(Editor�s Note: The following is from "Farrakhan: God�s Man on the Straight Path.")

How could the Wise Man know if the two orphan boys would live to attain their maturity and take out their treasure? How could he know if they would not be moved, or move from that town, before the time when they could obtain their treasure? How did the Wise Man learn of the treasure in the first place, and that it belonged to these boys? Did he know how the boys would learn of their treasury? Why was the Wise Man so sure that the repaired wall would protect the treasury for the boys? What was the nature of his knowledge, and the way he learned it, that made him so sure of their future?

Other questions should be raised to deepen our thinking into the words of Allah. For instance, why, in the beginning of their relationship, did the wise man tell Moses that he would not tell him the "whys" of his actions until a certain time? Why could he not tell him before, or at least at the same time he did what he did?

Moses was in a special training and educational school, of the best kind, wherein he could obtain the highest kind of wisdom. But this symbolic person did not seem to appreciate this fact.

This bears on the path on which the Honorable Louis Farrakhan is traveling and to which he invites others to travel. Minister Farrakhan is on the path that brings us all who would come, to God, Christ, peace, power and plenty, the fullest development of all of our faculties�the prophesied Kingdom of God or Heaven on earth!

Consider this. "He was running before he caught and gained possession of the ball." Many make a comment, like this, when a receiver drops a football thrown to him, after gaining momentary control of the ball. This often prevents the making of either a long gain or a touchdown. This happens when the receiver�s attention is partly on the ball and partly elsewhere. Thus the pass catcher (receiver) fails to grasp what came his way, for the benefit of himself, his team and their supporters.

There is a principle in this that applies to how we interpret and understand the sayings and doings of others; whether relatives, close friends, mere acquaintances or even enemies. (This also applies to how we receive and handle all of that which comes into our lives.) If we are in the habit of violating the principles of proper interpretation, we will bring this bad habit to our attempt to grasp the words of God. If God does not give us extra help, the worst kind of misunderstanding and disasters will result.

If misunderstanding of the words of anyone�especially those of the Supreme Being�is due to a mistake of the head and is unintentional, that�s one thing. It is quite another thing when misunderstanding is due to self-deception or to having been deceived by another, or others.

Like the football player, mentioned above, far too many of us are too quick to give what we feel or think various scriptural passages mean, before we really know the actual words they interpret. We must first know what the speaker said or writer wrote, before we can begin to get into what the speaker or writer meant.

Now, just what do we mean by the word "interpret?" The Honorable Elijah Muhammad repeatedly asked us to ask: "What did the writer (or speaker) have in mind?" We must first ask what did the other have in their mind�not what we projected onto the mind of the other, from limited information or only from our imaginations, and then assuming what the other meant. It is the actual meaning, in the mind of whoever spoke or wrote what we must listen to or read, which we must first gain, before we can say that we have the right interpretation of their words (or actions).

If the words we use to inform ourselves (or another, or others) accurately represents what another person really had in mind, then we can have the right interpretation. We then have the real meaning or intent of the other. For more about "interpretation" see http://www.noi.org/study/traveler.

Too often, however, we project or throw onto the minds of others, that which is in our own minds. We make assumptions. Of such is great confusion made. America�s media often does this. In so doing it is contributing to America�s fall.

The more we increase our communication skills, the easier it is for us to understand each other. Of course, emotional factors are crucial to effective communication. We must make the effort to communicate more perfectly. This means not just in our speaking and writing, but also in our listening and reading.

What about our communication with God? If it is important for us to work hard to communicate with others, how much more important is it to work to improve our communion with God? Let�s start with what is right in front of us. How well do we understand His word that most, if not all of us have right in our homes, namely the scriptures?

There are many things that have, can and do throw people off when reading the scriptures. This could range from such factors as the outdated English of the King James Version to the deeper ones involving (the timing) when divine prophecies, or the whole of the book, was to be understood.

Allah didn�t want some things known before certain times, and some things He doesn�t want known to everyone. As we all know, God has enemies. So, we need to take the time, or make the time, to really use our minds and eyes�in the best way�to see what is really on the pages of what we read�especially of scriptures�or of anyone�s communication. This is so very important as we are living in time of the greatest deceit.

Let�s not say we don�t have time to study Allah�s word, yet we breathe His air, and benefit from His mercy and grace, every fraction of every second of every minute we live. Such is the grossest ingratitude!

Now, we really do not know, from the text of the passages, of Holy Qur�an 18: sections 9 and 10, if the parents of that boy (who was killed by the Wise Man), ever knew that he (the Wise Man) did it. We don�t know how their son�s death appeared to them. It could have been made to look accidental. Maybe he did it in front of them. His death would have been very shocking to them, especially if they were not expecting this. It could have been done in any number of ways.

But, let us remember we don�t know the means by which his life was taken�not from the actual words of the text of the Holy Qur�an. Nor do we know if there was any witness to this act of violence except Moses�not for sure, anyway.

If those details were important for us to know, Allah would have written them in this passage. (Of course, in this wonderful book, He places certain truths elsewhere other than where you might expect.) However, even such deliberate omissions should force deeper thought.

Western scholars have stated that the Holy Qur�an seems to be jumbled up. Some of them have written that there are unexpected breaks between certain verses, or passages. To them there seems to be no connection between this verse, or passage, and the next. In this, they reveal themselves as shallow thinkers. One may be reading such and such verse or passage, and then there appears to be a gap between that verse or passage and the next. How the reader reacts to what he/she is reading determines what they will get out of the next passage. The God of the Holy Qur�an produced a book filled with wisdom; not only in terms of content but also in the way it was written. The word of God is live.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that the Holy Qur�an is intended to guide only those who want right guidance. The Holy Qur�an was written with God�s supreme skill, from the best of motives and for the best of reasons.

At the beginning of this Surah (18) Allah tells us that He did not allow any crookedness in this Book that He revealed to Muhammad. He also makes clear this book contains that which rightly directs. Yet we have this passage, in it, about a wise servant of God, who seems to be deep into what seemed to be no good and unstraight.

Let us now take our time to deepen our grasp of a major aspect of what we have been reading about the Al-Khidir, the Wise Man.

More next issue, Allah willing.