The time has come for African-American Muslims of various persuasions to come together and dialogue about the differences that ideologically separate the African-American Muslim community in this country. We should certainly agree that it is time to dispel those “first-resurrection” myths that are ingrained in the psyche of many African-American Muslims.
These various mythical beliefs are basically divisive, and they tend to conjure up elements of “spookism” in the religion of Islam. I am referring to phrases like: “The Asiatic black man”; “Yakub, the mad scientist, created the white man who is the devil of the world”; and “God visited America in the person of ‘Master’ W.D. Fard.” These fallacious statements are not only false and confusing, but also blatantly blasphemous, because they are not substantiated by Qur’anic scripture or ahadith.
If there was a so-called “Asiatic black man,” he was the dark-skinned native of India and Sri Lanka, who also has straight hair. This feature distinguishes him from the African, who has kinky hair. Many “first-rez” Muslims postulate the theory that “once upon a time the whole world was Asia, and that the indigenous people of that continent migrated to the continent of Africa.” This theory has been proven false, for it is the general consensus of opinion among the world’s most eminent paleontologists that Africa is the cradle of civilization. Are we to believe there were no people in Africa when people were in Asia? Or that Asian people migrated to Africa and found no one there? The “first-rez” ideologues would be more correct if they said that once upon a time the whole world was Africa!
“Yakub, The Mad Scientist” is another one of those “first-rez fables” that originated in the figment of someone’s imagination. The name “Yakub” is the Hebrew and Arabic equivalent of the English “Jacob,” and translates “supplanter” in the Hebrew language. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac, according to Biblical tradition. He had a twin brother named Esau who was some minutes older, and therefore was the rightful heir to their father’s birthright. But Jacob used deception and induced Esau to sell him his birthright, then conspired with his mother Rebecca (who favored him) to steal his brother’s blessing by deceiving his father through cunning means (Gen. 25:31-34; 27:1-36). Thus the origin of the meaning of his name, “supplanter.”
The Holy Qur’an identifies 28 prophets by name in sura 6:83-90, and Yakub, or Jacob, is the eighth prophet. Surely this Yakub is not the “mad scientist” of the “first-rez” dogma. Then who was their Yakub? What was his ethnicity? When did he live and in what country? And how did he “create” the white man?
According to historian C. Eric Lincoln’s Black Muslims in America, W.D. Fard (Abdul Warithudin Fard Muhammad) was an Arab immigrant who came to this country in 1930 and became a traveling salesman based in Detroit (the largest concentration of Arabs in the Western Hemisphere live in and around the Detroit area). He came in contact with the African-American community of that city and began speaking to them about the “lost-found nation” of Islam. Before his disappearance in 1934, he had established an effective organization called the “Black Muslims of America.” His work was carried forward by his closest assistant, one Elijah Poole, a former leader in Marcus Garvey’s organization. He became Elijah Muhammad, and began teaching his followers that “God had come to this country in the person of ‘Master’ W.D. Fard Muhammad.”
The organization came to be called “The Nation of Islam,” and, upon the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975, became the “World Community of Islam in the West,” headed by his son Wallace, who became Imam Warithudin Muhammad. Imam Muhammad later changed the organization’s name to the “American Muslim Mission,” and, in 1985, disbanded the AMM, stating that he was no longer the leader of the so-called “Black Muslims” in the United States. He suggested that Muslim communities organize themselves around the mosques in collaboration with their Muslim brethren from around the world. With the announcement that he and the members of his organization were an integral part of the universal Islamic community - and did not need a separate identity of their own - the transition from a cult-like sect based on elements of ethnic nationalism to the universality of orthodox Islam became a reality.
Imam Warithudin Muhammad introduced many fundamental changes in the organization, and, in fact, through subtle and gradual measures, transformed the entire structure of its theological beliefs and practices. His brother, Akbar Muhammad, studied at the University of Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt, the great citadel of Islamic orthodoxy, and in studying with him he learned the true precepts of the Islamic religion, and understood from the very beginning the heretical nature of his father’s teachings. This caused major dissension in the ranks of Elijah Muhammad’s most enthusiastic followers, of which his former spokesman, the articulate Minister Louis Farrakhan, was most prominent. He revolted and formed his own group, using the old name “The Nation of Islam,” and reintroduced the nationalistic teachings of Elijah Muhammad, whom he calls his “leader, teacher and guide.” Thus the current schism in the African-American Muslim community.
As long as Minister Farrakhan remains recalcitrant regarding the true precepts and tenets of Al-Islam and continues his policies of divergence, a unified African-American Muslim community is unlikely in the near future. The onus falls on him. In reciting the Shahadah before his speeches and saying, “... and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger,” hopefully he is referring to Muhammad ibn Abdullah (saw), the last prophet and Messenger of Allah (swt), and no one else...
These various mythical beliefs are basically divisive, and they tend to conjure up elements of “spookism” in the religion of Islam. I am referring to phrases like: “The Asiatic black man”; “Yakub, the mad scientist, created the white man who is the devil of the world”; and “God visited America in the person of ‘Master’ W.D. Fard.” These fallacious statements are not only false and confusing, but also blatantly blasphemous, because they are not substantiated by Qur’anic scripture or ahadith.
If there was a so-called “Asiatic black man,” he was the dark-skinned native of India and Sri Lanka, who also has straight hair. This feature distinguishes him from the African, who has kinky hair. Many “first-rez” Muslims postulate the theory that “once upon a time the whole world was Asia, and that the indigenous people of that continent migrated to the continent of Africa.” This theory has been proven false, for it is the general consensus of opinion among the world’s most eminent paleontologists that Africa is the cradle of civilization. Are we to believe there were no people in Africa when people were in Asia? Or that Asian people migrated to Africa and found no one there? The “first-rez” ideologues would be more correct if they said that once upon a time the whole world was Africa!
“Yakub, The Mad Scientist” is another one of those “first-rez fables” that originated in the figment of someone’s imagination. The name “Yakub” is the Hebrew and Arabic equivalent of the English “Jacob,” and translates “supplanter” in the Hebrew language. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac, according to Biblical tradition. He had a twin brother named Esau who was some minutes older, and therefore was the rightful heir to their father’s birthright. But Jacob used deception and induced Esau to sell him his birthright, then conspired with his mother Rebecca (who favored him) to steal his brother’s blessing by deceiving his father through cunning means (Gen. 25:31-34; 27:1-36). Thus the origin of the meaning of his name, “supplanter.”
The Holy Qur’an identifies 28 prophets by name in sura 6:83-90, and Yakub, or Jacob, is the eighth prophet. Surely this Yakub is not the “mad scientist” of the “first-rez” dogma. Then who was their Yakub? What was his ethnicity? When did he live and in what country? And how did he “create” the white man?
According to historian C. Eric Lincoln’s Black Muslims in America, W.D. Fard (Abdul Warithudin Fard Muhammad) was an Arab immigrant who came to this country in 1930 and became a traveling salesman based in Detroit (the largest concentration of Arabs in the Western Hemisphere live in and around the Detroit area). He came in contact with the African-American community of that city and began speaking to them about the “lost-found nation” of Islam. Before his disappearance in 1934, he had established an effective organization called the “Black Muslims of America.” His work was carried forward by his closest assistant, one Elijah Poole, a former leader in Marcus Garvey’s organization. He became Elijah Muhammad, and began teaching his followers that “God had come to this country in the person of ‘Master’ W.D. Fard Muhammad.”
The organization came to be called “The Nation of Islam,” and, upon the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975, became the “World Community of Islam in the West,” headed by his son Wallace, who became Imam Warithudin Muhammad. Imam Muhammad later changed the organization’s name to the “American Muslim Mission,” and, in 1985, disbanded the AMM, stating that he was no longer the leader of the so-called “Black Muslims” in the United States. He suggested that Muslim communities organize themselves around the mosques in collaboration with their Muslim brethren from around the world. With the announcement that he and the members of his organization were an integral part of the universal Islamic community - and did not need a separate identity of their own - the transition from a cult-like sect based on elements of ethnic nationalism to the universality of orthodox Islam became a reality.
Imam Warithudin Muhammad introduced many fundamental changes in the organization, and, in fact, through subtle and gradual measures, transformed the entire structure of its theological beliefs and practices. His brother, Akbar Muhammad, studied at the University of Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt, the great citadel of Islamic orthodoxy, and in studying with him he learned the true precepts of the Islamic religion, and understood from the very beginning the heretical nature of his father’s teachings. This caused major dissension in the ranks of Elijah Muhammad’s most enthusiastic followers, of which his former spokesman, the articulate Minister Louis Farrakhan, was most prominent. He revolted and formed his own group, using the old name “The Nation of Islam,” and reintroduced the nationalistic teachings of Elijah Muhammad, whom he calls his “leader, teacher and guide.” Thus the current schism in the African-American Muslim community.
As long as Minister Farrakhan remains recalcitrant regarding the true precepts and tenets of Al-Islam and continues his policies of divergence, a unified African-American Muslim community is unlikely in the near future. The onus falls on him. In reciting the Shahadah before his speeches and saying, “... and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger,” hopefully he is referring to Muhammad ibn Abdullah (saw), the last prophet and Messenger of Allah (swt), and no one else...
