PURPOSE: Elijah Muhammad Poole claims to have discovered the lost Nation of Islam at the time Allah (Fard) instructed him to rescue the American Negro from his "enslavement" by Christianity and Western culture. The Black Muslims believe that the white man is the devil incarnate and integration with the white man is refused on this basis. In testimony before the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations on February 16, 1967, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover stated that the Nation of Islam (NOI) was an "all-Negro, violently antigovernment and antiwhite organization." Mr. Hoover characterized the NOI as "a very real threat to the internal security of the Nation." ORGANIZATION: About 70 mosques in as many cities with "an active membership of about 5,500." KEY LEADERS: Elijah Muhammad Poole-messenger of Allah Raymond X Sharrieff (real name Raymond Hatchett)—national commander of the Fruit of Islam and son-in-law of Elijah Muhammad PUBLICATION: Muhammad Speaks (published twice monthly) Published by Muhammad's Mosque # 2 634 E. 79th Street, Chicago, Ill. 60619 Alternate address: 5335 S. Greenwood Avenue, Chicago, Ill. ACTIVITIES: The Nation of Islam (NOI), through its leadership and newspaper, consistently urged Negroes to refuse to be drafted into the armed services of the U.S. on grounds NOI members do not consider themselves U.S. citizens in the sense of the word. STATEMENTS: ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, “BEWARE OF FALSE PROMISES, SEPARATION OR DEATH!" MUHAMMAD speaks, JULY 5, 1963, P. 9: "You send armies of heavily-armed policemen to slay the unarmed so-called Negores [sic]. Does this act of murder of unarmed people show that you are brave or cowards? You, like your fathers, hate and despise your slaves, and you beat and murder them daily. And after such inhuman treatment you want them to love you so that you may carry out your evil doings on them without resistance." EDITORIAL, “CAPTIVE NATIONS WEEK,” MUHAMMAD SPEAKS, AUGUST 2, 1963, P. 9: "Perhaps some sort of Nobel Prize for 'Hypocrisy' should go to those lily-white souls who have the effrontery to conduct 'Captive Nation's Week,' a memorial dedicated to concern for the eventual 'freeing' of other white souls said to be 'enslaved' behind the Iron Curtain in the midst of the current race crisis." ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, “THE MUSLIM PROGRAM," MUHAMMAD SPEAKS, JUNE 4, 1965, PP. 23, 24: "We want the government of the United States to exempt our people from ALL taxation as long as we are deprived of equal justice under the laws of the land." "We believe that we who declared ourselves to be righteous Muslims, should not participate in wars which takes the lives of humans. We do not believe this nation should force us to take part in such wars, for we have nothing to gain from it unless America agrees to give us the necessary territory wherein we may have something to fight for." ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, MUHAMMAD SPEAKS, JULY 9, 1965, P. 1: "I have warned you that the Catholic religion, which means the whole of Christianity, is one of the worst enemies of the so-called Negro in the world. "These people and their religion are so terrible and evil that the Bible (Revelations of John) gave them the name, while prophesying of them, as the 'beast.' The head of the church (Pope) is referred to as the 'dragon' who aided the 'beast,' the ruler, (President of the United States) and gave him the knowledge of how to destroy the people. Rev. 13:4." ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, MUHAMMAD SPEAKS, JULY 30, 1965, P. 1: "Don't be deceived because you saw President Johnson, at his inaugural ball, dancing with a black woman, a descendant of his great grandparents' slaves. Why didn't we see her husband dancing with the President's white wife?" ELIJAH MUHAMMAD, Message to THE BLACKMAN, P. 313: "Arthur R. Gottschalk, state senator, 8th district, Park Forest (Ill.), wrote our National Secretary, John Ali, asking him and my followers to disavow and repudiate publicly the truth Allah has revealed to me of the Caucasian race, the truth of them being real devils and our (the Black Nation's) open enemies.” |