Elijah Muhammad, son of a sharecropper, was born into poverty in Sandersville, Georgia, on October 7, 1897 (biography.com). After moving to Detroit in 1923, he met W. D. Fard, founder of the black separatist movement Nation of Islam (biography.com). Muhammad became Fard’s successor from 1934-75 and was known for his controversial preaching (biography.com). Muhammad faced many challenges during his life span. He declared that Fard had been an incarnation of Allah and that he himself was now Allah’s messenger (biography.com). For forty-one year’s Muhammad spread the word of the Nation of Islam, slowly but steadily attracting new members (biography.com). Muhammad built the religion from a small fringe group into a large and complex organization that attracted controversy along with its new prominence (biography.com).
Elijah Muhammad was born Elijah Robert Poole in Sandersville, Georgia, on October 7, 1897 to William and Mariah Poole (biography.com). One of thirteen children, he had only the benefit of a third-grade education before he was forced to help support his large family by sharecropping (discovertheetworks.org). At an early age, Muhammad witnessed extreme prejudice and violence toward African Americans (biography.com). After the lynching of a friend, in 1912, prompted Muhammad to flee his parent’s house a year later (danielpipes.org). In 1917 Muhammad met Cara Evans and married her in 1919, together they had eight children between 1921 and 1939 (danielpipes.org). In 1923, seeking better employment and a more tolerant environment, Muhammad moved his own family, parents and siblings to Detroit, Michigan, where he worked in an auto factory (biography.com). In 1931 Muhammad met Wallace D. Fard, a former salesman preaching a ne...
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...on of Islam intact, Muhammad, or simply “The Prophet,” is widely remembered for transforming a small temple into a nationwide movement with hundreds of thousands of devoted followers, culminating in an irrevocable effect on black culture and U.S. history (blackhistorynow.com).
For forty-one year’s Muhammad spread the word of the Nation of Islam, slowly but steadily attracting new members (biography.com). Muhammad built the religion from a small fringe group into a large and complex organization that attracted controversy along with its new prominence (biography.com). His legacy within the Nation of Islam intact, Muhammad, or simply “The Prophet,” is widely remembered for transforming a small temple into a nationwide movement with hundreds of thousands of devoted followers, culminating in an irrevocable effect on black culture and U.S. history (blackhistorynow.com).
Benjamin Chavis Muhammad is an African American civil rights leader. He was born on 22 January, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina. He has taken his last name Muhammad sometime later in his life. His parents were Benjamin Chavis Sr. and Elisabeth Chavis. He was the only son of his parents among his three siblings. He did his schooling from the orphanage of colored people in North Carolina, where his mother worked as a teacher. Chavis became the member of National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at the age of twelve. Chavis is married to Martha Rivera Chavis and has eight children.
In 1961 James Baldwin met Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam movement at the time. Baldwin’s experience within the Christian Church prior to his meeting with Elijah helped him analyze the Nation of Islam. This also allowed him to draw parallels between the Nation of Islam movement and the Christian Church. How James Baldwin understood the way the Christian Church worked, and a close look at the Nation of Islam, brings to light the credibility of organized religions.
Their most notable early leader was Elijah Muhammad and he was who eventually would acquire members such as Malcolm X. The main message of Muhammad was, “Blacks should live a disciplined and moral life, eschew drugs and alcohol, and establish a separate nation” (Rollinson 2002).
Born in Georgia, the leader of the Nation of Islam was a man named Elijah Muhammad. He has often been portrayed as a saint by his peers, but during World War II, Elijah Muhammad expressed support for Japan, on the basis of its being a nonwhite country, and was jailed for sedition. On August 24, 1946 Muhammad was released from prison in Milan, Michigan. According to the journal named The Black Scholar by Claude Clegg, Muhammad’s time at Milan had done more for him than ever before and after his release, Muhammad had unquestionably become “the premier martyr of the Muslims” (Clegg 49). From his speeches on the radio and in newspapers, Muhammad was also thought of by many people as a fierce man, one of thes...
In the late 1980’s Muhammad changed his life around. He and his wife had separated, he converted to Islam, and he joined the U.S. Army (Biography, par 4). He later changed his name to Muhammad (Death, par 2). He was stationed in Washington State. There he married Mildred Green. They ended up having three children. Being in the army was good for Muhammad. He served in Germany and the Middle East and was skilled in marksman (Biography, par 4, 5).
Malcolm X became one of the leading figures during the civil rights movement with his great ideas and speaking abilities. Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X led the Nation of Islam in the United States. The Nation existed as a growing organization and the government felt that it would turn into a violent association. The FBI became intensely interested in Malcolm after his joining with Elijah Muhammad and began to tap Malcolm X and try to find charges against him so he...
Malcolm set everything in motion when he converted to the Nation of Islam, an African American movement that combined elements of Islam with Black Nationalism. While in prison, his siblings persuaded him to write to the Nation’s leader, Elijah Muhammad. X was uneasy at first, but came around shortly. Malcolm wrote Muhammad a one-page letter each day in curiosity about the Nation of Islam. Muhammad replied as the “Messenger of Allah” welcoming Malcolm into the “true knowledge” (Haley 195). Before X’s release in nineteen fifty-two, he went under an intense self-educated program by reading books in the prison library, and even memorizing an entire dictionary. He also sharpened his forensic skills by participating in debate classes. When Malcolm was released from prison he had his first official visit with Muhammad in Chicago, he devoted his life to the Muslim ministry. Soon Malcolm began traveling and preaching with other ministers. He picked up their techniques and devoured their knowledge. Malcolm quickly rose in the Nation of Islam ranks becoming minister of Temple number eleven in Boston and Muhammad’s most effective recruiter and spokesman. Soon after, X was rewarded minister of Temple number seven in Harlem, New York, the largest and most prestigious after the Chicago Headquarters and eventually named the National Representative of the Nation of Islam, second in rank behind Muhammad himself. Under X’s lieutenancy the nation claimed a membership of five-hundred thousand, as the numbers grew X’s teachings began to change; he wanted to make a vast difference. He spread the glorious history of African Americans. He urged the Nation to become more active in the civil rights protest instead of being a critic on the side. X articulated the Nation’s racial doctrines of evil
Race and religion are two concepts in American culture that can really tie people together, or clearly separate them apart. A group forged by strong common roots in both race and religion can be a powerful societal force, if it wants to be. The Nation of Islam is a small but growing religion in America that has become somewhat of a social movement because of its strong and radical ideas on race. In this paper, I will try to explore the beliefs of the Nation of Islam, and the ramifications it could and has had on racial relations in America. The Nation of Islam, or NOI, is a relatively new religion. The first temple of Islam was established in Detroit by Master Fard Muhammed in 1930. Much of the theology was based on the simple facts that: "Allah is god, the white man is the devil, and the so-called Negroes are the Asiatic black people, the cream of the earth."(1) And, in accordance with their bizarre view of creation, involving a mad scientist creating the white race from the black race, the twentieth century represents the time for black people to regain their rightful position as god¹s chosen people. (1) The Nation of Islam was spawned from Orthodox Islam, an age-old religion. However, Orthodox Islam has openly denounced the NOI as a heretic sect for three main reasons: the NOI¹s rejection of the belief in an afterlife, its tendency to view human leaders as deified figures, and its strong racist attitudes. (2) For a brief time, during the seventies, Wallace Deen Muhammed became the leader of the NOI and tried to take it in a new direction, more conforming to "true Islamic beliefs." This group is now called the American Muslim Mission and still exists in small numbers today. (1) ...
When Malcolm x was known as Malcolm Little which was from his birth until during his time in prison went he converted to the Nation of Islam ( Malcolm X 154-172) he experienced traumatic events that laid the foundation in terms of how he came to view white people u...
...ession altogether. "True Islam taught me that it takes all of the religious, political, economic, psychological, and racial ingredients, or characteristics, to make the Human Family and the Human Society complete." (Haley, 382) His constant growth as a person shows that he was not a mere angry revolutionary who wanted vengeance against whites, but a leader sincerely interested in achieving racial harmony. Because of “disagreement had been in terms of political direction and involvement in the extra-religious struggle for human rights” (Haley, 360) with the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad, he was assassinated. Although he passed away while his struggle for the rights of black people in America was still unfinished, he showed to everyone that the inner willpower is the most important thing. Blacks in America need to overcome self-doubt to self fight for themselves.
... of Afro-American Unity. On the 21, of February in 1965 Malcolm was murdered. When he was buried he went by the name of Al Hajj Al-Shabazz, the name that he took in 1964 after his pilgrimage to Mecca. Malcolm has much influence on blacks and whites. Malcolm was a man of the people, in his ways of teaching on the street instead of going to college to become a preacher.
Malcolm traveled to Chicago to meet Elijah Muhammad and there, he became assistant minister of Nation of Islam’s Detroit Temple. Suddenly and without warning in 1961, Elijah Muhammad got violently ill. Malcolm does everything that he can to help the situation, but he knew deep down that he liked how the Nation was growing. Little did he know another hardship would be coming his way. People start getting mad and saying that he was trying to take credit for what Elijah was trying to teach and making money off of it. Although he denies all of the allegations, the news gets around and Malcolm states “What astonished me even more- a telegram had been sent to every New York City newspaper and radio and television station.” This would ding his reputation for a long time, because it was everywhere and that makes him go crazy. He was offended at all the remarks, but this would help him reevaluate his views on white people and people of different
24 Jan. 2001. Mamiya, Lawrence H., and Charles Eric Lincoln. “Nation of Islam.” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. 2nd Ed.
Research supports that Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Black Muslims in the 1960’s, also found that time period to be very opportunistic for the Nation of Islam movement. In an article from the New York Times written by M.S. Handler in the early sixties, Muhammad quotes that he “…is confident that his organization, and his alone, stands to gain from the racial turmoil in the United States” (Handler 14). Like Baldwin, Muhammad recognizes that in a world where racial segregation is being challenged and the entire path of black history is being reevaluated and denounced, radical ideas are more likely to flourish.
The Nation of Islam, which Malcolm X was an important member of, is not a religious organization as the name suggests but rather an organization whose goal was to make the lives of African Americans better instead of actually teaching the proper ethics of Islam. One of the main objectives of this organization was Black Nationalism, through which Black leaders can control the areas where there is a majority of African Americans. This cause was greatl...