JABRIL.MUHAMMAD
Minister Farrakhan has stated firmly and with conviction that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is alive. I am with him! Here, I’ll repeat some of his words that I included in a chapter of my book. He wrote, in part: “I, Louis Farrakhan, am saying to the world that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is not physically dead. I am further stating that He was made to appear as such as written in the Bible and in the Holy Qur’an, in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”
After pointing out specific methods by which the matter may be settled, he wrote: “I am willing to go before the world to be seen as one whose belief that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is physically alive is false; or, be manifested as the true representative of the Mahdi, the Messiah, the Christ that the world is now looking for and whose return is imminent.”
This question, concerning the whereabouts of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and even the reason for bringing it up–especially in public–must lead us to the relevance of this matter to everyone on this earth, whether or not they have ever heard of him or not.
So my purpose for writing this is to respond to this “where” question, (and to the second, which I’ll get to later) as directly and as clearly as I can. By so doing it is my hope that the reader who does not see the relevance, or connection, of this subject to the quality and destiny of our own lives, and to the lives of our loved ones, will by Allah’s help, do that by the time I finish this series of articles.
Let me begin with my response to why I’m asking about the “whereabouts” of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad with the fact that one day he actually asked me where did I think he was going to go once he had departed from among us. These are not his exact words, which I intend to get into in a moment. I have seldom gone over this particular experience–especially in public and never in writing. But I decided to write this particular experience down in a chapter of my book “Is It Possible That The Honorable Elijah Muhammad Is Still Physically Alive???” because it is one hundred percent germane or relevant or connected to what this book is about.
One morning in October, 1966 Bernique Cushmeer told me of a spiritual experience– a vision–which she had during the night. In her vision she saw the Honorable Elijah Muhammad under great strain and pressure. He was suffering, even as he persevered in his mission. This caused her great distress. Then Master Fard Muhammad appeared. He spoke to her and told her that He was with His servant. He made clear that He would see him through that which he was enduring. She was comforted by His words.
I do not really understand why I mentally reacted as I did to her vision, even to this day. All I can say is that the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel, especially the part about the seventy weeks of years, is what suddenly came to my mind as she related to me her experience.
I wrote a letter to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and informed him of her vision and my response to it. In his written response to me he acknowledged what Master Fard Muhammad told her in her vision. He said he could not go through what he was going through without the continuous and direct help of Master Fard Muhammad.
Then he stated, in this letter, that one day he would be the object of a death plot from which Allah, through the agency of angels, (special human beings) would enable him to escape. His letter clearly indicated to me that this future effort would be greater than the efforts, which others had and were still making to take his life, which went back to 1935.
Again, I emphasize that it seemed to me that this would be the greatest effort on the part of his (our) enemies to kill him. And, it was clear to me that he expected this plot and attempt to be yet in the future. However, he confidently wrote, that Allah would send His angels, who would come down and pick him up–rescue him–on a dark and cloudy day. He also gave me chapters and verses from the Bible and the Holy Qur’an to study, which referred to this future event. He finally said that he would take me further into all of this when he saw me.
I immediately studied what he gave me and then put the letter away. I thought about this subject for a few days. Then it sort of faded from my mind. Although I was blessed to see him, from time to time, during the next eleven months, it seems as if I had forgotten the subject. Nor did he bring it back up.
One afternoon in October 1967, he told me to call the insurance company. He said he wanted the Captain’s (Brother Abdul Allah’s) car and my own, under his insurance policy so that we might get better rates. I did. At one point the agent asked me of his driving situation in Chicago. That I did not know.
At the time of this telephone conversation, he had gone up to his room. Since there was not enough time to get to him and then back to her before her office hours closed, which was within minutes, it was agreed that I would get back to her the next day. He did not come down for dinner that night.
During that time I was painting his office. I was still at it the next morning when he came down for coffee. When I knew he was down and the insurance office was opened, I went to the dining room and brought him up to date on where things were about his request. He asked me to get her on the phone. I did. Before I could leave to return to painting he invited me to have some coffee and orange juice. I accepted.
I wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying to her until he seemed to have a bit of difficulty remembering his age. This got my attention. I looked in his direction. After a moment of a bit of hesitancy he said to her that he was seventy. As he hung up the phone he blushed as he came to the table and said to me, “You know Brother, sometimes I forget my own age.”
His remark triggered something, which had come to me some years ago, of which I had never spoke to anyone. I simply had no reason to do so. It was part of those things, which just sits in the mind of any of us, without our attaching much importance to it, which turns out to be more significant than we may realize. My response to his remark was unplanned, unexpected, and spontaneous. (Sometime later I wondered to what extent was this simply a fortuitous event; that which happens by a fortunate accident or chance, or was it deeper. We’ll explore this later.)
More next issue, Allah willing.
