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 49th 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.
