> A LEAP OF FAITH > > THE FATHER PREACHED THAT WHITES ARE DEVILS, AND HE DEMANDED > A SEPARATE BLACK NATION. THE SON EMBRACED AMERICAN IDEALS AND > PREACHED THE KORAN'S MESSAGE OF BROTHERHOOD AND TOLERANCE. > IT WAS A DANGEROUS > > By Don Terry > Published October 20, 2002 > The Chicago Tribune > > A few hours after the Messenger of Allah died, scores of his > ministers hurried to his domed mosque on Stony Island Avenue > to learn the fate of their nation. > > The future was waiting in the basement. > > The ministers filed down the stairs, hearts heavy, souls shaken. > Up until Elijah Muhammad's last breath at 8:10 a.m. on Feb. 25, > 1975, many believed The Messenger would live forever. They could > not imagine he would leave them behind in the wilderness of North > America to face the blue-eyed devil alone. > > For more than 40 years, he had lifted them from the gutter, > plucked them out of the fire, resurrected them from the mentally > dead. He did it using a theology of love and hate, sincerity and > science fiction. The white man was the Devil, the black man a > human God. He preached a separatist gospel of self-reliance. And > he turned thousands of his brothers and sisters--the so-called > Negroes, a phrase he used only with disdain--into proud black > men and women. > > They thought he was divine. He didn't argue. > > Now that he was dead of heart failure at age 77, what would > become of his people? Their Nation of Islam? > > Gathered in the depths of the mosque on the South Side of > Chicago, they soon learned the answer. The Messenger's 41-year-old > son, his successor, held up a Holy Koran. "We have to take this > down from the shelf," declared Wallace D. Muhammad, staring into > 200 somber faces. "We say we are Muslims. What my father taught > that is in this book, we will keep. What is not in this book, we > have to give up." > > So much had to go: There would be no more lessons about white > devils or hovering spaceships ready to destroy America for its > racial sins. There would be no more prohibitions against going to > the movies or demands for a separate black nation in the American > South. > > It was nothing less than a religious reformation that Wallace > Muhammad began that bitter winter 27 years ago. He and his > followers took the first steps in a mass march of tens of > thousands of African-Americans away from the cult-like margins > of a fierce faith to the mainstream of one of the world's great > religions. Wallace Muhammad later started using the name Warith > Deen Mohammed as he and his community waded deeper into Islam. > > To Mohammed, his father's Nation had been more concerned with > property than prayers. It was more social movement than religion, > more small-business incubator than house of worship. "My father > was a great social reformer," Mohammed now says. "But when I > came in, all I cared about was the soul." > > Today, there are 6 million to 8 million Muslims in the United > States, and nearly 30 percent of them are African-American. The > vast majority sit solidly in the Islamic mainstream, pledging > allegiance to Allah and America, balancing Islamic piety and > Western values. America isn't the Great Satan. It is home. > > To get his community to this point, Mohammed, the conflicted > prince of the Nation of Islam's "Royal Family," turned his back > on his father's kingdom. He tore it down myth by myth, replacing > it with something new and, he is confident, truer to the faith. > A year after taking over, he renamed the group the World Community > of Al-Islam in the West, consigning the 45-year-old Nation of > Islam to history--or so he thought. > > Several disaffected Nation officials, including Minister Louis > Farrakhan, refused to give up the old ways. They broke away, > taking some of Elijah Muhammad's followers with them. New but > significantly smaller Nations of Islam soon began popping up in > Detroit, Atlanta and most famously in Chicago under Farrakhan. > Most of The Messenger's followers, however, stayed with the son > and his Koran-based message. > > Mohammed thus "was able to do two remarkable things," says > Sulayman S. Nyang, a professor of African Studies at Howard > University. "One [was] the re-Islamization of the movement; the > second, the re-Americanization of the movement. Here's a man who > inherited an organization that most scholars of Islam would > describe as heretical before [Mohammed took over]," Nyang says. > "That mythology has been replaced by sound theology rooted in > Islamic orthodoxy. The people had to make a 180-degree turn." > > Yvonne Haddad, an Islamic expert at Georgetown University, agrees > that Mohammed shepherded a remarkable transformation in his > followers' religious life. While his father shunned patriotism > and cursed America for its crimes against the "black man," Haddad > says Mohammed proudly waves the flag. "He still knows there is > much about America that is racist," she says. "But he's working > with it to change it. He is extremely important in making Muslims > look at themselves as Americans and emphasizing their American > identity." > > Yet his own identity is not well known. His is the face of Islam > we seldom see, the personal story we seldom hear. It is the face > of a bearded and balding father of 9 and grandfather of 10 who > has been married four times, loves to cook and putter around his > modest south suburban home--and professes a surprising admiration > for the music of Prince, the sexually charged rocker. "He's > cleaned up his act," he says. "Now I don't have to go sneak to > see him." > > Mohammed currently calls his group the Muslim American Society, > its third name since the death of the old Nation of Islam. With > nearly 200,000 active followers, he is the chief imam, or spiritual > leader, for the largest community of African-American Muslims in > the United States. Some scholars say the number is closer to 1 > million when all the group's supporters are counted. > > Under Mohammed's leadership, the community became increasingly > active outside its mosques, launching and supporting new businesses, > becoming more politically involved and reaching out to Christians > and Jews for interfaith dialogue. "We were really making progress," > he says, sighing deeply. "We were on the move." > > Then terror came roaring out of the September sky. > > Mohammed says the true picture of Islam has been buried in the > debris of the Sept. 11 attacks. The image of his religion, he says, > was hijacked by a band of extremists; a group of desperate, depraved > men whom he insists are no more representative of Islam than > Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was of white Christian > Americans. > > Still, he says, "We have not been doing our job of presenting > Islam correctly. The whole world is looking at the Muslims, > wondering who we are. We shouldn't have waited for this terrible > thing to happen to show them." > > His followers call W.Deen Mohammed "Brother Imam." They also call > him late--a lot. One even suggested that the initials W.D. stand > for "Way Delayed." Of course, he often has 50 people demanding > his attention every day. Plus, he's a 68-year-old man with a > 12-year-old son. Time has a way of getting away from him. > > So none of his followers was surprised recently when there was no > sign of Brother Imam 30 minutes after he was scheduled to deliver > the khutbah, or sermon, for the Friday afternoon congregational > prayer. > > The mosque on 71st Street was overflowing. One family drove all > the way from Michigan to hear him. Mohammed doesn't have a mosque > of his own and travels around the city and country as a guest > speaker. > > The mosque is a converted nursery school. But inside it looks > like a shoe store as the faithful come in, slip out of their > shoes and line them up against the wall before finding a spot > on the rug. There are chairs set up in the back for the old and > infirm. > > Outside, vendors were setting up their tables. Wherever Brother > Imam goes, vendors follow a la a Grateful Dead tour. They sell > sandwiches, tapes of his past khutbahs, copies of the community's > newspaper, the Muslim Journal, and bean pies. > > "Assalamu alaikum [Peace be upon you]" one vendor said to another > as he set up his table under a tree. "Man, where have you been? > I haven't seen you in a month of Sundays." > > "Wa' alaikumus salam [And upon you is the peace]," the other > responded, throwing his arms around his friend. "I've just been > working hard, trying to get into Paradise." > > Inside the mosque, someone said excitedly "Here he comes," and > the men sitting on the floor in the middle and front of the room > edged closer to the rostrum, so the men in the back could squeeze > onto the rug. The women and girls were in the next room. A thin, > elderly man with a white beard entered, and people strained to > get a glimpse. False alarm. It was Mohammed's 68-year-old > volunteer driver, Yusuf Abdullah, a former Baptist church deacon. > Mohammed does not travel with bodyguards or an entourage of aides. > He either drives himself or Abdullah climbs behind the wheel of > his Chevy. > > Mohammed came next, slipping out of his shoes and bestowing a > sweet smile on his patient congregation. > > "Assalamu alaikum," he said to the faithful. > > "Wa' alaikumus salam," they responded. > > In his sermon, he said that Allah invented the heavens and the > stars and the moonlight. He invented weather: the wind, the rain, > the snow. The believers should study Allah's creation and become > scientists and scholars and use their knowledge to help their > communities learn and prosper. > > Always give back, always reach out, he added. No one should go > to school just to become rich for themselves. They must help the > poor. They must help the world. > > They must, he said, try to follow the example of "the Prophet > Mohammed, peace be upon him." > > "That's right," someone shouted. > > "Teach." > > "Allahu akbar [God is great]," someone said, and several other voices > joined in. > > Brother Imam beamed. > > It has been a long and sometimes dangerous journey for Mohammed, > who turns 69 at the end of October. His followers call the period > when he took over the Nation "The Change" or "The Transition." It > could have been The End. Ten years, almost to the day, before his > ascension, Mohammed's friend and religious confidant, Malcolm X, was > gunned down in New York City. Malcolm, too, had tried to bring > orthodoxy and other reforms to the Nation of Islam. > > Even before Mohammed took over, there were several outbreaks of > violence across the Nation of Islam, including a deadly shootout > with police in Baton Rouge and an assassination and two beheadings > in Newark, N.J. In some cases, the violence was criminally motivated, > in others ideological disputes seemed to be the cause. > > Mohammed "took a major risk in leading the Nation" to mainstream > Islam, says Lawrence H. Mamiya, a professor of religion at > Vassar College. "There were many threats on his life. There > were many splits in his movement." > > Farrakhan is responsible for the most famous fissure. He broke > away in late 1977 to form his own Nation of Islam--heavy on > charismatic leadership, light on the Koran. Just like the old > days. Farrakhan declined to be interviewed for this article, but > Mohammed recalls that, before he left, Farrakhan came to him > "with a heavy heart." Farrakhan told him, Mohammed says, that > he had disgraced his father and chased away the Nation's young > members. Elijah Muhammad's Nation had worked miracles, Farrakhan > argued. It had pulled up the lowest of the low--the addict and the > pusher, the criminal and the just too tired to go on. It had reached > into the prisons and the worst of the ghetto and transformed despair > into dignity, pain into pride. There was no reason to change--not > yet, maybe not ever. > > Mohammed, who recognized Farrakhan's talents and popularity, pleaded > with him to stay. But the men could not come to terms, and > ultimately Farrakhan was asked to go in peace. Mohammed says he was > firm in his position: The old Nation had its day, now it was done. > It was plagued with thieves at the top and the misguided at the > bottom. It was time to worship God, not myths. It was time to > grow up. > > And so these two sons of Elijah-- Farrakhan, his ideological son, > and Mohammed, his flesh and blood who succeeded him--went their > separate ways. Tensions were high in the weeks after the split. > "Hints of Violence in a Growing Feud," declared the headline > over Vernon Jarrett's Chicago Tribune column on Jan. 20, 1978. > But five days later, another Jarrett column was headlined "A War > of Words, but no Violence." > > Over the years, the fiery and flamboyant Farrakhan easily > overshadowed Mohammed in the media, though his following remained > much smaller. Farrakhan was the charmer, Mohammed the plodder. > Farrakhan was outrageous. Mohammed was invisible. > > "He's a great man but nobody knows it," says his sometimes > frustrated son-in-law, Najee Ali, a political and social activist > who converted to Islam while in prison for robbery 10 years ago > after listening to a tape of Mohammed. > > "We need to be doing more out in the streets. We need to be more > involved in people's daily struggles." > > Mohammed's low profile is partly his own doing. Perhaps "turned > off by the leadership of his father," says historian Claude Andrew > Clegg III, Mohammed seemed purposely to fade into the background, > taking his community with him on a years-long retreat into religion. > > Agieb Bilal, a Muslim since 1969, said that in a lecture to the > faithful shortly after taking over, Mohammed "told us he was > planting a new seed, and we would be going out of sight for > awhile until it was time for the new growth to emerge." > > In the early days of The Change, Mohammed was relentless in pursuit > of his mission, focused to the point of obsession. "One day, Uncle > Wallace started teaching at 5 p.m. We didn't leave until 2 a.m.," > recalls his nephew, Wali Muhammad, a Chicago radio talk-show host. > "He was trying to overcome almost 45 years of [his father's] teaching. > When he came in talking the Koran, it was like he was talking a > different religion. He really upset the apple cart. He made a lot > of people mad." > > Some simply lost interest. "I got bored and left," says Zakiyyah > Muhammad, 56, a neighborhood activist and resident of the Near > South Side. She had joined the Nation of Islam in 1973, and stayed > through The Change. By the early '80s, she reluctantly decided it > was time to leave. The community, she says, was "dead, dead, dead." > > "They weren't doing anything. Praying five times a day and reading > the Koran wasn't enough. I wanted to be involved in making life > better for black people." She considered joining Farrakhan, but > finally dismissed the idea. "There were some things about Farrakhan's > Nation of Islam I liked," she says. "But after learning true Islam, > I could not embrace them again. I could never go back." > > What she and many others wanted most was a mosque that combined > both politics and prayer, the kind of place Malcolm X envisioned. > But he is long dead, and Zakiyyah Muhammad is still searching. > > Munir Muhammad also could not abide The Change. He joined the > Nation of Islam in 1973 and left not long after Wallace Muhammad > took power. He later founded a group called the Coalition for the > Remembrance of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. "I saw in this man a > strength I had not seen prior to or since in any human being," he > says. "There are people who say [Muhammad] is still alive. We are > not those people. We say he lives in us." > > He says that while Elijah Muhammad was alive, there were several > attempts to destroy the Nation over the years: hypocrites from > within, traitors from without, the government. All failed. Then > along came W. Deen. > > "We lost just about everything," Munir Muhammad says, referring > not only to the Messenger's fiery spirit and vision but also the > millions in property and businesses his son sold off to settle > tax debts and probate court rulings. Farrakhan's group purchased > the Stony Island mosque and Elijah Muhammad's Kenwood mansion. > > Many friendships also were lost, but some rifts are slowly being > repaired. After nearly three decades apart, the two old rivals, > Farrakhan and W. Deen. Mohammed, both near 70, are carefully making > peace with their past after Farrakhan's brush with death a couple > of years ago as he battled prostate cancer. The two talk of economic > cooperation between their communities, and they speak at each other's > conventions. Farrakhan attended the Muslim American Society's recent > gathering in Chicago. > > "It's good to be home," he told 7,000 Muslims and guests at the UIC > Pavilion on the last day of the convention in early September. When > it was time for Mohammed to speak, Farrakhan sat behind him, smiling > and nodding. "Go ahead, Brother Imam," he said. "Preach." > > Afterward, a middle-aged woman with tears in her eyes approached a > security guard. "I just have to tell them how happy I am to see > them together," she said. "I've been praying for this for so long. > The Honorable Elijah Muhammad would be so proud." > > Mohammed talks a lot about his father these days, in glowing > terms. The old man's picture is featured in some Muslim American > Society literature and Mohammed often is introduced as the son of > the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In the first months and years of > The Change, however, he was much more critical, even harsh. He > was trying, he says, to free himself and his people of what he > calls the "old mind." Now they are free, he believes, and he can > reclaim his father. He even claims that the Messenger knew his son > would lead the Nation into the mainstream. In fact, he says, that's > exactly where Elijah Muhammad wanted his movement to go. Some say > that's wishful thinking, a son's sentimentality. > > "I suggest what he is doing is engaging in a bit of myth-making, > reinventing the story to reach out to Louis Farrakhan's group," > says Herbert Berg, an assistant professor of religion at the > University of North Carolina, Wilmington, who writes on Islam. > > If so, it seems to be working. It is Farrakhan who appears to > be walking the farthest across the dance floor in this cautious > courtship. Farrakhan is the one who moves closer and closer to > a philosophically constant Mohammed. In recent years, Farrakhan > has toned down his angry race rhetoric and talked up the tenets > of mainstream Islam, which preaches universal brotherhood. His > followers take classes in orthodox Islam, and he is being tutored > in Arabic. > > But the wall isn't down completely. "I don't see Louis Farrakhan > ever disbanding the Nation of Islam," says Clegg, the historian > and author of "An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah > Muhammad." "In a sort of messy way, Farrakhan has been moving > toward more orthodox Islam since the early '90s. But you won't > see [Mohammed and Farrakhan] in the same organization, I don't > think. It's still a very divided community." > > Indeed, in the literature his aides have been distributing at recent > appearances, Mohammed chides Farrakhan and his followers for not > keeping up with changing times: "Minister Louis Farrakhan is > educated and very intelligent, therefore I don't excuse him. And > I don't excuse many intelligent, educated African-Americans who > follow him in the wrong teachings of Islam. That is because the > world has changed, the discrimination laws have been abolished, > and race relations have improved." > > Mohammed says he considers himself a "rational man" who thinks > through every possible angle of an issue. But he admits with a > big laugh, his eyes twinkling, "I've made some female choices > that weren't rational." > > He has been married four times, twice to the same woman, his > first wife. He has nine children, ranging in age from 12 to 42. > Several of his children work for him, including NGina Muhammad-Ali, > director of advertising at his community's newspaper, the Muslim > Journal. > > A few years ago, he and NGina attended a Prince concert together. > He greatly admires the rock star. "I've been following Prince > since he was outrageously nasty," he says. "I was able to see > past the nastiness. I saw him as a very intelligent man with a > cause. He was in a spirit to lead people away from the grip of > the world and free their minds." > > Mohammed also has a lifelong love of movies. He used to have > to sneak to see movies when his father was alive, because > movie-going was prohibited in the Nation of Islam. He once put > on a fake mustache and sunglasses to slip unseen into a show. > When he took over the Nation, he lifted the ban. > > For decades after it was founded in 1930 in Detroit, the Nation > of Islam thrived and survived on rigid rules, discipline and > blind loyalty. Conformity was a virtue, independence a sin. In > the Nation, a Muslim man better have his suit pressed. His hair > cut. His fingernails clean. His weekly quota of Muhammad Speaks > newspapers sold. The Fruit of Islam, the Nation's security force, > was watching. > > Wallace Muhammad was always different. Quirky. When he wore a > suit, folks say, you'd remember, because it didn't happen often. > He had other things on his mind. > > It was easy for Wallace to be different then. He was The > Messenger's son, a prince of the "Royal Family." When the Royals > came to a Nation gathering, the sea of believers would step aside > to clear a path. But being Elijah Muhammad's son did not protect > him from Elijah's wrath, especially when he questioned his father > about the Nation's theology. Physically, The Messenger was a small > man, frail and tormented by asthma. Yet he blew away challenges to > his authority like a hurricane. The Nation was not a democracy. > > Over the years, Elijah Muhammad banished his son at least three > times for heresy. Wallace never could accept the idea that God > was a man who walked the Earth in the person of Master W.D. Fard > Muhammad, the mysterious founder of the Nation of Islam. The man > Wallace was named after. > > The believers called such banishment being "put out." For the > devout, it was a harsh punishment: Friends wouldn't talk to > you; your own blood would turn their backs if they saw you > coming down the street. > > In the early 1960s, Wallace was put out for being too close > to The Messenger's former acolyte, Malcolm X. Both were > disillusioned by revelations that Elijah Muhammad had children > outside his marriage. Both loved The Messenger, but questioned > his message. Both wanted him to change. > > "I was influenced by my father all my life," Mohammed says, a trace > of sadness in his voice. "And by Malcolm." > > The Nation sought to be self-contained, and it had almost > everything a believer would ever need--grocery stores, restaurants, > schools, clothing shops, cleaners, a bank, farms, a fleet of > trucks, a jet, an army of men, office buildings, apartment houses > and 80 temples around the country and overseas. > > "We were isolated and insulated," says Imam Darnell Karim, > Mohammed's friend of more than 60 years. "We shut our ears to > everything. We heard only one voice, the leader's." > > Then in the late 1940s, Elijah Muhammad invited in the outside world, > hiring a Muslim from the Middle East to teach Arabic at the school. > Wallace, still a teenager, began reading the Koran with fresh eyes > and started seeing more and more discrepancies between the Koran's > Islam and his father's. What he learned greatly disturbed him. "All > my life I had been trying to understand what my father was teaching," > he says. "When I decided it was not acceptable, I really started > searching the Koran, looking for answers." > > Still, he tried to keep his doubts to himself. He wanted to be an > obedient son. He went into the family business, becoming a student > minister in the Nation of Islam, speaking publicly at the mosque > for the first time at age 17 or 18. His friend Karim remembers him > being so nervous that he gripped the rostrum like a life preserver > as he spoke. Mohammed remembers speaking for only a few minutes. But > he says his closing words shot through the Nation: "We give more > attention to the Devil than to Allah." > > Mohammed quickly climbed the ranks of the Nation, from foot soldier > in the Fruit of Islam to student minister to chief minister of the > high-profile Temple #12 in Philadelphia in 1959. "He didn't teach > like the other ministers," says his nephew, Wali Muhammad. "He talked > much more about the spirit and the soul. He talked much more about > the Koran." > > Two years later, on his 28th birthday in 1961, Mohammed was sent to > federal prison in Minnesota for refusing induction into the United > States military. Once again, he was being the obedient son: His > father and many of his followers had been imprisoned during World > War II for refusing induction. They considered themselves citizens > of the Nation of Islam, not the United States. They would not defend > a country that lynched their brothers and humiliated their sisters, > segregated their families and told their children they were no good, > a country that had turned its back on them and pretended they were > invisible. > > In his 14 months in the Minnesota prison, he spent most of his days > and nights studying the Koran. He became even more convinced that > the Nation of Islam had to change its message. But he had no idea > how. His father had all the power, befitting the Last Messenger of > Allah. > > When the prison gates opened in 1963, Mohammed returned to the > Nation, looking for allies. He found one in Malcolm X, who was > becoming openly critical of Elijah Muhammad. In 1964, this > association was what got Mohammed "put out" for the first time. > His rejection of his father's basic teachings that Fard was God > led to his banishment again in the late '60s and for the last time > in the early '70s. > > On the outside of the Nation, wanting back in, Mohammed and his > family were living in Chicago in the early 1970s. To make ends > meet he drove a cab, worked as a welder and did whatever else he > could find. > > When Mohammed was finally readmitted to the Nation in 1974, Elijah > Muhammad had only six months left to live. Mohammed says his father > gave him great support in his last days. "He told [his staff] I was > free to preach. He wasn't holding me to their language any more." > > The Messenger died the day before Savior's Day, the annual > celebration honoring W.D. Fard Muhammad. That year the 20,000 > Muslims who filled the hall roared their approval when Wallace, > with his family's backing, was proclaimed the supreme minister. > According to family and Nation legend, Wallace had been preordained > for this moment. The story goes that when Clara Muhammad was > pregnant with her seventh child, God, in the person of Fard, told > her husband Elijah that the child would be a boy, a special boy, > whom they should name after him. The boy would help his father > someday and do many great things. > > One Muslim says family legend wasn't the only reason Wallace was > named the new leader. Many of the ministers who supported him did > so "because they thought he was like King Tut, a fool they could > control. He fooled them," the man says. "He fooled them all." > > Mohammed knew he had to move fast to assert his leadership once > his father was gone. "I felt there could be trouble," he says, > from potential rivals who might emerge "and maybe start preaching > the old way. I also thought the people should have a change right > away, while they were mourning my father's death. That would be > the time they would be most serious and respectful." > > The changes came fast and furious. He had years of pent-up ideas > and frustrations. He ordered the chairs ripped out of the mosque > so worshipers could prostrate themselves in prayer on the floor > like Muslims all over the world. He stepped from behind the rostrum > to teach the congregation the proper way to pray. Bilal, the mosque > secretary, remembers the "officials gritting their teeth when they > bumped their heads on the floor." > > He disbanded the Fruit of Islam security force. When he was in > exile in 1964, openly criticizing his father, he accused the FOI > of stalking him and threatening him with harm. And he once described > the FOI as a "punch-your-teeth-out" squad. > > He ended the policy of requiring male members to sell 300 copies > of the Muhammad Speaks newspaper each week and buy any they did not > sell. The circulation of the paper dropped. So did the revenue. "I > could have kept the money coming in, just like my father," he says, > "but I knew it was un-Islamic. Getting poor people to pay more than > they can pay is against the religion. As a Muslim, you should be > helping them." > > He decentralized the mosque structure, giving individual mosques > across the country control of their own affairs. > > He said whites could join. > > Heads were spinning. > > He moved too fast, says Aminah McCloud, an Islamic expert at DePaul > University. The people did not have a chance to soak in one change > before another came hurling at them from the rostrum. "The people > were being psychologically whipped to death." > > One of the first whites to join was Dorothy Fardan, a 35-year-old > former Catholic with a doctorate in sociology. She walked into > the mosque in Albany, N.Y., in the summer of 1975. Her musician > husband, Donald Elijah Muhammad, was a longtime member of the > Nation of Islam, and she had tried to join years before. The > Messenger, however, had disapproved of interracial marriages, > and certainly did not approve of devils in the mosque. > > "I felt no resentment towards the Honorable Elijah Muhammad," > Fardan says. "I admired him. I felt he told the truth about the > United States. I never personally felt I was a devil." > > Fardan, who now teaches at Bowie State University in Maryland, > eventually drifted away with her husband from Mohammed's community, > though she is still a Muslim "under the teachings of the Honorable > Elijah Muhammad." They were unhappy with The Change, although she > thought Mohammed sincere and not lusting after power. > > One of the things Fardan objected to was Mohammed's embrace of > patriotism in 1976. He walked across a stage carrying an American > flag, saying it was time for Muslims to recognize and celebrate the > U. S. as a great country. Today, he has American flag decals on his > car and his hat. > > It wasn't easy selling patriotism to his followers in the beginning, > he says. He argued that black people had fought and died in every > American war. They had blazed trails across the West and designed > cities in the East. They had contributed their blood and brains to > building the country. > > "They bought the logic, if not the spirit," he says of his followers. > > He is not selling a love-it-or-leave-it brand of patriotism, he says, > more of a love-it-and-make-it-better. He knows that race matters, that > black boys and girls still have a higher hill to climb. And he is not > happy about talk of a unilateral invasion of Iraq or about the > treatment of Palestinians by Israel and its chief ally, the United > States. > > "Muslims," he says, "get whipped on too much." > > After the 9-11 terrorist attacks, he notes, there was harassment of > Muslims, including his 12-year-old son, the youngest of his nine > children. "Even now," he says, "we have to be somewhat fearful." > But he says the attacks also "woke everybody up" in his community > to the need to be more involved in the larger society and its political > life. > > "I think we have some of the best Americans around," he says. He > particularly wants them to get busy in businesses. "Now that the soul > is right," he says, "we have to finance the religion. Our imams have > to depend on charity." > > But he does not want to repeat the mistakes of the Nation's past. > He does not want the imams or their mosques controlling and operating > the businesses, as was the case in the old days when temptation led > to corrupt management. He wants a high wall between God and commerce. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~