“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.”
—Bible (KJV), Genesis 15:13-15
The above scriptural reference speaks of God’s promise to a people who would be held in bondage as slaves for more than 400 years. According to the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that scripture is not a historical reference to a people of the past.
But a prophetic picture of a future people who would be visited by God Himself. And upon His visit, He would cast judgment on that nation, and those held in bondage would be freed to live a life of freedom, justice and equality.
On July 4, 1930, according to the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that scripture was fulfilled when Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, the long-awaited Messiah of the Christians and Mahdi of the Muslims.
Master Fard Muhammad came to identify the Black man and woman as His chosen people and to deliver them from their oppressor, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches.
It is significant that the fulfilment of God’s promise occurred on July 4th as America celebrated her independence when on July 4 He proclaimed Black People’s independence from their former slave masters and set in motion the Divine Judgment of the United States of America, according to the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and declared by His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, for 44 years, taught us that God is not a mystery, He is not a spirit, He is not a spook. God is real. He is a real live human being, differing from you and me only in that He is supreme in knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and power.
This is what He taught us,” stated Minister Farrakhan, during his historic Saviours’ Day keynote address, “Who Is God?” delivered on February 24, 1991, at Christ Universal Temple in Chicago, Illinois.
“Who is God? We all talk about Him, certainly we love Him, we bear witness that He is The Greatest. We live in His Universe: There is nothing to compare with it, so certainly there is nothing to compare with Him! But Who is He?! We want to know our Creator! We want to know God!” Minister Farrakhan continued.
Master Fard Muhammad and July 4th
On the back page of the Nation of Islam’s newspaper, then the Muhammad Speaks, now The Final Call, in Point No. 12, it states:
“WE BELIEVE that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930; the long-awaited ‘Messiah’ of the Christians and the ‘Mahdi’ of the Muslims. We believe further and lastly that Allah is God and besides HIM there is no God and He will bring about a universal government of peace wherein we all can live in peace together.”
In His book, “The Fall of America,” in the chapter, “Independence Day,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad explains the significance of Master Fard Muhammad’s coming on July 4th.
He explained that July 4th celebrates the independence of the American White man. They wrote the Declaration of Independence for themselves. “The white man did not put anything in the Declaration of Independence for the benefit of the Black Man, who was the servitude-slave of the white man, at that time.”
In that same chapter, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad on the significance of that date for the Black man and woman, said, “Let us take a look again at our own Black independence and how it came on this day of the 4th of July … at the Coming of Allah (God) Who came in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, to Whom praises are due forever, on July 4, 1930.
“The significance of His coming to us, on the Independence Day of the white man, is very great. It is their day of great rejoicing. As with former peoples and their governments, their destruction took place when they were at
For God’s declaring the independence of the Black man and woman, for that we must be thankful, stated Student Minister Dr. Wesley Muhammad, noting the 95th anniversary of the Nation of Islam in America.
Student Min. Dr. Wesley is a member of the Shura Executive Council of the Nation of Islam, a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group (NOIRG) and an author. He also wrote his PhD dissertation on Point No. 12, the cardinal principle of belief of the Nation of Islam.
It was Minister Farrakhan’s “Who is God?” message that turned him from a one-time atheist and a person who “hated religion” into someone who was impacted and revolutionized his spiritual and religious life, Student Min. Dr. Wesley explained.
“The Black man and woman in America, we have to recognize how deeply blessed we are in the most cosmic sense, to be the recipients of the presence of God Himself, ending the mystery of God that the whole world has languished under for 66 trillion years,” he stated.
To one degree, said Student Min. Dr. Wesley, Master Fard Muhammad did not fully make His presence known to the Black man and woman. That was left for the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as His Choice to do after the Saviour departed, he said.
Historians have vigorously debated the absence of secular historical evidence of Jews being held in bondage for 400 years while acknowledging the biblical references to this event. Dr. Wesley contends that the absence of that historical evidence aligns with the evidence presented by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and taught by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
“The Children of Israel in Egypt were a prophetic, symbolic picture of that People that would fulfill the scriptures that Jesus was prophesying and giving parables about.
And here we are, having been brought through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the first slaves coming to these shores in the year 1555—so in 1955 we had come to 400 years of The Fulfillment of our servitude slavery to America and its people,” stated Minister Farrakhan in part 11 of his 58-week, 2013 lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done.”
“So, from that time on: The Presence of God would begin to interfere with America’s rule over the Black man; and the Black man and woman of America, styled in the scriptures as ‘dead,’ would begin the process of resurrection,” Minister Farrakhan said.
“This is not talking about some ‘dead people in the cemetery,’ it’s talking about a people who have ‘eyes’ but can’t see, ‘ears’ that can’t hear, ‘tongues’ that can’t speak—they are blind, deaf and dumb!
A people who are spiritually dead—morally ‘turned out’ by Satan! A people who are politically dead, economically dead, intellectually dead! That is the condition of the Black man and woman of America,” he continued.
95 years and counting
Over the last century, the Nation of Islam’s presence in America has been a testament to faith, perseverance, and strength. The U.S. government and other enemies have targeted and tried to destroy the Nation of Islam.
Student Minister Demetric Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 in Memphis is also an author and member of the Nation of Islam Research Group. He remarked about the Coming of Allah (God) and the Nation of Islam’s 95th anniversary.
Saying he is “grateful and thankful to Allah, for blessing us to survive in a society that is at the same time hostile to truth, hostile to the way of God, and historically hostile to Black people in America.”
The most powerful forces in American society have long since seen the presence of the Nation of Islam as an adversarial one that challenged and potentially weakened the White power structure and its continued unencumbered oppression of Black people in America and throughout the world, he noted.
Thus, it is no hyperbole or exaggeration to say that the Nation of Islam has existed for the past 95 years as a veritable thorn in the side of the wicked and those who have made merchandise off the lives of Black people and those who have traveled the world, exporting American imperialism and colonialism, he said.
“So, our celebrating 95 years is celebrating 95 years inside of a hostile environment, inside a furnace of affliction, inside of a cauldron where the fire has been extremely hot. But, from the spiritual standpoint, we know that God frequently uses adverse circumstances to purify the servants of God,” he stated.
Min. Demetric further observed that now, at the dawn of the Nation of Islam’s 95 years in America, Black people are not the way they were in 1930, 1975, 1995, or even in the year 2000, but are at the dawn of a new beginning.
It is one, he said, where, not only has the Nation of Islam survived to be a salvific presence in the lives of Black people in America, but the Nation of Islam is now at the dawn of being a salvific presence in the life of all human beings, who seek the light and the way of God as this world becomes increasingly dark as it is in its final days of existence.
The increasing political turmoil, economic instability, and weather disasters, including hurricanes, tornadoes, snow, hailstorms, floods, and wildfires, are all taking their toll on America.
“We just thank Allah. We are reflective. We are happy. And we reflect, just where would we be if Allah had not come for us? We cannot imagine the fate of our people if that beautiful human being, coming from the Holy City of Mecca, Arabia to Black Bottom, Detroit, to declare the freedom and independence of Black people on July 4, 1930.
We cannot imagine where would we be, because we are at a time now where everything that He taught the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is coming to pass,” expressed Student Min. Demetric.
In the book “Closing the Gap: Inner Views of the Heart, Soul and Mind of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” written and compiled by Minister Jabril Muhammad (May Allah be pleased), Minister Farrakhan delves deeply into the universality of the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
Minister Jabril asked Minister Farrakhan the following question: “How does this apply to the statement of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that through you he would get all of his people, especially now, in the light of your three world tours.”
Minister Farrakhan responded: “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad signed off on His articles, ‘Elijah Muhammad, Messenger of Allah to you all.’ Well, who is ‘you all?’ Since the book is titled; Message to the Blackman in America, does ‘you all’ mean all Black people in America?
Why then did He plant a part of His family in Mexico? When they asked what teaching would He give to the Mexicans, He answered that Mexicans should be given the same teachings that He gave us.”
He continued, “Messenger to ‘you all’ then, has to mean to the whole human family. If I am answering your question correctly, all of his people are certainly Black people.
But all of his people are certainly the righteous, wherever they are, and from whatever people they come, they belong to Allah, and they belong to the Messenger of Allah, or the Christ, or the Messianic figure. ”
Final Call Contributing Editor James G. Muhammad and Final Call Staff contributed to this report.