Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed Speaks

SAMUEL ABUBAKR: Brother Imam, can you address the meaning of the four sacred months that is mentioned in the Qur'an?

IMAM EARL ABDULMALIK MOHAMMED: Thank you for this question my brother. Again, this is a question best answered in a religious-teaching classroom setting, a setting for me to teach from our Tradition of knowledge and understanding. In this situation for the public I will address the most important points and at a future time when I visit your city at the invitation of your Imam and the members in your masjid, and we have a class after the Dawn prayers or after the Sunset prayers, we can address it in more detail. I am praying that we will have many opportunities like this where we can invite the sincere leaders and the sincere people from the surrounding areas and we can get the Blessings from Allah that come for the group.

These teachings are not always for the public because the public does not always have the references in clear view. I intend this for the Islamic community. This is how we increase our strength as a community and our affections for each other, and work together for the integrity, or constitution, of our Islamic life. This is the attention to the inner human life, that eventually manifests in the outer life of physical institutions of knowledge and other establishments.

It should be said, though I am thinking that those who read this will know, that I am the Representative of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. What follows here is his reasoning and his view. I speak with his voice and his attention to Islamic life. I am teaching from his school of thinking. There are others who have this ability and I respect them. However, it must be established that he intended that I succeed him as leader of his following specifically because my thinking does not deviate from his. This is the discipline of thinking needed to help our people become healthier in their life and understanding as Muslims, and not turn to that which is incomplete or inferior.

So, we are speaking of the four sacred months as the Holy Qur'an states. And Allah says that they are four of twelve in the year. That the number of months in the year are twelve and that four are sacred. What makes them sacred? This is the question. What has Allah made that He identifies as sacred? This is the connection that we should appreciate first. Allah says that He has made human life sacred. The Holy Qur'an says "And do not take the life, that He has made sacred, except for truth", or as it is translated by some translators "for just cause."

The four months are not sacred outside of the reality of man's existence. It is man that must respect the sanctity of the months in his duties, obligations, observations, planning, etc. The months are related to time in the existence of man and the development of man's world, and the evolution of man's thinking -the processes of his maturity from his beginning to his fullness. It is what human psychological sciences and human physiological sciences refer to as the "cycle of life." It is related to the material world, but it is speaking to what is inside man's soul. Allah has planned this for man. So, the verse in the Qur'an is cautioning those who do not respect these processes. Allah says that "this is the religion straight, and do not oppress yourselves in it." "This is the religion straight..." These are powerful words carrying great and far-reaching implications. These words are in other places in the Qur'an speaking on the nature of man and also the Guidance. These words call our attention to the core of Islamic teachings.

So, the months are twelve and four are sacred. And Allah says "for Him is what is in the Heavens or Skies and what is in the Earth." There are the four major heavenly bodies which have assisted man in figuring or 'counting' the measure of his existence. They are the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Planets. And there are the four major earthly realities which man has explored to measure himself and the moral relativity of his world, and they are the Mountains, the Rivers, the Seas, and the Trees. These are eight in number, and the remaining four are in man himself that correspond with these eight (which correspond with each other) and they are the brain (or the head), the heart, the hands, and the feet. So, here are the twelve. So the human life has been made sacred, and no one, no authority has been authorized to take it, or disrespect it, or oppress it, or deny it.

The rule that orders the treatment of human life is that Allah has made it sacred, and the sacred connection is in its reflection of all of what is in the Heavens and the Earth. So, this is the first important point and I hope this is clear to you. What are the months themselves that are sacred, and what is the direct connection to man? The sacred months according to the Prophet's teaching are Dhu al-Qa'adah, Dhu al-Hijjah, Muharram, and Rajab.

Someone will say, "Why not Ramadan?" This is a question and we will get to it. But each of these months have direct importance to figures or types in the life of man that are significant and heavy for seeing the progression of the human life and the human world, as Allah wants us to appreciate it. These figures add up to the four major significances, which when you put them together with man's reality as a spiritual being makes man complete. These four major figures or types are Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus -peace be on the Prophets of Allah.

Now the Islamic calendar is on the phases of the moon, so they cycle throughout the four seasons -and here is yet another connection. This means that in every stage of man's moral and intellectual development he is addressing a vital system of his existence that needs to be matured and progressed -nothing, no area of man's development, is missed. The need for his intellect is addressed, the need for the maturity of his sentiments are addressed, his physical and material reality is addressed, and the need for him to govern himself in balance with his own human demands and respect for his natural environment are all addressed in balance and respect. So, these great types reflect the challenges and the progressions.

Dhu al-Qa'adah -the foundations of human life, Dhu al-Hijjah -the demands or requirements or necessities for human life, Muharram -the sanctity or respect for human life, and Rajab -the need for man to respect his limitations as a creation of Allah -that he is no god. And these are Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. So, what of Ramadan? It is the ninth month, and subsumed in it are the four and the five. It is the month where we fast from the physical reality and the physical demands (the four), and we break that fast with what Allah provides for us direct from nature, and we establish our existence upon Revelation sent down -and Allah says "He sent down the Qur'an in the month of Ramadan", and that brings us to a completion or wholeness. And what is the wholeness and completion? The one Allah revealed to. It is Muhammed, and when he is established he marries all of the twelve. He is not just marrying four. He has twelve.

Praise be to Allah. He Helps us even when we do not know from where the Help will come or when it will come.