[Editor’s note: This article is a reprint and was published online on January 14, 2020; and The Final Call will continue to reprint articles written by our brother and friend, Minister Jabril Muhammad.]
Today is November 11 and the 315th day of the year and the 316th in leap years. There are innumerable facts, like this one, but is nothing in comparison to what is most important to learn of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
From the perspective of a follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad under the leadership of Minister Farrakhan, Allah came in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad. He–the Great Mahdi–openly began his work on July 4, 1930. About 14 months later, He began the process of revealing Himself to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
What was the condition of Black people in America at that time? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad summed it up in one word: “dead.”
Over the next few years, The Great Mahdi prepared the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to deliver His message to the rest of us. How much of a gap or distance was between the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the rest of us at the time of Master Fard Muhammad’s Departure?
I heard the Honorable Elijah Muhammad say–others may have heard the same–in December 1967 here in Phoenix, Ariz. that, for every month he was taught by his Teacher, he would teach us one year. As you know, he departed in February 1975.
How much of a gap or distance was there between him and us, on his departure in 1975? What was done in advance to close it? Answer: Minister Farrakhan. The only Brother whom he prepared to sit in his seat was Minister Farrakhan.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad looked upon Minister Farrakhan in a manner that Moses looked upon Aaron. Moses prayed to Allah for Aaron to share his task, burden, assignment, mission or work. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, likewise, prayed for Minister Farrakhan.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us that his Teacher told him that He gave him the hardest job of any man who ever lived. The man for whom he prayed would have to be blessed by God with special qualities to be able to share the most difficult of all tasks ever given to any human being.
The essence of this task, which Minister Farrakhan was made to share with his teacher, was called by his teacher “giving life to the dead; the mentally dead.” What is the gap or distance between dead people in cemeteries in contrast to the state in which they could be if they were brought back to life and then lifted to the status of one who is one with God and the righteous? If that is “the impossible,” the task that is next to the impossible to accomplish is what God gave to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, which Minister Farrakhan was made to share.
Regardless to all other talents, including wide-ranging knowledge, an absolutely essential requirement to successfully accomplish this task is humility.
The Almighty would never have chosen Aaron to serve Moses if he was not an extraordinarily humble man. Likewise, in order for Minister Farrakhan to serve his teacher, he had to be raised in the way his teacher was raised–in humbleness. To know Minister Farrakhan is to know that he is an extraordinarily humble man. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad once told me, in an answer to a question from me, that he was born from an “enslaved people and Allah raised me according to my nature.” This accounted for his humility.
In Closing The Gap, we can learn, if we don’t already know, that Minister Farrakhan was likewise raised. His words make very clear the reality of the power of humility. We need his wisdom, for far too many mistake humility for weakness; nor do they know its power.
Should we not try to rearrange our time to provide ourselves with more time to more rapidly close the gap between ourselves and him–especially since the time is so short?
Last week’s article ended with: “Your God is One God. But as for those who do not believe in the Hereafter, their hearts are strangers (to the truth), and they are full of vanity.” (Holy Qur’an, Surah 16:22)
The process of Closing The Gap between Minister Farrakhan (and the Two he represents) involves the work of changing hearts that were characterized by being estranged or alienated from His truth to hearts that are increasingly intimate with God’s Truth.
The impact of Minister Farrakhan’s words in Closing The Gap is evidence of this fact. His words are filled with His spirit. We cannot fake God’s spirit.
Ever since he started the process of rebuilding the Nation of Islam in 1977, he has urged us to study, of which reading is essential. He has placed emphasis on that which was, and is, most uplifting. Everything he has urged us to study leads, moves, directs and/or conducts, get us closer, shows us the way and guides us to the knowledge and understanding of Master Fard Muhammad and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and the ways to godliness.
On page 17 of “Message to the Blackman,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote that Master Fard Muhammad told him: “My name is Mahdi; I am God, I came to guide you into the right path that you may be successful and see the Hereafter.”
That guidance included his being guided to meet, recognize and participate in the preparation of Minister Farrakhan, who was the person Master Fard Muhammad foreknew, long in advance, was the man destined to fulfill the words of the prayer written in the Holy Qur’an, Surah 20:32: “And make him share my task.”
Moses made this prayer to Allah to make Aaron to share his task. Different words other than the word “task” are given in different translations. The point is that prayer was fulfilled. That prayer and its fulfillment were a sign of the prayer the Honorable Elijah Muhammad made to Allah, which was fulfilled in the person of Minister Farrakhan.
How did Minister Farrakhan’s teacher prepare him to share that which no human being was ever given to do before his teacher was given it?
Answers to that question are in Minister Farrakhan’s own words in the book, Closing The Gap. Read it. Not to make Closing The Gap nor learning from Minister Farrakhan himself that which we did and do not know, much less understand, a top priority of your everyday activities makes the Gap wider.
This is the day when the sheep are being separated from the goats.
What happened to, or with, Minister Farrakhan a little over 21 years ago is what I am driving towards. There is powerful evidence in the words of Minister Farrakhan on the pages of Closing The Gap that something extra-extraordinary occurred to and through him on September 17, 1985.
Minister Farrakhan has often said that every important thing he has done, from then to now, is from what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave to him on the Wheel!
Should not his effort to close the gap be seen by us of extreme importance?
More, next issue, Allah willing.
