THE NATION OF ISLAM S T U D Y C O U R S E

Muhammad University of Islam © 2011

WEDNESDAY CLASS WEEK 31

STUDY GUIDE 14

RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY

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This study course is designed to be done both in a course room, mosque, study-group or self-paced at home. Certain parts of this course (Key Word Study) will be done with a partner. Other parts will be done independently (by yourself). When its time to partner, you and your partner (twin) are to follow the steps provided in this guide. The study course is laid out in the order you do them. It is important not to skip any steps of the guide. THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE TO BE FOLLOWED IN OUR CLASSES.

Purpose of this Study Course Guide:

The purpose of this study course guide is to guide you through this course of study.

Time to Complete:

Although the hour and a half that we have for study this evening will hopefully allow you to progress through most of this study, however it is strongly recommend that you continue to work on this study course at home at your own pace.

Important Note: During the study course session, if you have any questions raise your hand for assistance. Each believer (student) should have a copy of this handout and its instructions to take home and continue studying on their own. All steps may not be completed in the class sessions in its entirety.

Study Course Steps Step 1: Key Word Clearing Time Frame: 30 min Key words are important words related to key concepts found in the reading. Having a good understanding of the meanings of these words will help each student better understand the important concepts and ideas of the study, as well as eliminate misunderstandings that come with misunderstood words. Use the key word list and definitions found in this packet to do the drill (exercise) a and b.

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1.) Select a partner (closest to you) and study the Key Words together, through reviewing the questions and answers to master. (If done in course room or mosque/study group the time allotted is 30-45 minutes)

2.) First time through: The student has the questions and answers in front of him or her. The partner asks the student the question, and the student answers it. He/She can look at the answer if needed. The answer does not have to be word-for-word or memorized; just the concept must be correct.

3.) Second time through: Once finished with the drill the first time, you start again from the beginning, this time without the answers in front of you. Your partner asks the question and you answers. If the answer is incorrect, your partner shows you the answer. Look at the answer again and repeat until you have grasped the concept, then continue to the next one.

Step 2: Independent Reading Time Frame: 30 min After completing step one, you may begin to read the selected reading materials. Step 3: Check Your Understanding Questions: Time Frame: 30 min Review the lists of questions. Each question is formulated to check your understanding of the key concepts and ideas found in the reading. Answer each question on a sheet of paper and be prepared to discuss your answers at the conclusion of this session. Sufficient time may not be given during class session to answer all of the questions. If you do not finish in class, please continue this step at home.

S t u d y C o u r s e I n s t r u c t i o n s

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What does it mean to be abject? Abject means utterly hopeless, humiliating or wretched; contemptible, despicable, cast aside, thrown down. What is an author? An author is the maker of anything; creator; originator; designer; (Latin root: “auctor”--” “progenitor”; “auctus” --- “magnified” What does authority mean? Authority means the power to determine; the right to control or command; having the power to make and enforce the law; having force rule, power, sway, influence, over others; applied to the complete and successful direction or manipulation of persons and things; also power derived from deference of others to one’s character, ability or position. What does it meant to govern? Govern means to rule by right; hold in check; control, supervise. What does it mean to hinder? Hinder means to cause delay, interruption, or difficulty in; to prevent from doing, happening or acting; to hold back. What does respect mean? Respect means esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a quality or trait, or something considered as a manifestation of quality or trait; deference to a right, privilege or position, or to someone having right, privilege or position; to refrain from interfering with; to express esteem or deference toward someone; the result of admiration and approbation. What does obedience mean? Obedience means the state or quality of being obedient. The act or practice of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance; submission to authority. (TO OBEY): To comply with or follow the commands, restrictions, wishes, or instructions of; to respond conformably in action to. What is persecution? Persecution means to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment; harass persistently; to annoy persistently; importune; trouble; drive away. Worry, badger, pester, bother; to subjugate because of beliefs or practices.

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What does it mean to slaughter? Slaughter means brutal, violent killing of a person; killing of great numbers of people indiscriminately; carnage. What is tolerance? Tolerance is a fair and objective attitude toward those whose opinions and practices differ from one’s own; the act or capacity of enduring; endurance; allowance; patience; suffering; forbearing; to put up with; to undergo or sustain pain or hardship. What is a tyrant? A tyrant is a person in position of authority over someone else who exercise power oppressively; arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; undue severity or harshness; cruelty. What is a season? A season is an indefinite or unspecified period of time ; a while.

What does it mean to exceed something? To exceed something means to go beyond what is allowed or stipulated by (a set limit, especially of one's authority).

What is a limit? A limit is a point or level beyond which something does not or may not extend or pass. It is also a restriction on the size or amount of something permissible or possible.

What does tolerance mean? Tolerance means the action of bearing hardship, or the ability to bear pain and hardship. It is the capacity to endure continued subjection to something, especially a drug, transplant, antigen, or environmental conditions, without adverse reaction.

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As–Salaam Alaikum (Peace Be Unto You)

Dear Believers and Students:

May this letter find you growing in the Knowledge and Spirit of Allah (God) and the Triumphant Message of Islam.

This Study Guide, Number 14, is a very important one, for it lays the base for peace in the home, the mosque, the society, or wherever we are confronted with a relationship with authority.

Peace with Allah (God) is gained through submission to His Will. Peace with Self is gained through obedience to the knowledge and truth that we know, for it has authority over us and if we recognize the sovereignty of truth above all and submit to its authority, peace comes to Self with Self.

The most difficult thing to do is to submit to authority that we do not believe is worthy of our respect or obedience and it is this difficult part that we must take under analysis in the Study Guide.

May Allah (God) Bless you to go as deeply as you can into the Truth of that which you are studying and apply it immediately in the home, the mosque and everywhere you go in society.

Your Brother and Servant,

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan National Representative of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and The Nation of Islam

LF/am

Minister Louis Farrakhan

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HONORABLE ELIJAH MUHAMMAD AND

THE NATION OF ISLAM

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL. I BEAR WITNESS THAT THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH

AND I BEAR WITNESS THAT MUHAMMAD IS HIS MESSENGER.

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RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY by

THE HONORABLE MINISTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN

INTRODUCTION

In both the Bible and the Holy Qur’an, we are enjoined to respect those in authority over us. Allah demands of His servants such respect for authority that order, rather than chaos, may exist, for “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:33)

“O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. This is best and more suitable to achieve the end.” Holy Qur’an 4:59 “Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you” Hebrews 13:17

Allah (God) sends servants with authority over us, to guide us to obedience to His Will. That authority is often expressed through teaching. The servants of Allah (God) have always been challenged and opposed by the authorities over the people to whom they are sent.

“For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” Matthew 7:29 “And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, ’By what authority does thou these things? And who gave thee this authority’?”

HOLY QUR’AN Surah 4, “The Women”, Section 9

Surah 39, “The Companies” Sections 1 And 2

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ALLAH HAS THE RIGHT TO BE OBEYED “Now surely sincere obedience is due to Allah Alone....He is Allah, the One, the Subduer of all. He has created the heavens and the earth with truth; He makes the night cover the day and makes the day overtake the night and He has made the sun and the moon subservient; each one moves on to an assigned term. Now surely He is the Mighty, the Forgiver...He creates you in the wombs of your mothers---creation after creation---in triple darkness. That is Allah, your Lord; His is the Kingdom. There is no God but He. How are you then turned away? If you are ungrateful, then surely Allah is above need of you...” Holy Qur’an 39:1-7 “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:3 If we look at the word “authority”, its root is in the word “author”. The “author” of anything is usually the maker or creator of that thing. Allah (God) is referred to as the Author of all existence, therefore, Allah is He Who has the greatest right to be obeyed. However, there are lesser beings that have been given the privilege of exercising authority over

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what they did not create and Allah demands of us respect for those lesser authorities and even obedience to those lesser authorities out of respect for Him, the Supreme Authority by Whom all authority has authority. We must remember, if we are Believers, that nothing happens except by the Permission or Active Will of Allah (God). So whoever is in authority is there for a reason and also for a season. The servants of Allah (God) are tested by those persons that are in authority over him or her. Allah teaches in the Holy Qur’an, that He made Adam from the dust of the Earth, or Black mud, and fashioned into shape. And when He made Adam complete He breathed into him of His Inspiration (Wisdom) and commanded the angels to bow to what He had made and placed in authority over them. All the angels submitted, except Iblis. Allah questioned him, asking: “What hindered thee that thou didst not submit when I commanded thee? He said: I am better than he; Thou has created me of fire, while him Thou didst create of dust.” Iblis did not look deep enough into Who commanded him. He was blinded by his pride and/or arrogance of who he thought he was in relationship to who he was asked to submit to. He gave no weight at all to Who commanded him--that the One Who commanded him was Creator of both the fire and the dust. As a result of his failure to respect Allah (God) by bowing to what He had put in authority over him, Allah (God) then drove him forth from the circle of peace that he was in: “He said: Then go forth from this (state), for it is not for thee to behave proudly therein. Go forth, therefore, surely thou art of the abject ones.” How often do we reject respect and obedience to authority because we think ourselves better than those who commanded us? Suppose the ruler is wicked. Should we respect that rule? Again, Allah says in the Holy Qur’an, “I am going to place a ruler in the earth” and the angels respond, “Wilt Thou place in it such as make mischief in it and shed blood?” And Allah answers, “I know what you know not.” Even if the ruler is wicked, he could not come to power except by Allah’s Permission for reasons we may not be acquainted with. Respect for authority does not necessarily imply obedience in all things the authority says. We can respect authority, but Allah says obey those in authority over you except when it is against your religion (Will of God). Then you are commanded to disobey, but still in a respectful way.

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THE EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY “And He it is Who has made you successors in the land and exalted some of you in rank above others, that He may try you by what He has given you. Surely thy Lord is Quick in requiting (evil) and He is surely the Forgiving, the Merciful” Holy Qur’an 6:166 “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Proverbs 29:2 Any human being who exercises authority has, along with that authority, powers to enforce his or her authority. Our lack of respect for authority can cause authorities to use force to enforce that authority. By virtue of the fact that a father and mother are the agents of procreation gives them authority over what they produce. However, they must be mindful that they have been given authority over what they produced, but did not create. “And We have enjoined on man goodness to his parents. But if they contend with thee to associate others with Me, of which thou has no knowledge, obey them not. To me is your return and I will inform you of what you did. Holy Qur’an 29:8 “And if they strive with thee to make thee associate with Me that of which thou hast no knowledge, obey them not, and keep kindly company with them in this world and follow the way of him who turns to Me; then to Me is your return, then I shall inform you of what you did.” Holy Qur’an 31:15 Parents, kings rulers judges --- are never the sole authority for they are not the Author of existence. The Author of existence is also the Watcher of how we execute authority over what He creates. How we handle authority manifests the quality of our faith, knowledge, wisdom and understanding, and, deeper, it manifests the level of our respect for Him Who created what we have authority over. Child abuse is not just the abuse of children. It is also abuse of the privilege of exercising authority over Allah’s (God’s) creatures, therefore it is also abuse of Him. Abusive parents produce hatred in the hearts of the abused child for them. Abusive authority, no matter on what level, creates hostility and the lack of desire, will or spirit to cooperate, ultimately leading to rebellion. History is replete with examples of abusive rulers, what happened to them and their authority whenever their disrespect of what they ruled exceeded the limits. “Surely Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and made its people into parties, weakening one party from among them; he slaughtered their sons and let their women live. Surely he was one of the mishciefmakers...And We desired to bestow a favour upon those who were deemed weak and to make them the leaders and to make them the heirs. And to grant them power in the land and to make Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts see from them what they feared.” Holy Qur’an 28:4–6 “Then We sent Moses and his brother Aaron with Our messages and a clear authority... To Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they behaved haughtily and they were an insolent people. So they said: Shall We believe in two mortals like ourselves while there people serve us? So they rejected them and became of those who were destroyed.” Holy Qur’an 23:45–48 Everything in creation has a tolerance level beyond which it cannot endure. When authority exceeds the limits in its abuse of the people, the people reach a level of tolerance beyond which they cannot go. The Holy Qur’an teaches that “persecution is worse than slaughter.” When the people reach a level beyond which they cannot tolerate further abuse, they actually prefer slaughter to persecution, so they rise up against that authority that is persecuting them and

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generally, it is the same God Who permitted that authority to come into power Who stirs the people to rise up and destroy it. “They said: We were persecuted before thou camest to us and since thou has come to us. He said: It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you rulers in the land, then He will see how you act.” Holy Qur’an 7:129 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THOSE WHO GOVERN AND THE GOVERNED In order for any authority to be successful in carrying out its authority, that authority needs the good will of the governed and the way to obtain good will is to govern with justice and equity. On the other hand, those who are the governed, as we all are under some authority, have the duty and the obligation to respect and obey those in authority among us, whether they are of our own race, religion or not. There are times when I have been stopped by abusive authority who appeared to be bent on provoking an incident to justify their misuse of the power they possess to enforce their authority. But by following the Guidance of Allah (God) found in the Holy Qur’an and the Bible as given by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I handled that abusive authority with such respect, that it forced them to act in a way that they did not intend by me. I am not saying that this method works on every occasion, but 90% of the time, if we show respect for those in authority over us, no matter how they come, we will find that we can spare ourselves and others undue and unnecessary harm. Each of us who is governed also governs and the best rule to use to protect both those who govern and those who are governed is: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

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STEP 3: Check Your Understanding The following questions are for discussion at the conclusion of the study session. The remaining questions can be completed at your own pace as you continue your study at home. You can use your book if you need help answering the questions. Write your answers on a sheet of paper.

Questions For Discussion: 1. Why does Allah have the right to be obeyed? 2. What is meant by “The servants of Allah (God) are tested by those persons that are in authority over

him or her?” What does, “how we handle authority” manifest in us? Explain. 3. What is the result of disobedience and disrespect for those in authority over us? 4. Under what circumstances does Allah allow one to “respectfully disobey” someone in authority? 5. What important lessons can be learned from the Holy Quran when Allah commanded the

angels to bow down to Adam and all did submit except Iblis? 6. What is the result of parents or rulers that exceed the limit? 7. How does one in authority (ruler, parent, boss) gain the good will of those he/she governs? 8. The Holy Qur’an teaches that “persecution is worse than slaughter.” How could this be so? 9. Is there a difference between ‘respect’ and ‘obedience’? If so, what is it? 10. What is the “golden rule” for those in authority and those being governed? Why?

Questions For Further Study: 1. How does respect for authority maintain peace at home, work, or in the mosque environments? 2. Do we disrespect and disobey others based on their race, religion, political position, etc?

Explain. 3. Should we obey authority if the authority is unjust or even wicked? 4. Is there a difference between ‘producing’ and ‘creating’? If so, what is it? 5. Each of us has the responsibility of governing and the responsibility of being governed. We

have experienced such dual roles as being parent and child, teacher and student, employer and employee. What difficulties do we encounter in each of these situations? What are some principles to follow in handling these situations?

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