The Life And Times Of Elijah Muhammad

Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad ...

Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) was one of the most significant and controversial black leaders of the twentieth century. His followers called him the Messenger of Allah, while his critics labeled him a teacher of hate. Southern by birth, Muhammad moved north, eventually serving as the influential head of the Nation of Islam for over forty years. Claude Clegg III not only chronicles Muhammad's life, but also examines the history of American black nationalists and the relationship between Islam and the African American experience. In this authoritative biography, which also covers half a century of the evolution of the Nation of Islam, Clegg charts Muhammad's early life, his brush with Jim Crow in the South, his rise to leadership of the Nation of Islam, and his tumultuous relationship with Malcolm X. Clegg is the first biographer to weave together speeches and published works by Muhammad, as well as delving into declassified government documents, insider accounts, audio and video records, and interviews, producing the definitive account of an extraordinary man and his legacy.

Here, eagerly anticipated, is the definitive biography of Elijah Muhammad (né Elija Poole), a sharecropper's son with a fourth- grade education who became one of the most controversial Americans of the twentieth century, the founder and "Prophet" of the Nation of Islam, a movement dedicated to black separatism and self-empowerment. Though Muhammad's main argument--that white people were innately evil ("devils," he called them)--ran counter to the precepts of orthodox Islam, he was the chief influence in the conversion of nearly four million African Americans to Islam, touching in the process the lives of figures ranging from Muhammad Ali and Jesse Jackson to Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan. But in his desperate grasp for power, Muhammad also amassed a huge personal fortune at the expense of his followers. He was a party to ritualistic homicides, had illicit affairs galore, and was quick to betray his friends and charges, most notably Malcolm X. In brief, he violated every ideal and principle that he espoused. With the cooperation of some of Elijah Muhammad's children and former apostles and with access to previously unreleased FBI files, Karl Evanzz gives us an unprecedented account of the life of the man whose philosophy continues, long after his death, to shape race relations in America.

One of the most recognisable, respected and inspirational men on earth, Muhammad Ali is the world's most famous boxing hero. Ali brought unprecedented speed and grace to the sport, and his charm and wit changed forever what the world expects of a champion athlete. In the words of over two hundred of Ali's family members, associates, opponents, friends and enemies, this comprehensive and honest portrait relates his legendary sporting accomplishments, as well as the high drama of life outside the boxing ring. From Olympic gold in Rome, to stunning victory over George Foreman in Zaire, every historic victory and defeat of Ali's career is covered. His controversial embrace of the Nation of Islam - with the renunciation of his 'slave name', Cassius Clay - and the historic refusal to be inducted into the US Army makes for compelling reading. Ali became America's first national conscientious objector, and with a willingness to stage his fights in Third World locales, he continued his advocacy for people in need which was honoured in 2000 when he became a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Charismatic, dedicated and a skilful self-publicist, Ali is the living embodiment of the American Dream. This is the biography to match his achievements.

This book is an interview of Elijah Muhammad explaining his initial encounter with his teacher, Master Fard Muhammad and how his messengership came about. The subjects discussed are Master Fard Muhammad's whereabouts, the races and what makes a devil and satan. He answers questions dealing the concept of divine and how ideas are perfected. More basic subjects include Malcolm X, Noble Drew Ali, C. Eric Lincoln, Udom, and a comprehensive range of information.

The patriarchal structure of the Nation of Islam (NOI) promised black women the prospect of finding a provider and a protector among the organization's men, who were fiercely committed to these masculine roles. Black women's experience in the NOI, however, has largely remained on the periphery of scholarship. Here, Ula Taylor documents their struggle to escape the devaluation of black womanhood while also clinging to the empowering promises of patriarchy. Taylor shows how, despite being relegated to a lifestyle that did not encourage working outside of the home, NOI women found freedom in being able to bypass the degrading experiences connected to labor performed largely by working-class black women and in raising and educating their children in racially affirming environments. Telling the stories of women like Clara Poole (wife of Elijah Muhammad) and Burnsteen Sharrieff (secretary to W. D. Fard, founder of the Allah Temple of Islam), Taylor offers a compelling narrative that explains how their decision to join a homegrown, male-controlled Islamic movement was a complicated act of self-preservation and self-love in Jim Crow America.

Mother of the Nation offers the definitive biography of Clara Evans Muhammad, a Black woman who became the center of an unprecedented racial and religious transformation in the US. Skillfully constructed to illustrate 20th-century racial conditions in America,this thought-provoking biography by Dr. Zakiyyah Muhammad recreates the life and times of an illustrious woman who, in promoting the cause of social justice, became, in the process, the "Mother of the Nation of Islam." It is a superbly researched and fast-moving narrative, based on primary sources and on interviews with those who knew her personally, exploring both Clara's public and private life, including her relationships with her husband, her family, and her friends. This Volume One of a three-part series chronicles the formative years (1899-1930) of Sister Clara's life. She was born within a close-knit Christian family during a period in which lynchings, social oppression and deadly racial riots were common occurrences throughout both the South and the North. For Clara, the Church was not only the center of social life but an emotional experience. She liked spirituals and had a beautiful singing voice. She was inspired by Black preachers such as Henry McNeal Turner and others who used Bible revelation in an attempt to rebuild family lives disintegrated by slavery and Jim Crow. It was in the spring of 1917 at a church social that Clara met him, and everything changed...the air, her breathing, her steps, and her heart. His name was Elijah Poole. He was handsome, sensitive and dirt poor. At 6:00 every Sunday evening, Elijah would come a courtin'. However, Quartus Evans was not going to have his daughter marry "down", and there was nothing Elijah could do to convince him of his suitability. By age 20, Clara was determined to marry Elijah, against objections of her parents. On a cold Georgia night, she climbed out of a window of her parent's home and eloped. They were married on March 17, 1919, a marriage based on faith, and with only love between them. In February 1921, a healthy baby boy was born, bringing reconciliation to her parents and additional comfort to her and Elijah. Looking for relief from lynchings, injustice and discrimination, Clara and Elijah became part of the Great Migration. In 1923, they arrived in Detroit, with 2 children and Clara pregnant. However, their poverty became so debilitating, with Elijah out of work and inebriated daily ("I was a drunk and my wife had to carry me home"), that Clara even contemplated suicide and infanticide. Then, a friend took her to a meeting to hear the "Teachings" of a mystic spiritual teacher named Wallace D. Fard. Clara, hoping "this will help my husband," took Elijah to hear the "Teachings", and thus laid the foundation of what would become The Nation of Islam. Eventually, Clara Muhammad, wife of a formidable spiritual leader, would develop an edifying program for Black women focusing on cultural changes in diet, dress, etiquette and racial pride. It would transform Black womanhood and family life and erase the staggering effects of racism on their psyche. Her lifelong struggle for the dignity and self-respect of African American women makes for memorable reading. Of particular interest is the description of Clara's "stand" against authorities who visited her when she refused to send her children to "the Devil's schools." A forerunner of Home Schooling, Clara initiated an independent Black educational institution. Later, she would administer the "Nation" during her husband's imprisonment, and introduce the Holy Qur'an into the US prison system. Pivoting from the biggest questions about American history to the most intimate concerns of a mother for her husband, children and people, Mother of the Nation offers an insightful perspective for understanding our nation's racial history and its current social crisis.