Nation of Islam

{{Bronze}}
[[File:Nation of Islam flag.svg|right|thumb|163px|A lazy reuse of the Turkish flag.]]
{{cults}}
The '''Nation of Islam (NOI)''' is a [[cult]] chimera and an extremist hate group <ref>[https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/nation-islam "Nation of Islam"], Southern Poverty Law Center, splcenter.org</ref> consisting of [[Islam]]-flavored rhetoric, [[Black_supremacy|black supremacism]], virulent [[antisemitism]], anti-white and anti-Christian bigotry, [[fascism]], and [[Scientology]]-levels of [[crank magnetism]]. Basically, the Nation of Islam is to Islam what the [[Ku Klux Klan]] is to Christianity. It is safe to say the NOI owes more to American history than it does to the Middle East.

While professing to be Muslims, the NOI's theology bears no resemblance to the beliefs of [[Sunni]] or [[Shi'a]] Islam.<ref group=note>Followers of more mainstream forms of Islam, better known as [[Muslims|actual Muslims]], regard the Nation of Islam with what might be charitably termed utter contempt.</ref> Unlike Islam, the Nation believes that all [[Allah|Allahs]]<ref group=note>Yes, more than one being has held that title.</ref> have been human beings with corporeal forms. It teaches that [[Muhammad]] was the incumbent Allah's son, rather than a mere [[prophet]]. They also think that their founder, a man named {{wpl|Wallace D. Fard}} (who, ironically, was white), was God himself.<ref>[https://www.noi.org/noi-history/ Brief history on origin of the Nation of Islam], noi.org.</ref>

The Nation of Islam often promotes black-supremacist, antisemitic, sexist, and homophobic views, and is designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.<ref>[https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/nation-islam Nation of Islam]. Southern Poverty Law Center</ref>

==History==
[[File:Elijah Muhammad NYWTS-2.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Elijah Muhammad, alleged messenger of Allah.]]
In the 1930s a then-unknown preacher founded the Nation of Islam.  Wallace D. Fard, ''a.k.a.'' Wallace Fard Muhammad (also believed to be American-born Wallace Dodd) spent three years in Detroit where he opened the first NOI mosque.  Three years after he began teaching, he disappeared, passing along the leadership of the NOI to Elijah Mohammad, who then proceeded to [[deity|deify]] the Master Fard Muhammad, claiming he was God's physical return to the earth from [[Mecca]].  

===Elijah Muhammad===
It was under Elijah Muhammad that the Nation of Islam fully realized its distinctly non-Sunni beliefs. His education was limited to four years of elementary school and his religious affiliations as a boy were traditional southern black [[Christian]].  He did not speak Arabic, nor view Arabic to be an important part of his Islam.  His familiarity with the [[Qur'an]] has been debated, and certainly he was not part of an Imam community to discuss its use at any length.  Certainly, one of the appeals of Islam in the early 1930s-1950s was its threatening exoticness to white Christian Americans more than the actual theology of Islam.

Under Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam became primarily a socio-political black activist and separatist group, guided and informed by the new religion.  Elijah Mohammad taught that blacks were the first people, and were the original Muslims.  He taught that the Blackman was not only tricked out of his place of power, but that a mad scientist, Mr. Yakub, separated the "brown gene" from the "black gene" and "grafted" it into a white &mdash; after 600 years of this, the White man was made.<ref>[https://archive.ph/Ff4hI Lost Found Muslim Lesson No. 2], archived from the original at thenationofislam.org.</ref>  The White man would reign over the Blackman for 6000 years.<ref name="quote" /> Official Nation of Islam  doctrine is that the most effective way for the black man to regain power is to build their own nation on separate land in the United States.<ref>[https://archive.ph/gFoS3 Of Land and Nation], archived from the original at seventhfam.com.</ref>

===Malcolm X===
{{main|Malcolm X}}
One of the most famous African American leaders began his religious teachings as a Nation of Islam convert.  He was responsible both for popularizing the NOI and bringing it to the forefront of the American consciousness in the 1950s. Malcolm was a skillful public speaker, and soon won his own personal following, making Elijah Mohammed envious of him. In turn, Malcolm claims he began to nurse increasing doubts over the direction and message of the group.

After actually visiting [[Mecca]] itself, Malcolm soon realized that the NOI had nothing to do with Islam and began practicing [[Sunni]] Islam.  He was eventually murdered for speaking out against Elijah Mohammed and attempting to form his own black Sunni Muslim group.

===Louis Farrakhan===
{{main|Louis Farrakhan}}
After the death of Elijah Mohammad in 1975, his son, Warith Deen Mohammad, brought the organization to a more mainstream Islamic position, which came to be known as the American Society of Muslims. Louis Farrakhan led a group of supporters who chose to rebuild the Nation of Islam, returning it to the more extremist positions, including separatism, institutionalized racism, and [[antisemitism]] (they believe Jews to have been behind the slave trade, among other things).

What most people know as the NOI today is Farrakhan's personal fiefdom.


===Clarence 13X===
In the mid 20th century, a member of the NOI named {{wpl|Clarence 13X}} left and formed a new group, called the [[Five-Percent Nation]], which bears some similarities but is a completely different organization.

==Theology==
[[File:20051030-161112-08-E-Nation-of-Islam-mosque.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Nation of Islam mosque in Baton Rouge, [[Louisiana]].]]
Undoubtedly the Nation's greatest theological difference from Islam is that it is not monotheistic. Its beliefs are closer to [[monolatrism]]: believing in the existence of multiple gods, but worshipping only one. In fact, since the Nation teaches that the potential "godhood" is present within each black person, it could even be called [[polytheism|polytheistic]].<ref>https://answering-islam.org/NoI/noi2.html</ref>

The Nation's gods are not even [[deity|deities]] as most people today understand that word: rather, each was an extraordinarily powerful, but ''mortal'', human being. Per the Nation, the current [[Allah]] did '''not''' create the Universe, but is rather the latest in a succession of "Allahs" stretching back to the universe's creator. He currently resides on a [[UFO|spaceship]] called "the Mother Plane," from which He and His Imams monitor humanity.<ref>Gardell, Matthias. ''In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and The Nation of Islam''. Duke University Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0822318453</ref>

===Scripture===
Interestingly, almost all of Elijah Mohammad's teachings about the Blackman and his role on Earth come from the [[Bible]] rather than from the [[Quran]], including the idea that the Blackman is "the seed of Abraham"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010121193100/http://www.thenationofislam.org/yakubabraham.html The Nation of Islam &mdash; Yakub], though it's possible that the term "seeds" is metaphorical.</ref> that is mentioned in Genesis. This undoubtedly helped with proselytization: [[African American|African-Americans]], as an overwhelmingly Christian ethnic group, would have been more easily reached with Biblical messages, rather than with Quranic ones.

The Nation Of Islam's central scriptures are Elijah Mohammad's writings, compiled and published in 1965 as ''Message to the Blackman in America'', which contains two telling platforms: ''What Muslims Want'' and ''What Muslims believe''.<ref>[http://www.noi.org/muslim_program.htm NOI's Official Platform], noi.org.</ref>  Under Elijah Mohammad, the converts followed the ''Five Pillars of Islam''.<ref group=note>The profession of faith, 5 daily prayers, charity, Ramadan, and the [[hajj]].</ref> Modesty and abstaining from alcohol are also prohibitions gathered from traditional Islam. Prayers were, and still are, usually in English, of course.

On the [[Bible]]: Quoted from ''What Muslims Believe'': WE BELIEVE in the truth of the Bible, but we believe that it has been tampered with and must be reinterpreted so that mankind will not be snared by the falsehoods that have been added to it (this follows mainstream Muslim views).<ref group=note>Is [[Andrew Schlafly]] a secret member of NOI?</ref>

===Cosmology===
The NOI believes that the [[Sun]] and the [[Moon]] were once one source of light, and that the Earth itself is over 70 trillion years old.  They also believe in [[Unidentified flying object|UFO]]s, and claim that [[Ezekiel]],  in {{Bible|Ezekiel|1|15}}-18, is describing the UFO on which all Allahs have resided. [[Japan]] is the original source of the Evil Scientists, and of other, malevolent UFOs.<ref group=note>This is often used as a justification for NOI's anti-Asian stance</ref> No, seriously.

Oh, and they believe [[dinosaurs]] are a fabrication of the white man.<ref>«The NOI asserts that dinosaurs never existed except in the imagination of white scientists. They point to the fact that "scientists at the Smithsonian acknowledge that their displays are based on artists' conceptions and limited fossil findings. " Ava Muhammad claims these fossils to be manufactured to promote the hoax and views Steven Spielberg's 1993 hit movie Jurassic Park as yet another "manifestation of the power of the Caucasian people to deceive.» In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam by Mattias Gardell, pgs 175-176 "</ref>

===Dianetics===
Since 2010, Louis Farrakhan has been encouraging members of the Nation of Islam to 
waste their time and money by joining yet another [[cult]]
 study [[Dianetics]].<ref>Ashamed M. Muhhamad, [http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_9651.shtml Nation of Islam Auditors graduation held for third Saviours’ Day in a row]. finalcall.com, 28 February 2013.</ref> He claimed it would be used  as a tool for white people "to become 'civilized'".<ref>Billy Hallowell, [https://archive.ph/n1Bur Shock Alliance: Farrakhan Praises Integration of Scientology Into Nation of Islam Theology, Says Whites Should Use it to Become ‘Civilized’ & to Avoid Being ‘Devil Christians’ & ‘Satan Jews’], archived from the original at theblaze.com, 8 July 2012.</ref> To the surprise of nobody, Farrakhan later confirmed an official and ill-advised alliance with the [[Church of Scientology]].<ref>Eliza Gray, [http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/magazine/108205/scientology-joins-forces-with-nation-of-islam Thetans and Bowties -- The Mothership of All Alliances: Scientology and the Nation of Islam]. The New Republic, 5 October 2012.</ref>

===Antisemitism===
About a decade ago they published a book ''The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews'', which blames [[International Jewish conspiracy|international Jewry]] for the [[slave]] trade. The book is credited only to The Nation of Islam, with no author's name given.

===Eugenics and black supremacy===

Nation of Islam has traditionally been [[xenophobia | xenophobic]] and [[Black supremacy|black supremacist]], to the point of naming all people of European descent "White Devils" and [[other|only "potential humans"]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/jul/31/race.world1 Quotes from Louis Farrakhan], ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref> They believe the [[Jew]] is [[Evil Jew|responsible for much of the evil done in this world]]; there are even off-the-cuff statements by members regarding [[AIDS]] being intentionally designed or administered onto the Blackman by Jewish doctors, saying that: "We know that the Jews are the most organized, rich and powerful people, not only in America, but in the world. [[Persecution complex|They're plotting against us as we speak]]."<ref name=Pindyck>{{cite news|last1=Pindyck|first1=Lindsay|title=Farrakhan Causes National Controversy|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980213164704/http://www.iearn.org/hgp/aeti/1994-farrakhan.html|accessdate=4 June 2015|publisher=Cold Spring Harbor High School|location=New York}}</ref>

In the "[[Extraterrestrial|Aliens]], [[Bigfoot]], and [[Creationism]]" category, Nation of Islam teaches that a [[mad scientist]] created other races from the "Blackman" through a eugenics program.<ref name="quote">Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Blackman in America, Muhammad's Temple No. 2, 1965 & Dorothy Blake Fardan, Yakub and the Origins of White Supremacy, Lushena Books, 2001. {{quotebox|The Blackman is the original man. From him came all brown, yellow, red, and white people. By using a special method of birth control law, the Blackman produced the white race. This method of birth control was developed by a Black scientist known as Yakub, who envisioned making and teaching a nation of people who would be diametrically opposed to the Original People, who would one day rule the original people and the Earth for a period of 6,000 years. Yakub promised his followers that he would graft a nation from his own people, and he would teach them how to rule his people, through a system of tricks and lies whereby they use deceit to divide and conquer, and break the unity of the darker people, put one brother against another, and then act as mediators and rule both sides.}}</ref><ref group=note>How this matches with the whole 'White man is a potential human being' theology, I have no idea.  But since when did any religion remain internally consistent?</ref>  The scientist, Yakuba<ref group=note>{{wpl|Yakub (Nation of Islam)|Yakuba}} (sometimes spelled Yakub, Yacub or Yakob) are closely related to the Hebrew name Jacob, and is likely an indirect referent to [[Jacob]] the father of the 12 tribes.</ref> decreed that his creations would rule for 6000 years over the Blackman.<ref name="quote" />

==Vaccines==
[[File:Rizza Islam.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|Rizza Islam, notorious Nation of Islam antivaxxer.]]
{{main|Anti-vaccination movement}}
During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], members of the Nation of Islam spread many [[conspiracy theories]] and misinformation online about the virus and vaccines. In March 2021, Nation of Islam member Rizza Islam was named as one of the [[anti-vaccination]] "disinformation dozen" (e.g. individuals most responsible for spreading anti-vaccination information online) by the {{wpl|Center for Countering Digital Hate||,}} alongside other noxious individuals such as [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]], [[Joseph Mercola]], and [[Ty Bollinger]]. Some examples of the [[bullshit]] Rizza Islam tweeted that were referenced in the report included an incorrect conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 vaccine made women infertile and claims that the vaccine was produced for nefarious reasons by [[Bill Gates]].<ref>[https://www.counterhate.com/disinformationdozen "The Disinformation Dozen: Why platforms must act on twelve leading online anti-vaxxers"], Center for Countering Digital Hate, 24 March 2021</ref> Rizza Islam has also claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a [[Depopulation conspiracy theory|depopulation plot]] targeting Black people. These claims are echoed on other portions on the Nation of Islam website (reinforced by references to the [[Tuskegee syphilis experiment]], an event that understandably may make members of the Black community distrustful of the American health care system).<ref>[https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/rizza-islam Rizza Islam,] Anti-Defamation League profile, ADL.org</ref><ref name="fd">[https://firstdraftnews.org/articles/the-nation-of-islam-and-anti-vaccine-rhetoric/ "The Nation of Islam and anti-vaccine rhetoric"] by Jacquelyn Mason, First Draft, 2021 February 18</ref> In a January 2021 sermon, NOI minister Wesley Muhammad made [[Antisemitism|anti-semitic]] claims that the "pestilence from heaven was called down by the sins of Israel". Muhammad also claimed, inconsistently, that the virus was a "pestilence from heaven that came through the laboratory of Satan", with the laboratory in question being the {{wpl|Israel Institute for Biological Research||.}}<ref name="fd"></ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210227183624/https://heartland.adl.org/news/nation-of-islams-wesley-muhammad-calls-covid-19-punishment-for-sins-of-jews-israel/ "Nation of Islam’s Wesley Muhammad calls COVID-19 Punishment for “Sins” of Jews, Israel"], Anti-Defamation League, ADL.org, 2021 January 15</ref>

On July 22, 2021, the [[Twitter]] account of the Nation of Islam was suspended for promoting anti-vaccination bullshit.<ref>[https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/nation-of-islam-twitter-account-suspended-674542 "Nation of Islam Twitter account suspended"] by Jerusalem Post staff, Jerusalem Post, 2021 July 22</ref>

== Socio-economic influence ==
The NOI is one of the wealthiest religious organizations in the African-American community. Their holdings include a 5000-acre farmland in Terrell County, [[Georgia]] and multiple grocery stores around the American South and Midwest. Louis Farrakhan’s net worth is estimated at around $3 million.<ref>[https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/nation-islam Nation of Islam], Southern Poverty Law Center.</ref> Due to this and its advocacy for self-determination, unity, and black economic empowerment, the Nation of Islam has gained a sense of legitimacy among [[African Americans]], especially in impoverished black urban areas and among ex-felons in which they sometimes engage in charity work for. Like many [[cult | cults]], this can have the [[love bombing | unfortunate effect]] of compelling some into believing in some of their [[rhetoric]] about whites, Jews, and other [[conspiracy theories]] and potentially being recruited into the Nation of Islam out of [[racial pride#opressed groups|racial pride]].

==See also==
*[[Black supremacy]], NOI's often-exhibited political ideology.
*[[Black Hebrew Israelites]], a similar Afrocentric religious movement proclaiming Blacks to be God's chosen people
*[[Five-Percent Nation]], an early offshoot that maintains some of the NOI's trappings, but is far less centralized, less authoritarian, and accepts white people and [[Jews]] as members
*[[New Black Panther Party]], the political version of the NOI
*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980213164704/http://www.iearn.org/hgp/aeti/1994-farrakhan.html Farrakhan Causes National Controversy]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Anti-Christian bigotry]]
[[Category:Antifeminism]]
[[Category:Antisemitism]]
[[Category:Anti-vaccination movement]]
[[Category:Anti-Western]]
[[Category:Black nationalism]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:COVID-19 denialists]]
[[Category:Crank magnetism]]
[[Category:Creationism]]
[[Category:Cultural appropriation]]
[[Category:Denialism]]
[[Category:Fascism]]
[[Category:Hate groups]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Islam]]
[[Category:Islamic extremism]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory promoters]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Sexism]]
[[Category:Terrorist organisations]]
[[Category:Ufology]]

Categories: Anti-Christian bigotry, Antifeminism, Antisemitism, Anti-vaccination movement, Anti-Western, Black nationalism, Conspiracy theorists, COVID-19 denialists, Crank magnetism, Creationism, Cultural appropriation, Denialism, Fascism, Hate groups, Homophobia, Islam, Islamic extremism, Pseudohistory promoters, Pseudoscience promoting organizations, Racism, Sexism, Terrorist organisations, Ufology