Monday, April 10, 2017

LET OUR FOOD BE OUR MEDICINE AND OUR MEDICINE BE OUR FOOD


LET OUR FOOD BE OUR MEDICINE AND OUR MEDICINE BE OUR FOOD



By Fahim A. Knight-El


Image result for gmo images

We are presently living in the age of information and the digital age where media is constantly shaping and molding public opinion. Information is being acquired in real time. Yet, advertisers have always chimed into methods and ways to influence consumers in what products/brands they should purchase and the corporate media has always played a huge part in market and consumer influence. Marketing firms now have highly trained psychologist and social scientists experts (masters of social engineering) on staff who have studied human behavior and human impulses working along side advertisers (this is not coincidental). For example, they strategically use colors, enticing displays, music, mind catching props and stocking schemes to appeal to the human brain and to trigger certain emotions in the consumer, which causes us to often purchase consumer products that we do not need. These techniques are rooted in the persuasive power of subliminal seduction and the consumer often do not know why they are attached to a product or service and/or what led them to spend their money.

I am a proponent of healthy eating, wellness, organic agriculture and sustainable living. This writer, thinks that all food grown (imported and/or exported) in the United States of America should be mandated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be grown as agriculture products free of pesticides, free of being genetically modified, free of chemicals and dangerous toxic substances that will alter or impact the natural process of our food chain and agribusiness—that has the potential to negatively impact our long term and short term health prognosis (grown with the highest quality and prepared with the utmost health and safety standards in mind, that is safe for human consumption and to insure good societal health). Moreover, in the last fifteen to twenty years scientists have entered into a very dangerous paradigm relative to creating what I deem as 'Frankstein' foods better known as Genetic Modified Organism (GMO). We do not know enough about the long term and short term health affects that GMO foods could possibly have on human beings and how it will impact future society (is this a health risk that we are willing to take?). The pharmaceutical companies, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Center for Disease Control (CDC), etc; are working in cahoots with high level U.S. governmental politicians and with private business conglomerates that are more powerful than governments to move us more toward a GMO and synthetic drug society (they have induced these market trends based on profit motives).

I think to allow powerful corporate conglomerates such as Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer, etc., to monopolize the agricultural food seeds (in direct violation of U.S. anti-trust laws) and use their wealth and influence to alter our food processes in the name of profit incentive in my opinion is a crime against humanity. We as a society might look back on when GMO was allowed to enter our food markets and perhaps in the not so distance future will come to see linkages to higher incidents of all forms of cancer, Diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer, autism, down syndrome, child and adult obesity, mental health diseases, hypertension, etc., will the GMO food paradigm potentially increase early mortality rate in the U.S.?

There are just too many health unknowns about the GMO science because it is relatively new and still evolving in which to adequately assess and evaluate the health and nutritional risk will ultimately take decades of scientific testing (yet that should not curtail our speculations and inquiry to proceed with caution when it comes to assessing any process that alters our food from its natural and original state, moreover should be enough to sound the alarm in spite of the government signing off on bio-tech food as allegedly being safe). Some European countries do not allow GMO foods to be imported or grown in their countries (for example, GMO is banned in Germany, Scotland, France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Poland, and Belgium). The United States should have followed the lead of other western and industrialized nations whom many have shown reservations about Genetic Modified Organism and are fearful of the possible health ramifications. Although, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared GMO to be safe for human consumption, it has many nations in the world skeptical of this unproven contention.

I think all GMO foods and products grown, manufactured and sold should have warning labels from the oversight regulatory agencies such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that state on the labeling packages (GMO is considered toxic, poison, hazardous, biohazard, etc.).

1).GMO food products have been altered from its original state and all the health science and evidence are not in and any human consumption of this product could lead to long term and short term illnesses and even death. Eat at your own risk.

2). GMO products could possibly put you at risk for cancer, heart disease, obesity, Diabetes, etc., and/or other debilitating diseases, which could lead to sickness and an even death. Eat at your own risk.

3). All GMO products could negatively affect your human reproduction, infertility and could cause childbirth deformities and sterilization. Eat at your own risk.

4). I advise all consumers who partake and consume GMO products at your own risk, but we legally indemnify ourselves from any potential lawsuits or litigation that might be directly or indirectly caused by human consumption of any and all GMO products.

I think we all in the United States of America and the entire human family could benefit from good natural health practices and cures presented by herbal doctors, homeopathic practitioners, organic nutritional scientist, and natural healers who have been led to revisited the curing, healing and treatment remedies of plant based medicines in order to create a more natural path to wellness—these ancient sciences have been around since the dawn of time. Health care should be a human entitlement and nationalized with no free market incentives. The food and pharmaceutical racketeers do not desire for us to know that natural herbal medicinal healing power was here and practiced for generations amongst all indigenous people and cultures of the earth (they were the first practitioners of holistic natural medicine).

Indigenous people of mother earth understood the mind, body and spirit and how these entities worked in direct correlations to the spiritual laws of the universe and applied these sciences in unison to living in harmony with God and all its creation. Social Darwinism and the survival of the fittest was rooted in European ethos and at the formation of the United States, it would be the impetus to the establishment of rugged capitalism and what Adam Smith called in his book titled, The Wealth of Nations: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations the inception of the free enterprise system which has created global social and economic disparities. Moreover, when indigenous people planted and farmed crops they did so in respect of the universal principles that governs mother earth; the Europeans worked and did just the opposite and this is what has created a universal imbalance on the earth between God and man, this is the root of the mindset that has led to the exploitation of human and natural resources that have truly upset the physical and spiritual balance on the planet.

They as I have stated above, created such an imbalance in nature that the bees are being destroyed and crops and plants are not being adequately pollinated and this has led to bee farms and bees are now being imported in which to pollinate farmer’s crops. The wealth disparity phenomenon in America and throughout the globe is systematically being driven by greed (there is enough resources on the earth to comfortably sustain every human being on the planet) relative to having wholesome and healthy foods, which should not be a barrier based on false economic and social standards of living models that are rooted in greed and capitalism that benefits the few and subjugate the masses. The Earth's energy has moved into a negative sphere and it is destined to continue to turn against man until we learn how to once again live in harmony and peace with this magnificent planet we call earth and is considered our home. 

My African ancestors (in particular my great, great, great grandparents who arrived to Georgia and were made slaves) did not have an almanac chart, which to advise them when it would be in the best complimentary good of the universe to put seeds in the ground. Many so-called African American farmers in the old South could not read and write and by the white man’s standards they were considered illiterate; but they were highly literate about God, the astrological powers and phenomenon in observing and obeying the principles relative to the laws of cause and effect and the powers that governs the laws of attraction. Indigenous people understood the importance of living in the Kemetic spirit of Maat—harmony, justice, balance, equilibrium, reciprocity, etc.

Many Africans who were forced into Chattel slavery had direct blood lineages to the Dogons and were well versed in the meaning of the constellations of the stars and studied the moon and communicated in a spiritual way with the heavenly bodies, which instructed them on the highest level of agriculture/horticulture science and they knew how to systematically chart the sun, moon and stars (these black farmers knowledge were beyond some of the astrological pseudo science associated with daily horoscope readings—their charts were written deep into the subconscious of the human psyche) to ensure the harvest outcome would be abundantly rewarding based on their projection of the phases of the moon (they never planted out of season and everything we ate was naturally grown and organic). They were in direct communication with a higher spiritual force and they had respect for the land.

They did not rely on pharmaceutical drugs and synthetic medicines as treatment alternatives, they went directly to Mother Earth for all medicinal solutions. I preach to young African American sisters the importance of having a willingness to learn about what it means to be the Goddesses of the universe (our babies and what we put in them is sacred, it will determine if we have a future as a people). There is no alternative to breastfeeding (God does not make any mistake in his creation, mother's milk is the life blood of our children's health for today and tomorrow) cow milk and formulas are manufactured in the laboratories of the wickedly wise who practice 'tricknology' and stand opposite of God and his will as the Creator. The black woman has to be the scientist in the house by ensuring the family is getting wholesome cooked food and prepared (eating live and non-GMO foods and having a daily diet of organic foods). Yes, having a garden and practicing sustainable planting and eating from the harvest, it is both physical and spiritually rewarding. Our sisters in particular have to be the natural healers, doctors, nutritionist and homeopathic scientists. 

I was going through my library looking for a certain book and I pulled out a book that I have had for some years, it was not the book of my intentions. Yet, I believe that I was led to this book and it was beyond coincidental, which was authored by Kurt Mendelssohn titled, The Riddle of the Pyramids, I started skimming through the pages of the book and just started reading and more I read there was a section in the book dealing with Imhotep whom the Greeks called Asklepios he was the father of medicine and the Greeks stole their Hippocratic oath from the black Nubian scientist. Powerful not so coincidental knowledge, Imhotep built the first step pyramid.   

Moving right along Dr. Sebi held a dual citizenship status of American and Honduran, perhaps was one of the greatest and most profound natural Healers in the late 20th and 21st century in which he was assassinated in Honduras this past August 2016 and as I write this article, we still do not know the full circumstances surrounding our brother's death. Our Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members and Negro leader have been relatively silent on Dr. Sebi's death. We should support Donald Trump’s agenda of deporting every illegal Honduran alien in the United States until we get answers from the Honduran Government about what happened to Dr. Sebi and the cause of him dying in a filthy Honduran jail. We should force the CBC to initiate congressional hearings into the death of Dr. Sebi and if they fail to comply to an open investigation, our black lawmakers should lobby the full congress to impose economic sanctions and embargoes against the nation of Honduras.

Dr. Sebi’s perspective on homeopathic treatments, organic natural cures, and wellness put him on a collision course (he was perhaps the only natural herbalist and healer who took on the United States Government after being indicted for practicing medicine without a license and won his case in the New York Supreme Court). Dr. Sebi had cured black people who had cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, hypertension, HIV, etc. I believe the United States Government was complicit in the assassination. Dr. Sebi’s natural approach to medicine and dispensing treatments solely from organic plant based herbs and natural healing products were creating positive health results, but in the end this did not matter in the grand scheme of things—all though this might have appeared as unconventional medicine to some, but the American Medical Association were fully aware of the health benefits of natural homeopathic medicine; the pharmaceutical companies saw him as threat to their profit and capitalist interest (our health is played as a commodity on the stock exchange, it is about money).

They prefered creating prescription drug dependence and causing addiction on prescription medications (giving rise to legal medicated dope feigns) and feeding the long money chain associated with occidental medicine and/or synthetic medicines as opposed to supporting natural herbal based treatments (which is better and less expensive, as well as being a lot less dangerous relative to the side effects). Dr. Sebi was deemed a threat because he offered inexpensive organic wellness treatments to black people  Dr. Sebi was definitely assassinated, because his perspective on wellness was transformative on the lives of us as Africans on the continent and us who live in the Diaspora (Dr. Sebi became a threat to the powers that-be). Organic food growing is essential to our personal and collective sustainability (liberation means nothing, if we cannot feed ourselves all revolutions are based on land). Our Elders and great grandparents knew how to use the blessings and life offerings that came from Mother Earth to cure and treat diseases, viruses, sicknesses and illnesses by understanding the natural environment in which they lived (man and woman first studied from the natural creation) and from there found every solution that lends itself to the question of life sustainability. The ancient masters of the universe taught African people (and this knowledge was passed down to them old black farmers in the south) they did not rely on pharmaceutical drugs and synthetic medicines as treatment alternatives (unnatural and chemical based remedies), they went directly to Mother Earth for all medicinal solutions.

But it all starts from having the knowledge of self and using our kitchen as our sacred sanctuaries to cook and prepare wholesome foods that have life (yes digging a plot in our yard and planting is an excellent first step and eating from our harvest is next to heaven on earth). We must make our food our medicine and our medicine our food. The health and wellness pieces that I have written are perhaps some of the most vital pieces in our struggle for liberation and those writings outweigh everything that I have written relative to philosophy and ideology. We have no more time for saying I am not equipped or I am not prepared, if we are not ready and prepared to move forward in 2017, our future off-springs will render us a generation of cowards and beggars who did nothing, but worked in complicit with the devil and his white supremacy agenda. I must always emphasize the importance of studying liberating materials. Here are some titles on my reading list and are in my library: Alkaline Herbal Medicine: Reverse Disease and Heal the Electric Body by Aqiyl Aniys, How To Eat To Live, by Elijah Muhammad, African Holistic Health, by  Llaila Afrika: Heal Thyself for Health and Longevity by Queen Mother Afua,    Vaccines are Dangerous by Curtis Cost, Colin Health: The Key to a Vibrant Life by Norman W. Walker, The Herb Book by John Lust, The Master Cleanser with Special Needs and Problems by Stanley Burroughs, The Natural Way by Dr. Paul Goss, More Ultimate Healing by Bottom Line Publication, The Hog: Should it be Used for Food, etc.

The huge food conglomerates who specializes in Genetic Modified Organism (GMO) foods and products such as Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer (biotech giants), etc; in which ties them directly to powerful international trading companies like Archer, Daniel, Midland (ADM), Cargill, ConAgra, Tate and Lyle, etc., this is a huge industry that has residual off spins to teaching universities such as Harvard University, University of California--San Francisco, Duke University, Columbia University, John Hopkins University, Stanford University, Yale University, etc. Educational endowments are established by billionaire Invisible Hand Elitist (research grants are allocated and disbursed and fellowships are made available) and the pharmaceutical companies use their lobbying influence on Capitol Hill and monetary influence, as well as power to persuade these prestigious teaching universities to initiate and fast-track in getting potential profitable medicines and treatment therapies moving in the right direction pursuant to getting approved for clinical and research trials, that are often endorsed in the interest of capitalist motives and not necessarily in the best heath interest of the American people or the international society at large (synthetic medicines are a trillion dollar industry).

The National Rifle Association (NRA), the weaponry and armament lobby who solicited U.S. government contracts to buy and sell weapons around the world, the Jewish Lobby and the pharmaceutical lobby are some of the most powerful lobby groups on Capitol Hill and in Washington DC. Dr. Sebi and others who teaches natural healing and homeopathic alternative treatments will never be well received—just think over this as I have stated above Monsanto has a patent on the seeds (monopoly on the food chain), which violates all the universal laws established by God and go against the will of the Supreme Being—this also goes against the United States jurisprudence systems relative to antitrust laws and laws that governs corporate monopoly. Monsanto actually controls whether or not humanity will continue to exist (and has patents on creating GMO  'Frankstein' food). 

Lastly, we should be on the street corners proselytizing—in the churches, synagogues, mosques, etc., in the institutions of higher learning and academics or wherever our people are teaching them and imparting the knowledge and wisdom to awaken and enlightened them to the pending danger that lie ahead. I am quite sure most of you who visited my Blog understand and have already decoded Donald Trump's political agenda and have deciphered why he has all these white ultra nationalist billionaires in his cabinet. However, Trump coming to power and the present national and global predicament cannot be assessed outside of the scheme of white supremacy. We all have a personal responsibility to take it upon ourselves to make a bigger difference in our personal lives and the community (we have no choice the handwriting is on the wall). We can no longer shun our God giving responsibility, in particular, if you know and understand who God and the devil is. We do not need charismatic leaders to guide us anymore—you are the messenger (interpreted to mean Abraham, Moses, Noah, Jesus and Muhammad are dead and will not be returning to this earth, but you are here now). If you have been awakened to some of this knowledge then you have a mandate from a Higher Source and a responsibility to enlightened and stand on that which you know to be the truth.  We all will forever be students in our eternal quest to know and learn. Yet, our spiritual and intellectual growth will always revolve around how discipline we are when it comes to study and developing ourselves as human beings. We have to be willing to do the research and internalize our history, traditions and culture before European slavery, colonialism and imperialism. Truth frees our bodies and minds only then will we put ourselves in the best position to alter change. All knowledge is inspired and we take no credit for the universal wisdom, it belongs and comes from God and we are only vessels and servants being used to execute his will.

Fahim A. Knight-El Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-El can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: JUST A REFLECTION


ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: JUST A REFLECTION

  
By Fahim A. Knight-El


Image result for images of elijah muhammad

In 1996, I was contacted by a professor of history named Dr. Claude Clegg from North Carolina Agriculture and Technology State University in Greensboro, North Carolina (one of best Historical Black Colleges and Universities in America); Clegg was writing a scholarly biography on the Honorable Elijah Muhammad titled, An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad,  which he contacted me and requested my assistance in writing this book in which I agreed to assist my brother (lets be clear, I take no credit or responsibility for Dr. Cleggs’ work). I had authored and published a book in 1995 titled, In Defense of the Defender: The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Dr. Clegg whom I liked very much as a person had come across a copy of my book and he thought that I had made some interesting points in my research (and he wanted to further expand his research and as an academician they have the responsibility to sort out an empirical investigative approach, that allows for the researcher to quantify the evidence and establish factual objective and credible scholarly outcomes). Although, Clegg acknowledged me on page xvi, but on pages of 348 and 349 my brother raked me over the coal; he accused me of being partial and that I had demonstrated little to no objectivity in my research (twenty years ago I must admit my big ego was inflated and his criticism of my work placed me in an emotional space of not receiving constructive criticism, as well as I should have, how dare this Negro disrespect me like that after I had giving him unconditional help.[1]

Thus, I pulled out a copy of my publication after embarking on this article and I also pulled out Dr. Clegg’s book as well, and twenty years later, I had to admit to myself that Dr. Clegg was right. There was a lot that I could have done better with structuring the work and I could have learned a lot from Dr. Clegg. Yet, I do not claim to be an authority on Elijah Muhammad nor the Nation of Islam (I intentionally wrote the thesis in the spirit of truth and was not concern with impartiality).[2] I wrote my book after Spike Lee did that botched up representation of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the epic film, “Malcolm X”. I felt compelled to defend the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s image and legacy (I think the Messenger’s domestic life and the circumstances surrounding those events as shaped and defined by Lee’s Malcolm X movie further drew a wedge in-between black people and the perception of the Nation of Islam’s leader—in particular whether not his domestic life rendered him a hypocrite, which the enemy has attempted to use to discredit Muhammad’s historical legacy and image. Someone had to answer Spike Lee’s allegations and mischaracterizations of our leader, teacher and guide.[3]

This article is not an exhaustive analysis of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s life nor is it an attempt to serve as an official biographical sketch of the last messenger of Allah; I have felt that may be I had bit off to much to even attempt to writing on such complex Muslim leader in this brief essay and in which the man, message and mission were misunderstood and yet his influence still resonates amongst black people in America some eighty-seven years later. This alone serves as proof positive of how rooted the Nation of Islam was/is in the social, political, economic and the culture of the 20th and 21st century of black America’s life, as an organization and movement, it is here to stay. The evidence of its longevity and influence is the testament of its  presences seen in the existence of approximately twenty (20) to twenty-five (25) Nation of Islam splinter groups and sects who all claim to be representing Elijah Muhammad’s original teachings (some have taking titles such as: the prophet like Moses, Mahdi, Imam, Sheikh, the Son of Man, national representative, one even claim he is greater than Master Fard Muhammad, and some have set up independent temples and are ministers over these various Nation of Islam splinter groups).

I have had many of them make pitches at me and I have turned all of them down. I do not need for them to tell or teach me about Elijah, I have found him for myself and as a curator and historian, I have all of Elijah’s books Message to the Blackman in America, How to Eat to Live: Book # 1& #2, The Fall of America, Our Savior Has Arrived, Flag of Islam, ‘Supreme Wisdom” lessons, copies of original “Muhammad Speaks” new paper and many of his audio tapes, etc. I think the Nation of Islam Historical Research Department would be in the best position to have written the official biography on the Life and Times of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad, the international representative of the Nation of Islam had promised over 30 years ago that he was going to write the official history of the Nation of Islam and this has never occurred.[4] However, there are now so many smart well trained intellectuals and scholars who have acquired advance degrees in the social sciences who are now members of our organization and are followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. This is not to imply that Minister Jabril Muhammad who authored the book titled, This is the One: We Need Not Look for Another and the late sister scholar Tynetta Muhammad, perhaps forty years ago in collaboration could not have written the official biography on Elijah Muhammad. Minister Silis Muhammad, the leader of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in the West and his staff had the resources to do so as well. There is another brother named Minister Nasir Makr Hakim who is a serious teacher, curator, historian, archivist, etc., who own and operates Messenger Elijah Muhammad Propagation Society; he has edited and gathered many of Messenger Elijah Muhammad's writings and has put them into book publication form. But if you want a good outline of how a scholar should write just get a copy of Hakim's book titled, The True History of Master Fard Muhammad and just start reading the 'Forward' and it will give you a clear indication of the intellectual seriousness of this man as Nation of Islam scholar or 'Black Muslim' scholar. He stands heads and shoulders above many of them whom claim to be scholars on the history of the Nation of Islam. I am a student of his writings and publications. 

I think Dr. Wesley Muhammad author of the books Black Arabia & The African Origin of Islam, The Book of God: An Encyclopedia of Proof that the Black Man is God, The Religion of the Black God: Indic Sacred Science & Islam, Understanding the Assault on the Black Man, Black Manhood and Black Masculinity, etc., is also more than capable of taking on this assignment and I would be willing to assist him and offer my historical expertise. Ashahed Muhammad who authored the book titled, The Synagogue of Satan has the skills and capabilities. The Nation of Islam has allowed so many of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s siblings and children to have died off (old followers that could have offered firsthand accounts of their experiences—credible oral history testimonies, which could have offered valuable primary source materials to recreating the early history of Elijah Muhammad and the establishment of the Nation of Islam (I do not know how many of Elijah Muhammad’s children by sister Clara Muhammad are still alive; I do know Elijah Muhammad's youngest son Dr. Akbar Muhammad just recently transitioned in 2016). We have allowed white scholars and reactionary bourgeoisie Negro scholars to become the authorities on our leader, teacher and guide. Dr. C. Eric Lincoln in 1961, wrote the first scholarly dissertation on the Nation of Islam titled, The Black Muslim in America, it was Dr. Lincoln’s sociological/historical work that brought the Nation of Islam into the academic classroom (although Mike Wallace of CBS news produced the negative documentary in 1959 titled, ‘The Hate that Hate Produced’.[5]

However, most Nation of Islam believers and followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was very critical of the book, The Black Muslim in America and depicted it as not being totally objective nor an accurate assessment of the theology or the historical accounts of the movement relative to those intricate persons, events, dates, etc., that helped shape and mold the Nation of Islam into becoming one of the most powerful and influential organizations in America. Elijah Muhammad gave Dr. Lincoln access to the Temple meetings and allowed him to interview himself and followers of Nation of Islam for the book. But in 1965, Honorable Elijah Muhammad published the Nation of Islam theological treatise titled, Message to the Blackman in America, this book changed my life.[6] We witnessed the affect that the life giving teachings had on the likes of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Louis Farrakhan (National Representative of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad), John Muhammad (the brother of Elijah Muhammad) and Minister  Hurlon Shah (Yahweh Ben Yahweh), Jeremiah Shabazz (minister over Temple #12), James Shabazz (minister over Temple # 25 Newark, New Jersey), Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad (aka Malik Rashuddin—Harold Moore Vann—former Supreme Captain and Minister of Temple # 27 Los Angles, California), Silis Muhammad (founder of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in the West out of Atlanta, Georgia), Father Allah (Clarence 13 X Smith founder of the Nation of Gods and Earths--the Five Percenters), Warithudeen Mohammed (founder of the Muslim American Mission), Solomon Royall (founder of the United Nations of Islam), Marvin Muhammad, (Leland, Mississippi—the son of man), (Eric Muhammad—minister over Temple #15 Atlanta, Georgia).

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad once stated:  "of all our studies, history is the most attractive and best qualified to reward our research, as it develops the springs and motives of human actions and displays the consequences of circumstances which operates most powerfully on the destinies of human beings.” Elijah Muhammad was born Elijah Poole on October 7, 1897, in Sandersville, Georgia; he was the seventh of thirteen children (eight (8) boys and five (5) girls born to Willie, Sr. and Marie Poole. The family was poor sharecroppers living in rural racist Georgia who experienced on a daily basis the evil effects of Jim Crow, a period in U.S. history where segregation was made legal due to the1896 Supreme Court Decision of Plessy versus Ferguson—separate, but equal became constitutional and the law of the land.[7]

Elijah Poole (Elijah Muhammad) as stated above was ironically born in 1897 only one year after the United States Supreme Court decision (Plessy versus Ferguson 1896). Poole at a young age, witnessed one of his closest friends being lynched and hung from a tree in Georgia and this left an indelible and haunting impact on the mental psyche of the man who would later become the teacher of freedom, Justice, and equality for the so-called American Negro (and would become the last messenger of Allah) and would be giving the task to confront white supremacy. When viewing the history of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as much as, it was important to view him within the collective historical black experience, it was equally important to place him within the context of the religious-ethos of black Islamic religious nationalism. Thus, the witnessing of the racist lynching event would forever change Elijah Muhammad's life growing up as a young boy in the deep south in which the incident would be perpetually etched in his mind. Elijah Muhammad’s father was a Baptist minister who preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ by instilling Christian principles and values into his children and home. Elijah Muhammad also had a perceptive grandfather who understood aspects of biblical history and theology and would often refer to the young Elijah as the Biblical Prophet, Elijah, spoken of in the Book of 'Malachi'. It was reported that young Elijah Poole demonstrated leadership
ability at a very young age; moreover, settling family disputes and possessing wisdom far beyond his young age. Elijah Poole (Elijah Muhammad) would witness the social contradictions existing in America, the so-called home of the free with their empty chants of democracy when it came to the plight of Black people in America, as far as racism and social injustice—this would later become his motivation to becoming a race leader.[8]

In  doing my historical background reading and my preliminary assessment; it quickly reminded me that a crime against humanity had taken place under Chattel Slavery (1555-1865) in which no other people on the planet had experienced what the so-called American Negro had experience in their over 450 years sojourn in the United States of America (which is equalvent to a war crime). We lost our land, God, names, culture, folkways and lost our memory of who we were as the original people of civilization (no other people experienced that type of dehumanization being totally stripped of their humanity). America was/is a hostile society towards Africans and indigenous people (this includes the so-called Native Americans) what Andrew Hacker describes in his monumental book titled, Two Nations: Black and White Separate, Hostile, Unequal stated, “race has been an American obsession since the first Europeans sighted "savages" on these shores. In time, those original inhabitants would be subdued or slaughtered, and finally sequestered out of view. But race in America took on a deeper and more disturbing meaning with the importation of Africans as slaves. Bondage would later be condemned as an awful injustice and the nation's shame, even as we have come to acknowledge the stamina and skill it took to survive in a system where humans could be bought and sold and punished like animals. Nor are these antecedents buried away in the past. That Americans of African origin once wore the chains of chattels remains alive in the memory of both races and continues to separate them”.[9] 

In approximately 1919, at age twenty-two (22) Muhammad migrated to Macon, Georgia, seeking employment and a few years later in 1923, he migrated north to Detroit, Michigan where he married Clara Evans. Muhammad reportedly worked in the automobile industry in which some Nation of Islam historians maintained that Muhammad was laid off from work and things got so bad that he started consuming alcohol and even joined the welfare lines. In 1931, someone invited Elijah Muhammad to hear this strange man preaching a strange doctrine in Detroit, Michigan. Elijah Muhammad was reported to have said that he recognized right away that the man doing the teaching was God himself. After one of W.F. Muhammad speeches, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad whispered to W.F. Muhammad, "I know who you are, you are God Himself." W.F. Muhammad whispered back to Elijah and said: "that's right, but is not time for my identity to be revealed."[10] Having recognized who he was, W.F. Muhammad drew the Honorable Elijah Muhammad closer to him for three and one-half years; Master Fard Muhammad personally taught him how to affectively use the Bible and Qur’an and gave him the “Supreme Wisdom Lessons” in which he was instructed to commit them to memory. He was giving an examination on the lessons by Master Fard Muhammad and in a question and answer catechism format the answers had to be answered in return 100% correctly (according to the Department of Supreme Wisdom and the Rules of Islam). Early on in the Nation of Islam these lessons were only to be giving to authorized and registered Nation of Islam members (the local Temple/mosque ministers, captains and secretary played an official role in a believer becoming a registered Muslim. Registered Muslims were Muslims who had written a Savior's letter, which was approved by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and this qualified them to receiving an X or holy name (the giving of the X stood in mathematical language as the unknown; slavery stripped us of our original tribal surnames in which Muhammad gave us the X) after going through the student enrollment process and reciting the lessons one hundred percent correctly in order to officially join the temple (mosque).

Many southern blacks migrated from the south (there were a number of great migration movement periods in the history of African-Americans) to northern metropolis in the early 1900s in which blacks were seeking economic and social reprieve and upward mobility—blacks in droves migrated from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, etc., and went west and north to Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey, New York, Boston, Chicago, Cary, East Saint Louis, Detroit, St. Louis, Los Angles, etc. However, many blacks did not know, that the so-called northern “promise lands” had similar racial politics disguised as being different, but were more covert in its racist practices (the north was equally discriminatory, segregated and racial injustices towards blacks were no different than what they had experienced in the old south). The affects of racism and white supremacy were systemic and there were no escaping these social contradiction and institutionalized practices even in the north, which were no different than the racist southern life they had left behind, as I have stated above—northern racism no doubt was meant to be more passive and subtly covert.  But it had the same strategy and tactic (segregation and a social stratum built on the same racial politics model of the old south); Historian C. Van Woodard maintained in his book titled, The Strange Career of Jim Crow that Jim Crow was more of a northern institutional phenomenon in which made its way south and not visa versa.[11]

In 1929, during President Herbert Hoover's tenure the United States went into an economic depression, which destabilized the economic and social fiber of the American society. Historians referred to it as the Great Depression. The United States financial markets were made to collapse, which devastated the social, political, economic structures of the United States (poverty was far reaching during this period in American history, which led to a restructuring of public policy and created agencies that are still in existence today). The international bankers and the central banking cartel called-in the United States debt in which the Depression of 1929 was induced and created economic instability that sent the United States into the abysmal and led to the election of the democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the 1932 New Deal Movement.[12]      

But in Paradise Valley, a black ghetto section of Detroit, a voice of change appeared on the scene, preaching from the Bible and the Holy Qur’an. He called himself W.F. Muhammad (he looked Caucasian in appearance and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught that he came looking like the enemy and appearing as a thief in the night).  But prior to his departure he gave us his true name of W.F. Muhammad: he was known by W.D. Fard, Professor Fard, Mr. Ford, Wali Fard, Wallace Fard Muhammad and various other names.[13] He stated that he come to North America by himself, seeking his long lost Uncle— the so-called American 'Negro' who was brought to the shores of North America as slaves 379 years ago. W.F. Muhammad was born on February 26, 1877, in the Holy City of Mecca, Saudi Arabia from the Quarysh bloodline of Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (570 AD-632 A D.).[14]    

This is what W.F. Muhammad taught Elijah Muhammad about his origin and family lineage: “Alphonoso Muhammad was supposed come to the shores of North America with his life giving teachings, bound to the lost and found. In 1870 Alphonoso Muhammad told his Asiatic brothers, the I-men {Imam} that he himself could not carry out such a mission in the western hemisphere because of the fact that he was a cold black seed and white America did not allow a black man to come freely to its shores without official business with its government. So the I-men {Imam} told him how to produce a child who would be original in capacity of the brain, but show off a complexion that would make appear, to the naked eye, as white; but to the lost and found, as high yellow person, in order that he may get through the lines and reach the lost tribe. Alphonoso knew what he must do! He took a white woman for a wife, by the name Mimmie, who’s family was Muslim, also they attended school together outside of Mecca . She born unto Alphonoso two children, the first one, a female named Saleema, the second a male…our prophet Wallace Fard Muhammad”.[15]

W.F. Muhammad declared that he had one mission, and that was to find one from amongst the so-called American Negro that slept—Elijah Muhammad and raise him up as a Messenger unto himself. The Holy Qur'an in Chapter 2, refers to Allah (God) sending a Warner to a people to whom no Warner had ever come before. The Arabs nor any people of the so-called Middle Eastern region can claim this prophecy, because prior to Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Messengership 1,400 years ago, Allah (God) sent Abraham and Ishmael as Warners to the Arabs and all the prophets of old toiled in that geographical region of the world Tigris Euphrates region, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Abyssinia, etc.,--Abraham, Moses, Noah, Lut, David, Solomon, Jesus, Muhammad, etc., according to the three major faith traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam all of God’s prophets appeared in that region of the world. But the Holy Qur'an speaks of a Warner coming to a virgin people that have never had a prophet or messenger sent to them and the Muslims of the Nation of Islam believed this was none other than the Black man and woman of America. This is well documented in Minister Nasir Makr Hakim (Editor) of the Autobiographical Authoritative vol. titled: The True Mission of Elijah Muhammad: Messenger of Allah; cited on pp. 206-207.  

There has been a long standing debate between the Moors and the black Muslims on whether or not the Nation of Islam founders had any connections to Prophet Noble Drew Ali and the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA). This writer, believes that it was definitely possible that Master Fard Muhammad could have been part of the Moorish Science Temple of America. But here is my contention; we are going to take both men at their word. Master Fard Muhammad said according to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that he was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1877, and he proclaimed that he was a direct descendent of Prophet Muhammad Ibn Abdullah who lived over 1,400 years ago and the Quraish Tribe.

This ethnic ancestral bloodline would serve as a genealogical testimony, which tied Master Fard Muhammad (the Mahdi) directly to the most prominent figure in the religion of Islam; this declaration would give him present and future credibility as a legitimate Muslim leader (the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who taught that this man was God in person upset the orthodox Muslim world). Master Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad in theory understood the theological necessity of interweaving and rooting the Nation of Islam’s history and theological philosophy into so-called ‘legitimate’ Islamic history (this was not coincidental it was strategic and tactical). Although, the Nation of Islam’s theology would be tempered with an unorthodox mixture of Islamic allegory and religious mysticism uniquely orchestrated for an organization with an objective and motive of presenting a doctrine that would be able touch and reach black people based on their historical experiences under Chattel Slavery and the affect the 310 year dehumanization process had on them as a subjugated people would need a special type of teachings.[16] Now, according to 'mainstream Islam' all the above would be perceived as the teachings of heretics (and un-Islamic) of course I would disagree with that assessment. This defines the religious and theological dynamics of the mindset of how Nation of Islam evolved as an Islamic group and organization, certain aspects of the Nation of Islam’s sociological structure as it pertains to organizational inner workings must never be viewed outside of the collective context of the black historical experience in which both Master Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad understood.[17] But historically the organization’s cohesive thread has been charismatic and authoritarian leadership personalities such as W.D. Fard Muhammad, Abdul Muhammad (an early rivalry to Elijah Muhammad), Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Wallace Deen Muhammad, Clarence 13 X, Louis Farrakhan, Khallid Abdul Muhammad, etc.

Prophet Noble Drew Ali said, he was born on January 8, 1886, I believe in a little Indian town known as Cherokee, North Carolina (some believed that he had Native American indigenous blood flowing through his veins and his oriental mystical teachings of a Moorish doctrine he learned from studying from the Islamic scholars in Egypt). Master Fard Muhammad according to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was in and out of America for some 20 years prior to make his self known to the so-called Lost-Found American Negro on July 4, 1930; so doing the math Master Fard Muhammad was in America in approximately 1910 and according historians, Prophet Noble Drew Ali set-up his first Moorish Science Temple (the first Temple was named Canaanite Temple) in Newark, New Jersey in 1913, but eventually making his mark in Chicago.[18]

If we accept that Master Fard Muhammad was born in Mecca (the citadel of the Islamic religion); he probably had already come in contact with some aspects of Islam, perhaps long before he would have met Prophet Noble Ali; if they ever met at all. So, then would you agree that Master Fard Muhammad was a Muslim and follower of Islam before he would have met Prophet Ali and perhaps did not become a Muslim nor accepted Islam under the Prophet Noble Drew Ali’s leadership as some overzealous Moors have maintained. Some black nationalist writers and scholars argue that both men, W.F. Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad were heavily influenced by Gullam Ahmed and the Ahmadiyya movement (this contention might have merit and validity based on Master Fard Muhammad introducing the Nation of Islam to the Pakistani version of the Holy Qur’an as translated by Mualana Muhammad Ali). Gullam Ahmed and Ahmadiyya were one of the first immigrant Muslim sects that made a formalized attempt to introduce the religion of Islam to African Americans in the early 1900s and many became Ahmadiyya Muslims.[19] I also believe that Prophet Noble Drew Ali at some point was involved in Freemasonry and accepted part of the Masonic worldview; there was a lot of historical and organizational evidence that validates this very point, but none of it had been fully historically substantiated.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad arrived in Detroit, Michigan in approximately 1923 and there is a highly likely-hood that he may have come in contact with the teachings of Prophet Noble Drew Ali (Abdul Sharrieff Ali) more so than Master Fard Muhammad. There is no doubt that you can see the infusion and the interdependency of the two Islamic schools of religious thought and the similarities are strikingly between the two organizations Moorish Science Temple and the Nation of Islam (Moors would argue that Elijah Muhammad was known in the Moorish Science movement as Elijah Muhammad-Bey and was once a Moor).[20] Perhaps W.F. Muhammad understood that Noble Drew Ali being a native born African in America had a better understanding of the social, political, economic and spiritual plight of the Black man and woman of America and his brand of Islam was more attractive to the African American—the blind, deaf and dumb at that time in our historical development (incidental or coincidental the MSTA without sounding contradictory was the organizational forerunner to the Nation of Islam and I think that the Garvey Movement, Moorish Science Temple of America and the Nation of Islam share similar threads in organizational symbolism and black nationalism ideology). I do not think this confession or admittance take away from these groups identities of authenticity. 

I think Master Fard Muhammad was perhaps taught under the theological system of Sunni Islam (it was evident that he had knowledge of eastern-based Islam based on the Islamic religious lexicon that he used), but quickly learnt that this approach would be ineffective based on our condition as a people. Muhammad may have even borrowed some of the teachings from the Moorish Science Temple of America and the Prophet Drew Ali and perhaps some of this introduction to the teachings of the Moors were shared with him from the mouth of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who I believe possible had more than just a casual contact with Prophet Drew Ali, but not necessarily as a member (I think it is more to this story but both groups refuse to allow objective and non-bias research to determine the truthful outcome). Moreover, after reviewing and studying the Moors religious theoretical doctrine (I think Elijah Muhammad), he had come to the conclusion and understanding that in order to bring the teaching of Islam to the African American or ex-slaves, it had to be tactfully and strategically done in which the template was already established by the Prophet). Prophet Drew Ali raised one of the most essential questions relative to the so-called American Negro and that was the question of nationality (which still remains unresolved in 2017, because this declaration of sovereignty is tied to land rights and reparation and must be revisited as Moorish indigenous people of Canaanites and Moabite descendents). Ali declared African Americans nationality to be Moorish American (this proclamation and declaration alone will always allow me to give Prophet Noble Drew Ali tremendous respect).[21]

We have to move beyond these type arguments and become proactive in moving us towards claiming our rightful nationality (beyond the rhetoric) Prophet Noble Drew Ali laid the roadmap. So how do you all suggest in a legal and practical way that we create a collective national sovereignty? Thus, are we prepared to petition the United Nations (which will entail charging the United States Government and other European powers with war crimes against humanity) and wage the legal defense from the jurisprudence side and work to acquire the monetary resources to wage this monumental legal battle. This will entail a defense that will tear at the very core and root of the United States Constitution and cause for having some of the best legal minds to frame this argument, which will involve reinterpreting the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment (this will lead to relinquishing the 'American' nationality and debunking the citizenship classification status) and overturning the Dred Scott decision.

Prophet Noble Drew Ali and Messenger Elijah Muhammad were Freemasons (this is strictly my opinion as far as the Prophet, but Elijah Muhammad admitted that he was a Mason) and we still do not know fully the role that the Masonic worldview played in the organizational development of both organizations. Many of my Moorish Science Temple brothers would dispute this contention that I am making about Prophet Noble Drew Ali being a Freemason, but the symbolism, the Islamic lexicon and some of the teachings in the Holy Koran Circle 7 resemble and mirror the degree teachings that relates to the working tools taught in Blue Lodge Masonry. I definitely see the philosophical links to the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (better known as the black Shriners).[22] I admit this overview of Moorish Science Temple and the Prophet Drew Ali is insufficient and does not begin to tell the story of the first black Islamic organization in America.

W.F. Muhammad posed as a silk salesman from the East who went door-to-door throughout Detroit’s Black ghetto (a black section of Detroit known as the bottom) as I have stated previously, selling black people royal silk from the Holy Land of Mecca. Upon gaining entrance into a person's home, W.F. Muhammad would begin teaching them the knowledge of self instructing them on the principles of the Muslim diet in accordance what is written in the Qur'an and Bible. He would also give them history lessons about their divine heritage and royal culture. We are taught that W.F. Muhammad was in and out of America for about twenty years prior to revealing his identity. He made his presence known publicly on July 4, 1930, and declared himself the Mahdi of the Muslim World and the Christ of the Christian world.[23]

W.F. Muhammad gave the Honorable Elijah Muhammad the name Elijah Karriem, the attribute Karriem, was one of the ninety-nine names of Allah, which translate to mean the 'generous one'. Prior to W.F. Muhammad's departure, he told the Believers his true name was Wali Fard Muhammad. He also, renamed Elijah Karriem to Elijah Muhammad. The attribute Muhammad interpreted to mean worthy of praise and is also the name of God. By 1934, he told the Lost­-Found Nation of Islam in the West that they did not need him any longer, because they had Karriem. Some historical records reported that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad escorted Master Fard Muhammad to a Chicago airport where he boarded an airplane bound for Mecca (one thing for sure since 1934 W.F. Muhammad disappeared never to be seen again).[24] The Honorable Elijah slowly begin revealing Master Fard Muhammad's true identity as Allah, who came in the person, to the lost found Nation of Islam, and that he was his appointed Messenger. Some of the early members of the Nation of Islam accepted his divine claim, but others such as Abdul Muhammad and the Elijah Muhammad brother Kalot refused to accept the Messenger's claim. Thus, a counter-sect rose under Abdul Muhammad's leadership and eventually the Messenger had to leave Detroit for fear of his life; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad had to travel using aliases to conceal his identity for safety reasons. He would travel to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington , DC , Richmond , Pittsburgh, etc., teaching Islam and in 1935 he established Temple No. 2. Chicago.[25]

In 1942, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and charged and convicted him of U.S. military draft evasion, although, the Messenger was 45 years old. The draft mandated according to the Selected Service ordered men between the ages of 18-44 to voluntarily sign up for World War II. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was a conscientious objector because of his Islamic religious affiliation and his age placed him outside of the age requirement. However, he was still prosecuted unjustly within United States Federal Courts. Muhammad and was sentenced to almost five years in Federal Prison in Milan, Michigan.[26] The United States Government pursuant to disinformation and propaganda called him a Japanese sympathizer and went as far as calling him a Japanese spy (they were attempting to charge him with sedition and treason). All of these charges were mere false and trumped up designed to justify unjust United States government actions and to assassinate the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's public character and attempt to ruin his credibility amongst black people in America. The United States Government did not desire for any opposition voices who opposed their imperialist attacks against the innocent Japanese people in which later they would charge black leaders such as Paul Robenson and W.E.B. Dubois with un-American activity, they both declared themselves to being affiliated with communism and the communist party. They deemed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad a threat to the United States Government national security just as Minister Louis Farrakhan is viewed today an a threat to the United States national security interest; this is not because he has issued any threats nor is an Enemy Combatant or an militant radical Islamic sympathizer. But they fear that their messages have power to give life to people and possibly move 40-50 million so-called American Negroes forward economically, politically and socially.

Clara Muhammad, wife of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, led and oversaw the Nation of Islam in the absence of Mr. Muhammad. In 1946, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was released from prison and immediately started working to rebuild the Nation of Islam.[27] In approximately 1947, Malcolm Little who was incarcerated where he became introduced to the Nation of Islam's “Life Giving Teachings” through his brother Reginald X Little. In 1952, Malcolm X was released from prison and eventually became a devout student and follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the city of Detroit as a member of Temple #1. Malcolm X's conversion, hardwork and charisma attracted many young intellectuals because of his ability to articulate the Life­ Giving Teachings and convey Elijah Muhammad’s message unlike any other minister prior to 1960. Minister Malcolm X was a fierce debater and spellbinding orator, no one could rationally defeat. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said he taught Minister Malcolm X unlike he taught any other student minister. On March 8, 1964, after Minister Malcolm X’s defection, Elijah Muhammad said he would never again train another minister like he trained Minister Malcolm X.[28]

Messenger Muhammad knew that Nation of Islam would fall, rise and never to fall again but he gave all us an eternal word of taking the Nation of Islam into the hereafter. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said he fully understood Minister Malcolm X was going to betray him even before his defection took place. If one does not accept the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's divinity then it is historically or theologically impossible to understand the internal conflicts between Minister Malcolm X and his mentor the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.[29]

On February 21, 1965, Minister Malcolm X was assassinated by Black Muslim agent provocateurs working for the United States Government (for those who do not know the U.S. Government murdered Minister Malcolm X). Malcolm X charged the Honorable Elijah Muhammad with committing adultery with a number of his personal secretaries. These charges angered numerous members of the Nation of Islam. They viewed it as mudslinging and slanderous. Thus, at the internal instigation of the F.B.I and J. Edgar Hoover, the zealots rose from within the ranks in which a conspiracy was hatched to assassinate Minister Malcolm X. Many scholars and layperson due to the Freedom of Information Act have acquired declassified documents, which proves and leaves little doubt that Minister Malcolm X’s assassination was straight out of the playbook of the FBI Cointelpro agenda.[30]

However, some scholars and laypersons have tried to connect Minister Louis Farrakhan to the Malcolm X conspiracy and ultimately being complicit in the assassination of Minister Malcolm X. But in all reality at that time in Minister Farrakhan’s organizational status relative to the pecking order of power and decision-making, it would not have been his decision to make of giving the order to assassinate Minister Malcolm X this was above his pay grade: Elijah Muhammad, Jr., Supreme Captain Raymond Sharrief, Herbert Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad, Jr. Abayass Rasoull, John Ali, etc. could have given a sanction to an inside hit on Minister Malcolm X (but even this notion is mere circumstantial evidence, but we do know this much Newark Temple #25 played a major role in Malcolm X’s assassination). Minister Farrakhan did not have that unilateral authority or support from the Nation of Islam's Fruit of Islam (FOI) or the organizational hierarchy at that time to render such decisive decision.[31] The Nation of Islam soared after Minister Malcolm X's death. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was billed in 1966 as the "most powerful Black man in America ." The New York Times Magazine wrote the following about Elijah Muhammad: "Alone of all Negro leaders Elijah Muhammad has a vivid awareness of the vital need of a new birth in any drastic human transformation, and he alone mastered the technique of staging a new identity .. .It is worth remembering that what Elijah Muhammad is doing to the Negro is in a sense, what America has done to the immigrant from Europe."

In 1959, Elijah Muhammad visited Mecca as a guest of the Sunni Saudi Arabian government where he performed the Hajj ritual (he made minor Hajj Umrah along with his two sons Herbert and Wallace Muhammad); the Messenger stated: we "You and I may go to Howard,  we 'may go to York of England, or go to Al-Ahzar in Cairo and get degrees from all of these great seats of learning ... On visiting with a couple of my sons in what they called the Near East, in 1959, I began in Turkey. We traveled from Turkey down to Africa Ethiopia and the Sudan . We visited Arabia (Mecca and Medinah), and we visited Pakistan . We returned home from Lahore, Pakistan , on about the 6th of January, 1960." The Honorable Elijah Muhammad interpreted the Hajj ritual as follows: "1 visited Mecca in 1959. The whole city was all a sign of being my people here in America. The veil of the Kaaba means that we were veiled from the truth of Allah (God). My mentally dead people will be the rulers."[32]

Muhammad labored for forty-four years seeking to elevate the blind, deaf, and dumb so-called American Negro and teach him the knowledge of self. The corporate control media along with his Uncle Tom ‘Negroes’ now seek to write Elijah Muhammad out of history because of his uncompromising political positions. They systematically propped up Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, two students of Elijah Muhammad, but will not mention their teacher. Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali eventually compromised with the enemy, but Elijah Muhammad refused to give in. I became so disgusted with how the media was portraying the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that I wrote a book in 1995 titled, In Defense of the Defender: The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.[33]

This writer cited this history to silence the Orthodox Sunni Muslims, who claim that the Nation of Islam is some clandestine Quasi-Islamic organization with no recognition from Mecca (not that the Nation of Islam historically has ever sought recognition from the Arabs). No Orthodox Sunni Islamic leader within the United States commanded the type of respect that Elijah Muhammad received from the imposter Arab rulers of Mecca and from Muslim leadership around the world. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad paved the way for all Nation of Islam members to go to Mecca and make Hajj. But the challenge confronting the Nation of Islam is today; is remaining sovereign of Arab theological dictates.

By 1974, the Nation of Islam was a 70 million dollar empire with the “Muhammad Speaks” newspaper being the most widely circulated journal in black America .The Messenger purchased thousands of acres of farm land in Georgia, Alabama, and Michigan to grow, can, and deliver Nation of Islam’s food products throughout Black America. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad established a bank to have access to carrying out international trade; in particular, to transfer letters of credit relative to his fish and seafood deals with the government of Peru and other trade deals in the Far East. Elijah Muhammad only had a fourth grade education but received 360 degrees of knowledge from Allah, who came in the person of Master Fard Muhammad.

Fahim A. Knight-El Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-El can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com



[1]Claude Andrew Clegg lll, An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997) 349.
[2]Ibid. 348.
[3]Fahim A. Knight-El, In Defense of the Defender: The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. (Durham: Fahim and Associates, 1994) 282-291.   
[4]Abdul Akbar Muhammad, “A Concise History of the Nation of Islam’, a taped audio lecture series conducted by Minister Akbar Muhammad in which some of the lectures were recorded from Muhammad’s Mosque 7 Harlem, New York, 1980s.
[5]Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. (New York: Ballentine Books, 1964) 238.
[6]Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Black man in America. (Chicago: Muhammad’s Temple #2, 1965).
[7]Jesus Muhammad-Ali The Evolution of the Nation of Islam the Story of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Chicago: JMA Publishing, 2002) 24-31. 
[8]Ibid, Akbar Muhammad.
[9]Andrew Hacker, Two Nations: Black and White Separate, Hostile, Unequal. (New York: Scribner Publishing, 2003) 2-3.  
[10]Mattias Gardell, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996) 50.
[11]C. Van Woodard, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966) 17-19.
[12]William Greider, Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) 89.
[13]Elijah Muhammad: Message to the Blackman in America. (Chicago: Muhammad’s Temple # 2, 1965). 16  
[14]Ibid. Muhammad, 16.
[15]Elijah Muhammad, carbon copy of Muslin Lessons; not clear if these lessons were part of the “Student Enrollment” lessons that were giving and authorized by Master Fard Muhammad between 1931-1934).
[16]Ibid, Elijah Muhammad, 294.  
[18]Arthur H. Fauset,  Moorish Science Temple of America. (New Jersey: Universal Research Associates,  1944) 1-2.  
[19]Karl Evanzz, The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad
[20]Yvonne Yazbeck and Jane Idleman Smith, Mission to America: Five Islamic Sectarian Communities in North America. (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1993), 92.  
[21]Dennis Walker, Islam and the Search for African-American Nationhood; Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.  (Atlanta: Clarity Press, Inc., 2005) 215-224.
[22]Fahim A. Knight-El, Freemasonry (Moslem Sons) and Islam: What Do They Share? (Durham: Fahim and Associates, 2005) 24-28.
[23]Nasir Muhammad, The True Mission of Elijah Muhammad: Messenger of Allah. (Atlanta: MEMPS Publication, 1997) 36-41.  
[24]Ibid, 39.
[25]Ibid, Gardell. 58.
[26]William H. Banks, The Black Muslim. (New York: Chelsea House, 1997) 45-47.
[27]Ibid, 46.
[28]Ibid, 56-59.   
[29]Ibid,. Alex Haley, 295.
[30]Zak A. Kondo, Conspiracies: Unravelling the Assassination of Malcolm X. (Washington, DC, Nubia Press, 1993) 1999.
[31]Ibid, 191-195.
[32] Ibid, Clegg, 136-145
[33]Ibid, Knight-El.