Estimated reading time: 21 minute(s)
By Traci C. Muhammad
“Let the weak say, I am strong.” — Joel 3:10 (KJV)
The life of a Believer is never dull. There are always twits and turns and unexpected bends and even forks in the road. Yet the Believer endures them all. We cannot have a testimony until and unless we have been and are tried. The more impactful and poignant the testimony, the more arduous the trail.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has stated, “There is a difficulty factor attached to everything of value.” The depth of that statement lies in the complete awareness that each person’s individual trial is tailor made for the individual. When a tailor fits a suit to a person the tailor considers what is known in sewing as the isometric measurements of each person.
Isometric (ISO) measurements in the world of sewing refers specifically to “a standardized system of body measurements used to categorize clothing and sewing patterns across different countries” to “ensure a consistent, personalized fit for sewers. Key measurements for ISO sizing include total height, bust girth, and hip girth, ensuring garments are accurately sized and fit well.” ISO measurements are based on the actual body measurements of the person being sewn for, not a generic set of measurements which fall into three categories – small, medium and large. Personalized tailoring is a science. A science that involves capturing mathematical measurements in a three-dimensional space transferring them into a two-dimensional space (written on paper) and moving them back into a three-dimensional space once completed without loss of data or integrity.
The science of sewing as practice by the MGT&GCC of the Nation of Islam engages not only the actual process of sewing, the creation of a wearable garment through the pattern selection or design, gathering of materials and creation of the garment. Sewing involves the engagement of the mathematical principles of geometry – sacred geometry as it is known in metaphysics. Meaning, the ability to see and act in multiple dimensions simultaneously without losing one’s identity in the process. It is the ability to take a piece of fabric no matter how small or large and project one’s thoughts onto it as though it is a blank canvas while drawing from the well spring of the God within – Allah’s thinking and creativity. To create something from what was once nothing. The fabric is both real and tangible and it is the intangible fabric of faith. Two dimensions of reality operating as one dimension held together by faith which connects both realities in a three-dimensional space. Creating the mathematical expression of 3:2:3 which spiritually represents balance and harmony in life.
The Believer, stiches themselves together every day. The Believer creates something from nothing, daily. Scripture teaches us in Psalms 27:13 “I would have fainted, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” This is a very heavy truth that by the help of Allah, we are going to unpack.
Fainting in the most general sense is caused by two things the person has low blood sugar, which is an indicator of a lack of energy. Or they have an impediment that is obstructing the flow of oxygen in the red blood cells which carry oxygen to the brain. “I would have fainted….” therefore means that the person would have experienced low blood sugar, no energy (expiring life force) and no inspiration (oxygen).
During an interview with Bro. Munir Muhammad the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan recalled that when he was studying physics as a young man, he learned that on,
“Every square inch of our body 14.7 pounds of pressure is on every square inch of your body…and you walking around every day with that kind of pressure.” He went on to state, “You say, well why you don’t you feel it? You don’t feel it because the air coming in (inspiration) gives you pressure on the inside to equalize the pressure coming from the outside. Now when you collapse under pressure it’s because you don’t have enough on the inside that will allow you to sustain yourself under pressure. The servants of God man their heart, mind and soul is stayed on God and he gives you knowledge so that you can with stand pressure and continue to function and be righteous in your functioning.”
The Pslamist states that “unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Unless, meaning that this does not happen, collapsing under pressure – fainting from a lack of energy and inspiration, because as Hebrews 11:1 points out, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Now. Now is always in the present tense, never a past tense expression. So, in the present tense of now, no matter what the prevailing circumstances may appear to be – now, “I had believed” the transliteration of this then is ‘now I believe.’ Going further we read “I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” I would see. To see indicates I will perceive it with the eyes – discern visually. To discern visually means it must exist as a concrete reality. Not a mythical place, a real location. “In the land of the living” a physical location where real things exist.
The exegetic expression of Psalms 27:13 and Hebrews 11:1 when combined Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Reads in the eyes of the Believer, Yes, in the past I would have fainted and given up all hope because I didn’t understand the difficulty factor attached to my becoming a person for God’s use; however, I now, in the this present moment, understand that all things work together for good for them that do love the Lord and because I am called according to God’s purpose each trial is tailor made for me. I believe, now more than ever, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living – in the Hereafter.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches us, from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that there “Is always a light in the darkness for the Believer.” The darkness is the mind and the spirit that comes when we are faced with the vicissitudes of life itself. Living is not easy work in a world where evil is hunting the righteous. Every day it seems as though we are on the Serengeti, and everything is out to destroy us. Yet the Believer rises purified by the fire of trials and tribulations like a phoenix reborn, resurrected and renewed to face a new day assured of the presence of a living God who has the power to turn any situation or circumstances in or favor, at will. The light in the darkness is the remembrance of Allah. Allah reminds the Believer in His Holy Qur’an to “Pray to me I will answer you” and this is a guarantee and not a wish. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan instruct us that if we pray in their names, if it is of righteousness and will bring benefit, Allah will grant the petition.
The fabric of faith is a quilt. A quilt made up of different fabric types, different colors, and different weights. I want to challenge each of us to see everything that has occurred in our lives as a piece of fabric, the loss of a job, the house, the car that got repossessed, the spouse that abandoned us physically and mentally. The spiritual abuse, the scholarship that didn’t come, the loved one that died, the absent mother or father. See all of it as a piece of fabric and take the thread of faith and stich it together using the pattern of God’s divine love and grace. Make yourself a quilt. Wrap yourself in it and rise and greet the new of the now knowing that Allah (God) in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad has not forgotten you. You have value and you have work to do in the process of the bringing in of the Hereafter. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has asked the question, and the answer is absolutely the North Star – a fixed point of reference that once answered assures the Believer that they will never be lost:
“My question is, Do you believe?”
May Allah continue to bless us with the presence of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
