Redemption: The act of saving or state of being saved from the power of evil; the act of redeeming. (Via oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com).
Who of us, regardless of your creed, class, or color, has not sinned, erred, or made a mistake in life that may well be coloring the quality of your existence?
Personally, I cannot imagine anyone that walks the earth that has not learned or matured without experiencing the flaws and errors that come with development of both the mind and the human character.
As I was listening to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad just this morning dealing with the topic of the realty of God not being a spook or a mystery, in conjunction with the recent series of lectures delivered by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s National Assistant Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad on this same topic of the Reality of God; I was encouraged to start back writing my posts on this topic. But, for the reader’s ability to capture the power (capacity) to grasp the Reality of God, it seems to me that there is a critical stage of conscious development that must be established as a foundation before we can behold the Reality of God—which will no doubt have a transformative affect on the conscious minds of all who read these posts.
In the Nation of Islam in the Western Hemisphere, conducted by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, and literally to all Muslims wherever they’re found in world, our mental attitude is absolutely germane to the resurrection of God consciousness which will be evident in the quality of our lifestyles. In fact, changing our inner attitude will prove to be transformative in everything that we say and do which is always witnessed by not only our loved ones but by every human being that we may be walking by on the street, or sharing space and time with regardless of whom or what.
A moment ago, while we were working on this post, we stopped to observe our Friday Salat-al-Jum’uah prayer service; wherein I was greatly inspired by the words of our great Imam who by Allah’s grace happens to be my nephew, Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad, wherein the guidance he was sharing from the Qur’an and the teachings of his great grandfather, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, was very instructive as nearly 2 billion Muslims around the world are preparing for the month of “Ramadan” which all Muslims dedicate to the remembrance and focus on Allah (God) the Most High. This brings to mind the word “attitude”. Attitude means the disposition or posture we all take toward or before any reality. Since this coming month of “Ramadan” is a holy and sacred month of fasting for all of us who are Muslims, its importance, I believe, must be discussed. As you do not have to be a believer in God under the term “Muslim” to observe a time of abstinence for the purpose of mental, spiritual and physical purification. As it relates to the chosen title of this post, “The Price for Redemption”, self-sacrifice with the aim of removing obstructions, ill thoughts and desires from the conscious mind and spirit must be and does require a sacrifice or withdrawal from those things or activities that impede our journey in life to become one with our Creator, Almighty God Allah.
Have you ever taken into account what we, starting with you, have done throughout your life that may have caused an arrested development in your character or in the otherwise pre-determined success in your life? I’ve quoted in previous posts the words of Ernest Hemmingway who said: “the human being was not born to be defeated”. I know this to be the truth! To believe this is very critical to each and everyone of us. To accept that none of us were born, fashioned—let alone created—to fail or to be defeated is to eliminate the root of one’s own hypocrisy, which is summed up and nurtured by “doubt”. So, the price for redeeming true value, worth and divine purpose for one’s own existence, has a cost or price we all must pay. The price is not in the currency of money necessarily, but instead it is the price of getting rid of the old you and make way for the new you that is founded on the moral principles of God himself in you, as a man or a woman of advanced age or as a young person. Remember, the scriptures of the Bible speak of divine transformation occurring after, yet in the instance. A great teacher by the name of Deepak Chopra puts it as a “quantum leap”. Remember, a quantum leap is a term that refers to an advancement or progression that does not require space and time as most of us understand it; instead, a quantum leap is a progression we are all capable of in the instance of thought. We find this in the Bible: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. This is speaking of a quantum leap that is in the instance of thought.
This could be, for any who need these words, a way to initiate good deeds in our behavior toward others with whom we have suffering relationships and most importantly, this is a great initiation for self-transformation that starts with how you think and see yourself. Until the next time, I pray Allah (God) through each of you who read these words will pardon me for any mistakes I may have made in these posts. And, I pray Allah will bless us all who will be observing the commencement of our Ramadan fast starting this coming Monday, with great success as it is given to us as a practice for thirty days to draw nearer to Allah (God) by regulating and disciplining our personal conduct to reflect Him. Thank you for reading this post.