[Editor’s note: The following article is based on excerpts from an address delivered by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on February 23, 2020 at the TCF Center in Detroit to close the Nation of Islam’s 2020 Saviours’ Day national convention. We urge readers to get the full message. Visit store.finalcall.com or call 1-866-602-1230, ext. 200 to order entire address on MP3, CD, DVD.]
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, Who came to us in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, the great expected Mahdi of the Muslims and Masih of the Christians. He came with two “hats” to give to two servants that He would make to fit the description of Mahdi on one side, and Masih or Messiah on the other side.
I thank Allah for His coming. I thank Him for fitting the Honorable Elijah Muhammad with the hat of Mahdi, now in a position of power to fulfill what is expected of Al Mahdi: to set down every tyrant; to set justice in the Earth; to kill the swine; and break the cross. Killing the swine is not just killing hogs; it’s killing the appetite in the people for filth and indecency. The other hat was for the Messiah because the Messiah of the Christians and the Mahdi of the Muslims are together at the end of the present world. I tried on my hat; it fit quite well. …
My national assistant says there’s three other holding rooms for the overflow? Very good. You cannot imagine how your presence makes me feel. …
Forty-two years ago, the world thought that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was dead. I came to understand that he really was alive, and the enemy had been deceived thinking that he killed that great Jesus. He was made to appear as such, as the Quran teaches, but Allah raised Him to Himself. So, in 1981, at our first Saviour’s Day, to a small crowd of about, not even 4,000 at the time; after working underground for three years, the Nation of Islam popped up again. And I declared at our first Saviour’s Day that Elijah Muhammad is alive and now in power.
I suffered the loss of a lot of friendship when I made that statement. Some of my brothers that helped me while we were in the dark, growing underground, they said, “Farrakhan, you know Elijah Muhammad is dead. Why would you say such a thing?” But I made a declaration that took a lot of courage to state my belief. You say, “But there was a death certificate.” Yes, you make them all the time. I offered the family to exhume the body. And I said, “If you can prove that that body is Elijah Muhammad, I will stop teaching.”
I sounded to many like a crazy man. But 39 Saviours’ Days after, here we are, all over the world. The sad thing about this, they tried to bury my teacher, not only in a grave, but destroy his works to cut the Nation of Islam off, as it is written in the Psalms, that the name of Israel would no longer be remembered, or the name of the Nation would no longer be remembered in us.
It was a conspiracy between the federal government of the United States of America, the hypocrites from among us, and members of the Arab Muslim world.
In the second edition of The Final Call, I wrote the whole paper and it was called “The Crucifixion of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam.” They never wanted Elijah to come back to you. No Negro or White man produced the fruit of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad given to us by Master Fard Muhammad.
So we had to grow from nothing to bring back the name and the teachings of the greatest Black man to ever walk among us, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad! Many of His old followers were happy that his name was buried, happy that His work was destroyed, but I loved my teacher. I loved the truth that He taught. I loved the people that He was missioned to raise from a dead level and resurrect us into the most highly civilized people that the world has ever seen. We have done all of this without carrying as much as a pen knife in our pocket, killing nobody, unless you needed it by attacking us.
So in the 39th Saviours’ Day, I thank Allah so very, very much that the help of so many that came forth brought the Nation back. We’re in—one hundred and thirty-one cities. We’re in the Caribbean: in Jamaica, in Trinidad, in Barbados, in Antigua, in Cuba. We’re in Africa. We’re in the United Kingdom. And we’re even in the Isles of the Pacific.
Elijah Muhammad lives! And there is no God but Allah and Elijah Muhammad is His Messenger Messiah, now the Exalted Christ.
Brothers and sisters to see the Nation come back, it’s a miracle. Because we have been opposed by the most powerful government on the Earth, and don’t forget her little brother, Israel. But here we are. …
This is not the work of hate. This is a demonstration of the awesome power of love. We’re in love with you; we’re in love with our people. We are so grateful for your presence here today. And I pray that whatever Allah allows me to say, that it will enlighten the hearts and minds of the listener; it will give you something that will help in the transformation of your lives.
… I was put in this position. I didn’t steal from nobody. I started with nothing, no followers, no money. I used to look at the picture of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad when I thought he was dead. And I said, “Dear Apostle, I was faithful to you for 20 years. I worked night and day. I have nothing. You didn’t leave me nothing?” I was acting very immature. Then one day I looked at his picture and said, “Thank you. You gave me everything. You gave me the word and God gave me the faith and the courage and the strength.” That’s what you’re looking at.
So I accept your thanks and I pray that you will protect what so many of us suffered, bled, and died to bring this about.
The brothers in every prison in the United States of America. They’re so afraid, they’re banning any word from Louis Farrakhan. Some of you know that I am a good man. Some of you know when you have a relationship with this man, you don’t have a relationship with a cheat, a liar, a man who promises what he doesn’t try to fulfill.
This is the house that love built. I never complained on my suffering. Do you know what it’s like to wake up in the morning and every day on the news, somebody’s cussing you, condemning you? I’m not talking about my silly little brothers who are envious or jealous. I don’t pay you any attention. But I’m talking about the government of America. I’m talking about the FBI. I’m talking about the CIA. I’m talking about the Department of Defense. I’m talking about all the government agencies that have worked against us, but here we are.
In 1985, four years after I declared that my Leader and Teacher, Elijah Muhammad was indeed alive, I caught hell. I lost followers. I lost friends. “That man crazy.” Now, you’re going to have to reason with what I say, because you can’t make me out a liar. You may not believe; that’s not my fault. That’s your stupidity and your ignorance and your hatred of a Black man that loved another Black man so much that I would offer my life to bring that man back and his teaching.
There is no Christian pastor that preaches Jesus that will lay down his life for him, except a few. Most of us are in it for the business. That’s why Jesus said, “All that came before me were thieves and robbers.” But,” he said, “I am the good shepherd.” The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. If you’re not willing to die for this people, get the hell out from in front of them. If you’re not willing to face the lion in the thicket and the wolf that wants to eat the sheep, get out from in front of this people. I’m born to die for this! And can’t no punk walk with me. So if you want to be de-punktified, de-punktified join the FOI! Join the MGT! Join the Nation of Islam and take a dose of what got Farrakhan like he is!
… Some of you negroes, you don’t mind meeting the Minister in the dark, like them two-dollar prostitutes that you hang out with. But I’m not mad at you, but I hate it that you can meet me in the dark and say nice things about me—because you don’t know anything else to say.
Can I tell you something? It takes a sinless man to be the atonement price for the redemption of our people. “Are you telling us that you’re sinless?” You’re damn right I am. “Are you telling us that you have never committed sin?” No, I would be a liar then. “Well how are you sinless?” When you do the work that I do; when you tell the truth like I have; when you suffer from the enemy like I have, then God declares me sinless and wipes away all of my sins.
As I was watching the impeachment trial of President Trump, I was looking at America, not at her finest hour, but I watched the high level of chicanery; the high level of deceit. I watched brilliant lawyers on two sides of one simple question, none willing to agree with the truth; but using their skillful knowledge of the law to outsmart this one or that one; to cover the Senate; and our President that was impeached by two articles of impeachment. The Senate was not willing to say, he did that. And then Mr. Alan Dershowitz came forward and said, “Yes he may have done that, but it doesn’t rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors so you should not impeach him.” He gave a cover to the cowardice of the Senate. And I watched the Bible being fulfilled: If Satan casts out Satan, how then can his kingdom stand?
You, my poor, pitiful brothers and sisters, you are opting to be a part of that that is unraveling right in front of your eyes. You see the country cascading downward. You see the moral fiber of America getting into the gutter. Who wants a membership in a house of whores? Bought and paid for leaders. Nobody can stand up if the enemy says, “you don’t stand up for that.” Satan is having a field day with America. Evil has been made fair seeming.
The subject for my lecture today, which is full of good news and warning: “The Unraveling of a Great Nation.”
When you unravel something, you undo twisted, knitted, or woven threads; you investigate and solve or explain something complicated or puzzling.
The condition of America is puzzling. The world is looking at a country going to hell.
The world is looking at a President who wants to be king; when the Constitution and the founding fathers were trying to run away from what they suffered in Europe under the kings.
There’s a verse in the Qur’an, it’s in the 16th surah, the 92nd verse and it says, “Be not like her who unravels her yarn, disintegrating it into pieces, after she has spun it strongly.” Her here is not talking about a woman, as such, but if you see somebody knitting something, with a design, and they leave it not secured one stitch; and then the same woman who stitched it strongly starts pulling on the yarn that she has knitted until it comes to pieces. That’s what’s happening to America as we speak. America was not built on a firm foundation. Although the weaving was done strongly, the nation called America was doomed from its inception. How do you build a nation killing the native people? How do you build a nation, bringing a whole people out of Africa to America to be made slaves? This is your foundation, so for them to lie to you, and make you think that America is a land of promise for you, and you believe it; no wonder Jesus said, You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.
You’ve been bamboozled. You’ve been hoodwinked. As Brother Malcolm said, “You been took. You been had.” “Are you quoting Brother Malcolm, Farrakhan?” Why not? He was my first great teacher. He taught me much, and one of the lessons that he taught me was how to love the Leader, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. When he found fault with his teacher, I could no longer accept his tutelage. We all were in the same class. He was a great student in the class. I was just coming up in the class.
He shook the world being with Elijah Muhammad for 12 years. My question to you is what did he learn after 12 years of studying under a man who finished the 3rd grade and was entering the 4th when his education stopped? How could Elijah Muhammad make a man to shake the world? All you Negroes that have matriculated from some of the finer institutions of America, and can’t shake the neighborhood that you live in. Brother Malcolm, after 12 years, shook the world; he only went to the 8th grade of school.
What is it about this man, Elijah? I love to talk about that man. What is it about him that his students in every city where there was a temple rose to the top of leadership in that city? Malcom’s journey with Elijah Muhammad was aborted. Muhammad Ali, he shook the world; student of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. You got a problem with that? I watched my brother defeat intelligent people that thought he was a dummy. He shocked the world, as a student of Elijah Muhammad for 12 years or so.
They tried to abort me from my class, but I stayed with my teacher. Before He left us, listen to how he described Farrakhan. He said, “This is a man that this world can’t bother.” This is a man—talking about me—that this world cannot bother me. Now you know they hate me. Here I stand. My brow is not furrowed. All the hell that they and their minions and the hypocrites give me. From being in the class, this Saviours’ Day I joined the class 65 years ago. If you get acquainted with me, you’ll see that Elijah Muhammad made me a master.
The enemy is upset with the fact that the Nation of Islam is here, and we continue to make progress in spite of the opposition. So we are living in the time of the unraveling of this great nation. Now this subject matter has a double meaning because we’re a great nation too. When I was in Iran, I asked the question, based on the Quranic verse, Allah says, “You are the best nation raised among men. You enjoin good and you forbid evil.” That’s the description of the best nation. I was in Iran. I said, “Are you that nation?”
Saudi Arabia, are you that nation? What nation do you know that forbids evil and indecency and enjoins good and has not won through violence and the murder of anyone? What nation? You’re looking at it. This is the best nation.
While I’m talking about how America is unraveling, I want you to focus on our nation, because the enemy wants to unravel what you see here today, that it won’t be here. But I will tell you government of America, you can do all you want to do. Bring your guns; we don’t have any. I’m anxious to show you the two that back me. I want to show you a real Saviour. Come on America. We can’t stop you. You don’t like us. We don’t have nothing to fight you with but our hands and our feet. Oh, we could go to the little gun shop. But we gotta go to you, because you’re the gun maker. What the hell do we look like resting on your stupid weapons system? I got a weapon with me and it ain’t no pop gun.
I’m not bragging or boasting. We accepted this to die on it and die for it, because we are fighting for Islam and we will surely win, with our Saviour Allah, the Universal King!
“We hold these truths,” the founders write, “to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and” Security. Do you have Life, Liberty? What is the Pursuit of Happiness? You mean you don’t have it? No, you don’t. If you think having a nice car and a few dollars in the bank is the Pursuit of Happiness, you’re sick. The Pursuit of Happiness is engaging in the business of life itself.
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Mr. Trump killed my brother, Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general. Mrs. Hillary Clinton killed my other brother, Muammar Gadhafi. That’s why I couldn’t support Mrs. Clinton. Some of my little Black friends were angry with me because I wasn’t going to vote for Mrs. Clinton, and I didn’t support her. Mr. Trump, this part of my lecture is talking to you. Mr. Trump, I respect you because you’re the president of the United States of America. You said that my brother is a terrorist, and you’ve got the power to define people. You may not like me so you might call me a terrorist tomorrow to justify what the government is planning to do to me and the Nation of Islam.
I’m inviting you to sit down and talk because I have a message for you from God. In fact, I’ll give it to you today. Do you wonder that a man born from among you has been selected by God to be a messenger of His to the people and a warner to the world and the nations? That’s who I am. You may know me as Louis Farrakhan. I didn’t know what I was going to become as a student of Elijah Muhammad; but I’d like to tell you what my assignment is. Gen. Soleimani, President Trump said, killed a lot of Americans. “He’s a bad man so I killed him.” Where were the men that he killed? Did he kill them in New York? Did he kill them in Philly? Did he kill them in Colorado or California? Florida? Where did he kill them? He killed them in Iraq? What the hell were you doing in Iraq? Who called for you to come there?
Mr. Trump said, “Bush should be impeached.” Why? Because he lied to the American people saying that Iraq was making weapons of mass destruction. So, the troops went in. Did they find any weapons?
How many Iraqis did American soldiers kill? Tens of thousands. How many Americans lost their lives? Thousands because you sent them there. President Obama sent them there. Young, White children who joined the armed forces to defend this country. You sent them to die because of your lust for oil, for the treasures of other nations. That man was no terrorist. He was killing members of the occupying army on the territory of Iraq. And he as the brother of them from Iran was trying to rid them of an occupying army.
Now, I’m naming you and I’ve got weight with God, “An occupying army.” What are you doing in the Middle East? Soldiers everywhere. Who sent for them protecting your little flunky nations? You know I’m telling the truth, this is not hyperbole, truthful hyperbole, this is the real actual facts. You went there not to save the Iraqi people. You went there and spent a trillion dollars to make Iraq a bulwark of defense against Iran.
I heard then-Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, when they said from Iraq, they wanted to have a government like Iran. Iran is a theocracy that rules from God’s perspective. You don’t know nothing about that. What do you go to church for? Any of you Christians, what do you go to church for if you don’t want to live under God’s rule and God’s law and then say, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done?” What do you think the kingdom of God is? It’s God ruling. You don’t have to vote for Him. He’s already come to take over the rule. So, if you want to live in the kingdom, not the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the kingdom of God that’s a government under the rules and laws of God. Iran is trying to do that.
So when I spoke to the Supreme Leader, I said, “You’re looking for the Mahdi. This whole nation of 90 million people is born and are willing to die serving the Mahdi.” I said, “You are looking for the Mahdi, but the Mahdi came to us. And I am here representing Him.” Did you hear what I said? I told him what the Mahdi told Elijah, “America’s number one on his list to be destroyed.” He doesn’t like you for your evil but there’s a way out for you. The Mahdi speaks 16 different languages, wrote ten. The Mahdi pictured and extracted the language of the people on Mars. The Mahdi spoke the language of the birds. The Mahdi visited every inhabited part of the earth. The Mahdi came among us and raised Elijah Muhammad as His Messenger, Messiah.
He pointed out an object in the sky, a half a mile by a half a mile, the greatest mechanical object ever made, having 1,500 little Wheels or bombing planes can take America out in 12 hours. I’m not representing no fantasy god. I’m not representing no spook god that’s hiding somewhere in the sky. I represent the Most High God who sits in that Wheel that Ezekiel saw, a Wheel in the middle of a Wheel, and I visited that Wheel. He brought me to that Wheel like Allah brought Muhammad in a night vision to the inner sanctum of Himself.
He brought me there, yet I was here. He gave me a message. He told me that the President was planning a war and I want you to have a press conference and tell them his plans, and tell them that you got it from me, Elijah Muhammad, on the Wheel. I never failed to deliver that message. They hated me for it. They lied on me because of it. They made mockery. So, when I made the announcement, I told them that before you can make mockery of me, you’ll see the Wheels. And, it flew over the White House, flew over the Congress. I’m not a spook believer. I’m not no man that believes in fantasy. I know what I experienced and I’m not a liar. I put my life on what I say.
Elijah Muhammad spoke to me and he told me the plan of Ronald Reagan. What I learned by looking deeper into His words, he told me the plan of six presidents of the United States, culminating in the one that’s in the White House now. I said this is the end of the drama. Like Paul I boast in God. I don’t boast in men because I’ve been without God, but he made me. He made me as a helper to the man that He made. He made me to stand with Elijah, like Aaron stood with Moses as another prophet with Moses. Mr. Trump, you’re written of in the scriptures in many places. I am, too.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, once had a heart like a human being; and God took out of him the heart of a man and gave him a heart of beast. See, Mr. Trump, when you were running for the office, you talked about going into Iraq and taking the oil. That’s thug talk. That’s the talk of a beast. Beasts eat when they’re hungry. They don’t ask permission to kill their prey. That’s their nature. So, the Bible talks about four great beasts.
Brothers and sisters, you really need to understand what you’ve been preaching, and what you’ve been reading and what you’ve been believing. But the power is not in preaching, the power is in doing what you’re preaching. Listen. My dear brothers and sisters, we’re at the end of it all. I know that the enemy wants me dead. I hear them on social media when my name is trending. They say, “Oh Farrakhan, must be dead.” They start tuning in and they hear me preaching. “Got damnit. That Negro ain’t dead yet? Why don’t somebody kill him?” Well, you’re a somebody, aren’t you? Why don’t you try? These are master assassinators. And I have to say to my president: Mr. President, please be careful because you’re upsetting a lot of people. You may win the election because the Democrats will at last put their hope in a billionaire because Mr. Joe Biden can’t handle it.
What will you do if he gets a second term? What will you do? See, the hatred that’s building for him because God allowed him to be president. Don’t you think that God is interested in who sits in the White House, that holds sway over his people that he has chosen to be his people? …
Please, Mr. President, this is a country that kills presidents. It will be the worst mistake that anyone makes to try to kill the president of the United States. He has a work to do. Does he? What kind of work does God have for him to do? He’s doing it. Isn’t this the government that’s been giving us hell ever since we’ve been in America? Come on and talk to me.
Who told Colin Powell to go before the United Nations and sell the lie that Iraq was making weapons of mass destruction? It was the Intelligence Community. They run presidents with intelligence books. Mr. Trump has his own way of getting information. In every embassy in the world there’s a desk for the CIA. CIA is a criminal arm of the government. I know I have to pay a price for what I’m saying. I’m willing to pay that price but I hope those that come are willing to pay a price.
Do you know how valuable I am? What value does God put on my life? How do you know? See, God loves me. They’ve tried to kill me several times and they admit that there must be a hedge around me because why isn’t he dead. Here’s a man standing here for two hours with two torn meniscuses in my knee. You thought that I couldn’t stand for two hours. You thought I might fade away. Listen to the strength of my voice. Listen to the passion and the power of my faith, and know that I am empowered like that which empowers the Sun itself for I am your light, the light of a new world. …
I can come to you like Jonah came to the king of Nineveh. America, Mr. President, needs to repent for what you’ve done and what you continue to do to the peoples of the world. You have Ten Commandments, ten beautiful commandments that America does not follow. The 10th Commandment is Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thy neighbor’s wife, thy neighbor’s donkey, what the man has, you should not desire it.
See, you covet the wealth that’s in the Middle East, that’s why your armies are there. You covet the wealth of Africa that’s why your armies are there. You want what others have been given by God, but you don’t want to bargain with them and give them wealth for wealth that they may be able to build up their own country. So, you find a way to meddle in the affairs in the nations of the earth, then blame them for meddling in your elections.
Mr. Trump, America has interfered in the elections of 81 nations. Mr. Trump wasn’t it your government that went down to Venezuela. You like don’t Nicolas Maduro. What did Maduro do? He’s got oil down there, too. So, you go and choose Juan Guaido. He’s a handsome young man but he wasn’t elected by the people. You elected him, Mr. Trump. And you’ve got nations bowing to your will. So, they all sided with you that this man is the president, but you can’t install him. You’re embarrassed because he’s still there.
Mr. President, I’m asking you to repent on behalf of the wickedness of your people, White people, for the evil that you have done to self, to others, to us to the Native people, to the Indigenous. Wickedness is what’s making America suffer. Have you seen the weather? You know the weather is against you. All of you can get together and try to stop what you call climate change. Climate isn’t controlled by you. Climate is being controlled by the God who is here in control of the climate.
When I tell you to watch the weather, He goes to work and shows you. I am the man of God today. You either take it or let it alone. I will not beg you, but I will tell you that the God wants to separate you from your enemies. God wants to give you a land. What? Where we going? Could be right here. If Trump realizes that the penalty for rejection is the death of the nation, let’s make a deal. You know the art of the deal. Move out and let us move in. … God is not playing. You are His people. I know you don’t believe it. But you will. Your covenant with death will be annulled and your agreement with hell will not stand.
Mr. Trump, America is the modern Babylon. I want to have a message for the Jewish people. I’m not a hater. You can’t find one word in the millions of words that I’ve spoken where I ordered somebody to hurt a Jewish person. That’s not me.
Look at the scripture, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” Substitute America for Babylon. She’s unraveling. America is falling, is falling. Why are you falling America? Because you have become the habitation of devils. A hole for every foul person, a cage for every hateful bird.
