Clifton E. Marsh - The Lost-Found Nation of Islam in America

Clifton E. Marsh

SCARECROW PRESS, INC.

Published in the United States of America

by Scarecrow Press, Inc.

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The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

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This book was previously published as From Black Muslims to Muslims: The Resurrection, Transformation, and Change of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in America, 19301995, Second Edition. Copyright 1996 by Clifton E. Marsh. Reprint 2000.

Excerpts in Chapter V from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Malcolm X with the assistance of Alex Haley (New York: Grove Press, Ballantine Books, 1973, 1977) are printed by permission of Random House, Inc.

The interview with Imam Wallace D. Muhammed on July 25, 1979, is printed with his permission.

The interview with Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammed on September 9, 1994, is printed with his permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Marsh, Clifton E., 1946

The lost-found Nation of Islam in America / Clifton E. Marsh.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-57886-008-1

1. Black MuslimsHistory. 2. Nation of Islam (Chicago, Ill.) I. Title: Previously published under title: From Black Muslims to Muslims. II. Title.

BP221 .M373 2000

297.8'09dc21

00-021823

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.481992.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

This book is dedicated to my three queens

Johnnie, Mecca, and Cynthia

thank you for allowing me to share your throne

and to my brother, Tuck Jesse Hanna,

and all the homeboys on the street corners of America

who had their dreams die too young

and to my father,

Clifton Hugo Marsh

I would like to thank Scarecrow Press for the opportunity to revisit the Nation and produce a second edition of the original work published in 1984. This work has become a great scholarly adventure. Observation of the Nation of Islam during the crucial years of transition has been the ultimate living picture show.

The quest to document the changes in the Nation of Islam has become a magnificent obsession. This study has enabled me to live and interact with history and touch the pulse of the organization. It has enabled me to smell the aroma of the Nation and lay prone on mother earth with my ear to the ground and listen for its giant footsteps. As a scholar and student, I care very little what people think about Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. This research has given me the privilege of documenting and studying the oldest, most powerful, and most significant black nationalist organization in the country.

The second edition is much improved and expanded. It includes four new chapters. is an analysis of the continuing legacy of African nationalist social thought from 1815 to 1994. This chapter places Minister Farrakhan in a historical context and examines his addition to the African nationalist legacy of founding fathers like Cuffee, Delaney, Garvey, Wilmont Blyden, and Dr. W. E. B. DuBois.

is a historical and philosophical analysis of the ideological dispute between Imam W. D. Muhammad and Minister Louis Farrakhan. This chapter details the ideological split between the two leaders during the period of 1974 to 1980.

is concerned with growth, development, and change of the American Muslim Mission (AMM) and the Nation of Islam from 1980 to 1990. During this period, I analyzed the dissolution of the AMM by Imam W. D. Muhammad. Furthermore, during this period we witnessed the growth and surge in power and influence of the Nation of Islam under the leadership of Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Finally, in I discuss the most recent significant developments of the Nation of Islam from the halls of the United States Congress to the 1994 Saviours Day in Accra, Ghana. During the last ten years, since the first edition was published, the Nation of Islam has expanded its influence and supplemented its mission to include gang violence, housing, health care, domestic violence, substance abuse, and ridding public housing units of the drug menace.

In every urban community I visited, from Los Angeles to New York City, I walked through rubble, decay, and despair. People of African descent are surviving as if they were residents of a Third World country. Walking tall and strong, the Muslims rejuvenated the community and lectured residents for immoral behavior, while praising them for doing the right thing.

Muslim men stand like giant bow-tied beacons of strength, shining their lights into the lost souls of black men and women in America. They exhort, Up, you mighty race! Africa for Africans at home and abroad. Prescriptions of gigantic doses of racial pride and self-help have enabled the Muslims to rehabilitate urban communities. These Muslims have attacked social problems with an awesome, passionate zeal.

Elijah Muhammad carried the red, black, and green flag for forty-five years. In 1975, after Elijah Muhammads death, Imam W. D. Muhammad dismantled the Nation of Islam. In 1977, Minister Louis Farrakhan left the World Community of Al-Islam in the West and resurrected the Nation of Islam. Without Minister Farrakhan blowing his hot, passionate breath into the lungs of the Nation, it would have died a slow, quiet death. Minister Farrakhan rose from the ashes of the Nation of Islam and willed the Black Muslims back to life.

For his noble efforts, Minister Farrakhan not only entered the Black Nationalist Hall of Fame, he kicked down the doors of history. Minister Farrakhans efforts would have made the founding fathers proud. Marcus Garvey, Noble Drew Ali, Delaney, Blyden, Cuffee, DuBois, and Master Fard Muhammad would wrap themselves in a red, black, and green blanket, while they sleep peacefully and dream of Minister Farrakhan.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammads legacy and message to black men and women live in the heart, mind, and soul of his spiritual son, Minister Louis Farrakhan. His passion for the mission is strong and rock-solid. Minister Farrakhan has stepped into the footprints of great African nationalist leaders and filled them with his own remarkable impression.

I would like to thank Imam Warith Deen Muhammad for his interview in 1979. The interview provided me with valuable data to apply during the transition period. I would like to thank Mr. Simeon Booker for arranging the interview with Dr. Muhammad. Special thanks to Dr. Abdul Alim Muhammad, national spokesman for the Nation of Islam for his interview in 1994. Dr. Muhammad gave me a wake-up call. I will always cherish and remember my interview with Dr. Muhammad. Special thanks to the Coalition for the Remembrance of Elijah (CROE) of Chicago and the valuable data they provided me. A very special thanks to the rank and file members of the Nation of Islam for allowing me to become a small part of their ever-changing world.