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For the benefit of our guests, for those who are perhaps visiting for your first time The Muslim greeting As-Salaam-Alaikum"—it means peace be on to you.  And we open with the standard dua which is called the prayer.  The title of this prayer is Al-fatihah in Arabic.  It means the opening.  And I will read the translation of the opening prayer of the Muslims given by one Asian scholar in the translation of the Qur'an.  And he gives the English translation as, "In the name of G-d, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.  Praise be to G-d.  The Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds.  Most Gracious, Most Merciful.  Master of the Day of Judgment.  Thee do we worship and thine aid we seek.  Show us the straight way.  The way of those on whom thou has bestowed Thy grace.  Those whose portion is not wrath and who go not astray. Amen.

G-d, Most High says in the last revelation, the last of the revealed books, the Qur'an—revealed to Muhammed, the messenger prophet, peace be on him—in the chapter by the title or by the name Joseph, in Arabic or the Qur'anic language Yusuf.  In the Arabic or Qur'anic language, G-d says, Laqad kana fee Yusufa wa ifwatihi ayatul-lis-sa-elin.  In the translation given here by the same translator, the Asian, Pakistan translator, "Verily in Joseph and his bretheren are signs".  And then he has in brackets, "or symbols". And the he continues, "for seekers".  And the he has in brackets,"after truth".  So it reads, "Verily in Joseph and his brethren are signs or symbols for seekers after truth".  Now let's quickly note or recall some of the major developments or incidents in the life of Joseph or Yusuf—the Qur'anic term.  He was one of twelve brothers.  And, he felt close to his youngest brother, to the younger of the brothers—whose name is given in the Bible as Benjamin.  Here in the next verse of this same chapter titled Joseph—the English translation is given, "Truly Joseph and his brother are loved more by our father than we.

But we are a goodly body.  Really, our father is obviously wandering in his mind".  So, here the brothers are talking among themselves about Joseph and Joseph's brother Benjamin.  And it seems that they are jealous of the affection that the father has for Joseph and Benjamin.  So they begin to plot.  And the Qur'anic words are given here –that they said, "Slay you Joseph or cast him out to some unknown land.  That so the favor of your father may be given to you alone.  And there will be enough time for you to be righteous after that".  So, here obviously, they are planning an unrighteous thing.  And they are saying, "Let's get rid of Joseph first.  And then think about being righteous.  "We will have enough time after we get this problem out of the way to be righteous".  The one sensitive one, one who is conscious among them, he said, "Slay not Joseph.  But if you must do something, throw him down to the bottom of the well.  He will be picked up by some caravan of travelers".  They said, "O our father, why does thou not trust us with Joseph—seeing we are indeed his sincere well wishers".  Now, here they are trying to establish themselves before their father as brothers who care for the well being of Joseph.  And wish him nothing but good.

The Father, his name is Jacob—in the Qur'anic language Yacub.  They said, "Send him with us tomorrow to enjoy himself and to play.  And we shall take every care for him".  Jacob said, "Really, it saddens me that you should take him away.  I fear that a wolf will devour him while you attend not to him".  Well, it seems that the old man didn't trust the brothers.  He felt that Joseph might get caught by the wolf while Joseph is with them.  They said, "If the wolf was to devour him while we are so large a party..."  Now, how large were they?—10 brothers.  "While we are so large a party –then should we indeed first have perished ourselves".  So they are really sounding very convincing.  Saying, "we would perish ourselves before we let anything happen to Joseph".  So, they did take him away and they all agreed to throw him down to the bottom of the well.  And the Arabic or Qur'anic term for bottom is ghayaba—and this word ghayaba is an allusion to a situation wherein there is no light, no guidance, no hint as to how to escape or to get out of that situation.  This is G-d speaking now, "And we put into his heart the message of assuredly—thou should one day tell them the truth of this their affair—while they know you not".
 
So, it seems that they were not themselves aware of Joseph—his importance, his true identity.  And G-d inspired Joseph—even while he was in that situation—that one day, he will, himself, bring to their mind the true case that they had involved themselves in or had brought upon themselves.  "Then they came to their father in the early part of the night weeping.  They said, "O our father, we went racing with one another and left Joseph with our things and the wolf devoured him.  But though will never believe us even though we tell the truth".  They stained his shirt with false blood.  He said—that is, Jacob, the father—"Nay, but your minds had made up a tale that may pass with you.  For me, patience is most fitting against that which you assert.  It is G-d alone whose help can be sought".  "Then there came a caravan of travelers.  They sent their water carrier for water.  And he let down his bucket into the well.  He said, 'ah there –Good news!  Here is a fine young man'".  "So they concealed him as a treasure.  But G-d knows well all that they do.  The brothers sold him for a miserable price—for a few dirhams counted out.  In such a low estimation did they hold him".  Now here we get something else about their relationship with Joseph.  They regarded him as being of not much importance.  They didn't see him as a valuable being, valuable person.  They held him in low esteem.  They estimated him to be of very cheap worth, of small value.  But he must have been a big problem.  Here is something of small worth but a big problem.  Because they went to all of that trouble to get rid of him.  So, he was of little value to them, but a big problem.  

It is important to understand the shirt.  They took his shirt and they stained it with animal blood, wolf blood, or animal blood—to make the father think that he had been eaten or taken by an animal.  Now don't forget the verse that we read from the very beginning which says, "And surely, or indeed in Joseph and in his brethren is a sign for the seekers after truth".  A Caucasian, European-American writer—he wrote a book about our trials and suffering during slavery and after.  And he titled the book," The people who walk in darkness".  And he took the title from a Bible saying, "The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light".  And I understood after reading this small book on our misery that he was saying that the great light that we had seen was freedom.  And that the light of freedom was guiding us and directing us and influencing our actions and that we would not stop until we had freedom.  That is what I understood from his book, that in spite of all of the suffering, the terror tactics of the Klan to put fear in us, and to frighten us away from freedom; in spite of the lynching, all of the bad things that we suffered—we continued to seek freedom.  We didn't give up.  We continued our search for true freedom.  So, he said, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light".  And now we see Joseph was put in the bottom of the well—in a situation that was dark –that didn't allow any light for him.  And then was sold into slavery.-put in darkness, sold into slavery.  And a lie was made against him by his brothers.  His brothers tried to make his father believe that he had been taken by an animal.  That is a lot I want to say.  And there is a lot that I am not going to say.  I am going to let you make your own conclusions.  At least in some of these areas here—some of the report on Joseph, I will leave it for you to make your own conclusion.

Now let us look again at their moral make up.  They said, "Let us do this to Joseph and after that, we will have time to be righteous".  Well, here are a people who are putting aside moral obligations.  They are postponing moral obligations to get something done that they want to have done.  Now, a man in Egypt bought him.  The man in Egypt bought him.  And he said to his wife, "Make his stay among us honorable"  "akrime" is the same word used when G-d said "And We made honorable every son of Adam".  So if G-d made honorable every son of Adam, then Joseph was already honorable.  But he had been put into a situation that denied him or deprived him of his honor.  He was in a situation because of the conniving and the conspiracy against him—he was in a situation that didn't honor him but presented him as cheap, worthless—something not to be respected.  So, the big man in Egypt said, "Make his stay honorable among us.  Maybe, he will bring us much good.  Or we shall adopt him as our son".  Now look what God says, "Thus did we establish Joseph in the land".  Now this was the reasoning of the big man in Egypt—in the strange land where Joseph has fell. Joseph has finally fallen into the strange land in Egypt.  A powerful land—the most powerful land of that time.  There was no other land more powerful then Egypt at that time.  Now Joseph had fallen into the hands of the Egyptians after being put into the dark hole and sold into slavery.  And the big chief in Egypt, he saw value in Joseph.  And he said to his wife—his wife is like the Queen.  She is a big woman.  The big man had a big wife.  He said, "Make his stay honorable. Maybe he will bring much good or we shall adopt him as a son".  And G-d said , `Thus"—meaning on that fashion—`Did we establish Joseph in the land that we might teach Him". G-d put him into a situation where G-d can teach him: "That we might teach him the interpretation of stories or events".
 
Now why was Egypt a good situation for Joseph to learn the interpretation of stories and events?  It is because Egypt was a land that was heavily in its culture—heavily symbolic—great symbolism.  Reading on the symbolic, mystical language of Egyptian culture, I read where in their myth, in their mythology there was an oracle.  An oracle is a mysterious thing that holds prophecy.  There was an oracle that would speak to any one that was trying to enter Egypt.  And if you tied to enter Egypt, you had to first be addressed by this oracle. The oracle would ask you a riddle or give a riddle.  And you had to interpret that riddle correctly.  And if you didn't interpret that riddle correctly, you couldn't get into Egypt.  Now mind you, Egypt was the baddest and the biggest, and the most important land or nation in existence at that time.  It had great science, great army, great power, great ruling order-- and respect in the known world then as being the superpower—Egypt at that time.  The name Cairo, qahira is the capitol of Egypt—the main city in Egypt.  And its name means subduing—just overcoming, just overwhelming.  Something that puts you in awe—hold you spell bound.  That is what the name means.  And if you ever visited Egypt like some of us did—some of our pioneers, myself and sheikh Shabazz and many of us, several of us, a group of us.  We made a trip to Egypt upon invitation.  The Egyptian government invited us to come.  So, we made a trip to Egypt there.  And we saw huge statues of their ancient rulers, and the buildings, the kind of structures that they lived in.  They are still there preserved.  The doorway is so huge that if you came from another land on their land and was suddenly brought in the doorway of their people, you would be frightened to death.  Because you would be expecting a man to walk through there about maybe twenty feet tall—huge doors, huge doorways.  And the statues of them are very huge, standing as high as this building here, as high as this auditorium—the statues of their great ones.  And their language was the language of symbols.  The ancient Egyptians call it hieroglyphics.  It is the language of symbols.  Where we speak now with words, they spoke with symbols.  We read now words in print.  They read symbols.  Whatever they wanted to say they had symbol for it.  Whether it was a sunrise, or a bird, or a broken stick, or a fast running animal, they had some symbol to say what they wanted to say.  And they were not backwards.  They were not primitive.  They were most advanced, so advanced that the best of our scientists from the West are still trying hard to decipher their wisdom.  They have been doing it now for many, many decades.  In fact if you go over there you will see curious students—men of learning over there right now at the Cairo museum trying to break codes, decipher the wisdom of those ancient people.  They are still doing it.  They were doing it when I was over there.  And I am sure they are still doing it now.  They haven't stopped.  Egypt, unlike most ancient nations, has a whole science called Egyptology.  There are books and books, volumes called Egyptology.  Now here is a nation that was so great that they had to make a whole course, a study just for that nation—Egyptology.  Yes—it was great in its science and great in its mysteries.

Another note we should make right now is that the scripture of the people of this particular part of the world, bible.  It warns them, of a time coming when there would be an appearance of a nation and a people—just like that—called modern Egypt.  You have ancient Babylon—modern Babylon—ancient Egypt, modern Egypt.  "So we might teach him the interpretations of stories or events".   Now, the word for stories or events is the plural of Hadith.  Hadith singular is Hadith.  If you want to use the same term for many of such reportings—it will be ahadith.  And that is the term that is used here—al ahadith.  That G-d would teach him the tahweel.  And in another place in the Qur'an, it says, "No one knows the tahweel of the Qur'an except G-d".  And you know the Qur'an is also called the Hadith.  That is one of the names of the Qur'an—ahadith, because, it is a report, a recorded report, a recorded book or record of things that took place—in a reporting form or in the form of a report.  G-d would teach him the interpretation of some of the stories and events.  In Arabic, it would mean Hadith.  "And G-d has full power and control over his affairs, but most among mankind know it not".

The situation for a people can never become so bad, so hopeless that they can't be saved by G-d.   "When Joseph attained his full manhood, we gave him power and knowledge.  Thus do we reward those who do right.  The word for those who do right is the plural "muhsineen"—the doers of good.  Joseph was one who practiced goodness.

Now, the big lady, she was fascinated by Joseph.  And this verse says, "But she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him from his true self".  And the expression in Qur'anic language is "an-nafsi" which means from his true nature, his true self just as it is given here.  Now here you have a picture of an innocent victim, young when he was taken—right?!  He was a "ghulam" very young, young lad.  He was young when he was taken.  And he was taken and put in bad circumstances by his own brothers who plotted against him.  And G-d says that there was something of great value in Joseph.  But, they didn't respect that value in him.  The treated him as though he was something mean and cheap.  And here now we have favorable circumstances coming about wherein the big man in Egypt takes him into his own care and puts him in the house where the big lady was.  Now, here the big lady of the house, she is enamored by him.  And she now wants to seduce him, take him out of his true nature.  So, obviously his true nature was that of a righteous person.  He was a virtuous person.  I am sure it wouldn't take a lot of you out of your true nature if a beautiful big lady wanted to go to sleep with you tonight.  But for Joseph this was a threat to his very good nature, to his true self, because that was not his self to allow the woman to seduce him.  She fastened the doors and said, "Now come thou dear one!"  He said, "G-d forbid.  Truly thy husband is my lord.  He made my sojourn agreeable.  Truly to no good come those who do wrong".  So, he was aware of the consequences.  He was aware of his obligation.  He was aware that he was indebted to a man who favored him and trusted him.  And he was aware that wrong begets wrong and bad consequences.  It is not only that I owe this to him—not to betray him behind his back.  But I owe it to myself to keep my own good nature because if I lose it, I will fall into worser circumstances.  This is a beautiful story!  And to read it in Arabic is even more beautiful.  More of us insha-Allah will learn Arabic.  "And with passion did she desire him.  And he would have desired her except that he saw the evidence of his Lord ".  He was conscious of G-d—that is what saved him.  So what are we being told here?  That he was human like she was.  If it wasn't for divine protection, he would have been right into the same thing that she was weak for.  

So for a people who are put in circumstances like that, their only protection is the fear of G-d.  Once they lose the fear of G-d, they are finished.  "Thus did we order that we might turn away from him all evil and shameful deeds".  So here G-d orders this test for him.  G-d ordered a test for him, to try him, to put him a situation to make his muscles of resistance and devotion to G-d stronger.  See if you are good, your intentions is good—your commitment is righteous and honorable—then the more temptation you are put into, the stronger you become.  And some times the young person in his virtuous life, he needs to be put into situations that will bring out that strength that is in him.  Because once he says no to the big lady, he won't have much trouble saying no to the little ladies.  So G-d wanted to hurry and prepare Joseph to survive.  So he didn't give him the little ladies first.  He gave him the big lady first.  So to get it over quick, if you can stand the big lady, you will make it among the little ladies.
 
Now this story of Joseph is very mystical itself.  It is a mystical story, a very mythical story.  So we are to receive understanding on levels—understanding on one level may not be the same understanding for a higher level.  So now we are thinking about the carnal weakness—the weaknesses of the flesh.  The flesh is being put to the test.  But there are higher levels upon which we are tested too—right?  He said, "It was she who sought to seduce me from my true self and one of her household saw this and bore witness.  If it be that his shirt is rent (that means torn) from the front then her tale is true and he is a liar.  But if it be his shirt is torn from the back, then she is the liar and he is telling the truth".  "So when he saw his shirt (that is the big chief, the big man) that it was torn at the back, her husband said, `It is a snare of you women.  Truly mighty is your snare'".  Now, the big chief had a lady that would set traps.  And he didn't like that in her.  But he obviously accepted that in her—right?  He was tolerating her with that in her.  "O Joseph pass this over".  He said, "O wife ask forgiveness for your sins.  For truly thou has been at fault".  So this kind of snare or trap setting of hers is not accepted as being right.  It is a sin.  Do you know that you are constantly being seduced by the powers of the land?  They are constantly trying to seduce you out of your true self.  Now they may think that G-d allows that they work these schemes, plots against the good nature that G-d created.  But G-d says here it is a sin.  And one who is guilty of it should pray for forgiveness.  That didn't get Joseph out of the situation.  He was still in that situation.  She said to the ladies that also desired him very passionately that there before you is the man about whom you did blame me.  When they saw him, they got into the same fix.  But they had blamed the big lady for being weak.  She said, "I did seek to seduce him from his true self.  But, he did firmly save himself guiltless.  And now if he does not do my bidding, he shall certainly be cast into prison.  And what is more.  He will be of the company of the vilest (meaning those who are low and debase)".

Here is a situation used to throw us among people who are among the lowest.  So, obviously Joseph in his excellence as a person, as a human being—he was very, very, very great in his virtuous life.  He was very great.  He was on a high standard.  His value was his obedience to what is right.  His value was moral value.  His value was the virtuous life.  That was his value.  Now if a people are thrown into such circumstances, if they lose their moral excellence, their moral tenacity, their moral endurance, the moral consistency in their life—wherein they hold to what is right—if they lose that, they lose their value.  They don't have any other value.  What value has the African-American in his situation?  He can not compete politically.  He can not compete economically.  He has no established ethnicity.  So where is our value if it is not in moral consistency?  Once we lose moral consistency, we have no worth as a people.  We don't measure up anywhere.  But for a long time that moral consistency in our life made us the envy of white people that stood above us in every other way.  But, in the last fifteen or twenty years, we have lost our precious value, that value that gave us a sense of worth, and made us the envy of many people who had the things of this world.  And G-d was with us.  Yes, G-d was with us, but not anymore, no, not anymore.  Don't think G-d is with the Black man—not anymore.  The Black man has lost the favor of G-d by turning around right at the crucial moment when he could have saved himself totally.  He turned around and picked up the ways of the wicked.  And let his whole race fall under the influence of the wicked.  Yes, it is a shame.  So no more, it is going to take a very small number from among us to complete the work, because the majority is finished.  They are out of it.

Now, in the prison situation—he was put in a favorable situation by the big man in Egypt.  Now, because he wouldn't go along with the deceit of the big lady, he is cast out of that good situation and now put back into a bad situation.  Now he is among those who are in prison.  Isn't that the ways of the great powers? Yes, it is the ways of the great powers. They will give you freedom for an advantage for them.  And as soon as you begin to show an independent mind, they want to lock you up.  You know, you don't have to be in the physical boundaries of physical measurements—walls—prison walls—to be in prison.  The people who have an independent moral mind in Chicago today are imprisoned.  They will not allow you to be free.  I know because I am one of you.  They deny us freedom.  You might say well Imam how can you say that—you are free.  You are down here in the mosque saying all of this.  But they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make sure that I have this audience.  And that it doesn't be any bigger.  Yes, so now he is cast into a bad situation again.  But the good is like a mighty seed.  If there is a situation for it to burst into life, it will.  So, even in the prison situation, the mighty attributes of Joseph manifests.  There were those who needed his help.  And he became a helper to them.  And the big people outside in the free world Egypt, they learned of the help that he was giving inmates.  And they desired that help for the free.  They said bring him up out of prison.  We need him.  We are in trouble too.   

Now don't forget that G-d said when He allowed Joseph to fall into those circumstances and be taken up by the powerful people, He said, "Thus did We establish Joseph in the land".  "Now in the prison there they came to him two young men. Said one of them, "I see myself in a dream pressing wine" Said the other, "I see myself in a dream carrying bread on my head and birds are eating thereof".  "Tell us, they said, the truth and meaning thereof for we see thou art one that is of good to all (that's Joseph)". They say we are imprisoned here, we don't know you Joseph.  We are strangers and convicts.  But we know that you are a person that does good by all.  So help us with our situation.  He said, "Before any food come in the due course to feed any of you, I will surely reveal to you the truth and meaning of this that will befall you.  That is part of the duty which my Lord has taught me.  I assure you, abandon the ways of a people that believe not in G-d and even deny the hereafter".  Now, listen—he was a small lad when he came into the bad circumstances—right?  And his own brethren put him into the bad circumstances.  And then in the bad circumstances, the big man of the land saw good in him.  So much that he said, "Let's take him because there may be some great good in him for us.  Or maybe we will adopt him as our own son".  Obviously, they did adopt him as their own son. Why?  Because he says, "Now, I have turned from the ways of a people that believe not in G-d and deny the hereafter".  He was a young lad.  He was not experienced in the world to know what was happening.  But because of his moral tenacity, moral strength and endurance, he held his moral life together.  He wouldn't let anything take it apart.  Because of that being in him, G-d was with him all of the time.  Isn't that wonderful?  And G-d aided him at every turn of the events.  No matter how bad the circumstances, G-d was with him.  And now he is talking to inmates in prison with him—in another bad situation.  And he tells them that "I have abandoned the ways of a people who believe not".  

When did he take on wrong beliefs?  He didn't have wrong beliefs when his brothers took him.  He was with his father.  He was just young.  He didn't have knowledge and insight.  He was just young.  But he didn't have any false beliefs.  The sign that he didn't have any false belief was the charge of animal blood being on his shirt.  And the old man said, "I don't believe that".  That boy wouldn't do anything like that.  That boy doesn't mess around with any animals.  So where did he get that wrong belief?  He got the wrong in that good situation with the powerful people of the land.  Where did we get our wrong beliefs?  Where did we get our shirk?  Where did we get our idolatry?  Didn't we get it when they said you are free now to have your Christianity just like we have our Christianity?  Then we became guilty of believing in more then one G-d—of saying G-d has a son who is G-d and there are three G-ds.  That is when we came into that.  And like Joseph when we stood up and declared the true belief in G-d, they put us in prison.  They put us in prison.  When we were guilty of shirk, they put us on "Sixty minutes".  They put us on prime time television.  They told the whole world our message and showed us respect.  They even tried to justify our hate by saying, "The hate that hate produced".  In other words, "They are not guilty of that hate.  Hate has produced their hate.  We admire their militancy.  We admire their discipline.  We admire them for their cleanliness.  Oh they are like us.  They say that man is G-d.  And they don't believe in hereafter.  These are truly our boys.  They don't want our women.  Take note, we favor these niggers over those integrationists".  But as soon as we stood up under the influence of our moral nature and said, "Hey, this is the true Islam.  That was false Islam".  Then they said, "Hey lock him up in prison.  Cast him with the violent—Jim Jones and others".
 
He called them his companions.  Isn't that a wonderful man?  He knew of his excellence.  But in the prison, he looked at the circumstances of those in prison with him.  He wanted to help them.  He helped them and call them his companions—his companions in that situation.  He said, "I follow the ways of my fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and never could we attribute any partners what so ever to G-d.  That comes of the grace of G-d to us and to mankind.  Yet most men are not grateful".  Now look!  These twelve Israelis' were supposed to have been the favorites-right?  Israel—because after all according to the western people in the religion they say that Jacob became Israel—and Israel is the favorite—the favored.  And no one can get the special blessings that G-d has for Israel except through Israel.  You have to get from Israel.  You can't get it directly from G-d.  You have to get it by coming through Israel.  And you can not be called one by inheritance.  You will be one by adoption.  Don't forget that!
 
Now, what does our book say of this special group?  It says, "That comes of the Grace of G-d to us and to mankind".  Not just to us, but kind favors to all men as he favors us.  Do you see that?  Most of us would miss that, "On us and on all people".   So, here is Joseph—he is the true one.  Joseph, he can't lie.  Joseph says, "Yes—this special gift that you see now in me—it has come through our ancestors down to me.  But it is not just for us.  It is for all people".  He said, "O my two companions of the prison, I ask you, are many lords differing among themselves better, or is the one Lord, Supreme and Irresistible?"  So, here the attributes that they put on Egypt—the subduer—is changed a bit to make it a more powerful subduer.  And it is given as the name of our G-d—Al Qahhar.  Qahhirah is Egypt—means something that makes it seems that you are under a spell.  It captivates you and subdues you.  And here is the name of our G-d given now—more powerful than that—Al Qahhar.  He is the Subduer.  That is to tell Egypt—you can't subdue.  G-d is the Subduer.  Yea—you try to subdue them.  You are going to wash out their conscience.  You are going to drown their conscience.  You are going to drown their senses.  Well—there is One that is powerful enough to drown you out.  And wasn't that the fate of Pharaoh and his hosts?  They got drowned in the sea—though he called himself the lord.  He said, "I recognize no G-d but me".  That is what Pharaoh said.  I wondered how he sounded when that water was going down his throat.
 
And Joseph continues now, "O my two companions of the prison.  I ask you are many lords differing among themselves better then the one G-d, Supreme and Irresistible?"  Now, we are told in Christianity or by the Christians that actually the three are three in one.  But, we are told also that they differ.  They are three in one, and yet they differ.  How do they differ?  The father is the G-d  as conceived or presented in the Old Testament.  The son is the g-d as conceived or presented in the New Testament.  If they were the same, they wouldn't have asked for a new g-d.  They are different.  The g-d of the Old Testament is not like the g-d of the New Testament.  Now, here are g-ds differing with one another.  Now that is like one coming from fascist rule.  One man who used to rule the land, or a particular people, or a world –who was a fascist.  He was cruel man.  He used power in a brutal way.  And then they change now and send another—and he says, "My image is soiled in the world.  Now I am going to have a son that is not like me.  He is going to be just the other extreme.  Now, I am firm, now he is going to be forgiving.  As I have been firm to the extreme, he is going to be forgiving to the extreme.  As I have been so firm to the extreme that I have castrated men because they messed over my faithful ones.  So just as I have gone to the extreme—I have burned up nations;  I have set fire over it;  I have just licked up worlds with fire-- I am going to present one now that is going to be to the other extreme.  As I have been firm and strict to the extreme, this one is going to be mild and forgiving to the extreme.  So forgiving, that he is going to accept them to crucify him, kill him.  And he is going to say, `I forgive you".  Now, you are going to tell me they are not different.  They are different.  Those two purported g-ds are not the same, they are different.  And the choice of the child over the father is because the old image was rejected.  They rejected the old image of g-d.  So if g-d the father is not in the bad image, he is good—how did he become good?  He became good by repenting.  When he decided to re-introduce himself through his son that would be the other extreme—the mild lord.  When he decided that, he repented from his old ways and became the new man. So these are still different g-ds.  So you say, "Well the father he is good just like the son.  He is the son".  Well, if he is the son, what was he before?  So through his son, he has repented.  So the son not only has become the savior of the world, the son has become the savior of the image of his father.  There is no way to get around that.  So, they are different.  Now, here comes the Holy Ghost in Christianity—still different.  Jesus, he accepted all kinds of abuses.  "But the Gospel says.". You bring this attitude to the Holy Ghost, it won't be forgiven.  That is what it says.  You can do these things to the son but to the Holy Ghost—if you do it, it will not be forgiven.  So, there is still another one that is different.  The first one is adamant, is not accepting to bow or bend to anything.  Then the son is coming—so sweet.  Now here comes the Holy Ghost—"I don't take any stuff either".  "I am a mystery, but I don't take any stuff.  Now don't play with me like you played with the son".  So these are different.  I am not making a joke.  Believe me, I don't have a spirit to joke with this.  They are different!  And that is what Allah is telling us in the revelation to Muhammed.  He is telling us by way of hints and allusions—that these Christian Trinitarian ideas –they claim as one- and g-d is three in one—but they have differing g-ds.  They are not three in one   They are not all the same.  They are differing with each other.

And Muslims you must understand!  Many of us are so recent—right from the Holy Ghost session.  And we come in and say, "I am a Muslim.  My name is Rasheed Hameed.  And I am a Muslim now".  But we still have the conditioning from the church life.  And we get over here and we think, "They believe basically the same as we do".  You are wrong.  "And we are to respect their beliefs".  You are wrong.  We are to respect their goodness.  We are to respect their innocence.  We are not to respect their falsehoods.  By that I mean we are not to go a church and make them feel uncomfortable—attacking what they believe in.  But if we think they are sensible enough, sober enough in their minds and hearts to stand for us to read Qur'an concerning their troubles –their trouble spots in their beliefs—we should have the courage to go to the church and read Qur'an to them.

Allah says in this Qur'an, highly glorified is He—he says to the people of the book,  "Please stop saying three. It will be better for you if you only understood".  So, Allah is not tolerating their belief in… three in one.  It is plainly said.  Stop that!  Now you are Muslims—some of you say you are responsible for the Dawah—for inviting the people to this religion.  So what are you going to do?  Are you going to go out there and tell them it is ok to believe in that g-d is three in one?  Or will you tell them what Allah says in the Qur'an? "Please stop doing that.  It is best if you only understood".  That should be your message to the church.  To go to them and tell them, "Look!  You have confusion here.  Stop this.  It is best for you if you only understood".  Tell them what G-d says in your book!  And maybe you will earn the favor G-d back on your people.

Joseph continues now (peace be upon him)—he says, `O my two companions of the prison as to one of you—he will pour out the wine for his lord to drink".  Now haven't we been as a religious people pouring out the wine for our lord to drink?  Think about it!  Just until recently—and many of us are still doing it.  It is not as strong as it used to be.  But the church leadership is trying to recuperate.  They are reviving.  And they pour out wine for their lord to drink—don't they?  Their congregation gets drunk but their lord drinks.  Their lord is down at city hall—in Springfield, and the big industrialists.  Those are the lords that enjoy the drink of wine that they pour out.  That is all the Christianity message is that they give to the poor blacks.  That is all that they give to the poor Hispanics.  The Christianity that they give to the poor and ignorant people—is nothing but alcoholism.  They get you all drunk in the head, drunk in the mind, where you don't care about anything other then death.  Just like a dope addict—gets hooked on dope and he doesn't care about nothing but the dope.  An alcoholic gets hooked on alcohol—he cares about nothing but the alcohol.  And some of our people are drinking the alcohol of Christianity—get hooked on it and cares about nothing but the alcohol.  It is the same thing.  The neighborhood is going to waste.  Life is going to waste.  The community isn't getting any where—being taken advantage of and exploited.  They don't worry about those things.  Just give me another drink.  "You will pour out the wine his lord to drink.  As for the other he will hang from the cross".  So either you are going to pour out the wine or you are going to be hanging on the cross.  If you don't pour out the wine, you got to hang from the cross.  And I guarantee you that is the situation for the people of conscience—the poor struggling people of conscience, if they don't join the deceitful order of these fraternities, these secret fraternities and hypocrites in religion.  If they don't join them and pour the wine, fill the cup with the wine—they are going to be crucified.  Crucified means deprived of your freedom to the extent that you can't move anything.  The limbs that you depend upon to support you and to carry you and to work for you are crucified.  Something like rigor mortis has set in.  "And the birds will eat from off his head.  So it has been decreed for that matter whereof you twain  do inquire".  So here, Joseph became one that was sought as a way out of trouble and as a person that could bring understanding and relief.  Do you remember how white people used to write about how our parents –mother and fathers—helped them solve great problems, brought great relief to them.  Rulers in this part of the world, rich people in this part of the world—have written in their memoirs how our poor ignorant folks bought them understanding and great relief and helped them out of bad situations—gave them light to go by.  Because we were good at heart, we were innocent, we were morally upright.  And though we were in the bottom of the pit, the dark hole, or cast into prison, G-d was with us.  And our value was there and it was recognized by great people at many turns of events.  You should think about these things!  And get your life again or make it stronger.  Make your commitment stronger.  If you still got it, make it stronger.  "And of the two, to that one whom he considered about to be saved, he said, `mention me to thy lord'.  But Satan made him forget to mention him to his lord and Joseph lingered in prison for a few more years".
 
Now, here Joseph has helped one of the inmates. And he told one of the inmates after he had helped him—he said, "When you get to your lord, mention me.  Let your lord know the situation that I am in".  Showing how cold the world can become, even the best people fail you. These people recognized the goodness in Joseph and they were trying to find a way out of the bad life.  And Joseph helped them and when he told him, "now when you get in a good situation, "mention me to your lord".  He got in a good situation and forgot to mention to his chief, the boss—that there is a good man down there in prison.  Your ladies have put him away for good.  He was a good man.  Why didn't he put in a word for Joseph?  He was so much occupied by his own interest that he couldn't remember the man that helped him, relieved him when he was in this bad situation too.  Now, think of ourselves as a people.  Don't you know many of your grand parents, your grand mothers and fathers and relatives-many of them told us to remember them.  Say, "Now look!  Freedom is going to come one day.  Now when you are freed, remember us".  But freedom came and we became so much overcome by our own desires to please our own selves right now, immediately, right here—that we forgot them.  We should be remembering them to our Lord, to G-d—"O G-d, have mercy on the souls of our ancestors.  They were in the dark.  They were oppressed.  And they wanted to see the day of light.  O G-d, forgive them for whatever sins they did and admit them into Your paradise".  But instead of remembering them to our Lord, we indulged into foolishness and self destruction—just for a quick thrill.  So, that is what we are doing, aren't we?—Pouring wine or crucifying.

Now we will begin with the same section here, section 6 of this chapter on Joseph and continue the talk and pray G-d it strengthen us, shine some light on our situation.  But remember this!  G-d says that, "That is how he established Joseph in the land".  Now if we find in our circumstances as an enslaved people, kept subdued people in this part of the world.  If we find in our circumstances events similar to those that were in the life of Joseph, and if we believe in the word of G-d, the Qur'an—then we should take hints from that story and strengthen our life.  Look!  We do not have economic power.  We don't have political power.  We are not favored in this country.  Now, you can make yourself believe whatever you want to believe.  You can just drift out there in the world of make believe.  That is up to you.  But, I am talking reality.  We are not favored in this country.  We are the disfavored in this country.  Our circumstances are still bad-- G-d, O Lord.  Our circumstances are still bad.  Then take the hints from that story.  Say now G-d will establish us if we keep our moral tenacity.  G-d will establish us if we be morally consistent; if we would want right by everybody. If we would want good for every body—not just for Blacks—but for everybody.  Here a people in slavery and a people freed, so called liberated.  And for all the time they were trying to get equal opportunity or get into the mainstream of these United States or the life of America—they were claiming that they had a belief in a G-d.  And that they had a belief in moral justice, Divine justice.  They were claiming to be good people.  Wasn't that our claim?  As a race, our politicians and our religious people, our church people was speaking in the name of all of us—and they were claiming before the world that we are a G-d fearing people that believe in the moral justice of G-d.  And as soon as we get the freedom that we want –to play and have some ice cream cone, and some hot dogs, and chili.  As soon as we that freedom to play and have some common food, we forget what it was all about.  We forget the moral message that we sent out.  And betray it right in our own life so soon.  You see how come we are not getting anywhere now?  So, let's pray for forgiveness.  And take hints from that great, mystical, beautiful passage, story in the Qur'an of Joseph.  Take hints from it to strengthen and tighten up your own life and your own situation.  So we pray G-d forgive us our sins, strengthen our faith, make pure our intentions, and establish us among the good and excellent followers of Muhammed, the Prophet—peace and the blessings be upon him.