*(Top image courtesy of Louis Farrakhan's Twitter)
On July 4, 2020 Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan gave a rambling, three-hour-long lecture replete with end times prophesies and condemnation of American hypocrisy. Proclaiming himself to be the “real Jesus” and representative of the Hidden Imam of the Shi’a Muslims, Farrakhan advised Donald Trump to put on his mask, accused Bill Gates of plotting to depopulate the earth, called Alan Dershowitz a “satan masquerading as a lawyer,” and declared the coronavirus to be “a pestilence from heaven,” while quoting frequently from the Qur’an and the Bible to support his often blasphemous pontifications.[1]
Louis Farrakhan, born Louis Eugene Walcott on May 11, 1933 in Bronx, N.Y., and later on called Louis X,[2] has been the leader of the Nation of Islam since 1978.[3] The Nation of Islam was founded by a man known variously as David Ford, Wallace D. Fard and Fard Muhammad, who began preaching his own version of Islam in Detroit, Michigan in 1930. The mysterious Fard Muhammad, whose true identity remains unclear, had managed to amass a following of some 8,000 people by the time he disappeared in1934, and had even founded a parochial school named the University of Islam. Following Fard Muhammad’s disappearance, Elijah Muhammad, born Elijah Poole on or about Oct. 7, 1897 in Sandersville, Georgia,[4] ascended to the leadership of the Nation of Islam.
*(Fard Muhammad (L) and Elijah Muhammad (R))
Under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam continued to attract members, eventually becoming the most successful Black nationalist movement in the U.S., with the help of Malcolm X,[5] who became a member in 1952 upon his parole from prison, and a minister at Temple Eleven in Boston, Massachusetts in 1954.[6] In 1961, Malcolm X founded Muhammad Speaks, the biweekly newspaper of the Nation of Islam, which became the main source of news of the Middle East and Africa for Blacks in America. But it was in 1959 that the Nation of Islam gained national attention when the movement was featured in a PBS documentary called The Hate that Hate Produced.[7] The documentary conveyed the fiery rhetoric of the Nation of Islam’s preachers and thereby attracted tens of thousands of new members, and, as a result, Malcolm X was propelled into the national spotlight.[8]
Malcolm X, also known as El Hajj Malik Al Shabazz, became increasingly disenchanted with the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, particularly the Black separatist ideology, which had been fundamental to the Nation of Islam’s post World War II expansion. As late as December 1, 1963, Malcolm X preached the doctrine of his leader, stating unequivocally, “We want no integration with this wicked race that enslaved us.” However, his view of Black nationalism had moved away from the strict Black separatist doctrine of Elijah Muhammad. At the press conference on March 12, 1964 formalizing his split from the Nation of Islam and the formation of the Muslim Mosque, Inc., he defined Black nationalism as meaning “we must control the politics and politicians of our community.”[9]
Malcolm X’s decision to go on the Hajj opened his eyes to the true Mohammedan Islam, resulting in a life-transforming experience. “My pilgrimage broadened my scope,” he wrote after his Hajj trip in April of 1964. In his two-week sojourn, he exclaimed, “I saw all races, all colors, – blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans – in true brotherhood!” Nevertheless, his adoption of orthodox Islamic beliefs and practices did not blind him to the reality of systemic racism in America. “I can’t overlook the fact that I’m an Afro-American in a country which practices racism against Black people,” he confided to an audience at Harvard Law School on December 16, 1964.[10]
Farrakhan joined the Nation of Islam while in Chicago for a musical engagement in February of 1955. Initially named Louis X, he was told by Elijah Muhammad that he would either have to give up music or give up the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan “chose to dedicate his life to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” according to his biography on the Nation of Islam website.[11] Following the death of Elijah Muhammad on February 12, 1975, his fifth son, Wallace, later Warith Deen Mohammed, succeeded him and quickly began to change the religious practices and teachings to conform to what is accepted as mainstream Sunni Islam. By 1977, 300 of Warith Deen Mohammed’s followers were invited as guests of the Saudi government for performing the Hajj. By October 1976, the Nation of Islam was no more, and had been replaced by the World Community of al-Islam in the West (WCIW).[12]
*(Warith Deen Mohammed)
Warith Deen Mohammed’s reshaping of the Nation of Islam into the WCIW to conform to normative Islam was not without pushback; a number of the members left the movement, the most prominent of which was Louis Farrakhan. The main objection to the reformulation of the ideology was the abandonment of the teaching of Elijah Muhammad. Additionally, Farrakhan felt that the changes had made Black Muslims subservient to Muslims in the Old World. “You left the Nation [of Islam] and its discipline,” Farrakhan charged in a 1980 rally in Harlem, “All the progress we made has been lost.” Contrary to the views of Malcolm X, Farrakhan claimed, “I see Muslims taking advantage of Blacks in Arabia and Africa.” Specifically accusing the Saudis, he asked, “Why don’t you clean up the ghettos in Mecca?” Nevertheless, significant numbers of Warith Deen Mohammed’s followers did not flock to Farrakhan’s resuscitated version of the Nation of Islam.[13]
The belief system of Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam clearly takes the movement outside the realm of Mohammedan Islam. Among the tenets is the belief that Fard Muhammad is God personified, as indicated on the Nation’s website, which states: “WE BELIEVE that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930; the long-awaited ‘Messiah’ of the Christians and the ‘Mahdi’ of the Muslims.” Another belief is that so-called interracial marriage should be prohibited and furthermore, Blacks should have their own separate land: “We want our people in America whose parents or grandparents were descendants from slaves, to be allowed to establish a separate state or territory of their own–either on this continent or elsewhere.”[14] Mainstream Islam does not distinguish among various races and ethnicities, and only ranks people according to their piety, as the Qur’an (49:13) states, “Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most Godwary among you.”[15]
In his address on July 4, Farrakhan declared himself to be Jesus. “I’m the real Jesus,” he said, “I’m not kidding, you can take it or leave it.” According to the Minister, Elijah Muhammad and Fard Muhammad were the “hands of God” that shaped his mind, and that his work is to “seal” the work of previous prophets. Further adding to his blasphemous diatribe, Farrakhan shared that during an audience with Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in November of 2018, he had declared that he was the representative of Imam Mahdi, the 12th Imam of Shi’a Muslims.[16] To his credit, Farrakhan has conceded that “if Iran is moving as a nation to obey God’s law, to respect and educate women and to pursue righteousness, she is on a right course.” Additionally he has denounced the illegal, unilateral sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic.[17]
Undeniably, Minister Louis Farrakhan has done much to improve the lot of the oppressed African Americans, and instilling a sense of pride and responsibility among his followers has been a staple of his ministry. “Brothers and Sisters, we have to set an example before the world,” the fiery minister said during his July 4th address. “I could not allow you to come out without a mask,” he explained, “That would make us followers of the foolishness of our [U.S.] government.” On U.S. president Donald Trump’s utterly negligent behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, Farrakhan remarked, “It would be the greatest irony that you [Trump] would die in office of coronavirus.” [18]
Attempting to justify his theology Farrakhan stated, “I would say this to the scholars of Islam. You may not see or believe that I am walking in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad, in the Sunna of the Prophet.”[19] While the acceptance of separatist doctrine by Blacks is understandable given the history of slavery, racism and police violence in the U.S., Farrakhan’s beliefs clearly place the Nation of Islam outside the bounds of Mohammedan Islam. Still, the Minister has spoken truthfully in saying, “The demonization of Louis Farrakhan will not solve serious U.S. problems and will not heal serious political and social divisions.”[20]
Endnotes
1- Louis Farrakhan, “The Criterion,” Nation of Islam, July 4, 2020, accessed July 6, 2020, https://www.noi.org/the-criterion/.
2- “Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” Nation of Islam, accessed July 7, 2020, https://www.noi.org/minister-louis-farrakhan/.
3- Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, A History of Islam in America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 289.
4- “Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” Nation of Islam, accessed July 7, 2020, https://www.noi.org/honorable-elijah-muhammad/.
5- Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, ibid., 224.
6- Rodnell Collins, Seventh Child: A Family Memoir of Malcolm X (New York: Kensington, 1998), 83-85.
7- “The Hate that Hate Produced,” PBS, 1959, on YouTube, accessed July 7, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsYWD2EqavQ.
8- Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, ibid., 243.
9- George Breitman, The Last Year of Malcolm X: The Evolution of a Revolutionary (New York: Pathfinder, 1967), 70-72.
10- Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, ibid., 244-246.
11- “Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” ibid.
12- Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, ibid., 284-285, 288.
13- Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, ibid., 289-290.
14- “What The Muslims Believe,” Nation of Islam, accessed July 8, 2020, https://www.noi.org/muslim-program/.
15- Sayid ‘Ali Quli Qara’i trans., The Qur’an (Elmhurst, NY: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, 2006), 730.
16- Louis Farrakhan, “The Criterion,” ibid.
17- “The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan's Nov. 8, 2018 press conference in Iran's capital city Tehran,” Nation of Islam, accessed July 8, 2020, https://www.noi.org/minister-farrakhan-iran/.
18- Louis Farrakhan, “The Criterion,” ibid.
19- Louis Farrakhan, “The Criterion,” ibid.
20- “The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan's Nov. 8, 2018 press conference in Iran's capital city Tehran,” ibid.
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