Our Potential

Potential is that which one is capable of achieving. All of us are home on this planet with tremendous potential.

The Qur'an teaches us that Allah (God) created the heavens and the earth with truth, while the Bible teaches God created the heavens and the earth with wisdom—same thing; but then it says, God created everything from nothing. So, there was “no thing”; “nothing.” Then, there was something.

What is “nothing?” Nothing is matter that has no purpose, but when God gives it purpose, he gives it existence, which is why one of the names of God is Al-Khaaliq, The Creator, or, “He who calls everything to exist,” because He gives everything purpose.

Some people who have potential think they are nothing, and some people who have been made into something tell others “You're nothing!” and, “You'll never be nothing!” Everything that exists is something; and God is The Creator of everything, and did not create anything without aim and purpose. When you know the aim and purpose of God for creating a thing, then you know what to nurture it with to make it grow to fulfill its potential.

What is your purpose? The Bible teaches, “And God said, ‘Let us make man.'” Who is doing the making? God. If we know our purpose, then we know our potential.

 What is your purpose? Who are you? Brothers and sisters: You are more than who you think you are. But, the sad fault of life is that human beings are more than what we thought ourselves to be, and because we don't know our own aim and purpose for God's creating us, then we wander through life without aim and purpose—hit and miss; and some of us never evolve and never develop our potential. Some of us are like seeds that have never found fertile ground; and we die like that, unfulfilled, because the world in which we live is such an unjust rule of man that the equality of opportunity that is necessary to develop our potential is cut off from some and given to others.

You are a person with great potential, but you are sitting at the television, letting Satan feed your mind. You're picking up the newspapers and the magazines, and you let Satan feed your mind. You turn on your radio and you listen to foolishness. Several hours a day you're letting Satan feed your mind. Yes, you're growing all right, but you're growing down, and not up. You're becoming agents of Satan rather than representatives of God.

If our potential is to reflect God; and since God is He Who said, “Let us make man,” then God has to be The Nurturer. God has to be The Teacher. God has to be The Shepherd. Any other shepherd will not do.

-Louis Farrakhan-