CHICAGO—Family, dignitaries and friends of Brother Rasul Hakim Muhammad gathered March 20 at Mosque Maryam for a janazah (funeral) service for the talented author, singer, composer, and helper to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in the rebuilding effort of the Nation of Islam (N.O.I.).
Bro. Rasul was surrounded by family in Florida when he returned to Allah on March 13 following a long illness. Brother Rasul was the third child and second son born to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Mother Tynnetta Muhammad. He was 59 years old.
Delivering words of comfort, Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, the National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and brother of Rasul Muhammad, described Rasul as a “faithful, devoted and dedicated follower” of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
He said the loss saddened mourners, but they were also thankful that Allah (God) allowed Brother Rasul to be part of their lives. “The loss can cause us to unravel … but death has to show us what truly matters,” he said. “Death serves life.”
Speaking to an audience that included the members of the Muhammad and Farrakhan families, most of whom are related, and some hadn’t seen each other in years, Student Minister Ishmael encouraged families and believers to unify to do the work that Bro. Rasul had accepted—delivering the message of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan “to our suffering people.”
He noted that Bro. Rasul maintained connections in Detroit, where he was appointed Student Minister in 1989 of Mosque No. 1 and where the N.O.I. began in the 1930s. He was later assigned as Student Minister of Mosque No. 29 in Miami, Fla. At one point between 2008-2013, he served simultaneously as Student Minister of both mosques.
Referring to a period after 1975 when the N.O.I. departed from the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Student Minister Ishmael noted the reconciliation and a coming together of Minister Farrakhan and Imam Warithuddin Mohammed, son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who led the Nation after his father’s departure.
Student Min. Ishmael encouraged the continuation of that unifying effort: “What are we doing for the legacy of the great patriarch (the Honorable Elijah Muhammad) of this community? Come on, family, what are we doing to advance the cause of Islam to our suffering people? Let this day be a day of life … of unity,” he said.
Student Min. Ishmael gave honor to Bro. Rasul’s wife, Sister Sabrina Muhammad, for making “good on her marriage vow … til death do us part.”
“She was there (in the hospital) alone for long hours, and she read to her husband the Holy Qur’an daily,” he said. “What you did was so magnificent. You proved your love.”
Learning patience
Student Min. Ishmael described the pain of watching “the ebb of life” gradually leaving his brother’s body and how he wanted to end any suffering his brother was experiencing. “When he took his last breath, I saw a burden that was in his body lifted.
It taught me greater patience,” he said. Student Min. Ishmael described the tremendous love of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for the Muhammad family and for personally being like a father to him and his family in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s absence.
“Whatever Rasul was, it was because of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” he said. “Minister Louis Farrakhan is a loving father to us all. The children of Mother Tynnetta have been the beneficiaries of that love.
“The whole Muhammad family owes a debt of gratitude to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” he said. During the service Student Min. Ishmael expressed gratitude to Bro. Muwakkil (Gregory) Muhammad for the donation of his kidney to Bro. Rasul which allowed him an extended quality of life.
Sister Jamillah Muhammad, daughter of Bro. Rasul Muhammad, spoke of the darkness she felt of losing her father. “His passing became one of my greatest fears,” she told the audience. “Was it my own fear of being left behind rather than trusting in Allah’s divine plan?
“He also departed during Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam, and on that same night, we witnessed a lunar eclipse just as Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) witnessed an eclipse on the day of his son Ibrahim’s passing,” she said.
Such events are divine reminders of a soul in transition, she said. Sister Jamillah explained that her father’s name means “messenger of Allah” in the Arabic language.
“I see him as one of Allah’s songbirds sent to spread His words and the Teachings of Master Fard Muhammad through the gift of his voice. Allah made his voice so sweet and powerful that every word he sang resonated deep in our hearts and souls,” she said.
The heartfelt presentation delivered by Bro. Ahmad Muhammad, a brother of Rasul who initially was hesitant to speak, surprised and aroused the crowd. “My heart is beating in my throat,” he said. “I should be nervous to come up here because this is not my rostrum, this is not my people, you all are the people of God,” he said.
The child comes through the parent, but they don’t have possession over the child. The child belongs to Allah (God), he said. “How can we be selfish and be sad and be worried when Allah chooses to take one of us back to Him?
Allah is Possessor of All Things. Allah (God) in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, He came and He gave us a process of learning who we are. How special is that?”
Brother Ahmad encouraged the audience to abandon selfishness and take a cue from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan who, after his Saviours’ Day 2024 message, was told by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to be silent while Allah (God) manifests what Minister Farrakhan said in his speech.
“If we shut down the echo chamber in the brain, [which] is only yourself talking to yourself … when we’re silent when we’re not thinking about ourselves, when we’re not talking about ourselves, and we’re only talking about Allah (God) … maybe then you’ll begin to see the magnificence of Allah’s creation and all it has to teach us,” he said. Bro. Rasul’s life of selflessness and service is a lesson for all of us, he concluded.
The moderator of the service was Student Minister Jeffrey Muhammad. Bro. Rasul’s nephew, Bro. Ismail Muhammad Jr., and niece, Sis. Nura Fashah Muhammad, read the obituary.
Bro. Rasul’s love was so great for Detroit, his mother’s birthplace, that he was interred there. He is survived by his devoted wife, Sabrina; his daughters, Jamillah and Amani; his step-sons, Leon, Ishmael and Elijah; mother-in-law, Mary Morrison; his siblings; Madeeah, Ishmael (Karli), Ahmad, Kamal (Fatima), Marie, Abdullah Yasin (Marishia), Ayesha, Samayyah, Saudi (Dotson), Bahiyyah (Mark), Naeemah, Laveletta; his Aunt Pamela Muhammad; a host of nieces, nephews and cousins and a grateful Nation of Islam.
Brother Rasul touched so many
Bro. Don Enoch Muhammad from New York, a helper of Minister Farrakhan, described Bro. Rasul as “always vibrant, engaging, even entertaining. His artistry came through in his teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He brought them to life and made them relatable.”
A special memory was the time he spent with Bro. Rasul helping with the song “Zapata” that Bro. Rasul wrote for Minister Farrakhan’s album documentary project “Let’s Change the World.” He also expressed amazement at the ability of Student Minister Ishmael to eulogize both his mother in 2015 and, today, his brother.
Final Call General Manager Abdul Rasul Muhammad remembers spending six months in Los Angeles around 2011. “You talking about an experience,” he laughed.
“He would eat my ice cream … the whole pint and tell me I’ll get you another one tomorrow, but tomorrow never came.” He said Bro. Rasul once sat with him on the front steps of Mosque Maryam and “literally taught me how to perform a Muslim wedding.”
“There was so much love between us. He was my brother and my mentor. It’s an honor to pay respect by my presence. I pray to be more like him in his love of love, tolerance, forgiveness, and mercy.”
Sister Joanne Muhammad is Bro. Rasul’s former sister-in-law. “The very first time I met Rasul was in Mexico. It was my first time visiting Mexico, and Rasul made me feel so welcomed. Ever since then we loved each other so much and through the years we grew up together in the Nation because we met so young. Rasul will be truly missed.”
Sister Dr. Safiyya Shabazz stated, “It is an honor to be here to celebrate the life of Brother Rasul Muhammad. He is someone that embodies love. Love is a simple word, and some people do it well and other people do it superficially, but it is obvious that Brother Rasul loved deeply.
I was listening to an hour-long tribute on a Detroit radio station, and another thing that came through regarding Brother Rasul is that he was a man of his word. Again, something so simple, but yet, others struggle in that arena, keeping their word. He was a man of his word and a man who loved deeply.”
Detroit Minister Troy Muhammad served as Assistant Minister to Bro. Rasul for four years. He said Bro. Rasul was a fisher of men who didn’t look at the flaws; he looked at the other qualities of the heart. He reflected on a time when he and Bro.
Rasul bought a keyboard for a concert Bro. Rasul was to perform. They went to Bro. Troy’s home to practice on it, but Bro. Troy’s young daughter showed an interest in it.
Bro. Rasul gave the daughter the keyboard on the spot and bought another one, Bro. Troy related. “Now my granddaughter is learning from that same keyboard. It’s a sign of how he moved according to his heart,” he said.
Sister Andrea Muhammad of Mosque No. 1 described Bro. Rasul as “dynamic.” She served as Student M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain and also as Bro. Rasul’s secretary at separate times. Bro. Rasul also performed Sis. Andrea’s wedding to her husband Bro. Basil.
“He had so much love for the city. No one encountered him who didn’t walk away with a strong impression of him. He brought so much love to the city that Detroit needed,” she said.
Bro. Gregory Sain, who held a security post with Bro. Rasul in the mid-1980s outside Minister Farrakhan’s home in the Beverly neighborhood, said Bro. Rasul would turn the car radio up loud, and they would sing “Holding On” by Simply Red every time it came on.
“I’m sure Mother Khadijah Farrakhan (wife of Minister Farrakhan) could hear it because he turned it up so loud,” he laughed. “Today was a good day. He would be proud that we celebrate him in the right spirit and energy.”
Bro. Sultan Rahman Muhammad is a great-grandson of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, a member of the N.O.I. Shura Executive Council and is Student National Imam of the Nation of Islam. He recited the janazah prayer in Arabic at the close of the service.
“Rasul Muhammad, my beloved uncle, may Allah (God) be pleased with him, has always been an inspiration not only to myself but to a Nation. He has made a beautiful example of one who has used all of his talents for raising the name of Allah (God) and His Messenger.
I thank Allah (God) for him, for a very critical point in my life as I was registering to become a member of the Nation of Islam, as a great-grandchild of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
He would drive me to Processing Class sometimes, and it was through him and my other uncles, that we were able to reunite our family in a way that was seed-bearing fruit right now and into the future, in a way that we would never, never break the family ties and bonds of the Muhammad family and Farrakhan family. All praise is due to Allah (God),” stated Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad.
Sister Medina Mohammed from Detroit remembers her first cousin’s display of love in everything he did. They didn’t meet until 2002, but they knew they were relatives. She said Bro. Rasul would always ask…
“What are you waiting for?” to encourage her to join the ranks in the mosque. “We had very personal conversations all the time. I’ve told him some very deep personal things that never came back to me. I felt I could really trust him,” she said.
“Today’s gathering was a family reunion. Funerals tend to bring families together. As Minister Ishmael said, funerals are for the living.”
Final Call Contributing Writer Shawntell Muhammad contributed to this report.
