1974 Saviour’s Day

Messenger Elijah Muhammad’s Last Sermon
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The following lecture is transcribe from the video tape recorded on
February 26, 1974

Photograph of Messenger Elijah Muhammad reprinted from the August 23,
1974 edition of Muhammad Speaks Newspaper on Rostrum at 1974 Saviour’s
Day Lecture

In the Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, To Whom All Holy Praises is due,
The Lord of the Worlds. I’m so happy to see your smiling faces out here.
Now you’re talking about a little man, feeling like he’s a big man,
that’s me! Lot’s of people call me a little man. I wish they’d come and
see how big I am now.

All Praise is due to Allah, Who have made it possible for us to meet here
this day to give honor, thanks for His coming and for His blessing. He
has now come in our midst. He’s with us. We don’t see Him as a spook.
He’s no spook. He’s a live man! He’s a Living God!

I’m sorry that I have not asked you to sit down. You look so beautiful
and I don’t want you to sit down.

Brothers and Sisters, when you were Christian, you used to sing that when
you get to heaven, you were not going to sit down. Well we have a great
job here to do today. And I am going to say to you I thank you for
receiving me with such great honor. And that you may now be seated. I’m
going to turn the meeting over to the secretary. He has lots to tell you.
And so he’s going to address you and get busy and tell you what we must
do – what must , now, be done after the Coming of God. I turn you over to
the secretary, as I say unto you in the Name of Allah,
As-Salaam-Alaikum…Just a moment. I looked at myself a little coming in
by a mirror and my grandson here, he was telling me, so I hope you don’t
chop my head off for this mighty crown I have on…

….As-Salaam-Alaikum. My Beloved Brothers and Sisters, we have today a
very beautiful day from Allah. To you that is visiting us, that we know
and that we don’t know… Some of you, we don’t know you…You may make
yourself known to us so you can receive your honor from us for visiting
us today. We are a people that does not think that we are Big I’s. We
think that we are little you’s. And not Big I’s. We are so greatly
blessed by Allah and by you visiting us that we can not help but to be
happy and proud of your presence. There may be some of you that is some
great dignitary that we don’t know. You are welcomed to make yourself
known to us that we may be able to give you credit for what you are.

And that we want to say to you that is visiting us that probably comes
from overseas.We want you to know that you are at the setting of the
sun. But that sun is rising again. It’s set. But she is rising again.
Bringing us in a new day. The Coming of God. The Coming of Our Saviour.
He’s not a Spook. I want you to know that we are trying our best, since
we have met face to face with God to try to move from you that old idea
that God is some Spirit that is formless. We want you to get out of that
old slavery idea. If you call God by a pronoun, He…you’d feel pretty
cheap calling Him “she”. You’d feel pretty cheap calling Him
“spirit”…You’ve got to say He!

I’m here to tell you that He’s not a “she” nor is He some formless
spirit. The Bible says on the Day of Judgment you will see God as He is.
This is the Day. And I can GLADLY say that He is a He!

There is a many people who have not known God. And there is a many people
that know God. The white race knows God. But they can’t represent God as
you and me. Do? They will be giving away the power to rule. They were not
to rule under the Teachings of reality of God. They were made to hide to
reality of God in order that they themselves would be worshipped.

I don’t get angry with them the way that they rule and what they teach.
How in the world can they teach and turn us away from the God of Reality
if they intend to rule they have got to take us away…because we’ve got
the reality. Every time you look at a Black man, you’re looking at God!

Maybe some of us will say, “Oh no! I’m no God and you’re no God”. Okay,
get your God out and show Him to me. You can’t do that. You say that God
is a Spirit. Show Him to me. You can not show me your spirit God. Then
you say, He’s not to be seen. Well then, I don’t want to see Him if he
don’t want to see me.

As it is written, we worship that which we know, what? You worship that
which you know not! We are not going to hold your attention to this kind
of subject. We’ve got lots of work here to do. For 43 years, I have been
teaching that GOD IS MAN! For 43 years I have been teaching that one day
you will wake up to know. You will wake up and agree with me. From the
looks of your numbers here today, it SEEMS that you’re waking up.

There is no intelligent will come out of the college or out of the
university with his degrees in his hand and in his pocket and will agree
to you that he learned that he had to worship Spooks. Because he went to
colleges and universities of the land to learn the truth of who is who.
He didn’t go there to make a fool out of himself.

The professors and scholars over at the colleges and universities would
look at you and laugh at you to tell them to go and worship something
they don’t know nothing about. And I don’t blame them.

We are very happy. We have with us two or three great scientists over to
my right here. They are great scientists visiting us.

If we had been here worshiping the space, the atmosphere, for God, they
would not have taken a seat over there. So we are happy and honored to
have these great scientists sitting over here to our right. We are happy
to be honored by them. We are glad that they are visiting us to know that
sun, the Spiritual sun, is vice-versing itself, rising from the West!

I’m not saying that I’m trying to make them look small for coming here
visiting us. As we are small. We are those Lost and now Found people that
the Bible’s been teaching us all of our lives. We are those people. God
have come to raise us up to give to us a Kingdom. And the Bible says, it
is His own Good Will to do so. He takes the Kingdom from whom He pleases
and gives it to whom He pleases. So we had no Kingdom, but He’s, now,
giving to us a Kingdom. This represents a Kingdom.

“Sit him down over there. Crown him. Put him on good shoes. (The
Messenger laughs) Get up Brother! And recognize your Brother that was
Lost and is now Found. Get up! Give Him a place at home! Come on in
Brother!” Praise Be To Allah!

“He was Lost. Now he’s found. He was dead, but now he’s Alive. Come on
in, Brother. Have a seat ,Brother. Put him on a crown….This is it!

Since the Coming of God, in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad and
teaching you and me that He had searched the earth, as it is written. Now
He have found us. Now what must be done? We can not sit down. We must go
to work. Praises be to Allah!

We want to thank the Chicago white people from making it possible for us
to obtain the Country Club. For making it possible for us to get in such
position where we can prove ourselves worthy of position. We thank them.
They have did us a great favor. I don’t think that we have nothing to do
but to honor and thank them for putting us in such position. This is
their house and we are here teaching the truth. They are not objecting to
you teaching the truth. As we have white Muslims in America. And lots of
them. We have them all over the world. And they recognize and respect
you. You must recognize and respect them.

You don’t disrespect people that is trying to respect you. I remember the
last time that I was out to the airport. They let me and my followers get
on first. Now remember that their flag is still flying over America.
Honor and respect the man. Because he still has his flag.

There is much that can be interchanged between them and us in that way of
respect. We don’t have to get up to try to make fun of them just because
you have learned yourself. And now you have learned them. Just remember
that they show you respect after you have learned yourself. Show them
respect them too! Because when you didn’t know yourself, you didn’t
respect self nor anyone else.

We used to disgrace ourselves and them too. Because we didn’t know
ourself. But now we respect ourselves and we respect them. Praise be to
Allah! If you go out there disrespecting the owner of this land…they
are the owners as long as they are in power…I think you will be showing
disrespect for the high honor that has been conferred on you and me by
God. You have to respect everybody. And everybody will respect you.

God give way to them to rule. Then you’re honoring their ruler. As long
as they are in power to rule, then respect them. This I mean from my
heart. Every where we go, respect people and people will respect you.
Don’t think that you are so great now just because God promised you the
Kingdom. Wait ’til you get in it.

And still you must remember that a ruler may dishonor. And dishonoring
people he’s dishonoring himself.

My beloved brothers and sisters, God has come and He visited us. He don’t
mean for us to waste our time looking to see who can we make mock of.
Look and try and show people, that if you mock disrespect , that God did
not raise us up to repeat the same. We must show the world that we are a
Righteous people trying to set up the characteristics in our people of
righteousness.

We don’t want our people acting unrighteous. Regardless to who’s acting
unrighteous by us, we must not do so ourselves if we represent ourselves
as being righteous people. We be righteous.

If we say there goes the devil. Then don’t try and practice after him if
you say your are righteous. Show the devil that you are a righteous
person. Because he’s watching you for such. Since you say, now that you
are righteous, the prove it. And if you say he’s not righteous, he will
say, he was not his Maker. And that will stop YOUR mouth.

He did not make himself. It was our kind that made him. So if you want to
make mock that which you have made, he could easily tell you that “I am
not responsible for my make, you made me yourself, your kind.”

Let us remember these words. There is lots that we must learn to do to
show forth to the world who we are. We are not raised up to sit around
and make mock of people. No! We are raised up to show the world what
righteousness looks like. And how it feels to be righteous. Clearing a
man of his past and putting him on the right road, This is a wonderful
thing!

He said to Israel, “I am your God!” Israel said, “I bear witness”. (The
Messenger laughs)

Now, He says to you and I, “Remember my face that I’ve bestowed upon you.
Take a Lesson from Me, that if I bestowed upon Israel those great
blessings, what you think I’m gonna do for you? If I blessed Israel to
bring her out of the bondage of Pharoah, what you think I’m gonna do for
you? I found Israel in the worst house of the wilderness, and I found
you in the worst house, and you are my own”

So if God said this, and He have said it, that we belong to Him…All
Praises are due to Allah!

He called Israel his son. Brothers and Sisters have come to us. I want to
show you, O my Lost and Found, that He that found you and me, is God! He
owns us! And He wants to do for us that which will stand forever. The
earth belongs to you. It didn’t belong to Israel. But, now, you are the
true owners. Think over that. Israel paved the way for you. Come on. I
want to give it back to you.

The Lost and Found. Been lost from his Brothers for a long time. Now,
he’s found. And we must bring him, again, sit him down within the midst
of his brother and tell him, “This is your home.” So today, you are on
your way to become the Owner and the Ruler of the earth.

Once you lay hold to that handle that will not break off, you must keep
it. You don’t have to worry about the people coming to you, they all will
come to you. As the Bible teaches you, “Look and see, they all come to
Thee”.

You are a very beautiful people that have been robbed and spoiled. But as
you come into Islam, Allah will gradually restore your beauty
appearance. You will become a beautiful Nation as never before lived on
the earth. If you don’t like any ugly part about you, He says He will
cause you to grow into a new growth.

“What must be done? ” We have God with us! We have Him as our guardian.
We don’t have to stand around here and ask the question, “What must be
done?” Get up and let’s go and do something!

We are trying to do something with whatever the white folks will let us
have. We are trying to do something with it to make them feel that they
didn’t give it over to a bunch of lazy fellows that want to sit down and
turn our face back to them, begging them to carry us right on.

When you have been given a chance to go for self, GO FOR SELF!

I say that the Black man of North America, have nobody to blame but
himself. If he respects himself and do for himself, his once slave-master
will come and respect him and help him to do something for himself.

You can not say they don’t help you to do something for yourself. They
are helping us to go for ourselves. Who would want to help an old horse
that don’t want to do anything but lay down in the loft. Why? Really
disgusting. Rouse him up and tell him, “Hey, get up! If you can’t pull
the tractor, pull the plow.”

I don’t believe in us, now in this modern time, laying down on the white
man, looking for him to give us something to go for. He gave you
something when he gave you freedom. That’s all you wanted. To be free to
do something for self. Well, you’ve got that. Don’t, now, lay down around
his doorstep, asking him to help you. Go help yourself. You know that’s
right. He’s taken the shackles off of you and said “now you’re free, go
for yourself.” Why should you still lay there to gate, “give me, give
me”? Give you nothing!

That’s the truth! What’s he going to give you now, after he let you go
free to get it for yourself. You don’t need to blame him, now. Blame
yourself! The earth is large! And that there is enough of it for you to
have some and for them to have some. If God wants to continue to help
them to live on this earth, you get that part that He gives you. And
don’t be worried over his.

Take that which God gives you, and that only. Go to war with no man over
that of his own. No. You don’t fight nobody over what is theirs. Just get
yours and keep yours. And let him his. If God gives it to him, that’s him
and God. “God, just give me something”. Now God has given me something.
Let us do the best we can with what He has given to us. Take somebody’s
property? Take nothing!!! Just take that which God has given to you and
make something out of it.

You take nothing! You go to war with no man! No! You go to war with
yourself. Trying to rob people out of their own, that’s wrong! The earth
is too large.

“Well he’s taken it from me”. Well, you let him do it. I don’t blame him,
if you going to let me take it, well that’s ok.

I say to you, my beloved brothers and sisters, Allah has Blessed us. All
we have to do is go to work and try and make the best out of what He has
given to us. And stop looking at other people’s property. Looking for
them to give you theirs. You don’t take nothing, whether he’s taken it
from me and he’s taken it from my brother. Well, if he’s taken it from
the Indian, let the Indian fight for his own. One thing I can bear
witness with the white man, the Indian wasn’t doing nothing with it.

And if he come here taking it away from them and built up a great country
like this, I say he ought to have been here a long time before he did.
Not that I said that that I hate the Indian, for the loss. No! I love the
Indian. But he was not smart enough to keep his home. So he let a
stranger take it. Well, we are strangers too. And we have got to have
some of this earth that we can call our own. And regardless to who he
is, we’ve got to have some of the earth. We’ve got to have a place to
live that we can call our own. There are over 30 million of us running
from one state to the other, just like wild animals. We’ve got to have a
home.

And if the game is that take whatever find and make you a home, then me
must get a home. Because no one wants to give you their’s. So we must
find a home that we can find call our own. I can’t wear a crown with no
country! To crown me, I’ve got to have some of this earth. Man with a
crown and have no country is like a ship out there at sea. It’s a ship
but it have no home, therefore it can’t travel. We’ve got to have a home.
If God come to bless us He must bless us with the help of giving us some
of this earth that we can call our own.

If the Bible is true that the Lost Found was given a home. We thank
Allah to bless us and speedily bless us with a home. We can not, no
more, go around making mock of each other. Cut it out. We are all
brothers and sisters.

We make mock of no one. Because remember, that once upon a time you were
mocked. And you deserved it. You didn’t have nothing and you would not do
nothing to get something.

So, I say, brothers and sisters, since the arrival of Allah, I do think
that we should not sit still. We should arise and be like the Book says,
“Arise and shine!” You are no more living in the dark. You are living in
the light. So let us arise and shine forth. And go forth. Do something
for self!

It’s actually hurting to hear our people, and some of the are leaders,
over the air, begging the white man to give them something. Give you
nothing! You can give yourself something, now! You have freedom to go for
yourself. You don’t need nothing else. Since you claims the earth. And
he’s living on it. And it belongs to you and you are not intelligent and
smart enough to dig out of your earth that which he dug out of it, right
under your feet. So don’t blame him for digging out that which you were
not digging out. These facts, fair and plain. Look at self before ever
you start charging others, of your own faults.

I don’t say this to say that the white people did not treat us as they
should. No, they did not treat us as the should. And if they had treated
us as they should that would have been Freedom, Justice and Equality. And
that, nature didn’t put in him. He gives you what nature gives him. So
now don’t blame him for that which by nature you put in him. Blame
yourself for putting it in him.

I want us to remember that Allah has established His Self among you and
me. And give you a Flag representing your freedom. And that you are
justified to be free. Now if He has given to you a flag and that you are
justified in having that flag to lift up to the people of earth, let us
show the people of earth that we can do something for self. We’ve got
the greatest flag ever been raised by any man!

We must remember that the fault is not on the slave master anymore, since
he said you can go free. And we see, today, he is not hindering us. In
fact, it’s we hindering ourselves. Give justice to whom it’s due. We
glorify in making fun and charging the slavemaster with keeping us a
slave. He can’t hold you no slave now. You’re holding yourself a slave.

I say to you, my beloved brothers and sisters, give justice to where it
belongs. And don’t try and rob people out of justice. If the whiteman,
and he has, freed you and me to go to work for self.. and you go all
around the earth. He don’t object…you can go wherever you want to, and
he’s not to blame, today. You are the one to be blamed. This is a very
sly and distraught way that we have of dumping the burden on someone
else. Right is right. And we are of the Nation of Righteousness. Take our
place among the righteous, doing righteous.

I love you!

And I love you to do something for self. And stop putting your faults
on the slavemaster. If you say, “well he won’t let me do so and so and
so.” The earth is big! Go somewhere where you can do something for
yourself without being hindered. Regardless to him trailing us to make it
hard for us. The Indian and the buffalo trailed him. But that didn’t
stop him from opening up a great country that you and I are sitting here
in today, glorifying our freedom. The Indian was not doing anything with
the country but hunting and fishing.

What I’m trying to you, we can not put all the fault on the white man.
No, he don’t deserve us charging him with all the fault. Because you are
free. And to make it clear to you, Allah came and give to you and me a
flag representing Freedom, Justice and Equality.

We hoist that flag right here on his soil. He didn’t say take it down.
No. He did not hinder you from hoisting your own flag, right up beside
his. So we must get up and do something for self. Seeing that nobody’s
hindering us from doing for self. We must go and do for self. And stop
charging the old slave master with being our hindering cause. He’s not.
It’s ourselves. Ourselves.

Since you have known self. And now know your once slavemasters and he’s
not trying to hinder you from being yourself, I say, Be Yourself!

We all love to be equal with other people who are equal. Well do
something to make them to accept us as their equal. We can’t sit off over
here on the curbstone and tell him to come sit down with us. No.

You are a lazy people! You want something for nothing. That’s the way we
are. We are lazy. We can not take a country like this and build up cities
from one end of it to the other, like the white man has done. “Well, we
helped him.” Well, that was your fault! Certainly he was going to use
you, if you did not use yourself.

“He takes our women…” you say, “…and make a dog out of her”. You
are not trying to make nothing out of her yourself! Take her and make
them to know and see that you are intelligent and love your woman enough
to try and make something out of her after she ignorantly have fallen to
you, now make her to fall to you and make something out of her.

We are making an example of her. There they are!

We go back to the destroyer and ask him to restore that or fix up that
which he has destroyed. He’s a destroyer. Take your own and restore her
back in her place. Keep her in her place. Don’t let him see her running
around savage at night. He didn’t tell you to send your woman out there
on the street. You did it yourself. You should have kept her at home
where she belongs.

And if you don’t keep her in your home, naturally, she’s acting like a
wild beast out here, where she’s subjected to anybody. Get your woman off
the street, out of the public eye. And then the public will respect
you. Nowhere, will you go and find women with so much freedom that you
find in America. They are free to ramble all night long, come home
whenever they please and you are out there looking for them. Helping
them. We can not be respected with no such house. We’ve got to clean out
our house. And make our people more self-respecting. Then others will
respect her and they will respect you.

If you were up here where I am, you look very beautiful out there!

So I say to you that you can not put on a white dress or a black dress
and expect people to respect the dress.

I’m about now, to discontinue our subject here this afternoon, but I want
you to remember, that if you put on a white dress, clean and spotless,
and then in that dress is unclean, you can not be respected like that.

We can not go out and tell the public, “I’m a Muslim” unless you practice
the principles of it. You have got to respect and practice the principles
of Islam. I have visited the Muslim world. I have made pilgrimage to
Mecca and Medina and I have seen and I have heard. These people don’t
believe in foolishness. So I’m trying to clothe you, not only with the
garments of salvation, but clothe you with the principles of our religion.

These men are not here to look at you just trying to be Muslim. They are
here wanting to know whether or not that you are a Muslim at heart.

So my beloved brothers and sisters, I am going to discontinue this moral
teachings that I have been doing here for you for the last couple of
hours. And we are going home. And the Laborers will finish off that which
they know that they will have to do. And I say to you, I am greatly happy.

This book (Our Saviour Has Arrived) is being given to you today. Don’t
buy it. In fact, everything we have here on this desk to offer to you is
free!

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