by Byron Muhammad
In The Name of Allah
I am a student and follower of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Minister Farrakhan teaches us that we should seek knowledge until we leave this earth. The knowledge that we gain, as travelers on this earth, should be used for the benefit of ourselves, our families, our community and our world. I would like to think of myself as following those life instructions. Of course I can do better, however, I never shrink from exploring new knowledge.
With that as the preface; I would like to share with the reader something I found that really struck me.
It is an article by Steven Levy entitled, “One more thing” online at wired.com. I encourage all to read that article. In this article, Mr. Levy is interviewing a few people who knew and worked for Mr. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple. In this article Mr. Levy gathers information about Mr. Jobs’ last endeavor that was on the books to be completed. The work was to build an Apple new campus named Apple Park but is referred to by the author as “The Mothership” due to its massive size and circular shape. The campus can hold 12,000 workers. Mr. Jobs had to sell this idea to the city council of Cupertino City, Ca. His idea was/is to build something that would go beyond himself and beyond any of us that are alive today. That was Mr. Jobs’ idea.
Mr. Jobs’ vision was to create and environment where the border between nature an building would not be blurred. He envisioned greenery just a step away from your office. He wanted no expense spared in building this fortress. Mr. Jobs believed that the environment where his workers spend most of their lives should complement that sacrifice and enhance their interaction with one another and enhance their thinking, where ideas would flow freely. He envisioned where there were no lines between who was CEO and lower level workers.
Unfortunately, Mr. Jobs passed away before this project could be completed. However, a strange thing happened. There were people who loved Mr. Jobs so much that they lined up their minds with his mind and they kept on working toward that goal. They searched the earth for, not the right material, but the perfect material to complete this project. They speak of Mr. Jobs as if he is still alive. They listened carefully to what he wanted and what he envisioned for them! They did not take any short cuts. They were called crazy for taking on such a project that was considered a “retrograde cocoon” by the Los Angeles Times’ architecture critic.
The cost to build this “Mothership” is 5 billion dollars. Mr. Jonathan Ive argued, ”The value is not what went into the building. It’s what will come out.” What a magnificent answer to the question of, “why so much?” Mr. Tim Cook stated, “Could we have cut a corner here or there?” Cook asks rhetorically. “It wouldn’t have been Apple. And it wouldn’t have sent the message to everybody working here every day that detail matters, that care matters.” That was what Jobs wanted—what he always wanted. And the current leaders of Apple are determined not to disappoint him in what is arguably his biggest, and is certainly his last, product launch. “I revere him,” Cook says. “And this was clearly his vision, his concept. Our biggest project ever.”
Now, as a student of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, when I read this article I got goose bumps because I know there will come a time where we are faced with this same question, are we prepared to do that “one more thing? What is that one more thing? Jesus asked the question, “will I find faith on the earth when I return?”
I bear witness that the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has poured his life into the upliftment of the Blackman and woman of America in particular and to the human family in general. He has been on this journey for 62 years of his life and has given his all. I bear witness that Minister Farrakhan does not concern himself with the cost of building human lives. He knows that it is not necessarily the cost that goes in but the product that is produced from that cost, financially and non-financially. Have we internalized the idea contained in the mind of my father, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan that stems from the mind of his father the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad that stems from the mind of his Teacher and Savior, The Great Mahdi, Master Fard Muhammad?
Will we change the idea of what we have been taught? Are we strong enough to bear the criticism of our enemy both black and white both externally and internally? As Mr. Cook says, “I revere him. This is clearly his vision, his concept. Our biggest project ever.” The upliftment of the Blackman and Woman of America is the biggest project ever in the history of the world, question, How strong is your foundation, can you survive. Let’s do this “One More Thing” and keep the faith. May Allah bless us all.
(Byron Muhammad is a member of the Nation of Islam)
A rendering of Apple Park, the future headquarters of Apple Inc. in Cupertino, California.