TINLEY PARK, Ill.—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan referenced verses 25-28 from the book of Daniel in the Bible during his 2024 Saviours’ Day address earlier this year. These same scriptures set the tone for the 29th Annual International Training Conference.
This year’s conference was held July 26-28 at the Tinley Convention Center in Tinley Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Hundreds of participants from around the country gathered for a weekend of spiritual and physical training.
“Our theme this year was ‘The Writing is on the Wall: Train to Improve, Empower and Survive’ and it was so that we could observe the writing and not just the writing, but the writer,” said the host and founder of the training conference, Nation of Islam Student Assistant Supreme Captain and martial arts grandmaster, Abdul Azziz Muhammad, affectionately called “GM.”
“We wanted to provide what we would believe is necessary to give to the believers and those that are outside our community something that’s going to benefit them,” he said.
The results of the work, put in by the training staff comprised of Muslim volunteers from around the Nation of Islam, was a jam-packed schedule of events. Sister Azziza Muhammad, wife of Brother Abdul Azziz, also worked diligently to ensure the weekend was a success.
Student Minister Nuri Muhammad of Mosque No. 74 in Indianapolis set the tone for the weekend during the opening plenary session, where he shared lessons from nature of how birds, animals and insects, know instinctively to respond and adjust accordingly to impending danger, except for domesticated dogs and cats.
He explained that domesticated creatures have been fed and taken care of, so they have lost much of their natural instincts. He likened this analogy to the Black man and woman of America, who have been stripped of their name, language, culture and natural volition and have been robbed of the ability to provide for themselves.
“We’ve been suffering now from arrested development because we are operating outside our nature. We have become domesticated. So, whenever the creature doesn’t have the ability to, instinctively tune in and interpret the writing on the wall and make adjustments when impending doom is coming, it becomes incumbent that someone outside of them is raised so that they can teach them and warn them about what is coming. We call that figure a Messenger of God. So, we need someone to interpret the writing on the wall,” said Student Minister Nuri Muhammad.
The importance of mindset was also emphasized as the first line of defense.
“Don’t take this lightly that we’re having discussions, that you’re not learning security. Because if you want to run to the martial arts tomorrow to learn that special technique and your mind is not right, you’re going to get knocked out anyway. So, understand that the basis of all of our security training is getting our understanding right, our mind right, so that we can detect when there’s an enemy—I’m not necessarily just talking on the outside—I’m also talking on the inside. A threat of our own selves that gets us in situations that we don’t need to be in, so understand that all of this in our training is connected,” said Brother Terance Muhammad, who co-moderated the plenary session with Sister Dr. Khallilah Muhammad.
Workshops during the weekend included: “Attack on Black Youth: Root Causes and Solutions”; “Protecting Houses of Worship”; “The Science of Survival: Growing Your Own Food”; “Lessons from the Bees”; “Active Shooter and Threat Assessment”; “Let This Security Mind Be in You”; “Getting Your Affairs in Order” and “Your Health is Your Wealth.”
There were also specialized security training certifications, departmental trainings, youth conference, vendors marketplace and a Friday Jumuah prayer service led by National Student Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad.
Sister Ariyana Muhammad, 25, of Mosque No. 29 in Miami, Florida, attended the conference for her second time and participated in a security certification training. She shared that her biggest takeaway from the gathering was the importance of securing houses of worship like the mosque and the importance of securing believers and taking the information back. “Also taking this information and sharing it with our ‘Lost-Found family,’ but (they) are really a part of the Nation (of Islam), especially in the dark time that we are living in now. It is very important,” said Sister Ariyana.
Brother Clifford Muhammad, 60, from Mosque No. 5 in Cincinnati, OH, has been attending the training conference since its inception and has only missed a few years. “It’s very different. It has grown—not just the people—but the training has grown a lot and it gives us more and more of what we can use, even if you don’t even know martial arts,” he said.
“I keep coming back because I want to grow. When you get older, you still want to grow, you want to become a better helper of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and be an example,” he said.
Saturday morning consisted of more sessions before the highly anticipated “hit the mats” martial arts training where participants received hands-on experience with marital arts masters.
Sessions during the weekend also included defensive and offensive driving, security check procedure; “From Victim to Victor Series: The Development of Self”; “Protecting Your House of Worship: The Value of the Female”; “The Return of the Original Man,” a children’s martial arts demonstration, a women’s only self-defense training and a senior sisters workout.
An exciting buzz filled the air following the physical training as conference attendees were blessed to receive the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and his wife, Mother Khadijah Farrakhan. After invaluable words were shared by the Minister, he and Mother Farrakhan remained to enjoy demonstrations from the many martial arts masters and practitioners present.
Brandon Jones, 27, accompanied over 30 Muslims from Mosque No. 55 in Memphis. He came to the conference for the first time. He was encouraged to attend by his younger brother who is a registered member of the Nation of Islam.
From the workshops to the physical training, Brother Brandon shared how he felt like a part of a team. “I felt like I belonged,” he stated. He was especially excited to witness the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in person for the first time. “It felt good seeing him talk in person versus always seeing him on a video,” Brother Brandon said.
“It seemed more like an intimate setting. It felt like a grandfather talking to his children, with everyone sitting down and him talking to everyone. I felt like he would be there, but I didn’t know that he would be there.”
There was also an awards banquet and the Scimitar Open 2024 Martial Arts Tournament, which was hosted in partnership with Student Minister Daniel Muhammad of Chicago, who is also a martial arts master. Grandmaster Abdul Azziz Muhammad was also conferred with the title of Doctor of Martial Arts during the Saturday martial arts demonstration.
Jadayah Muhammad, 29, from Brooklyn, New York, has been attending the training conference since she was six years old. “You get imbued with the warrior spirit every time you come through and it’s the fact that this is the training seminar that centers on not just physical strength, but mental and spiritual strength as well—the elements of defense—that helps you get through whatever obstacles and difficulties that life presents,” she said.
“Even though it’s grueling and even though my back hurts in at least two different locations, every time I come, I come away encouraged, inspired and stronger and also [being among] the community, that also helps,” she shared.
Grandmaster Abdul Azziz Muhammad shared with The Final Call, his deep appreciation for an unsung quiet force, that at his request, is present at every training seminar, members of the Nation of Islam’s Ministry of Health who assisted tremendously throughout the weekend.
He also shared how he would like to see these training courses replicated on a smaller scale in the participants’ respective cities so that they can teach others.
“A lot of times we go back to our respective locations and we take on the same attitude before you gained any knowledge and so you go back and still be a ‘little-minded’ place when you can just take on the process and ways that we produced this and do it there so that we can keep building and growing,” said Grandmaster Abdul Azziz.
“I would want them to go back and say these are things that we got, so let’s just put this into practice, let’s test this out and start working that there. And if they do that, I’m sure they are going to see results. It’s going to benefit them,” he concluded.
Stay tuned for additional coverage from the International Training Conference in future editions of The Final Call.
