“And when Our clear messages are recited to them, those who disbelieve say of the Truth when it comes to them: This is clear enchantment. Or they say: He has forged it. Say: If I have forged it, you control nothing for me from Allah. He knows best what you utter concerning it. He is enough as a witness between me and you. And He is the Forgiving, the Merciful. Say: I am not the first of the messengers, and I do not know what will be done with me or with you. I follow only what is revealed to me, and I am but a plain warner.” — Holy Qur’an 46:7 – 9.

When speaking of the Nation of Islam in North America, students of its Eternal Leader, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad include the likes of Minister Malcolm X, former boxing great Minister Muhammad Ali, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the National Representative of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and The Nation of Islam.

Founded July 1930 in Detroit, Michigan by Allah in Person, Master W. Fard Muhammad, the Great Mahdi, and led by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, against all odds, the Nation of Islam grew to become a nation within a nation, affecting Black America’s culture, ethos, concept of self, and interests beyond the limits of political opposition, government suppression, and deliberate miseducation under the guise of White tutelage.

After the departure of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam’s fall and subsequent dismemberment and redirection in 1975, it was in September of 1977 that Minister Farrakhan rose to reclaim his post as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s National Representative. Through a fervent belief in the Teachings, Minister Farrakhan’s work, sacrifice, and the work of many supporters and Believers, a dead nation was raised back to life, restoring its place of honor among the people of the Earth, both Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

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Laboring in the ranks from 1955 until the Nation’s fall and subsequent rise, it is his work of rebuilding the Nation of Islam over the past 46 years, that has made the Minister Farrakhan into the world’s leading example of speaking truth to power. To all who will listen, and regardless of whom or what, he boldly proclaims now as he did then: “Thus saith the Lord.”

As Minister Farrakhan’s 90th birth anniversary comes and goes, what lessons should the world, Black people, Believers, supporters, and even detractors extract from a man of God, a man of faith, and a man of high principles?

In both the Bible and Holy Qur’an, Allah (God) raised messengers in the past, and throughout its texts, the books clearly demonstrate that messengers would be sent to all nations and that such messengers would speak the language of the people. By lifting the person and the message of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Minister Farrakhan—from Old Testament perspectives—fulfills the role of Elisha as a disciple and successor to Elijah among the people; to Baruch, who turned down wealth, fame, and status to follow Jeremiah; and Aaron, an eloquent spokesman, brother, and helper to Moses, who called for separation and nationhood for the Children of Israel after 400 years of bondage under the Pharaohs of Egypt.

In the Holy Qur’an, many of these same stories are told in addition to others that are not readily found in the Bible. Such is the story of the people of Ad, the polytheistic descendants of Noah’s son Shem, who occupied southern Arabia and rejected the Prophethood of Hud, who called for their repentance and submission to the One God. Enduring their mockery, rejection, and false accusations, the arrogant among Hud’s detractors called him a madman and a liar, challenging the power of Allah (God) to bring about His promised punishment. According to the story, powerful winds blasted the people of Ad for seven nights and eight days, destroying and burying everything and everyone except for Prophet Hud and the Believers who followed him.

The successors of Ad, the people of Thamud, who occupied ancient Arabia’s North, likewise received divine warning only to suffer the consequences for rejecting it. Salih, a messenger raised from among his own people, instructed them to abandon their idol worship, corruption, and their refusal to submit to the One God. After killing a she-camel, given to them as a sign of Allah’s (God’s) Grace and Mercy, with instructions that it was not to be harmed, disaster overtook and destroyed the people of Thamud except for Prophet Salih and those who followed him.

In modern America, Believers, and followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as taught and exemplified by Minister Farrakhan, an honest consideration of the Minister’s 90th birth anniversary will reveal an honorable servant of Allah (God), who dedicates his life to service not only to the rejected and despised Black people of North America but also to the Indigenous and oppressed peoples of the world.

After nearly 68 years of service, as a member of the Nation of Islam, including the last 46 years of spearheading the work of raising it back to life, by Allah’s permission, the Minister’s final call to Islam (complete obedience and submission to the Will of God) has now encompassed the entire world, placing the entirety of humanity into the valley of decision. Whether through him directly or through his student ministers, a clear message has been and is being delivered to those willing to receive it.

Without doubt the deliverer of a clear message, on behalf of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Minister Farrakhan has been, and is, a consistent example of duty to Allah (God), duty to his people, and duty to a wayward humanity.

In so doing, Minister Farrakhan has given the Black people of America a solution to the problems facing us all, if we would but listen, and for nearly 70 years, he has given countless examples of speaking truth to power, success in facing overwhelming odds, and grace in a world of slavery, suffering and death. A servant leader in uplifting a fallen humanity, his voice is the last warning before “that Great and Dreadful day of the Lord” where no one soul can help or save another soul.

With “The Fall of America” nigh, where he says to go, go, where he says to stay from, stay from, but above all, continue to listen to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s top student and National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.