[This article is a reprint that was published online August 12, 2003.]
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote in “Our Saviour Has Arrived”:
“The Black Man in America is not an example of the Original Black Man; for he has been used by his slave masters for four centuries in what we call experimentation. Through the experimentation by the wicked slavemasters who were made without love or mercy for Black people, they have the Black Man in America before the world as a wrecked, robbed, and spoiled human being without knowledge of himself or anyone else. And he is used by the white man as a tool for whatever purpose the white man sees fit.
“He is called a ‘Negro’ by them. The name means something dead, lifeless, neutral (not that nor this).
“They call the slave after their own names because he is the property of the slavemaster until he is redeemed–although he is a member of the Original Black Nation.
“To restore him back to his people, he must be re-educated to give him the knowledge of self and the knowledge of those who deprived him of the knowledge of self.
“This knowledge of self will unite him onto his own kind with love of self and kind.”
WHAT IS THE VALUE OF SUCH KNOWLEDGE?
No one can place a dollar value on such knowledge. It’s also our birthright. Imagine suffering from amnesia. That’s a loss of memory. That’s a mental condition that is worse than forgetfulness. That’s suffering a total mental blank, when it comes to who you are, who your family members and friends are; what you own, what your standing in the world is; even who your enemies are.
This knowledge was taught to us by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, absent the physical presence of his Teacher for forty years. (He suffered much to teach us this redeeming wisdom.) This same knowledge continues to be taught to us by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. (He too has suffered much to teach us this redeeming wisdom.)
This is also to say that Minister Farrakhan emphasizes, or has gone deeper, into those aspects of the body of knowledge of his teacher, which is the only instrument that can qualify a person for the hereafter, without that person having to experience the chastisement of Allah.
Look at what Paul went into of his teacher’s teachings there in the New Testament, and why. This may help us to see the extraordinary value of the Minister’s effort in relation to his teacher’s teaching and how he completes the mission of his teacher.
On page 108 of Our Saviour Has Arrived, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote the following words:
“But Allah (God) will not let any of us be blind, today, to the truth. This is why He came Himself; to be sure there will not be any mistake made. Allah (God) makes for Himself a Messenger.
“Then Allah (God) guides the Messenger Himself. He does not leave the Messenger to do all of the guiding.”
Then the Honorable Elijah Muhammad continues with how Allah established what He did “to see that His guidance is carried out like He taught” him to do.
Here we have three stages of this guidance or the work of Allah in the person of Master Fard Muhammad that covers from the time of His opened appearance right through the present time and on to the time when Minister Farrakhan meets again with his teacher.
This covers the time period mentioned in the book of Daniel, and elsewhere, as well as in the Holy Qur’an, under many names. The ninth chapter of Daniel refers to this time period as “the seventy weeks of years.”
Of those plans, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, in part: “Master Fard Muhammad aims to raise the Lost-Found (so-called Negro) into the knowledge and wisdom–the very .i.; He also aims presently, to raise His people into His own .i.;
In this column (Number 43), I also wrote: “Now, before making a brief analysis of the above words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, let’s reconsider the fact that Minister Farrakhan’s work is pivotal as well as essential in the fulfillment of the plans contained in the words of his teacher, of the aims of Master Fard Muhammad. Furthermore, his study guides constitute an essential instrument of his overall mission. So, we can’t help him, nor our people, or others, if we ignore or half-study and/or misuse or pretend to use this material, humbly called “study guides.”
“Minister Farrakhan is continuing the work of his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who described his work or mission as “the resurrection of the dead.”
Minister Farrakhan’s study guides occupy a valuable, even a critical, part in the overall plans of Master Fard Muhammad.
In No. 43, I mentioned that I asked Minister Farrakhan a question about his mission and placed his answer in the third edition of This Is The One. I also mentioned that I hoped to make it a part of a series for this column.
What follows is the full text of his statement. After we read this, I would like to go into my reasons for bringing it up again, as the time grows more critical with each passing moment.
We must stop wasting time! We must close the gap between ourselves and this mighty man of God, ASAP, meaning: quit procrastination, hesitation, indecision, vacillation, and all delays, RIGHT NOW, OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES.
On January 10, 1996, I asked Minister Farrakhan: “Brother Minister, on the night of June 4th, right after your Phoenix speech in 1995, you spoke to a little over 40 of us, at your dinner table, about the relationship between the mission of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and your mission, with your mission coming out of his mission. You spoke of your mission and his mission as being mutually compatible and complimentary. Would you please elaborate?
Minister Farrakhan: “If a man is to be a helper of another man, the question becomes what help does he need? And based upon that necessity, persons are probed. Persons are sending their resumes. Persons are interviewed and persons are selected to help in whatever phase of the work or assignment that the main man has.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, like Moses, desired a helper. That desire was in him from the time he started his mission. He knew that he needed a helper, but not for the reason that he thought. But it would later come to him, as he grew in understanding of his assignment, exactly what kind of help he would need. So he scanned the persons that surrounded him. And he measured them based upon his knowledge of the scripture and the help (in persons) that God gave to former prophets that shared the assignment of those prophets.
“So in Surah Taha, Surah 20, Moses asks God for a helper. And the first thing he says is, ‘Expand my breast for me and ease my affair. And loosen the knot in my tongue that they may understand my words. And make him to bear of my burden or an aider to me.’ “
More next issue, Allah willing.
