Sixth Annual Independence Day Address

Appealing to the Good and Just: The Case for a New America

(July 11, 2026)

By: Imam E. Abdulmalik Mohammed

(transcribed and formatted by Imam Dhuhan Abdullah)

IMAM EARL ABDULMALIK MOHAMMED:

Thank you.

I asked our able assistant, if possible, without any disturbance, if they could raise the lights a little bit. I didn't want to be in the shadows. Our message is not for the shadows. It's in the light, and we want it to be qualified by the light.

Our greetings are peace, and we say, "Peace be upon you." That is a message of obligation to those who offer it and to those who receive it. We say, as the Muslims greet each other, "As-Salaam alaikum." The praises are for G-d Almighty.

Recognition is not just of the Muslim notion of G-d. When we say G-d Almighty, we are speaking of the Lord Creator who is witnessed to by the faithful Christian community, the Jewish community, and people associated with Divine guidance. All of us witness to Him as the Lord Creator. G-d says in our Holy Book, "Say to the People of the Book that our G-d and your G-d is One." So our reference for any philosophy of sacred order for society is a reference that all of us can acknowledge and recognize.

So it's not uncomfortable for me at all to say that Frederick Douglass identified himself as a Christian. I'm not uncomfortable with that at all. Many of our giants who carried the message of social order and justice under G-d had faith references other than Islam. But I am a Muslim, and I come from a tradition of Islamic knowledge and understanding.

And in part, it's necessary for me to say that is because the issue of the image of Islam is still confused. So if I come to you in this special city on this special occasion, I'm saying, as an understatement, that we share the obligation and responsibility to uphold the best life for the American people. It is not just a burden on America's Christian, Jewish, or other populations. It is also a burden on America's Muslim population. So I want you to know that's a very serious concern for us.

It's not possible for me to be here with this kind of recognition except that we have people here who understand and value the worth of what we offer, and they identify with it. They identify in our Islamic life that is a traditional Muslim American life. They identify in our leadership that goes back to the time of Elijah Mohammed, and an interpretation of that which, to me, is the complete interpretation of Elijah Mohammed's importance. That came from his son, Imam W. Deen Mohammed. There are men and women in the city of Rochester who have long identified with that, and they are responsible for making certain that it continues as a message of influence in Rochester.

ACKNOWLEDGING THOSE WHO LABOR FOR THE COMMUNITY

I want to name some of them who are close to me. It would not be possible for me—not in any measure—to come here and feel comfortable that we'll be heard and respected except upon their labor.

One individual acknowledged what he thought to be my importance even while I was in prison. I'm sharply criticized for having gone to prison. Many people have thought that my going to prison was a disappointment. But I have a story to tell about it, and the story is not complete in the telling of the media. It is more complete in my telling.

Even while I was yet a prisoner, I never accepted to be called an inmate. I was a prisoner of the United States government. This man from Rochester said, by way of witness to his friends and family, that I had his confidence to represent our late leader and that I had his confidence as a representative of our life.

His name is Mohammed Ali. He's here. I see him, just as always attentive and responsible in his space of influence. He sent a message to me encouraging me after he had become acquainted with a book that I wrote while I was in prison, and he inspired me. Joining him at that time was our brother here, Hasheem Smith, who knows the spirit and the layout of Rochester like the back of his hand. He's always introducing me to insights into the neighborhoods of this city, the character of this city, the spirit of this city and its citizens. He makes sure that I know those things in preparation to address you. Very special people.

Along with them, our brother Omar Cooper. I know he's here somewhere. I haven't seen him, but he's here again on the job. Our brother who introduced us today—a man of the people, loved by the people, representative of the true character of determination. A man who has devoted his existence to supporting the dignity of people who have been disenfranchised, hurt, and victimized in the public life of Rochester—our Imam, our leader, Imam Hanif Abdulwahid. We thank G-d for such people, such men. It is upon their support that I am able to come here in this setting for this special occasion. Please acknowledge them. Thank you.

COMMUNITY AS THE FOUNDATION OF A NATION

When I arrived here yesterday, I was greeted with a surprise. A young lady from the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, sent me a note. She's of tender age. I'm not going to read all of what she said to me because I don't think she intended that I share all of it with you in a public setting. But there is something important for this address today that she pointed out.

She's ten years old, and the language that she uses in this brief note is the language of conscious awareness. She puts into focus for me my commitment and the importance of that commitment to community. Community is similar to nation, but not the same. Nations cannot survive challenges to their longevity without community values.

My secretary—and she's really the boss. I tell her, and she gets a little nervous when I say it. But she makes me nervous sometimes when I see her because I know something is coming, some information that I have to attend to that may be uncomfortable for me. So I have to be conscious of what might be coming. She's my boss in many respects.

She sent me something this past week—a speech from a lady from 1976, fifty years ago. A brilliant, articulate leader, Barbara Jordan of Texas. I believe the occasion for this address, the speech that she gave, was the Democratic National Convention, where she impressed the nation with her serious and deep reflection on the character of the American people.

You may not believe this, but I saw that speech as a ten-year-old. My grandfather was so very impressed by her and had known of her. He made certain that I sat there and listened. Certainly it influenced me. I don't know that I understood any of it at that time, but it definitely influenced me.

In this excerpt that my secretary sent, she referred to the American experiment as an experiment in national community. I thought that was very important and noteworthy.

This young lady, ten years old, brings to my attention a focus on community—community values, community sentiments, community commitments, community recognitions, community trusts. If we're following this reasoning, if you follow it with me, America then becomes a nation of sacred trusts. That's how I would like to characterize it: a nation of sacred trusts, with a reasonable moral term to uphold them or neglect them. I say reasonable. Two hundred fifty years of national life—that's pretty significant.

The Soviet Union didn't have that with its idea. It had a powerful idea: Marxism—or socialism, if you want to connect socialism with Marxism, you can do that. There's a connection. Communism. A powerful idea. It still exists on earth, in China. It shaped peoples. It influenced them to shed blood in the interest of a balanced social existence. But it denied something, and I believe that at the core of America's blessing for longevity is the counter to what communism denied, and that is G-d's authority.

AMERICA'S SACRED TRUSTS

At the core of America's blessing for longevity is the counter to what communism denied, and that is G-d's authority. In spite of America's strange internal conflicts, it wants to be, as a matter of aspiration, accountable to G-d. It wants to be that. In its material interests, the interests of its captains of industry, there is an acknowledgement, a recognition of G-d and the authority of G-d, in my estimation. In spite of America's glaring hypocrisies, it still qualifies for G-d's attention and favor. It is the fundamental characteristic explaining its endurance—that its people insist on faith in G-d.

A nation of sacred trusts. I'm reflecting on this. I don't know how much time you have to spend with me today, but I came here to give this address. I don't want to cheat the integrity of what I prepared for by feeling pressure from anybody who has to leave. So if you have to leave, it's okay with me. You're not disturbing me. I came to deliver this address on behalf of our people, to put on the record in this sacred space of Rochester what is our perception of Muslim American obligation.

To say it clearly, put on the public conscience, that we see ourselves as being a critical voice for America's longevity—a necessary voice. Muslim American conscience is formed in the American reality, not outside of it. So when you're looking at me, you're not looking at some foreign idea that has some surreptitious intent to destabilize an American perception of its own excellence and what is necessary as performance before G-d for a suitable moral destiny.

Our perception of Islamic life and Islamic teaching is a critical factor—an essential factor—for America's survival. There would be no reason for our consciousness to be formed in the American environment except that it serves the best interests of the American people and the American idea. This rendering here is legitimate.

I know somebody told me, "Well, Frederick Douglass wasn't a Muslim." You're not quite understanding. We're not pointing to that which labels can cause as an influence to separate us. We're talking about the continuity of sacred ideas that all peoples of faith cherish, and the founders of this nation thought it such an important matter that they refused a religious test—and I'm talking about Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, the architects of American democracy—they refused a religious test.

So this falsified, white-supremacist-influenced Christianity is negated by the founders. It doesn’t want to hear any contribution to the possibilities of the American establishment coming from anything other than Christian references. It is negated by the founders. The founders intended that any who uphold the trusts should have a pathway to citizenship and leadership.

A nation of sacred trusts. A national community. Those that uphold that idea are the new Americans, the new American patriots. They recognize the essential nature of our sacred trusts and pledge to steward them. A nation of community trust sees itself as community trust holders and guarantors.

G-d says in our Holy Book, the Qur'an, that He commands that you render your trusts to its people, those that are due the trusts. And when you judge between people, you judge with justice. This is instruction and blessed instruction from G-d.

JUSTICE AS THE FOUNDATION OF A MORAL SOCIETY

Just balance, as a determination, is an enduring preservation and an essential matter for the existence of any moral society. What is meant by just, even-handedness, fairness? A scope into the dignity of every individual and valuing every individual for their potential and the intent that G-d endowed them with when He created them. Your order, your systems, your institutions encourage access by any human soul to whatever constitutes enlightenment for them, or progress for them, or establishment for them, or dignity for them. That's justice.

Muhammed the Prophet—prayers and peace be upon him—said that it is better for society to let a guilty person go free than to punish an innocent person. Recognition of human innocence is a fundamental property in the construction of a sacred trust order.

That's not just a continental interest; that's a universal interest. That's not just something to characterize American citizenship. That is something that characterizes the interests of American citizens not only in the preservation of our own social order, but as an influence on the progress of mankind on this earth. There are no specialized zones of moral integrity or moral determination approved by G-d that aren't also to be applicable everywhere else on the earth.

The share of G-d's promise that is due all human beings is not just to be acknowledged and recognized in the continental United States. What Thomas Jefferson was referring to was a shared moral property of man—an observation, an enlightened one, of the dignity of the human person, the sanctity of the human person.

Now America, in spite of those claims, shamed itself by its noble claims and aspirations, but shamed itself before G-d and before humanity. In many respects, especially when it comes to the exercise of community consciousness in places like Rochester and other places, it still shames itself.

This is not a political question. This is not just in the interest of political leaders. This is a shared moral property. The extent to which Rochester, as a community, can signal to the American establishment what is just order and what is not—because of its embrace, its hope, the crying out of its citizens, and the representation of its leaders to secure for itself a just vision for society—Rochester becomes a witness.

Frederick Douglass made Rochester a witness and a sacred center for this discussion. A slave, not educated in America's higher institutions, taught himself how to read and reason. Because of his attention to what he discovered of his own excellence, G-d evolved his mind and his spirit to command language that propelled him before the nations. In his time, he was the most well-known human being on the earth.

I don't know if Mr. Kodak—Mr. Eastman—photographed him or not. But if they were in the business of photography at that time, they photographed him, and that probably was what put them on the map, because it's said that he was the most photographed human being. I think Mr. Eastman and Mr. Kodak have something to do with Rochester. I thought so.

G-d commands, according to what He has revealed in the Qur'an, that you render your trusts to the people to whom they are due and that you judge between them with justice.

Continuing now: America's sacred trusts. Where are they? In the Muslim American conscience, in Muslim American tradition, in Muslim American understanding.

THE FORMATION OF MUSLIM AMERICAN CONSCIENCE

Say the forming of a Muslim American conscience. What is that?

Ask yourself, what is the forming of Christian conscience? And who is responsible for the formation of Christian conscience? It's those not just with theological interests, but with social interests. The great Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr—his interest was social, the social application of Christ's teaching. Anybody acquainted with the history of Christian thought in America would know him.

The forming of Muslim American conscience frames itself in the determination of a people not having comfort in American identity, not having comfort in the failure of Christian promises, and finding something in the appeal of Islam.

Now, it came in a very conflicted way, but finally and ultimately the presentation of Islam to the African American population was characterized in this way: Islam is freedom, justice, and equality.

The teacher of Elijah Mohammed said that he came to America on July 4th. That's what he said. Now, that requires some interpretation. That requires some reflection. The teacher of Elijah Mohammed said his advocacy is to be associated with Independence Day of the American people, and he said, more fundamentally than he said anything else about the nature of Islam, that it is freedom, justice, and equality.

Now, I don't know of any Muslim population on this earth, in its leadership, current or past—unless you're talking about Muhammed the Prophet himself—that has characterized Islam as freedom, justice, and equality.

So the forming of Muslim American conscience, then, is a foundational point for the integrity of the American claims, and W. E. B. Du Bois intended that. So here I am representing that continuity of leadership—a people who charged America and charged white supremacy in its false commandeering of Christian ethics, charging in the court of universal justice that you are a big liar. And the one who is known to be a big liar and deceiver is the devil himself.

Now, it has some difficulty in it if you don't know how to handle water and fire. Only Elijah Mohammed knew how to handle water and fire such that his moral constitution and his moral commitments, the cleanliness of his people with clean intentions, produced a mind firmly established upon principle—such that it critiqued and criticized the Nation of Islam itself, but produced from that experience, with a firm and sure commitment to moral justice that is accorded its importance by G-d's intent when He created humanity.

Satisfy G-d. It was approved by G-d that this is the true representation of the moral message of Islam that came by way of Muhammed the Prophet himself with the guidance given to him in the Qur'an. That, for certain, in the interest of human establishment on this earth as G-d intended it, Islam is freedom, justice, and equality.

THE SACRED TRUSTS OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT

America's sacred trust: recognition, first, of G-d in His authority and in His interest in His human creation.

Second, the dignity of that creation.

Third, that which provides for the balance of that creation in society—the notion of citizenship, its quality as derived from the principle of equality.

Fourth—or fifth—deriving from that equality, deriving from a recognition of G-d and the interest that G-d has in His human creation: respect for a person's informed conscience.

Respect for a person's informed conscience empowers them to question injustice. It empowers them to form institutions that speak in the face of immoral power with the support of the integrity of the society itself.

Freedom of expression is important. From freedom of conscience comes what? Freedom of expression. Comes what? Freedom of religion.

First what? Respect, acknowledgement, embrace of the power and purpose of the intellect that G-d created when He created a human being.

So even in America, in its best disposition, it will find a person that another society will discard. It will find that person. It will invest in that person. It will provide institutional support for that person so that person can express into its ears the quality of its own created dignity.

A person who has autism, for example, in this country is not discarded. All manner of public resources become available to that person because this society, in its best expression, wants to see that person express its moral conscience.

What a beautiful America that is.

I don't know what number of the trusts I'm on now, but I'm continuing with the trusts.

The governing order of the people, which is really another way of saying the Constitution of the moral dignity of the common human being's rights before G-d.

And finally, the sacred trust: the feeling of responsibility to teach and to influence and to lead by way of pathways of knowledge future generations. The feeling of necessity to acquaint future generations with the sacred trusts and to teach them how to uphold responsibility for them.

THE RESPONSIBILITY TO FUTURE GENERATIONS

What do you say of a society that at one time refused the consumption of alcohol, outlawed alcohol and its consumption, and outlawed marijuana—and then overturned that and made it lawful?

What do you say of the moral conflict and confusion handed to future generations when they witness this?

What does it suggest as complications for upholding sacred trust?

There has to be a conscience that is firm and consistent, that upholds the integrity of the interests of G-d in His human creation in spite of any critiques or criticism. It says there is no value, there is no help coming to you, when your intellectual possibilities become clouded or intoxicated.

A conscience that pays tribute to the moral possibilities of future generations is morally consistent.

I don't have to get into any technical matters or difficult-to-understand matters when it comes to artificial intelligence and new technologies. I don't have to address those things before I address the moral conflict of telling young people that at one time marijuana was illegal and now it's legal.

There's some moral confusion there that disrupts the functioning of the intelligence to uphold responsibility for society.

That's our concern—the functioning, the moral functioning, the healthy functioning of families.

If you can produce a morally healthy human being and show them that this thing is weakening your ability to uphold responsibility in society, you don't have to introduce any technical matters with regard to artificial intelligence to them. They will become the captains of technology.

In time, if they come into leadership, they will challenge an immoral view that weakens human society. They will challenge it, and society will come under their leadership.

That's what we're proposing: a recognition to uphold the sacred trusts without contradictions.

THE CASE FOR A NEW AMERICA

Is that a racial message? I know what they say. I know what the critiques are of us. They want to empower the Black man. You're damn right we want to empower the Black man. What good is America without an empowered Black man? You want a perpetual underclass? A generational underclass never seeing themselves as good enough to make a contribution? Is that the interest of the Puerto Rican people, Miguel? It ain't. Every generation that has any kind of moral attention and recognition of its value wants to make an ongoing contribution to the excellence of the society, of the neighborhood, and everything else. What good is America with a weakened Black population? We take upon ourselves the interest to uphold the society itself. And if the white man fails, we uphold it and help him stand up again.

He's failing. I'm telling you, he's failing. His failure is not material failure. He's a hell of a material guy. His failure is moral failure. No nation can survive with moral failure. What is moral failure? The integrity of the relationships where we acknowledge each other's humanity before G-d. That's moral failure. If you're cheating the dignity of a human being, if your policies or your institutions or your systems are cheating their dignity, you're not going to survive as a society. I don't care how powerful your military is or how deep your knowledge is of the material world. Eventually it will run out because G-d made everything in material existence to support the dignity of His human. Everything you see, everything you perceive, G-d made it to be of service to His human. Everything in the universe. Say, "Well, there's alien life out there." Let me tell you something. If there is, G-d made it in service to His humans. So if they're reaching to find us, they're reaching to find us to help us. There ain't no other purpose for anything that G-d created except that. So if they're reaching to find us, they're not going to defeat us. If they defeat us, then it's a critical commentary on our failure—that we weren't suited to defend ourselves. We had some altered perception of the dignity of human life, and that is what weakened us before the challenge of aliens.

This is Muslim American conscience. G-d says in the Qur'an—and what would I be telling you that I am a Muslim American leader, or being acknowledged or introduced as that, and I didn't tell you what Allah says, what G-d says, in the Qur'an? That's what I am supposed to do. I am supposed to introduce you, if you are not acquainted with the Qur'an, to say to you that this is something that speaks to the dignity of humans, male and female. Do you know the Qur'an addresses males and females? It says "males and females" when it identifies human beings in their moral integrity, in their faith identity, in their consciousness, in their intelligence, in their potential. It literally says "males and females," saying that this is a shared responsibility.

Prophet Muhammed, with the guidance coming from G-d, challenged the Arabs of his day: "Why are you killing female children?" A verse in the Qur'an says this. "And for what reason was she killed?" Reasoning with them, "You stupid idiots. If you devalue the female, you're not going to have any future. There won't be a womb for you to produce. What are you doing?" That's the fundamental appeal, right? But there's much more to it. Much more than that. Society cannot function properly, as G-d intended it, without the contribution of men and women. There will be moments in time when the perception of what is critically valuable will come more from females than males. How is that institutionalized in Islam? Prophet Muhammed indicated that women can lead men in prayer under certain circumstances. So let's make that clear. When Islam puts the female and the male in spaces, it does it to preserve their particular importance. But in terms of the quality of the human creation, it is the same.

G-d says in the Qur'an, "To every people is a term." A term to every people is a moment in time, an existence, and they cannot delay it or speed it up. You Americans—us Americans—we have a moral space. G-d has preserved that space. Every step that we make to uphold that moral space in the interest of focusing those sacred trusts, we continue to endure. Agree?

Abraham Lincoln was a leader of the American people. He was conflicted too, like all of them. He had his shortcomings, and some of our people go too far in analyzing his shortcomings. But if you just look at what he said in a few words, you can clearly see his value. He said—and this is some real serious, deep reflection on the American system, because the American system now is being challenged. Its existence is being challenged. He acknowledged this. He said that it is being tested, whether a society conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal can survive. And now we have this Civil War that's testing whether or not it can survive. He says, in conclusion, that with the right focus this situation will be a new birth of freedom.

Listen. Let me tell you. You can throw out everything else. Just that right there is enough to see that the American environment is a blessed one that G-d intended to speak to mankind on this earth. In this moment right now, this critical moment, we are in a similar kind of conflict, and it requires a particular kind of consciousness to analyze it and to certify for its moral purpose. The current leaders of our national offices are conflicted and compromised. So where does leadership come from now? Rochester. Community leaders that see and value the sacred trusts. They have in their minds the promotion of values across neighborhoods and ethnicities. They are securing for themselves the real America, and, in this estimation, a new America.

THE CASE FOR A NEW AMERICA (continued)

How do I know that this is truth and that G-d has blessed me to be a witness to it?

Brothers, they took me someplace last night. We don't do discos and bars. We don't do... I don't know if that's the word anymore. Clubs. All right. Excuse me. Lounges. That's the word.

They took me someplace last night, and I am going to mention where they took me. I hope that you all will patronize this business, this establishment. It's called Table Nineteen.

I'm mentioning this in this context because the proprietor, who is the chef of this business, introduced herself to us. She came. She prepared our food. The food was outstanding. Excellent. It had a particular taste and interest with African American inspired cuisine, but it had some Spanish influences too. I don't know what the ethnicity was of the young man that waited on us. He looked like a white man to me. I'm not certain.

What I'm saying is that the social environment of this establishment was not race-based; it was culture-based.

The significant part of this that I want to mention to you in this context is the name that she chose: Table Nineteen. I didn't say anything when she was introducing herself to us, but our Imam asked her about the name, and she said that her understanding was that nineteen was associated with G-d. That was sufficient for me.

For me, I was already impressed with her and the establishment. You can look at the dignity of a place and how it's constructed and know whether or not a person believes in G-d. They don't have to announce it to you. You can see the quality of what they're doing, and even if that belief is not necessarily your belief, it's still a clear connection that they hold themselves accountable to G-d. So I already knew that about her, her food and the setting and everything about the people she chooses to work for. But she introduced herself to us and explained about the name.

The Qur'an speaks of the number nineteen as a body of guardians separating that which would weaken human life from that which strengthens human life.

From a symbolic point of view, nineteen is just ten plus nine. Ten is awareness. Ten is consciousness. That's well established. You don't have to be a Muslim just to embrace that. It's well established: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and we start again: consciousness. Nine is five and four for us. It can be six and three, it can be seven and two, it can be eight and one, it can be nine and zero. But for this discussion it's five and four.

For Muslims, four is material square. Four corners of the earth. Five is spiritual. Five in the Arabic language is written like a circle. If you look at it in the Arabic language, khamsa looks like a circle. So this five and four is nine.

Nineteen, then, is a conscious acceptance of responsibility to guard G-d's intent for spiritual and material destiny.

I don't know that this sister knows anything about what I just said, but this is what she told us: that she named the place Nineteen because it's associated with G-d and it's in the Nineteenth Ward.

I said to myself that here is a real descendant of Frederick Douglass' moral interest in making Rochester a sacred center.

Here is this woman who is indirectly or directly descended from that interest, feeding her community that regard, and feeding it with not just bland, gentle spirit, but with a seasoned spirit.

Let me tell you something. In the estimation of anthropologists, scientists who study human life and its development, they say that one of the critical factors for the establishment of civil order is the seasoning of food.

When human beings begin to season their food, that is where you see an impulse for high culture, high civilization, distinguished recognitions in all of the aspirations of human communities to embrace for themselves the highest place. That's why all of the ethnic groups that exist on this earth have a different taste, and they don't want to just hold that taste to themselves. They want to share it.

How do I know that? You go into a Puerto Rican neighborhood, and you smell the scent of the Puerto Rican neighborhood. What does that tell you? They want you to smell their scent. They want you to smell their food. Same with the African American neighborhood. If we can find one that has a concentration of that, we got to work on it.

But every people have their tastes, and their tastes are intelligent. Their tastes are a commentary on their dignity and their acquisition of civilized properties that they want to engage the rest of mankind with.

You know this lady's name? Freeman. I said, "Oh, G-d just piling up the evidence for me." Freeman. Elizabeth Freeman. I'm not saying anything. I'm just looking at somebody's photograph up there. It's very similar to Elijah.

I'm gonna conclude. I know it's been a minute, so I'm gonna conclude. I'm going to go to the end here.

So I gave our brothers here a topic. They asked me for a topic for this occasion, and I told them, "Appeal to the Good and to the Just: The Case for a New America."

So what is a new America? And who are the new Americans?

New America depends upon community values and the representatives of community values. The extent to which those representatives of community values hold together, they focus on the core sacred trusts. The ability to articulate, in community value language, what are the core sacred trusts that uphold all societies for their dignity before G-d. The success of that communication will form a new conscience. And in the forming of a new conscience is the forming of a new people, a new American, that guarantees before G-d and all human communities that it will acknowledge G-d's intent when He created the first human.

Thank you very much.

Peace be upon you.

As-Salaam alaikum.