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Part of a series on the
Nation of Islam
Leaders
Wallace Fard Muhammad Elijah Muhammad · Malcolm X Warith Deen Mohammed Louis Farrakhan Tynetta Muhammad Mustapha Farrakhan Ishmael Muhammad Ava Muhammad
History and beliefs
Saviours' Day Nation of Islam and antisemitism Tribe of Shabazz · Yakub Million Man March
Publications
A Torchlight for America The Final Call How to Eat to Live Message to the Blackman in America Muhammad Speaks
Subsidiaries and offshoots
American Society of Muslims Fruit of Islam The Nation of Gods and Earths New Black Panther Party United Nation of Islam Your Black Muslim Bakery
v t e

The Nation of Islam is a syncretic new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930. Its stated goals are to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African Americans in the United States and all of humanity.^[1] Its critics accuse it of being black supremacist^[2] and antisemitic.^[3][4][5][6]

After Fard's departure in June 1934, the Nation of Islam was led by Elijah Muhammad, who established mosques called Temples, Schools named Muhammad University of Islam, businesses, farms and real estate holdings in the United States and abroad.^[7]

The Nation of Islam's notable leaders are Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan and Warith Deen Mohammed. The Nation of Islam's headquarter mosque, Mosque Maryam (Mosque #2) is located in Chicago, IL and its leader is Minister Louis Farrakhan. Its official news publication is The Final Call Newspaper. The Nation of Islam does not publish its membership numbers; the core membership of the Nation of Islam is estimated between 20,000 and 50,000, but their following is believed to be larger. ^[8] Most of the members are in the United States, but there are communities in other countries, including Canada, United Kingdom, France, and Trinidad and Tobago.

History[link]

Elijah Muhammad

The Nation of Islam was founded in Detroit, Michigan in July, 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad, also known as W. D. Fard Muhammad (1877–1934). The N.O.I. teaches that W. Fard Muhammad is both the "Messiah" of Judaism and the Mahdi of Islam. Within one year, he had approximately 25,000 followers who knew him as Prophet W.D. Fard, at Mosque of Islam #1.

Fard's assistant minister Elijah Muhammad succeeded him as head of the movement in 1934. Because of dissension within the Detroit temple, he moved to Chicago where he established Mosque No. 2. During World War II, he advised followers to avoid the draft, as he said the US did nothing for blacks. He was charged and convicted of violating the Selective Service Act and was jailed (1942–46).

Muhammad slowly built up the membership of the Black Muslims through recruitment in the postwar decades. His program called for the establishment of a separate nation for black Americans and the adoption of a religion based on the worship of Allah and on the belief that blacks are his chosen people.^[9]

During this time the Nation of Islam attracted Malcolm Little. While in prison for burglary from 1946 to 1952, Little joined the Nation of Islam. He was influenced by his brother, Reginald, who had become a member in Detroit. Little quit smoking, gambling and eating pork, in keeping with the Nation's practices and dietary restrictions. He spent long hours reading books in the prison library. He also sharpened his oratory skills by participating in debate classes. Following Nation tradition, he replaced his surname, “Little,” with an “X,” a custom among Nation of Islam followers who considered their surnames to have been imposed by white slaveholders after their African names were taken from them.

Malcolm X rose rapidly to become the minister of Boston Temple No. 11, which he founded; he was later rewarded with the post of minister of Temple No. 7. Elijah Muhammad named Malcolm X the National Representative of the Nation of Islam, his second in rank. Under Malcolm X's lieutenancy, the Nation claimed a membership of 500,000. Malcolm X left the Nation in March 1964 and in the next month founded Muslim Mosque, Inc., claiming, "I never left the Nation of Islam of my own free will. It was they who conspired with Captain Joseph here in New York to pressure me out of the Nation." ^[10]

In 1955, Louis Walcott joined the Nation of Islam. Following the custom of the Nation, he replaced his surname with an “X”. Louis X first proved himself at Temple No. 7 in Harlem, where he emerged as the protege of Malcolm X. Louis X was appointed head minister of Boston Temple No. 11, which Malcolm X had established earlier. He was given his Muslim name, Farrakhan, by Elijah Muhammad.

After Malcolm X's break with the Nation in 1964, Farrakhan replaced him as head minister of Harlem's Temple No. 7 and as the National Representative of the Nation, the second in command of the organization. Like his predecessor, Farrakhan was a dynamic, charismatic leader and a powerful speaker with the ability to appeal to the African-American masses.^[11]

That year the young boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. knocked out Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight champion of the world. After winning the heavyweight championship, Clay announced that he had joined the Nation of Islam. After replacing his surname with an “X,” Clay was given his Muslim name, Muhammad Ali, by Elijah Muhammad. Based on the teachings of the Nation of Islam, Ali refused to acknowledge his military service after being drafted. He said that his religious beliefs prevented him from fighting in the Vietnam War.

In 1967, Ali put his personal values ahead of his career. The U.S. Department of Justice pursued a legal case against Ali, denying his claim for conscientious objector status. Although found guilty of refusing to be inducted into the military, Ali later cleared his name after a lengthy court battle.^[12]

By the time Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, there were 75 NOI centers across America.^[13] The Nation's leadership chose Wallace Muhammad, the fifth of Elijah's sons, not Louis Farrakhan, as the new Supreme Minister. He renamed the organization as "The World Community of Al-Islam in the West;" it later became the American Society of Muslims. He shunned his father's theology and black pride views, accepting whites as fellow worshipers and forging closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities in an attempt to bring the Nation of Islam closer into Sunni Islam.^[14] W.D. Mohammed's organization would disband, change names and reorganize many times. It finally dissolved in August 31, 2003, after he resigned from the leadership.

The Million Man March, Washington, D.C., October 1995

In 1977, Louis Farrakhan resigned from Wallace Muhammed's reformed organization. He worked to rebuild the original Nation of Islam upon the foundation established by Wallace Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad. In 1981 he publicly displayed the revived Nation of Islam at Saviours' Day. Louis Farrakhan traveled the nation speaking in city after city, gaining followers. Many were young black college students. Over time, Minister Farrakhan regained many of the Nation of Islam's original properties, including the National Headquarters Mosque #2 in Chicago, IL. Currently, there are over 130 NOI mosques throughout the world.

In 1995, the Nation sponsored the Million Man March in Washington, D.C., to promote African-American unity and family values. Estimates of the number of marchers, most of whom were men, ranged from 400,000 to nearly 1.1 million, making it the largest gathering of its kind in United States history. Under Farrakhan's leadership, the Nation of Islam established a clinic for AIDS patients in Washington, D.C., and helped to force drug dealers out of public housing projects and private apartment buildings in the city. It also worked with gang members in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Nation continued to promote social reform in African-American communities according to its traditional goals of self-reliance and economic independence.

In the early 21st century, the core membership of Farrakhan's Nation of Islam was estimated at between 10,000 and 50,000—though in the same period Farrakhan was delivering speeches that regularly attracted crowds of more than 30,000 in large cities across the United States. Under Farrakhan's leadership, the Nation was one of the fastest growing of the various Muslim movements in the country. Foreign branches of the Nation were formed in Ghana, London, Paris, and the Caribbean islands. In order to strengthen the international influence of the Nation, Farrakhan established relations with Muslim countries and, in the late 1980s, he cultivated a relationship with the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. After a near-death experience in 2000 resulting from complications from prostate cancer (he was diagnosed with cancer in 1991), Farrakhan toned down his racial rhetoric and attempted to strengthen relations with other minority communities, including Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. Farrakhan also moved his group closer to orthodox Sunni Islam in 2000, when he and Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, the leading American orthodox Muslim, recognized each other as fellow Muslims.^[11]

Beliefs and theology[link]

Nation of Islam leader (1981-Present) Louis Farrakhan.

The Nation of Islam (NOI) preaches adherence to the Five Pillars of the Islamic Faith. The NOI also teaches morality and personal decorum, emphasizing modesty, mutual respect, and discipline in dress and comportment. NOI adherents stress a healthy diet and physical fitness, do not consume pork or alcohol, and do not use drugs or tobacco. However, the Nation of Islam argues that because of the unique experience of the oppression and degradation of slavery, Elijah Muhammad used unique methods for introducing Islam to his people.

The main belief of The Nation of Islam and its followers is that there is no other God but Allah. They teach that their founder, Master Fard Muhammad was the Mahdi.^[15] and that "Allah, came in the person of W. D. Fard."

The official beliefs of the Nation of Islam have been outlined in books, documents, and articles published by the organization, as well as speeches by Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and other ministers. Many of Elijah Muhammad's teachings may be found in Message to the Blackman in America and The True History of Jesus as Taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.^[16]

Written lessons from 1930–1934 were passed from W. Fard Muhammad to his student, Elijah Muhammad. These were collected and entitled The Supreme Wisdom. The Nation of Islam continues to teach its followers that the present world society is segmented into three distinct categories. They teach that from a general perspective, 85% of the population are the "deaf, dumb and blind" masses of the people who "are easily led in the wrong direction and hard to lead in the right direction". Those 85% of the masses are said to be manipulated by 10% of the people. Those 10% rich "slave-makers" are said to manipulate the 85% masses of the people through ignorance, the skillful use of religious doctrine, and the mass media.

The third group is referred to as the 5% "poor righteous teachers" of the people of the world, who know the truth of the manipulation of the 85% masses of the people by the 10%. The 5% "righteous teachers" are at constant struggle and war with the 10% to reach and "free the minds" of the masses of the people.^[17]

Official platform[link]

An official Nation of Islam platform referred to as "The Muslim Program" was written by Elijah Muhammad in his book Message to the Blackman in America (1965). The itemized platform contains two sections; "What The Muslims Want", consisting of 10 points; and "What The Muslims Believe", consisting of 12 points.^[18]

Cosmology[link]

The NOI teaches that the Earth and Moon were once the same, and that the Earth is over 76 trillion years old.^[19] The entire land mass on the Earth was called "Asia". This was, Elijah Muhammad claims, long before Adam.^[20]

Black experience of slavery was Bible prophecy[link]

The NOI teaches that black people constitute a nation and that through the institution of the Atlantic slave trade they were systematically denied knowledge of their history, language, culture, and religion and, in effect, lost control of their lives. Central to this doctrine, NOI theology asserts that black people’s experience of slavery was the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and therefore, black people are the seed of Abraham referred to in the Bible, in Genesis 15:13–14:

And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

—King James Version

Separatism[link]

In a 13 April 1997 interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Louis Farrakhan to explain the Nation of Islam's view on separation:

Tim Russert: "Once a week, on the back page [of your newspaper] is The Muslim Program, 'What the Muslims Want' [written in 1965]. The first is in terms of territory, 'Since we cannot get along with them in peace and equality, we believe our contributions to this land and the suffering forced upon us by white America justifies our demand for complete separation in a state or territory of our own.' Is that your view in 1997, a separate state for Black Americans?"

Minister Louis Farrakhan: "First, the program starts with number one. That is number four. The first part of that program is that we want freedom, a full and complete freedom. The second is, we want justice. We want equal justice under the law, and we want justice applied equally to all, regardless of race or class or color. And the third is that we want equality. We want equal membership in society with the best in civilized society. If we can get that within the political, economic, social system of America, there's no need for point number four. But if we cannot get along in peace after giving America 400 years of our service and sweat and labor, then, of course, separation would be the solution to our race problem."^[21]

Teachings on race[link]

The Nation of Islam teaches that Black people are the aboriginal people, and that all other people come from them. Louis Farrakhan has stated "If you look at the human family — now, I'm talking about black, brown, red, yellow and white — we all seem to be frozen on a subhuman level of existence. In Islam and, I believe, in Christian theology and Jewish theology as well, there are three stages of human development. The first stage is called the animalistic stage of development. But when we submit to animal passions, then we can do evil things to one another in that animalistic stage of development. But when moral consciousness comes and we have a self-accusing spirit, it is then that we become human beings. Right now, we have the potential for humanity, but we have not reached that potential, because we are functioning on the animalistic plane of existence." ^[22]

"The Blackman is the original man. From him came all brown, yellow, red, and white people. By using a special method of birth control law, the Blackman was able to produce the white race. This method of birth control was developed by a Black scientist known as Yakub, who envisioned making and teaching a nation of people who would be diametrically opposed to the Original People. A Race of people who would one day rule the original people and the earth for a period of 6,000 years. Yakub promised his followers that he would graft a nation from his own people, and he would teach them how to rule his people, through a system of tricks and lies whereby they use deceit to divide and conquer, and break the unity of the darker people, put one brother against another, and then act as mediators and rule both sides." -Elijah Muhammad^[23]

In an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Louis Farrakhan said the following in response to host Tim Russert's question on the Nation of Islam's teachings on race:

"You know, it’s not unreal to believe that white people — who genetically cannot produce yellow, brown or black — had a Black origin. The scholars and scientists of this world agree that the origin of man and humankind started in Africa and that the first parent of the world was black. The Qur'an says that God created Adam out of black mud and fashioned him into shape. So if white people came from the original people, the Black people, what is the process by which you came to life? That is not a silly question. That is a scientific question with a scientific answer. It doesn't suggest that we are superior or that you are inferior. It suggests, however, that your birth or your origin is from the black people of this earth: superiority and inferiority is determined by our righteousness and not by our color."^[21]

Elijah Muhammad addressing followers

Pressed by Russert on whether he agreed with Elijah Muhammad's preaching that whites are "blue-eyed devils", Farrakhan responded:

"Well, you have not been saints in the way you have acted toward the darker peoples of the world and toward even your own people. But, in truth, Mr. Russert, any human being who gives themself over to the doing of evil could be considered a devil. In the Bible, in the "Book of Revelation", it talks about the fall of Babylon. It says Babylon is fallen because she has become the habitation of devils. We believe that that ancient Babylon is a symbol of a modern Babylon, which is America."

During the time when Malcolm X was a member and leader of the Nation of Islam, he preached that black people were genetically superior to white people but were dominated by a system of white supremacy:

Thoughtful white people know they are inferior to Black people. Even [Senator James] Eastland knows it. 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.^[24]

The Nation of Islam teaches that intermarriage or race mixing should be prohibited. This is point 10 of the official platform, "What the Muslims Want", published 1965.^[25] Louis Farrakhan nevertheless stated in the Tim Russert interview:

"The mother of the Leader who came to North America to teach us, Fard Muhammad, His mother was a white woman. His father was a black man. So where there is love, love transcends our racial denomination or ethnicity. Love is the great power of transformation. I don't think that we can say when two people are in love that they shouldn't marry one another. But I would prefer that the black man and the black woman marry into their own kind."^[26]

[edit] The Mother Plane and Ezekiel's Wheel

Elijah Muhammad taught his followers about a Mother Plane or Wheel, a UFO that was seen and described in the visions of the prophet Ezekiel in the "Book of Ezekiel", in the Hebrew Bible.

"Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around."Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 1:15–18

—Bible, English Standard Version

Louis Farrakhan, commenting on his teacher's description said the following:

"The Honorable 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 Honorable 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. America does not yet know the composition of the steel used to make an instrument like it. It is a circular plane, and the Bible says that it never makes turns. Because of its circular nature it can stop and travel in all directions at speeds of thousands of miles per hour. 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 carry three bombs.

"The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said these planes were used to set up mountains on the earth. The Qur'an says it like this: We have raised mountains on the earth lest it convulse with you. How do you raise a mountain, and what is the purpose of a mountain? Have you ever tried to balance a tire? You use weights to keep the tire balanced. That's how the earth is balanced, with mountain ranges. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that we have a type of bomb that, when it strikes the earth a drill on it is timed to go into the earth and explode at the height that you wish the mountain to be. If you wish to take the mountain up a mile [1.6 km], you time the drill to go a mile in and then explode. The bombs these planes have are timed to go one mile down and bring up a mountain one mile high, but it will destroy everything within a 50-square-mile [130 km²] radius. The white man writes in his above top secret memos of the UFOs. He sees them around his military installations like they are spying.

"That Mother Wheel is a dreadful-looking thing. White folks are making movies now to make these planes look like fiction, but it is based on something real. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that Mother Plane is so powerful that with sound reverberating in the atmosphere, just with a sound, she can crumble buildings."

—Minister Louis Farrakhan, The Divine Destruction of America: Can She Avert It?^[27]

Criticisms[link]

The first book analyzing the Nation of Islam was The Black Muslims in America (1961) by C. Eric Lincoln. Lincoln describes the use of doctrines during religious services.

Often the minister reads passages from well-known historical, sociological, or anthropological works, and finds in them inconspicuous references to the Blackman’s true history in the world.... Occasionally the minister chides the audience for its skepticism: “I know you don't believe me because I happen to be a Black man. Well, you can look it up in a book I’m going to tell you about that was written by a white man.” He then reads off references that his hearers are challenged to check.

Antisemitism[link]

The Nation of Islam has repeatedly denied charges of anti-Semitism.^[28] NOI leader Minister Louis Farrakhan has stated, "The ADL … uses the term 'anti-Semitism' to stifle all criticism of Zionism and the Zionist policies of the State of Israel and also to stifle all legitimate criticism of the errant behavior of some Jewish people toward the non-Jewish population of the earth."^[29] However, he has also stated the following:

Jews have been conclusively linked to the greatest criminal endeavor ever undertaken against an entire race of people[...]the black African Holocaust.^[6]

Who are the slumlords in the Black community? The so-called Jews[...]Who is it sucking our blood in the Black community? A white imposter Arab and a white imposter Jew.^[6]

These false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood that is seeding the American people and the people of the world and bringing you down in moral strength.[...]It's the wicked Jews, the false Jews, that are promoting lesbianism, homosexuality.^[6]

Hitler was a very great man[...]he was a great German and he rose Germany up from the ashes of her defeat[...]Well, in a sense you could say there is a similarity in that we are rising our people up from nothing[...]^[30][31]

Professor David W. Leinweber, Ph.D. of Emory University asserts that the Nation of Islam has engaged in revisionist and antisemitic interpretations of the Holocaust and that they exaggerate the role of Jews in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Leinweber and others use the original statements of Farrakhan and others as the basis for their evaluation.^[32] NOI Health Minister, Abdul Alim Muhammad, has accused Jewish doctors of injecting Blacks with the AIDS virus.^[33][34]

Jeffery Muhammad, the Nation of Islam's longtime leader in Dallas, stated:

"They [Asian-American merchants in black neighborhoods] are just the latest in a long line of people who have come to this country—like Jews, Italians, Indians and now Asians—who have sucked the blood of and exploited the black community."^[35]

Jude Wanniski, late associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, wrote, "I've met dozens of men and women who belong to the Nation of Islam, attended many of their conferences, and prayed with them in their Chicago mosque to the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammed. I've concluded beyond any reasonable doubt that there is not an ounce of anti-Semitism or bigotry in Farrakhan."^[36]

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich defended Minister Louis Farrakhan in 2004. “I’m honored to join this distinguished leader who gives hope and understanding to people all over the world, of every color, of every religion, and of every political belief,” Conyers said of Farrakhan during the 2004 “Saviours Day” celebration.^[37]

Rabbi David Weiss of the notoriously anti-Zionist^[38][39] Neturei Karta, who are known for "aspir[ing] to a disintegration of the Israeli government",^[40] defended Minister Farrakhan, stating "The media widely reported that the Minister had referred to Judaism as a ‘gutter religion.’ This error (or distortion) was deeply troubling to the Nation of Islam." ^[41]

A mosque of Nation of Islam in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, 2005.

Comparison with traditional Islam[link]

The Nation of Islam preaches adherence to the Five Pillars of the Islamic Faith. 1 Belief in one God (Allah) 2 Prayer 3 Fasting 4 Charity 5 Pilgrimage (Hajj) – a Spiritual Journey

The NOI mosques have lecture rooms that contain seats for the worshipers during sermons (males on one side and females on the other) with the prayer hall, also known as the musalla, in another room for the 5 daily muslim prayers prostration.

Other doctrines of the Nation of Islam are disputed, specifically:

• God's incarnation:
  • NOI teaches that their founder, Master W. Fard Muhammad, is the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews and the Mahdi of the Muslims."^[30]
  • Traditional Sunni and Shi'a Muslim are still awaiting the coming of the Mahdi.

• Status of the Islamic prophet Muhammad vs. other prophets:
  • The Nation of Islam believes that Muhammad was the last prophet of Allah, and that Elijah Muhammad was a messenger, taught by God in the person of the Mahdi, who the NOI claim as "Master" Fard Muhammad (W. D. Fard).^[42]
  • The Nation of Islam points to the Quran: "And for every nation there is a messenger. So when their messenger comes, the matter is decided between them with justice, and they are not wronged." -- Quran 10:47
  • Traditional Islam teaches that Muhammad was the last of the prophet and messengers of Allah sent to mankind; there would be no more and all Muslims are to follow the teachings of the Qur'an and accept monotheism.

• Yakub: Traditional Islam does not hold to this teaching from the NOI.

• Conversion of whites:
  • The NOI believes that the white race, being the evil creation of Yakub, is unworthy of regeneration.
  • Traditional Islam allows persons of all races to follow the teachings of the Qur'an and accept monotheism.

The Divide between NOI and Islam[link]

While the Nation of Islam postures itself as a part of the Universal Brotherhood of Islam, Islamic organizations have distanced themselves from NOI. On March 7, 1998 the Board of Ulema of the Italian Muslim Association (AMI) issued a fatwa against the Nation of Islam. According to the AMI, the obligatory daily five prayers of Islam are not imposed upon the members of the Nation, and the ritual bowings and prostrations have been removed from prayers. Friday service consists of a sermon by a minister with an invocation, but the congregational prayer of two Raka'ahs is not held. The Islamic fast in Ramadan has been made optional and Hajj is not required of the followers.^[43]

Foreign Affiliations[link]

The Nation of Islam's links to Libya are well known. The Muslim group obtained substantial funds from Gaddafi, notably a $5 million loan used to pay back-taxes and costs for the home of the movement’s former leader Elijah Muhammad and a $3 million loan from Libya in the 1970s to acquire its opulent headquarters on Chicago’s South Side.^[44] Libya channeled funds through the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) based in Canada to a Libyan intelligence front in Washington. The money was funneled for the purpose of financing trips to Tripoli by the NOI and American radicals, according to a Canadian parliamentary investigation and a prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in northern Virginia.^[45] “At least one gathering attended by Farrakhan in Libya - in violation of a travel ban imposed on Americans by President Reagan after Libya was linked to terrorist attacks in Europe - offered training seminars on weapons and explosives.” ^[46] The Libyans also paid $250,000 in travel and other expenses to stage a pro-Gaddafi demonstration in which NOI played a leading role.^[47]

In 1994, the NOI leader visited Khartoum, where he met with Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, the Sudanese head of state and Dr. Hassan Abdullah al-Turabi, who headed Sudan’s ruling party.

Farrakhan’s National Assistant Khalid Abdul Muhammed attended the 1995 PAIC meeting. Upon meeting Sheikh Naim Qassem of Hezbollah after a news conference at a Khartoum hotel, Muhammed found a translator to convey his greetings.

In 1996 Farrakhan traveled to Iran and Iraq, as well as Libya, at which time Gaddafi offered him an additional $1 billion.^[48] Farrakhan insisted that the money would not be used to arm his followers, despite a report from Iran that Farrakhan had said there that one day Allah will destroy Americans at the hands of Muslims. The full statement attributed to Farrakhan was,

“God will not give Japan and Europe the honor of bringing down the United States. This is an honor God will bestow upon Muslims.” ^[48]

As of 2011, Farrakhan continued to portray Gaddafi as a fellow revolutionary who has lent millions of dollars to the Nation of Islam over the years.

“It wasn’t the money, but the principles that made me his brother.” ^[49]

The Final Call[link]

The Final Call is a newspaper distributed by NOI in Chicago, publishing news stories on a variety of topics, primarily related to Blacks in America.

“The Muslim Program” is published in every issue of the newspaper stating the demands of the Nation of Islam.

NOI journalists have written about everything from conspiracy theories on the murder of JFK to a CIA conspiracy to disrupt rule in Libya.^[50] Harold Muhammad, Minister of an NOI New Orleans mosque, used the paper to state that there is enough evidence that AIDS is a man-made disease being used by the US government against Blacks.^[51]

Videos[link]

The NOI has produced a number of videos promoting anti-American sentiments. NOI video titles include "Conspiracy of the International Bankers," "Conspiracy of the U.S. Government," "Controversy with Jews," and "Which One Will You Choose, the Flag of Islam or the Flag of America?" In one video Farrakhan states, "I hasten to tell you that the precious lives that were lost in the World Trade Center was a cover, a cover for a war that had been planned to bring a pipeline through Afghanistan to bring oil from that region, oil owned by Unocal, of which Dick Cheney is a stock holder." ^[52]

Farrakhan’s videos also address the US military. During the Millions March in Harlem, Farrakhan discussed the Fort Hood shootings as he addressed the crowd.

“You don’t join the armed forces to become nation builders. You join the armed forces and they train you to kill. They’re killers. So why did Army major Nidal Malik Hassan, a Muslim psychologist at Fort Hood go on a shooting spree after being assigned to debrief soldiers who came back from the theater of war. He couldn’t take it any more so he shot up the soldiers. They want you to think he was a terrorist. But he was debriefing terrorists. And unfortunately, it took his balance.” ^[53]

Controversy over the availability of NOI videos and writings surfaced on June 15, 2011 when Representative Peter King, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security hosted a hearing titled “The Threat of Muslim-American Radicalization in U.S. Prisons.” During the hearing, former Bureau of Prisons director Harley Lappin testified on the extreme susceptibility of radicalization of inmates through propaganda efforts of groups like NOI. Testimony included discussion of an incident in which two radicalized converts planned a terrorist attack on a military facility in Seattle. The suspects had met in prison and had converted to Islam while there.

In July 2011, Representatives Peter King and Frank Wolf ordered a review of all anti-American materials printed by the Nation of Islam available within the US Board of Prisons. Worried that prisoners were being radicalized by Farrakhan, Reps. Peter King and Frank Wolf asked U.S. Bureau of Prisons Acting Director Thomas Kane to remove Nation of Islam material from prisons and to audit all other Islamic texts and sermons made available to inmates.^[54]

Noted current and former members and associates of Nation of Islam[link]

• Elijah Muhammad
• Tynetta Muhammad
• Louis Farrakhan
• Khalid Abdul Muhammad
• Khadijah Farrakhan
• Malcolm X - Later converted to Sunni Islam
• Muhammad Ali – Later converted to Sunni Islam in 1975 and started to practice Sufism in 2005^[55]
• Mustapha Farrakhan - Supreme Captain of the Nation of Islam
• Mustapha Farrakhan Jr.
• Warith Deen Mohammed – Later converted to Sunni Islam
• Clarence 13X- Later formed the Nation of Gods and Earths
• MC Ren – Later converted to Islam ^[56]
• Kam (rapper) - member of the Nation of Islam and former associate of Ice Cube
• John Allen Muhammad – The Beltway Sniper, Gulf war veteran, former NOI member^[57]
• Benjamin Chavis Muhammad
• JT The Bigga Figga
• Paris - left and became an agnostic
• Snoop Dogg^[58]
• Quanell X - former member c. 1990s - 2001, now a member of the New Black Panther Party

The Nation of Gods and Earths[link]

The Nation of Gods and Earths is an offshoot of the Nation of Islam founded in 1964 in Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan in New York City by Clarence Smith. He was commonly known as Clarence 13X. Gods and Earths hold events known as Universal Parliaments in various cities—usually once a month—to build on their interpretation of the Supreme Mathematics, lessons, and to discuss business concerning the Nation.^[59]

See also[link]

Chicago portal

• Black separatism
• Black supremacy
• Afrocentrism
• The Final Call
• Fruit of Islam (FOI)
• The Hate That Hate Produced
• History of the Nation of Islam
• Islam in the African diaspora
• List of topics related to Black and African people
• Moorish Science Temple of America
• Muslim Girls Training (MGT)
• The Nation of Gods and Earths
• Nation of Islam and antisemitism
• Zebra Murders
• UFO religion

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nation of Islam

• Official Website The Nation of Islam (N.O.I.)
• Messenger Elijah Muhammad Web Resources Center, Online books, audio, and video
• Nation of Islam affiliated Final Call Newspaper website
• Official Website of the United Kingdom Branch of the Nation of Islam
• Walker, Dennis Searching for African American Nationhood: Looking Into the Nation of Islam (Interview)
• "Nation of Islam", Federal Bureau of Prisons, Technical Reference Manual on Inmate Beliefs and Practices
• FBI file on the Nation of Islam

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A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, or history.^[1] In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government (for example the inhabitants of a sovereign state) irrespective of their ethnic make-up.^[2][3] In international relations, nation can refer to a country or sovereign state.^[1] The word nation can more specifically refer to people of North American Indians, such as the Cherokee Nation that prefer this term over the contested term tribe.^[1]

According to Joseph Stalin writing in 1913 in Marxism and the National Question: "a nation is not a racial or tribal, but a historically constituted community of people;" "a nation is not a casual or ephemeral conglomeration, but a stable community of people;" "a common language is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a nation is formed only as a result of lengthy and systematic intercourse, as a result of people living together generation after generation;" "a common territory is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a common economic life, economic cohesion, is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "a common psychological make-up, which manifests itself in a common culture, is one of the characteristic features of a nation;" "A nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture." According to Stalin, this would exclude Jews as they have no common territory.^[4]

An alternative view, expressed by Otto Bauer, author of Social Democracy and the Nationalities Question (1907), that "A nation is an aggregate of people bound into a community of character by a common destiny." would include Jews. R. Springer, author of The National Problem (1909), also cited by Stalin in his discussion of this matter, held similar views.^[4]

Etymology[link]

The word nation came to English from the Old French word nacion, which in turn originates from the Latin word natio (nātĭō) literally meaning "that which has been born".^[5]

As an example of how the word natio was employed in classical Latin, the following quote from Cicero's Philippics Against Mark Antony in 44 BC contrasts the external, inferior nationes ("races of people") with the Roman civitas ("community"):

"Omnes nationes servitutem ferre possunt: nostra civitas non potest."
("All races are able to bear enslavement, but our community cannot.")

— Cicero, Orationes: Pro Milone, Pro Marcello, Pro Ligario, Pro rege Deiotaro, Philippicae I-XIV^[6]

An early example of the use of the word "nation" (in conjunction with language and territory) was provided in 968 by Liutprand (the bishop of Cremona) who, while confronting the Byzantine emperor, Nicephorus II, on behalf of his patron Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, declared:

"The land...which you say belongs to your empire belongs, as the nationality and language of the people proves, to the kingdom of Italy.'"

— Liutprand, Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana ad Nicephorum Phocam ^[7]

[edit] Medieval nationes

A significant early use of the term nation, as natio, occurred at mediaeval universities^[8] to describe the colleagues in a college or students, above all at the University of Paris, who were all born within a pays, spoke the same language and expected to be ruled by their own familiar law. In 1383 and 1384, while studying theology at Paris, Jean Gerson was elected twice as a procurator for the French natio. The University of Prague adopted the division of students into nationes: from its opening in 1349 the studium generale which consisted of Bohemian, Bavarian, Saxon and Polish nations.

In a similar way, the nationes were segregated by the Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem, who maintained at Rhodes the hostels from which they took their name "where foreigners eat and have their places of meeting, each nation apart from the others, and a Knight has charge of each one of these hostels, and provides for the necessities of the inmates according to their religion", as the Spanish traveller Pedro Tafur noted in 1436.^[9]

See also[link]

References[link]

kn

Khalid Yasin
Khalid Yasin speaks on evolution in a public lecture.
Born	1946 (age 65–66) Harlem, New York, United States
Residence	Seattle, Washington
Nationality	American
Other names	Abu Muhammad, Abu Muhammad Khalid Yasin
Religion	Islam

Khalid Yasin (also known as Abu Muhammad^[1] and Abu Muhammad Khalid Yasin^[2]) (born in 1946) is an American convert from Christianity to Islam who lectures in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.^[1]Yasin lives in Manchester, England and has operated a "da'wah" organization which has had various names. It was dissolved in 2010.^[3]Yasin frequently travels overseas to spread his faith. He has called himself a "media-bedouin," remarking that the bedouins are willing to settle wherever there is "water and shelter".^[4] Yassin is outspoken about a variety of issues in his speeches and media appearences.

Background[link]

Yasin was born in Harlem, New York and raised in Brooklyn as a Christian along with nine siblings. Although not an orphan, he grew up in foster homes from the age of three, along with some of his siblings, until he was fifteen. He describes each foster home as having a different Christian denomination, so he covered a wide spectrum of Christianity. He was put up for adoption due to his family's financial state.^[1]

Yasin has described his youth in "the ghetto", where it was "Me and my two brothers Sam and Julius, against the world. We had nothing but converting and accepting Islam now we have everything". When first reading about Islam, he often used Encyclopedia Britannica as a reliable source on Islam and its concepts.^[4] Yasin felt the grief of African-American people, and he was especially influenced by the turbulent 1960's and figures like Malcolm X.^[4]

Yasin converted to Islam in 1965.^[5] He began his ministry as the "Amir" or leader of Jammat Ita'hadul Iqwa on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn (often referred to^{[by whom?]} as the McDonald's Mosque, due to its proximity to a McDonald's).

Yassin has been accused of espousing a radical form of Islam. "Channel Nine" in Australia described him as "a charismatic preacher who’s capturing the hearts and minds of young Australian Muslims with a radical mix of pleas for the understanding of terrorism, anti-Western conspiracy theories and radical homophobia.^[6] Rather differently, the Oman Tribute described him as a "learned scholar" who "regularly tours different countries debunking the misinformation about Islam".^[5]

Discussing his leisure time, Yassin said, "I’m a fairly avid horseman, I swim, martial arts, I box, I read quite a bit. Probably once every two years I visit Mecca and I cleanse myself spiritually by performing the Omrah or the Haj, and then daily I pray five times a day.":^[7]

Notable views[link]

During Yasin's stays in Australia in mid-2000, he received media attention regarding his views on Islam.

In a speech that Yasin delivered at Bankstown Town Hall in Sydney, Australia, as well as in a televised interview, seen as critical of Muslims befriending non-Muslims, Yasin said: "There's no such thing as a Muslim having a non-Muslim friend, so a non-Muslim could be your associate but they can't be a friend. They're not your friend because they don't understand your religious principles and they cannot because they don't understand your faith."^[8] He later contextualized his comment, explaining that Muslim people, including him, invariably have friends, neighbors and colleagues who are non-Muslims, but that does not mean that non-Muslims should influence Muslims' religious or moral decisions.^[4]

Yasin has lectured to students at universities as a guest speaker and on debate panels. He also addresses crowds at events aimed at young people. Yassin has made statements describing western civilization's academic tradition as difficult to reconcile with Islamic religious life: "University is a gateway for deviation,you forget your Islamic direction. Now you have become compromised through some kind of intellectuality."^[8][9]

Yasin was allegedly quoted by an Australian newspaper instructing a light beating as discipline for disobedient wives.^[8] Yasin denies ever saying this, and says that the Koran does not include any such instructions in its 6626 verses.^[4]

In Australia in 2005 Yasin was quoted as saying that: "The Koran gives a clear position regarding homosexuality lesbianism and bestiality. ... They are aberrations punishable by death. ... We can’t walk around society slandering them because there is legislation against doing that but we don’t have to like them we don’t have to promote them and we have the right to say that that’s a moral aberration.”^[6] In a 2010 documentary, Yasin said that "in the eyes of God everyone is equal, not the same, but equal" and that, "according to the principles of Islam", homosexuality is "a perversive behavior and a criminal behavior. But we need to be tolerant. We are citizens, we need to be tolerant".^[9]

Yasin believes that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is probably man-made and that the US Government is the likely culprit. He said that “missionaries from the World Health Organisation and Christian groups ... went into Africa and inoculated people for diphtheria, malaria, yellow fever and they put in the medicine the AIDS virus.”^[6][4]

Yasin accuses Israel of state terrorism. He refers to "an occupation of Palestinian land by the criminal state of Israel ... and they are still committing terrorism after 50 years".^[9]

Regarding capital punishment by some Muslim states, Yasin has said: "Then people can see, people without hands, people can see in public heads rolling down the street, people got [sic] their hands and feet from opposite sides chopped off and they see them crucified ... They see people put up against the pole and see them get lashed in public. They see it, and because they see it, it acts as a deterrent for them because they say I don't want that to happen to me". Yasin made these comments during an investigation for a British Channel 4 documentary, "Dispatches: Undercover Mosque", which investigated the intolerance and fundamentalism reportedly being spreading through Britain's mosques from the Saudi Arabian religious establishment closely linked to the Saudi Arabian government. Yasin responded that his comments should be considered in context and that he did not support or promote Saudi Arabian government religious rhetoric and that, in any event, capital punishment occurred in many countries. "The lecture," he stated, "was aimed at reforming the Muslim people, the Muslim society and the Muslim world … to be adjudicated by the Sovereign Islamic State" when one exists.^[10]

On September 7, 2003 Yasin appeared on Australian program Sunday Nights With John Cleary:^[7] On Islam's position in the West, Cleary asked Yasin, how he as a teacher dealt with Islam getting a very rough trot in the West today. To this Yasin answered that he saw two options, one for himself and one for other co-religionists. He spoke of the need to be tolerant and said Muslims need to personify with the core principles of the religion as then at least Muslims could not be held responsible for people taking a radical view of them. As a second thing he mentioned that he assesses people, who he speak to so to enable himself to correct any misconseptions about Islam from their perspective as that's what an educator does."^[7]

Discussing international governing bodies and the lack of them in Islam, Cleary asked where Sharia fits into that and Yasin replied; "Well the Sharia is the cement that keeps all the bricks together. The Sharia is the legislative element. The Sharia is the judicial element. This is where rules, this is where juristic decisions, this is where the courts, this is where law. And I mean if you don't have a people that is governed by Sharia, then you have a lawless people."^[7]

Denmark[link]

In 2010 Yasin lectured in Copenhagen at a Muslim youth project called "North Bronx" - From Gang Member two Conscious Muslim, with one of his credentials being the fact that Yasin is a former gang member from Harlem. His participation stirred political debate whether Yasin was a suitable role model for keeping youths out of gangs. The organizer of the event defended Yasin and stated that, "He has totally changed his position and entered the fight to prevent radicalization and crime".^[11][12]

Netherlands[link]

In 2009, Yasin travelled to the Netherlands and taught lectures on several occasions, including at the private Muslim university of Rotterdam. Several Dutch parties tried unsuccessfully to deny him access to the country. The most visible campaign against Yasin was led by right-wing politician Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom.

On a Dutch-Muslim feature interview Yasin compared the controversial reaction he and Islam stirs to "someone walking in the dark, without knowing where they are going", and to people being afraid of things they are not familiar with.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Shaykh Khalid Yasin's official website
• Khalid Yasin audio and video lectures

Elijah Muhammad
Elijah Muhammad speaking in 1964.
Leader of the Nation of Islam
Incumbent
Assumed office 1934
Preceded by	Wallace Fard Muhammad
Succeeded by	Warith Deen Mohammed
Personal details
Born	Elijah Robert Poole (1897-10-07)October 7, 1897 Sandersville, Georgia, United States
Died	February 25, 1975(1975-02-25) (aged 77) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Spouse(s)	Clara Muhammad
Occupation	Leader of the Nation of Islam
Religion	Nation of Islam

Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Robert Poole; October 7, 1897 – February 25, 1975) was an African American religious leader, and led the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death in 1975. Muhammad was a mentor to Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali; and his son Warith Deen Mohammed.

Early life[link]

Elijah Muhammad was born Elijah Robert Poole in Sandersville, Georgia, the sixth of thirteen children to William Poole, Sr. (1868–1942), a Baptist lay preacher and sharecropper, and Mariah Hall (1873–1958), a homemaker and sharecropper.

Poole's education ended at the fourth grade. To support the family, he worked with his parents as a sharecropper. When he was sixteen years old, he left home and began working in factories and at other businesses.

Marriage and family[link]

Poole married Clara Evans (1899–1972) on March 7, 1917. In 1923, the Pooles, like hundreds of thousands of other African Americans in those years, migrated from the Jim Crow South to the northern states for safety and employment opportunities in the industrial cities. Poole later recounted that before the age of 20, he had witnessed the lynchings of three black men by white people. He said, "I seen enough of the white man's brutality to last me 26,000 years".^[1]

The Pooles settled in Hamtramck, Michigan. Through the 1920s and 1930s, Poole struggled to find and keep work as the economy suffered during the Great Depression. During their years in Detroit, the Pooles had eight children, six boys and two girls.^[2][3]

Conversion and rise to leadership[link]

In August 1931, at the urging of his wife, Elijah Poole attended a speech on Islam and black empowerment by Wallace D. Fard. Afterward, Poole said he approached Fard and asked if he was the redeemer. Fard responded that he was, but that his time had not yet come.^[4][5] Poole soon became an ardent follower of Fard and joined his movement, as did his wife and several brothers. Soon afterward, Poole was given the Muslim surname, first to Karriem, and later at Fard's behest, to Muhammad. He assumed leadership of the Nation's Temple No. 2 in Chicago.^[6] His younger brother Kalot Muhammad became the leader of the movement's self-defense arm, the Fruit of Islam.

Fard was arrested during a police investigation of a ritual murder and later released on the condition that he leave Detroit. He relocated to Chicago and continued to oversee the movement from Temple No. 2. He turned over leadership of the growing Detroit group to Elijah Muhammad, and the Allah Temple of Islam changed its name to the Nation of Islam.^[7] Elijah Muhammad and Wallace Fard continued to communicate until 1934, when Wallace Fard disappeared. Elijah Muhammad succeeded him in Detroit and was named "Minister of Islam". After the disappearance, Elijah Muhammad told followers that Wallace Muhammad had literally been Allah on earth.^[8][9][10]

In 1934, the Nation of Islam published its first newspaper, Final Call to Islam, to educate and build membership. Children of its members attended classes at the newly created Muhammad University of Islam, but this soon led to challenges by boards of education in Detroit and Chicago, which considered the children truants from the public school system. The controversy led to the jailing of several University of Islam board members and Elijah Muhammad in 1934 and to violent confrontations with police. Muhammad was put on probation, but the university remained open.

Leadership of the Nation of Islam[link]

Elijah Muhammad took control of Temple No. 1, but only after battles with other potential leaders, including his brother. In 1935, as these battles became increasingly fierce, Muhammad left Detroit and settled his family in Chicago. Still facing death threats, Muhammad left his family there and traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he founded Temple No. 3, and eventually to Washington, D.C., where he founded Temple No. 4. He spent much of his time reading 104 books suggested by Master Fard Muhammad at the Library of Congress.^[4][11][12]

On May 8, 1942, Elijah Muhammad was arrested for failure to register for the draft during World War II. After he was released on bail, Muhammad fled Washington D.C. on the advice of his attorney, who feared a lynching, and returned to Chicago after seven years' absence.^{[citation needed]} Muhammad was arrested there, charged with eight counts of sedition for instructing his followers not to register for the draft or serve in the armed forces. Found guilty, Elijah Muhammad served four years, from 1942 to 1946, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan. During that time, his wife, Clara, and trusted aides ran the organization; Muhammad transmitted his messages and directives to followers in letters.^[13][14][15]

Following his return to Chicago, Elijah Muhammad was firmly in charge of the Nation of Islam. The organization had retained its membership level during his imprisonment, and its membership increased after his return. From four temples in 1946, the Nation of Islam grew to 15 by 1955. By 1959, there were 50 temples in 22 states.^[16]

By the 1970s, the Nation of Islam owned bakeries, barber shops, coffee shops, grocery stores, laundromats, a printing plant, retail stores, numerous real estate holdings, and a fleet of tractor trailers, plus farmland in Michigan, Alabama, and Georgia. In 1972 the Nation of Islam took controlling interest in a bank, the Guaranty Bank and Trust Co. Nation of Islam-owned schools expanded until, by 1974, the group had established schools in 47 cities throughout the United States.^[17] In 1972, Muhammad told followers that the Nation of Islam had a net worth of $75 million.^[18]