At other times he has tried to nudge his way into the top ranks of this nation's black leadership by urging followers of his once-devoutly separatist group to register and vote. Farrakhan's star peaked in October 1995, when the Million Man March he commanded drew hundreds of thousands of black men to the nation's capital. The success of this event caused Farrakhan's image to soar but did little to improve the perception of his organization. Membership in the Nation of Islam lags far behind that of the Muslim American Society, this country's largest group of black followers of the Islamic faith. That's not surprising.
Cults are far more nuclear than mainstream religions.
It's the intoxicating appeal of the cult leader, not its dogmatic doctrine, that is the attraction for most members. That's why the reports of Farrakhan's illness are bad news for the Nation of Islam. Without him at its helm, the prospects of its survival are dim. Benjamin F. Muhammad, the event's national director, said in an Emerge magazine interview. But with the recurrence of Farrakhan's cancer and talk of him taking a four-month sabbatical, it remains to be seen whether he will have much of a hand in the planning, or whether the event will still happen.