DETROIT — “The Muslim Program: A Divine Guide, Blueprint and Solution” workshop focused on highlighting how the program—found on page 39 of every Final Call newspaper and was also on the back page of every Muhammad Speaks—has been and continues to be a guide for reparations, good governance, and community engagement explained an esteemed group of panelists assembled during Saviours’ Day 2024.
The panel, including some of the Nation of Islam’s most prolific scholars, researchers, planners and leaders, highlighted the urgency for everyone to understand the Muslim Program, presented by the God-centered and visionary leadership of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that Muslim Program is our Constitution,” said panelist Student Southwest Regional Minister and urban planner, Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, referring to a conversation he had with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
“What is required of us in this day and time is now to take these words and not let them be dead letters, but to take our skill, talents, knowledge, wisdom, understanding and experiences and let them live in the functions of the (nine) ministries (of the Nation of Islam),” Student Minister Haleem said.
Providing an example of how to use The Muslim Program as a guide for good governance, third-term Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad highlighted his work in Benton Harbor, Michigan, a city with a reported 85 percent Black population.
“We’ve changed out 100 percent of all lead service lines; there is not one lead line in Benton Harbor. We are in the process of having in every home—new plumbing, new faucets, new fixtures, new hot water heaters, because they found out that lead can be in the hot water heater,” said Brother Marcus. “But the kicker is, it’s at no cost to the homeowner.
“It was about a $60 million or so project. No corruption. No scandal. No kickbacks. Every penny that was to be allocated for what it was to be, when they did the audit, it came back clean and unmodified,” said the mayor to the applause of the audience.
The Muslim Program, first presented as an answer to the most frequently asked questions, was presented to the world in the book published by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Blackman in America in 1965.
Panelist and Student Minister Demetric Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 in Memphis, Tennessee, a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group released a book titled An Annotated Study Of The Muslim Program released in January 2024.
The book is a study of The Muslim Program with commentary and explanatory notes. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said the Muslim Program is not just for Muslims and not really just for Black people, but for all people, explained Student Minister Demetric. “We should study the Muslim Program and see if it doesn’t make the most sense,” he added.
Though articulated decades ago, the Muslim Program serves as a guiding light for the reparations movement to this very day as it best articulates the idea of complete reparations, which is the “process by which a nation or people is provided with the means to completely repair and restore their condition; to achieve complete decolonization and make themselves whole through the ability of self-govern;
Self-sustain, and self-defend in their own independent land mass with economy, education and culture and high civilization,” said Clark Atlanta University Professor Reginal Muhammad, co-author of the National Reparations Declaration. “Those are the words of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.”
The other panelist for the workshop included moderator Student Minister James Muhammad of Mosque No. 47 in Tampa, Florida, and host of Closing the Gap Broadcast.
To read the Muslim Program in its entirety, visit https://noi.org/muslim-program/.
