His mission, work and impact continue today and will never be forgotten
“You name it, he did it. What a friend we have in Jesus! (The Honorable Elijah Muhammad). There is not a Black leader who has not been positively affected by this man and his Message.”
From the Message, “A True Friend: The Honorable Elijah Muhammad,”
—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
The Teachings and Divine Mission of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad may have started narrowly among Black people in America, but its lasting impact continues to reverberate around the world.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad was born on or about Oct. 7, 1897, and was the seventh child of 12 born to William (later named Wali) and Marie Poole, in Sandersville, Georgia.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said His birth took place sometime between the first or second week of October 1897, and established Oct. 7 as the anniversary date of His birth.
As the Nation of Islam commemorates and observes the 128th birth anniversary of this Divine and Anointed Servant of Allah (God), this Holy Day is also a reflection on His Mighty Mission, which was and is the work of the “resurrection of the dead,”—the Black man and woman. He will never be forgotten or written out of history.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad developed a methodology of bringing out of the Black man what God has put within, so that we could learn to respect ourselves and to respect one another,” said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in a message delivered January 24, 1994, called “Let Us Make Man.”
The Nation of Islam’s (N.O.I.) Day of Service, commemorating the 128th anniversary of the birth of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, provided Muslims with an opportunity to serve their communities on this special Holy Day.
An October 7, National Prayer Service at 5:00 a.m. Central Time, from N.O.I. headquarters, broadcast live online, to thank Allah (God) in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, The Great Mahdi, for raising up for Black people and for humanity the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
Later in the day, members of the Nation of Islam from various mosques and study groups distributed healthy and nutritious meals, hygiene kits, and water to people in communities around the country.
“We bear witness in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan that the work that they have done is a work never before done in the annals of history. These two men have opened the eyes of the blind and have made the deaf to hear.
They have raised the dead to life. They have taught us how to eat to live, and they have announced to the world God’s Judgment and have made the reality of God known. They have revealed the Devil, Satan, the man of sin, the son of perdition,”
Stated Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, Minister Farrakhan’s National Assistant, during the “Morning National Prayer Commemorating the 90th Birth Anniversary of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in May 2023.
“We honor Him (the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad) with a day of service because He lived among us and He lives among us as the best example of service to a people, of service to God, of service to a cause,” stated Student Minister Demetric Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 in Memphis.
Who is also an author and member of the Nation of Islam Research Group. “He gave His life for His people, and He continues to give His life for His people, and so it should be a National Day of Service.”
The extraordinary impact of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in areas such as religion, education, business, economics, science, and other fields must not be overlooked or underestimated, and is written about in scripture.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s work, after Master Fard Muhammad taught him for ‘three days’(three years and four months); and as the Bible teaches in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 12, verses 38-45, as Jonah was in the belly of the whale ‘three days and three nights.
So shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth,’” noted Minister Farrakhan, during “A Conversation with Scholars and Friends,” on April 10, 2015, at The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Allah intervened in our Affairs in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, The Great Mahdi (or ‘Guide’) Who came to guide a sheep that had gotten lost, Who came to restore a prodigal son, Who came to unite the dry bones in the valley.
And He raised one up from among us, for as the scriptures in the last book of The Old Testament called ‘Malachi’ (meaning ‘My Messenger’), reads: ‘Behold, before that great and dreadful day of The Lord, I will send you Elijah’: The prophet before the coming of that great and dreadful day of The Lord!” Minister Farrakhan continued.
“And what will you do, Elijah? ‘I will turn the hearts of the children back to their fathers, and the fathers’ hearts back to the children lest I smite the earth with a curse.’ Why must Elijah first come? Elijah is to restore all things. “Restore all things” to whom, and for what?” Minister Farrakhan added.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad moved to first resurrect the dead, so-called Negroes (Black people in America), who were most in need of resurrection, not physically, but mentally. He taught them what is reflected in Point No. 5 of The Muslim Program, of “What The Muslims Believe” which states:
“WE BELIEVE in the resurrection of the dead—not in physical resurrection—but in mental resurrection. We believe that the so-called Negroes are most in need of mental resurrection; therefore, they will be resurrected first.
Furthermore, we believe we are the people of God’s choice, as it has been written that God would choose the rejected and the despised. We can find no other persons fitting this description in these last days more than the so-called Negroes in America. We believe in the resurrection of the righteous.”
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad raised a Nation, despite it being the hardest job given to any man in the annals of history. He established religious centers of worship and began to start businesses, including The Final Call to Islam newspaper in 1934, as well as schools for the proper education of Black Muslim children, known as Muhammad University of Islam and much more.
By the mid-1960s, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad extended the ever-growing Nation of Islam to more than 60 cities and abroad in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, among other places. That number has grown to more than 120 cities worldwide today.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s work included the establishment of farms, livestock and vegetable cultivation, rental housing units, private home construction and acquisitions.
Other real estate purchases, food processing centers, restaurants, bakeries, lamb packing and cold storage facilities, clothing factories, banking, import and export businesses, aviation, health care, administrative offices, shipping on land, sea and air.
His Teachings encourage Black people to pool their resources and “do-for-self,” and have also been demonstrated among the Nation of Islam and other cultural and ethnic groups in the U.S. who have established thriving ethnic enclaves in various cities.
His Teachings have reformed and resurrected Black men and women who have been jailed in America’s numerous prisons and jails around the country and who are now upstanding members of their communities.
It was the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad who taught His followers to respect and protect Black women, the immeasurable value of the woman and who she is in the Eyes of Allah (God).
“Until we learn to love and protect our woman, we will never be a fit and recognized people on the earth. The White people here among you will never recognize you until you protect your woman,” He wrote in “Message To The Blackman In America,” on page 58.
It was the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad whose Teachings about so-called UFOs in the 1930s are being verified and confirmed by today’s scientists.
His accomplishments and achievements have had a significant impact on both Black and White America, and they continue to be felt through Minister Farrakhan’s work and mission today, which is an extension of his Teacher’s work and mission.
Many scientific and historic discoveries, as well as the fight for freedom, justice, and equality for Black people in America, bear witness to the realities of the consistent warnings issued by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
These include the fall of America, shifts in global geopolitics, and what Allah (God) continues to reveal, observed Student Min. Demetric Muhammad.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad did a work among us and it continues. It continues in what He is doing to guide Minister Farrakhan, and it also continues in the work of Minister Farrakhan and those of us who have committed ourselves to help Him,” he stated.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is a man that should be studied and His Teaching should be examined, because they contain the best guidance for us as a people and they contain the best guidance for America and the world,” added Student Min. Demetric Muhammad.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Invincible Truth of what He brought and taught is just as relevant and important in 2025.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan vowed to take his Teacher’s Teaching and Message to every nook and cranny of America and the world and he has made good on that promise as he understands the Life, Light and Power contained in the Teachings that will uplift all of humanity.
“By the Help and Power of Allah (God), I will not leave this Earth until the whole world knows of the Work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and His opposition is buried in the vile dust of ignominy from which they sprang!” Minister Farrakhan declared in his 2023 message titled, “A True Friend: The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.”
“Every one of us who has been touched by Him should and must rise up and declare His name to the ends of the earth! We, who have benefited from Him and His message must do as the Holy Qur’an 21:17-18 instructs,
‘Had we wished to take a pastime, We would have taken it from before Ourselves; by no means would We do (so). Nay, We hurl the Truth against falsehood, so it knocks out its brains, and lo! it vanishes. And woe to you for what you describe!’”
Final Call Staff contributed to this report.