THE NATION OF ISLAM Office of The Supreme Captain In The Na me Of Allah (God), The Beneficent, The Merciful. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Who Are My Helpers in the Cause of Islam? Part 5 of 7 Transcribed for Study for FOI Class
KEY WORD LIST What does in latitude mean? Latitude is freedom from normal restraints, limitations or regulations. What is the definition of magnitude? Magnitude means greatness of rank or position; greatness in size or extent; greatness in significance or influence. What is meant by progressive? Progressive means forward moving; advancing; promoting or favoring political or social reform. What does drawback mean? A drawback is a disadvantage or inconvenience. What is the definition of undercut? To undercut means to diminish or destroy the effectiveness of; to undermine. What is the definition of dissension? Dissension is a difference of opinion that leads to discontent or strife; to withhold assent or approval; the refusal to conform to the established authority or doctrine. 2
(Beginning 1:50 into track 15) Who Are My Helpers in the Cause of Islam? (Part V) If the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who is the most qualified among us, said that business robbed him of the spirit to teach There are certain principles that apply in business that are anti the spirit, because business is mathematics and Islam is mathematics, but the one thing about the spiritual world, it has latitude and longitude based on the magnitude of your love. Business does not allow that longitude, that latitude, or that magnitude, or you ll be out of business. So the spiritual men of God are not business people in the world. In every religion on this earth, the spiritual men devote their lives to the study of the word of God and the delivering of that word to the people who believe and to attract the non-believer to believe. The Saviour said, Don t take on mixed instructions other than your assignment. Let s look at the magnitude, for a moment, of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, brothers. The Holy Quran says that his job is a clear delivery of the message. That s all that he s responsible for. But he said we have to have a school based on that message. So the moment the mosque was established, the University of Islam was established with the mosque. That s part of our assignment. Then we were slow in accepting the word, so the Honorable Elijah Muhammad went into business. He set up a restaurant. He set up a grocery store. He set up a bakery. He set up cleaning establishment. He set up an upholstery shop. He bought an apartment building. He was showing us what it is our responsibility to do, but he knew we wouldn t do it unless somebody gave us an example. He bought farm land. He bought tractor trailers. He went into the meat packing business lamb and beef. We started raising chickens and producing eggs. We had land in Honduras. When he left, he was negotiating with United Airlines to buy a fleet of planes. He was trying to buy Tuskegee Institute. And he wanted to buy Midway Airport because it was empty and it was for sale. He put a million dollars down on the country club over here by the lake. He stretched out far beyond his assignment because he wanted you to see the power of Islam and what Islam can do when Black men and women unite. You must get up, he said, and do something for yourself not sit around begging others to do for you. He gave us an un-paralleled example. But in stretching himself like that, it was doing injury to himself. The Salaam Restaurant that he put at 83 rd and Cottage He was trying to buy the entire east side of Cottage Grove for blocks and blocks to start building up the South Side. We gave him the money. He stretched it out. Then he called me one day and he said, Brother, my head pains me at night. I feel sometimes like I m gonna have a stroke. He said, I called you here to share with you some of my burden. After he told me that, he sent me back to New York. I didn t know what he What you mean, share with me your burden? Well tell me what you want men to do, you know. And he called me again. He said, Brother, I have invested the poor peoples money, but if we don t get good management, we are in danger of losing it all. Help me, brother, to get qualified people. I ve given the Nation a start. They don t have to re-invent the wheel, if they would just come and develop these businesses. I brought several airplane loads. How many airplanes was it? [Three] Three airplanes full of professional people from New York to help the Messenger. I loved that man so much, brother, that 3
anything he that said he wanted, it was my duty to get it for him. I was always on the battlefield defending him from the attacks of the nay-sayers. You, my helpers, have to know how to defend me, when I am attacked by those who don t understand. They get on the radio here and talk about me in a negative way, and you don t pick up the phone to defend me? You just let them say whatever they want to say? Now, if you can t defend me, then you be quiet. But those of you that know how, you shouldn t just let them talk and run off at their mouth. You should get right on that phone and call them and say, Look, man, I know something here! And if you are my helper, you turn that radio on every day and you listen and be ready to defend. I want to see you well educated, but I know that the Nation has needs that need to be met. Now look, brothers, you go look at all the churches like I said yesterday. Bishop Brazier in Chicago is one of the great pastors the Reverend Meeks. You have some wonderful preachers in this city that are very progressive. They have three services on Sunday, each service packed, but many of them are not trying to reform our people. That s a drawback because you can come as you are, but you can t stay as you are. You have to accept to be made into a better human being for yourself, for your family and for our people. So you used to smoke reefer. You probably still do. You may have a little crack habit or a little liquor habit or a little woman habit, you know. Well those are the things that you do. You know what I mean? Some of you want to be little pimps, you know. No, no. A pimp is a great man. If he can get women to hustle for him, he s doing something. I just want him not make them sell their bodies and disgrace themselves. Put them to work in a supermarket. Cause if you can pimp, you can manage a supermarket. You just managing help. We gotta turn this thing around, brothers. I m not condemning you, man. I m trying to help you to be what God wants you to be. Some of you the baddest dope sellers in the town, making thousands of dollars a day, but can t spend it, you know what I mean. You gotta find ways to hide it. You can t even go and buy a car straight up cash, cause the minute you put down 20 thousand, 30 thousand dollars, they want to know where you working. The government come right away. Right way. So you got the money, but how you gon deal? You gotta find some place to hide it. But the same way you have that money selling drugs, you can have maybe not as much selling products, because selling is selling. Find out what the people need, what the people want. Get it. Sell it at a cheaper price and capture the market. It s a principle here. Now look. The difference between the Nation and the church is that the U.S. government is not afraid of the church, but they are very, very afraid of the Nation. Because that truth that is in the Nation undercuts the falsehood that their world is built on. So that means as you increase, they decrease. So they must stop your increase in order to maintain their rule. So we are at war, whether you want to believe it or not. Now, as a general, when you are fighting, you have to study your enemy. You sit down. You get maps, so you know the terrain. You know every mountain. You know every hill, every valley. You know every river. You know every bridge that connects this land mass with that. You know where they make their weapons, their munitions factory or plants. You see their railroads and how important their railroads are and their ports of entry. You want to know their reservoirs, their water supply. You want to know 4
how to hit your enemy, so you can stop your enemy. We don t have any land, so they study the lay of the land. They call it the topography of the Nation. Who are the mountains? Who are the hills? Who are the valleys? How much water is at the top of the mountain frozen? How much water is trickling down to the valley, that the valley may become productive? Who are the strong pillars? That s your mountains or your hills. So we have to take a hill in order to control the valley. So when you re in leadership, the enemy has to study you. That s the lay of the land. What kind of weakness is in Ishmael? What kind of weakness is in the minister? What kind of weakness is in the captain? What kind of weakness is in the lieutenant? Cause these are the hills. We gotta take the hill and control the valley. Where do they get their strength? Like Delilah, we gotta study the source of their strength and cut them off from their source of strength. That s when we got em. What is the source of your strength? It is your faith in your God and His Christ and your willingness to submit yourself to the will of God. So now I gotta weaken you. So I must sew the seed of dissension. I must get the hills looking funny at each other. What is the source of their weaponry? How many bazookas do they have? How many grenades do they have? How many airplanes do they have? How many factories do they have? Can we destroy their munitions plant? Then we don t have to worry about them. They can t attack us. So let s get in the Final Call building. Because if we can slow down the production Get them into law suits because they re careless. Then the soldiers that carry these munitions, we gotta weaken them. How do you weaken the soldier? You weaken him with propaganda. You become a fifth column. You get on the inside of the house and you start spreading negativity among the soldiers, make the soldiers doubt their commanding officers. So they look to the hills with eyes of hate. Hill got all that damn snow up there. Won t even melt the damn snow so water can come down in the valley. The wealth is at the top. Ain t a damn thing coming down to the bottom. So the valley getting dry. Now let s demoralize the men. See if you can get into leadership. Be a lieutenant. See if you can get in the secretary office. Steal the money. See if you can get in the FOI. See them new ones that came in here tonight that are in the processing class? See, the enemy don t want those brothers to grow. They don t want those young warriors to become the giants that they have the capacity to become. So you gotta be careful who s over them. (Ending at 1:45 into track 17) 5
Questions for Discussion: 1. What does it mean that business robbed the Messenger of the spirit to teach? What are some examples of how business can be anti the spirit? 2. What was the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad s reason and purpose for establishing businesses? Why was he troubled that they would be lost? Why did he call the Minister to share some of my burden? 3. Why is the government not afraid of the church? Why are they afraid of the Nation? 4. How do we know that we are in a state of war? 5. What tactics does the enemy use against the Nation? How do we combat the enemy sowing seeds of dissension? 6