recantation. When God gives you Revelation and you are the first in the world to know a particular truth, then, the whole world will come against you. It will take extraordinary strength on your part to stand up, but, the rulers will not be satisfied until they make you recant, and, later, after you have sold out for your life, generations down the line will say that, "Galileo was right, but he was a weak man." When you know the truth, you have to be willing to die on that truth, and, willing to die for that truth. Your death empowers the truth. Therefore, you can never die as long as the truth that you died for lives.

Imagine the early Christians being fed to lions because they confessed Jesus Christ. They were praying and singing hymns as the lions were eating them. The wicked Caesar, sitting in the arena watching all of this was saying, "What kind of God is this that these people have, that rather than save their lives, they would die for what they believe?" This teaches us that when Revelation comes, it will be opposed by the scholars, scientists and the people of knowledge because this new knowledge will be the possession of a few who must have the strength to stand against the many until the many learn that which is contained in what Allah (God) has now Revealed.

The Holy Qur�an teaches us that, "Allah (God) knows best where to place His Message." He doesn�t place His Message on a turncoat or a weak person. Allah�s (God�s) man stands firm against all the odds.

I call to witness Moses, Jesus and Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (Peace Be Upon Them). Allah (God) placed His Message in Moses. Pharaoh was powerful and Moses was somewhat shaky, but he didn�t bend. Pharaoh didn�t believe Moses, but Moses kept preaching until that which Pharaoh was threatened with came to pass. The Holy Qur�an says that in death Pharaoh lifted up his eyes. He was drowning and he bore witness that there is no God but Allah, and Allah (God), in an act of mercy, saved his body that he can be in the museum today as a sign to the Pharaoh of today. You can be powerful and think that you are God, but when the True God comes, He will whip you until you bear witness that He is God. Your Bible tells you that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

Jesus came into the world and suffered great persecution, but you do not hear of Jesus recanting. As Muslims, we see the Crucifixion of Jesus a little differently than the Christians. I do not want to deal with where we differ at this point, however, the death that is put in the scripture of Jesus� Crucifixion is no lightweight death. He was exposed to public ridicule; nails were put in His hands and feet; He was stripped with just a little something to hide His shame; a crown of thorns was put on His head and people walked by and spat on Him and threw stones at Him, but, never once did He say, "God, I hate you for causing me to suffer." He prayed, and the Bible teaches that the Lord heard His Prayer. He was strong.

I would love to have this strength of the true followers of Jesus, the true followers of Moses, and, the true followers and companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). When you look at what Allah (God) Revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), that man said, "If the sun were at my right hand and the moon were at my left, I could never deny what Allah (God) has Revealed." Think over the strength of a man to suffer for the sake of truth. Truth is the greatest thing in the universe. Everything in the heavens and earth is built on truth, and our life is built on truth. Without truth, we have no life. So, our life should be for the truth, and we should die on behalf of the truth. Then, we live.

There is no death for Muhammad. There is no death for Jesus. There is no death for Moses. There is no death for those that stand with the prophets. Allah (God) says in the Qur�an, "Speak not of those who die or are slain in the way of Allah (God) as dead. They are alive but you understand not." Flesh and blood has to go back to the earth, but, when you live your life for something beyond the vanity that gives pleasure to the flesh; when you can suffer for a higher cause than yourself; when you can give up your own desires to see the Will of God established, then, there is no death for you. The grave can never claim Muhammad. The grave can never claim Abubakr, Uthman, Ali, Omar, or the righteous companions of the prophets. They are not dead. They are alive every time we say, "As-Salaam Alaikum." They are alive in that greeting because they lived and they died to establish the Book that is the foundation of our faith.

When we open the Holy Qur�an, we know we are reading a conversation between Allah (God) and His Servant, Muhammad and through that Servant to anyone of us who wants access to Allah�s (God�s) talk to Muhammad. If I ask you, "Who is God?" I�m sure that most of us will say, "I already know God, I�m a Christian"; "I know God a little better, I am a Jew"; or, "I know God best because I am a Muslim." People pride themselves in the knowledge that they receive from their study of the Word of God.

May I ask a question? Whose world is this in which we are now living? Would you say this is Allah�s (God�s) world? Be careful how you answer this question. Of course, in order to understand language we have to define terms. I know whose universe this is; that is not what I asked you. I said, "Whose world is this?"

Is not it true that it is written in both the Bible and Qur�an that Allah (God) would give Satan a time and a season to rule and deceive the people and the nations of the earth? If Allah (God) is giving Satan a time to rule, then, two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. If Satan is ruling, Allah (God) steps back and gives Satan the freedom to deceive. If, in fact, this is Satan�s world, then, what comprises a world? In a world there are religious systems, political systems, educational systems, economic systems, systems of jurisprudence. There are kings and rulers and governments, architecture, art, culture; all of this comprises a world. If this is Satan�s world, who is the master of the religion that you profess?

I am a Muslim, and if you are a Christian or a Jew, we all believe that Allah (God) is the Master of the Religion that we believe in; therefore, we all believe that we are serving Allah (God). Wrong! If you were serving Allah (God), the fruit of that service would be evident in terms of your own personal life and character and your power to transform the environment in which you live. This is Satan�s world. Even though Allah (God) has sent prophets into the world to teach the people of Himself, His Way and give the people True Guidance, no prophet, after his death, has been able to keep his community and the practice of his teaching pure. Satan has corrupted all of the communities of the prophets.

Muslims judge a person�s true faith by what is called a person�s Aqeedah [what one believes]. I know that you believe that your Aqeedah is right, but it does not take 10 men to change the world. One man with the right Aqeedah can change the entire world. Prophet Muhammad was one man. Jesus was one man. Moses was one man. There are over one billion Muslims on this earth who claim the right Aqeedah or belief, but, yet are weak and too powerless to deal effectively with the western world and the world of Satan.

Satan never has allowed complete success to come to the prophets and their truths. The most successful prophet in the last 6,000 years is Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). However, the religion of Islam is mastered today by those who arrogate to themselves scholarship. It is some of these very scholars who have caused the Ummah, or the community, to deviate from the path of Allah (God).

If Satan is the god of this world, then, Satan�s job is to deceive the people with respect to the True Nature of Allah (God). If you know Allah (God), Satan can�t rule you. Satan, in order to stay in power, has to deceive the world with respect to Allah (God) and have you worshiping him [Satan] thinking you are worshiping the True God. We, who believe in Allah (God), must ask ourselves, have we been deceived? We, who have a religion and go to our mosques, our churches, our synagogues and our temples have to ask, "Is Satan the master of our religion?" How can you tell? What yardstick can we use to make a proper judgment? If we do not have the power to overturn Satan�s world by means of our religion, based on the Revealed Word of Allah (God), then, something has short-circuited the power in the word that gave the Prophet [Muhammad] the power to conquer the known world. What did he [Muhammad] and [his followers at that time] have that a billion Muslims don�t have today?

I am not saying that there are not some highly enlightened and righteous Muslims, Christians and Jews that are fighting for the purity of their faith. There are beautiful Muslims, Christians and Jews who are fighting for the purity of the Word, but they are dominated by political leaders and religious leaders who have sold out the purity of the Faith and Word and have become corrupt. Not only do we not have the power to overturn Satan�s world, but, most of us don�t have the power to overturn our own demonic expressions.

More next issue, Insha-Allah.

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