“Tune into the Power Within”

A Virtuous Conversation with Mother Tynnetta Muhammad

“Tune into the Power Within”

Virtue Today(V) – As Salaam Alaikum.  Thank you Mother Tynnetta, for agreeing with this interview. My first question is:   In what ways can proper diet help us to be “in tune” and what are some other things we can do to increase our peace of mind?

Mother Tynnetta-Well, that’s a very good question.  You are what you eat and we have heard that saying for eons.  Through the teachings of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad we cannot put more stress on it than to say it is the RIGHT way that coordinates with our function to produce a better a cellular structure of our body.  It renews the cells within our body if we eat “live” foods.  We should eat a mixture of steamed vegetables without letting all the vitamins escape into the air by overcooking.  We throw away the nutrients that’s in the pot thinking it is the leftovers from the vegetables when we really should use it in other forms of our cooking or drink that juice because there is the content of life, your vitamins have all gone into that water.

Now, what the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is putting us on a program of going back to the land, agriculture, growing our own food, growing our own herbs because the foods has been contaminated to the degree that we have engineered genetics going on.  Soon we will not be able to have the seeds that we need to grow live food; they will all be genetically engineered and farmers will have to buy these seeds that will never regenerate again; they’re dead, they’re gone.  We are eating THAT kind of food as opposed to live food that we produce with our hands.   Imagine the energy that flows through our blood,  that flows through our hands by touching the earth, by touching the soil.  We are able to pick more energy from touching the earth that has been touched by the sun, by the wind, that has been touched by all the natural elements.

 

V-What exercises did the Messenger practice and what exercise have you found useful?

Mother Tynnetta-He told me that the best exercise is walking and that the Saviour told him not to sit just within the four walls of a room in a house, but to get out into the air and walk.  Yoga and Tai Chi express our spirituality.  These practices came from the African continent.  Also, he said we should go on drives so that our environment changes.  We were not made to stay inside.  You have to go out to the parks, you have to be in nature.    He also recommended the use of spas, the massages, the oil treatments and taking care of the body and keeping yourself in good shape.  We have been stuck in these cities.  If we can get a little farm land, an acre or half and acre, that’s okay.   If you have to live in an apartment, you can still grow your own food, vegetables and herbs.  Just make use of your space. 

V- What benefit have you gotten from reading the Holy Quran once a week?

Mother Tynnetta-  Oh, my.  That’s a big one, but it’s like having a revelation over and over again…you see that which you didn’t see before.  As you live in the world and events are taking place in your life, NS you are traveling and meeting people, you have a sense of inner peace and you are able to communicate in a certain spirit.  The prophet had recommended to read it in a week, not in a day or 3 days.   He suggested 7 days to give your mind and body a chance to receive and absorb the wisdom that is being revealed.   It has past, present and future present tense.  It brings a creativity to you.  You start perceiving reality differently.

V- There was a question posed to me to ask you, “If marriage is half our faith, how can we continue to develop our faith if we are single?  Can we still have full faith without marriage?  I hear people say, “I’m looking for someone to complete me.”   Are two “complete” people coming together to complement one another or are we incomplete until we marry?

Mother Tynnetta – I really have to answer you the way I am receiving it, but I believe we have been misinformed.  I’m not saying that it is not half, but we have been misinformed on how to execute and orientate ourselves properly in a married state or a single state.    There is a missing key here, the philosophy of marriage, the philosophy of maintaining and complementing yourself with a spouse.  Yes, I am aware that Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) said the marriage is half of your religion.  When we say, “faith,” I see something else.  If you say “religion,” I see something else.  Most of us in America, in the of the Black family have been so mistreated in terms of family life.  Our families have been separated since slavery, we don’t even know all of our relatives.  Our idea of marriage, the way we perceive it now has been discolored.  Marriage is an institution that was established by almighty God(Allah).  

We read in the 49^th Surah that Allah made for us tribes and clans and family relations and marriages so that we can get to know one another.  In that careful evolution from tribe to clan to family and then to marriage partners is a process that we, Black people in America, particularly do not have the sense of confidence of what those relationships actually mean and how they perfect our religion, how they perfect our faith.  We are, if I may say it this way, very “self-centered”   and a bit selfish and we are not able to grasp this great institution that will bring to us the sacrifice we will have to make.  We have difficulty because we are following a corrupted example in this society.  We have been the victims of their mischief making and therefore we do not have a healthy approach to marriage. 

 I feel we should have GREAT marriage counseling.   Not just for the couples that are about to marry or just about to go into courtship and then we suddenly a wedding is announced and six months, nine months later, a divorce is announced.     Something is missing. That something that is missing is the reality of who we are and how we ought to be.   Only Islam as taught by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in my humble opinion, gives us the basis for starting right, getting relations correct, getting everything right.  You focus on God; focus on your studies. The Holy Quran says if you do not have that mate, you pray for that mate and the time and God will give you what you need at the proper time and you will be the recipient of just what you have been asking for, but it takes patience, endurance and skill.

V- I agree.  Thank you Mother Tynnetta.  As Salaam Alaikum.

(Mother Tynnetta is a scholar, talented musician and designer who is the wife of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.  She also shared that she “delights” in communing with nature and that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad loved “stringed” instruments.  She said our true religion is rooted in Music, color and medicine.  To read more about her thoughts, visit www.virtuemag.com.  For more information about Mxodus organic coffee, Mother Tynnetta’s designs and projects, visit www.mxodus.com.