The New Stewards of the Earth (Part II)

Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

In the Holy Quran 3:190, Allah (God) revealed: “In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, there are surely signs for men of understanding.” The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Saviours’ Day 2013 keynote address ushered in a new phase in our present 25,000 year cycle of history. What the Minister brought forth in his talk to us and the world regarding Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint was on time and exactly what must be done. Do we grasp the magnitude of the duties and responsibilities the Minister and the Two that back him have put before us?

            Reflect on his words. “Now, it’s clear that their [wicked husbandmen’s] stewardship is what has led to the condition of the earth today, and it demands a new steward…if God gives us [the] kingdom, and makes us stewards over creation: what kind of stewards are we going to be?” Again, the Holy Qur’an 7:34 says: “And every nation has a term; so when its term comes, they cannot remain behind the least while, nor can they precede (it).”  We are witnessing the old world going out, as a new world is coming in, just as the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us.

Why has the old world been sentenced to death? Because the made-man’s arrogant approach to science in his mastery of nature is without reverence or respect for the Author of Nature. The present world rulers have set themselves up in “the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” as it is written in II Thessalonians 2:4. His anthropocentric (man centered) approach to development without regard for environmental impacts has created a socio-ecological system that is unsustainable and without resiliency. In other words, the current practices of mankind will end and they will be unable to bounce back from the catastrophic consequences of their misguided stewardship. Therefore, there must be new stewards placed on the earth. We have now been placed in the valley of decision. Will we accept this phase of the mission?

Student Regional Ministers Robert Muhammad and Abdul Sharrief Muhammad

In Proverbs 1:5-6 it is written: “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their riddles.” Materialistic consumerism has replaced Christianity as the religion of the West and will soon replace Buddhism in the Far East. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said to us: “We must start teaching the babies, and begin to regenerate a culture of purposeful saving and investing.” It is imperative that we curb our media driven appetite for the latest gadget or consumable product. The Minister pointed out, “… there is no end to what we can do, if we start putting them nickels, pennies, [and] dollars together.” Therefore, our primary objectives are to control spending, while increasing saving and investing. The meaning of the Minister’s weekly series The Time and What Must Be Done is: we must change, adapt or perish! “Surely Allah never changes not the condition until they change their own condition” Holy Qur’an 13:11.

MGT of Muhammad Mosque No.45 Houston, Texas

Professor William Rees of the University of British Columbia states: “…mechanical assumptions must give way to dynamic analysis. The role of science shifts from facilitating the restructuring of nature to helping people adapt to natural variability.” He states further, “Understanding and coping with change is at the heart of resilience thinking.” In order for Black people to be resilient or bounce back from our terrible condition of poverty and want - change or adaptation is required.

Make Our Neighborhoods decent places to live

The first two of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s five ‘basic principles’ he outlined before giving us ‘the details’ of his Economic Blueprint were “Recognize the necessity for unity and group operation (activities) and Pool your resources, physically as well as financially.” This is what planning and management experts call an “inside-out” or “asset-capital based” approach. It focuses on looking at the glass half full rather than the glass half empty.

            Instead of focusing solely on our needs, problems, or deficiencies, we must now reorient our thinking to focus on our strengths, assets, and community capitals. In order to be successful, we must organize ourselves, associations, and institutions in our community to attract the resources we need to bring into existence what we desire. We must identify the human, social, cultural, economic, political, physical, and environmental capital-assets in our midst.  The Minister reminded us: “The enemy will never recognize us as an equal if we are in a begging position! We’re gonna have to get up and go to work, and do something for self!” It is as our Eternal Leader, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us: “Help self first, then others.” 

Fruit of Islam Muhammad Mosque No.45 Houston, Texas

Genesis 2:5 says: “And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground.” As it was in the beginning, our first order of business after organizing and pooling our resources is to acquire land for agriculture. The Minister made it crystal clear when he told us: “In order to build a nation, we had to give our people a vision of what it’s going to take. And we have to have land and there is no compromising this.” Today, we must now feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves.

          Are we the new stewards to replace the ‘wicked husbandmen’? We certainly can be if we follow Allah’s guidance coming through the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, organize, pool our resources, and implement Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint to end poverty and want.