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._001.jpg) Many of us have heard the term ‘Nation of Islam’, and may think that it is merely a
different way of expressing the phrase Ummah of Muhammad, meaning those who
follow the teachings of Muhammad, may God praise him. Still
others may associate the words Nation of Islam with African Americans. Perhaps
it seems obvious that ‘Nation of Islam’ is referring to African American Muslims, however a little bit of
research proves this to be wrong. Although this group does on occasion align
itself with the religion of Islam at times, the belief
system is vastly different and in fact goes completely against the tenants of
Islam. The first pillar of Islam, the foundational belief, is, there is no
god but Allah and Muhammad is His final messenger.
In the late 1920’s a man appeared on the
streets of Detroit, USA selling African silks and artefacts door to door. The
name he was using at the time was Wallace Fard Muhammad. His
origins, ancestry and ethnicity were, and still are, open to debate. However
one thing is definitely true, his charismatic personality allowed him to
convince many members of the African American community to join his newly
founded religion, ‘Nation of Islam’.
In 1930 he opened the first NOI temple. Wallace Fard taught “freedom,
justice, and equality to the members of the lost tribe of Shabazz in the
wilderness of North America”. He taught the poor African Americans that they
were somebody “with a past, a future, a history and a destiny’. Within three
years he had converted nearly 8000 followers.
One of W Fard Muhammad’s most devoted
followers was Elijah Poole, an unemployed auto mechanic from Georgia. He
changed his name to Elijah Muhammad and soon became Fard’s Cheif Minister. In
the summer of 1934, Fard suddenly disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived.
Elijah Muhammad was named the new leader and assumed the title of
"Messenger of Allah." Bearing in mind that such
a title is a great blasphemy and coupled with the following statement from
Elijah Muhammad’s book, Message to the Blackman, we can see that from the very
beginning NOI has no connection to the religion of Islam. Not even to the
extent of being called either an off shoot or a cult.
“Allah (God)
came to us from the Holy City Mecca, Arabia, in 1930. He used the name Wallace
D. Fard, often signing it W. D. Fard. In the third year (1933), He signed His
name W. F. Muhammad, which stands for Wallace Fard Muhammad. He came alone. He
began teaching us the knowledge of ourselves, of God and the devil, of the
measurement of the earth, of other planets, and of the civilizations of some of
the planets other than earth.”
Islam says categorically and without
reservation that there is no god but Allah. He has no
partners, associates, sons or daughters. God does not take on human form and
to even suggest such a possibility is a major sin and deviation from the
teachings of Islam.
The single most important convert to NOI is
Malcolm Little, who converted to Nation of Islam in a Concord, Massachusetts
prison in 1947. Malcolm Little is now better known to the world as Malcolm X.
While Malcolm was in prison Elijah Muhammad was preaching that white society
actively worked to keep African-Americans from empowering themselves and
achieving political, economic and social success. NOI also called for a state
of their own, uninhabited by white people. When he was paroled in 1952,
Malcolm was a devoted follower with the new surname X. (Little was a slave
name and Malcolm chose "X" to signify his lost tribal name.)
Malcolm was both intelligent and
articulate, and soon became the national spokesperson for NOI. He established
new mosques (temples) and utilised all fields of media available at the time to
spread the NOI message across the United States. He is credited with
increasing membership from 500 in 1952 to more than 30 thousand by 1963. During
this time Malcolm preached that black people were genetically superior to white
people but were dominated by a system of white supremacy.
“Anyone
who has studied the genetic phase of biology knows that white is considered
recessive and black is considered dominant. The entire American economy is
based on white supremacy. Even the religious philosophies, in essence, white
supremacy. A white Jesus. A white Virgin. White angels. White everything. But
a black Devil, of course. The "Uncle Sam" political foundation is
based on white supremacy, relegating nonwhites to second−class
citizenship. It goes without saying that the social philosophy is strictly
white supremacist. And the educational system perpetuates white supremacy.”
As the years passed, through the grace of
God, Malcolm X moved closer to the real Islam. He was well read and travelled
extensively. In early 1964 Malcolm publicly declared his separation from NOI,
stating irreconcilable differences and growing tensions between himself and
Elijah Muhammad. In the same year he participated in the annual pilgrimage to
Mecca. Malcolm was overwhelmed by the universal brotherhood he experienced on
Hajj and returned to the US, a Sunni Muslim determined to preach his message to
all races. Malcolm X was assassinated - gunned down at the Audoban Ballroom in
Harlem, New York, on February 21, 1965.
Elijah Muhammad continued to lead NOI
until his death from congestive heart failure on February 25, 1975. His son, Warith
Deen Muhammad became the new leader of the NOI. Because of his knowledge of
Islam he began to make changes, the most dramatic being the merger of his
followers into traditional or Sunni Islam.
“I have
been trying to bring what used to be called the Nation of Islam to what I call
a natural and normal Islamic community. The idea we have had of a community is
not Islamic and came from the days of Black Nationalism.”
Many of Elijah Muhammad's former followers
were pleased with Wallace’s new direction, however many were not. In 1979, the
disenchanted faction, led by Louis Farrakhan, split from Wallace’s new American
Muslim Mission that now allowed white members. Farrakhan’s group adhered to
the original teachings of black supremacy and once again called themselves NOI.
The Watchman Expositor an
independent Christian research and apologetics ministry founded in 1979 states
that, “Although Farrakhan's organization claims to be the authentic Nation of
Islam, there are three other organizations making this same claim. John
Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad's blood brother, heads one, based in Detroit. A
second organization is based in Atlanta and headed by Silas Muhammad. Emanuel
Abdulla Muhammad established a third organization in Baltimore. The most
recognized of the four organizations is that founded by Louis Farrakhan.”
In part 2 we will delve deeper into the
world of NOI and discover that they may actually have more in common with Scientology
then Islam and spend some time comparing tenants of faith.
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