ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: JUST A REFLECTION
By Fahim A. Knight-El
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
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
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
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 inAmerica , the so-called home of the free with
their empty chants of democracy when it came to the plight of Black people in America
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
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
In approximately 1919, at age twenty-two (22) Muhammad migrated toMacon , Georgia ,
seeking employment and a few years later in 1923, he migrated north to Detroit , Michigan Detroit , Michigan
In approximately 1919, at age twenty-two (22) Muhammad migrated to
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 United States
financial markets were made to collapse, which devastated the social, political,
economic structures of the United
States United
States debt in which the Depression of 1929 was induced
and created economic instability that sent the United States
But in Paradise Valley , a black ghetto section of Detroit 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
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
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
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
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
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 Detroit Philadelphia ,
Baltimore , Washington
, DC , Richmond , Pittsburgh Chicago
In 1942, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad and charged and convicted him of U.S. Milan , Michigan 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
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
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 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 Mecca and Medinah), and we
visited Pakistan Lahore ,
Pakistan Mecca America
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 United
States commanded the type of respect that Elijah Muhammad
received from the imposter Arab rulers of Mecca Mecca
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 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
[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.
[6]Elijah
Muhammad, Message to the Black man in America
[7]Jesus
Muhammad-Ali The Evolution of the Nation of Islam the Story of the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad. Chicago
[8]Ibid, Akbar
Muhammad.
[9]Andrew
Hacker, Two Nations: Black and White Separate, Hostile, Unequal. (New York
[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
[13]Elijah
Muhammad: Message to the Blackman in America
[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
[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
[22]Fahim A.
Knight-El, Freemasonry (Moslem Sons) and Islam: What Do They Share? (Durham
[23]Nasir
Muhammad, The True Mission
[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.
2 comments:
Good morning,
Your article was well-written and informative. Although I do not always leave a comment, I have read many, many of your pieces. I like your writing style. Especially the way the information/subject matter flows and weaves throughout the body of the article. Your words always open my mind and cause me to see life from a new perspective. For example, I never knew the "X" in Malcolm "X" was based on anything mathematical in nature. I just took for granted Malcolm X did not want the white man's last name and that was simply it.
I realize that I am a woman on a journey and walking down a path. I have a long way to go. I also realize and real lies, that my mind has been conditioned in ways that I could never have imagined.
Keep up the good work. I will continue to visit your site. I do learn a great deal and I am inspired after reading your work.
Peace and thank you sister ZK Green for your kind and thoughtful words. I am always humbled when others see and find good in me or my work; I try to remain true to my mission of seeking to enlightened others to the truth and to get people to think outside of the box. The knowledge will only assist us along the journey, if we receive wisdom with an open mind and hopefully it will evoke us towards a spiritual journey by continuously awaken our third eye.
So my writing is both a passion and conviction (I have always been willing to tell and convey the other side of the story). I think we as African Americans/blacks/Moors/Hebrews, etc.,or whatever identity we choose to call ourselves, we have a story and for many years based on white supremacy they denied us to tell our story and they told our story from their lens. So sister once again thank you and I truly appreciate your comments and they inspire me to want to work even harder in the cause of freedom, justice and equality.
Bro. Fahim A. Knight-El
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