“Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah! … The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
—Matthew 24:47, 49
October 7, 2024, is the 127th birth anniversary of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. This most momentous occasion is a special day for Muslims, for the Black community, and for the righteous all over the world.
In thinking about the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his great value and importance, I immediately become profoundly grateful to Allah (God) for causing the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to stand up with courage and love to rebuild the work of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad beginning in September 1977.
If it were not for the man who is known affectionately within the Black community as “The Minister,” the new generations of admirers and students of the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad would have never been so fortunate as to learn of him and to subsequently fall in love with both the man and his salvific message.
Without a doubt there is no one more intimately acquainted with the salvific power of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad than is the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan.
Minister Farrakhan’s love of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad has granted him divine insight into his beloved teacher, such that the Minister’s representation of him is one where we learn of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad through the divine lens.
The divine and illuminating light of scripture is the best light through which to view the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. It is rather annoying to see many academics or Muslims from outside the Nation of Islam attempt to reduce the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in their writings to being a “social reformer.”
And even though no man can truly reform a society without Allah (God) using that man as an instrument of societal reform.
I get the sense that those who refer to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad as a “social reformer” are those who are refusing to identify him in the same way that he identified himself, as a divine Messenger of Allah. Such persons are being disrespectful in the least and in extreme cases are just being flat out insulting.
When I use the term salvific power, I am referring to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s power to save lives.
This is a power given to him by Allah (God) and it is primarily seen in how his teachings when applied transform the lives of those who carry them into practice and cause the adherents to his teachings to avoid many of the societal ills now present as part of America’s internal decay.
Again, an examination of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s work among us as a people reveals that he is so much more than a “social reformer.”
The kind of dramatic transformation produced by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad upon not only his followers but also upon the thinking of the masses of Black people in America is evidence of the presence of his divine anointing.
Over the many years of his work, objective observers have made noteworthy observations of his divine reputation. Some profound observations of the salvific effect of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad upon the lives of Black people in America are cited below:
Critic Daniel Pipes: “… a well-established pattern of African-Americans who, finding their reputation in tatters, turn to the Nation of Islam, which then provides them with solace and help.”—“Did Michael Jackson Convert to Islam?”
Professor Herbert Berg: “Approximately 30 percent of the United States’ six to eight million Muslims are African American, making Islam the second most popular religion among African Americans.
Although the vast majority of these African American Muslims are now Sunni Muslims, many (or perhaps their parents or grandparents) were introduced to Islam through the Nation of Islam, a movement that was exclusively Black.
Its leader for over forty years, Elijah Muhammad, was therefore arguably the most important person in the development of Islam in America.”—“Elijah Muhammad and Islam”
Scholar Essein Udom: “So far as the writer knows, no Negro has ever dared to tackle the bewildering problems of the ‘Negro in the mud’ with equal vigor and such obdurate determination as Mr. Muhammad.
Seen in this light, and in the light of the limited alternatives open to these Negroes, the Nation of Islam, with its moral and economic reforms, provides a way out for these Negroes.”—“Black Nationalism In America”
Author James Baldwin: “Elijah Muhammad has been able to do what generations of welfare workers and committees and resolutions and reports and housing projects and playgrounds have failed to do:
to heal and redeem drunkards and junkies, to convert people who have come out of prison and to keep them out, to make men chaste and women virtuous, and to invest both the male and the female with a pride and a serenity that hang about them like an unfailing light. He has done all these things, which our Christian church has spectacularly failed to do.”
—“The Fire Next Time”
Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali: “He was my Jesus, and I had love for both the man and what he represented. Like Jesus Christ and all of God’s prophets, he represented all good things.
Elijah Muhammad was my savior, and everything I have, came from him—my thoughts, my efforts to help my people, how I eat, how I talk, my name.” “Playboy Interview”
I have been inspired and reminded of the salvific power of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad very recently when Brother Michael Muhammad of Athens, GA, sent to me a photo of Hurricane Helene as it traveled over Georgia.
He sent to me a photo from the meteorologist in Georgia who tracked Helene’s movement in the state of Georgia a few days ago. What was intriguing about the image was that it showed the eye of the hurricane being directly over Sandersville, the birthplace of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
The eye of the hurricane when it comes over land is the center of the hurricane and is a place of calm and clear skies—a place of relative safety. As a student of scripture, I was reminded of the Holy Qur’an’s insistence that Allah (God) communicates to man and woman sometimes through signs in nature.
And I reflected over how this map image suggests that despite the myriad of storms now raging, as American society unravels, the safe place is with Allah’s Messenger, Messiah, the Exalted Christ, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad!
His divine message provides comfort in the midst of America’s political storms, economic storms and even the literal natural disasters that are now whipping America from all sides.
Within both the belief, as well as the practical application of his teachings, there is safety from harm and danger.
Long before America received the dubious distinction as having the most violent weather in the world, and the phenomenon of “survival preppers,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught his followers to store up food, water and supplies in preparation for hard times that he foretold were coming to America.
Long before modern-day scientists and health professionals were advocating what they call the “OMAD Diet,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad was teaching His beloved Black people that Allah (God) had revealed to him that eating one meal a day was the best way for us to prolong our life.
Long before the economic crisis and the rising inflation that is gripping the country, He taught us to pool our resources and develop our own economy.
Long before the rise of genetically modified foods and poisonous artificial additives in foods, he taught us to buy farmland and to grow our own foods.
Long before the popularity of sexual perversity within the entertainment industry became a norm, he insisted that the Black man and woman adopt a moral lifestyle and that we not participate in the decadent “social equality” of our former slave masters and their children.
Long before the various state governments began banning Black history in the public school system, he taught us to take our children out of those schools and to establish an independent school system to educate our beautiful and brilliant Black sons and daughters.
Long before there was a human trafficking craze that has included some 64,000 missing Black and Latino/Indigenous women and girls, he taught us to respect and protect our women even if it costs us our lives.
Long before the political divisiveness of partisan politics began to threaten the unity of the American government as we know it, he warned the Black community not to put our trust in the outcome of the National Elections.
When we take into consideration the salvific work of the Most Honorabke Elijah Muhammad, we are able to put into perspective the fascination and adoration of the Prophet Elijah that we find throughout Jewish culture and religious scholarship. Author Aharon Weiner notes the role of Prophet Elijah in Jewish religious tradition when he states the following:
“Elijah’s help to individuals is described as extraordinarily diverse. At the decisive moment, he rescues from extreme danger; he clears by his evidence or successfully defends those innocently accused; he frees the unjustly condemned;
He heals the dangerously ill; he saves those whose lives are threatened in various ways; indeed, he advises people whose fate has already been sealed by divine decree how, by means of righteous actions or good deeds, they may still avert it and live.”—“The Prophet Elijah in the Development of Judaism A Depth-Psychological Study” by Aharon Weiner
It is clear to me that the salvific Elijah that Jewish tradition hopes for has become a reality and blessing to the Black man and woman of America in the person of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad; for in a world of chaos and confusion, believing in and practicing what Allah has revealed to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the safest place to put our trust and confidence. Long Live Muhammad!
Brother Demetric Muhammad is a Memphis-based student minister in the Nation of Islam, a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group and an author. Follow him on X @BrotherDemetric. Read more at www.researchminister.com.
