Nation of Islam: Cult of the Black Muslims/Summary and Conclusions
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Elijah Muhammad has continued as absolute ruler over the Nation of Islam (NOI) since he assumed the title of the "Messenger of Allah" following the disappearance of the cult founder, W. D. Fard, in 1933. Elijah Muhammad formulates and approves all NOI policy and maintains complete control over all funds and properties of the organization. Although he still lives in a luxurious style, his empire has been shaken by recent publicity concerning his immoralities involving many of his young secretaries and by the defection of several members of the cult hierarchy.
The expulsion in early 1964 of the former leading spokesman of the cult, Malcolm X Little, was the first outward sign of a growing dissidence among cult followers. Malcolm's expulsion was followed by the defection of two of Elijah's sons and a grandson. All had been cult leaders and all made many virulent accusations against their former leader, who had preached morality and promised wealth and an independent, segregated paradise to his Black Muslim adherents.
The last week of February, 1965, climaxed a hectic year for Elijah. The dissident Malcolm X was murdered on February 21 while standing to address a meeting of Negro nationalists in New York City. Immediately, charges were made that Elijah had been responsible for this murder, and threats were made against Elijah's life. To further confuse the image of Elijah and his organization, a few days later at the annual convention of the NOI in Chicago, Elijah's dissident son Wallace apologized for his previous accusations against his father and was reaccepted into the NOI.
At present, approximately 5,000 cult followers attend meetings of the 37 numbered temples and 31 unnumbered groups, the majority of which are located in the East and the Midwest. Nearly half of the total membership belong to only six temples.
Each temple is led by a minister, a Fruit of Islam (FOI) captain, and as many other, lesser officials as are necessary. Within each temple, the male members compose the FOI and the females compose the Muslim Girls Training (MGT). Both are operated under strict, military-type discipline.
All NOI activities are keyed to the raising of money. Each member is required to contribute to several special funds of his temple. Each member's regular contributions vary among the individual temples from about $6 to $13.50 per week and are used to operate the local temple and to support Elijah and the national headquarters in Chicago. Other revenue to support "the Nation" comes from bazaars and rallies, sales of the cult newspaper, and from the profits of businesses run by the temples. Since a large share of the money raised by the individual temples is forwarded to the Chicago headquarters, Elijah Muhammad has amassed considerable wealth and property.
Recently, Elijah inaugurated two new programs to which he requests his followers and other "so-called Negroes" to make contributions. The first is a "3-Year Economic Plan" designed to collect money with which to set up a Muslim bank as soon as $1,000,000 has been contributed. His other program renews an earlier plan for an educational center to be built in Chicago. These new programs are given much attention in the cult newspaper, "Muhammad Speaks."
Elijah's teachings had been carried in other Negro papers which accordingly cult members had been required to sell; then, in the Fall of 1961, Elijah decided to start his own newspaper. "Muhammad Speaks" was a biweekly tabloid until February, 1965, when it became a weekly. Every issue contains by-line articles of Elijah and his featured columnists on certain phases of Elijah's teachings. Nearly everything printed in the paper tends to aggravate the soreness of race relations in the United States and throughout the world. Always, the white man is portrayed as the brutal oppressor and the black man, as the innocent victim.
Elijah recognizes the importance of publicity and uses it to aid recruitment. In NOI member Muhammad Ali—heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay--Elijah has a widely publicized athlete whose devotion to the NOI is exploited for recruitment purposes. Elijah also broadcasts on radio, and he has advertised unsuccessfully by means of cards on public transportation vehicles.
During the past year, violence has erupted on numerous occasions between NOI members and "hypocrites," Elijah's term for dissident former members. Because of the many violent events of the past year, the security protection given Elijah, primarily ritualistic in the past, has become complete and serious.
Though Elijah Muhammad publicly denies that he teaches or advocates violence or disobedience to the "white man's laws," a militant approach is actually pursued through obstruction of police and prison authority, excessively harassing demands for the "religious" rights of NOI prisoners, and deliberate violations of the Selective Service Act.
- The apocalyptic religious doctrine that Elijah Muhammad, the self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah," espouses in the NOI is a distorted version of Islam.
- Elijah's appeal to his Black Muslim followers lies not so much in the pseudo-Islamic religious aspects of his organization as in his strong condemnation of white society.
- Because Elijah has been unsuccessful in recruiting educated Negroes to accept his teachings, the cult's future will depend upon the success of his concerted appeal to the less-educated and less-privileged Negroes who are dissatisfied and frustrated with their lot in the United States.
- Elijah's ambivalent teachings baffle his followers. In public, he vows that the NOI does not advocate violence, while in cult meetings he preaches antiwhite, anti-Christian, and anti-Government conduct and threatens the "hypocrites." Violence has erupted in the past and will continue as long as confusion, accusations, and doubts prevail.
- The death of Elijah Muhammad would place the cult in a perplexing predicament. Elijah claims to be the last Apostle of Allah and has made no provisions for a successor; therefore, upon his death an opportunistic member who knows about the good life the NOI provides its leader undoubtedly would strive to supply his own "brand of concocted religious teachings" to justify assuming leadership of the Nation of Islam.