Brother Abdul Wahid Muhammad reflects on the life and impact of Minister Jabril Muhammad
ATLANTA—Meeting at Akhirah’s Restaurant and Café for nearly four hours, consultant to the Nation of Islam, longtime Nation of Islam pioneer and first to accept the assignment of joining the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in his mission to rebuild the Nation, Brother Abdul Wahid Muhammad, joined by his wife Sister Anniyah Muhammad, reflected on the life of Minister Jabril Muhammad. They reflected on his service as a bridge from where the Nation of Islam was in its understanding of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad prior to 1975 and where the Nation must get to, in this phase of work under the guidance and direction of Minister Farrakhan.
“Allah prepared Brother Jabril through the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” began Brother Wahid. “Jabril taught Islam from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad on a higher level. Most of the ministers never studied three and a half years with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Minister Jabril, lived in the home of the Messenger for three and a half years.
“He would say, ‘You don’t think you got here because you decided to come,’” laughed Brother Wahid, quoting Brother Jabril. “He was very passionate about that (point),” he said. Further quoting Minister Jabril, Brother Wahid added, “Every one of us is here because we’re chosen to be here. Everybody. You didn’t get here because you decided to come here or because you were wise enough to come here. You came to the mosque because Allah chose you to be there. Of all the people on the planet, He chose certain ones who qualified to the spiritual vibrations that brought you here for different reasons.”
When you read the study guides and books produced by Brother Minister Jabril coupled with the works of Mother Tynnetta Muhammad and Student Minister Ava Muhammad you realize that the desire of these servants was to do as the Supreme Wisdom dictates; to qualify us for positions awaiting. “Go to point number 12 and you’ll see Who God is and what He came to establish. Positions await us in a universal government of peace wherein we all can live in peace together,” Brother Wahid continued.
›Minister Jabril created “cells” of study, known today as study groups. In the 1980s, major cities were now studying the writings of Brother Jabril in multiple locations within that city, without any of the cells’ (study groups) knowledge of the other cells’ existence. “In the rebuilding effort we wanted so bad to declare the Nation of Islam was back and wanted to be temples, ministers, officers right away, but the Minister (Farrakhan) knew our foundation was not strong enough, so we worked quietly in these cells where the enemy didn’t see anyone to attack,” he closed.
“Jabril is the mind of Allah and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. You’ve heard it said by Minister Farrakhan how the Messenger wanted his (Farrakhan’s) mind to align with the mind of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to become one mind? Well, Jabril is the alignment of the mind of Allah and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, meaning he (Jabril) is the mind of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to fulfill the work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” by orchestrating the resurrection of the Minister and the Nation of Islam, he continued.
“This is the One,” “Is It Possible the Honorable Elijah Muhammad Is Still Physically Alive???”, “Closing the Gap” and the following presentations: “The Unraveling of a Great Nation,” “The Criterion: The Announcement to the World,” “The Swan Song,” “The War of Armageddon Has Begun” and Minister Farrakhan’s 90th birthday celebration line up directly with a statement from Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, explained Brother Wahid. He made the statement available for this article, which states:
“We are standing on the threshold of another phase and cycle of the programmatic Teachings from the Master. This new phase will focus on advanced training and reeducation that will take us into new fields with higher mathematical and scientific truths to be revealed in order that we as students can master our assignment.”
“Programming is what Yakub did for 6,000 years. It’s programming. Master Fard Muhammad came and re-programmed us the other way,” said Brother Wahid.
The Rebuild: From Entertainment to God
“When Jabril showed up, I knew automatically that what he was going to talk about had something to do with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” Brother Wahid said reflecting on that day in Hollywood, California, in September 1977. That day he saw his once minister, mentor and friend show up on the 12th floor of the Continental Hyatt Hotel on Sunset Boulevard to meet with Minister Farrakhan. They met Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 9-11. “I was like the Maître d at a restaurant,” said Brother Wahid. “People would show up and I would direct them back to see the Minister.” Over the years, Brother Wahid served in many capacities to Min. Farrakhan. During this time he was the Minister’s booking agent. Before the pivotal encounter with Brother Jabril, the Minister was already in California conducting meetings and interviews for a movie project he was considering on the life of Minister Malcolm X.
Brother Wahid was known as Wali Jafar Muhammad back then. Minister Jabril was known as Bernard Cushmeer. Never given the meaning of the name it was the wife of Brother Bernard, Sister Bernique who was a secretary of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who was given the name Cushmeer by the Messenger. Once they married Brother Jabril asked the Honorable Elijah Muhammad if he could also wear the name.
Brother Wahid shared with The Final Call that he learned much later that Minister Farrakhan and Minister Jabril had been talking on the telephone on and off, before that first meeting. That Friday, “when Minister Jabril showed up, I had figured it out, that they had been speaking,” he said. “The Minister said to Brother Jabril when we arrived at his door, ‘why don’t you and Brother Jafar (Wahid) have a cup of coffee and when I finish talking to this person, we will meet. So, as we were walking to the back of the restaurant to sit down at the booth, Jabril had this little brown bag. I was telling him that I was sorry he had to wait. He said, ‘Brother, I have been waiting over three years for the right time to talk to him.’ He had always tried to reach the Minister, but it was always a bad time. This was the right time,” Bro. Wahid exclaimed.
When the Minister arrived at the booth, Brother Jabril hurriedly, took back the few pages he offered Brother Wahid to read, placed them back in the brown bag and turned it over to Minister Farrakhan. The process was now underway. The Minister would go on to read most of the contents from Brother Jabril.
On Saturday, Brother Wahid said he went to the Minister’s room, knocked on the door and the Minister opened the door, greeted him and went back to one of the two beds in the room, sat on one as he just glared at all of the scattered pages from Brother Jabril’s bag on the other bed.
“I never left the door (entrance) … I didn’t say nothing and he didn’t say anything. I just observed what he was doing, and I said, Brother Minister, I will see you later. He didn’t need to be disturbed from what he was doing.”
The Revelator and the Convert
“That Sunday morning, I call myself going to get there before Jabril,” Brother Wahid said. But he discovered he was too late. When I got there, Brother Jabril was already there in the room.
“I knocked on the door, opened the door and they were standing there; looked like they were crying and hugging each other. And I said to myself, whatever it is, I’m with him (Min. Farrakhan). I knew the transformation had been made. The Minister then said to me, ‘all the people we have been interviewing, cancel them,’ “Bro. Wahid laughed. “He took a 180 degree turn from entertainment to God,” he said.
“What I was pointing out to Brother Wahid,” his wife Sister Anniyah said to The Final Call, “is that when Brother Jabril showed up with the book those few days in which the Minister was reading, Brother Jabril was explaining his observance of the Minister. He’s giving the details of that. He points out that he’s observing Minister Farrakhan’s change and what he sees the Minister going through knowing what’s in the book. Wahid was observing the change of the Minister during the same time period, not knowing what was in the book. But he observed. He could see that change was taking place. So, you have the same event being viewed from two witnesses on the scene. One who knew (revelator) what was written in the book. And one (convert) who didn’t know what was in the book.”
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