"I looked over Jordan, what did I see, coming for to
carry me home? A band of angels coming after me, coming for to carry
me home." (old Negro spiritual)
"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men the most pitiable." (1 Cor. 15:19)
The Christian belief in an afterlife with Christ has been a source
of strength and hope for millions of people from the first century to
the present. All Christians have longed for the day when there will be
no more death, no more shedding of tears, when sorrow and pain have
passed away, and when we no longer see "through a glass
darkly" but are with Jesus face to face. As the apostle Paul
said, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain"
(Phil. 1:21).
But Christianity is not simply an other-worldly hope with no thoughts
of the present. The apostle Paul went on to declare:
"Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for
you" (v.23). Thus the Christian faith is concerned with both our
life here and with our eternal life with God after our work here has
been completed.
In America a movement has arisen challenging Christianity; indeed,
arising largely because of the church's failure to meet the
"this-worldly" needs of some of the poorest in this land. It
is a religion solely interested in the affairs of this life and the
physical betterment of its people. It is a faith based on racism and
hate which expects that all of its enemies will soon be destroyed, and
that its members will then rule the world. And it is rapidly gaining
an ear among many of the afflicted and downtrodden in this country who
have waited too long to see justice and equality become a reality for
them; who have often heard that "all men are created equal"
but have rarely seen this principle applied. Its name is the Nation of
Islam and its leader is Minister Louis Farrakhan.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
To understand and evaluate "black Islam" we must consider
its historical roots and theology. In addition, we must also be
cognizant of the social, psychological and spiritual needs which gave
rise to it.
The years 1917-1930 were exceedingly trying for American blacks.
During those years the Ku Klux Klan was in its heyday, beatings and
lynchings of blacks were tragically common, race riots were
proliferating and "Jim Crow" laws were widespread. The black
servicemen who returned to America after World War I found that they
frequently had been treated better in European countries than they
were in their own home.
In the summer of 1930 a man identifying himself as Wallace Fard
Muhammad appeared in Detroit. He proclaimed that
he had come from the holy city of Mecca, with a mission to teach
blacks the truth about whites. He instructed blacks to prepare for
the battle of Armageddon, which he interpreted to mean the final
confrontation between blacks and whites.1
He rapidly gained a following and "established the first
Temple of Islam during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when blacks
were vulnerable to any philosophy that provided hope."2
The foundation of his theology was that "Allah is God, the white
man is the devil and the so-called Negroes are the Asiatic Black
people, the cream of the planet earth."3
Between 1930-33 Fard recruited 8,000 followers among Detroit blacks.
The most important of the new members was Elijah Poole, an unemployed
auto worker.
Elijah Muhammad
Poole, born on October 7, 1898, in Sandersville, Georgia, was one
of a Baptist minister/sharecropper's thirteen children. He
"learned only the bare rudiments of reading, writing and
arithmetic before he had to go to the fields to help his family earn a
living."4 He worked in Sandersville and in Macon,
Georgia, until 1923 when he, his wife, Clara, and their two children
moved to Detroit. From 1923 to 1929 he worked for the Chevrolet Auto
Plant in Detroit until the Great Depression caused his family to go on
relief for two years.
Poole, given the name "Karriem" at his initiation into the
group, rose rapidly in the organization and was renamed "Elijah
Muhammad" by Fard. He was subsequently chosen by Fard to be the
Chief Minister of his "Nation of Islam."
In about June of 1934 Fard "vanished as mysteriously as he had
arrived."5 Elijah Muhammad, succeeding Fard as the
leader, would rule and mold the Nation of Islam for the next 41 years.
Before continuing with their history it is necessary at this point to
understand just what Elijah Muhammad's doctrine was.
Theology/Ideology
From the beginning Elijah Muhammad had a very simple explanation
for Fard's disappearance: "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."6 His disappearance was due to the fact that
he had ascended back into heaven and would return at Armageddon to
proclaim the total victory of the black man over the white man. In
addition, the sole "Messenger of Allah" was Elijah Muhammad
himself: "He (Allah) has made me a door. If you get out, you will
come by me, and if you reject me, you will not go. I have been given
the keys to heaven."7
It needs to be noted that any resemblance between the theology of
Elijah Muhammad and that of orthodox Islam is purely coincidental.
Orthodox Islam has repeatedly denounced The Nation of Islam's theology
for its denial of an afterlife, its deification of Wallace Fard, its
racism and hatred, etc.8
The main reason for the phenomenal growth and success of Muhammad's
group was not his theology per se, but his appeal to the hurt and
despair of the black man. C. Eric Lincoln, in his classic work The
Black Muslims in America, declared that many blacks readily
accepted Elijah Muhammad's message because he had "given them a
new sense of dignity, a conviction that they are more than the equals
of the white man and are destined to rule the earth."9
Muhammad's approach to building the self-esteem of the black man was
two-pronged. First, the blacks in this country need to become one —
"love and unity of self and kind" is the key to their
"salvation."10 But this could not be accomplished
unless the white man let the blacks separate and have their own
country.11
The second prong of Muhammad's appeal to the blacks consisted in
highlighting the hate and racism they had suffered at the hands of the
white man. The result of this was a hate begotten of hate. All of the
black man's problems could be traced to one single enemy, the
"blue-eyed white devil":
The entire creation of Allah (God) is of peace, not including the
devils who are not the creation of Allah (God) but a race created by
an enemy (Yakub) of Allah....These enemies of Allah (God) are known
at the present as the white race or European race.12
The late Louis Lomax, one of the foremost black journalists in this
country and the first black newsman to appear on television (in 1959),
believed that
The Black Muslims13 have but one message: The white
man is by nature evil, a snake who is incapable of doing right, a
devil who is soon to be destroyed. Therefore, the black man, who is
by nature divine and good, must separate from the white man as soon
as possible, lest he share the white man's hour of total
destruction.14
A corollary to this teaching is that Christianity, the "white
man's" religion, is also their enemy. Elijah Muhammad made this
all too clear:
We called on the God that you said was the right one for a long
time. For a hundred years we have been calling on your God and the
Son, both. I am sure today that (sic) God and his Son that you are
presenting to us have been for white people, surely they were not
friends of ours. He never heard us. He must have been off somewhere
in conversation over your future and did not have time to hear our
prayers....Never any more will you fool us to bow and pray to a dead
Jesus.15
There is no hope for us in Christianity; it is a religion organized
by the enemies (the white race) of the Black Nation to enslave us to
the white race's rule.16
Malcolm X
Probably the most significant event to occur in the Nation of
Islam's history during this period was the 1947 conversion of Malcolm
Little, a black inmate in the maximum-security prison at Concord,
Massachusetts. He would become known to the American people as Malcolm
X.17
Due to lack of space it is not possible to detail the tremendous role
Malcolm X had in the growth of the Nation of Islam. However, it would
not be an exaggeration to say that he could be considered the St. Paul
of this movement. From 1952, when he was released from prison, until
his break with Elijah Muhammad in 1964, the membership of the Nation
of Islam skyrocketed as a result of Malcolm's missionary efforts.
During this period Malcolm "helped to establish most of the one
hundred Temples in the United States."18
In March of 1964 Malcolm announced that he was leaving the Nation of
Islam. The reasons were twofold. First, Malcolm's faith in Elijah
Muhammad had been shaken after Elijah confirmed to him that paternity
charges brought against him by two former secretaries were true.19
And second, Malcolm began to see that the theology they espoused was
not true to Islamic teachings. On February 21, 1965, less than a year
after he had left the Nation of Islam, he was shot to death by three
black men while giving a public lecture at the Audubon Ballroom in New
York City.
Wallace Deen Muhammad
Over the next ten years the Nation of Islam continued to grow,
albeit not nearly as rapidly as before. Then on February 25, 1975,
after a month's protracted illness, Elijah Muhammad died of congestive
heart failure at Chicago's Mercy Hospital. The next day, at the annual
Savior's Day Rally (which commemorates the birth of Master Fard
Muhammad), Elijah's seventh child, Wallace (Warith) Deen Muhammad, was
named to succeed his father as the new leader of the Nation of Islam.
The announcement that Elijah's son Wallace was to be the new leader
sent shock waves throughout the Nation of Islam. Most members believed
that Louis Farrakhan, minister of the Harlem temple, would be the new
leader. Another reason the members were shocked was because Wallace
had been excommunicated from the group by his father on at least three
different occasions. The main reason for his excommunications was that
he rejected the apotheosis or deification of Fard. Why then was
Wallace Deen chosen? Allegedly, Wallace Fard had prophesied that
Elijah's seventh child would be a son that would head the Nation of
Islam. Farrakhan emphatically backed Wallace: "The Honorable
Elijah Muhammad's passing is the will of God. His son is the will of
God."20
Within months major changes occurred. Wallace had been an extremely
close friend of Malcolm X, both before and after Malcolm's break with
his father, Elijah Muhammad. Consequently Wallace was deeply
influenced by Malcolm's acceptance of true Islam shortly before his
death. This influence is seen in the changes Wallace soon brought
about in the Nation of Islam.
One of the first changes was to rename the group the World Community
of Al-Islam in the West, thus attempting to identify more with
worldwide Islam. They would later change their name again; they are
now known as the American Muslim Mission.
However, such cosmetic changes were not Wallace's main concern. He
immediately began to root out some of the main tenets of the old
Nation of Islam. He denounced the belief that Fard was an incarnation
of God, a teaching which is anathema to orthodox Muslims (see Part One
of this series, "Islam's Worldwide Revival," Forward,
Fall 1985). Likewise, "doctrines defining God as black and
dismissing whites as devils" were changed "with the
explanation that the former ideas were necessary transitional beliefs
because of the brain-washing the blacks underwent as slaves."21
Indeed, whites were now permitted to join their group. Since 1975 the
movement has been accepted by orthodox Muslims as legitimately Islamic
and one within the fold of Islam.22
In 1978 Wallace resigned as the spiritual leader of "chief
Imam" of the organization in order to be an ambassador-at-large,
speaking in their behalf domestically and internationally.23
He decentralized its leadership into a 17-member council with six
regional imams serving one-year terms, who have equal power in
national matters, but complete power in their own regions.
Although no official membership rolls are kept, it is estimated that
the American Muslim Mission currently has about 100,000 members.
LOUIS ABDUL FARRAKHAN
Until the national presidential primaries in 1984, few Americans
had ever heard of Louis Farrakhan. He was hardly a nationally known
personality such as were his predecessors Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm
X. He wasn't particularly powerful, politically or socially. Nor was
his group of followers nearly as large as those loyal to Wallace Deen
Muhammad.
It was during Jesse Jackson's run for the Democratic party's
presidential nomination that Farrakhan became an overnight sensation.
The reason was simple: Farrakhan, one of Jackson's staunchest and most
visible supporters, was outspoken in his demagoguery and racism. Jerry
Eddings, writing in New York City's widely respected black community
paper The Amsterdam News, succinctly sums up Farrakhan's appeal
for so many blacks:
[Farrakhan] expresses the anger they feel about still being on
the bottom layer of society....he is a Black man who speaks his mind
without fear, and even if they don't believe everything he says,
they see a need for more Black men and women who speak without fear
about the inequities of life in predominantly white America.24
Who is this man Louis Farrakhan and what does he believe? Is he a
dangerous demagogue or a fearless spokesman for black America?
Biography
Farrakhan was born Louis Eugene Walcott in New York in 1933. He was
raised in a tough Boston neighborhood, learning first-hand of the
economic plight most blacks faced. He dropped out of Winston-Salem
Teachers College after two years of study and began what appeared to
be a promising career as a singer. He was known as "Calypso
Gene" and was fairly successful as a nightclub entertainer.
In 1955 his life was changed after a meeting with Malcolm X. Following
his recruitment to the Nation of Islam he served under Malcolm at the
Harlem mosque for nine months. Subsequently he was asked to direct the
Boston mosque.
Farrakhan stayed at this position until Malcolm's assassination in
1965. After Malcolm's death he became the minister of Harlem's Mosque
#7, the largest and most influential mosque outside of Chicago. In
addition, he was recognized as the "National Spokesman for the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad," a title he still retains today.
As noted earlier, he remained under Wallace Deen Muhammad's leadership
after Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975. However, as Wallace began to
conform the organization (the present American Muslim Mission) to
orthodox Islam, Farrakhan rebelled. He left the group in December of
1977 and formed his own reorganized Nation of Islam, returning to the
old teachings of Elijah Muhammad. So, while the American Muslim
Mission has organizational continuity with Elijah Muhammad's Nation of
Islam, the doctrine and spirit of the old Nation of Islam continue
only in Farrakhan's splinter group, which bears its name.
Ideology
The ideology of the Nation of Islam under Farrakhan is almost
indistinguishable from what it was under Elijah Muhammad. Their
monthly paper, The Final Call, reprints numerous articles of
Elijah's writings and speeches. They also reprint Elijah's Muslim
program ("What the Muslims Want" and "What the Muslims
Believe") on the back page of each issue of the paper.
Farrakhan has initiated a few changes of his own, though. One tenet of
Elijah which is not called for anymore is the establishment of a
separate state for the blacks. Instead, the blacks should separate
economically, that is, only buy from and sell to each other.
Another change is the date of their annual Savior's Day celebration.
Instead of celebrating it on the anniversary of Fard's birthday (Feb.
26) he has moved it to Elijah Muhammad's birthday (Oct. 7).
The other basic beliefs promulgated by Elijah Muhammad have remained
(e.g., the bitter hatred of Christianity, the belief that the blacks
and not the Jews are God's "chosen race," the denial of a
literal resurrection and afterlife, the belief in the deity of Wallace
Fard, the blaming of the white man for each and every evil that the
black man experiences, etc).
Interestingly, Farrakhan continually tries to portray himself publicly
as a very moderate person. He has even suggested that the Nation of
Islam is really no longer a racist group: "We have long ago left
the language of white devils behind. It was a language that was
necessary for that time in our development."25 As we
will see, this is anything but the case.
Finally, there are two other new tenets brought forth by Farrakhan
worth noting. The first is that there is one exception to the denial
of a literal resurrection of the dead. As the last page of The
Final Call declares in caps beneath a picture of Elijah Muhammad,
"HE LIVES." Farrakhan writes:
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I am here to declare, is risen.
The Jesus you have been seeking and waiting for His return has been
in your midst for 40 years, "but you knew not who He was."
A Holy One was working among us, and it is only now, after He is
gone, that we realize who He was.26
It should come as no shock after the revelation that the one and
only messenger for the black man is none other than Louis Farrakhan
himself, the "Honorable Elijah Muhammad's National
Spokesman."
I, Farrakhan, have no power to give life. However, the voice of
Elijah Muhammad coming through me is giving life to the entire
Nation [of Islam]. I warn you that when you turn me down and refuse
this truth, you are turning down the Lord, the Savior, the Messiah,
and the Deliverer that you seek. This Deliverer is the Honorable
Elijah Muhammad.27
Social Message
The heart of Louis Farrakhan's attraction for blacks is the
social/economic message he preaches. He has instilled in them a pride
and self-esteem which they have often lacked. He has told them that
they are not responsible for the state in which they find themselves,
and seemingly offers them a way out of it.
Last year Farrakhan made an extensive speaking tour of cities and
universities across the nation. The banner under which he spoke bore
the message: "POWER AT LAST, FOREVER! MINISTER FARRAKHAN CALLS
THE ENTIRE BLACK NATION TO ECONOMIC REBIRTH." His message was one
of self-help: "You must get up from the foot of your masters and
say 'I am a free man.' It is time for black people to come out from
under white authority and stop thinking like you are an inferior
person."28
The economic separatism Farrakhan preaches is centered around POWER,
an acronym for People Organized and Working for Economic Rebirth. The
first stage of POWER has been in the process of development for over a
year: its goal is the creation of jobs in the black community by mass
producing and distributing various consumer products. This past summer
the first line of products came out: a number of different toiletry
goods including soaps, lotions, deodorants, etc.
Thousands of blacks, with no interest in the Nation of Islam's
ideology, have been drawn to Farrakhan (and thus indirectly to the
Nation of Islam) because of POWER. Daniel K. Tabor, a black city
councilman in Ingelwood, California, writes: "The appeal of
Farrakhan's POWER program for blacks...is in its calls for the
economic development of the black community, and Farrakhan's program
offers sound steps for that development."29
"Rhetoric of Hate"
Since Farrakhan's meteoric rise as a national figure in 1984, many
of the 25 million black people in America have been strongly attracted
to him, if not openly supportive. His is a personality that demands a
response from people, and the opinions are quite polarized. For many
blacks "Farrakhan offers perhaps the last hope for true
liberation."30
However, many of the most prominent black leaders in the country have
repudiated him as an opportunist and demagogue. Wallace Deen Muhammad
gave a nationwide speaking tour last year in an attempt to counter
Farrakhan's "rhetoric of hate."31 Congressman
Charles Rangel, representing New York City's 16th district (Harlem),
has repeatedly stated that "the hatred spewed by Louis Farrakhan
is scurrilous and intolerable."32 Carl T. Rowan, one
of the best known and respected journalists in the country, writes
that Farrakhan "offers nothing more than religious bilge and
racial hatred and is preying on the frustrations and rage of millions
of black Americans."33
But does Minister Farrakhan really deserve these denunciations? Are he
and the Nation of Islam really as malevolent as these people have made
them out to be? Let us listen to Farrakhan himself and see.
Farrakhan on Whites, Jews, and America
Even a perfunctory reading of any issue of The Final Call,
which lists Minister Louis Farrakhan as its publisher, will reveal
that Farrakhan's racism remains unabated, in spite of claims to the
contrary. Jews are denoted as "our enemies,"34
America is called the "number one enemy of freedom-loving peoples
on the earth,"35 whites are referred to as
"devils,"36 and blacks are warned to avoid
following the "evil and filth of the white race."37
The statements of Farrakhan's that are best remembered, though, are
ones he made during Jesse Jackson's unsuccessful bid for the
Democratic presidential nomination in 1984. In March of that year
Farrakhan said, "Hitler was a very great man," and in July
he referred to Judaism as a "gutter religion."38
Over the years the Nation of Islam has had a close relationship with
Libyan dictator Muammar Khaddafi. A number of years ago they received
a three million dollar loan from Khaddafi and in 1985 received another
loan worth five million dollars. Also in 1985 Farrakhan invited
Khaddafi to be the keynote speaker, via satellite TV hookup from
Libya, at the Savior's Day celebration, and gave him a warm
introduction to the audience of 13,000.
Much more could be said about the racism of the Nation of Islam. A
great deal also could be written about the violent physical attacks
some blacks have suffered after leaving the Nation of Islam,39
about the death threats issued against black journalists and political
leaders who have opposed Farrakhan,40 and of Farrakhan's
own role in creating the climate leading up to Malcolm X's
assassination.41
WHY BLACKS ARE DRAWN TO FARRAKHAN
We have seen some of the reasons for the popularity of Farrakhan
and his Nation of Islam. But there is more than this. Two key areas
need to be examined in greater detail: the plight of the black man in
America and the failures of the Christian church.
The Plight of Blacks in America
Most white Americans have never experienced the depths of despair
and hopelessness that black men, women, and children in this country
have endured. They have never been forced to live in ghettos or
near-ghetto conditions surrounded by poverty and the violence and
crime poverty breeds. Forty-five percent of black children are born
into poverty (as compared to only 15 percent of white children being
born into poverty).42
Recent government statistics show that the economic/social plight of
blacks in this country is not improving. Some of the more discouraging
statistics show:
- Median black family income in 1985 was about $1,000 less in
dollars adjusted for inflation than in 1978.
- In 1985, the typical black family had about 58 cents to spend
for every dollar a typical white family had to spend. That was the
same as in 1980, and four cents less than in 1970.
- More than 31 percent of all black people were officially poor in
1985. Among black families headed by single women, 52% were poor
in 1985.
- Among black males 15 to 24 years old, homicide is the leading
cause of death. A black man in America stands a 1-in-21 chance of
being murdered in his lifetime.
- A black person was 37 percent more likely than a white person to
be a victim of rape, robbery or assault in 1983.43
One thing is clear: there are million of American black people who
are suffering. Louis Lomax noted that members of the Nation of Islam
aggressively proselytized "the abandoned black masses who live in
a world of despair and futility."44 For too long this
world has been one for which Christians in America have had little
concern.
Failures of the Christian Church
For the most part the Christian church has not had the care and
concern for the black man that it should have had.45 All
too often it has shown little interest for his salvation or for
helping his economic/social plight.
One of the greatest indictments against cultural Christianity is the
racism that so-called Christians have shown, past and present. Members
of the Nation of Islam have continuously capitalized on this.
During the heyday of the civil rights movement the ministers in the
Nation of Islam temples would point out that the most segregated
institution in this country was the Christian church. They would use
clippings from newspapers showing blacks being turned away from white
churches or of white Christian ministers openly advocating
segregation.
During the Birmingham demonstrations one prominently displayed photo
was of a group of blacks, after being ejected from a white church,
praying on the church steps with whites standing a few feet away
threatening them with their fists balled up. More recently, a front
page headline in the -Amsterdam News declared, "Pastor
won't admit Blacks."46
One of Malcolm X's best tactics in recruiting members to the Nation of
Islam was to describe graphically the horrors of the slave trade: how
literally millions of blacks died on the trip over here, how the black
women were raped and killed by the white "Christian" slave
traders, etc. Labeling it the "so-called Christian white man's
crime," Malcolm stated that "the dramatization of slavery
never failed intensely to arouse Negroes hearing its horrors spelled
out for the first time."47
Tragically, many blacks view all Christians as racists. What changed
Malcolm X's hatred of whites was the acceptance and brotherhood he saw
among Muslims in Mecca. He wrote: "I have never before seen
sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together,
irrespective of their color."48
THE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
When the non-Christian sees hypocrisy in the church or hate-filled
Christians, he should be aware that Jesus Himself warned that there
would be counterfeit Christians among the true ones and that God would
be their judge (Matt. 7:21-23). Instead of looking at them we should
keep our eyes on what the Bible really teaches and what true
Christians believe and practice.
Christianity, far from being the "white man's religion," is
a universal faith open to all men and women: "For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John
3:16). Christianity is found on every continent on earth among every
race of man: black, yellow, red, and white.
People in this country often think of blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jeffrey
Hunter (who portrayed Jesus in King of Kings) when Jesus is
mentioned. But Jesus was an Asiatic, a Semite. He was a descendant of
Isaac, the half brother of the father of the Arabs, Ishmael (Gen.
16:1-12; 17:15-19). It is historically false to state that
Christianity is "the white man's religion."
Additionally, one of the central themes of the Bible concerns the care
and love that true believers are to show, both for each other and for
the poor and oppressed. In the Old Testament God rebuked Israel for
pretending to love Him when they were unconcerned for the poor and
oppressed (Isa. 58:6-7; also cf. Mic. 6:8, Prov. 29:7; 30:14; Amos
8:4-5). In the New Testament Jesus stated that the ultimate sign of
those who were truly His followers would be the love they displayed
(John 13:34-35). Scripture also tells us that anyone, whether he be
white, black, brown, or yellow, who hates other people is blinded and
not a true believer (1 John 2:9-11).
Jesus was very specific that this love was not to be directed only
toward the other members of the Christian faith. Christians are
commanded by Christ to love not only each other but also the
non-Christian, even if he might be an enemy (Luke 6:27-28, 32-33, 35).49
The Christian, then, is called to a commitment of radical love and a
rejection of all hate. That many professing Christians have failed to
live up to this standard is the fault of human sinfulness, not Jesus
Christ or biblical teaching. The same cannot be said, however, for the
Nation of Islam. As we saw earlier, its teachings encourage a
hateful attitude toward one's "enemies," whether real or
merely perceived. Just as the hatred and racism of the white man begat
a reciprocal hatred and racism in Elijah Muhammad and his followers,
so their hatred can only engender more of the same. In a world
seething with distrust and hostility, Jesus' radical teaching
("love your enemies") desperately needs to be applied by
people of all races. Only then can the vicious cycle of hate be
broken.
To the black man in this country: we urge you to look toward Jesus; He
not only knows what you are suffering, He also understands. For
centuries you have suffered innocently, simply because the
pigmentation of your skin is different. Jesus too suffered persecution
and revilement innocently. Isaiah the prophet foretold that the
Messiah would be "a man of sorrows, despised and rejected of
men" (Isa. 53:3). The reward for His love was an agonizing death
on the cross. Reject the urge to hate and listen to His words:
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am
gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30).
NOTES
1 Henry J. Young, Major Black Religious Leaders Since
1940 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1979), 66-67.
2 Ibid.
3 Clifton E. Marsh, From Black Muslims to Muslims
(Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1984), 52.
4 Ibid.
5 C. Eric Lincoln, The Black Muslims in America
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1961), 15.
6 Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Blackman in America
(Chicago: Muhammad Mosque of Islam No. 2, 1965), 164; cf. Elijah
Muhammad, Our Savior Has Arrived (Chicago: Muhammad's Temple of
Islam No. 2, 1974), III.
7 Muhammad, Message, 235.
8 See Forward's Fall 1985 issue for an examination
of Islam's theology. Specific references in the Qur'an showing its
acceptance of all races are 49:13; 3:103-104; 21:107.
9 Lincoln, 16-17.
10 Muhammad, Message, 221.
11 Ibid., 161, 164.
12 Ibid., 68.
13 Members of the Nation of Islam have never liked to be
referred to as "black Muslims." Rather, they refer to
themselves as "lost-founds" or
"African-Americans."
14 Louis E. Lomax, "A Phony Islam's Unveiled
Threat," True, Dec. 1963, 22.
15 Muhammad, Message, 168.
16 Ibid., 221. The phrase "the white race"
is part of the quotation.
17 Many people wonder why members of the Nation of Islam
take on a new name, usually with an "X" attached. "To
commemorate his rebirth, the convert drops his last name and is known
simply by his first name and the letter X." Lincoln, 110.
18 Marsh, 72.
19 Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X (New
York: Grove Press, 1964), 294f.
20 Francis Ward. "Wallace Muhammad to Head
Muslims," Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 1975.
21 "Islam and the American Blacks," The Link,
Sept./Oct. 1979, 6.
22 Ibid.
23 Bill Drummond, "Black Muslims' Leader
Resigns," Los Angeles Times, 10 Sept. 1978. Also, cf.
Marsh, 100.
24 Jerry Eddings, "The Right Question," The
Amsterdam News, 12 Oct. 1985.
25 John F. Davis, "Farrakhan Speaks," The
Village Voice, 22 May 1984.
26 In Thomas H. Landess and Richard M. Quinn, Jesse
Jackson and the Politics of Race (Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books,
1985), 94.
27 Ibid.
28 Penelope McMillan and Cathleen Decker, "Give Us
Economic Freedom, Farrakhan Asks," Los Angeles Times, 15
Oct. 1985.
29 Daniel K. Tabor, "It Became a Time for Blacks to
Take a Stand on Their Own," Los Angeles Times, 17 Sept.
1985.
30 "On Understanding Farrakhan." The Bay State
Banner, 17 Oct. 1985.
31 "Black Muslim Leader Plans Tour to 'Counter'
Farrakhan." Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 1985.
32 Charles Rangel, "Denunciation on Demand Ruins
Black-Jewish Links," The Amsterdam News, 12 Oct. 1985.
33 Carl Rowan, "Louis Farrakhan: Why Do We Enhance His
Hate?," Los Angeles Times, 26 Sept. 1985.
34 "11,000 Flock to Hear Farrakhan in D.C.," The
Final Call, Sept. 1985, 10.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid., 14.
38 Louis Farrakhan, in ADL Special Report, Louis
Farrakhan: In His Own Words (New York: Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith, Oct. 1985), 3,5.
39 Eg., Aubrey Barnette, "The Black Muslims Are a
Fraud," Saturday Evening Post, 7 Feb. 1965.
40 Eg., Wilbert A. Tatum, "Farrakhan's Final
Solution," The Amsterdam News, 12 Oct. 1985, 12; also cf.
"Did Farrakhan Threaten Dinkins?" The Amsterdam News,
12 Oct. 1985.
41 Peter Noel, "Gil Noble Urges Farrakhan: 'Tell Us
about Your Role in Malcolm X's Murder,'" The Amsterdam News,
16 Nov. 1985, 1; also cf. John F. Davis, 16.
42 "More Children in Poverty," The Final Call,
Sept. 1985, 16.
43 Ibid.
44 Lomax, 16.
45 Nonetheless, there are a number of important Christian
ministries in the inner cities of America, many of them staffed by
both black and white Christians. Most of them combine the preaching of
the Gospel with providing housing, education, vocational
rehabilitation, food distribution, and physical and social recreation.
A few of the most outstanding examples are World Impact, Voice of
Calvary Ministries, Harambee Youth Ministries, the Tom Skinner
Crusades, and Rosey Grier's "Are You Committed."
46 Simon Anekwe, "Pastor Won't Admit Blacks," The
Amsterdam News, 7 Dec. 1985.
47 Malcolm X, 212.
48 Ibid., 340.
49 For further references cf. Luke 3:10; 4:18; 11:3; John
5:6; Acts 20:35.
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