Böcker av Al-Haj Karriem Shabazz

Calling somebody a sinner or a hypocrite, or calling someone a lame or blind, or one-eyed, or giving him a nickname containing a reference to some defect or flaw in him/her, or his parents, or in his family, or giving such a nickname to a person, or a family, or a community, or a group, which may bring disapproval or disgrace on it. Only those nicknames have been made an exception from this Command, which though offensive, are not intended to disapprove of the persons concerned, but they instead serve as a mark of recognition for them. If there are several men with the same name and a particular man among them may be recognized only by a particular title or nickname of his, the title or nickname can be used, even though the title by itself may be offensive. For instance, if there are several men called Abdullah, and one of them is blind, he may be called Abdullah the blind, only for recognition purposes. Those titles also are not a part of this Command, which though offensive, are in fact, given out of love and the people who are called by those titles themselves approve of them, like Abu Hurairah (father of the kitten).

Allah invites man to study the wisdom that underlies variety in the world. In fact, the whole system is based on a variety, and a range of things. For example take the case of the signs of day and night: "You see these opposite things daily in your life. If you consider the underlying wisdom, you find that without this variety there would hardly be any activity in the world. Likewise, great wisdom lies in the creation of people with different temperaments, thoughts and inclinations. If Allah had made all men righteous by birth or did not create disbelievers and wicked people and left only believers and peaceful people in the world, the purpose of man''s creation could not have been realized. Therefore, it is wrong to desire that there should only be day and no night.

Do not turn your face to any other direction after you have adopted this way of life. Then, you should, think like a Muslim. Your likes and dislikes should be of a Muslim. Your values and standards should be the ones set by Islam, and your character and conduct should bear the stamp of Islam. The affairs of your individual and collective life should be ordered according to the way taught by Islam. On the occasion of the creation of Adam the angels were gathered together and commanded to bow down before Adam and man''s appointment as Allah''s vicegerent was proclaimed. Likewise, the whole of mankind that was to be born up to the Day of Judgment was brought into existence at the same time, and instilled with common-sense and brought forth to Allah''s presence and asked to testify that Allah is their Lord.