The Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan has asked all African-Americans to observe Thursday, Oct. 16, as a
"day of atonement," and to stay home from work or school to fast and repent.
His appeal was largely ignored, in contrast to his call to the Million Man
March two years ago, which drew an estimated 400,000 black males to the
National Mall in Washington, D.C. Many predicted the sect's political power and
membership would burgeon after the march. Has this happened? What sort of
cultural and political influence does Farrakhan currently wield?
The
nation was founded in the late '20s by traveling salesman Wallace D. Fard,
whose preachings combined Islam with an Afrocentric cosmology. He taught that
blacks are descended from Shabbaz, a tribe that came from the moon 66
trillion years ago , and that whites were the laboratory concoction of
Yakub, an evil scientist. Elijah Muhammad assumed leadership of the sect
after Fard's death in 1934, proclaiming Fard an incarnation of Allah and
himself Fard's prophet. The nation, headquartered in Chicago, grew rapidly
during the late '50s and early '60s thanks largely to proselytizing by Malcolm
X. Temples appeared in major U.S. cities, drawing mainly the young and the
poor. Heavyweight champion Cassius Clay joined the group in 1964 and changed
his name to Muhammad Ali .
After Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975, his son Wallace
Deen was named his successor. The very next year, Wallace Deen disbanded
the nation; rescinded most of his father's teachings; became an observant Sunni
Muslim; and set up a new organization, which he still leads, the World
Community of al-Islam . Soon after, Farrakhan , a Nation of Islam
stalwart and former calypso singer, re-established the nation in line with its
original tenets. With his provocative speeches, Farrakhan receives more
attention than Wallace Deen--most notably his reference to Judaism as "a gutter
religion" and his declaration that Hitler was "a great man." Most members of
the former nation remain loyal to Wallace Deen's organization. The two groups
squabble over the legitimacy of Farrakhan's claim to be Muhammad's true
heir.
The nation
closely guards the scale of its operations. Estimates fix membership between
20,000 and 200,000. Close observers agree that the sect's membership has not
grown in the last two years. And according to the best guesses, the nation runs
nearly 50 mosques and 25 student associations on college campuses. Nobody is
sure how much real estate or how many corporations it owns. Court papers
confirm that the nation runs a newspaper (the Final Call ), a toiletry
company, a Chicago restaurant, a Georgia produce farm, and a private securities
firm. According to the Washington Post , 74 lawsuits were filed against
the nation between 1986 and 1996 demanding $1.9 million in back payments.
The nation received unprecedented attention in
1994 and 1995 following a publicized speech by nation spokesman Khalid
Muhammad about a Jewish cabal. Nation speakers soon appeared on major
college campuses, grabbing headlines and sparking confrontations between black
and Jewish students. The strident defense of Farrakhan by middle-class students
bespoke Farrakhan's growing popularity with the black bourgeoisie.
Interest
in the nation seems to correlate with the negative media it generates.
Following Mike Wallace's 1959 television documentary on the nation, The Hate
That Hate Produced , and denunciations of 1984 presidential candidate
Jesse Jackson for failing to repudiate Farrakhan, membership in the
nation rose.
Upon re-creating the nation, Farrakhan repealed Elijah
Muhammad's prohibition on the group's participation in electoral politics.
Aside from maintaining relationships with black politicians like Jackson and
perennial New York candidate Al Sharpton , he has announced grander
designs. Farrakhan says he is interested in becoming a presidential adviser and
that the nation will begin fielding its own candidates.
A paucity of charismatic
black leaders has helped focus attention on Farrakhan; and the nation's brand
of black nationalism, which emphasizes self-help, jibed with growing black
frustration with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Yet the nation
failed to parlay its biggest public-relations success--the October 1995
Million Man March --into greater influence and membership. The march is
credited with having boosted black self-esteem, but Farrakhan's three-hour,
meandering speech at the march alienated potential followers. Especially
disconcerting was said to be his lengthy disquisition on numerology. Many
accounts of the march downplayed the nation's presence. For evidence, see
Spike Lee 's docudrama about the march, Get on the Bus , which
contains few references to Farrakhan.
A
recurring battle with prostate cancer has debilitated the 64-year-old
Farrakhan. (He markets his own remedies, which include a controversial,
developed-in-Africa AIDS medication, through Nation of Islam grocers.) Though
he continues to tour regularly, his speeches are said to have become less
charismatic and less appealing. Rally attendance is much scantier today
than in 1994 and 1995, and he wins far fewer headlines than he did then.
Farrakhan's foreign-policy adventures in
the months following the march also discredited him. Especially damning is
Farrakhan's close relationship with Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi. In
January 1996, Qaddafi promised the nation a $1-billion gift, which has not been
received because of U.S. sanctions against Libya. Black newspapers have
editorialized against Farrakhan's visits with African dictators.
The
nation has recently considered leaning toward the mainstream right to
expand its influence. Columnist Robert Novak , supply-side evangelist
Jude Wanniski , and Jack Kemp have all praised Farrakhan's
self-help program, noting the similarities to their own conservative urban
policy. Wanniski, who invited Farrakhan to a conference last spring, argues
that a Republican-nation alliance could guarantee an unbeatable electoral
majority for the GOP. Wanniski and company have been drubbed by the Wall
Street Journal , the New York Times ' A.M. Rosenthal, and other
conservatives for their flirtations with Farrakhan.
Taking an ecumenical tack, nation officials in Chicago
recently issued edicts commanding preachers to back off their anti-Semitic
rhetoric. Last spring, the group also recruited Benjamin Muhammad (a k a
Benjamin Chavis ), an ordained United Church of Christ minister and
former head of the NAACP. Chavis was ousted after revelations that he used
NAACP funds to settle sexual-harassment suits filed against him by former
employees. Chavis and Farrakhan both argue that Christianity and the nation are
incompatible, and many predict that the 49-year-old Chavis will ultimately
succeed Farrakhan.
The nation's promotion of
black capitalism has not translated into financial success. Many of its
companies are deep in debt and owe the Internal Revenue Service
millions. Other nation products--its purported AIDS cure, for instance--have
undermined their claim that black businesses are less exploitative than white
ones. Meanwhile, many members gripe that while the nation's businesses founder,
Farrakhan and his closest advisers live in opulence, owning multiple homes and
driving luxury cars.
