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The Nation of Islam (NOI), also known as the Black Muslim Movement (although the term is discouraged by the NOI), is a spiritual and political black separatist movement founded in America in 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad (1877- ?). The Nation of Islam has a somewhat tenuous connection to mainstream Islam, and many Muslims do not consider it to be truly Islamic. Among its tenets is that of all the nations of the earth, black people are the only nation that through the institution of slavery, were systematically denied knowledge of their past history, language, culture and religion and effect lost control of their lives. They teach that their primary guidance was from their slave masters. The Nation of Islam furthermore holds at its foundation that black people in America are those refered to in the Bible as the seed of Abraham in Genesis 15:13,14:
One of Fard's first disciples was Elijah Poole, whom Fard later changed his name to Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975). Elijah Muhammad began preaching that W.F. Muhammad was literally God in person. Elijah was born in Georgia but later moved to Detroit where he came into contact with Fard Muhammad and accepted his teachings. He eventually travelled all across America setting up mosques or temples (as they were commonly called) and named them based upon his sequence of arrival. In New York, to this day, the mosque there is still referred to as Mosque No. 7 because that was the seventh place visited by Elijah Muhammad during his travels. The Nation of Islam's headquarters in Chicago known as The National Center, houses Mosque No. 2 now known as Mosque Maryam in dedication to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Throughout this time Elijah Muhammad's teachings were spread by his followers, everywhere from the streets to the prisons. They eventually reached a prisoner named Malcolm Little. Upon his acceptance of the teachings, as he left prison he joined the Nation of Islam and became commonly known as Malcolm X. This 'X' represents what is called in mathematics an unknown variable. The followers accept this 'X' as a sign that they are rejecting all that this world has done to them including the family name given to their ancestors by slave owners. The 'X' is eventually replaced with an Arabic name more descriptive of their personality and character. (See slave name). Also around this time Louis Eugene Walcott, an up-and-coming calypso singer, and violinist, came into contact with the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. Walcott also accepted the teachings and eventually came to be known as Louis Farrakhan, the successor to the leadership of the Nation of Islam. Elijah Muhammad's son, Warith Deen Mohammad, took over NOI as successor after his father's death. Although he had been suspended from NOI for "dissident views" and ideological rifts with his father over religious doctrine, he was unanimously approved during the annual Savior's Day celebrations on February 26 1975. When W.D. Muhammad was installed as Supreme Minister of Nation of Islam in 1975, he immediately began to reformulate his father's beliefs and practices to bring NOI closer to mainstream Sunni Islam and renamed his organization a number of times, settling on the Muslim American Society, and most of his followers assimilated into mainstream Islam. W. D. Muhammad publicly shunned his father's theology and black separatist views and attempted to forge closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities in the US. By 1976 Louis Farrakhan became disillusioned with W.D. Muhammad's disavowal of his father's teachings and quietly walked away from the organization and activism in general. In 1978 after wrestling with the changes and consequent dismanteling of the NOI, Farrakhan with a few others who supported him, decided to embark on an underground mission to rebuild the Nation of Islam upon the foundation of W. Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad. In 1981, Farrakhan publically announced the restoration of the Nation of Islam, and went forward with Elijah Muhammad's NOI teachings. He continues to be the more popular of the two successors, and was responsible for the dramatic Million Man March in 1995. Louis Farrakhan is currently the leader of The Nation of Islam and lives in Chicago, Illinois at the former home of Elijah Muhammad. Michael Jackson was incorrectly rumored to have joined the Nation of Islam in 2003, according to some newspapers, despite the fact that he professed to be a Jehovah's Witness. This was because he had hired several African-American bodyguards who were members of the NOI. Some Muslims reject and disapprove of this group because of its divergence, sometimes extreme, from the teachings of the mainstream Islam. Some Muslims refer to NOI with the pejorative term Farrakhanism in order to distinguish themselves from the it. Some argue that the Nation of Islam has very little to do with traditional forms of Islam. Mainstream Islam believes in the total transcendence of almighty Allah (God), and that all people of all races were created, as equals, by Allah (God), while the Nation of Islam teaches that man's potential is God under The Supreme Being. Islam teaches principles of spiritual and moral decorum such as prayer, fasting, charity, pilgimage, etc. The Nation of Islam argue that Elijah Muhammad taught the same, but that he gradually introduced them to his people because of the unique position they had been placed in by American society. The points mainstream Islam and the Nation of Islam's interpretation coincide on include
However, they differ in several respects:
The Final Call is the official newspaper of the NOI in the United States. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a controversial anti-hate group, has added the Nation of Islam to its list of watched groups. See alsoExternal links
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