|
Reminder: Nation of Islam (NOI) definition ~ A
religious and cultural organization founded in 1930 in the United States,
espousing Islamic principles and favouring political, social, and economic
independence for African Americans.
Espouse ~
to adopt, advocate, support.
._001.jpg) Loius Farrakhan, the leader of the most
accepted group calling itself ‘Nation of Islam’, was born Louis Eugene Walcott
in May 1933 in New York City. He was recruited by Malcolm X and quickly
progressed through the ranks of NOI. After the death of Malcolm X, he became
Elijah Muhammad's national spokesman. Farrakhan led the group that refused to
follow Elijah Muhammad’s son Warith Deen into traditional Islam.
The Nation of Islam (The Nation of Peace) represents
hope to millions of our people in America and around the globe who have been
deprived of the high standards of a righteous way of life. These words are
taken from the NOI website and indicate that NOI, like Islam, stress the
importance of morality and modesty, mutual respect, and discipline in dress and
comportment. Members of NOI read Quran and profess to believe in One God whom
they refer to, like Muslims, as Allah. However, this is where the similarities
end. As previously mentioned, the first pillar of Islam, the absolute
foundation of belief, is the testimony of faith. There is no god worthy of
worship but Allah and Muhammad is His slave and final messenger.
The greatest sin in Islam is to commit shirk. That is
to associate anything or anyone with God. As stressed over and over in the
Quran and in the authentic teachings of Prophet Muhammad, may God praise him,
there is only One God. He has no partners, no sons or daughters and there is
nothing like him. One aspect of Shirk is to give God the form or qualities of
a human being. Islam states that God is separate and distinct from His creation
and that He never did nor will become human. The fact that NOI considers
Wallace Fard (Muhammad) to have been God incarnate immediately calls into
question their beliefs and their implied association with Islam.
When Elijah Muhammad aka Elijah Poole assumed leadership
of the NOI he took the title Messenger of Allah. Throughout Islamic doctrine
it is clearly stated that Muhammad is the last prophet of God.
“...he is the Messenger of Allah and the last of the
Prophets...” (Quran 33:40)
One of the NOI doctrines states - There is no God but
Allah Who appeared in the Person of Master W.D. Fard Muhammad our Saviour,
Messiah and Great Mahdi. We forever thank Him for giving to us His Divine
Messenger the Last and Greatest Messenger of Allah to the world in the Person
of the Most Honourable Elijah Muhammad.
Although NOI shares many things in common with Islam,
particularly the call for righteous behaviour and including prayers five times
per day there are so many deviations that it cannot be included under the
umbrella of Islamic sects, off shoots or schools of thought. Islam states
categorically that all human beings are created equal despite race or
ethnicity, NOI however, preaches black supremacy. NOI doctrine teaches that
the black man is the original human, from him came other races, brown, yellow
and red and the white man is the creation of a black scientist named Yacub,(Prophet
Jacob). Islam however has another explanation.
God created
Adam from a handful of soil containing portions from all its varieties on
Earth. Angels were sent to earth to collect the soil that was to become Adam.
It was red, white, brown, and black; it was soft and malleable, hard and
gritty; it came from the mountains and the valleys; from infertile deserts and
lush fertile plains and all the natural varieties in between. The descendants
of Adam were destined to be as diverse as the handful of soil from which their
ancestor was created; all have different appearances, attributes and qualities.
Other NOI teachings include Elijah Muhammad’s account of
the visions of the Prophet Ezekiel in the Bible. He considers it to be a
Mother Plane or Wheel, a UFO. This seems to suggest that NOI may have more in
common with Scientology
than Islam. The Scientology creation story began 75 million years ago in a far
off corner of the galaxy, with an evil warlord and bombs exploding on isolated
islands across the globe. NOI has its own intergalactic connection.
Amongst the teachings of Farrakhan we find the following
intergalactic story, complete with an island and three bombs. "The Honourable
Elijah Muhammad told us of a giant Mother Plane that is made like the universe,
spheres within spheres. White people call them unidentified flying objects
(UFOs). Ezekiel, in the Old Testament, saw a wheel that looked like a cloud by
day but a pillar of fire by night. The Honourable Elijah Muhammad said that
that wheel was built on the island of Nippon, which is now called Japan, by
some of the Original scientists. It took $15 billion in gold at that time to
build it. It is made of the toughest steel. He said there are 1,500 small
wheels in this Mother Wheel, which is a half mile by a half mile [800 m by 800
m]. This Mother Wheel is like a small human-built planet. Each one of these
small planes carries three bombs.
In the past few years Farrakhan has begun using the
scientology terms such as engram, charge, org board, management technology, and
valuable final product. Obvious ties between black communities, particularly
Farrakhan’s NOI, and Scientology began as early as 2006. That year at
scientology’s annual Ebony Awards, Farrakhan was among four black clergymen to
be honoured. NOI’s western regional Minister Tony Muhammad was quoted as
saying he was happy to be partnering with Scientology and disclosed a plan to
train members of NOI to administer Hubbard's "study tech" and drug
treatment methods.
In February 2011 Farrakhan spoke to a packed house at
the Allstate Arena in Rosemont as part of the 81st annual celebration of
Saviours' Day. His speech capped a weekend of workshops focused on health,
preparing for natural disasters and unidentified flying objects. Farrakhan
spoke for four hours, during which he described his 1985 religious experience
in which he ascended into a flying saucer and heard the voice of Elijah
Muhammad predicting events that came to pass. Farrakhan praised Scientology
and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard and extolled the virtues of its auditing
process.
In contrst to all of this, Islam is a simple religion. It
calls on human beings to worship their Creator in the manner in which He
prescribed. It is unencumbered by science fiction and racism. In God’s eyes
all men are equal regardless of colour or ethnicity. They are distinguished
from each other only by piety and good deeds. Commendably NOI has taken the
morality and manners of Islam but as long as they are unable to profess the
testimony of faith ~ there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His slave and
final messenger ~ they are not able to claim the title Muslim.
|
