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March 8, 2007

Nation of Islam: History - Part 1

Originally this article was published in Family Security Matters and is reproduced with their permission.

Nation of Islam - What is it?

Part 1 (of 4)

By Adrian Morgan

According to Lawrence Mamiya, professor of religion at Vassar Collegein Poughkeepsie, there are up to 2 million African Americans who are practicing Islam as a faith. Yet Mamiya maintains that the most famous American black Muslim association, the Nation of Islam, has little more than 50,000 members.

The organization is currently at a crossroads - its current leader, Louis Farrakhan (above right), is dying. Prostate cancer, which he thought he had beaten in 1999, has returned. He recently made a "farewell speech" to a huge congregation in Detroit, where the organization is currently based. Farrakhan urged conciliation between those of faith, saying: "How come we the people of God cannot embrace each other?" Minister Farrakhan acknowledged that the speech would be his last. He told his followers: "My time is up. The final call can't last forever."

The 77-year history of the Nation of Islam, and particularly some of the groups which have been influenced by it, is interwoven with racial politics, intrigues, anti-semitism, and murder. But though the group claims to uphold "Islamic values", some of its core beliefs run directly counter to orthodox interpretations of Islam. To be a Muslim, a person must declare that there is no other God but Allah, and Mohammed is his last messenger. The NoI, however, believe in other messengers, or prophets.

As stated on the Nation of Islam's official website, the group believes that "Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930; the long-awaited "Messiah" of the Christians and the "Mahdi" of the Muslims."

This belief is fundamentally at odds with authentic Islam. The Mahdi must be a descendant of Mohammed, via the bloodline of his daughter Fatima. Master Wallace Fard Muhammad gave no reliable details of his origins or lineage. According to Hadiths, the Mahdi will rule as Caliph in the last period of Islam on earth, and will rule for seven years. Master Fard first appeared in Paradise Valley in Detroit in either November 1929 or July 1930 and mysteriously disappeared in 1934, a "rule" of significantly less than seven years.

FBI files claimed Fard was a criminal with 58 aliases. He had served three years in California for selling narcotics, being released from San Quentin on May 27, 1929 according to one account, even though this date conflicts with other known events in Fard's life. Fard's origins are obscure - it has been argued that he was a New Zealander, with mixed white/Polynesian parentage, a Pakistani, a Syrian, a Palestinian or a Jamaican. He told his followers that he was born in Mecca, and that he had a Russian/Jewish mother. When he arrived in Paradise Valley, using the alias David Ford-el, he was a silk peddler, though the Nation of Islam denies this claim.

Before arriving in Detroit, Fard had been a senior member of a group called the Moorish Science Temple of America, which had been founded in 1925 by Noble Drew Ali (1886 - 1929). Based in Chicago, Illinois, with 14 branch temples in other states, the Moorish Science Temple had evolved from an earlier cult - the Canaanite Temple - founded in Newark in 1913 by Drew Ali (real name Timothy Drew, originally from North Carolina). This cult claimed that all blacks were Asiatic in origin, deriving from the land of Canaan. As the Moorish Science Temple, the ideology changed to state that all blacks were Moorish (Moroccan), and incorporated Islam into its philosophy.

By 1927, this group was attracting attention in the South Side of Chicago, with male members wearing red fezzes, having contempt for whites and occasionally indulging in fist fights. Drew Ali (pictured above) considered himself the natural successor to Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the black nationalist who had been deported in 1927. Drew Ali sold potions with Oriental names and sold membership cards to the Temple, soon becoming wealthy. The first national convention of the Moorish Science Temple took place in October 1928. By this time, Drew Ali, who was called "Prophet" by his followers, had earned $36,000 in one year alone, and was said to have commanded 12,000 followers in Chicago.

The Moorish Science Temple was hit by a scandal in the following year. One disgruntled member, Sheikh Claude Greene Bey, had tried to stage a coup and take over the movement. On March 15, 1929, Greene was shot and stabbed to death by a group of Moors. This killing led to Drew Ali being investigated as an accessory to homicide. While awaiting trial, Drew Ali hastily promoted David Ford-el, aka Master Fard Muhammad, appointing him acting head of the Chicago temple on July 20, 1929.

A month later, Noble Drew Ali was found dead at his home, probably as a result of injuries sustained in beatings from the police or from his rivals, and a leadership battle ensued. In September 1929, Kirkman Bey, a man who claimed to possess Drew Ali's will, was kidnapped from his home on the orders of Ira Johnson Bey, a contender for the leadership. Kirkman was held prisoner in Johnson's apartment. When police tried to break in, a shoot-out ensued, in which one policeman and two Moors were killed. 63 Moors were subsequently arrested. Fearful for his own safety, Fard Muhammad moved to Detroit, Michigan.

Here, Fard imported many of Drew Ali's ideas, mixed with some of his own. Drew Ali had written his own "Koran", which blended Christian and Muslim ideas. In 1930, Master Fard founded the Allah Temple of Islam (ATI). He preached his pseudo-Islamic views, and produced booklets. According to his successor, Fard Muhammad left behind a legacy of more than 100 of these "books". Fard allowed his followers to choose their own leaders, or "ministers".

The man chosen by Fard to be his right-hand man would eventually become the leader of the Nation of Islam for 44 years. Elijah (Robert) Poole had been born around October 7, 1897, in Sandersville, Georgia, the seventh of thirteen children. Poole moved to Detroit in April 1923, taking with him his wife Clara and their children. According to the Nation of Islam, Master Fard first arrived on Independence Day 1930.

An NoI document from 1973, entitled the Muhammad University of Islam Yearbook describes how Elijah Poole first met Master Fard at one of the latter's ATI meetings: "..as soon as he walked into the room he realized that the one who was speaking was God, Himself. When shaking the man's hand after the meeting, Mr Elijah Poole said, "I know who you are, you're God Himself". The certain man whispered to him, that's right, but don't tell it now: It is not yet time for it to be known."

"The Savior, Master Fard Mujhammad, used a system of permitting the student ministers to select their own minister from among themselves. They would always select the most articulate, smooth-talking one. However, one day the Savior decided to select his own. "I've let you select yours for a wile," he told the student ministers. "Now I'll select mine." "Hey, you over there, Karriem!" Master Fard called out to the humble little man seated in the corner rear of the classroom. "Who me?" The Messenger asked humbly. "Yes, you Elijah Karriem," The Savior commanded, "Come here with me."

The humble little man went to the front of the class and stood beside his Master. The Savior put his right arm around the little man's shoulder and said, "From now on, this is My Minister." The Savior gave Elijah the name of Muhammad, His name. Muhammad was given the title "Supreme Minister" until later on when he received the title "Messenger of Allah," a title which he was not to use until the Saviour had gone because it was not to be revealed until then that Savior Himself was Allah in person."

The Allah Temple of Islam, precursor of the modern NoI, was more radical than the Moorish Temple of Science. Many of the males still wore the distinctive red fezzes, and dressed themselves in smart suits. Like Drew Ali, Fard charged believers to have their names changed from their "slave names" to Muslim names and were issued with "gaudy identification cards". Drew Ali had tried to balance black pride with the notion of American citizenship, but Fard emphasized contempt for the white race, whom he called "cavemen" or "white devils". Fard maintained that an evil scientist called Yakub had created the white race 6,000 years ago, to plague the original Black Man, who had ruled the earth for 25,000 years before that time. Like Drew Ali, Fard told his followers that they were "Asiatic".

Two years after the Allah Temple of Islam/Nation of Islam was founded in Detroit, it became involved in a major scandal. A member of the group called Robert Harris aka Robert Karriem had ritually murdered James J Smith on Sunday, November 20, 1932. Harris was obviously insane, declaring himself the "King of Islam" during his trial. The racist Detroit press of the time had a field day, calling the crime the "Voodoo Murders" even though only one person was killed. The term "Voodoo" had been coined by a local pastor, J. D. Howell, and was publicized by the Detroit Free Press, which also wrote of the killer's "jungle fanaticism", Harris had erected a makeshift altar, to which he had tied his black victim, who lodged at his home in Dubois Street. Harris stabbed him with a silver knife while his wife Bertha looked on. The killer then caved in his victim's head with an automobile axle.

The day after the murder, the Detroit Free Press claimed Harris/Karriem had told police: "The ninth hour of the twentieth day had come Sunday. It was predestined 1,500 years ago that at that hour I must make a human sacrifice to my gods. It must not be a member of the Order of Islam, but some stranger - the first person I met after leaving my home." In court, Harris claimed: "It was crucifixion time. That's why I killed him."

The Detroit Free Press acknowledged that Fard's version of Islam, and not Voodoo was involved. A "bible of Islam" was found, which advocated killing unbelievers. Harris told how he intended to carry out more murders, which he called "sacrifices". The "Nation of Islam" itself came under the spotlight. A black woman had allegedly been threatened with death by the cult after her employer had expressed his desire to ban the group.

The "bible of Islam" was a booklet written by Fard Muhammad, entitled "Secret Rituals of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam". It had been quoted by Harris/Karriem. This included the words: "The unbeliever must be stabbed through the heart." These words had been found in Harris' home, pasted onto a sheet of paper. The leaflet also claimed: "Every son of Islam must gain a victory from a devil. Four victories and the son will attain his reward."

Seven senior figures in the ATI were arrested. Master Fard Muhammad and Ugan Ali, the secretary of ATI, were taken into psychiatric custody at Detroit's Receiving Hospital for observation. The sanity of Ugan Ali was described as "extremely doubtful... the slightest word or phrase used inadvertently seems to enrage him, for no apparent reason." Master Fard Muhammad, who is still considered to be "Allah" by modern-day Nation of Islam members, was described as "suffering from delusions that he is a divinity".

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Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 8, 2007 10:48 AM

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