The Nation of Islam

Our quote for today is from Joe Mullally. He said, "I judge a religion as being good or bad based on whether its adherents become better people as a result of practicing it."

In this podcast, we are making our way through Garry R. Morgan's book, "Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day."

Our Understanding World Religions topic for today is, "The Nation of Islam."

The Nation of Islam is probably best known for the Million Man March, held on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on October 16, 1995. Louis Farrakhan, its leader, gave the keynote address and led the huge crowd in pledges to "take responsibility for their lives and families, and commit to stopping the scourges of drugs, violence, and unemployment." Social and economic improvement for African-Americans through self-discipline and moral living has always been part of the Nation's beliefs, and it has made a positive contribution to the lives of many in this regard.

The Nation of Islam began in 1930. In this period of Jim Crow laws, legal segregation, and horrendous discrimination, millions of poor, rural African-Americans from southern states migrated to northern cities in search of work. Conditions often were no better than what they had left behind. Into this situation a man named Wallace D. Fard appeared, in Detroit, preaching a message of Black supremacy. He said all Africans were originally Muslim; Christianity, which most African-Americans then professed, was a tool of "white devils" to subjugate them. Rather than seeking equality and integration, Fard preferred a totally segregated, Apartheid-like system where Blacks would have their own country. Many saw his message as the way out of poverty and oppression, and he gained many followers.

In 1931, Fard met Elijah Poole (who took the name Elijah Muhammad) and trained him for over three years before Fard mysteriously disappeared. Elijah Muhammad took over leadership, and the organization continued to grow, later attracting such celebrities as Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Elijah Muhammad taught that W.D. Fard was Allah in the flesh, the Messiah and the Mahdi, and gave him the title of The Master. He claimed he'd been called by The Master to be the true religion's final Messenger.

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