Much has happened over the last 13 days since I sent in my last article to The Final Call. That was on October 28th. After the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan met with hundreds of thousands of families, totaling between 1.2 and 1.4 million persons on the Capitol Mall, at the Million Family March, he entered the Howard University Medical Center for a dangerous operation. As the world now knows ,it was successful. All praises are due to Allah!

Before we revisit the conversation between Minister Farrakhan and Attorney Lewis Meyers, last year, during which Minister Farrakhan learned for the first time what his daughter, Fatimah, told him that he said while he was unconscious, let�s go to How To Eat To Live, Volume Two, written by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

On page 27, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote that he was not "immune to the sickness and complaints of the common people. He is also to suffer; but yet, as the Book says, the pleasure of the Lord is with him and that in His own good time, He will heal all of us."

On page 69 he warned: "Do not look at me when you see me sick." Do not look "at me" how? He was saying that we ought not to look at him in a manner that shows such gross immaturity so as to reject him and his truth on the basis of his being sick, thereby rejecting our own salvation.

Suppose you lived in Phoenix, in 1962, and saw him when he was so sick that he went down to 112 or 113 pounds? How would you have reacted? Suppose you saw him in great pain, due to his severe cough? Suppose you saw him gasping for air, from the effects of bronchitis, and you had to help him with an oxygen mask? What would you have thought and felt?

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad continued, "� I have suffered the same afflictions that you have, so that you will not have this as an excuse for your disbelieving."

He continued, "I suffer sickness with you. I suffered imprisonment with you. I suffered the deprivation of family as you have. Show me what you have suffered, that I have not suffered."

At the root of the cause of his suffering was the depth of his love for Allah, God�s truth and us, and the length he was willing to go to save us. But how many of us will take the time to prayerfully read and think deeply enough, and enter into intelligent discussions, that we may grow to see the true nature and value of his suffering?

What kind of reasoning is it to say a man is a liar and not from God on the basis of his sickness or need for an operation? Such thinking is worst than silly.

Everyone whom God has sent, such as Noah, Abraham, Lot, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Samuel, David, Solomon, and many others, including Muhammad, are dead. Did death invalidate the truth that they taught? Sickness is not as final as death. So how can sickness invalidate a person�s mission and teachings?

According to the Bible some of Allah�s prophets got sick. That did not make what He gave them all of a sudden false. Their illness did not mean that He had withdrawn His favor from them. Their condition did not make what they taught false. To think such way, after declaring belief, shows shallowness and hypocrisy.

Such blindness prevents such people from seeing a higher truth, that even in their sickness such men (and women) of God were being advanced in their respective missions, even as they were suffering. I know this to be true of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, from what he stated in public; at his dinner table from what he told me in private and I was blessed to understand as I observed him over the years. There is much that can be added to this.

Perhaps the above has stimulated us to think deeper into Minister Farrakhan�s suffering.

Minister Farrakhan�s work has benefited everyone in this country�and elsewhere. If you knew the non-stop, distressful, very painful conditions, under which Minister Farrakhan has worked, for many years now, you would hang your heads in shame, if you have been (or are yet) one of those who has "murmured" against him and held back even a part of your support of him.

Some thought that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad suffered as he did because he sinned. This is foolish!

The Holy Qur�an repeatedly urges us to judge by that which Allah has revealed. So, what is your evaluation of Minister Farrakhan�s suffering? Should we not start with sincere prayer, intense study, and intelligent discussion with others, who are like-minded and with a full acceptance of the wise way of Minister Farrakhan?

Jesus reportedly said to one who misunderstood the deeper aspects of what he said, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12. And read 1Corinthians 2:7; 3:1,2; Hebrews 5:11; 1 John 4:10.)

One of the ways the Honorable Elijah Muhammad expressed this same point was, "If you can�t accept less, how can you accept more?"

I interviewed Attorney Lewis Meyers and have statements from Minister Ava Muhammad and Minister Arif Muhammad, who are also attorneys. They responded to my questions on Minister Farrakhan�s deathbed statement/dying declaration. I also have part of a powerful statement from Minister Alim Muhammad, with the rest to come. His presence there, in the hospital room, on that crucial day, was significant.

Hopefully, this information can help us learn more about the unusual value of the heart of Minister Farrakhan. This can help us to see deeper into this specific time period and what is about to happen and how to improve our preparation.

You can tell time, if you observe Minister Farrakhan carefully. What time? Look in "Fall of America," page 151 wherein the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote, "In these two books, one can easily find everything foretold that is happening today." He was referring to the Bible and the Holy Qur�an. Read the context of this quote.

Let�s go back to that momentous discussion, held between Minister Farrakhan and Attorney Lewis Meyers, in the quiet of the Minister�s farm, in the month of May 1999.

Attorney Lewis Meyers is a highly intelligent Brother, who loves Minister Farrakhan. At a certain point, in their discussions, his love for the Minister, coupled with his compassion in response to his Brother�s health condition, moved him to hold his Brother�s hand.

In that phase of their discussion, Minister Farrakhan expressed the deepest kind of gratitude for the prayers of his Christian Brothers and Sisters. This point is so vital for us to understand that I must return to this much fuller. At this point I�ll just say that Allah drew them closer to Himself and His Christ by means of Minister Farrakhan�s redemptive suffering.

Then the Minister began to take his Brother step by step over what happened. He explained what happened that led to him being taken to the hospital by his family, and what happened in the hospital. He unintentionally omitted a certain critical time period. That was the few minutes during which he lost consciousness.

At the point when he lost consciousness, and went on to speak beyond that, his daughter, Fatimah, respectfully interrupted him saying, "Dad." She then proceeded to inform him of what he said to the Almighty God, Allah, as he was unconscious and dying.

Minister Farrakhan�s first and immediate reaction to his daughter�s words was a surprised, "What? What did you say that I said?"

She repeated what she had just told him. I summed it up last issue. But I here say again, and explain later, Allah never willed that he die then!

The Minister continued staring at his daughter. He then looked at his Brother, his eyes filling with water. He squeezed his Brother�s hand. Brother Lewis squeezed the Minister�s hand. All were overwhelmed, especially the Minister.

Later the Minister said, according to Brother Lewis, that this experience was "the greatest challenge" to his faith. And he passed.

On page 242 of "This Is The One," third edition, I explained that at times God brings certain responses from His servants to qualify them for what they are yet to do. Often His ways seem strange, even paradoxical. That is because of our distance from His wisdom. But His ways are not strange to Himself. (See web address: www.noi.org/study/traveler for more about divine paradoxes.)

One brilliant believer wrote this, in part, about my last week�s article: "By definition, unconsciousness implies that the conscious mind is no longer able to monitor or censor itself. So what a person says in this state, to me, exposes what is at the core of that human being. No better time than this to rage at and curse God, if that is what a person�s �uncensored� mind called for.

"But our dear Brother did the opposite. There is such a lesson in this."

Minister Farrakhan offered Allah perfect praise. He expressed perfect submission to His will. His praise and submission came from the very core of his being. As he came moments to death, he became closer than ever to his Creator. He thus became a more useful servant to his Lord and to humanity. We saw this in the Million Family March.

More coming, Allah willing.