The last two articles were based on a chapter titled "Humility Before Honor," from a soon to be published book, be it the will of Allah, titled "Farrakhan: God�s Man on the Straight Path."

This article continues the theme of the last several articles, which began with Vol. 19, No. 46 to the present.

This theme essentially concerns the suffering of the followers of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. It�s about what many call "redemptive suffering." Broadly speaking, my purpose was/is two fold.

My purpose is first to contribute some understanding to this highly significant subject�redemptive suffering�that especially involves each one of us who are followers of Minister Farrakhan.

With this subject I am aiming at the minds�even the hearts of the scholars, or whoever are the deepest thinkers in this world�to reason deeper than they ever have, over what is in their scriptures about God�s lost people and Minister Farrakhan�s work with this people.

These thinkers should include the pastors, of the Christian religion; the Rabbis, of Judaism; the Imams, of Islam, the philosophers (regardless to their school of thought) and whoever else feels they are really learned in whatever they see as the highest wisdom.

Naturally, as a follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, under the leadership of Minister Farrakhan, I see the highest wisdom as that which they teach.

These lost people, whom Jesus referred to as the "lost sheep," were to be found by none other than God Himself; suffering in hell and spiritually dead, at the end of the world of Satan.

This subject also involves what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad told me in October 1967 was "the most critical part of the scriptures with me, Brother."

At some other time or in some other writing, I will gladly give the full context of his statement on this subject.

In the book of Daniel 9:24-27, from the King James Version we read:

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

"And after threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

This period of time�the seventy weeks of years�was destined to be the greatest manifestation in history of "redemptive suffering."

I don�t want to go up into the stratosphere, or the highest region of the definition and of the understanding of this term. That involves Master Fard Muhammad�s own suffering for fallen humanity. I won�t go into the suffering which the Honorable Elijah Muhammad went through for the same purpose. I am not even going deep into the suffering of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan which was/is for the same cause.

Hopefully, what I am about to present, on a highly significant event in Minister Farrakhan�s life, will be such that every one can with ease understand.

Now, what I�m beginning to cover, starting in this article, in the life of Minister Farrakhan, bears on the value of his suffering. If understood, his experience enlightens us about our own suffering, when that suffering is for the cause of Allah. I hope to help us put our suffering in the proper context.

If understood, his suffering can enlighten us on why God allows suffering into our lives and how this suffering is an indispensable factor in our growth and maturity.

Before going further, I must make clear that I am not under any illusion that the scholars and the learned of this world will pay attention to this aspect of what I am writing, except for a few�if they ever get to look at this. However, along with other Believers, I have a duty to perform, regarding Minister Farrakhan and others.

About three weeks after his operation, in April 1999, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan telephoned me. He shared with me some information about what he had just come through. There was one very significant thing, however, that he did not mention. He couldn�t mention it. He knew nothing about it. He would not learn of it until about two weeks after that telephone conversation. I would not learn of it until some months later.

It was in September of last year, on the second day of a visit with Minister Farrakhan, that he told me what his daughter, Sister Fatima, told him that he said, while he was in an unconscious state, and literally dying, in a hospital room, in the state of Michigan.

Minister Farrakhan then interrupted himself to ask his daughter to come into the room where we were. He wanted her to give me her testimony. She did.

She said that while Dr. Alim, her and others worked feverishly to save his life, her father slipped into unconsciousness. Minister Farrakhan was about three minutes from death. In that state, she said, he spoke to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Minister Farrakhan was thanking Allah, in the person of Master Fard Muhammad, for everything that He had either put or allowed into his life. She told me that he said to Allah, that if it was His will that He take him, in death, at that time, then he�Minister Farrakhan�was ready. She said that he thanked Allah over and over again.

She told me that she responded to his words with, "No! No! NO!" This was her father. She did not want him to die. She was a part of a team of medical personnel who wanted for Minister Farrakhan that which Allah had already determined he would have, at that crucial moment, even before the Minister�s birth�LIFE.

I know I am jumping ahead, but as with his teacher, so it is with Minister Farrakhan. There is nothing in Minister Farrakhan�s life that was not known and written down before his birth.

I felt very privileged to be listening to what I was hearing. I thought it was significant that a lawyer was present. I said so. I asked Minister Farrakhan if he would please ask Attorney Lewis Meyers what was the value of a deathbed confession. He said he would.

It was not until this year, at the Salaam Restaurant, where Minister Farrakhan was holding a press conference concerning the Million Family March, that I saw Attorney Meyers. I interviewed him the next night.

He told me that a few days before Minister Farrakhan was to go into a hospital, in Michigan, not very far from his farm, he had a dream that the Minister had passed. He woke up in a sweat. He was shook up. He contacted a member of Minister Farrakhan�s family. He made moves to be of help. He reached out for medical experts.

Now about five weeks had passed. He was now in the Minister�s presence at his farm. After they finished some legal business, that took only a few minutes, the conversation went to the Minister�s health.

Brother Lewis Meyers vividly described the setting during which he and the Minister conversed. His description included the fact that Sister Fatima, was at her father�s feet, as he sat back in a reclining chair. Brother Lewis sat close to him. Sister Fatima was not a part of the conversation. Nor was the Minister�s son, Joshua. They were attending to their father�s needs. His needs were their primary concerns.

The Minister went over what happened, with his Brother, step by step, or in a chronological order. He spoke right up to the point when he slipped into unconsciousness. Of course, he could not, and therefore, did not speak about that of which he was unaware. So he spoke right past, or unknowingly skipped the short time during which he was unconscious. His daughter saw that he did not realize that he had skipped past that relatively short period of time.

Up to this point Sister Fatima was silent. The conversation, as the attorney informed me, was really between the Minister and himself. She was not involved in the conversation. However, she then spoke up to fill in that period of time of which her father was unaware.

She informed him of what he said when he was not conscious. The attorney said it was clear to him that Minister Farrakhan was hearing this for the first time.

He said that Minister Farrakhan turned suddenly to his daughter and asked, "What did you say?"

Brother Lewis said the Minister looked genuinely surprised. And, as tears welled up in his eyes, he said to his daughter, "You never said this to me before."

Now, I am asking the reader to please go to the following web address: http://www.noi.org/study/traveler" .

More next issue, Allah willing.