We praise Allah. We bear witness that there is no God but Him, and we bear witness that Mohammed is His messenger and the Prophet. We ask Allah to shed His Peace and Blessings upon the Prophet, upon his family, his companions, and his followers to the Day of Judgment.

My dear brethren, if any of you were offered an increase in earnings, salary or wages, ten-fold, would he accept? Of course yes.

But if attached to this is a condition, that the money you will be paid will not be real dollars, it will be counterfeit dollars. It will be papers looking exactly like dollars, but they are not. Would he accept? If he accepts that would be a great loss.

It looks to me, my brethren, that Islam now is dealing with the problem of counterfeit currency. That is what the Prophet, Peace and Blessing be upon him, meant when he said, "There will come the day when the nations will fall upon you like the hungry eaters over a bowl of food."

They asked, "On that day, is it because we are too few?"

The Prophet, Peace and Blessing be upon him, answered, "No, on that day you will be very many, but you will be like the foam on the surface of the current."

Allah, Praised and Exalted be He, promised the mumineen, the faithful, in the Quran,

"If there are twenty steadfast of you, they will overpower two hundred, and if there were one hundred of you, they would overpower one thousand."

In the Quran, Allah, Praised and Exalted be He, knows that the Muslims have their ups and downs, and he says,

We are one Billion Muslims, and what goes on in Bosnia, Palestine, Kashmir, Somalia, India, North Africa and everywhere in the world. Where are those Muslims who can stand for their adversaries, at the ratio of 1:10 or at the weakest of 1: 2?

We know that Allah, Praised and Exalted be He, certainly speaks the truth. The only explanation, my brethren is that the count is not the count of real dollars, but of counterfeit dollars. It is not the count of the faithful, but it is the count of people who look like faithful, who claim to be faithful, but they are counterfeit. This explains how our purchasing power is nil, because we are not real currency, we are fake.

That explains why whenever their is a case or a crisis or negotiation, we are on the losing side. The only explanation, my brethren is that we are not solid gold, we are gold plated, not the real thing. This is why Muslims are where they are today.

This will continue as long as they are the fake and not the real thing. They need not wait for the angels to come down to support them, because Allah, Praised and Exalted be He, says,

This Aya also gives the key and the solution. The solution, my dear brethren, will not be by the pressing of a button. It will not be by just a click, and tomorrow we will find that all the Muslim Nations have become the real thing.

The start, my brethren, is individual and the beginning begins with each of you personally. Each of you should ask himself, or herself in honesty and clarity, "Am I the real Muslim, or do I just have a tag that says ‘Muslim’?"

The specifications are well known, they are Muhammad, Peace and Blessing be upon him. The unbelievers at one time asked, "How come Allah sent a human being like us? Why didn’t Allah send an angel." But Allah says,

"If We were to send to the people an angel, we would have given that angel a human form, and dressed him in human clothes."

The whole exercise is that Allah has chosen a human being like us, so that when Allah says,

"You have indeed in the Apostle of Allah a beautiful pattern of (conduct)"

Since Allah asks us to take the Prophet as an example, then we should not have the excuse that it is impossible because he is not human. That is why Allah sent human prophets, for human beings to emulate.

Ask yourself whether you are behaving in the way of Muhammad, Peace and Blessing be upon him? Or whether you are different from that and falling short of the mark?

Of course the Prophet is the most perfect of human beings. But it is not an excuse to be complacent in emulating him. Because we have to do our best and less than our best would not be acceptable.

When I call you to take the example of the Prophet, Peace and Blessing be upon him, it is not in how he looked, how he combed his hair or dressed. It is not in eating the food he liked to eat. Because these were not the components of the Prophethood.

But I am asking you to study Prophet Mohammed, Peace and Blessing be upon him. I am asking you to be conversant with his character, personality and psychology, how he thought, what filled his heart, how he behaved in pleasure and in anger. Because his wife described him, that his behavior was the Quran.

The Quran was sent to us to be not only a book to read, but a book to do. As long as you fall short of the Prophet, Peace and Blessing be upon him, you have to work harder.

It would be a great thing if, when you discover that you are not the real Muslim, you would change yourself and become a real Muslim.

That would be One Real Dollar for Islam instead of a counterfeit one. Be the real thing, and this is the real asset of Islam. The Capital of Islam is not all the people who claim to be Muslims, the capital is those who really are Muslims. Each of you who can transform his or herself into a real Muslim is adding to the assets of Islam.

If you think you have completed that, then your job is not finished. Because you’ll have to guide other Muslims or others who are non-Muslim, so that they may become real Muslims. If Muslims all over the world begin to change from fake Muslims to the real Muslims, then things will change.

Then we would acquire weight, because volume that is empty is no good, but it is weight that counts. In every confrontation each side is put on the scales, and the heavier side will win. So far one billion people do not prove heavy enough on the scales.

People, especially in the Middle East are cursing America and shouting slogans against America, but all it would have taken them to catch the attention of the Americans would be to stop smoking American Cigarettes. If all the protesters in the Middle East decided to buy Japanese Cars and smoke Turkish Cigarettes, America would come and ask, "What do you want?"

I once asked an American Diplomat, "Why do you take sides against the Muslims always, when your real interests are in their countries."

He replied, "Doctor, our interests have never been touched and will never be touched."

It might be a long way until Muslims change their Governors. If there is a real mature Islamic public opinion, stop smoking American Cigarettes. This is the way that when a negotiating team goes to the table, it will have real weight supporting it. I see no shorter way.

It is difficult to stand against them with arms because they make the arms. We invite them to our country to protect us from one another. But if we become the Real Muslims, we would have our weight, we can have real influence.

We can ideologically win, because we witness a crumbling civilization that will meet its fate and its conclusion on the rock of immorality.

We Muslims have the ideals and the teachings, which can correct the course of this civilization and save it from the abyss it is about to fall into. So I am proposing to each of you to look at yourself, and at the Prophet, Peace and Blessing be upon him, and strive as much as possible to be like him.

Once amongst the billion Muslims, there forms a critical mass of real Muslims, then you will find that you are weighty on the scales. In negotiations, your words will be heard and heeded. You will manage your affairs, and the other countries will like to befriend you. The only way, my dear friend is to change to a real Muslim. Be the behavior and the character of Islam.

The other day I received a Muslim couple here who wanted to divorce in order to reduce their taxes. They got a court divorce. They then had a dilemma, and came to ask me whether it was all right to live together.

I asked, "Why do you care?"

They replied that they feared to do Haram.

I said, "But lying and cheating are haram. Is it because you are cheating the government, or the Christians, that you think it is alright?" Some of us Muslims are fussy about some aspects of Islam, and blind to some of the very basic aspects.

Develop the power to give, because Allah gives you Paradise at the price of your life and your possessions. Now in this circumstance, is not the time to give your life, but give your possessions.

I know of a very successful Doctor who had a letter from his daughter’s old high school, asking for a donation, and he sent $35,000. But when we approached him for the Islamic School, we couldn’t squeeze one dollar out of him. He was counted as a Muslim!

We have to be real Muslims, and you have to know that you are owned by Allah, Praised and Exalted be He. In your management of your life, you make sure that you can face your expenses and the expenses of your family, and insure the security of your future. But you have two futures. One is temporary, but beyond that there is the Ultimate Future. After death there will be either eternal bliss, or eternal fire. So when you spend your money, think of three things; your present life and that of your family, your future life in this world, and the ultimate future in eternity.

On that day (of judgement), you will discover that the real dollar you invested was what you invested in the path of Allah. Never was spending for the cause of Allah, a cause of poverty, it will always be a cause of richness, material and spiritual.

Tomorrow, inshallah, is the Grand Opening of the New Horizon School and I have in mind the Hadith of the Prophet, Peace and Blessing be upon him,

Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: When a man dies, his acts come to an end, except three; recurring charity, or knowledge (by which people benefit), or a pious son, who prays for him (for the deceased).

On your journey you will be called to the Gate, leaving behind life and going on to death. We know that people die, but we don’t have it in real condensed form that it also happens to us. Once you leave you can only take the three things which the Prophet has mentioned, a running charity, knowledge in a good cause, and a pious child praying for you.

When I look at the school, it is ‘running charity’ as long as it takes the Muslim children and makes them Muslim, it is knowledge put to a good cause, as long as it teaches the children the Quran and Islam and the behavior and morality of Islam. It also a pious child praying for you, and I am going to suggest to the school board that every week the children pray for those who contributed to the school.

The school is opened, Al Hamdu Lillah but at a bank loan of several hundred thousand dollars. The community could raise eight hundred thousand dollars. But the balance remains. It is a loan with interest. It is running charity, knowledge in a good cause, and a child praying for you. So I propose to each of you to help pay off the loan and make it easier on the school, and enable another school to be built, a high school and a university. It may not be in our lifetime, but we can take the first steps right now.

Any of you to whom Allah opens his heart to this Jihad, (Jihad in America is making our children Muslim.) write your check and mark it, "For the School".

It is one thing to say that you are a Muslim and then frown at your neighbors or criticize me for wearing a tie and so on, but it is another thing to be a Muslim who follows the example of the Prophet, Peace and Blessing be upon him. A Muslim who corrects himself so that the inner and outer selves are not in conflict, not one who appears outwardly to be Muslim, but inwardly is empty.

Then give, because we are asked to give our lives and our possessions, at least now what you can give.

My dear Brethren, I would like to leave you with a Hadith of the Prophet Mohammed, Peace and Blessing be upon him, who said, "If you are mindful of Allah He will be mindful of you, and if you are mindful of Allah you will find Him before you. When you ask for anything ask it from Allah, and if you seek help seek help from Allah. Know that if the people were to unite to do you some benefit they could benefit you only with what Allah had recorded for you, and that if they were to unite to do you some injury they could injure you only with what Allah had recorded for you. The pens are withdrawn and the pages are dry."

Make this your constitution, and this will make you live in the company of Allah, Praised and Exalted be He, and you will always be guided and will never go astray. We ask Allah to make us among them. We ask of Him to make us the real thing.

We ask of Him to enable us to take as our practical example, Muhammad, Peace and Blessing be upon him.

We ask of Him that we wouldn’t be lying when we say, "We are Mu'mins, and we are Muslims."

We ask Him to give us the power of His support, enabling us to be deserving of it. Because, when there is a right that you do not deserve, you do not get it, you must be deserving of that right.