The Nation of Islam

1
The Nation of Islam

• The Lost/Found People of God
• Descendents of God

2
The Forerunner

• Timothy Drew founded the Moorish-Science movement
  which had some Muslim practices wearing Fezzes,
  used the Qur'an, chose Muslim names and denied
  certain fundamental Christian beliefs.

3
The man with a mission

• His movement was a mixture of "Black nationalism
  and Christian revivalism with an awkward,
  confusing admixture of the teachings of the
  Prophet Muhammad." Noble Drew Ali taught that
  blacks were no longer blacks or Negroes but
  "Moorish-Americans" which was a claim to Islam.

4

• The movement spread to Pittsburgh, Detroit,
  Chicago and to some places in the South.
  However, after his death in 1929 the movement
  lurched along.

5
Wallace Fard

• Wallace Fard claimed to have come from the Holy
  City of Mecca on a mission of redemption and
  restoration of the Black undercaste. He founded
  the Black Muslims.

6
Some of His Teachings

• He taught that the Black African Diaspora were
  all of Muslim heritage, and were the lost-found
  members of the tribe of Shabazz.
• He called whites blue-eyed devils.
• He claimed that whites used tricknology to
  exploit blacks.

• Human culture began in Africa.
• He dropped the Western names and used X instead.
• He founded the University of Islam in Detroit.
• Fard disappeared in 1934 and was later elevated
  to a divine status.

7
Elijah

• Elijah Muhammad, born Elijah Poole in
  Sandersville, GA on Oct. 7, 1897. He was one of
  13 children born to a Baptist preacher and his
  wife what he learned about Islam "early" was
  from Wallace Fard. He revived Islam in the US.

8
NOI

• What the Nation of Islam believes.

• What the Nation of Islam wants.

9
NOI Main Points

• Origin of the Black man/woman
• Origin of the White man/woman
• The Place of Islam and Christianity
• Remuneration
• End Times

10
Origin of the Black Man/Woman

• The Black man and woman is a god and a goddess
• Blacks are the original man.
• Blacks are asleep and ignorant of their true
  nature

11
Origin of Caucasians

• Mr. Yacub grafted the Devil (Caucasians)
• Mr. Yacub, who had rebelled against God,
  "extracted the negative from the black man, and
  grafted a manlike creature out of pure
  concentrate of evil. The white man 'is the
  negative side of the original nature.'"
• God has given the devil a respite (that's why
  there is so much evil.)

12
Islam, Christianity, and Judaism

• Islam is the religion of the Black man
• Christianity is the religion of the Devil
• Judaism has been referred to as a gutter
  religion by Louis Farrakhan the current leader of
  the NOI
• NOI is said to be anti-Semitic
• There is friction between the NOI and the Jewish
  community.

13
NOI Reparations

• NOI wanted at first to be completely separated
  from whites as a sovereign nation 10 population
  5 states (southern).
• However, now they want to exist independently
  within America much like the Amish
  "self-supporting, autonomous in religious matters
  and politically quietist."

14
End Times

• The NOI is living at the end of time now
  (Apocalypse)
• America is doomed and Allah will rescue the
  faithful

15
The Pivotal Figure

• Malcolm X was a pivotal figure in the NOI.
• Malcolm Little was born in Omaha, NE.
• He was the son of a Baptist preacher who was
  active in Garveys Universal Negro Improvement
  Association.

16
El Hajj Malik El Shabbaz

• Malcolm broke away from the NOI and founded his
  own organization.
• He moved toward internationalization of the
  plight of African Americans.
• He also moved toward mainstream Islam.
• He was assassinated in 1965 at the orders, so
  some believe, of Elijah Muhammad.

17
The Death of the Minister

• In 1975 Elijah Muhammad died
• His son Wallace D Muhammad took over.

18
Changes of Wallace D Muhammad

• He immediately made changes and
• 1. he did away with the doctrine of black racial
  superiority taught by Elijah Muhammad.
• 2. he redefined Fard as a wise man and not God
  himself.
• 3. he restored Malcolm X's legacy as a respected
  and prominent member.
• 4. He separated business from religious
  practices.

19
In addition

• He changed the name of the NOI, first the
  Bilalian Community, then to the World Community
  of Al-Islam in the West, to the American Muslim
  Mission (1980s), and finally to the Muslim
  Mission (1990s).

• 5. He ended the desire for a separate state.
• 6. He honored the US Constitution.
• 7. Lastly, he aligned the NOI doctrine with
  Orthodox Islam.

20

• Each change was an effort to make the
  organization and it's members adhere to strict,
  traditional Islamic principles and to exclude
  race, nationalism, and racial images of God and
  phrophets from theory and worship. 17
• The Muslim Mission now holds orthodox Islamic
  views and is accepted as part of the traditional
  Islamic community. 18

21
The previous 4 slides

• Source - Created by Jan Dodoo. Special thanks to
  Loryn Lawson who created an earlier version of
  this page, For Soc 452 Sociology of Religious
  Movements Spring Term, 2000 University of Virginia

22
The Split

• The Nation of Islam and
• The Muslim Mission

23
1977
Louis Farrakhan

• In 1977 Louis Farrakhan was dissatisfied with the
  changes and founded the Original Nation of Islam,
  now known as Nation of Islam.

The Current Leader of the NOI
24
http//www.noi.org/