Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed Speaks

QUESTION (4 May 2022): Recently, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, making her the first African-American woman to serve in that capacity. However, during her hearing, Judge Brown was asked by Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to define what a woman is and appeared unwilling or unable to do so.

Also, it has been reported that the high court is set to overturn the landmark decision in Roe V. Wade, effectively returning the issue of abortion to the control of state authorities.

What do these events signify for how this society defines the nature and purpose of a human being? And perhaps more specifically, what does it say about the perception of the role of females?

ANSWER (9 May 2022): Thank you for your question. I have been thinking on these matters for quite awhile as you know. I believe the angels charged by G’d with helping me and witnessing to my conduct and even my decision-making have been restraining me from moving too quickly in responding to these matters. I believe it is because I have accepted to not think on these matters for my own personal interests only. I think on them as one responsible for representing a whole people who belong to a tradition of Divine Guidance that I am working hard to uphold. Because of this I believe I am more sensitive and aware of the angels assigned to me. It is a part of faith for Muslims to know of and to respect the role of angels. Some reading this will not take it as seriously as I do. I take it very seriously that Allah has given them a command to assist his human creation and I accept their assistance.

To begin answering this question I would like to point out that our system of government is really a marvelous working instrument. You have to separate yourself from bitterness in order to see it. You cannot see it if you are still perceiving yourself as a victim of America and American-style racism, etc. If you are a wide-awake student of racism in America and you can permit yourself to perceive an existence beyond its reach or effects, then you can see America in a different picture. You will see it’s promise in spite of its abuses and wrongs. The only way to appreciate it in that perspective is with healthy and clear human eyes. You will have to have a force in your life to clear your vision. For me that is the Qur’an and Muhammed, the prayers and the peace be upon him. But not any perception of that. For me it is the universal perception of that taught by the son of the Honorable Elijah Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Mohammed. I’m not saying that you can’t see America’s beauty without that influence. I’m saying that is what explains how I can see America so clearly.

With this cleared vision I can see how the American idea of government was formed and I can see its tremendous beauty. Even when it is not operating well because of human shortcomings, I can see how the design itself is evolved out of man’s best hopes and aspirations. The design has an aim and a basis that is blessed by G’d. It is evolved from G’d’s Plan for mankind. We know however that human beings fall short. We know that the human beings at the controls in America right now and in the distant and recent past have in many ways cheapened that design or failed that design.

I would like to point to an unfortunate reality for present-day citizens of the United States. As citizens we get very little, if any, really clear moral guidance or support from our government. That is not the stated purpose of government—to give moral guidance per se, but the government duty to create and execute laws, and the responsibility for its officers to govern justly according to those laws, is a moral concern. We might refer to it as a sacred concern. Our government representatives are morally confused. We cannot fully trust their moral vision or judgment. It is conflicted at best.

There was a time, in my lifetime, where government leaders were looked upon as examples of moral decency. No matter what deficiencies may be in the individual, the responsibility to govern justly is a moral and sacred duty. This is why government leaders take oaths of office. I think the American people, generally, still have the hope and expectation that our government leaders qualify in the language of those oaths. We know that there will always be some who fall far short of that, but the expectation for that kind of excellence and decency is a natural demand. We expect honesty and decency from our leaders even when we see them struggling with that.

I am saying that the American people have been cheated out of the best of the American idea of government because of human failings. However, I’m not saying that the government is not functioning. I am saying it is not functioning at or near its best. Many of these persons representing the American people are not themselves qualified as persons morally situated to fulfill the ideal of what democracy aims for. They are highly capable and very intelligent people, but their intelligence has a defect in it. And that defect is that the demand for decency is not addressed in them and not satisfied in the life of the people for the aims in a democratic system. I am looking at this as a Muslim in nature and a Muslim in conscience. These leaders give us their logic for decisions, but that logic does not conform to what our nature tells us is decent and capable of upholding a moral system of governing.

If the government leaders I am thinking of are honest, they will agree with me. They know that they are falling short of the Rule of Human Decency. They may not admit publicly to the truth of this, but the best of their moral nature is calling out to them. It is calling out to them from many quarters. In this case it is calling out to them in the voice and language of my Muslim-American reasoning. My voice is THE voice of the spirit and vision of Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s reasoning. It may not be widely known or appreciated but Muslim-American reasoning in the language of Imam W. Deen Mohammed is a pillar of American society. In 2022, that reality is more symbolic than actionable. But, the day is coming where that will be more in action and relied upon than symbolic. The day is coming when America will depend upon the reasoning and leadership of the best of Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s following.

I do not want to make a comment on any individual person. And so, I cannot speak specifically about the newly appointed and honorable Justice of the Supreme Court, Mrs. Ketanji Brown Jackson. I am no expert on the personal circumstances that shaped her mind and spirit. We do not know and cannot know all of what forms the perspectives and opinions of these persons. We do not know all of the experiences that have shaped and produced their minds. They do not even know what is deep in their moral psyche—not even if they are under the care of a psychiatrist. We do not know with any specificity what has influenced their moral nature. But what we do know is that these influences that we cannot see that live and operate in their psyche play a central role in how they present their arguments for or against an important matter influencing the life of the American people and the world.

My sincere pride in the Honorable Judge Brown Jackson as an African-American female achiever is great. She has my sense of awe in her qualifications and achievements. I do see her in her giant steps for the African American people and for all women. But I am sober and measured in that. That very strong feeling of pride is not intoxicated by any unchecked emotion or sentimentality. It is tempered and disciplined by an expectation of her to make decisions that protect and support the sanctity of the true human person in American society with a view into how law evolves out of a respect for the human moral constitution.

As I understand it, the Supreme Court has as its highest obligation to interpret the intent of the Constitution and its Framers as relates to the understanding and application of laws that reach and affect the whole nation. In other words the justices are focused on whether the laws that govern human lives in the American idea of society conform to the principles expressed in the Constitution. The Framers of the Constitution, or we may say the Founders, had a vision of human society. That vision was firmly fixed on the sanctity of human life in society under the influence of what G’d’s intends for that life, as they perceived it. Their perception of that was influenced by ideas and a psychology that originated from a respect for the combination of Nature and Divine Guidance. By Divine Guidance I am referring to Scripture and the role and teachings of prophetic figures given voice and personality in Scripture.

For the justices of the Supreme Court two important concepts in the governing of society are in focus. One, a conscious awareness or consciousness of G’d’s intent for His human creation. And two, the application of that consciousness for the benefit of the whole life of the people in society that pays respect to their natural or inherent entitlements or rights. More specifically, it is a high consciousness of the United States Constitution as it should be understood and interpreted to govern the American people, and also to distinguish their collective life or identity as a free people. These two major focuses are necessary to appreciate the principle of Justice and the just order of society in general and in the American system. This recognition is expressed as a concern for and commitment to a balanced life. That is to say the whole life of man as G’d created it, balanced upon a natural bias of fairness. This sensitivity must dawn in the consciousness of the responsible individuals who are charged with governing in order for there to exist a just order, and to provide for the development of principles that serve the proper functioning of that just order.

This is an Islamic perception, but it is also a natural movement in the soul and intellect of mankind. As a conviction and an obligation, Muslims must strive for this. There is no picture of Islamic community without this. There is no witness to a model community existence for mankind in a picture of full and completed excellence without this perception. Muhammed the Prophet represents this and Christ Jesus is a great sign of this. This is why America’s pursuit of this, at least in its founding language, is so special as an idea of society.

Is this perception of government, justice, and a just order in the actionable consciousness of the present day Muslim world leadership? I would have to say no. No, not in conscience nor in practice. Do we have it as an honest objective in the current and popular leaders who say they are in the following of Imam W. Deen Mohammed in America? No! And no, indeed. No in-deed! I am obviously emphasizing that. Why? It is because those Muslim-American leaders had access to the reawakening of this sensitivity in Muhammed the Prophet’s teachings in a way more directly and clearly than anywhere in the Muslim world.

The Muslim world lost sight and connection to Muhammed the Prophet’s practice of these principles centuries and centuries ago, and have not yet come close to regaining it. But for us in America we had direct and clear access to it by way of Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s teaching. Not until recently have we refocused these concerns in this way. And that is due in large part to the dawning again of this teaching in the consciousness of his people. But even that dawning is unclear, even defective in some ways. The spirit of Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s true leadership remains opposed as the majority of the people and leaders oppose the idea of his succession. They identify with his mortality, not his spirit. They buried his mortality in 2008. They don’t believe it is resurrected, nor in its resurrection. Their behaviors and attitudes crucify and bury him over and over again. But, I assure you it is resurrected and it is ascending. So it is for the United States of America and it’s Roe versus Wade abortion rights debate.

There remains a fundamental defect in American reasoning as shown in the present national discussion on the value of females in human society. The matter in question for the Roe vs Wade issue is about human life and the role of the female intellect. On the one hand you have a clearly qualified and celebrated intellect who is a female joining the High Court of the land, but who hesitates to comment on female life, and thus human life. On the other hand you have a raging confrontation in which the central conflict is whether society on the whole can trust the female intellect to properly value and protect human life. Where John Doe is a male person in concept represented as a thinker and doer, Jane Roe is a female person in concept representing the role of the female urge and intellect in society expressed as a womb. Roe v Wade is in reality Womb of Man v Prevailing Trends.

No civil or sane society will kill its children, or make a justification for the killing of children, male or female. To kill children is to cut off the lifeline of human society. The issue is the womb of mankind. The issue is the way in which we value the first home and first support that human life depends upon. We are given life by G’d through the wombs of our mothers. There is no intellect formed and therefore no knowledge to be extracted from the world we are born into except that we are formed within the womb of our mothers over a period of nine months and birthed into consciousness. And I believe there are nine justices on the Supreme Court of the United States. In this way the judgment of the 9 will make clear to us if the true value of human life has yet dawned again in the consciousness. That is the valued and “viable” life. A correct recognition of that value and viability must be reflected in a respect for the female urge that provides for the reaching for that consciousness. That is the urge in the womb: the womb produces an intellect that first awakens, then observes, then by natural processes, reasons, and then grows into individual responsibility and then ultimately collective cooperation and responsibility.

G’d says in the Holy Book of Muslims that He has created human life from a male urge and a female urge. Therefore, human life cannot develop without both properties working. Jesus Christ comes as a Sign being born of a woman untouched by a man. His mother was fed and sustained by nothing except Divine Guidance and the spirit of obedience to the One Who Planned the life and Reveals His Plan. So, it is the life that comes from the womb, formed of nature-based consciousness and upon delivery reaches for the moral consciousness that when attained will discipline and enable him or her to realize a universal ethical consciousness with which society can be properly governed. This is the system of 9 justices reaching for the proper awareness or consciousness, which is 10. This is also the Christ nature taming the wild animals in the nativity scene. And it is the description of Muslim identity as both nature and consciousness.

If you have the opportunity to visit the Supreme Court you will see a kind of sculpture or carving near the roof of the building. In that carving are memorialized the great lawgivers associated with Divine Guidance. They say that included there are Christ and Muhammed. But, most recognizable to the majority of observers would be Moses holding the tablets of 10, peace be on all of G’d’s Messengers.

The Bible says that Moses was given 10 principles to live by. We know that our good mothers taught us that decency even before we could read them in a holy book. The Qur’an says that Moses was given 9 clear signs.

The dawning in the consciousness (10) of the proper respect and treatment of the whole life of people in society (9) is in the balance. It is a discussion over the value of the womb (female intellect) in its trustworthiness to birth into the world a ‘viable’ and worthy human existence. It is not to be framed in the small frame of US federal or state responsibility. It is to be determined by men and women of decency who themselves have been formed of the conscious awareness of G’d’s Plan for human life and are dedicated to its establishment and security in the the just order of society.