Elijah Muhammad & the Ideological Foundation of the Nation of Islam


Book Description

The Honorable Elijah Muhannad laid the foundation for the longest lasting, and most enduring, I believe, the most influential black religio-nationalist movement in american history.




History of the Nation of Islam


Book Description

This book is an interview of Elijah Muhammad explaining his initial encounter with his teacher, Master Fard Muhammad and how his messengership came about. The subjects discussed are Master Fard Muhammad's whereabouts, the races and what makes a devil and satan. He answers questions dealing the concept of divine and how ideas are perfected. More basic subjects include Malcolm X, Noble Drew Ali, C. Eric Lincoln, Udom, and a comprehensive range of information.




The Foundation Years of Elijah Muhammad 1958 - 1962 (Vols. 1 & 2)


Book Description

It has been approximately 40 years since these articles have been written. Many of the truths in them are not being taught today. You will find some of them in certain books compiled by Elijah Muhammad and then others may surface every now and then in photocopy or a citing here and there. In any case, these articles represent those submitted to various new organs of the early 50's and 60's. Some of these newspapers are no longer in business and others have simply gone through economic and social change prompting them to change their name and management. In the early days, when there was no Muhammad Speaks newspaper, which had become the official newspaper of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad submitted articles to various local papers for publication. Some of these newspapers were the Herald Dispatch, Amsterdam News, The Crusader and the Pittsburgh Courier. In various instances, after submitting articles, the Brotherhood of the Fruit of Islam (FOI) would begin distributing the papers in an effort to get the articles in Black people's hand. The sharp increase in distribution produced leverage with the paper that gave an "insurance" that the Messenger would be published. It was due to the Nation of Islam's distribution of many of these papers that pushed it into the status of mainstream in the black community. Previously, these tabloids were no more than nickel and dime shopper guides. Some of these articles are included in parts of Elijah Muhammad's books, as pointed out in their respective acknowledgements, making it clear that all of his books are actual compilations of previous speeches, articles and lectures. Considering the Messenger is one of the most prolific writers of our time, many of his articles were not included in his standard books. This work fell to those of us who understand that the guidance we need in his absence is in his literature. This is nothing new to those who mind. Our motivation for publishing these articles is simple. There are many truths that Messenger Elijah Muhammad taught that are not available today. We, therefore, are rising to the occasion to satisfy this vacuum. "In the absence of the Trainer, the training will rise up and meet the occasion." We trust that if the reader reads something he or she has read before, it will only enhance their knowledge base. There, however, are many items that will be fairly new to you. We hope that whatever experience one has, it will be one that benefits our nation and in this way, regardless of when or if you have read it, you will act upon the principle contained herein. For as Elijah Muhammad, Messenger of Allah, said, "Mere belief counts for nothing, unless carried into practice." Nasir Makr Hakim Minister of Elijah Muhammad, Messenger of Allah




In the Name of Elijah Muhammad


Book Description

In the Name of Elijah Muhammad tells the story of the Nation of Islam—its rise in northern inner-city ghettos during the Great Depression through its decline following the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975 to its rejuvenation under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan. Mattias Gardell sets this story within the context of African American social history, the legacy of black nationalism, and the long but hidden Islamic presence in North America. He presents with insight and balance a detailed view of one of the most controversial yet least explored organizations in the United States—and its current leader. Beginning with Master Farad Muhammad, believed to be God in Person, Gardell examines the origins of the Nation. His research on the period of Elijah Muhammad’s long leadership draws on previously unreleased FBI files that reveal a clear picture of the bureau’s attempts to neutralize the Nation of Islam. In addition, they shed new light on the circumstances surrounding the murder of Malcolm X. With the main part of the book focused on the fortunes of the Nation after Elijah Muhammad’s death, Gardell then turns to the figure of Minister Farrakhan. From his emergence as the dominant voice of the radical black Islamic community to his leadership of the Million Man March, Farrakhan has often been portrayed as a demagogue, bigot, racist, and anti-Semite. Gardell balances the media’s view of the Nation and Farrakhan with the Nation’s own views and with the perspectives of the black community in which the organization actively works. His investigation, based on field research, taped lectures, and interviews, leads to the fullest account yet of the Nation of Islam’s ideology and theology, and its complicated relations with mainstream Islam, the black church, the Jewish community, extremist white nationalists, and the urban culture of black American youth, particularly the hip-hop movement and gangs.




Elijah Muhammad


Book Description

Almost four decades after his death Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) remains by far the most influential African American Muslim. Leader of the Nation of Islam movement for over thirty years and a mentor to Malcolm X, Muhammad was responsible for introducing hundreds of thousands of African Americans to Islam. In this fascinating biography Herbert Berg assesses the impact of Muhammad’s unique and intriguing perspective on Islam, and seeks to understand why he formulated it. Careful to consider Muhammad’s career within the context of the significant racial tensions of his time, this volume investigates a figure whose formulation of Islam, however divisive, forced Muslims and scholars alike to evaluate their often normative definitions of this religious tradition.




Elijah Muhammad and Islam


Book Description

This work contextualizes Elijah Muhammad and his religious approach within the larger Islamic tradition. It explores his use of the Qur'an, his interpretation of Islam, and his relationships with other Muslims.




In the Name of Elijah Muhammad


Book Description

DIV In the Name of Elijah Muhammad tells the story of the Nation of Islam & mdash;its rise in northern inner-city ghettos during the Great Depression through its decline following the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975 to its rejuvenation under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan. Mattias Gardell sets this story within the context of African American social history, the legacy of black nationalism, and the long but hidden Islamic presence in North America. He presents with insight and balance a detailed view of one of the most controversial yet least explored organizations in the United States & mdash;and its current leader. Beginning with Master Farad Muhammad, believed to be God in Person, Gardell examines the origins of the Nation. His research on the period of Elijah Muhammad & rsquo;s long leadership draws on previously unreleased FBI files that reveal a clear picture of the bureau & rsquo;s attempts to neutralize the Nation of Islam. In addition, they shed new light on the circumstances surrounding the murder of Malcolm X. With the main part of the book focused on the fortunes of the Nation after Elijah Muhammad & rsquo;s death, Gardell then turns to the figure of Minister Farrakhan. From his emergence as the dominant voice of the radical black Islamic community to his leadership of the Million Man March, Farrakhan has often been portrayed as a demagogue, bigot, racist, and anti-Semite. Gardell balances the media & rsquo;s view of the Nation and Farrakhan with the Nation & rsquo;s own views and with the perspectives of the black community in which the organization actively works. His investigation, based on field research, taped lectures, and interviews, leads to the fullest account yet of the Nation of Islam & rsquo;s ideology and theology, and its complicated relations with mainstream Islam, the black church, the Jewish community, extremist white nationalists, and the urban culture of black American youth, particularly the hip-hop movement and gangs./div




The True History of Elijah Muhammad - The Black Stone


Book Description

Messenger Elijah Muhammad was considered, by the national as well as the international press, as one of the most inaccessible men in America; if the press, white or Negro, wanted to see Elijah Muhammad, they had to come to him: a degree of significance earned by Messenger Muhammad, and commanded by integrity. In an effort to ensure the clarity and sanctity of his message and history, this book draws from his own words to explain and elaborate on sensitive subjects like his mission, domestic life, family, and his relationship with his teacher, Master Fard Muhammad. It also delves into his relationship to other prophets, the paralleled work accomplished to substantiate his fulfilment, and important unpublished writings from his desk surrounding controversial matters perpetuated in today's public media.




The Promise of Patriarchy


Book Description

The patriarchal structure of the Nation of Islam (NOI) promised black women the prospect of finding a provider and a protector among the organization's men, who were fiercely committed to these masculine roles. Black women's experience in the NOI, however, has largely remained on the periphery of scholarship. Here, Ula Taylor documents their struggle to escape the devaluation of black womanhood while also clinging to the empowering promises of patriarchy. Taylor shows how, despite being relegated to a lifestyle that did not encourage working outside of the home, NOI women found freedom in being able to bypass the degrading experiences connected to labor performed largely by working-class black women and in raising and educating their children in racially affirming environments. Telling the stories of women like Clara Poole (wife of Elijah Muhammad) and Burnsteen Sharrieff (secretary to W. D. Fard, founder of the Allah Temple of Islam), Taylor offers a compelling narrative that explains how their decision to join a homegrown, male-controlled Islamic movement was a complicated act of self-preservation and self-love in Jim Crow America.




The Messenger


Book Description

Here, eagerly anticipated, is the definitive biography of Elijah Muhammad (né Elija Poole), a sharecropper's son with a fourth- grade education who became one of the most controversial Americans of the twentieth century, the founder and "Prophet" of the Nation of Islam, a movement dedicated to black separatism and self-empowerment. Though Muhammad's main argument--that white people were innately evil ("devils," he called them)--ran counter to the precepts of orthodox Islam, he was the chief influence in the conversion of nearly four million African Americans to Islam, touching in the process the lives of figures ranging from Muhammad Ali and Jesse Jackson to Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan. But in his desperate grasp for power, Muhammad also amassed a huge personal fortune at the expense of his followers. He was a party to ritualistic homicides, had illicit affairs galore, and was quick to betray his friends and charges, most notably Malcolm X. In brief, he violated every ideal and principle that he espoused. With the cooperation of some of Elijah Muhammad's children and former apostles and with access to previously unreleased FBI files, Karl Evanzz gives us an unprecedented account of the life of the man whose philosophy continues, long after his death, to shape race relations in America.