-Seven (7) unit outline for community development-
We must be a community within a community with all the necessary things for civilized society. We must get back to basics as outlined in the seven-unit outline for community development first published in the Muhammad Speaks newspaper. When it comes to individual and community seven things are primarily needed for optimal existence, they are Leadership, training, food, clothing, shelter, technological advancement, and good health.
The seven-unit outline first published in the Muhammad Speaks newspaper, shows spiritual leadership represented at the top of the diagram, followed by education and training. This is followed by five necessities of the good life, which is the promise made by God to His people in the scriptures—to sit us in Heaven at once while we live and not after we die.
After learning Mathematics, which is Islam,
and Islam is Mathematics, it stands true
You can always prove it at no limit of time.
Then you must learn to use it and secure some benefit while
you are living, that is – luxury, money, good homes, friendship in all walks of life.
Sit yourself in Heaven at once! That is the greatest Desire of your Brother and Teachers.
(W. F. Muhammad the teacher of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Problem No. 13)
The essentials of living as mentioned earlier include food, clothing, shelter, technological advancement, and good health. In the seven (7) units outlined, we begin with spiritual leadership at the top, which is followed by training (disciplines), and education at the center of our activity, followed by the acquisition of the basic essentials of life; food, clothing, shelter, technology, and health. These are the 7 ingredients to living a happy and wholesome lifestyle.
This is the promise that was made to all of the student body that entered the Lost Found Nation of Islam in the Wilderness of North America, which was described or defined in another Lesson that states “that once we master the mathematical principles of our religion, we get the spiritual answers which translates into abundance—luxury, money, good homes, and friendship in all walk of life.” Again, these are seven principle characteristics of the good life—food, clothing, shelter, the right use of technology to advance civilization, friendship in all walk of life—abundance, happiness, and prosperity while we live.
As we previously stated, when it comes to individual and community seven things are primarily needed for optimal existence, they are Leadership, training, food, clothing, shelter, technological advancement, and good health. That’s look at each item separately:
1. Leadership: In the seven (7) unit outline first published in the Muhammad Speaks newspaper, it showed spiritual leadership represented at the top of the diagram. Our A’immah (imams) must be of the highest moral integrity.
2. Training: Our Imams should be well versed in Quranic Arabic and the Islamic sciences. Every male is a potential Imam in the Islamic faith due to fact that there is no priesthood. So, it is incumbent on the believers especially the males to guard the Holy Qur’an and the religion by studying and becoming fluent in Arabic, the Islamic sciences and the language of Imam W. Deen Mohammed (Warith Deen Muhammad).
a. Education> We as Muslims must educate our own children, as we must establish the Muhammad Schools of America (Sister Clara Muhammad Schools (Pre-K to 3rd grade); Honorable Elijah Muhammad Middle School (4th grade to 8th grade); and the Imam Warithuddin Mohammed High School (9th grade to 12th grade).
If we can’t start a fulltime school, we should at least establish Weekend or Strong-end Schools that will eventually grow into fulltime schools. We should want to see our Muhammad Schools grow into a Muslim Teachers Colleges and then into a Muhammad ibn Abdullah University of al-Islaam University System.
Note: The grades in the schools or hypothetical and will vary according to the design of each individual school. The Elijah Muhammad Middle School is also hypothetical. When it comes to education, we also must publish our own books and educational materials as mentioned previously so we need printing presses or publishing houses. We must support an independent press by supporting the Muslim Journal Newspaper, The Thinker and other periodicals.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed in his April 20, 1985 Tenth Anniversary address said; “In the spirit and interest of realizing for ourselves a truly Islamic free society, I have encouraged the creation, publication of books, magazines and even newspapers though we have a newspaper. But I would like to see more newspapers, a community as national as we are could have a newspaper in every big city. There is a Muslim who is an editor for a newspaper on or about I would say the same standard that our newspaper is on and I recall reading it on occasions when I have had opportunity to get one and it’s a very good newspaper, a very good newspaper.
Perhaps if we would search, we might even find even more newspapers put out by Muslims in the community or belonging to the community. When I’m saying community now, I’m referring to our community not the blood Islamic community. I’m talking about just our community, our part of the Muslim population here in the United States. We have recently realized the production of a magazine that will be coming out monthly progressions magazine some of you might have seen Progressions, maybe you got a copy of it.”
3. Food: We must purchase farm land and engage in organic farming, raise organic free-range grass-fed beef, bison, lambs and chickens. We must ensure these animals or slaughtered in a Halal (lawful) way and distribute them to the community by way of our own meat markets, grocery stores and supermarkets. We must do this not on a national level but on an individual or local community level. The New Africa Villages in the rural areas should provide vegetables, produce and Halal meats to the New Africa Residential Districts in our major cities by way of the New Africa Business Districts within those cities;[1]
4. Clothing: I believe we should take responsibility for feeding and clothing ourselves on an individual, local national level. We need our own clothing stores and clothing factories as well. We as Muslims in America should use CPC (Collective Purchasing Conference) to purchase our clothing, we should use CPC or some form of the big buy from the former AMCOP (America Muslim Co-operative Purchasing) or the bulk buying program from the old Nation of Islam to purchase big ticket items. Collective buying and the pooling of resources in the local Masaajid must become a reality. We must circulate our money within the Muslim community at least three (3) times before it goes out of our community.
5.. Shelter: W. F. Muhammad as previously stated said that Islam is Luxury, money, good homes and friendships in all walks of life, so we must have contractors, brick masons, plumbers, painters etc. to provide good homes for our community.
a. We as Muslims should absolutely without a doubt own our own homes, preferably in walking distance of the Masjid. As a local Masjid Community, we should strive to own all the property in our neighbor-hoods and put the neighbor back in hood. We also should design our real estate with an Islamic or ethnic flare just like the Chinese.
6. Technological Advancement: The Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (PBUH) advised the Muslims to “seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave” and he also advised us to “seek knowledge even if we have to go to China.” We must reclaim our position as the leaders in technical and scientific advancement. We must establish a school/educational system that goes from pre-k to grad school, and one that is designed to produce thinkers.
7. Good Health: We must observe the wonderful dietary advice given to us by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, his diet was an alkaline based diet. The prophet consumed a diet that consisted of a majority of fruits and vegetables, he ate very little meat. The fruits and vegetables consumed by the prophet were organic because there weren’t any pesticides being used in his time. The meat he ate was free of added hormones and they were grass fed not grain or cornfed like todays animals. We should also consider doing intermediate fasting like our prophet (PBUH) and eat one meal a day as prescribed by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. We must build our own healthcare system as envisioned by Mr. Elijah Muhammad. And I reiterate we must reclaim our health and focus on eating Halal (Lawful) foods and Tayyiba (Good/Organic) foods. “So, eat of the sustenance which Allah has provided for you, lawful and good; and be grateful for the favors of Allah, if it is, He Whom ye serve.” (Holy Qur’an 16:114)
[1] see the book “Al Islaam the Undiscovered Country” this book can be published from Lulu Publishing Company.
The ten-point plan of action proposed by Imam W. Deen Mohammad in his numerous lectures, books and Muslim Journal articles is as follows:
- Establishing a mosque (masjid) “as a place to worship Allah in congregation and as a center of spiritual and moral training.”
- Establishing a full-time school (Muhammad Schools of America) “that raises children with a strong Islamic identity, so they can, as future Islamic leaders, effectively meet and deal with the challenges of growing up in the West.”
- “Calling the general society” to embrace al-Islam.
- Establishing businesses to “make the movement financially stable and independent.”
- Establishing “geographical integrity by encouraging Muslims of the community to live in close proximity” to the mosque (New Africa Residential Districts).
- Establishing the New Africa community concept; (1) The building of townships; (2) Establishing New Africa business districts in already established cities or towns; (3) Establishing an independent school system (Muhammad Schools of America and the Muslim Teachers College); (4) Collective Purchasing Conference (CPC) or collective economics; (5) Establishing of Shura Baynahum and political action committees i.e. MAPAC and the Coalition for Good Government; (6) The establishment of an independent press i.e. Muslim Journal and; (7) The establishment and the building of Masaajid (houses of worship).
- Establishing “social welfare institutions to respond to the need for spiritual and material assistance within the community as well as the general society.”
- Establishing “a free health clinic that will someday grow into a full-fledged hospital.”
- Establishing scout programs for young members of the community.
In addition to daily classes, each mosque in the community will “also provides youth mentorship, marriage counseling, a prison outreach program, and employment assistance for ex-convicts.”
The True Light 