A mentor. A teacher. A guide.
Brother Naba’a Muhammad, the late editor-in-chief of The Final Call newspaper, was the type of coach that up-and-coming journalists and professionals wanted in their corner.
He had the keen sense of seeing the gifts Allah (God) placed inside of a person before they did, and he had the ability to cultivate and bring out those hidden gifts.
Bro. Naba’a is remembered as someone who was always willing to encourage, to guide, to tell the truth and to do the work.
The Final Call spoke to many of those who joined The Final Call team as teenagers and young adults.
Those Bro. Naba’a mentored include Sis. Tariqah Muhammad, Sis. Janiah X and this article writer, Sis. Anisah Muhammad, a trio he affectionately called “Muhammad’s Angels.”
“He reminds me of a team coach … the more passionate kind who would get in your face. ‘Come on, I know you see me. Let’s go!’” Tariqah Muhammad, 28, a Chicago-based staff writer and production member of The Final Call, said. His passion intimidated her in the beginning, but over time, she started to love his passion, his spirit and his love for Black people.
Final Call contributor Sis. Janiah X, 29, a broadcast news producer in Miami, said from the moment she met Bro. Naba’a, he was always imparting knowledge.
“I know not just with me but also with you (this article writer, Sis. Anisah) and Sis. Tariqah and any young sister who was there. He was always trying to push us out front and always made sure we felt included and that we knew he acknowledged how talented he felt we were,” she said. “He was a big advocate for us in anything we did and wanted to make sure that we knew that.”
She expressed her gratitude for the example he set, the encouragement he gave to seize the opportunity and the level of sensitivity he had when capturing the stories of the suffering masses of Black people.
Others remember Bro. Naba’a as a family-oriented man.
From the time Bro. Jabril Muhammad, 33, who does page layout for The Final Call, first met Bro. Naba’a, the late editor-in-chief always encouraged him to balance the mission of the Nation of Islam with family life and would remind him that a strong family builds a strong nation. Bro. Naba’a also instilled in Bro. Jabril the importance of loving “what you do and who you’re doing it for.”
Bro. Nadir Muhammad, 25, Final Call page layout designer from Memphis, Tennessee, described Bro. Naba’a as a straightforward man who gave good advice and offered him the opportunity to labor with the paper, which allowed him to care for his family.
Bro. Mikal Veale, 38, a photographer who lives in Baltimore, said Bro. Naba’a taught him how to be a man and was always willing to offer constructive criticism of his photography.
“I feel like we have some really big shoes to fill as far as his work ethic and just his unwavering dedication to not only the paper but the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation as a whole,” he said.
Sisters Azizah Muhammad and Yaminah Muhammad were both newly registered members of the Nation of Islam when they met Bro. Naba’a.
Sis. Azizah, 34, editor of Atlanta-based Rise Magazine, wrote her first story for The Final Call in 2018 after joining the Nation. “I just remember him being really friendly, really supportive, and I would just see his love of words and writing, but most importantly, his love of telling the truth,” she said.
“He leaves that legacy of having all of those words, thousands of words written in The Final Call that people can always go back and look at, whether it’s an article he wrote or an article that another writer wrote that he looked over and edited.”
Brother West Muhammad, 15, is from Baltimore, the same city as Brother Naba’a. He began sending articles to The Final Call as a young boy. “Brother Naba’a to me was a warm soul that offered a light and a true passion for me to succeed like no other.
From a young age, he took me under his wing. Not only as a journalist or a future member of the Nation of Islam but as a true brother. I remember first meeting him many years ago when he visited Muhammad Mosque No. 6
And since then, he made it his duty to help me ‘try my hand at writing’ as he advised me to do in an interview with him on WHID-FM,” said Bro. West, referring to a weekly podcast he co-hosts.
Sis. Yaminah Muhammad, 25, Final Call contributing writer from Newark, New Jersey, joined the Nation in late 2022. She had been pursuing journalism and was interested in writing for The Final Call.
“Hearing what everyone says about him, as far as his passion for getting the youth involved and cultivating the youth, it just speaks to that, because even in my own experience, I literally came into the ranks and was able to be working with The Final Call in just a couple of months,” she said.
She recalled her first Saviours’ Day convention working with The Final Call. Bro. Naba’a explained to her that her sacrifice would bring her closer to her goals as a journalist. She still refers back to his words when she’s having a rough week.
“If I have to pull an all-nighter, if I have to go the extra mile, it’s my sacrifice, and that’s what’s going to keep our paper going. That’s what’s going to keep our mission going. That’s what’s going to keep me going as a writer for The Final Call,” she said.
“And just in that small encounter, him being able to have that impact on me as a young writer and as a young journalist, it just really shows the influence that he was able to have in cultivating the team that we have here on The Final Call.”
Longtime Final Call writer Abisayo Muhammad, 53, resident of Benton Harbor, Michigan, first met Bro. Naba’a as a new Muslim in 1998. Her childhood love of writing sparked her interest in The Final Call. Back then, Bro. Naba’a was the paper’s managing editor.
“Not only did he teach those principles of journalism and doing the job well, which was starting out as the managing editor’s secretary, he also taught me just some lessons, life lessons, just accepting your own, being yourself, being confident,” she said.
At the time, she didn’t have a journalism education, but Bro. Naba’a taught her everything she needed to know. “He played a big role in shaping a lot of young up-and-coming reporters, whether they were in the Nation or not,” she added. “He gave them a chance, he gave them an opportunity, and he did that for me.”
She described Bro. Naba’a as a warrior who was serious in his search for the truth.
“He represented such strength when it came to the truth and when it came to The Final Call newspaper. His legacy is that he was a soldier for Allah. He was a warrior, and he put that strength and fight in all of us who were around him,” she said. “His legacy is, get out there and get the truth for our people.”