“And speak not of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead. Nay they are alive, but you perceive not.”— Holy Qur’an 2:154
The world lost a giant among giants with the passing of Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad, the International Representative of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.
“A great tree has fallen,” as the African proverb says, with the passing of the man who gave more than six decades of dedicated service to the struggle and rise of his people. Minister Akbar, affectionately known as “Brother Akbar,” passed away on March 17 after a lengthy illness. He was 83-years-old.
“We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return,” reads a verse from Surah (chapter) 2, Ayat (verse) 156 from the Holy Qur’an in his family’s statement announcing his passing. “With deep gratitude for a life of service, the family of Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad announces his peaceful transition,” the family statement further read.
For those who knew him, a “life of service” describes Bro. Akbar, the Muslim minister, husband, father, a brother’s brother, soldier, chief and servant. He was a faithful helper to Minister Farrakhan in sharing the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the U.S. and abroad.
As the International Representative of the Nation of Islam, his work as a helper to his brother, companion and friend, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, carried him to over 180 nations and many walks of life, meeting heads of state, prime ministers, and dignitaries worldwide.
Min. Akbar was also a man of the people. From the Black communities in America to the Caribbean to South America’s favelas, the zongos of West Africa to the isles of the Pacific, he connected to the people.
Connecting was his gift, whether sharing a teachable moment with a taxi driver while weaving through Cairo’s frenzied-paced traffic or conversing with diplomats from nations that he always seemed to know something about—that was Bro. Akbar.
Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad was born Lawrence James Prescott Jr. on June 9, 1942, in Hampton, Virginia, to Lawrence Prescott Sr. and Celeste Brown. In his early years, he was known to his family and friends as Larry.
But like many Black children, he was also known by nicknames: “Junie” and “Headquarters.” Akbar would later explain that he was called “Headquarters” because of the size of his head.
Around 1944, a young Larry relocated with his family to New York City to live with his mother’s sister, Aunt Arnella. He lived in the South Bronx, where he attended elementary and junior high school and developed his passion for books and love of reading.
Bro. Akbar then moved to Queens, N.Y., where he completed junior high school and high school. He attended Aviation High School as well as classes at Hunter College.
Eventually, he moved to Hollis, Queens, where he met Miriam Williams, his childhood sweetheart, when she was 11 and he was 13. A few years later, they married in November 1960.
Accepting Islam and a mighty mission
Bro. Akbar first attended a Nation of Islam meeting in New York City in 1960 as a dare from a school friend. “In high school I was challenged by a brother named Horace Smith to attend the Muhammad Mosque (known as Temples at that time),” Bro. Akbar said in a 1976 interview.
“I pretended to know something about Islam, but I really didn’t know that much. I had heard something about Malcolm (X) and this ‘fanatical’ group of people who search you,” he said.
He recalled that Sunday, Minister Malcolm did not speak, instead Minister Wallace D. Muhammad, the minister of the temple in Philadelphia, and son of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught. His representation was strong and convincing. “When he finished and asked for acceptances, I was afraid to do anything but accept,” Bro. Akbar told the interviewer.
Although he stood up that day, Bro. Akbar did not enter the Nation of Islam right away. He went into the U.S. military. During this brief stint in the army, influenced by reading and reflecting, he decided the Nation of Islam is where he needed to be.
It was in the service, “I had time to read and reflect,” he said. “One book, ‘Inside Africa’ by John Gunther, talked about the Muslim countries there. Another volume, Louis Lomax’s ‘The Negro Revolt’ discussed the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and made a strong impression on my mind,” said Bro. Akbar.
He prayed to Allah (God) for a way out of the service, reasoning if he can say “yes sir” and “no sir” and soldier for the Caucasian military, “then I could certainly do it for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” he said.
After getting out of the Army, Bro. Akbar joined the Nation in 1961. Excelling as a top salesman for the Muhammad Speaks newspaper, the young Bro. Larry 4X—as he was known—was invited to join the ministry class by Minister Malcolm X.
Bro. Akbar served in various posts within the temple, steadily advancing in the ministry. By 1963, he was appointed assistant minister of a new temple in Corona, Queens.
In 1965, when Minister Farrakhan was assigned to New York as minister, Bro. Akbar became his top assistant—marking a period in which his impact in New York and the Nation of Islam expanded rapidly.
The recording Angel
From that time, a bond of friendship developed between Brother Akbar and Minister Farrakhan. As companions in the Mission of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad to raise the condition of Black people, they grew close as brothers, and their families became close, rooted in that bond.
In 2019, remarks during a celebration banquet honoring Bro. Akbar, Minister Farrakhan spoke to the value of his brother and friend.. “I wanted to say something tonight about my brother. I don’t know if I will get to say it again. I pray so. But I want you to know what he meant and means to me,” said Minister Farrakhan on July 27, 2019.
“I’m the type of brother who has been very careless about the things that I do, great things that God inspired me to do; but I was careless with those things because I didn’t pay it what some would say was adequate attention. And I think it’s because of the way I was made by God,” Minister Farrakhan said.
“But by my side was a man. I woke up maybe two weeks or so ago weeping. But I was thinking about Brother Akbar and in the middle of the night, it was as though Allah was showing me the extreme value of my brother,” said Minister Farrakhan.
“And the way the God brought it to me, he put by my side a ‘Recording Angel’ that I would never write about me because I never thought that I was that important. I lived my life in the shadow of greatness. Never, ever believing that I was, in fact, great.
But God put by my side a Recording Angel who saw value in me that I did not see in myself,” he said, referring to Bro. Akbar, who documented Minister Farrakhan’s works and accomplishments.
“I had to be here to say to his family, to say to his friends, and to say to my family and my friends, that everybody needs somebody—somebody that loves you literally unconditionally because they see the value in you that you don’t see in yourself,” he said. (See page 20-22 to read Minister Farrakhan’s 2019 message in its entirety.)
Remembering and reflecting on the life and impact of Bro. Akbar, many people he touched and influenced, expressed the quality of selflessness he possessed.
Imam Nuri Muhammad of Belize met Bro. Akbar over 50 years ago and shared a friendship that deepened over the decades.
“In the late sixties, before I joined the Nation, my favorite weekly newspaper was the Muhammad Speaks, and in that paper was a weekly ad for a bookstore in New York called ‘Books n Things.’ It was the source for finding books and exotic oils,” Imam Nuri said in a statement to The Final Call.
“Finding books by and about Black people was a rarity in those days. It was your source for J.A. Rogers’ three-volume ‘Sex and Race,’ and Frantz Fanon’s ‘Wretched of the Earth’ and ‘Black Skin, White Mask.’ I used to order these books and have them shipped to me in California,” he said.
“It was not until 1974, when I was a young minister of the Nation, that Minister Farrakhan invited me to New York to his Student Ministers Class, where I was to meet Brother Larry 4X Prescott (Bro. Akbar), owner of Books n Things and Special Assistant to the Minister (Farrakhan),” Imam Nuri continued.
The two “hit it off” immediately because of their mutual interest in books and international affairs. “I was fascinated at his wide scope of knowledge of current world affairs and his particular interest in the Caribbean,” said Imam Nuri.
During the Nation of Islam’s transition in 1976, Bro. Akbar adopted the name Karriem Abdel Aziz. That name was given to him by the leader of the Nation of Islam at that time, Imam Wallace D. Muhammad.
In 1975, then Karriem Abdel Aziz was transferred to Chicago to serve as the Special Assistant to Imam Wallace D. Muhammad. In this role, over the course of 1975 and 1976, Bro. Akbar traveled to Belize, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana, Türkiye, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. In 1975, he was transferred to St. Louis to administer the mosque there.
In the latter part of the 1970s Bro. Akbar rejoined his brother and friend, Minister Farrakhan in the rebuilding of the Nation of Islam. He was given the name Abdul Akbar Muhammad by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in 1983.
He served as the National Assistant and was later appointed International Representative, representing Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam on the global stage. In that capacity, he interacted with numerous heads of state and government leaders and traveled to many regions around the world.
In 1989, Minister Farrakhan asked Bro. Akbar to open an office for the Nation of Islam in Ghana. The request was in fulfillment of an invitation from President Jerry Rawlings several years earlier. Bro. Akbar said yes and opened the Ghana Mission.
In October 1994, Bro. Akbar spearheaded the organization of the first Saviours’ Day Convention convened outside of the United States. Held in Accra, Ghana, nearly 2,000 Black Americans traveled—most for the first time—to the Motherland for the occasion.
He was instrumental in planning numerous peace missions and three World Friendship Tours by Minister Farrakhan. His work included organizing and leading fact-finding missions for the Black press in some of the world’s most troubled spots.
The uniqueness of Bro. Akbar, who lived in Ghana for 12 years, and what made him truly stand out among others, “was that his analysis of Africa and the world was never theoretical—it was lived,” said Bro. Earl Reddix, during an interview from his home in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
An international entrepreneur, global African diaspora advocate, and assistant to Bro. Akbar, he added, “He carried decades of personal experience that gave weight to everything he said. He shared firsthand accounts that left audiences in awe, including his early travels to Africa in 1976.
Where he accompanied the Honorable Minister Farrakhan to Uganda and was hosted by Idi Amin. It was through those early relationships that connections were built, which later extended to leaders like Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.”
Bro. Akbar was responsible for people as famous as Dionne Warwick, Isaac Hayes, James Mtume, Jim Brown, Jermaine Jackson, Public Enemy, Bobbi Humphrey, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff to everyday folks connecting to the African continent.
In December 2021, Bro. Akbar was enstooled as a Developmental Chief in the Cape Coast region of Ghana. He is known in Ghana as Nana Akbar Muhammad.
Over the course of his life, he has helped thousands to understand that Africa is not something to be viewed from afar; it is something to be experienced, engaged, and respected. As he often conveyed through both his words and his life, “it is better to see Africa once than to hear about it a thousand times.”
Remembering a brother and friend
Reflections and condolences poured in from near and far in memory of Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad.
Sister Aminah Bayyinah Muhammad is the Administrative Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and a member of the Nation of Islam Shura Executive Council.
“Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad has been truly a longtime companion and aide to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, starting in the 1960s when Minister Farrakhan moved to New York City and became the minister at Temple No. 7 after the assassination of Malcolm X,” Sis. Aminah told The Final Call.
“Minister Farrakhan once told me that he would have thoughts and ideas, and Brother Akbar would go to work and bring those things into reality. He was a great historian, and he will be missed tremendously in the cause of Islam,” she added.
Student Minister Abdul Arif Muhammad, also a member of the N.O.I. Shura Executive Council and serves as N.O.I. General Counsel lauded Bro. Akbar as “legendary” and a true “pioneer, companion, recording angel and helper” to Minister Farrakhan in the rebuilding of the Nation of Islam.
“I accepted to be a follower of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in early 1979. Not long after I met Student Minister Akbar,” recalled Student Min. Arif. “During those early years he was one from whom we, as Student Ministers, received a lot of our training and instructions, on behalf of the Minister,” he said.
“One early Saviours’ Day, he said to us, in the Student Ministers Class, ‘Many are born in this world, live their life and die without making an impact. You have a chance to make an impact in this world (being with Minister Farrakhan).
Will you accept that responsibility?’” Student Min. Abdul Arif recalled. “Well Brother Student Minister Akbar made a substantial impact in this Nation. He is legendary. May Allah grant him Paradise and comfort his family,” he said.
Student Min. Abdul Rasul Muhammad is the General Manager of The Final Call. He shared his sentiments and reflections on Min. Akbar. “I thank Allah for the life and legacy of Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad, who was a staunch laborer in our great Nation of Islam, a sincere helper and a companion of our beloved, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, and a sincere and relentless soldier,” he said.
“I enjoyed my many years of service with him, and I never saw him in an unhappy mood or disposition. He was always positive and found a way to forge ahead, no matter what the assignment was,” he continued.
Student Min. Abdul Rasul reflected on his fondest memory, which was when they traveled to Accra, Ghana, for the Nation of Islam’s first international Saviours’ Day in 1994.
“It was my first international trip on behalf of The Final Call and Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad was a great ambassador for us all and he enabled us to see the Motherland as respected family members who were visiting our home.
He also spent decades in the Saviours’ Day vending halls as a provider of African books and art. He will be truly missed and never forgotten. May Allah continue to bless his legacy and his entire family.”
The janazah (funeral) service for Minister Akbar will be held on Friday, March 27 at 2:00 p.m. Central Time at Mosque Maryam, 7351 South Stony Island Avenue, Chicago 60649. The service will be streamed live at webcast.noi.org.
Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad was blessed with 12 children. He is survived by 10 children, 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. From his union with his first wife, the late Sis. Miriam Aziz, there were seven daughters, of whom Sis. Samaiyah Aziz and Sis. Madinah Grier preceded him in death.
He leaves to cherish his memory, his children: Sis. Samimah Aziz; Sis. Germaine Prescott-Harris; Sis. Saudah Aziz; Sis. Najah Aziz; Sis. Lateefah Aziz; Sis. Maryum Aziz; Bro. Jihad Muhammad, and Sis. Ruqqiyah Muhammad.
He also leaves to cherish his memory His wife, Sis. Nafeesatu Bukar Muhammad and her children, Bro. Koli Muhammad Bukar and Sis. Ayisah Bukar, who he raised as his own, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, the Farrakhan family and a grateful Nation of Islam.
There will be additional coverage on the life, legacy and impact of Minister Abdul Akbar Muhammad in an upcoming edition of The Final Call.
(Final Call Contributing Writer Jehron Muhammad contributed to this report.)
The Final Call
