W. D. Fard

Name: W. D. Fard | The Man, Myth, and Mystery Behind the Nation of Islam
Brand: Academica Press
Price: 78.99 EUR
Availability: OnlineOnly

The Man, Myth, and Mystery Behind the Nation of Islam

John Andrew Morrow Bilal Muhammad(Author)

Academica Press

Published on 15. August 2025

446 pages

E-Book

ePUB with digital watermarking

System requirements

978-1-68053-389-7 (ISBN)

€78.99incl. 7% vat

System requirements

for ePUB with digital watermarking

E-Book Single Licence

Available for download

Description

More details

Other editions

Persons

Content

W.D. FARD
The Man, Myth, and Mystery
Behind the Nation of Islam
John Andrew Morrow and Bilal Muhammad
W.D. FARD
The Man, Myth, and Mystery
Behind the Nation of Islam
John Andrew Morrow and Bilal Muhammad
Academica PressWashington
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Morrow, John Andrew (author) | Muhammad, Bilal (author)
Title: W.D. Fard: the Man, Mystery, and Myth Behind the Nation of Islam | John Andrew Morrow | Bilal Muhammad
Description: Washington: Academica Press, 2025. | Includes references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2025942725 | ISBN 9781680533880 (hardcover) | 9781680533897 (e-book)
"There has never been and never will be a God but Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Master of the day of requital judgment. He is none other than Master W.F. Mohammed."
Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad
Contents
ABOUT THE AUTHORS.................... xvii
WORDS OF PRAISE....................... xxi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................... xxiii
COMMENDATORY PREFACE................... xxv
FOREWORD.......................... xxvii
CHAPTER 1W.D. FARD'S BIBLE OF ISLAMISM IDENTIFIED:A CENTURY-OLD MYSTERY IS SOLVED.............. 1
CHAPTER 2ARMAGEDDON AND EMPIRE: THE NATIONOF ISLAM, JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, ANDIMPERIAL JAPAN IN APOCALYPTIC DISCOURSE......... 21
CHAPTER 3MALCOLM X AND THE TWELVE IMAMS: UNVEILING REVOLUTIONARY CONVERGENCE IN SHIITE THOUGHT...... 29
CHAPTER 4THE ORIGIN OF W.D. FARD'S "ACTUAL FACTS".......... 55
CHAPTER 5NOTES ON THE CHICAGO TEMPLE OF ISLAM: ONE OF THEEARLIEST ACCOUNTS OF W.D. FARD'S DOCTRINES........ 61
CHAPTER 6DID W.D. FARD HAVE A SON WITH PEARL ALLEN?A HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD QUESTION IS ANSWERED.......... 81
CHAPTER 7AN EMOTIONAL ANALYSIS OF W.D. FARD'S PHOTOGRAPHS.... 95
CHAPTER 8THE TEACHINGS OF SUPREME MINISTER JOHN MUHAMMAD... 107
CHAPTER 9FARD HAS ESCAPED HISTORY: A REVIEW OF MICHAEL MUHAMMAD KNIGHT'S THE SUPREME WISDOM LESSONS:A SCRIPTURE OF AMERICAN ISLAM.............. 125
CHAPTER 10THE NOI, THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,AND W.D. FARD'S MILIEU..................... 133
CHAPTER 11DID W.D. FARD ATTEND THE FUNERALOF A FREEMASON IN AUSTRALIA IN 1940?............................................ 139
CHAPTER 12DANCING WITH THE DEVIL.................... 149
CHAPTER 13W.D. FARD AND FORENSIC LINGUISTICS.............. 161
CHAPTER 14W.D. FARD IN ELIJAH MUHAMMAD'S MINISTRY CLASSESAND HIS WARNING & INSTRUCTIONS TO THE MGT & GCC..... 173
CHAPTER 15THE THEOLOGY OF DOING TIME: W.D. FARDAND SAN QUENTIN PRISON.................... 179
CHAPTER 16I AM AN ANAGRAM: W.D. FARD'S ILLUMINATIRIDDLE IS DECIPHERED?............................................................................ 189
CHAPTER 17BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY! THE MOTHERSHIPAND ITS CONCEPTUAL ORIGINS.................. 205
CHAPTER 18YAKUB'S CREATION..................... 215
CHAPTER 19THE NATION OF ISLAM FLAGIS BASED ON THE FLAG OF THE YOUNG TURKS.......... 223
CHAPTER 20W.D. FARD AND WHITE WOMEN:BLACK SUPREMACISTS PREFER BLONDES........... 229
CHAPTER 21FARD RETURNS? INVESTIGATING ANALLEGED SIGHTING OF W.D. FARD IN THE 1960S........ 247
CHAPTER 22WISDOM REVEALED TO THE REFORMER.............. 253
CHAPTER 23THE PROFESSOR PROVIDES A CLUE:HAS FARD FINALLY BEEN FOUND?......................................................... 273
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS, LEADS,AND NEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH............. 313
APPENDIX 1RECONCILING RELIGION AND HISTORY............ 327
APPENDIX 2W.D. FARD'S INMATE CARD ANDCORRECTIONAL RECORD FROM SAN QUENTIN........... 331
APPENDIX 3MORE ON WALLACE MAX FORD, THE SON OF W.D. FARD.... 335
APPENDIX 4WHERE O WHERE DID MY MASTER FARD GO?..................................... 343
APPENDIX 5REGARDING THE NATION OF ISLAM............. 351
APPENDIX 6THE MANY FACES OF FARD: COMPUTERIZEDFACE COMPARISON BY AMAZON REKOGNITION........ 359
APPENDIX 7OF PHOTOS AND FRAUD:A CHRONOLOGY OF FARDIAN ICONOGRAPHY......... 373
APPENDIX 8CHRISTOPHER C. ALSTON:AN EARLY EYEWITNESS TO W.D. FARD?............................................... 383
APPENDIX 9FOIA REQUESTS........................ 387
APPENDIX 10RESEARCH REQUESTS / HISTORICAL INQUIRIES......... 389
APPENDIX 11WHAT HAPPENED TO FARD AFTER 1934?............................................... 391
PERMISSIONS......................... 393
PHOTOGRAPHS AND IMAGES................. 395
WORKS CITED........................ 397
INDEX.............................. 409
ALSO BY JOHN ANDREW MORROW
Muhammad and the Christians: Commemorating the Covenants of the Prophet
Hijab: Word of God or Word of Man?
Islam & Slavery
The Legacy of Louis Riel: Leader of the Métis People
Controversies in Islam:Religious Law, Qur'anic Ethical Imperatives, and Higher Moral Objectives
The Islamic Interfaith Initiative: No Fear Shall Be Upon Them
Shi'ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus (2 volumes)
The Messenger of Mercy:The Covenants of Coexistence from the Prophet of Pluralism
The Most Controversial Qur'anic Verse:Why 4:34 Does Not Promote Violence Against Women
Perjanjian Nabi Muhammad dengan Penganut Kristen Dunia
Les paroles d'Allah au Prophète Muhammad: quarante traditions sacrées
Las palabras de Allah al Profeta Muhammad: Cuarenta dichos sagrados
Finding W.D. Fard: Unveiling the Identity of the Founder of the Nation of Islam
Islam and the People of the Book:Critical Studies on the Covenants of the Prophet (3 volumes)
'Uhud al-nabi li-masihiyyi al-'alam
I Patti del Profeta Muhammad con i cristiani del mondo
Restoring the Balance: Using the Qur'anand Sunnah to Guide a Return to the Prophet's Islam
El minarete y el campanario:los pactos del Profeta Muhammad con los cristianos del mundo
The Words of God to Prophet Muhammad: Forty Sacred Sayings
Six Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of His Time:The Primary Documents
(published in Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Russian, Turkish, Persian, Azeri, Urdu, Indonesian, Tamil, and Armenian)
The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World
Islamic Images and Ideas: Essays on Sacred Symbolism
Religion and Revolution: Spiritual and Political Islam in Ernesto Cardenal
Islamic Insights: Writings and Reviews
Encyclopedia of Islamic Herbal Medicine
Amerindian Elements in the Poetry of Ernesto Cardenal:Mythic Foundations of the Colloquial Narrative
Kitab al-Tawhid:The Book of Divine Unity (with 'Ali Rizvi and Barbara Castleton)
El islam shiíta: ¿ortodoxia o heterodoxia? (with Luis Alberto Vittor)
Amerindian Elements in the Poetry of Rubén Darío:The Alter Ego as the Indigenous Other
Arabic, Islam, and the Allah Lexicon:How Language Shapes Our Conception of God
Shi'ite Islam: Orthodoxy or Heterodoxy? (with Luis Alberto Vittor)
ALSO BY BILAL MUHAMMAD
The Good Shepherd: Jesus Christ in Islam
The Muhammadan Cure: The Modern Science of Prophetic Medicine
All the Perfumes of Arabia
Pandemonium: A Sourcebook on the Tragedy of Husayn
A Prequel to Hamlet
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
John Andrew Morrow received his doctoral degree from the University of Toronto in the year 2000 and reached the rank of Full Professor of Foreign Languages in 2014. A polymath and a prolific author, he has published over fifty scholarly books, along with hundreds of academic articles, in a vast array of specialized fields. Dr. Morrow has been recognized as a Master Teacher and a Distinguished Faculty Member. He was awarded an Interfaith Service Award from the Islamic Society of North America and
Bilal Muhammad is a Vice Principal, author, translator, and playwright based in Toronto, Canada. He is a Senior Fellow at the Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies. He studied Political Science and the History of Religions at the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa, and he obtained his B.Ed. at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He worked as a translator for the University of Toronto Department of Historical Studies, and he translated the Amali of Shaykh al-Saduq. He
/
(Dr. John Andrew Morrow. Public domain)
/
(Bilal Muhammad. Public domain)
WORDS OF PRAISE
"A compelling exploration of one of the most enigmatic figures in American religious history, W.D. Fard: The Man, Myth, and Mystery Behind the Nation of Islam is a masterwork of investigative scholarship and narrative insight. John Andrew Morrow and Bilal Muhammad offer a meticulously researched and thought-provoking account that challenges assumptions, interrogates myths, and illuminates the foundational truths behind the rise of the Nation of Islam. This book is essential reading for scholars,
"W. D. Fard is a mystery. Yet these two historical detectives track down every record, mine every story, and turn over every rock to solve that mystery. Using approaches from several disciplines, including cutting-edge tools, including AI, DNA testing, forensic linguistics, digitized newspapers, anagram breakers, facial comparison and emotional recognition software, Morrow and Muhammad investigate the enigma of Fard and succeed in creating the fullest portrait available of the man behind the Nat
"After reading this genuinely magisterial work, W.D. Fard, the mystery man becomes far less mysterious. This very fact makes W.D. Fard: The Man, Myth, and Mystery Behind the Nation of Islam a scientific must-read for all Islamologists, as well as other researchers and readers keen to learn more about the history of the NOI." Milan Vukelic, Ph.D. Researcher of the Islamic Religion. University of Belgrade
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Cephus Sealy for setting me on a socially conscious and scholarly path. Thank you to my grandmother, Gabrielle Bisson, for reminding me of who we were and who we came from: les coureurs des bois, the runners of the woods, the Métis People, the Michif-Ottipemisiwak, the Free People, the People who Own Themselves. Thank you to the founding fathers of the hip-hop movement for introducing me to W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan. Thank you to all my teachers who
Thank you to my parents, Lisette Drouin, and Andy Morrow, for encouraging me to pursue higher education and supporting my studies. Thank you to all my teachers, professors, shaykhs, and elders. Thank you to my professor, thesis director, role model, mentor, and inspiration, the late Dr. Keith Audley Alexander Ellis (1935-2024), a man who devoted his life to family, learning, teaching, and social justice. He made a man and a scholar out of me. Thank you to all my sources and informants. Thank you
I personally would like to thank: the late Malcolm Latif Shabazz, the grandson of Malcolm X, for inspiring me to read the Autobiography of Malcolm X, which changed my life forever
Anton Batey, for giving me my primer on the historical Master Fard Muhammad, for supporting me throughout the research process, for digging through leads and giving fresh input, and for coining the term "Fardology
" Alam Khan Publications and Omar Shabazz, for digging through rare material on Master Fard Muhammad and
COMMENDATORY PREFACE
By Milan Vukelic, Ph.D.Researcher of the Islamic Religion
Belgrade, Republic of Serbia
As a researcher who has invested years in studying the relations between religion and politics, with a special focus on the Islamic faith, it is a distinct honor and privilege to present W.D. Fard: The Man, Myth, and Mystery Behind the Nation of Islam, the joint work of Dr. John Andrew Morrow and Mr. Bilal Muhammad, to the global scientific and expert community.
The book offers twenty-three chapters, written in the form of separate essays, which systematically fit together to form a cohesive whole, revealing to the reader the latest incredible information about the mystery man who founded the Nation of Islam (NOI). This work is a continuation of the truly fascinating research of Dr. John Andrew Morrow from 2019, embodied in the book Finding W.D. Fard: Unveiling the Identity of the Founder of the Nation of Islam, which I also had an opportunity to elabor
As part of their qualitative research, the authors sought to analyze a profusion of primary and secondary sources to reconstruct the life story of W.D. Fard. This was the man who, back in 1930, at a time of huge social and economic crises that affected the African American population, created an organization guided by a mysterious and intriguing ideology which, to this day, not only brings together a substantial number of followers, but also remains the subject of many controversies and debates.
The authors primarily employ a comparative approach. They present a plethora of interpretations from multitudinous sources to establish the veracity and relevance of the information. Notably, the authors took an extra step in this work, in that they tried to present to the readers the psychological profile of W.D. Fard, the leadership style he practiced, including his emotional side, even delving into his intimate life. The information regarding the private life of the founder of the NOI present
Also worth noting is that Dr. John Andrew Morrow and Mr. Bilal Muhammad, aside from focusing primarily on W.D. Fard, did not disregard the ideology of the NOI. The theology of W.D. Fard, which Elijah Muhammad further expounded upon, is complex. Consequently, scientific disciplines that focus on the phenomenon of religion can study it according to varying perspectives.
Likewise, the authors made sure not to neglect other people who played major roles in the development of the NOI. These include most notably Elijah Muhammad, a disciple of W.D. Fard, whose writings are perhaps the most reliable source on the teachings of W.D. Fard
Malcolm X, whose charisma made a tremendous contribution to the public acceptance of this organization
and John Muhammad, the "blood and spiritual brother" of Elijah Muhammad who remained overshadowed by more prominent leaders of the
It may be that the veritable identity of W.D. Fard will forever remain a mystery
yet the research conducted by Dr. John Andrew Morrow and Mr. Bilal Muhammad makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the development and inner workings of the NOI, and into the way W.D. Fard's followers perceived him.
The authors do not neglect the religious context of W.D. Fard's character but stop short of either confirming or denying his divine status. Indeed, W.D. Fard made considerable contributions to the African American community. People believed him and even worshipped him, considering him the incarnation of God, a dogma emphasized by Elijah Muhammad.
The NOI ideology, articulated by W.D. Fard, focused on inspiring and elevating people who belonged to marginalized social strata. His teachings gave meaning and purpose to their lives. This alone gives W.D. Fard a special place of distinction, not only in the history of African Americans and Muslims, but also in broader terms. One can even say that W.D. Fard is among the most prominent, albeit neglected, historical figures of the twentieth century.
In line with the foregoing, and from a societal and scientific perspective, the study of W.D. Fard's character and work is of paramount importance. Certainly, after reading this genuinely magisterial work, W.D. Fard, the mystery man becomes far less mysterious. This very fact makes W.D. Fard: The Man, Myth, and Mystery Behind the Nation of Islam a scientific must-read for all Islamologists, as well as other researchers and readers keen to learn more about the history of the NOI.
FOREWORD
By John Andrew Morrow
"All of a sudden, in 1930, a forceful and powerful new voice was heard in the wilderness. It was a voice speaking words which had never been heard before in America
words such as ALLAH, ISLAM, ASIATIC BLACK MAN, ORIGINAL MAN, YAKUB, GRAFTED MAN, PATMOS, THE WHITE MAN IS THE DEVIL, and CAVE MAN." - Samuel 17X
W.D. Fard: The Man, Myth, and Mystery Behind the Nation of Islam consists of twenty-three chapters written by two indefatigable researchers who are simply obsessed with the founder of the Nation of Islam.
Chapter one, "W.D. Fard's Bible of Islamism Identified: A Century-Old Mystery is Solved" uncovers the bizarre book that the founder of the Nation of Islam treated as scripture.
Chapter two, "Armageddon and Empire: The NOI, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Imperial Japan in Apocalyptic Discourse," examines the ties between W.D. Fard, Christian apocalyptic, and Nipponese subversive activities among blacks.
Chapter three, "Malcolm X and the Twelve Imams: Unveiling Revolutionary Convergence in Shiite Thought," delves into the teachings of W.D. Fard that were transmitted to Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X regarding the Twelve Scientists.
Chapter four, "The Origin of W.D. Fard's 'Actual Facts,'" identifies the origin of the statistics that the founder of the Nation of Islam used to dazzle his black audiences in a show of divine erudition.
Chapter five, "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" examines one of the earliest accounts of W.D. Fard's doctrines, prior to any purported theological developments and modifications made by Elijah Muhammad. Like a time machine, it takes us back to the teachings that were being spread at the Chicago Temple between 1930-1939. These accounts are important for they were made by black people, who were academics, and not Black Muslims from the movement in question. Their goal was simply to document
Chapter six, "Did W.D. Fard Have a Son with Pearl Allen?" answers a hundred-year-old question concerning the potential progeny of the founder of the Nation of Islam. Did he, or did he not, produce offspring with a Klamath Indian woman?
Chapter seven, "An Emotional Analysis of W.D. Fard's Photographs" uses advances in computer science and behavioral psychology to grasp the feelings of the founder of the Nation of Islam during some of the most trying moments of his life. It is a journey inside his heart and mind. It examines facial expressions for signs of internal psychology.
Chapter eight, "The Teachings of Supreme Minister John Muhammad" studies the lectures of an incredibly important, but largely ignored, figure in the Nation of Islam, that of the brother of Elijah Muhammad and the husband of W.D. Fard's secretary, Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad. Unlike many ministers in the Nation of Islam, Supreme Minister John Muhammad proudly proclaimed that he had met Allah. What better source of information on the identity and ideology of W.D. Fard than a man who knew him pers
Chapter nine, "Fard Has Escaped History: A Review of Michael Muhammad Knight's The Supreme Wisdom Lessons: A Scripture of American Islam" surveys an important book for new insights into the founder of the Nation of Islam.
Chapter ten "The NOI, the Theosophical Society, and W.D. Fard's Milieu," sheds new light on the influence of esoteric groups upon the founder of the Nation of Islam.
Chapter eleven, "Did W.D. Fard Attend the Funeral of a Freemason in Australia in 1940?" examines the allegation that the founder of the Nation of Islam returned to Oceania, namely, New Zealand and Australia, after his abrupt departure from Detroit in 1934 or 1935.
Chapter twelve, "Dancing with the Devil," provides shocking new revelations regarding the identity of W.D. Fard's friend and dancing partner, Wali Mohammed, from Ferndale, Michigan. This study provides one of the best leads researchers have received in nearly a hundred years.
Chapter thirteen, "W.D. Fard and Forensic Linguistics," ends all speculation and conjecture regarding the racial, ethnic, national, and linguistic group to which the founder of the Nation of Islam belonged. This scientific study provides finality and much needed closure.
Chapter fourteen, "W.D. Fard in Elijah Muhammad's Ministry Classes and Warnings & Instructions to the M.G.T & G.C.C.," examines a work that was first published in 2011. The documents it contains, which date from the 1930s, permit us to peer into the thoughts and mind of Elijah Muhammad, the Apostle of W.D. Fard, and His Final Messenger, for traces of the earliest teachings, and any potential accretions.
Chapter fifteen, "The Theology of Doing Time," explores the years that W.D. Fard spent incarcerated in the notorious San Quentin Prison. It has long been suggested that the time he spent there produced a paradigm shift. The man who left was not the same one who entered. W.D. Fard had been transformed. Why? And what happened?
Chapter sixteen, "I Am an Anagram," attempts to break a code that was constructed by W.D. Fard. It strives to decipher a bizarre message that he published in the Daily Capital Journal on July 27, 1915. The riddle in question appears to have been an Illuminati code.
Chapter seventeen, "Beam Me Up Scotty: W.D. Fard and the Mothership," studies one of the strangest teachings of the founder of the Nation of Islam, namely, the belief in a gigantic spaceship, piloted by the Twelve Imams, which will reign down fire upon the white devils of the world. What is the source of this spiritual science fiction?
Chapter eighteen, "Yakub's Creation," examine the myth of the grafting of the devil white man by a mad scientist, but it identifies the person who appears to have inspired this horrific creation story, a veritable Dr. Frankenstein who harvested testicles from inmates at San Quentin from 1913-1951, emasculating vigorous black men, and transplanting their manhood into the scrotums of impotent white ones to give them increased testosterone. Since W.D. Fard never got involved with women after he was
Chapter nineteen, "The Nation of Islam Flag is Based on the Flag of the Young Turks," is a study that is short and sweet. It traces the origin of W.D. Fard's flag to Türkiye, the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, and the symbol of Islamic political, economic, and religious power. Not only did W.D. Fard claim that blacks were Turks, but he also claimed the Turkish flag for them.
Chapter twenty, "W.D. Fard and White Women," provides a physical description of all the known women with whom the founder of the Nation of Islam was romantically and not so romantically involved. It shows a clear contrast between what he practiced and what he preached. W.D. Fard, like any gentleman, preferred blondes.
Chapter twenty-one, "Fard Returns?," investigates one of numerous alleged sightings of W.D. Fard, in this case, one that took place in New London, Connecticut, in the 1960s. Did the Jedi return? Did the Imam come out of occultation for a moment? If so, he had defied aging and was a jinn.
Chapter twenty-two scrutinizes the "Wisdom Revealed to the Reformer," namely, the teachings that W.D. Fard transmitted to Burnsteen Muhammad, which were published in 2024. As the work promises, it delivers a reading that is in-depth and transformative. It fine tunes our understanding of W.D. Fard, corrects claims that were incorrect, and reveals instead of conceals. He who seeks finds and he will find what he seeks in this study.
The final study, which closes this wave of research, and which we hope will open new ones, is chapter twenty-three. It answers the nagging question of what happened to W.D. Fard after his disappearance in 1934. If we finally know where he came from with certainty, we now know where he went beyond any reasonable doubt. All other roads have proven to be dead ends. Only one pans out. All roads lead to. chapter twenty-three.
CHAPTER 1 W.D. FARD'S BIBLE OF ISLAMISM IDENTIFIED: A CENTURY-OLD MYSTERY IS SOLVED
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The Quest for the Holy Scripture
1.3 The Bible of Islamism Identified
1.4 A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
1.5 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"God is a liar. Ignore Him and do awaywith those who advocate His cause."- W.D. Fard
W.D. Fard (b. circa 1877, 1891, or 1893 - d. unknown), the founder of the Nation of Islam, is a fascinating figure. Mysterious, intriguing, and enigmatic, his magnetic personality and revolutionary rhetoric stupefied and mystified the black people of Detroit during the depth of the Great Depression. So mind-blowing was the message that he delivered between July 4, 1930, and May of 1934, that he was proclaimed a prophet. In fact, some of his followers were so edified by his teachings that he was
So astonishing are his teachings that even those who do not believe in him are drawn to him. They wonder who he was, where he came from, what became of him, and what were the sources of his captivating and mind-baffling teachings. At first, W.D. Fard attracted his audience by using the Bible, a book that was familiar to them. Later, he introduced the Qur'an in both Arabic and English. He also produced two texts, Teaching for the Lost Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical Way, and the Secret Ri
W.D. Fard also claimed to have authored a work titled Five Guiding Principles, under the name W.D. Feraud, which was supposedly in the collection of the Library of Congress but has never been located. Authorship of the work was also claimed by Satokata Takahashi (born Naka Nakane, 1870-1954) who was associated with the ultranationalist Black Dragon Society and the Pacific Movement of the Eastern World (PMEW) which presented Japan as the champion of people of color. Perhaps it was originally co-a
Of all the works associated with W.D. Fard, the most captivating of all was The Bible of Islamism, which was found among his personal belongings when he was detained by the police in Detroit in 1932. As the Detroit Free Press reported,
On page 354 of the "Bible" is the following quotation, which was underlined, and which Farad claimed he used as part of his teachings - "God is a liar. Ignore Him and do away with those who advocate His cause." He stated that this was a favorite passage of his and that he used it often in his teachings.
Like the Five Guiding Principles, notes Patrick D. Bowen, no scholar or member of the Nation of Islam has publicly claimed to have seen The Bible of Islamism "and there is no other known mention of it in any additional press report, government document, or even in any publicly available NOI materials." Michael Muhammad Knight (b. 1977) went as far as to claim that "we have no access to this Bible of Islamism or evidence beyond police claims in The Detroit Free Press that it ever existed." None s
Since in 1932, Fard asserted that he was working on a commission basis for a printing company, these various books would have been likely printed by his employer and therefore Fard would have had the power to keep the number of copies very small.
This is not the case, at least as concerns The Bible of Islamism, a secret that was hiding in plain sight.
Since I had a title, The Bible of Islamism, a citation, "God is a liar," and a page number, I decided to do some detective work. I searched for "Bible of Islamism." I located sources that described the Qur'an, as the "Bible of Islam." I searched for "God is a liar," "God is liar," and variants such as "Lord is a liar" and found all kinds of results. They were virtually all rhetorical questions, accusations of apostasy, or citations of Satan used in dialogues. I went through many of them monotono
The document found among Fard's effects was clearly not the Muslim Holy Book. Instead of The Bible of Islamism, it could more appropriately be called the Bible of Satanism for the citation in question is a basic diabolical belief. Obtaining a copy of this book. would be invaluable to all researchers. Who authored it? Why was Fard using it? Was it Fard himself who penned his own pseudo-Qur'an as Noble Drew Ali had done with his Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple.? "If Allah is a liar," asks
"Indeed," writes Bowen, "the known contents of Fard's Bible of Islamism seem to have a Crowley ring to them." So, what was the thick hardcover tome with a dark cover which W.D. Fard was photographed with while in police custody in Detroit in 1932? Be prepared to be baffled.
The book that W.D. Fard presented as The Bible of Islamism, which he relied upon for inspiration and citation when preaching at lecture halls, is titled Deliverance!, not the "squeal like a pig" Deliverance (1972), but the work of Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1869-1942), the second president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Known also as Judge Rutherford, this American religious leader played a primary role in the organization of the Jehovah's Witnesses and their doctrinal development.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the police department revealed that page 354 of The Bible of Islamism contained the quote: "'God is a liar. Ignore Him and do away with those who advocate His cause.' He stated that this was a favorite passage of his and that he used it often in his teachings." Actually, the citation is found on page 264. A mistake was made by the police department or the Detroit Free Press. Alternatively, a typo was made when transcribing the original newspaper article into
The "Dragon," the Devil and his organization, by its efforts to destroy the seed of promise, boastfully says: "God is a liar and his Word is unreliable. Ignore him, and away with those who advocate his cause!"
[The bold print, which I have provided, represents the decontextualized segments cited in the police report completed by Detectives Oscar Berry and Charles Snyder from the Homicide Squad].
Millions of copies of Deliverance! were printed and distributed in numerous editions. The one photographed with W.D. Fard was printed in 1926, and it has Deliverance! in yellow or gold at the top. The cover is dark blue or black and is embossed. In size, shape, and color, it is very much the same book. The dimensions match. The police department or the Detroit Free Press truncated the citation in question to give it a diabolic sense. If this were done by the newspaper, it would be yellow journal
If something as benign as the citation in question was distorted to such a point, turning its meaning upside down, one can only imagine how much the media twisted and transmogrified the facts surrounding the so-called Voodoo Murders, the Nation of Islam, and W.D. Fard. In retrospect, it was naïve to believe the claims of the Police Department regarding The Bible of Islamism and its content and coverage by the Detroit Free Press. All the reporting was biased and prejudiced. The articles in questi
The Allah Temple of Islam is depicted as a "cult" over a hundred times. It is labelled as a "Negro cult," a "jungle cult," an "ominous cult," a "menacing cult," a "sinister cult," a "mad cult," and a "vicious cult" with "strange Islamic symbols and titles" that is "savage and barbarous." It is depicted as a "Voodoo-Moslem hybrid cult." The articles speak of "cult members," a "cult killer," and a "cult slayer." They are referred to as "Mohamedans" whose "Mohammeddanism exists only in meaningless
The articles speak of "High priestesses and priests clad in pseudo-Oriental costumes" who prey on the "superstitions and susceptibility of Negroes" whom they have robbed of their savings. The leaders of the Allah Temple of Islam are described as "ringleaders." The articles describe Wallace D. Fard as an "Oriental fakir" and an "Arabian" who taught Negroes that they were "Turkish." They cite a report from the Psychopathic Ward of Receiving Hospital which claims that he suffered from "delusions t
Considering journalistic dishonesty, the question begs to be asked: did W.D. Fard identify the book in question as The Bible of Islamism or was this a false attribution on the part of the police department and the Detroit Free Press? One could only presume that the police officers and the journalists could read. The book's title was emblazoned in a large print: DELIVERANCE! Its author was readily identified in the front matter. Unlike the Nation of Islam, which numbered in the thousands at the t
Why did W.D. Fard read and cite Judge Rutherford's Deliverance? Only because it is "a vivid description of the divine plan outlining God's progressive steps against evil and showing the final overthrow of the devil and all of his wicked institutions." It basically explains how every leader since ancient times was a devil. It denounces the government of devils, the organized religions of devils, the politics of devils, and the economic system of devils. In fact, Rutherford typically accused anyon
As Elijah Muhammad acknowledged, W.D. Fard "knew the Bible better than any of the Christian-bred Negroes." Louis Lomax also wrote that "Fard was. well versed in the Bible and. used it as a textbook." He also reported that he preached in the style of a Southern Baptist preacher. According to the New York Times, Judge Rutherford "had a reputation as an eloquent, forceful, speaker." Fard was certainly inspired by other Christian preachers
however, Rutherford was most certainly one of them. Cedric
My second teacher's meeting with Master Fard was down on Hendricks Street at brother Kallat's house, my brother Kallat. I was the only teacher at the time, so I had my briefcase, and it was full of books. Some I used and some I didn't because I wanted people to think that I was a big man. I got a great big briefcase. Maybe sometimes I'd have one book that I was doing to teach out of, and I got a gang of them Judge Rutherford books in there, everything that I could put into that briefcase.
Amazingly, as a result of his intellect, appeal, charm, and charisma, W.D. Fard did in fact befriend many leading scholars, intellectuals, preachers, activists, and religious leaders like Gerald B. Winrod (1900-1957), David N. McInturff (1902-1957), Frank Norris (1877-1952), and Louis Wirth (1897-1952). It is interesting to note that three out of four of these individuals belonged to the same age group and would have been very young when Fard was active. If he was not a socialite, one who passe
If Fard loved the quote from Judge Rutherford, and the book Deliverance! from which it was drawn, it was because the white devil testified against himself. This is why "Fard instructed his followers to read the works of Judge Rutherford, the Jehovah's Witnesses leader." In fact, "he explicitly encouraged his followers to. listen to. Rutherford." Fard may have derived many ideas from Islam, orthodox and heterodox. However, the sources upon which he developed his ideology included many non-Muslim
The 1914 date: a belief in a coming battle of Armageddon
a belief . in the idea that only 144,000 true believers would survive the battle and enter the new civilization on Earth
a belief in the non-immortality of souls
criticism of certain elements of the capitalistic system
and rejecting the legitimacy of all other religions. To this list we might add a few other concepts: Rutherford, for instance, had tendency to refer to all those who opposed him as "devils:" the Witnesses had from their
As I demonstrated in Finding W.D. Fard, the ideology of the founder of the Nation of Islam featured disparate elements drawn from Christianity, Judaism, the Moorish Science Temple of America, the Ahmadiyya, the Yezidis, Seveners, Twelvers, Ghulat, Druze, Babis, and the Bahai. He also appears to have drawn his doctrines from the Black Hebrews, Marcus Garvey, Rastafarianism, Theosophism, Gnosticism, Freemasonry, apocalyptic Baptism, and the Church of Latter-Day Saints. In a History of Conversion t
The following photographs demonstrate that the 1926 edition of J.F. Rutherford's Deliverance! matches the images of W.D. Fard's Bible of Islamism in size, color, binding, and content.
/
(Figure 1.1: Deliverance! By J.F. Rutherford, 1926 edition. Public domain)
/
(Figure 1.2: Deliverance! By J.F. Rutherford, 1926 edition. Public domain)
/
(Figure 1.3: Deliverance! By J.F. Rutherford, 1926 edition. Public domain)
/
(Figure 1.4: Deliverance! By J.F. Rutherford, 1926 edition. Public domain)
/
(Figure 1.5: Deliverance! By J.F. Rutherford, 1926 edition. Public domain)
The following image is of page 264 of the cited 1926 edition of Deliverance! with the passage in question.
/
(Figure 1.6: Public domain)
The following images of W.D. Fard, which were compiled by Alam Khan Publications, show him in possession of the mysterious Bible of Islamism, which seems to have been none other than J.F. Rutherford's Deliverance!
/
(Figure 1.7: Photograph from November 23, 1932,showing The Bible of Islamism. Public domain)
/
(Figure 1.8: Photograph from November 23, 1932,showing The Bible of Islamism. Public domain)
/
(Figure 1.9: Photograph of W.D. Fard dated 1930-1934. The book he is reading is notthe Qur?an. It shows every indication of being The Bible of Islamism. Public domain)
/
(Figure 1.10: Altered photo of W.D. Fard. The book he is holding doesnot appear to be the Qur?an. It appears to be The Bible of Islamism. Public domain)
/
(Figure 1.11: Altered photo of W.D. Fard. The book has gone from thin to thick. The original book appears to have been The Bible of Islamism. The one in this photo appears to be a large Qur'an. An attempt was made to alter his physical appearance and the identity of the book from which he preached. Public domain)
Mysterious, intriguing, and enigmatic, the idiosyncratic ideology that W.D. Fard preached has left an indelible mark on American Islam and the black American experience. An eclectic ideologue, who drew liberally from sources that suited him from East and West, the founder of the Nation of Islam created an original and unique formulation of the Islamic faith whose intertextuality is becoming increasingly less obscure. For some, the more the origins of his teachings are unraveled, the more Master
If W.D. Fard was presenting Judge Rutherford's Deliverance! as The Bible of Islamism, preaching from it, posing with it, drawing from its doctrines, and pretending that it was his Qur?an, and the holy book of the Nation of Islam, the influence of the Jehovah's Witnesses appears to have been even greater than previously proposed. Many teachings of W.D. Fard, even their very tone, seem to be echoes of Rutherford's Deliverance! with all its fiery preaching against Satan, Serpents, Beasts, Dragons,
Fard's blackboard, with the question, "who will win the war of Armageddon?" comes to mind, even though this parlance is not as prominent in later Nation of Islam teachings. Fard was using Rutherford's writings and teaching aids. He was reading from Deliverance! Fard may also have been delivering the speeches that Rutherford gave on the radio and at free lectures around the nation.
What is more, Rutherford also quotes Hebrews 11: 37-38 in Deliverance! This passage in question speaks of people who "went about in sheepskins and goatskins," who "wandered in deserts and mountains" and who lived in "caves and holes in the ground" much like Fard's account of Yakub's creation, namely, the development of a race of white devils by a mad scientist.
Deliverance! repeatedly specifies that the End of Times started in 1914. It describes the Final Battle and the destruction of the devils. It breaks downs the world population into groups. It also teaches that hell is not a place of eternal suffering. When one reads Deliverance!, particularly chapter twelve on "The World Established" and "The Final Battle," it is as if we hear Master Fard preaching. A detailed and systematic comparison of the teachings of J.F. Rutherford, the Witnesses, and parti
This groundbreaking discovery, namely, the identification of W.D. Fard's Bible of Islamism as Rutherford's Deliverance! further reinforces the views of those, like Faheem Shuaibe, a former minister of the Nation of Islam, and a lifelong student of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (1933-2008), who described the movement as "Christianity painted black." After all, if your scripture is Christian, can you truly be Muslim?
Was W.D. Fard a Christian in Islamic garb? Was he some sort of mutant pseudo-Muslim-Jehovah's Witness who went door to door fishing for souls in Detroit? Was the Nation of Islam a Christian offshoot? Or was it an Islamo-Christian sect of Messianic, theologically extreme, Shiite Muslims that was influenced by the apocalyptic teachings of J.F. Rutherford? It may have been that, in part, but it was far more than that. Hence, these, and many more questions, remain to be answered by the deductive min
CHAPTER 2 ARMAGEDDON AND EMPIRE: THE NATION OF ISLAM, JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, AND IMPERIAL JAPAN IN APOCALYPTIC DISCOURSE
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Icon
2.3 American Millenarianism
2.4 The Nation of Islam and Imperial Japan
2.5 Conclusions
By Bilal Muhammad
"Which one will survive the War of Armageddon?"
In the early to mid-twentieth century, the specter of global war, racial domination, and imperial rivalry ignited not only political movements, but also religious imaginations. Among the most intriguing - and often overlooked - aspects of this era is the convergence of apocalyptic narratives articulated by groups on the fringes of mainstream religious life: the Nation of Islam (NOI) and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Both movements emerged in response to Western hegemony, racialized oppression, and co
This study explores the curious and complex ways in which the NOI and Jehovah's Witnesses interpreted the rise of Imperial Japan - an Eastern, non-Christian, and militarily formidable empire - as a potential agent in the divine drama of the end times. For the Nation of Islam, Japan's resistance to white imperialism was sometimes cast as a sign of divine retribution and prophetic reversal. For Jehovah's Witnesses, Japan, while not lionized, was nevertheless a part of the geopolitical calculus sha
While vastly different in doctrine, leadership, and structure, both groups produced counter-narratives that challenged dominant Western interpretations of war, peace, and divine justice. In doing so, they positioned themselves in tension with both American patriotism and Christian orthodoxy, offering their adherents not only spiritual comfort but also geopolitical insight through apocalyptic lenses.
The inclusion of Imperial Japan in these religious worldviews was not accidental. Japan's rapid modernization, its military victories over Western powers, and its role in the Second World War (1939-1945) made it a potent symbol - alternatively feared, admired, or mythologized. In black religious thought, Japan often occupied an ambivalent space: a non-Western power that challenged white supremacy but also enacted its own forms of imperialism. In the apocalyptic imagination of both the NOI and th
This study situates the discourse on Armageddon within broader intellectual and political currents, showing how marginalized religious communities responded to imperialism, war, and race through the creation of theologies of resistance and renewal. It contributes to the growing body of scholarship at the intersection of religion, race, and geopolitics, and urges a rethinking of apocalypticism not as escapist or irrational, but as a form of historical interpretation and political critique. In tra
One of the boldest icons of the Nation of Islam (NOI) is a simple blackboard. It is sometimes placed on the rostrum of NOI mosques. In the middle of the blackboard it is written, "WHICH ONE WILL SURVIVE THE WAR OF ARMAGEDDON?" To the left, it says "CHRISTIANITY," with an American flag, a cross, and a photograph of a lynching beneath. There are also the words "SLAVERY," "SUFFERING," and "DEATH." To the right, it says "ISLAM," with the NOI flag and the words "FREEDOM," "JUSTICE," and "EQUALITY" be
While the content of the blackboard may have evolved over time, the blackboard itself was introduced to the Temple by the enigmatic founder of the NOI, W.D. Fard. He drew the American flag and the NOI flag on it with colored chalk during a speech to compare the two. Fard styled himself as a "professor" and used a variety of resources in teaching his followers. The words on the blackboard were added by Elijah Muhammad, the purported Messenger and Apostle of W.D. Fard, sometime after Elijah Muhamm
Through this blackboard, the NOI emphatically presented itself as a sort of doomsday religion. Perhaps the content of the board could even be seen as a declaration of war against the United States and the Christian world. Black people were drawn to Fard's movement due in part to legitimate social grievances: Fard was active at the heart of the Jim Crow era during the toughest years of the Great Depression (1930-1934), and most of his followers were part of the Great Migration of black people fro
Fard's teachings were rife with millenarian expectations. As discovered by John Andrew Morrow in 2023, one of the books that Fard taught from was Deliverance! by the second Jehovah's Witness president Judge Rutherford. It was always known that there was a connection between the NOI's teachings and the Witnesses, as Fard "referred his followers to the writings of Judge Rutherford" and instructed them to buy radios to listen to his radio addresses. Many of the early NOI members were former Jehovah
Rutherford's interpretation of the War of Armageddon differed from that of his predecessor Charles Taze Russell: while Russell taught that Armageddon would be an anarchic struggle for world domination, Rutherford taught that God would eradicate all the nonbelievers, destroy all governments, and usher in a 1,000-year rule led by Jesus and 144,000 believers. According to Russell, this millennial kingdom would come after the end of the 6,000-year history of man. Rutherford wrote at length about Arm
Similarly, Elijah Muhammad taught that the rule of the devil (the white man, the Adamic race) would last six thousand years, after which God would come to usher in His thousand year rule. He noted that Revelation 14:1 foretells 144,000 believers, but he hoped "to beat the old prophet's predictions" and convert more people. Pertinently, Elijah Muhammad wrote in How to Eat to Live that "a man can live up to 1,000 years if he eats the right food twice a week." Fard promised to totally destroy the w
Both the NOI and the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the believers would survive Armageddon and build a New World right here on Earth. Both groups believe that there is no life after physical death. Both groups believe that Armageddon will be brought about by God's use of the forces of nature, including hail, earthquake, flooding, fire, and disease. Fard told Elijah Muhammad's brother that it was "no time to get married right now" in 1934, and Rutherford was similarly writing that it was not th
But Fard's eschatology was not a simple copy of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He did not limit himself to the Bible, which he would later attack and call "the poisoned book." Fard was purportedly a Muslim, and he had a reputation of being a "street-corner politician." His eyes were fixed on America as the first target of his war - he wanted to destroy "America first. Yes, not Europe, but America first."
1930s Japan also had its eyes on the United States. In the years leading up to their famous attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan sent instigators to America to exploit racial tensions. Satokata Takahashi (1870-1954), a supposed major of the Japanese army and an affiliate of Japan's ultranationalist paramilitary Black Dragon Society, founded the Pacific Movement of the Eastern World in Chicago in 1932. This was a pro-Japanese black movement that promoted the idea that Japan was the champion of Asiatic p
W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad were contemporaries of Major Takahashi, and Takahashi's wife, Pearl Sherrod (1896-1976), born Pearl T. Barnett, was a member of the NOI. Japan apparently funded the Black Muslims through Takahashi, and the FBI was watching these subversive activities. Takahashi and his Filipino companion Ashima Takis would lecture at Elijah Muhammad's temples. In the 1930s, the FBI raided Takahashi's organization in Detroit and seized a poster of four guns with the word "Asia" writt
This is where Fard's Armageddon diverges from Rutherford's. For Fard, the War of Armageddon was a literal war between the Asiatic world and the white world. It was not the divine chastisement of a "spook God" that did not exist. As Elijah Muhammad said of Fard, "He did not say, 'I or Allah will do this and that,' but I noticed him carefully saying, 'We do this or that.'" In other words, "we" - the God, the Muslims, black people, Japan, the Asiatic world - would bring down the judgment on white A
In 1942, Elijah Muhammad was indicted for his sympathies with Japan. Japan went on to lose the war, and Elijah was released from prison in 1946. With his unshakeable faith in Fard's words, Elijah Muhammad persisted in his doctrine that America would soon be destroyed. The burden of this War of Armageddon shifted away from Japan and toward a divine intervention from God. The Mother Plane still played a prominent role in his eschatology and that of his ideological successor, Louis Farrakhan (b. 19
The disappearance of W.D. Fard is as mysterious as his identity. Researchers in the future may need to dig deeper into his connections with Imperial Japan and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Those who are interested in this subject who can read Japanese ought to put together a biography of Takahashi based on Japanese newspaper sources. Watchtower teachings represent a scaffolding of Fard's Biblical exegesis, and his door-to-door proselytizing may have been a strategy borrowed from them. However, the ev
/
(Figure 2.1: Sketch of the first Temple of Islam founded by W.D. Fard at 3408Hastings Street in Paradise Valley, Detroit, Michigan. Services were held on thesecond floor of the Castle Theatre. Created from an original, public domain, photograph)
CHAPTER 3 MALCOLM X AND THE TWELVE IMAMS: UNVEILING REVOLUTIONARY CONVERGENCE IN SHIITE THOUGHT
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Resistance and Radical Spirituality
3.3 Malcolm X and Shiite Islam: Revisiting an Overlooked Legacy
3.4 Mohammad Taki Mehdi: the Twelver Shiite Mentor of Malcolm X
3.5 The Ghulat or So-Called Extremist Shiites
3.6 Malcolm X and the Twelve Imams of the So-Called Extremist Shiites
3.7 Elijah Muhammad and the Twelve Imams of the So-Called Extremist Shiites
3.8 W.D. Fard and the Twelve Imams
3.9 Objections and Counter Objections
3.10 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"Twelve Leaders of Islam from all over the Planet haveconferred in the Root of Civilization concerning theLost-Found Nation of Islam - must return to their original Land."- W.D. Fard
The relationship between Malcolm X and the Twelve Imams of Ahl al-Bayt has so far been little-known even though it may have shaped a significant aspect of Malcolm's religious and political worldview. This study argues that: 1) the people involved in Malcolm X's transition from the Nation of Islam to so-called orthodox Islam were not all Sunnis
2) the Twelve Imams played a role in the doctrines of the Nation of Islam as conceived by its founder, W.D. Fard, and 3) people like Mohammad Taki Mehdi
In the pantheon of revolutionary figures of the twentieth century, Malcolm X stands as a towering symbol of resistance, spiritual transformation, and uncompromising truth. Born Malcolm Little and later known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, his political and spiritual journey reflected a unique synthesis of African American struggle, Islamic consciousness, and global anti-colonial thought. His legacy continues to resonate not merely as a civil rights leader, but as a thinker who deeply engaged with
While most analyses of Malcolm X focus on his transition from the Nation of Islam to Sunni orthodoxy after his pilgrimage to Mecca, few have seriously explored the profound ideological and spiritual intersections between Malcolm's vision and Shiite Islam, particularly the revolutionary ethos embodied in the narratives of the Twelve Imams. These early leaders of Shiism, often marginalized in dominant Islamic discourse, symbolize a theology of resistance - against tyranny, injustice, and moral com
This work seeks to interrogate and unveil the conceptual and spiritual parallels between Malcolm X and the Twelve Imams, not to argue for a direct doctrinal affiliation, but to identify a shared framework rooted in resistance to oppression, ethical leadership, martyrdom, and self-liberation. The so-called "Shiite extremists," often pejoratively labeled in political discourse, are here reframed as bearers of a radical spiritual tradition - one that speaks powerfully to the struggles of oppressed
By placing Malcolm X in dialogue with the legacies of Imam 'Ali, Imam Husayn, and the other descendants of the Prophet Muhammad revered in Shiism, this study offers a critical contribution to both Islamic intellectual history and black political thought. It challenges reductive readings of both Shiism and Malcolm's ideology and invites a transhistorical reflection on the possibilities of revolutionary convergence across cultures, geographies, and theological schools.
This exploration is not merely comparative
it is corrective. It calls into question the frameworks that have isolated Malcolm X within American civil rights history while simultaneously detaching Shiite thought from broader revolutionary narratives. In this convergence, we uncover a deeper spiritual kinship - a theology of liberation that transcends sect and ethnicity, illuminating paths toward justice, dignity, and divine accountability.
Malcolm X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, remains one of the most influential figures in the Western history of Islam - a revolutionary whose life and legacy are credited with drawing millions toward what is widely perceived as "orthodox" Islam. However, the assumption that orthodoxy in Islam is synonymous solely with Sunnism is a misreading of both history and Malcolm X's spiritual journey.
As I argued in my peer-reviewed article, "Malcolm X and Mohammed Mehdi: The Shi'a Connection," which was published in JSIS in 2012, not all of those who facilitated Malcolm's transition from the Nation of Islam (NOI) to mainstream Islam were Sunnis. One pivotal figure was Mohammad Taki Mehdi, an Iraqi political and religious activist of Persian descent who self-identified as a sayyid, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. Mehdi's activism and worldview were deeply inspired by the memory of Imam
Mehdi frequently invoked Shiite doctrines, including Ashura, al-Husayn, and the Twelve Imams, in his engagements with Malcolm X. However, these were not entirely foreign concepts to Malcolm. On the contrary, he had been exposed to these Shiite elements - albeit in a Ghulat-inflected form - within the theological teachings of the Nation of Islam, which he joined in 1948. W.D. Fard, the enigmatic founder of the NOI, had presented himself as a Prophet, the Mahdi, and even Allah in Person. His succe
This study contends that Malcolm X's awareness of Shiite Islam and the legacy of the Twelve Imams predated his formal relationship with Mehdi, which began in 1958. From his earliest days in the NOI until his break with Elijah Muhammad on March 8, 1964, Malcolm was immersed in an esoteric, heterodox Shiite cosmology cloaked in black nationalist theology. His eventual turn toward a more "mainstream" Islam - guided in part by Mehdi and Warith Deen Mohammed - did not erase this earlier influence but
Significantly, Malcolm X made a pilgrimage to the Mosque of Imam al-Husayn ibn 'Ali in Cairo six months before his martyrdom. This mosque - believed by some to house the head of Imam al-Husayn - was visited by Malcolm on Friday, August 21, 1964, as noted in his personal diary. He wrote: "Went to Hussein Mosque (in Khan Khalid & Abra for Juma prayers)." Later that evening, he added: "At the Hussein Mosque earlier in the day they showed me all the ancient treasures, including a strand of the Proph
In my earlier study, I posited that Mehdi served as the conduit through which Shiite teachings reached Malcolm X. While that article was positively received and cited in subsequent scholarship, it leaned heavily on secondary accounts - namely, the testimonies of Mehdi's former wife, Beverlee, and one of his daughters, Anisa. In this present inquiry, I seek to go further by presenting primary evidence - statements, speeches, and writings from Malcolm X himself - that reveal a profound familiarity
This study invites a reassessment of Malcolm X's Islamic identity - not simply as a convert to Sunni orthodoxy, but as a seeker whose theological evolution traversed the full spectrum of Islamic expression, including elements from Shiism, Sufism, and black Islamic mysticism. It challenges us to rethink the ways we categorize Islamic movements, and how we interpret the spiritual trajectories of revolutionary figures who defied doctrinal boundaries in pursuit of divine justice and human dignity.
Although Malcolm X was introduced to mainstream Islam by many people - including Warith Deen Mohammed, the son of Elijah Muhammad, Jamil Diab (d. 2005), and Mahmoud Youssef Shawarbi, the director of the Federation of Islamic Associations in the United States and Canada, among others - he was also inspired by Mohammad Taki Mehdi (1928-1998).
Born in Karbala, Iraq, to a family of Persian ancestry that reportedly descended from the Prophet Muhammad, Mehdi immigrated to the United States where he completed a BA, MA, and a PhD in Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. Not only was he one of the earliest pro-Palestinian activists, who founded the Action Committee on American Arab Relations, but he was also a Muslim leader who played a role in creating the National Council on Islamic Affairs.
Since Mehdi was committed to the African American struggle for civil and human rights, he used to cross paths with Malcolm X, the spokesman for the Nation of Islam, at various events. After first meeting in 1958, both men became friends and socially committed colleagues. Not only did Mehdi function as a religious and political advisor to Malcolm X, but he also made the arrangements for his life-altering pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964.
Like many Arabs and Muslims of the time, Mehdi promoted Arab nationalism, Islamic unity, and religious pluralism. "As Muslims," he stated, "we respect Judaism and the Jewish people as Ahl al-Kitab, the People of the Book." Refusing to be blinded by anti-Jewish sentiments, he stressed that "We object to the apartheid policies of the Zionist state of Israel." As Richard H. Curtis noted, Mehdi was dedicated to "unity and cooperation across sectarian lines within Islam, and with Christian and Jewish
Mehdi was a promoter of what he understood to be the message of al-Husayn ibn 'Ali. In fact, he was constantly conveying the tragedy of Karbala to anyone and everyone who was willing to listen. He was opposed to both white supremacy and Zionism. He faced threats, intimidation, physical assaults, and attempts on his life
however, he stood by his political beliefs. While there is no recorded evidence as to what Mehdi communicated to Malcolm X, Beverlee Turner, who was married to the former from
Summarizing my findings on the Shiite connection between Malcolm X and Mohammad Mehdi, without providing credit of any kind, Jonathan Azaziah had this to say:
Most remarkably of all, the Iraqi revolutionary told Malcolm of Imam Hussein and his sacrifice in Karbala often. What the Master of Martyrs endured on Ashura deeply impacted Malcolm, according to those closest to M.T. For years, biographers, researchers and supporters of Hajj Malik wondered why that despite him being fully cognizant of the target painted on his back by the FBI, the ADL and their proxies within the NOI, he still loosened his security detail, told his bodyguards to disarm, and inv
This is it, right here. Why was Malcolm so seemingly "care-free" in his last days? Because like Imam Hussein, Malcolm X embraced his destiny as a martyr and walked into the light emanating from it with love and dignity. Indeed, like the Karbala 72 themselves, he did not cower in the face of the conspiracy seeking to destroy him for he knew his blood would give rise to millions like him after he perished.
While we cannot say for certain that Hajj Malik died as a Shia, what we can attest to, unequivocally, is that Shia Islam, through Mohammad Taki Mehdi, changed the man born as Malcolm Little forever. We can also say - unequivocally as well I might add - that Malcolm X would not have become such a global force if it were not for the bespectacled Iraqi Shia revolutionary from NYC that humbly and quietly assisted him to break free from the NOI's shackles, so he could enter the abode of so-called mai
Moreover, it is hardly the point to ponder about what Islamic school of thought Malcolm belonged to, not to mention insulting to both his memory and M.T.'s for that matter. Instead, what should be concluded and joyously celebrated about the link between Hajj Malik and Mehdi is that just as Hajj Malik represents to all of us a heroic figure of anti-colonialism, black nationalism, anti-imperialism, anti-Zionism and Islamic Liberation Theology, he also represents beautiful Islamic unity. For he is
Malcolm X was indeed influenced by mainstream Twelver Shiism and the martyrdom of al-Husayn ibn 'Ali. His knowledge of so-called Ghulat Twelver Shiite beliefs, practices, and personalities, however, predates his contact with Mohammad Taki Mehdi. In fact, he learned them from his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, both in prison, from 1948 to 1952, by means of correspondence, and in person, between 1952 and 1964. As for Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975), he learned so-called Ghulat Twelver Shiite
The Ghulat, an Arabic word for theological "Exaggerators" or "Extremists," is a term applied by Twelver Shiite scholars to describe minority, self-identified Shiite groups, who hold beliefs that the majority group deems to be deviant, including, but not limited to:
* the belief that the Imams form part of the Godhead, for example, the Trinity of Muhammad, 'Ali, and Salman al-Farsi or other variations such as Allah, Muhammad and 'Ali or Haqq- Muhammad-'Ali
* the belief in the divinity of the Imams, namely, the claim that God incarnates in human form (hulul), namely, in the body of the Imams and that the Imams were the literal manifestations of God
* the belief that the Imams created and/or control the universe directly or by delegation
* the belief that the Imams have knowledge of the unseen without having received such knowledge from Allah
* the belief in metempsychosis (tanasukh)
the belief that the Imams do not die
* the belief that the Imams are superior to the Prophet
and the belief that Islamic law and the avoidance of sins is not obligatory upon those who believe in the Imams.
Besides criticizing the Ghulat for failing to fulfil orthodox religious obligations, Twelver Shiite scholars condemn them for equating 'Ali, and the other Imams, with Allah
granting them the attributes of Allah and invoking them in worship as opposed to calling upon them for intercession.
In response to Twelver Shiite allegations, the Ghulat groups in question, who view themselves as true believers, true Muslims, and true Shiites, and who describe themselves as 'Alawi, Nusayri, Qizilbash, Ahl-i Haqq, 'Ali Ilahi, Çepni, Takhtaji, Shabak, Bajwan, Ibrahimiyyah, Safawiyyah, Sarliyyah-Kakaiyyah, among many other names, accuse Twelver Shiites of being muqassirin, namely, "those who fall short (in truth faith by failing to recognize the divinity of the Imams)."
There is also a strong Ghulat current in Sevener Ismaili Shiism that produced off-shoots like the Druze in the same fashion that Twelver Shiism spawned the semi-Ghulat Shaykhis and the Babis who influenced the Baha'i faith. For some Twelver Shiite scholars, groups like the Alevis and the Bektashis are fully-fledged Ghulat or heretics. For others, however, they would be categorized as semi-Ghulat or heterodox, a term used by Farhad Daftary, S.H.M. Jafri, and myself to describe groups that exagger
The so-called Ghulat belong to many different racial, ethnic, and linguistic groups. The extant groups are mostly found in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Albania, Türkiye, Iran, Pakistan, India, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, as well as other countries in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. Despite this diversity, the so-called Extremist Shiites, a name they never use for themselves, share the same core beliefs. The so-called Ghulat have been the subject of many scholarly studies, the most notable of which include
Malcolm X believed in the Twelve Imams of the so-called Ghulat Shiites. He lectured about them in his speeches. These Twelve Imams formed part of the teachings that he imparted as a minister in the Nation of Islam. He learned about the Twelve Imams of the so-called Extremist Shiites from Elijah Muhammad who, in turn, had learned about them from Master W.D. Fard.
The question, of course, begs to be asked. How much of Elijah Muhammad's Shiite doctrines trace back to W.D. Fard and how much of them were learned by Elijah Muhammad himself after the occultation of "the Messiah of the Christians and the Mahdi of the Muslims?" Although the subject deserves to be studied in greater depth, a perusal of Elijah Muhammad's Divine Sayings reveals the presence of considerable Shiite sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and the Imams. Some are word for word. Othe
/
(Figure 3.1: Sketch of Malcolm X in March 1964. Created froma photograph in the Library of Congress Public Domain Archive)
As I argue in Finding W.D. Fard: Unveiling the Identity of the Founder of the Nation of Islam, this fascinating figure of Asian origin appears to have come from a so-called Extremist Shiite background or picked up Ghulat teachings in the United States and used them in his theology in a syncretic fashion as he did with the ideas from other religious groups. Either way, he shared the central tenets of the Ghulat Shiites, teachings that he transmitted to his disciple, Elijah Muhammad who, in turn,
In 1958, Malcolm X gave a speech in which he mentioned the Twelve Imams of the so-called Ghulat Shiites. He explained that "when Joseph saw twelve stars that emerged into one this was a symbol of the Twelve Islam Leaders of the East coming to Elijah Muhammad for leadership." In other words, Elijah Muhammad was the leader of the Twelve Imams. And, like the Twelve Imams themselves, W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, and Malcolm X cited the Bible to support their theological claims. In 1959, Malcolm X sta
In Mecca there is a group of 24 men who are known as gods. These gods have great wisdom, and they are dependent on each other. These men are men like us, and they die like we do, but a son is always trained to take the place of his father, and he is also trained not to reveal the secret. It is known that someday a son would be born to one of these 24 men, and he would be much wiser than they are. This one would be the supreme God. This son has been born and is known as W.F. Muhammad. This name s
Malcolm also affirmed that "Allah is a living human being - God - the 25th wise man who came to this country to teach Elijah Muhammad." In December of 1962, shortly before Christmas, Malcolm X delivered a particularly virulent anti-white speech at Harlem's Nation of Islam Mosque No. 7. The title of the speech was "Black Man's History." As Malcolm X explained, the Twelve Major Imams and the Twelve Minor Imams were at the heart of Nation of Islam theology and were a part and parcel of Afro-centric
On this earth there are wise black men who can tune in and tell what's going to happen in the future just as clear. as they can see in the past. And they sit down and write history to last 25,000 years. After this history expires, they put it in a vault in the Holy City, Mecca, and write a new history. This has been going on and on and on. So, in the year one of the cycle in which we now live. there are Twenty-Four Wise Men. They're spoken of in the Bible as Twenty-Four Elders or Twenty-Four Pro
At the end of every 25,000 years, this one calls all of them into conference, and they sit down at the Holy City, Mecca, and he informs them that the history of the past 25,000 years has expired and it's time to write a new history. So, these Twenty-Four, these Scientists, begin to tune in on the population of the planet Earth. These twenty-four Scientists begin to tune in, they look down through the wheel of time. They can tell not only what the people on this Earth are thinking, but they can t
The Twelve Major Imams and the Twelve Minor Imams also appear in the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Summarizing the theology of the Nation of Islam, he wrote that:
Elijah Muhammad teaches that. the first humans, Original Man, were a black people. They founded the Holy City of Mecca. Among this black race were Twenty-Four Wise Scientists. One of the Scientists. created the especially strong black tribe of Shabazz, from which America's Negroes, so-called, descend.
Elijah Muhammad teaches that the greatest and mightiest God who appeared on the earth was Master W.D. Fard. He came from the East to the West, appearing in North America at a time when the history and the prophecy that is written was coming to realization, as the non-white people all over the world began to rise, and as the devil white civilization, condemned by Allah, was, through its devilish nature, destroying itself.
Malcolm X taught Nation of Islam theology for fifteen years. His classes and lectures included lessons on the Twelve Divine Imams. The citations above support this point. Unfortunately, only a limited number of Malcolm's speeches were recorded and only a small amount of his written sermons, lectures, and articles have survived. If one thing is clear, it is that Malcolm X transmitted the teachings of Elijah Muhammad regarding the Twelve Imams.
Fortunately, many of Elijah Muhammad's speeches were recorded, and an impressive body of his writings have been printed in newspapers and books. If there is any doubt as to what Malcolm X was really talking about in the above-mentioned quotations, it evaporates when we examine the source of his teachings on the Twelve Imams: the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the final Messenger of Allah according to the Nation of Islam.
The belief in the Twelve Imams of the so-called Ghulat Shiites was taught to Malcolm X by Elijah Muhammad. In the Supreme Wisdom, Elijah Muhammad explained that "There are 12 tribes, the 12 Imams is the real answer. Allah said that WE ONCE HAD 13 TRIBES, but one got lost." As Elijah Muhammad learned from Master W.D. Fard,
The knowledge of God has been kept a secret by Twelve Men on our planet for many thousands of years. The Twelve pass their knowledge on from son to son, but the number possessing this knowledge is never more than twelve
and they are not to ever reveal it.
The belief that the exoteric and esoteric teachings of Islam were transmitted to the Imams via nass or appointment, light upon light, forms part of Sevener, Twelver, and so-called Ghulat Shiite teachings. According to Elijah Muhammad, the Council of the Twelve Imams gathered to discuss the fate and ultimate destiny of the war-mongering and irredeemable white race:
Twelve Leaders from all over the Planet had a conference in the Holy City of Mecca, Arabia, over the Lost-Found Nation (the so-called Negroes) in the wilderness (America) who must return to their own. These Leaders agreed that the devils (the American white race) are disagreeable to live with in peace and have decided to remove them from the Planet Earth. I will agree with the Scientists, for we have tried to live with them in peace, even up to this very minute (400 years) and they yet show the
As Elijah Muhammad explains, the Imams were not bound by space and time. They were not merely historical figures who lived from the seventh century until the ninth century. They were both transcendent and immanent. According to Elijah Muhammad, the Imams were watching over Moses when he tried, in vain, to reform the race of genetically altered white devils that had been created by Yakub, a mad scientist. Speaking of Yakub's creation, he related that:
Once they gave Moses so much trouble that he took a few sticks of dynamite, went up on the mountainside, placed them into the ground, and went back to get those who were giving him the most trouble. He said to them: "Stand there on the edge of this mountain and you will hear the voice of God." They stood there about 300 in number. Moses set the fuse off, and it killed all of them.
The Imams got after Moses for performing this trick on the devils. Moses said to the Imams: "If you only know how much trouble these devils give me, you would do as I do." The Imams recognized the tremendous job Musa (Moses) had, trying to civilize the savages. Those enemies of the righteous black nation on earth now had to take the place as the rulers and conquerors of the earth.
Elijah Muhammad's claim that the Twelve Imams were physically present at the time of Moses was not the product of personal fantasy. It was rooted in the Ghulat Shiite exegesis of a particular Qur'anic verse: "And you, [o Muhammad], were not on the western side [of the mount] when We revealed to Moses the command, and you were not among the witnesses [to that]" (28:44). The Ghulat Shiites believe that Imam 'Ali spoke to Moses via the Burning Bush. "Some extremist Shiites," explains Matti Moosa,
As Elijah Muhammad explained, relying on the teachings he had received from Master W.D. Fard, the Twelve Imams existed prior to Yakub's creation: "Jacob made, according to the Bible, 12 sons. Actually, Jacob could not produce the 12 Scientists. The 12 Scientists were already here." The Imams even take precedence over the prophets of God. In fact, as Elijah Muhammad explained, the Twelve Imams appointed the messengers of God:
I will not go out in the street and sit on the curb stone with my brother. I won't boast that I'm greater than him, because he was created like me and he have the brains like me, which came with the creation, and he can make that brain do just what I'm doing if the Will of the power of the 12 Scientists of the God with him. He can do just what I'm doing. When a Messenger is chosen, they go and [confer] with these 12 to see whether or not they can do the job for which's he's now chosen. The 12 Go
The fact that Elijah Muhammad spoke of Twelve Imams and Twelve Great Scientists is telling. Traditions in Kulayni's al-Kafi, one of the major sources of traditions for Twelver Shiites, cite the Prophet Muhammad as saying both "The world cannot exist without an Imam" and "The world cannot exist without an 'Alim," namely, a Scholar or a Scientist. Since Elijah Muhammad was not proficient in Arabic, this suggests that his teacher, W.D. Fard, was familiar with the Arabic language and with the tradit
As Elijah Muhammad explained, Yakub grafted the so-called devil white race, through a process of unnatural selection and selective breeding on the island of Pelan. The Twelve Imams came to realize that whites could never coexist peacefully with blacks. As much as they sent prophets and messengers to try to guide the white race, they were met, repeatedly, with abject failure. Moses failed, Jesus failed, and Muhammad failed. Evil by nature, W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad taught, the whites simply c
After observing the plight of black Americans, and the wickedness of the whites who enslaved, segregated, and oppressed them, "the Twelve Scientists met to confer over the possibility of returning us [African Americans], the lost-founds in the wilderness of North America, to our own." As far as Elijah Muhammad was concerned,
The black nation is only fooling themselves to take the Caucasian race otherwise. This is what Jesus learned of their history, before he gave up his work of trying to convert the Jews or white race to the religion of Islam.
And the same knowledge of them was given to Muhammad by the Imams (or Scientists) of Mecca. That is why the war of the Muslims against them came to a stop. Muhammad was told that he could not reform the devils and that the race had 1,400 more years to live
the only way to make righteous people (Muslims) out of them was to graft them back into the black nation.
This grieved Muhammad so much that it caused him heart trouble until his death (age sixty-two and one-half years. The Old Scientists used to laugh at Muhammad for thinking that he could convert them (the devils) to Islam. This hurt his heart.
He [Muhammad] gets the name (Praised) from the honor of the Twenty-Four Elders or Islamic Scientists.
Master W.D. Fard was therefore sent from the East to the West by the Twelve Imams of the so-called Extremist Shiites in order to guide the Lost-Found Nation of Islam and bring Black Muslims back to their ancestral homeland in Asia and, if that were not possible, Elijah Muhammad would call for the creation of a black Asiatic homeland in the Americas where believers would await the wrath of Allah upon the white man.
Although Elijah Muhammad described his teachings as a "New Islam" it was, to a certain extent, "Old Ghulat Shiism" that was adapted to an African American context, and which drew from disparate ideological influences. Just like the Ghulat, however, Elijah Muhammad's teachings placed the historical Prophet Muhammad at a level that was inferior or subservient to that of the Twelve Imams. This coincides with the 'Alawi-Nusayri creed, namely, the beliefs of the so-called Ghulat Shiites from Syria. A
Muhammad has no lord but 'Ali. As the creature of 'Ali, Muhammad cannot be homologous with 'Ali in his divinity. He must (and does) occupy an inferior position in the trinity of the Nusayris, as is clear from the Nusayri catechism, which charges Muhammad with the duty of calling the believers to the knowledge of their Lord 'Ali.
As further evidence of the so-called Extremist Shiite origins of the Nation of Islam, a high-ranking figure in the Nation of Islam reported in 1964 that W.D. Fard had left behind books before he disappeared: works that revealed that he had been sent to the West by "the Twelve Men of Mecca," namely, the Twelve Imams themselves. During the same year, Elijah Muhammad claimed that his teacher, W.D. Fard, had returned to "Twelve Men of Mecca." The mission of Master W.D. Fard therefore begins and ends
Tynetta Muhammad (1941-2015), who was born Tynetta Alethea Nelson, a secretary, mistress, or "secret wife" of Elijah Muhammad, who only revealed her role after his passing, shared many of the lessons that she had learned from her husband and prophet. They include the belief that:
Two major groups of angelic hosts. are working with God in the Judgment. He identified One Group of the angelic hosts as being seven in number who perform a particular function in relationship to the elements of our earth and its atmosphere. The Second Group's numbers is 12. They are identified as the Twelve Major Scientists, who know the Secret of God's Divine Being. He further stated that he was in the Circle of the Twelve and the Seven.
If we study the spectrum of Islam, the only groups that believe in the divine pre-existence of the Imams are the Shaykhis and certain Twelver Shiites who hold that the Imams have some control over the universe by the permission of God. Although the self-described theologically moderate and mainstream Sevener and Twelver Shiites believe that God created Muhammad, Fatimah, 'Ali, Hasan and Husayn, and the rest of the Imams, prior to creating the world, they do not believe that they are supernatural
Had Elijah Muhammad spoken solely of Twelve Imams, Scientists or Leaders, one could have spoken of a traditional Twelver Shiite influence on the teachings of the Nation of Islam. Considering that he described them explicitly as "God-Scientists," namely, divine scholars, in the literal sense, the so-called Extremist Shiite implications appear to be inescapable.
According to the teachings of W.D. Fard, the historical Prophet Muhammad, like Moses before him, tried to reform the white race. Knowledge of their supposedly diabolical nature, however, was "given to Muhammad by the Imams (or Scientists) of Mecca," "the Imams (or Scientists) of Mecca" made it clear to Muhammad that he could not convert the white race." Elijah Muhammad also asserted that Master W.D. Fard was superior to them:
The Twelve Major Imams, as they are called in Islam or in the Arab language, they don't have this one's knowledge [i.e.. Fard]. This one [Fard] has a superior knowledge and that the other Twelve Minor or the Twenty-Four Elders, as you find them in the last of the book here, casting down their crown to that One that is conquering the best and is delivering people from that beast.
"In the Theology of Time," notes Michael Lieb, "Elijah Muhammad describes himself as a 'Messenger' who acts in accordance with the 'Twelve Scientists of God.' He declares that he is 'the Last Scientist or Prophet.'" Elijah Muhammad even asserted that he was the pole around which the Twelve Imams circumambulated, namely, he was the sun around which they orbited. He was, in his own words, the New Qiblah or direction of prayer and the Real Muhammad:
I'm Elijah of your Bible
I'm Muhammad of your Holy Qur'an. Not the Muhammad that was here 1400 years ago, I am the one that the Holy Qur'an is referring to. The Muhammad that was here 1400 years ago was a white man
then they put up a sign of the real Muhammad. It's there in Mecca Arabia
they call it the little black stone.
Since he was, in his mind, the real Prophet Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad claimed that he had more knowledge than both the Antichrist and the Imams. In his words: "The Lamb is here opening that which the Beast nor even the Scientist of heaven has ever known - not even the 24 Scientists who wrote our history."
Elijah Muhammad claimed that "there's very little of God's creation that He has not taught me something about it, because He put me as His second self, that's what I am. I'm the second self of God Almighty." This resembles traditions attributed to the Twelve Imams in which they claim to have knowledge of the unseen. It also evokes Ghulat and semi-Ghulat Shiite art in which 'Ali and Allah are treated as mirrors of one another. Elijah Muhammad, if we are to believe him, was the Face of Allah.
Like al-Hallaj (c. 858-922), the Persian Sufi mystic, poet, and teacher, who proclaimed that "I am the Truth," and who was condemned to death for heresy, Elijah Muhammad stated that he had reached a state of divine union with the Divinity. In one particularly euphoric moment, he proclaimed that "Allah has taken over the Messenger's heart, mind, and brain, and Allah is making them react according to His Will. The Apostle is considered one in Allah and Allah is one in the Apostle." In other words,
As Antony B. Pinn explains, the Imams were not men: they were God-Scientists, namely, divinities who wrote human history. Master Fard Muhammad, however, had the distinction of being Allah Himself, the Supreme Twenty-Fourth Scientist. In other words, he is the God that will bring judgment to the white man. As Elijah Muhammad expounded,
We make history every 25,000 years. When such history is written, it is done by twenty-four of our Scientists. One acts as judge or God for the others and twenty-three actually do the work of getting up the future of the nation. The original black nation used 23 Scientists to write the future of that nation for the next 25,000 years, and the 24th is the judge or the one God, Allah.
On February 26, 1974, as part of his Saviour's Day address, Elijah Muhammad asserted that:
This date is taken from the beginning of the present CYCLE OF WORLD HISTORY WRITINGS BY 24 BLACK SCIENTISTS of which only 23 actually do the writing, and the 24th one acts as judge of the writings of the other 23. This takes place once every 25,000 years. In this history is written everything that will come to pass for the next 25,000 years.
According to the teachings of W.D. Fard, as transmitted by Elijah Muhammad, the race of white devils was created by the Council of Twenty-Four God-Scientists or Imams:
Six thousand years ago, or to be more exact, 6,600 years ago, as Allah taught me, our nation gave birth to another god whose name was Yakub. He started studying the life germ of man to try and make a new creation (new man) which our twenty-four Scientists had foretold eight thousand four hundred years before the birth of Mr. Yakub
and the Scientists were aware of his birth, before he was born, as they are today of the intentions or ideas of the present world.
These Twenty-Four Divine Scientists include Twelve Major and Twelve Minor Imams. As Anthony B. Pinn elucidates,
Master Fard Muhammad is Supreme Deity during our current twenty-five-thousand-year period. Fard is not, however, the "First" who began creation but is Allah, who has the same knowledge as the "First" creator.
The belief in Twenty-Four Imams, Twelve Major and Twelve Minor traces back to the so-called Ghulat or Extremist Shiites. The 'Alawi-Nusayris believe in Twelve Imams, Twelves Naqibs, Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and Twelve Captains of Israel. The Ghulat, the semi-Ghulat, and other associated groups, such as the Bektashis, the Qizilbash, and the 'Ali-Ilahis, all exalt the Twelve Imams. As Farhad Daftary notes, the Tayyibi-Ismailis, who are Sevener Shiites, believe in twenty-three absolute missionarie
As Elijah Muhammad related, W.D. Fard revealed to him that "My name is Mahdi
I am God. I came to guide you into the right path that you may be successful and see the hereafter." Far from a fabrication of Elijah Muhammad, Master W.D. Fard's claims of divinity were confirmed in newspaper reports from 1932. When asked to identify himself, he calmly and confidently informed the Detroit Police Department that he was "the Supreme Being."
From the time he arrived in Detroit's Paradise Valley on July 4, 1930, Master W.D. Fard assumed the role of the God-Imam of the so-called Ghulat Shiites. He presented himself as a prophet, the Mahdi, the Hidden Imam, and eventually as Allah Himself. After four years of initiating his followers into his esoteric doctrines, which were drawn, in part, from so-called Extremist Shiism, he entered a state of occultation which would reportedly last until he returns to annihilate the white supremacist w
Far from being the product of his own creative genius, Elijah Muhammad's teachings on the Twelve Imams seem to have been derived directly and faithfully from his own teacher: the mysterious Asiatic mystic known as W.D. Fard. According to this fascinating, but fleeting, figure from the East, creation was the product of Allah, the "Cosmic Intellect" or the "Black Intellect." The Essence of Allah, however, is transcendent and unfathomable.
From this Eternal Blackness, which is Allah, emanated the Divine Council of Twelve Major and Minor Imams, who are also known as Leaders, Scientists, and Gods. These Divine Imams are black men. They live upon the earth, mingle among the people, and hold meetings in Mecca, but their identity remains hidden. They control all creation, have knowledge of all things, and write the future in a Guarded Tablet. They are the manifestations and incarnations of Allah: God in Person. The Twelve Imams, as a D
After reading the citations in question, mainstream Muslims, both Sunnis and Shiites, would have a challenging time finding any semblance of so-called Islamic orthodoxy in such teachings. The theology of the W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, and the Nation of Islam is drawn from a wide variety of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic sources. It includes elements from Rastafarianism, which surfaced at the same time as the Nation of Islam, along with Theosophy, Gnosticism, Freemasonry, and Ufology. It also dr
According to the dominant view, the belief that the Twelve Imams were gods has no basis in mainstream Twelver Shiism. They may have been perceived to be godly and godlike, but they were not gods. The only people in the Muslim world who view the Twelve Imams as omniscient divinities who govern the world are the so-called Ghulat or Extremist Shiites. As Shaykh Saduq (d. 991) stated in his Shiite Creed:
Our belief concerning those who exceed the bounds of belief (ghal, plural ghulat) and those who believe in delegation (al-mufawwida) is that they are deniers (kuffar) of Allah, Glory be to His name. They are more wicked than the Jews, the Christians, the Fire-Worshippers, the Qadarites or the Kharijites (haruriyyah), or any of the heretics (ahl a1-bid'ah) or those who hold views which lead astray. None have belittled Allah more, Glory be to Him
as Allah says:
"It is not possible for any human being unto whom Allah has given the scripture and wisdom and the prophethood that he should afterwards have said unto mankind: Be slaves of me instead of Allah
but (what he said was): Be ye faithful servants of the Lord by virtue of your constant teaching of the Scripture and of your constant study thereof" (Qur'an 3:79). "And he commanded you not that ye should take the angels and the prophets for lords. Would he command you to disbelieve after ye had become M
And He said, Mighty and Glorious is He: "Do not be excessive in your belief." (Qur'an 4:171, 5:77)
Despite some of the evidence above, some scholars might still question whether the Twelve Imams and God-Scientists of W.D. Fard are connected to the Twelve Imams of the so-called Ghulat Shiites. If so, then it is important to pan out and place this belief in the broader context of the teachings of the Nation of Islam as imparted by W.D. Fard to Elijah Muhammad.
As I have detailed in Finding W.D. Fard: Unveiling the Identity of the Founder of the Nation of Islam, W.D. Fard taught his followers to believe in Twelve Imams. He taught them that the Imams controlled creation. He taught them that the Imams were gods. He taught them that there were Twenty-Four Imams in total: Twelve Major Imams and Twelve Minor Imams. As the Nusayri catechism, Kitab ta'alim al-diniyyah al-nusayriyyah explains, God appeared on earth in human form. For example, God took the form
W.D. Fard also taught his disciples to believe in cycles of time. He taught them that Heaven and Hell were allegorical. He taught them to believe in reincarnation or the transmigration of souls. He taught them that there were prophets after Muhammad. He taught them a tripartite profession of faith. And he taught them the belief in a race of infidels, devils, and demons. All these teachings resemble those shared by the Ghulat Shiites with the one difference that the devils, for the so-called Ghul
In light of this evidence, it could be argued that the teachings of W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, and the Nation of Islam are a radical Western religious expression of radical Eastern religious ideas: the doctrines shared by the Ghulat, the semi-Ghulat, and associated fringe and derivative groups, namely, the Alevis, the Bektashis, the 'Alawi-Nusayris, the Qizilbash/Kizilbash, the Mufawwidah, the Ahl-i Haqq or 'Ali-Ilahis, the Çepni or Takhtaji, the Shabak, the Bajwan, the Ibrahimiyyah, the Safawi
Critics may claim that the evidence presented does not support the thesis that the Twelve Imams mentioned in the teachings of W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, and the Nation of Islam are the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shiism. They most certainly are not. They find their theological roots in the Twelve Imams of so-called Ghulat Shiism. The fact that W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, and Malcolm X often referred to them as "Scientists," "Leaders," and "Elders" does not demonstrate that they were not the Twelve
There was a tendency in the Nation of Islam to use English instead of Arabic terminology: "temples" instead of "mosques" and "scientists" instead of "Imams," "leaders," and "scholars." However, the fact that Elijah Muhammad referred to them as Twelve Imams is telling, particularly during a period in which many English speakers were unfamiliar with basic Arabic and Islamic terminology.
What is more, the fact that W.D. Fard described his place of prayer as a temple, as opposed to a mosque, does not suggest that he was ignorant of Islam. On the contrary, it suggests that he came from a Shiite background. After all, many Shia groups prefer not to call their places of worship "mosques." They tend to prefer the words husayniyyah, markaz, and jami'. The Shia also do not refer to their shuyukh, scholars and elders, as Imams, and likewise, the Nation of Islam uses the term "ministers.
Critics may claim that the Twelve Major Imams of W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, and the Nation of Islam are black men, that they exist contemporaneously while the Twelve Shiite Imams lived in successive generations, and that there are always twelve in existence at one time, while there is only one Shiite Imam who is the Lord of the Age at any one time.
The claim that the Twelve Imams of W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, and the Nation of Islam cannot be connected to the Twelve Imams of the Ghulat Shiites since they were black is not sound. As far as W.D. Fard was concerned, there were only two races: the white and the black. Consequently, anyone who was not white, namely Yakubian ancestry, was considered black. Hence, if the Twelve Imams were Arabs, or anything other than European, they were people of color in the mind of W.D. Fard.
Amina Inloes claims that the seventh Imam, Musa al-Kazim, was 50% African, that the eighth Imam, 'Ali al-Rida was 75% African, that the ninth Imam, Muhammad al-Taqi was 88% African, that the tenth Imam, 'Ali al-Naqi, was 94% African, that the eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari was 97% African while the twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi was 98.4% African.
While several of the Twelve Imams are alleged to have had black African wives, I have challenged this assertion in "Concerning the Color of Adam, the Prophets, and the Imams" which appears in Restoring the Balance: Using the Qur'an and the Sunnah to Guide a Return to the Prophet's Islam and in Shiism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus. Despite claims to the contrary, a serious study of the evidence suggests that the women in question came from North Africa, not sub-Saharan Africa.
Amina Inloes does not acknowledge the difference between so-called black Africans and so-called white Africans. She decided to group both North Africa and the Horn of Africa together as "African," reasoning that "they are both on the same continent." The fact of the matter is that sub-Saharan Africans and North African Imazighen belong to different genetic and ethnic groups. Their history, language families, and cultures are distinct. Both white Russians and Chinese people have historically live
The later Imams were not 98.4% black African. They were primarily Berber or Amazigh, a people of Caucasian ancestry, whose DNA and language family traces back to the Caspian Sea. Tens of thousands of years ago, they set off on a mass migration from Eurasia and settled in North Africa. Although they were influenced by other cultures, European DNA only left a trace contribution to the Imazighen. As a result of Islamization and Arabization, some of them have mixed with other populations, including
While the attempt by Amina Inloes to blacken some of the Arab-Berber Imams, turning them into black African Imams, has no basis in history, linguistics, culture, and genetics, it does, however, have a basis in the theology of W.D. Fard, who was influenced by so-called Ghulat Shiism, and appears to have based his beliefs on some isolated traditions, found in Shiite sources, that suggest that some of the Imams were of black African ancestry through their maternal lines. The painting of the Twelve
Finally, while it is true that the Twelve Imams of the Twelver Shiites were historical figures, who did not all live together at the same time, Twelver Shiites believe that they were created prior to the creation of the universe while the so-called Ghulat Shiites view them as manifestations of God and incarnations of the divine who transcend both time and space. So, the Twelve Imams of the Twelver Shiites are different from the Twelve Imams of the Nation of Islam. The Twelve Imams of the Nation
The Twelve Imams played a pivotal role in the theology of W.D. Fard that was taught by Elijah Muhammad to Malcolm X. As a minister in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X used to preach about the Twelve Imams to congregations and audiences around the United States. His understanding of the Twelve Imams, however, did not coincide with so-called orthodox, mainstream, and normative Twelver Shiism. Along with an extensive list of other doctrines, Malcolm X's belief in the Twelve Imams seems to fall into a
CHAPTER 4 THE ORIGIN OF W.D. FARD'S "ACTUAL FACTS"
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Actual Facts
4.3 Conclusions
By Bilal Muhammad
"He began teaching us the knowledge of ourselves, of God and the devil, of the measurement of the earth, of other planets, and of the civilization of some of the planets other than earth. He measuredand weighed the earth and its water
the history of the moon, the history of the two nations, black and white that dominate the earth." - Elijah Muhammad
"[He] gave us the measurement of our earth - the land and thewater - and gave us the distance between the planets. every timewe look around, the white scientists [are] fixing their measurements, coming closer and closer to that which you know and haveknown since 1930 in this city of Detroit. You've been blessed,but you don't know your blessings." - Louis Farrakhan
W.D. Fard, the man venerated as "God in Person" by the African American Nation of Islam (NOI), was an enigmatic teacher that was active in Detroit and Chicago between 1930 and 1934. Many of his teachings were compiled into The Supreme Wisdom, a book containing lessons on geography, mathematics, and NOI theology and history. The Supreme Wisdom is often memorized verbatim by NOI adherents, including by children at the NOI's University of Islam schools.
One of the documents in The Supreme Wisdom is called "Actual Facts," which provides numerical figures for the square mileage, circumference, and diameter of the Earth, as well as the square mileage of land, water, hills and mountains, islands, and deserts. As a modern and quasi-naturalistic religion, the NOI puts some emphasis on incorporating the empirical sciences in their teachings. "Islam is Mathematics," The Supreme Wisdom says. White people are said to be the product of a scientist using a
But where did W.D. Fard get his figures from in his "Actual Facts"? For the NOI, Fard is God in Person, and "he stood and measured the earth" (Habakkuk 3:6). In the earlier quotation, Farrakhan suggested that white scientists' estimation of the Earth's measurements is gradually getting closer to the miraculous measurements of The Supreme Wisdom.
However, Fard was also a resourceful man: he used both the Bible and the Qur'an, he assigned 104 books from the Library of Congress (or 150 books) to Elijah Muhammad, and he taught from Breasted James Henry's The Conquest of Civilization and Judge Rutherford's Deliverance! It is thus likely that he supplemented his scientific teachings with published works as well. This recalls the Islamic teaching that God sent 104 books to humanity. For example, al-Bayhaqi reported that al-Hasan al-Basri said:
As it turns out, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, a popular reference work published every year since 1886, is probably the source of Fard's "Actual Facts." The almanac was used by U.S. presidents Calvin Coolidge, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton. Over the years, the almanac became a household name and has been featured in several Hollywood films and television appearances. "Actual Facts" says that
The total area of the land and water of the planet Earth is 196,940,000 square miles. The area of the Water is 139,685,000 square miles. The area of the Land is 57,255,000 square miles . The Atlantic Ocean covers 41,321,000 square miles. The Pacific Ocean covers 68,634,000 square miles. The Indian Ocean covers 29,430,000 square miles. The Lakes and Rivers cover 1,000,000 square miles. The Islands are 1,910,000 square miles. The circumference of the planet Earth is 24,896 miles.
The 1928 edition of The World Almanac and Book of Facts - published just two years before W.D. Fard appeared in Detroit - has the exact same figures.
/
(Figure 4.1: The World Almanac.Library of Congress and Internet Archive. Public domain)
/
(Figure 4.2: The World Almanac.Library of Congress and Internet Archive. Public domain)
The 1923 edition of the almanac (available for free online) also gives the same figures for the diameter of the Earth and the Earth's fertile regions. The facts appear to have been revised by the National Geographic Society of Washington, DC, "from the latest available figures and estimates." The almanac has also been available at the Library of Congress since the 1920s.
Despite these statistics being used nearly a century ago, they are remarkably close to today's estimates - but they are not exact. With the advent of space travel and the invention of GPS, it is likely that today's figures are more factual than what is seen in "Actual Facts." Still, Fard did not simply fabricate these numbers - he consulted a prominent and respected sourcebook.
The more we discover about W.D. Fard, the more we learn that he was an adaptable man that stitched various fabrics into the garb in which he would gown his Nation. He was the product of an era of technological advancement, millenarianism, eugenics, numerology, and interreligious exchange. He was a traveler that never stayed exceedingly long in the same place, and he absorbed various influences from every place he went to. While he did not literally measure the Earth in his travels, we can at lea
CHAPTER 5 NOTES ON THE CHICAGO TEMPLE OF ISLAM: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ACCOUNTS OF W.D. FARD'S DOCTRINES
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam (1930-1939)
5.3 The Study's Bibliography
5.4 Commentary and Analysis
5.5. Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"I am W.D. Fard and I came from the Holy City of Mecca. More about myself I will not tell you yet, for the time has not yet come. I am your brother. You have not yet seen me in my royal robes."- W.D. Fard
The older the source, the better, hold historians. Unfortunately, for the longest time, researchers were limited to writings from the 1960s regarding the Nation of Islam. One of the rare exceptions was Edrmann Doane Beynon's (1892-1943) article on "The Voodoo Cult Among Negro Migrants in Detroit" which was published in 1938. Fortunately, over time, earlier sources have surfaced, and we have now reached a point where we have letters written by W.D. Fard himself.
Among the earliest accounts of Fard's doctrines are the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" that were produced by the Illinois Writers Project. Commenced in 1935, as part of President Frank Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, it was tasked with documenting the black American experience in Illinois from 1776-1942. Although its findings were intended to be published as a book, the project, which was supervised by Arna Bontemps (1902-1973) and writer Jack Conroy (1899-1990), and which included many not
The collection of papers was stored at the Chicago Public Library. Some of the papers were published in The Negro in Illinois: The WPA Papers in 2011. However, the collection itself was only digitized in 2018. Long ignored, its study on W.D. Fard and the Chicago Temple of Islam is paramount for the simple reason that it was started in 1935, shortly after W.D. Fard was alive and present in Detroit and Chicago, and completed in 1939, when the Nation of Islam was still in its infancy. It provides u
"The Asiatic black man is the original man, the ruler of the universe, the eight inhabited planets, and of this planet earth. Islam is the true religion. A religion which can be proved by mathematics in a limit of time."
"The Moslems have the wisdom. We're not afraid of the devil this so-called white man. We walk right up to them. They're afraid of you if you've got the Truth. Just tell 'em, 'White man, you're a devil. You were grafted from the original black man." He'll say, 'Yes, you're right.' He'll admit it 'cause you got the power. Just say, "You're a beast, you've got one-third animal blood.' He won't deny it, 'cause it's true. When they were driven from the Holy City of Mecca they lived in the Caves of Eu
"Christianity is the religion of the so-called white man. Have you ever noticed that the very things he teaches us that the Devil does is the very things he is doing? He is the Devil."
These quotations from a sermon by a minister of a Chicago Temple of Islam outline certain primary beliefs of the sect, founded in Detroit during 1930 by a Negro peddler named W.D. Fard, who presumably hailed from the Orient.
Fard, shortly after his appearance in Detroit, announced modestly: "I am W.D. Fard and I came from the Holy City of Mecca. More about myself I will not tell you yet, for the time has not yet come. I am your brother. You have not yet seen me in my royal robes." He proclaimed that his mission was to secure "freedom, justice, and equality" for his "uncle" living in "the wilderness of North America, surrounded and robbed completely by the cave man." Cult members soon employed "uncle" as a symbolical
The Temple of Islam frequently found itself in conflict with the Detroit authorities. One zealot was involved in a ritual murder, and parents refused to send their children to the "white devil's" schools, preferring the University of Islam where "righteous" learning was imparted. At the University children were taught Moslem knowledge as an antidote to the "tricknology" of the Caucasians. The Board of Education intervened
the Moslems retaliated with minor riots. Sensational newspaper accounts s
Fard, according to reports, helped Elijah Mohammed to organize Temple No. 2 in Chicago, bestowing "righteous" (i.e., "Original") names upon eight hundred new Moslems. Like the Moorish American Science Temple, the Temple of Islam has been torn by internal dissension, a rival group hawing been established in 1935 by one of the original Temple ministers shortly after the first Chicago prophet, Elijah Mohammed, departed to spread the gospel of Islam in other localities. Since then Elijah's movements
Their "Moorish" names puzzled the police until [L]ing Shah disclosed that the Prophet of their order, W.D. Fard, or Fard Mohammed, or Elijah [Mohammed] had christened them thus last spring. A police search for Prophet Fard was started but he could not be found last night. He was described as born in the holy City of Mecca in 1877, who came to America on July 4, 1930.
The fezzes and red robes, which the cultists also wore, apparently were rented. The "Allah Temple of Islam," which propounds the theory that all blacks are Moors and not Negroes, is a secret organization of national proportions, investigation disclosed. The original prophet, one Noble Drew Ali, who began his career as a New Jersey expressman, appears to have left Chicago, which once was his headquarters, the police said. The Chicago temple is said to be an offshoot of Drew's original group. A co
Services of the temple are based upon manuals prepared by Prophet Fard. Only one of these, Teachings for the Lost Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical Way, Consisting of Thirty-Four Problems is printed. Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam, Part I. in 14 Secs and Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam, Part II in 40 Secs. must be memorized by each member, and no written copies ever are in evidence. These manuals, being largely symbolic, are practically unintelligible to outsiders. The first con
A lion, in a cage, walks back and forth sixty feet per minute, seeking a way out of the cage. It took him nearly four centuries to find the door. Now, with modern equipment, he is walking three thousand feet per minute, and he has three thousand miles by two thousand miles to go yet. How long will it take him to cover this territory of said three thousand miles by two thousand miles? He also has seventeen million keys, which he turns at the rate of sixteen and seventeen one-hundredths per minute
A cult member has offered a partial solution of this problem by disclosing that the lion in the cage is the "original man," or Asiatic, held in bondage for four centuries within a trap fabricated by the "Caucasian devil." The seventeen million keys represent a like number of Asiatics held in bondage in the "wilderness of North America." "Modern equipment" is the teachings of Islam by which the "original man" progresses rapidly toward emancipation. Rusty locks are recalcitrant "originals" who hav
The following are the important rules (one for each letter of the alphabet) for the guidance of Temple People
a) All persons entering the Temple must be searched - products of the Caucasian Devil's art must not be taken into the Temple, such as weapons, mirrors, fingernail files, cosmetics, cigarettes, medicines, etc.
b) All men leaving the Temple for the washroom must be searched upon their return to the Temple.
c) All men sit in a body in the front section of the Temple.
d) All women sit in the rear station.
e) All men use the right aisle of the Temple.
f) All women use the left aisle.
g) All men salute each other when passing.
h) Outside the Temple the women salute each other with a kiss on the side of the face.
i) All Moslems must greet each other with the Moslem greeting, "As Salaam Alaikum."
j) Moslems eat only one meal a day: orange juice or cocoa in the morning and a big meal at 4:00 o'clock.
k) The eating of pork is forbidden.
l) Tobacco is forbidden.
m) Alcohol is forbidden.
n) Moslems fast 18 days per year: Ministers and Officials fast 3 or 4 days per week: A Mohammed's family fast seven days. A Prophet fast[s] twenty-three days.
o) A Moslem must not cross his legs while seated in the Temple.
p) A ninety-day suspension is given for sleeping during service.
q) A Moslem mother must wear full length dresses to cover her feet.
r) A Moslem woman must wear low heel shoes.
s) A Moslem woman's hat must cover her hair.
t) A Moslem girl must wear her dresses below her knees.
u) A Moslem woman must not use cosmetics.
v) A Moslem woman must not use hair preparations.
w) A follower must attend the university from 3 to 9 months in order to master the teachings and become a Moslem.
x) No Caucasian must enter the Temple.
y) 150 lbs. is the "righteous" weight for Moslem men.
z) A Moslem woman's place is in the home: A Girl must be accompanied on the streets by her father or brother.
"Registered Moslems" maintain that the "white devil's spook civilization" actually ended in 1914 and is now existing on borrowed time. Temple ministers sketch on a blackboard a strange device, apparently designed to represent a new planet discovered by Elijah Mohammed, and explains:
This is the Mother's Airplane, the Wheel in a wheel, that Elijah saw. This planet is visible at 3 a.m. . it moves a little forward then a little backwards and then goes straight up. There are 15,000 planes coming out of the Mother's Airplane. these planes will drop pamphlets to the earth warning the people of the "Holy War." On one of these planes there will be a black brother (Moslem) who will blow a siren
it will be blown by steam and some of our eardrums will burst because it will be so loud
Temple members are emphatic in their denunciations of Roosevelt and the New Deal. In their opinion, the WPA and all other alphabetical agencies are subtle efforts on the part of the white men to save what is left of their dying civilization by getting the black men to sign up with them and be given a number. They eschew social security numbers and relief case numbers as manifestations of the "white devils" aptitude in "tricknology." "Roosevelt," reads a piece of typewritten Temple literature, "g
Since this is the basic attitude of members toward WPA and other agencies, the Temple People do their best to keep off work relief and off relief in general as much as possible. Such data as is available indicates that by and large, a slightly larger per cent of them hold private jobs than is true of similar numbers of Negroes in the same strata of society. Their work habits, [the] available reports indicate, are better than average. Undoubtedly this is partly due to their pride, their feeling o
The study includes a library index card with the following short bibliography on the Moslem Cult, including, Beynon, Erdmann. "The Voodoo Cult among Negro Migrants in Detroit." (Amer. Jour. of Soc. May 1938): 43: 894-907
Fisher, Miles. "Negroes Get Religion" Opportunity, No. 5 14: 147-50 May 1936, with a note that says, "very little
" Fisher, Miles M. "Organized Religion and the Cults." Crisis Jan. 1937 44:8 with a note that says "good
" Crabites, Pierre. "American Negro Mohammedans" Catholic W
While much can be said about the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam," which was researched and written between 1935 and 1939, but only digitized in 2018, this commentary and analysis will focus on some of its most salient features. We can see that in the thirties, the notion of the "Asiatic black man" was well-established. Not only was he "the original man," but he was "the Ruler of the Universe." Hence, when W.D. Fard told police that he was "the Supreme Ruler of the Universe," he was not ne
Not only are Moslems wise, but they are "not afraid of the devil this so-called white man." The "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" confirm that early Black Muslims boasted about confronting white people:
We talk right up to them. They're afraid of you if you've got the Truth. Just tell 'em, "White man, you're a devil. You were grafted from the original black man." He'll say, "Yes, you're right." He'll admit it 'cause you got the power. Just say, "You're a beast, you've got one-third animal blood." He won't deny it, 'cause it's true. When they were driven from the Holy City of Mecca they lived in the Caves of Europe and mingled with the beasts.
The notion that "Christianity is the religion of the so-called white man" was well-rooted. It ignored the fact that, even in the early 1930s, most Christians throughout the world were people of color. This included African Americans, Latinos, Mestizos, indigenous people, and Afro-descendants throughout the Caribbean, North America, Central America, South America, the Pacific, and black Africa. Christianity has always had deep roots in Africa, particularly in Abyssinia or Ethiopia.
Black Americans were being asked to compare the white man's description of the Devil with their actions. When it came to the white man, Black Muslims were adamant: "He is the Devil." There was nothing more radical than that. All the citations were made, not by rank-and-file Black Muslims, but by a minister at the Chicago Temple of Islam. The use of the term temple, as opposed to mosque, or other terms, was typical of many secret societies at the time: the Freemasons, the Shriners, the Independen
Interestingly, the researchers who attended Temple of Islam meetings in the mid-1930s, shortly after W.D. Fard was traveling between Detroit and Chicago, identified him as a "Negro peddler. who presumably hailed from the Orient." In other words, he presented himself as a black man
however, not one from the United States. Rather, it was assumed, for phenotypical and linguistic reasons, that he came from the East. The "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" report the founder of the Temple Islam h
The "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" from the 1930s document the conflict between the Black Muslims and the Detroit police department, including problems with the school system, the "ritual murder" of James J. Smith by Robert Harris from the Allah Temple of Islam, as well as small riots. The document also points out that the Temple of Islam in Chicago was founded in late 1933 and early 1934. It also notes that W.D. Fard disappeared at some point in 1934 and had not been seen since that ti
According to the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam," Fard assisted Elijah Muhammad in founding Temple No. 2 in Chicago. He was instrumental in granting "righteous" and "original" names to eight hundred new Muslims, which is different than the eight thousand figure that is popularly cited, removing their so-called "slave names." The report points out that the Temple of Islam suffered from power struggles in the same fashion as the Moorish American Science Temple. It mentions that one of Fard'
Azzim Shah assumed control of one faction in 1936
Theodore Rozier broke off with his branch in 1938
and Elijah Muhammad was left in control of the Temple People. The most religiously radical of the splinter groups, the Temple People, who would become the Nation of Islam, insisted that W.D. Fard was God Almighty, and that he had appointed Elijah Muhammad as his Final Messenger, two doctrines disputed by some of the earliest follower and ministers of the self-proclaimed prophet.
"Not all of his followers believed in Fard's divinity," wrote Arna Bontemps and Jack Conroy, the editors of the Illinois Writers Project that produced the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam," however, there is no denying that Elijah Muhammad's group did indeed believe that Fard was divine. It is also possible that the rival minister, who challenged Elijah Muhammad's ideas, was Abdul Muhammad, known formerly as Brown-El, who was strongly influenced by the MSTA. The others appear to have been A
The "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" also detail the violent confrontation between Black Muslims and the police that was documented in the Chicago Daily Tribune on March 6, 1935, in which it "confused the Temple of Islam with the Moorish American Science Temple and W.D. Fard with Noble Drew Ali." However, as Patrick D. Bowen has pointed out,
Although one might suspect that the labeling of NOI members as "Moors" was possibly due to confusion on the part of the reporters, the fact that these references to Moors appeared in news stories written by different authors for several different newspapers suggests that the information the reports had obtained did legitimately indicate a strong Moorish element in the local NOI temple - one that seems to have been stronger than the Moorish influence in the Detroit NOI. Two additional pieces of i
As the newspaper article from 1935 mentions, "a police search for Prophet Fard was started but he could not be found. He was described as being born in the holy city of Mecca in 1877, who came to America on July 4, 1930." It is evident that Fard was long gone by 1935. If a warrant was put out for his arrest, nothing came of it. Although Elijah Muhammad would later deny that the Nation of Islam was a continuation of the MSTA, the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" observe that its members dre
According to the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam," "Noble Drew Ali. began his career as a New Jersey expressman." Most importantly, it notes that "The Chicago temple is said to be an offshoot of Drew's original group." The early Nation of Islam was highly structured. In fact, "a complete system of military procedure, apparently drafted almost word for word from the army manual, governs the conduct of members." Could W.D. Fard have served abroad in some military forces prior to immigrating
The "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" establish that Prophet Fard's manuals consisted of the Teachings for the Lost Found Nation of Islam in A Mathematical Way, Consisting of Thirty-Four Problems, which was printed. However, the Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam, Part I. in 14 Secs and Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam, Part II in 40 Sections had to be committed to memory by all members. Of paramount importance is the note that "these manuals, being largely symbolic, are practically u
The "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" potentially provide one of the earliest lists of instructions for the Temple People, rules that appear to have been written or dictated by W.D. Fard and which shed clear insights into the nature and origin of his teachings and doctrines. While there are a couple of other lists of rules that survive, namely, "Instructions on the Law of Women in Islam," which is undated but ostensibly was produced in the 1930s or 1940s, and another undated list of "Instru
The first rule that we find in the instructions from the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" requires the searching of all people entering the Temple. It imposes a ban on "weapons, mirrors, fingernail files, cosmetics, cigarettes, medicines, etc." What is more, all men returning form the rest room must be searched. These measures might have been introduced to prevent violent and murderous conflicts as took place in the MSTA. W.D. Fard, and Elijah Muhammad, wanted to prevent any coup d'état. T
The seating arrangements were also highly symbolic. Men were to use the right aisle, the right symbolizing the sacred masculine, while women were to use the left aisle, the left representing the sacred feminine. So, while segregated, there was a notion of complementarity. Men and women were required to greet each other, sending salutations of peace in Arabic. Women, outside of the temple, were supposed to kiss each other on the cheek. In a custom without a known precedent in the Islamic world, W
This diet, which regained popularity in the first quarter of the twentieth century, is known variably as intermittent fasting or the One Meal a Day (OMAD) approach. It leads to nutritional deficiencies, hunger, and fatigue, as well as blood sugar fluctuations. As a diabetic, it was the worst possible diet that W.D. Fard could follow. It placed his health, and his life, in dire danger. The fact that coffee was not mentioned as a morning drink might suggest that Fard was influenced by teachings fr
In yet another departure from any so-called orthodox form of Islam, Fard taught that "Moslems fast 18 days per year: Ministers and Officials fast 3 or 4 days per week: A Mohammed's family fast seven days. A Prophet fasts twenty-three days." The prohibition of sitting crossed legged in the Temple is not found in Islam. In fact, it is found among Jews from the Muslim world. Similarly, "a ninety-day suspension is given for sleeping during service."
Where does such a teaching originate? From Jewish law, nonetheless, as sleeping in a holy site, along with eating, drinking, and smoking, is considered sacrilegious. In fact, in Israel, the punishment for sleeping in a synagogue, or other sacred spaces, is seven years in prison according to a 1967 law. The custom is also found in Arab culture. Sitting with one leg on top of the other is considered disrespectful, much like showing the bottom or your shoes or pointing one's feet, even inadvertentl
The Nation of Islam, under both Elijah Muhammad and W.D. Fard prohibited women from showing their feet. This position aligns with the views of Malik, Shafi'i, and Ahmad. This seems odd. If Fard came from what is now Pakistan, one would have expected him to hold the belief that the feet of women did not form part of their 'awrah or intimate parts that need to be covered in prayer and in the presence of men. The notion that women should not wear high-heel shoes is common among paleoconservative Mu
Although women from the Nation of Islam would wear outer garments and headscarves, which exposed their neckline, which is not normative according to most Muslim edicts, the earliest instructions speak of the need for women to cover their hair with a hat. If Muslim women had to cover their feet, and consequently, wear long dresses, a girl needed to "wear her dresses below her knees." Again, in paleoconservative Muslim fashion, Fard's list of instructions prohibited the use of cosmetics and hair p
Followers of Fard were expected to attend the University of Islam for three to nine months to become a Muslim. Such requirements were common in other religions. At a time when the United States was filled with signs saying, "No Negroes Allowed," Fard defiantly declared that "No Whites" were allowed in the Temple of Islam. In a standard difficult or impossible to meet, in the 1930s, and in the present, he mandated that Muslim men should weigh 150 pounds. Ideal weight, however, is dependent on hei
In what comes across as profoundly sexist in our time, but which was a view commonly shared cross-culturally and religiously in the 1930s, Fard taught that "a Moslem woman's place is in the home." While this might sound like foreign Muslim influence for a modern reader, such views were common at the time. In fact, with the unemployment caused by the Great Depression, making it more difficult than before for women to find employment, there was a resurgence in the division of labor and the view th
Restrictions on the movement of women hearkens to the first centuries of Islam, particularly the 'Abbasid period, and in the 1930s, as it does today, it varies considerably from country to country, nationality to nationality, ethnicity to ethnicity, social class to social class, and well as urbanity and provincialism. This rule, which seems to stem from Fard, could conceivably have origins in the region of the world that is known as Pakistan but that was British India at the time. Such a claim,
If we limit our focus on what became Pakistan, and take the city of Karachi at the time, as an example, we find that it was only middle- and upper-class women who veiled and were subjected to gender segregation. Even so, women of all classes were challenging gender norms, studying at university, and participating in nationalist, leftist, and anti-colonial movements. Many women, and men, were educated in convents and colonial schools, providing them with proficiency in English and Western knowled
According to the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam," official members of the new religious movement maintained that "the 'white devil's spook civilization'. ended in 1914 and is now existing on borrowed time" which confirms, once again, its debt to the Watchtower literature of the Jehovah's Witnesses that was published between 1879 and 1924. Such influence is also evident in Elijah Muhammad's earliest instructions, in which he repeatedly speaks of "JEHOVAH-ALLAH." This might have been used t
As the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" reveal, ministers in the new religious movement were teaching about the proverbial "Mother Ship" in the 1930s. It combines biblical allusions to Ezechiel's wheel and new astronomical discoveries. Apparently, ministers were claiming that Elijah Muhammad had discovered a new planet. The most likely explanation is that he claimed Clyde Tombaugh's accomplishment as his own. Like Elijah Muhammad, Tombaugh was a farm boy with no formal education in astrono
/
(Figure 5.1: Ninth Planet Discovered. Public domain)
In line with 1930s social mores, as well as the conservative Muslim ones at the time, the Temple of Islam opposed social services. Borrowing from the beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Temple of Islam ministers viewed government granted identification numbers as the mark of the beast described in Revelation 13:16. As the Temple of Islam taught, real men had power and authority. They were providers and decision-makers. As a result of such teachings, fewer members of the Temple of Islam depended
The earlier the source, and the closer it is to its subject, W.D. Fard, the more likely it is to reflect his views and the less likely it is to have been influenced by others. The "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam," which were written by the Illinois Writer's Project between 1935-1939, give us a good and accurate sense of what its beliefs were at that seminal stage. After all, they cover the period from 1930-1939, including the four years that W.D. Fard was alive and active at the head of th
In dress and doctrine, the early Temple of Islam, with its red fezzes and robes, owed a debt to Noble Drew Ali and the MSTA. With their worship of JEHOVAH-ALLAH, and their belief that the white race had been destined for doom in 1914, they were equally indebted to the Jehovah's Witnesses. Ostensibly Jewish and Arab customs are also observable, including the prohibition for men to snooze in the Temple or to sit with legs crossed.
During the 1930s, the belief in the Asiatic black man as the Original Man and the Supreme Ruler of the Universe was well established. The same applies to the doctrine of the white devil and his "tricknology" as well as the belief in the Mother Ship. The Temple People believed in JEHOVAH-ALLAH. They called their religion "Islam." This "true religion" was contrasted with Christianity which was "the white man's religion." The members of the Temple of Islam identified as Moslems. The new religious m
One of the most unusual claims made in the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam" pertains to W.D. Fard's national and ethnic identity. It indicates that he was "a Negro." Was this because he stressed that he was a black man? If he was Pakistani, for example, could we not have expected his accent to give him away? Perhaps the researchers never heard Fard speak or never even saw him, only listening to his Chicago ministers. However, were there not rumors circulating already concerning his origin?
After W.D. Fard's sudden departure in 1934, the Temple of Islam was wrought with division and competing ministers, with doctrinal differences, attempted to seize control of it. The most contentious issues revolved around adhering to Moorish doctrines or those of W.D. Fard. Most controversial of all, however, was the status of the founder himself. "Not all of his followers believed in Fard's divinity," wrote Arna Bontemps and Jack Conroy, the editors of the Illinois Writers Project that produced
Patently, the process of deification of W.D. Fard, which was subject to debate and dispute, took place during his life and was formalized doctrinally after his disappearance. For some, W.D. Fard moved from being Prophet Fard to a god among black gods, the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, the son of God, to God Himself. The speed of this spiritual development is startling
however, it is identical to the process of divinizing that the historical Jesus Christ underwent himself. The same can be said
CHAPTER 6 DID W.D. FARD HAVE A SON WITH PEARL ALLEN? A HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD QUESTION IS ANSWERED
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The Mysterious Origins of W.D. Fard
6.3 The Campagna Connection
6.4 DNA Testing
6.5 Analysis
6.6 Conclusion
By Bilal Muhammad
"Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men,but [he is] the Messenger of God and last of the prophets."- (Qur'an 33:40)
In 1914, Fred Dodd, known now as W.D. Fard, briefly married Pearl (or Pearle) Allen. It may have been just a marriage of convenience, because it took place as he was being tried for sexually assaulting Laura Swanson. Perhaps Fard wanted to show that he had no trouble getting women and therefore had no need to rape Swanson. Nonetheless, just over five months later, on September 23rd, 1914, Fard and Pearl Allen divorced - all is fair in love and war. The divorce petition suggests that Fard objecte
Obviously, Pearl must have conceived this child many months before she married Tony Campagna. Some researchers, including Karl Evanzz (b. 1953), suggested that this son belonged to Fard. Donald Lloyd Campagna was not issued a birth certificate, but his birth was recorded on the Indian Census in October 1916 - over a year after his birth. Pearl was a Native American, so this makes sense. Morrow suggested that the boy's date of birth "may have been modified to make it appear that Tony Campagna was
It has already been established by researchers that Fard had a son with his common law wife Hazel Barton in 1920 named Wallace Max Ford, who tragically drowned in an accident while serving in the U.S Coast Guard in Lynnhaven Roads, Virginia in 1942. However, this Ford did not have any children, and thus, there is no relative who can consent to a DNA test. Such a test would give us some certainty on the origin of his father, W.D. Fard, which has been a topic of debate for researchers. Donald Lloy
For NOI adherents, W.D. Fard (known mainly to them as Master Fard Muhammad) was from Mecca, Arabia. His father was said to have been a black-skinned man, and his mother was said to have been a white-skinned woman. Fard was perhaps light-skinned, and researchers have theorized that he may have been white, New Zealander, Arabian, Persian, Turkish, Syrian, Indian, Afghan, Greek, Jewish, Jamaican, Bosnian, Algerian, Albanian, and African American. What complicates things is that Fard covered his tra
The national origins of W.D. Fard would help researchers understand where he got some of his unique religious teachings. NOI theology is partly original and partly a smorgasbord of different influences. In his book Finding W.D. Fard, Morrow explores possible connections Fard's teachings have with esoteric forms of Shiism. However, even if this were the case, does that definitively prove that Fard came from a Shia Muslim (or Alawite, Ismaili, Druze, Ahl e-Haqq) part of the world? Or could it be t
According to Morrow, none who directly heard W.D. Fard preach ever noted an identifiable accent - this will be further explored in another chapter. According to a 1935 article in the Chicago Daily Tribune, Fard may have known Arabic
Elijah Muhammad claimed that Fard's Arabic handwriting was masterful, and his son Akbar Muhammad (1939-2016) claimed to have seen Fard's Arabic writing. In Beynon's 1938 article, he says that Fard read directly from an Arabic-only copy of the Qur'an. In 2013, resea
/
(Figure 6.1: Identification card. Public domain)
/
(Figure 6.2: Identification card. Public domain)
As Morrow notes in his book, Finding W.D. Fard, there is "detailed information about the descendants of Donald Lloyd Campagna, and many of these individuals are still alive."
I curiously followed this trail, and I contacted two members of the Campagna family. They still live in Oregon, where W.D. Fard and Pearl were married, and where most of Pearl's descendants still live. While Fard was seemingly a nomad - spending time in California, Oregon, Michigan, Illinois, and elsewhere - Pearl's family remained in her indigenous homeland. They live in Chiloquin and Klamath Falls.
My main contact, Malaya Campagna, is the great-great granddaughter of Donald Lloyd Campagna. She was incredibly helpful and cooperative, and she was driven by curiosity about her own origins. She is interested in her family background, and she has previously asked elders in her community about them. Malaya is close with her grandfather, who is also named Donald Lloyd Campagna. He is the son of James Warren Campagna, who was the son of Donald Lloyd Campagna (d. 1983), who was the son that Pearl (
Malaya learned from her grandfather that Pearl was originally from Bly, Oregon, which is an unincorporated community in Klamath County. Pearl was married several times, and according to Malaya's grandfather, Pearl would still party and frequent different men while she was married. Malaya told me that alcoholism runs in the family, which corroborates with the information in Fard's divorce petition. According to Malaya, her family is unsure of the identity of the biological father of the deceased
Through her grandfather, Malaya kindly sent me the following two pictures of the original Donald Lloyd Campagna, the son of Pearl:
/
(Figure 6.3: Photo of an elderly Donald Lloyd Campagna. Created from an original photograph. Used with the permission of Malaya Campagna)
For comparison purposes, here are the police mugshots and Detroit Free Press photos of W.D. Fard:
/
(Figure 6.4: Mugshots and photos of W.D. Fard)
/
(Figure 6.5: Sketch of official mugshot of W.D. Fard.Created from an original photograph. Public domain)
/
(Figure 6.6: Sketch of official mugshot of W.D. Fard.Created from an original photograph. Public domain)
/
(Figure 6.7: Sketch of official mugshot of W.D. Fard.Created from an original photograph. Public domain)
/
(Figure 6.8: Sketch of official mugshot of W.D. Fard.Created from an original photograph. Public domain)
/
(Figure 6.9: Sketch of official mugshot of W.D. Fard.Created from an original photograph. Public domain)
/
(Figure 6.10: Sketch of official mugshot of W.D. Fard.Created from an original photograph. Public domain)
/
(Figure 6.11: Sketch of W.D. Fard under arrest.Created from original photographs. Public domain)
Upon my inspection, I did not find any obvious resemblance to Fard, whose wavy hair and pointed ears are distinctive features. The following is a photograph of Wallace Max Ford, who was Fard's son through Hazel Barton. If Campagna was the son of Fard, then Wallace Max Ford would have been his half-brother. The resemblance between Wallace Max Ford and his father is much more obvious to me.
/
(Figure 6.12: Photo of Wallace Dodd/Max Ford.Based on an original photo from the US Coast Guard. Public domain)
Since we cannot come to certainty by studying these photographs, a DNA test is warranted. I bought a saliva test kit from 23andme for Malaya's living grandfather, Donald Lloyd Campagna, the great-grandson of Pearl. I also bought a kit for Malaya. If Donald Campagna really is the great-grandson of W.D. Fard, then he would have approximately 12.5% of his DNA, give or take. Since we are sure that Fard came from outside of North America, and since it is perhaps likely that he came from a Muslim coun
Here are the results. Unfortunately, Donald Campagna misspelled his first name, but that does not change the results. The "You" in the second table below is Malaya:
/
(Figure 6.13: Donald Campagna DNA.Reproduced with the permission of Malaya Campagna)
/
(Figure 6.14: Donald Compagna DNA.Reproduced with the permission of Malaya Campagna)
As we can see, Donald Lloyd Campagna, the great-grandson of Pearl, is almost entirely Native American and European. He has 1.1% East Asian, 0.1% Sub-Saharan African, 0.1% Western Asian & North African, and 1% unassigned. Therefore, there is a strong probability that Donald Campagna is not a descendant of W.D. Fard. We see no significant DNA from Arabia, Africa, Türkiye, central Asia, India, or other areas that have been connected to Fard. Instead, Donald Lloyd Campagna may be the son of Tony Cam
There are other reasons to believe that the original Donald Lloyd Campagna was not the son of W.D. Fard. Firstly, according to a 1914 newspaper article, it appears that Fard and Pearl only lived together in Fard's home for two weeks during their marriage. Since there were other men in Pearl's life, Fard is just a candidate, among others. Secondly, according to extant records, Donald Lloyd Campagna was born almost a year after Fard and Pearl were divorced. We have no strong reason at this point t
There is, of course, the possible scenario that W.D. Fard was instead white, that he had a child with Pearl that he did not know or care about, that the birth date of the child was fabricated, and that the child inherited his mother's appearance. However, given the research that places the origin of Fard somewhere in the Eastern hemisphere, and given the doubts, this scenario is highly unlikely.
The elusive W.D. Fard escapes detection once again. Outside of an exhumation of Wallace Max Ford's grave, which can only occur with the expressed permission of his next of kin (perhaps from the Barton family) or the cemetery itself (which has a legal responsibility to protect the peaceful repose of human remains), researchers have no access to W.D. Fard's DNA.
This research at least closes a chapter in Fard's life for good, leaving no room for descendants based on the written records that have been retrieved. I saw this as a lead in a case that is important to me personally. I followed the lead as far as I could, I tied up the loose end, and I yielded to the results of my investigation.
There is the cynical possibility that Donald Lloyd Campagna Jr. (Malaya's grandfather) was not a biological descendant of Pearl, and that the original Donald Lloyd Campagna was Fard's son. However, given Jr.'s Italian DNA, and given the fact that we have no reason to believe that Jr. was a product of adultery, and given the other details, there is no strong reason to entertain this possibility for now.
Approximately sixteen years after his marriage with Pearl, W.D. Fard would establish the Nation of Islam in Detroit, Michigan. He gave Native Americans an honored position as a member of the aboriginal peoples of the Earth, alongside black people. Fard even called Caucasians "white devils," a term he may have learned from Native Americans.
I hope further documents pertaining to W.D. Fard are unearthed and declassified in the coming years. That is where we may see another breakthrough in this field. Or, perhaps, he will tell us more about himself when he returns with the Mother Plane. Until then, the mystery of Fard lives on.
CHAPTER 7 AN EMOTIONAL ANALYSIS OF W.D. FARD'S PHOTOGRAPHS
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Forensic Facial Comparison Analysis
7.3 Every Extant Photo of Fard
7.4 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"Wherever you turn yourselves or your faces there is the Face of God." - (Qur'an 2: 115)
Currently, the most advanced Facial Emotion Recognition Software achieves an accuracy of 75 to 88%. While this falls slightly short of human beings, who can accurately detect emotions in photographs 90% of the time, FER programs are effective at detecting the six basic emotions that are shared across cultures: anger, happiness, surprise, disgust, sadness, and fear. Since these all involve specific facial muscles, the software analyses outward, subconscious, and largely involuntary movement for s
In 2025, Anton Batey processed the following four photographs through Amazon Rekognition, a facial recognition software program. The similarity rates confirm that the W.D. Fard from Los Angeles was the same as the W.D. Fard from Detroit, namely, that Wallace Dodd Ford and Wallace Farrad were one and the same beyond any scientific doubt.
/
(Figures 7.5: Facial Comparison Results)
In 2025, Edward Muhammad had Azure and Rekognition compare the official NOI portrait of W.D. Fard with the photos of W.D. Fard that were taken by the police in Detroit and Los Angeles. The analysis concluded, with 99% certainty, that they were not the same individual.
After Edward Muhammad shared his findings with me during a Zoom meeting in April 2025, I verified his findings using Rekognition and confirmed that he was correct. I also compared the Wallie Dodd Ford and Wallace Farrad photos with those of Muhammad Abdullah. Rekognition demonstrated that they were not the same person with over 99% certainty.
These findings suggested that we were dealing with a Fard of fact, namely, Wallace Farrad, Wallace Dodd Ford, Wallie D. Ford, and Fred Dodd, and a Fard of fantasy, the man portrayed in the official NOI portrait, who could have been a decoy, a stand-in, a false, a fraud, a fake, and an imposter. A more in-dept analysis of these findings demonstrated that this was not the case and that we are indeed dealing with the same human being as can be seen in Appendix 6: The Many Faces of Fard: Computerize
/
(Figure 7.6: June 12, 1926. W.D. Fard at San Quentin Prison. Public domain)
Overall Emotions
45.65% neutral
27.62% sad
11.75% angry
6.82% surprise
6.14% fear
1.28% happy
0.44% disgust
0.31% contempt
/
(Figure 7.7: June 12, 1926. W.D. Fard at San Quentin Prison. Public domain)
Overall Emotions
77.38% neutral
9.79% angry
5.38% surprise
2.4% happy
2.2% sad
1.76% fear
0.82% contempt
0.27% disgust
Analysis of Figures 7.6 and 7.7
The mugshots above were taken on June 12, 1926. when W.D. Fard was incarcerated. If he strove to achieve a neutral expression, it was surely because he was ordered to do so by the police officer who processed him. In the first photos, his face was rated as 45.65% neutral, 27.62% sad, 11.75% angry, 6.82% surprised, 6.14% fearful, 1.28% happy, 0.44% disgusted, and 0.31% contempt. This is precisely the torrent of emotions one would expect in such a stressful situation. Interestingly, by the time th
/
(Figure 7.8: 1934. Edited photo of W.D. Fard. Unknown location. Public domain)
Emotions of W.D. Fard
69.04% neutral
18.51% happy
4.71% angry
2.74% sad
2.42% surprise
1.63% contempt
0.51% disgust
0.44% fear
Analysis of Figure 7.8
The image in question, which is not an untouched original, resembles the portraits of W.D. Fard that were found in the homes of the members of the Temple of Islam. This version has been edited to give him a full set of hair. The book he is holding is thin. There is no pen in his left jacket pocket.
The image is neutral as one would expect in a period in which people were told to be serious when photographed. As serious as he strove to be, his happiness shone through. Still, there are subtle signs of suppressed anger, sadness, surprise, disgust, and even fear. Perhaps he was happy to pose. Nonetheless, there was some anger below the surface and a touch of sadness.
/
(Figure 7.9: Edited photo of W.D. Fard. Public domain)
Emotions of W.D. Fard
54.26% neutral
31.90% angry
6.06% happy
4.95% sad
1.29% contempt
0.59% surprise
0.51% disgust
0.45% fear
Analysis of Figure 7.9
The image above is the most widely circulated one of W.D. Fard. It is traditionally found in NOI homes and businesses. Like the previous photograph, this one has been retouched. The background shows clear and obvious brush strokes. The book he is holding is thicker. He has a pen in his pocket. Such "photoshopping" was practiced before the rise of computer software. Old photos feature halo effects, textured backgrounds, and so forth.
Curiously, even though the images appear almost identical to the untrained eyed, the facial expressions on figure 7.4 are only 54% neutral. Shockingly, his facial muscles are sending strong angry signals at a rate of nearly 32%. Below the semi-neutral surface, considerable anger was boiling within him. Why was he angry? The reasons are many: racism, discrimination, segregation, injustice, oppression, harassment from the police, a history of incarceration, failed relationships, abandoned offsprin
/
(Figure 7.10: W.D. Fard. Unknown date and location, 1930-34.Likely 1932 in Detroit. Public domain)
Emotions of W.D. Fard
35.63% happy
33.68% neutral
14.10% angry
10.93% sad
2.97% disgust
1.48% contempt
0.85% surprise
0.38% fear
Figure 7.10, like the previous images, is highly suspicious. Although it might have been based on an original, it appears to have been airbrushed or photoshopped. As happy and neutral as he appears to be, his face still manages to express a considerable undercurrent of anger and sadness. There are even subtle indicators of disgust and contempt. For whom?
/
(Figure 7.11: W.D. Fard. November 23, 1932. Detroit Free Press. Public domain)
Emotions of W.D. Fard
39.52% happy
39.82% neutral
9.54% angry
8.63% sad
1.10% disgust
1.00% contempt
0.23% fear
0.16% surprise
/
(Figure 7.12: W.D. Fard. November 23, 1932. Detroit. Public domain)
Emotions of W.D. Fard
32.92% angry
30.64% neutral
22.97% happy
5.79% sad
2.25% surprise
1.95% fear
1.77% contempt
1.71% disgust
Analysis of Figures 7.11 and 7.12
The photographs above were taken on November 23, 1933, in Detroit, Michigan. Fard has been picked up by the police after they raided his hotel room. He was questioned about the Bible of Islamism, which, it turns out, was nothing short of Deliverance! by Judge Rutherford. One police officer is manifestly angry while the other maintains a more neutral demeanor. Why? Surely the good cop, bad cop routine, which had long been proven effective in interrogations. Intriguingly, in figure 7.6, Fard is ha
/
(Figure 7.13 and Figure 7.14: W.D. Fard. May 25, 1933. Detroit. Public domain)
Overall Emotions
59.7% neutral
16.2% happy
8.85% sad
8.28% angry
3.81% surprise
1.9% fear
0.73% contempt
0.53% disgust
Analysis of Figure 7.13 and 7.14
The final photograph we have of Fard was taken on May 25, 1933. Once again, rather than be afraid, fearful, sad, depressed, or surprised, Fard's facial features indicate that, while he tried to keep a straight face, he was quite happy, at some level, to have been arrested. He was slightly sad and mad at the rate of 8% respectively. Most impressively, we see little fear in Fard in situations where most people would have reason to be fearful. Was he simply an experienced con going through the ordi
While they are relatively new, facial emotion recognition programs can play a role in scholarly studies. They bring behavioral psychology into the hands of researchers. In the case of W.D. Fard, it can help answer key questions. What was he thinking? What was he feeling? Some scholars, including myself, thought that Fard looked menacing in his mugshots and that he gave the impression of a man about to kill someone. Although he was angry, his rage was contained. He was a man in control who was ex
CHAPTER 8 THE TEACHINGS OF SUPREME MINISTER JOHN MUHAMMAD
8.1 Introduction
8.2 His Relevance
8.3 On W.D. Fard Being God
8.4 On Elijah Muhammad's Relationship with the Moorish Science Temple
8.5 The Detroit Free Press Photograph of W.D. Fard and the Mugshots
8.6 Fard's Accent
8.7 Fard's Prayers and Blessings
8.8 Ramadan
8.9 Elijah Muhammad's Successor
8.10 W.D. Fard's Whereabouts
8.11 Fard's Family
8.12 A Prophet of Profit
8.13 Conclusions
By Bilal Muhammad
"I know the beginning, and I might know the ending." - Supreme Minister John Muhammad
John Muhammad (1910-2005 AD) was the "blood and spiritual brother" of Elijah Muhammad, who was the leader of the black nationalist Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1934 to 1975. Along with members of his family, John Muhammad converted to the NOI in 1931 and studied under its mysterious, shadowy, and nebulous founder, Master W.D. Fard Muhammad.
Scholarship has somewhat glossed over John Muhammad, who would call himself the Supreme Minister of the Nation of Islam after the death of Elijah Muhammad. This was likely not a title that was given to him by Fard or Elijah, but rather it was an extrapolation of John Muhammad himself, because he believed that he had more knowledge about their teachings than anyone alive at that time.
Why are you Supreme Minister? They have asked me that question. I'll answer right here with you. This is what makes me supreme. Any man that got more knowledge than the other one about a thing, he's supreme, right? Because that's what makes me supreme . Supreme Minister of the Nation of Islam. I know the beginning, and I might know the ending.
Perhaps John Muhammad's legacy was outshone by household names like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Louis Farrakhan, and Warith Deen Mohammed
but John's proximity to Fard and Elijah, his strict commitment to their teachings, his relative longevity, and his many hours of recorded speeches make him an invaluable resource to those who wish to study the early NOI through the eyes of a member of its inner circle.
/
(Figure 8.1: Sketch of John Muhammad.Created from an original photo from the book, The Journal of Truth. Fair use)
John Muhammad was the youngest of thirteen children. In 1927, on John's seventeenth birthday, he dropped out of high school. He felt that he was not learning anything, was deliberately being made to repeat grades, and was a victim of racism. In an integrated classroom, John's teacher reportedly said, "If I had my way with all of you, I would put you on a ship and send you back to Africa." In July of 1930, W.D. Fard would arrive in Detroit to found his Nation. John Muhammad gives a different conv
According to John Muhammad, he served as Captain, Minister, and Secretary Assistant under Fard in Detroit at his Hastings Street Temple of Islam. He was also a teacher and principal at Detroit's University of Islam in 1934
the same school that would be the subject of a much-publicized investigation and trial at the time. John Muhammad's wife was "the Reformer" Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad, Fard's secretary. In 1934, one year before John married Burnsteen, Fard advised John that it was "no time
After the death of Elijah Muhammad, John Muhammad did not become a follower of Warith Deen Mohammed or Louis Farrakhan, though he kept relations with both. He rejected Farrakhan and Cushmeer's assertion that Elijah Muhammad was still alive. John believed that the various leaders ought to reunite under the teachings of Fard and Elijah
and he continued teaching a small circle in his senior years. According to John Andrew Morrow, "John Muhammad remained faithful to the original Nation of Islam doc
In my view, one of the most valuable characteristics of John Muhammad is that he appears to be an even more "blank slate" than Elijah Muhammad was. Being the leader of a tumultuous organization, Elijah Muhammad participated in politics, maneuvering his followers, and engaging in damage control. He travelled to the Muslim world, and he interacted with Muslims of other sects. Elijah was beholden to his adherents and his donors. As the leader of the NOI, Elijah also had the full creative license to
Of course, most of what we have from John Muhammad comes from the 1980s and 1990s, nearly half a century after W.D. Fard departed. Human memory is not perfect, as we sometimes forget or embellish past events. Any accounts given by John Muhammad or anyone else must be put in context with every other resource we have on the early Nation of Islam.
John Muhammad continued to teach that W.D. Fard was Allah in Person. However, in a Q&A session, someone asked the Supreme Minister, "Did anyone have any idea that he (Fard) may have been God or was the Messenger the only one that had come to that conclusion?" John replied, "No, no one . the Messenger told me that he didn't know that he was actually God, not until his departure from among us. Then, that's when he began to question him more about himself, and he told him who he was."
The question of Wallace Fard's exact claim to divinity is a contentious one among both scholars and adherents of the early Nation of Islam. On one hand, a 1932 Detroit Free Press article cites a Dr. Clark, the medical examiner who treated Fard upon his arrest, as saying that Fard was "suffering from delusions that he is a divinity." The same article, as well as a 1932 Chicago Defender article says Fard "told detectives that he was the 'supreme Being on Earth.'" According to Hatim Sahib's 1951 di
One way of reconciling this paradox is saying that W.D. Fard claimed divinity without explicitly using the term "Allah in Person" to describe himself. In NOI theology, the Asiatic black man is God in general, and even Yakub the scientist and his King of Islam were gods.
It is disputed whether W.D. Fard claimed to be a prophet. According to an anonymous source, "early in August 1931, Fard told a crowd of blacks gathered in the Old Universal Negros Association (UNIA) Hall. that he was a 'prophet of Allah from the holy city of Mecca.'" The 1938 Beynon article also suggests that Fard described himself as a prophet. Most importantly, there are many letters addressed to Fard while he was present where he was called "prophet."
Elijah Muhammad, however, claimed to have been the first to call W.D. Fard a prophet. Sahib quotes Elijah Muhammad saying, "He did not teach us that he was a prophet. We used to call him prophet. I made the followers [call] him prophet because I do not know exactly what great name to give him. No one called him prophet before me." According to Wakeel Allah, W.D. Fard was called a prophet as a cover. Apparently, he wanted to keep his identity a secret.
Warith Deen Mohammed, a man who, like his father, was engaged in mythmaking, and wanted to move the NOI closer to Sunni Islam, quoted his mother Clara Muhammad as saying, "he told us to not even call him prophet. He said that was too big a title for him." The fact remains that Warith Deen Mohammed lacks credibility. He wanted to drastically change the theology of the organization. He invented the idea that Muhammad Abdullah was W.D. Fard Muhammad.
Despite Warith Deen Mohammed's claims to the contrary, Wakeel Allah has shown that "many people familiar with the message had accepted Fard as 'the Prophet'" However, according to him, W.D. Fard only fully revealed his identity as God to Elijah Muhammad. It is possible that W.D. Fard confided in Elijah Muhammad
however, the fact remains that Burnsteen Muhammad, W.D. Fard's secretary, was already addressing him in divine terms in letters she wrote to him in 1933 and 1934 as chapter twenty-two re
Master Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad are often accused of having been members of Noble Drew Ali's Moorish Science Temple of America prior to 1930. This claim lacks solid evidence, despite overwhelming similarities between the teachings of the NOI and the Moorish Americans. The two groups certainly interacted, though it is undetermined if Fard and Elijah were ever members. Elijah Muhammad firmly denied that Fard was ever associated with Noble Drew Ali.
In a lecture to his followers, Supreme Minister John Muhammad speaks about the fezzes that W.D. Fard and the NOI wore, which the Moorish Americans would also wear prior to the coming of Fard. In the same lecture, John calls Noble Drew Ali "a good man
" but Fard called him a "smeller of Islam," because he did not have full knowledge of Islam. This corresponds with a 1933 letter that Fard sent to Elijah Muhammad, where he instructs him to go to Chicago to speak to "smellers."
John Muhammad states, "Now, a lot of people say that Elijah Muhammad was a member of the Moorish Americans or the Moor Americans or was with Noble Drew Ali. Now, I have heard him say that he have visit there (sic), but I never heard him say he was a member there." It is unclear if John is referring to before 1930 or after.
In 2010, a 1932 newspaper article from the Detroit Free Press resurfaced online. The article contains a photograph of W.D. Fard in police custody. In 2020, I also found a different photograph from the same event in the Des Moines Tribune. The reason these photos are significant is because, since the 1930s, the only extant picture that purportedly portrayed Master Fard Muhammad was his official Nation of Islam portrait and the various police mugshots of Wallace Ford. Elijah Muhammad famously clai
While some NOI members may still deny the authenticity of the newspaper photographs, John Muhammad, who knew Fard personally, confirmed the authenticity of the Detroit Free Press photograph in his Q&A. This is corroborated by a reference in the FBI file on Wallace D. Ford: Willie Muhammad, another brother of Elijah Muhammad, allegedly identified the police mugshot photograph of Fard as "my sweet savior, my all-powerful Allah."
I spoke with a close family member of John Muhammad, and he confirmed to me in an interview that John considered the 1926 San Quentin mugshot of Wallace D. Ford to be the same person as W.D. Fard. However, in one lecture, John Muhammad plainly denied the authenticity of the mugshots.
John Andrew Morrow argues in his Finding W.D. Fard that Fard did not have an "identifiable accent," while A.K. Arian argues in Chameleon that he had a "thick accent." Accents are relative - there are many accents in the United States, and everyone has his own manner of speech. However, Fard's direct writing is fraught with spelling and grammatical errors. Such mistakes suggest that he was either foreign or undereducated.
According to Medina Mohammed, the daughter of John Muhammad, Burnsteen "said that he (Fard) had a very heavy accent, and he would often say to them, 'I hope you understand what I'm trying to say to you.'" John Muhammad said in his Q&A that Elijah Muhammad would sometimes speak like Master Fard in a "foreign-like" manner. Elijah Muhammad indeed had a unique way of speaking, one that was different even from other members of his family. This may simply have been a speech impediment, or perhaps Fard
According to Emmanuel Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad's eldest son, the Master had "a soft accented voice." His uncle, John Muhammad, who was a disciple of W.D. Fard, raised no objections to this claim during their joint lecture. Christopher C. Alston (1913-1993), who claims to have met W.D. Fard as teenager and a young man, and who allegedly heard him speak, remembered that he spoke without a foreign accent. If truthful, the testimony of an eye and ear-witness takes precedent over the hearsay of a Me
According to John Muhammad, Master Fard was asked by his followers if they could use a blessing before meals. The blessing he apparently approved was "bismillah al-rahman al-rahim, la ilaha illa Allah, farad mukhmud (sic) rasulallah, amin" - meaning: in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
there is no god but Allah, and Fard Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, amen. He also claims that Fard never prayed while delivering a lecture on the rostrum, and that he discouraged (but allowed)
In a 1983 lecture in Farrakhan's Final Call Administration Building, John Muhammad claimed that W.D. Fard would say "Mukhmud" instead of "Muhammad." Nathaniel Muhammad, the son of Elijah Muhammad, also stressed that "Master Fard referred to us as 'Muck Mud' . He never would call us Mohammed, he always called us Muck Mud." This pronunciation seems to have precedence in the written record, as Elijah Muhammad taught the story of General "Muk Mud." Is it possible that W.D. Fard, who allegedly came f
While orthodox Muslims fast the month of Ramadan in accordance with the Islamic lunar calendar, the followers of Elijah Muhammad were known to fast the month of December. This may be because the days are short. Louis Farrakhan's followers currently fast the same month of Ramadan that orthodox Muslims fast.
According to Sahib, the Nation of Islam was fasting in September in 1951. John Muhammad says in a Q&A that Master Fard Muhammad was asked if Ramadan could be done in December
he said that Ramadan could be done in any month. This may not be so inconsistent with orthodox Islam. In Sunni and Shia Islam, if one misses a fast in Ramadan due to illness or travel, one may make up that fast in another month. However, it is indeed unorthodox for an entire community to miss the lunar month in favor of a
Elijah Muhammad believed he was God's last messenger, and he is quoted as having said, "there will be no successor. There is no need for a successor." Jeremiah Shabazz (1927-1998), who joined the Nation of Islam in 1943, became one of Elijah's top ministers, and was at Elijah's bedside during his fatal illness, confirms that
The Messenger never did choose a successor. He didn't choose Wallace. He didn't choose Farrakhan. He didn't choose Silas. I know he didn't choose them. I was by the Messenger's bedside for two weeks before he left us in 1975.
John Muhammad curiously said,
My brother, Elijah Muhammad, never said to me who his successor would be, but he told me who he wanted it to be, and he proved it by actions and words. He said to me that he did not have the authority to choose his successor. Further, he taught me that no messengers choose his successors - that is with Allah.
Who was this person that Elijah wanted to choose but did not end up choosing? In his Q&A, John Muhammad says regarding Warith Deen Mohammed,
Some of them think that the Messenger chose him. He wanted him - I tell you the facts - that was the man that Elijah Muhammad wanted to carry out the Nation of Islam. He wanted him, but he couldn't choose him. He told me that. he couldn't choose a successor.
So, despite John's theological disagreements with Warith Deen, he admits here that Warith Deen was the one Elijah Muhammad wanted to succeed him. It is likely that their theological differences and their turbulent relationship is what prevented Elijah from formally appointing him.
It is unclear where Master Fard Muhammad went after he disappeared in 1934. His common law ex-wife Hazel Barton told the FBI that Fard told her that he was "returning to New Zealand." Others said that Fard was in "Mecca, Egypt, or even still in Chicago." The last time the Supreme Minister said that he saw Fard was in Gary, Indiana in 1934. The last lesson sent by Fard by mail supposedly came from Mexico.
In one lecture, John Muhammad mentions in passing that he knew where W.D. Fard went. He says,
None of these other ministers teaching Islam around, they never sat and talked with Master Fard. No. They don't know even where he is at. how can they go sit with him and don't know where he is at? People have asked me where he was. Yeah, I know. I know where he went. I was told where he went.
The key element here is that John Muhammad "was told" where W.D. Fard went. Told by whom? By his brother, Elijah Muhammad, one would presume. Who else did he tell? At the very least, we have two people who knew what happened to W.D. Fard. Anyone with information should come forward.
John Muhammad does not reveal the location, nor does he mention his source. I asked a family member of John Muhammad, and they were not aware of W.D. Fard's whereabouts after 1934. The only reference to a post-1934 physical appearance is in the introduction to The Reformer. This introduction was presumably written by Medina Mohammed, the daughter of Burnsteen, in 2024-2025, and it says, "early in 1935 Sister Burnsteen and other believers traveled from Detroit to Chicago to see Master Fard Muhamm
This is the only reference to a 1935 visit that I know of, and it contradicts earlier, more reliable accounts. It is certainly possible, and Elijah Muhammad would claim to have some form of access to Fard after 1934, but researchers need more than just a twenty-first century second-hand account to verify this appearance.
What is commonly known about W.D. Fard's family is that he told his followers that his father was a dark-skinned black man, that his mother was a light-skinned Caucasian woman named "Baby Gee," and that he had an older sister. It was often taught that Baby Gee was from the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, or Russia. However, John Muhammad said to a questioner that Fard's father got his "white" wife from the "Kashmir Mountain."
If true, this is a huge revelation. Elijah Muhammad cryptically said in his 1973 Saviour's Day address, "I'm not going to tell you. where the hill was. someday you will soon hear me tell you, but I want to be sure when I tell you this, that the hills will welcome me to tell you." Perhaps he did not reveal the location because Kashmir was (and is) contested territory between India and Pakistan. It is true that the people of Kashmir are predominantly light-skinned Muslims, which fits the descripti
went often in the mountain in their country where some Caucasians were living. They think that they are Moslems (sic) and they do think that they are Christians or they belong to the Christians too. He said he got one of those women and took her for his wife.
If the Kashmir Mountain was in Fard's father's country, that would presumably make him Indian too. One subtle clue that W.D. Fard taught about Kashmir is the use of the name "Cushmeer" in NOI circles. The newspaper records shows that the name "Cushmeer" was being used at least as early as April 1934. Farrakhan's late confidant was Bernard Edward "Jabril Muhammad" Moore Cushmeer (1936-2023). "Cushmeer" is phonetically closer to the Urdu pronunciation of "Kashmir." As a name, it was also not used
While Kashmir has a tiny Christian community, the reference to people there "belong[ing] to the Christians" may be a reference to the shrine of Yuz Asaf and the so-called "Bani Israel tribes" of Kashmir. Muslims living near the shrine believe that Yuz Asaf was a Sufi saint or prophet that came to Kashmir. The Ahmadiyya identified Yuz Asaf with Jesus Christ, and some in the region believe that they are descendants of the "lost tribes" of Israel. If Baby Gee came from one of these communities, the
Another possibility is that W.D. Fard's mother belonged to the Kalash people of Pakistan who are known pejoratively as kafir or infidels as they practice a polytheistic religion. Inhabiting the Chitral District of Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, this unique genetic group, some of whom have green and blue eyes along with blonde or red hair, live in the Hindu Kush Mountain valleys. Isolated and marginalized, this indigenous Indo-Aryan group, whom some believe descend from the army of Alexa
/
(Figure 8.2: Sketch of Kalash people.Created from a Wikipedia photo. Public domain. CC BY-SA 4.0)
Scholars have long suspected that W.D. Fard was from the Indian Subcontinent. Many of the names he used were Urdu, and perhaps even "Baby Gee" can be rendered "Bibiji" - "respected lady" in Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi. Yes, it is claimed that Fard was a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca, but it is also common to find Muslims from the Indian Subcontinent who claim a lineage to the Prophet. Perhaps Fard attributed himself to Mecca because that is where he thought his family originally cam
At another point in the same Q&A, John Muhammad briefly mentions that "Master Fard, of course, had brothers. He talked with one of his brothers while he was here in the Temple. He talked with one of his brothers." To my knowledge, no one has ever mentioned W.D. Fard's brothers prior to this. In another lecture, John Muhammad elaborates that this conversation occurred telepathically. Fard seemingly stood in the Temple and talked to his Asiatic brother remotely about the progress of Islam in Ameri
This may be the most peculiar Fard story of all. Of course, while the water content in lemons can interfere with higher frequency radio waves, any absorption or attenuation caused by a single lemon would be very slight. Still, Fard may have read something related to this, or related to lemon batteries, and used this quasi-scientific knowledge in his teachings. That is not to say that telepathy is scientific. Elijah Muhammad would later claim to have visions of W.D. Fard. Perhaps he was basing th
Scholars often wonder if W.D. Fard was a conman. He allegedly told the police that his teachings were "strictly a racket" designed to get "all the money out of it he could." It is impossible to ascertain the intentions of a man we know so little about. However, we know that Elijah Muhammad came from a family of preachers: he, his brothers, and his father were all preachers. Elijah knew that he wanted to be a preacher since he was a little boy.
From the newspaper record and the oral record, it seems that Elijah Muhammad and his family were the main ones running the Temple and the school in Detroit. The NOI was Elijah's full-time job, and prior to Master Fard's arrival, Elijah was destitute. In one lecture, John Muhammad confirms that the profits from the Temple went to Elijah Muhammad. He says, first speaking of himself,
"Didn't you get paid for it?" No sir, not one penny. I won't say a dime, that's too big. Not one penny did he (Fard) give us for three- and one-half years. The little money that would come in at the Temple after paying our bills went to the Messenger to take care of him, because he was poor as a jaybird in whistling time. That's right. We give it to him too. Myself and the other secretaries that were before me - Ben Salvacon and Eugan Ali - take the money to him.
As more writings, transcripts, tapes, films, and video recordings of Supreme Minister John Muhammad surface, we will learn more about the identity and teachings of W.D. Fard. John represented a strict adherence to Fard and Elijah's teachings without the gradualism and the innovations of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed and Minister Louis Farrakhan. While Elijah Muhammad was more prone to guarding sensitive information about the early Nation of Islam, we have demonstrated that John Muhammad simply let s
CHAPTER 9 FARD HAS ESCAPED HISTORY: A REVIEW OF MICHAEL MUHAMMAD KNIGHT'S THE SUPREME WISDOM LESSONS: A SCRIPTURE OF AMERICAN ISLAM
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The Book
9.3 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"We raised him up to a lofty station"- (Qur'an 19:57)
In a Muslim world marred by mediocrity, rumination, and regurgitation, Michael Muhammad Knight (b. 1977) shines brightly as one of the most original and creative Islamic writers of our times. Whether his works are fiction or academic, they are always entertaining and illuminating. As one can only expect, his latest work, The Supreme Wisdom Lessons: A Scripture of American Islam, the sole academic title devoted to such a seminal subject, was eagerly awaited and anticipated by experts in the field
Michael Muhammad Knight's 289-page work features seven sections: the introduction, Fard's Syllabus, Thirty Years in the Wilderness, 1904-1934, Making the Lessons, Renewing the Lessons, The Lessons as Tradition, the conclusion, a series of appendices on the Lessons and Problem Book, as well as a bibliography and index. Professionally produced, and properly peer-reviewed, the work is required reading for anyone fascinated with W.D. Fard, the mysterious and nebulous founder of the Nation of Islam,
On a positive note, Knight's work makes fascinating contributions to the field. He suggests, for example, that W.D. Fard, or whoever he originally was, did not merely ship out from Hong Kong, but was originally from there
not as a Chinese person, of course, but as a resident of Asian parentage from what was Afghanistan, Pakistan, or India. Although it is a long shot, there might be documents tying Fard to Hong Kong. That might explain why, to all appearances, he came to America with a knowledge
Fard's potential association with the Ghadar movement is particularly interesting
however, Knight merely touches upon the topic. Specialists were expecting much more. Knight also provides further details into the background of George Farr. Especially welcomed is Knight's detailed information regarding San Quentin, the Theosophic presence in the prison, the revelations regarding the educational opportunities that were offered when Fard was imprisoned there, the large size of its library, with ov
This confirms Elijah Muhammad's claim that W.D. Fard studied at a university in California. Not only was San Quentin a "national model for prisoner education," but it housed "the largest and most comprehensive prison school in the nation." For Fard, going to San Quentin was quite literally like going to university. Far from procrastinating, he put his time to effective use. He did the time. He did not let the time do him. If he was not a street or lay intellectual when he arrived, he was most ce
The greatest contribution made by Knight to the biography of W.D. Fard resides in filling in existing gaps and plugging previous information holes. To bones and a skeletal structure he has provided flesh. Knight gives life to history. As a result, Fard's biography gets richer and fuller, colored, and lively. The fact that Hazel Barton, with whom Fard was "living in sin," and with whom she had a son, had criminal associations is eye-opening. She was not the lily white, innocent housewife that she
On a negative note, Knight's work falls short in some regards. He mentions the son that W.D. Fard, then going as Fred Dodd, had with Pearl Allen, a teenager from the Klamath Nation. While this was a possibility mentioned in Finding W.D. Fard, further research by Bilal Muhammad has demonstrated definitively that this was not the case. Readers are referred to the article "Did W.D. Fard Have a Son with Pearl Allen? A Century Old Mystery Solved?" which was published by the Berkeley Institute for Isl
Knight's claim that W.D. Fard was only deified by Elijah Muhammad after he disappeared is debatable. It relies in part on the recollections of Burnsteen Muhammad, W.D. Fard's secretary, that were first published in 2011, and which were ostensibly written down up to sixty years after the events unfolded. Knight fails to acknowledge that the Reformer, as she was called by Master Fard, had long abandoned his doctrines, and had sided with Warith Deen Mohammed's (d. 2008) reforms, unlike her husband
If we rely on newspaper, police, and hospital accounts from the 1930s, published when Fard was present in Detroit, it does appear that he claimed to be God, not exclusively, but in the sense that the divine resides in all human beings. From this philosophical perspective, no person is God individually. However, people are God collectively. It is through knowledge of self that people can attain God-consciousness, annihilate themselves in the Divine, and become at one with the One. The evidence fr
If we rely on Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad's memories, which are undated, W.D. Fard "taught us that the black people were god so when I would say my prayers, I'd shut my eyes and envision that great mass of people as god." In a poem written on February 24, 1949, however, she took pride in the fact that W.D. Fard professed to be God to police officers in Detroit:
Old [S]atan got shaky
When at last they found
This man in jail
Was God they had bound
They brought Him before justice
And when He they had seen
Asked His Authority
Asked what did He mean?
He opened the Holy Qur'an
So it could be seen
Then boldly declared
I AM THE SUPREME BEING!
If Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad seems to have backed away from the belief that Fard was God, saying that "He did not say god would be with me but Allah, not himself," that is not the sense conveyed in her poem, "A Saviour is Born," which equates Fard with Jesus, Christ, Allah, and the Supreme Being. To all appearances, there was a revision of her views.
As for the doctrines that Fard was the Son of Man, the Second Coming of Christ, and God in Person, those appear to be the theological work of Elijah Muhammad and the result of his Christian upbringing. Like Fard, who initially preached solely from the Bible, gradually introducing the Qur'an, and then solely preaching from it, Elijah appears to have been intent on drawing Christians to the fold and transitioning them into a syncretic form of the Muslim faith. With Prophet W.D. Fard exalted to the
Knight also claims that attempts to identify Fard's native Islam are "overly speculative and poorly evidenced, relying chiefly on superficial coincidences and essentialisms." While it is true that we find "no significance for 'Ali" in Fard's teaching, it could be contested that we find "no concept of Shi'i imamate, no Shi'i specific reference to the Madhi. no Shi'i specific vocabulary. or no self-evident use of any Shi'i text or authority." Not only does Finding W.D. Fard provide compelling evid
While Knight's attempt to zoom out, and focus on the broader cultural picture of Fard, in the times and places that he moved and operated, is both valid and valuable, one should not push back against or belittle the equally valid and valuable attempts to examine his ideas under a microscope. We should encourage all approaches. We need to examine microcosms as well as macrocosms. What is more, Knight's attempts to identify potential sources of ideological influence in Fard's writings, drawing fro
Rather than dialogue with scholars, Knight, at times, seems to be preaching to the choir. When have previous scholars claimed that Fard was one thing to the exclusion of others? Who has ever claimed to have a "master key" to unlock his secrets? Who has tried to tie Fard to a single set of sources? Few scholars speak in such exclusive and exclusionary fashion. Whether they trace Fard's ideas to one source or another, they view him as an eclectic appropriator who cooked up a syncretistic theologic
While identifying Fard's biology, nationality, ethnicity, and religiosity can help provide answers, they obviously do not explain how he became what he became. That is more a matter of psychology and sociology than history. At one point, however, Knight dismisses the value of tracing the paternal DNA of Wallace Max Ford (d. 1942), the son of W.D. Fard and Hazel Barton (d. 1977). He does not believe that the results could provide us with any meaningful information. One's biological makeup does no
Finally, although Patrick D. Bowen, the author of A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, had intimated that Michael Muhammad Knight would be publishing new evidence regarding the origin of W.D. Fard on the Brother Garfield podcast, on March 20, 2024, no such information appears in The Supreme Wisdom Lessons: A Scripture of American Islam. Why? And if anyone was hoping to find out what happened to Master Fard after 1934, readers will be sorely disappointed. "So far," concludes Kn
CHAPTER 10 THE NOI, THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, AND W.D. FARD'S MILIEU
10.1 Introduction
10.2 God and Wisdom
10.3 Conclusions
By Bilal Muhammad
"He who knows himself knows his Lord."
In the cosmic soup that made up W.D. Fard's hodgepodge of religious influences, scholars have noted the impact of the Theosophical Society to varying degrees. The Theosophical Society was a late nineteenth century esoteric religious movement founded by "Madame" Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891), a Russian American mystic and writer. Theosophy grew out of the same milieu as the Spiritualist movement, and it laid some of the groundwork for what would later become New Age spirituality. It sought to conn
Blavatsky's stated goal was to create universal brotherhood and cultivate "an ever-deepening understanding and realization of the Ageless Wisdom, spiritual Self-transformation, and the Unity of all Life." In his new book The Supreme Wisdom Lessons: A Scripture of American Islam, Michael Muhammad Knight highlights that San Quentin prison - wherein W.D. Fard served time in the 1920s - had "a strong Theosophical presence both in the prison library and. regularly held. services for its Theosophist
Some researchers, like Karl Evanzz, have suggested that W.D. Fard may have been George Farr, a local Garveyite leader in early 1920s San Francisco
and George Farr may have been involved with the Theosophical Society. According to Knight, there is no record of a George Farr in Theosophical lodges in San Francisco. However, judging from the scant references to George Farr anywhere, and the potential subversive activities he was involved in (attracting the Office of Naval Intelligence's attention)
On race, Knight points out that Fard's racial view of history corresponds to his milieu in 1930s America. The books that Fard assigned according to Beynon included Hendrik Van Loon's Story of Mankind and James Henry Breasted's Conquest of Civilization, both of which were contemporary to Fard (published in the 1920s), and both "imagined races rising and falling and supplanting each other as the prime makers of civilization." Similarly, Theosophy developed the concept of seven "root races," tied t
For Theosophists, the Aryan race (comprising of Indo-Europeans) is the fifth root race, and it is the dominant race today and the youngest race on the planet. Black people were associated with the earlier third root race (Lemurians), who were "the first physical beings with material bodies." Prior to Lemurians, there were ethereal, luminous races that existed in harmony with divine forces. This can be compared to Fard's idea that the black man is the "original man," and that whites came later. F
Fard's eschatology, of course, has significant overlaps with Jehovah's Witness doctrine. The Jehovah's Witnesses were probably most relevant in the 1910s-1940s, a period which saw the consolidation of their theology, the development of their organizational infrastructure, and mainstream attention in America. Most of this occurred while W.D. Fard was active.
Furthermore, one cannot forget the burgeoning discussions on evolution, genetics, and eugenics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Darwin hypothesized that humans originated in Africa, the discovery of the Taung Child Australopithecus africanus in 1924 provided evidence for this, and racial theorists were using Mendelian genetics to describe African traits as dominant. White supremacists also looked at history from a racial lens, and it is possible that Fard took these racial hierar
Theosophists like Annie Besant (d. 1933) wrote of twelve "Masters of the Wisdom" who "form the inner council, overseeing the spiritual evolution of humanity." Besant probably drew from the Rosicrucian manifesto, the Fama Fraternitatis (c. 1610), which also speaks of "twelve wise men, adepts in both natural philosophy and divine wisdom. These twelve formed the inner circle, hidden from the world, yet directing its spiritual course." This divine council plays a guiding role in the NOI, as they are
Mattias Gardell compares Fard's idea of history moving in 25,000-year cycles to a similar idea in Theosophy, where precessional cycles last 25,868 years. This is probably based on the Great Year in astronomy, where a gradual shift in the orientation of Earth's rotational axis causes equinoxes to move backward through the zodiac over a period of approximately 25,920 years. Karl Evanzz suggests that the 25,000-year cycles were borrowed from Hinduism. John Andrew Morrow points out that Yezidis beli
Since the Great Year is an astronomical and astrological concept, it would not be surprising to find variations of this concept in different parts of the world. However, W.D. Fard presumably spent most of his adult life in the United States (at least since 1908, when he was known as Fred the Turk or Fred the Greek). When trying to locate the origins of his teachings, scholars should primarily look to America's spiritual fabric in the times and places where Fard was known to be active. While it i
Both the Theosophical Society and W.D. Fard seemed to hold that there were periodic spiritual masters or saviors (unlike Christianity's sole focus on Jesus). For Theosophists, there is the World Teacher (sometimes referred to as the Maitreya or Christ), who periodically manifests to guide humanity during times of crisis. For W.D. Fard, Jesus was just a prophet, there were many gods and scientists throughout history, and (perhaps) he saw himself as the "Supreme Being" or World Teacher of this tim
There are some important points of distinction between the NOI and the Theosophical Society. For the NOI, the history of the white race only goes back six thousand years, while for Blavatsky, the Aryan race was one million years old. The Theosophical Society teaches universal brotherhood, while the NOI advocates for the unity of black people against whites. There is no direct equivalent to the Yakub story in the Theosophical Society, but one could say that both Blavatsky and Fard engaged in raci
While locating W.D. Fard's origins or whereabouts is a trying task for researchers, we have an excellent idea of what he taught to his followers and in his writings. Scholars have attempted to trace the origins of some of these ideas
and while W.D. Fard was a sponge that soaked up many influences, he was also incredibly creative. Despite some antecedent ideas in his milieu, Fard seems to have created much of the lore himself - from the tribe of Shabazz to the Yakub story, the explosive origin o
CHAPTER 11 DID W.D. FARD ATTEND THE FUNERAL OF A FREEMASON IN AUSTRALIA IN 1940?
11.1 Introduction
11.2 The Land Down Under
11.3 The Funeral Notice
11.4 Hallelujah! Fard is Found!
11.5 Checks and Balance: Verify, Verify, Verify
11.6 A Ford Not a Fard
11.7 Fred White
11.8 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"After learning Mathematics, which is Islam,and Islam is Mathematics, it stands true."- W.D. Fard
As a historian and biographer with a passion for the mysterious and enigmatic W.D. Fard, I regularly receive a stream of leads sent by community historians, independent researchers, and internet investigators. Occasionally, they provide leads of interest. Most of the time, they can be debunked within a matter of minutes. The majority of these do not merit mention in publications
however, from time to time, some of them deserve to be discredited to prevent the spread and reinforcement of rumors
Unlike most other leads, sent by well-wishers and obfuscators, this one was supported by a small newspaper clipping, the origin of which the tipster refused to disclose for reasons he refused to reveal. While I was unable to locate any trace of W.D. Fard in the Australian press using Newspapers.com, it took a simple search of Trove, Australia's free online research portal, which is operated by the National Library, in collaboration with Australian State and Territory Libraries. Thanks to the Aus
/
/
(Figure 11.1: West Australian, Perth, WA. Saturday 25 May 1940, page 13. Public domain. Mandatory credit given to West Australian Newspapers Limited)
There it was, as clear as day, the printed name of "W.D. Fard," confirming his attendance at the funeral of a prominent Freemason. This would suggest two things. Number one, that W.D. Fard was indeed associated with Oceania: New Zealand and Australia. Number two, that W.D. Fard was an active, and perhaps important, member of the Freemasons. After all, Fred White must have been a prominent Freemason if it forced W.D. Fard out of occulation to attend his funeral.
/
(West Australian, Perth, WA. Saturday 25 May 1940, page 13. Public domain. Mandatory credit given to West Australian Newspapers Limited)
For cyber researchers, wild claims are made without forethought. Lazy or untrained, they lack diligence. Little do they appreciate the need for every claim to be substantiated, verified, and confirmed. It is all about evidence. All claims must be proven. It is elementary. So, the research continued. The most pressing question was who was Fred White and what was his connection to "W.D. Fard?" The answers came quickly. Much of the information was in the funeral notice. Newspapers, both prior to an
/
/
(Figure 11.2: Construction, Sydney, NSW. Wed. 1 Oct 1952: 3. Public domain)
W.D. Ford was none other than Wilfred Donald Ford. He was born on May 13, 1925, at Five Dock, New South Wales, Australia. He married Beryl Kathleen Foley in 1945. Their marriage produced one child. He was appointed the secretary of the Master Builders' Association of New South Wales in 1952.
/
(Figure 11.3: The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, November 29, 1952: 5.Public domain as confirmed by Anastasia Symeonides,Account Manager Licensing, The Sydney Morning Herald)
W.D. Ford passed away in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia, at the age of 82. He would have been five years old in 1930 when W.D. Fard appeared in Detroit. Even if it was in his power to metamorphose, W.D. Fard would also have needed the power to be in two places at the same time, simultaneously being a child in Australia while being a demigod in Detroit. So, clearly, W.D. Ford was not W.D. Fard.
Although W.D. Ford was not W.D. Fard, he was, in fact, a Freemason, as confirmed by Joshua Newman, Membership Office, and Senior Grand Warden at the United Grand Lodge of NSW & ACT, who kindly provided the following details in an email dated February 15, 2025:
Bro Wilfred Donald Ford MM (Reg#258512). Initiated into Lodge Sans Souci 442 on 18/02/1958 at the age of 33. He was a Secretary of some sort. Second Degree 13/03/1958. Third Degree 15/07/1958 where he became a Master Mason (MM). Remained a member for many years in Lodge Sans Souci 442 which eventually became Lodge James Cook 442 in the mid-1970s. In 1979 the lodge consolidated with Lodge Pythagoras 68 to form Lodge James Cook 68 where he stayed until 18/10/1983 when he called off.
As for Fred White, his full name was Frederick White. He was born in England in 1880. He married Emily White and had a son and two daughters with her. He moved to Australia in 1936. He died in Canning Bridge, Swanbourne, Western Australia, on May 13, 1940, at the age of sixty. Although W.D. Ford was a Master Mason, Joshua Newman was unable to confirm or deny that Fred White was one as well despite all the details and documents that were sent to him. As he explained,
I thought I had located Fred and had spent some time on him. Everything seemed to line up with your dates however when I went to reconcile the date he left the lodge it seemed to be after your Fred's date of death. I am not able to confirm if Fred was or was not a mason in NSW.
What is puzzling is how an African American Muslim produced the claim that Fred White was a Freemason. Quite possibly since he himself has been involved with the Masons and other secret, and not-so-secret, societies, which are transparent when it comes to membership and rank. Although it is possible that Fred White was a Mason, there is no official evidence. As Joshua Newman explained, the man who seems to match him in their records is recorded as leaving the Masons at some point after the date
Despite claims to the contrary, and unfounded rumors that were not investigated, W.D. Fard did not attend the funeral of Fred White, an alleged freemason, in Australia, on May 15, 1940. This rumor, which was treated as a fact in some corners, circulated unchallenged. It took less than ten minutes of research on the internet to debunk it definitively. Although W.D. Fard claimed that he was a New Zealander on a couple of occasions, when he was going by the names of Fred Dadd and Wallie Dodd Ford,
Since he was constantly obfuscating and reinventing his past, little to nothing he said about himself can be trusted and all the allegations that he made need to be independently verified. As difficult as it is to track the origins of a missing person, who was perpetually trying to muddle his tracks, the task is rendered even more challenging when people make grandiose claims without basis, and devoid of verification, sending serious scholars and historians on futile missions, as well as vain an
"I knew you would crack this case," emailed the informant, "and get to the bottom of this." Yes, indeed, I did. So, bring them on. W.D. Fard has been missing in action for nearly a century. One day, one tip or one lead could close the case for good. However, when the mystery is gone, so is the intrigue. It is the element of surprise, the excitement of the unknown, that sparks curiosity. The magic is in the mystery. Once the mystery is gone, and we avail ourselves of the answer, so is the magic.
CHAPTER 12 DANCING WITH THE DEVIL
12.1 Introduction
12.2 The Gospel of John Muhammad
12.3 Searching for the White Whale
12.4 To Be or Not to Be an Ahmadi
12.5 This is the Devil's Newspaper!
12.6 A Deep Dive Produces an Incredible Discovery
12.7 Conclusions
By Bilal Muhammad and John Andrew Morrow
"Devils must stay away."- W.D. Fard
One of the most peculiar and neglected stories in the early Nation of Islam is that of a mysterious blue-eyed white man by the name of Wali. While the early NOI was undoubtedly a serious and apocalyptic organization - one that had frequent run-ins with the authorities - W.D. Fard apparently knew how to have fun. According to Fard's secretary, Burnsteen "the Reformer" Sharrieff Muhammad, Muslims held picnics every Tuesday where they would dance, play games, and win prizes. Burnsteen said that he
Thanks to a recently surfaced lecture of John Muhammad, who was the brother of Elijah Muhammad and the husband of Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad, we have learned more about this white Wali. According to John Muhammad, the name of the light-skinned man in Ferndale was Wali Mohammed, he was one of John's teachers in the Temple, and he "submitted himself" to W.D. Fard. This fact is simply stunning. One of the early teachers in the Temple of Islam was a white man.
When John Muhammad was the principal of the University of Islam, he asked Wali a series of questions, and he answered them "just as though they were nothing." Apparently, Wali's college friends would call him a "walking encyclopedia," but John Muhammad said that he realized after staying with him in Chicago that he was "as dumb as they get" and that he "[didn't] know nothing but the encyclopedia." We have heard nothing about Wali's whereabouts after Fard's time.
The newspaper records were searched for a Wali Mohammed in this period. In The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, an article titled "One Time Local Grocery is Mohammedan Mosque" by Anna Jane Phillips appeared on August 1, 1932. The article is about an Ahmadiyya community with an Indian Imam, and it features a picture of a predominantly black congregation in prayer. It also states, "To bind themselves closer to Islam, each has discarded his English name on joining the mosque and adopted a title from the Ea
In 1933, in The Cincinnati Post, an article titled "Bustle of Cincinnati Fails to Disturb Devotions of Followers of Mohammed" appears on February 9th - just over six months after the Pittsburgh article. It covers another Ahmadiyya mosque, stating,
Islam draws no race or color distinction. To ensure universality, even natural names are dropped and names taken from the myriad Islamic prophets adopted in their stead. The muezzin, for example, is a Cincinnatian. His name used to be Fox. Now, he is Noor-dad, "light given." Similarly, one of the faithful used to be John Smith. Now he is Abu Saleh. Tom White is Wali Mohammed, Jarrel is Ahmad, and Jones is Ali.
There are a few considerations we must make. Firstly, there is no guarantee that the Wali Mohammed of the NOI is the same person as the Wali Mohammed of Pittsburgh, and there is no guarantee that either are the same person as the Wali Mohammed of Cincinnati. However, the timing, the conversion, the new names, and the Muslim circles may suggest that they are. Detroit is about 423km from Cincinnati, and it is about 460km from Pittsburgh. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are also about 465km apart. There
To potentially connect all three people, there is a third article that is relevant. In the Grand Haven Tribune, there was an article titled "Pair Slug, Rob Ailing Grocer: Knock Ferndale Man Unconscious, Find He is Ill, Revive Him" published on August 4th, 1931. The story is about two robbers who knocked a 60-year-old man unconscious and then resuscitated him after learning that he was suffering from pneumonia. The man's name in the article is Tom White, and his daughters' names are Glory and Ver
Wali Mohammed's potential connections to the Ahmadiyya movement are relevant to our study of W.D. Fard. The early NOI seems to have been extensively influenced by the Ahmadiyya mission in America. Ahmadiyya proselytizers were active in Detroit and Chicago (both places Fard and Wali were active), and they were presenting "Islam as a religion of racial justice and correction to white supremacy." It is possible that W.D. Fard met Wali Mohammed in the Ahmadiyya community, and the two became friends.
As for W.D. Fard, the Ahmadiyya was just one of many ingredients that he tossed into his esoteric gumbo. It was far from being the nucleus or the kernel of his philosophy. He probably went to fish for converts at their mosques and to obtain books. Where else did he get the Ahmadi-published English translations of the Qur'an that he used and distributed to his disciples? It would not make much sense for an Ahmadi missionary to take a four-year break from the Ahmadiyya while teaching something con
If W.D. Fard were alive and teaching today, he would probably be more of a political activist than a cleric. He was a naturalist, he kept up with the science and anthropology of his time, he called preachers Icemakers, and he called churches Ice Houses. He had zero tolerance for Arabs or traditional Muslims. He called the Bible the Poisoned Book. He barely spoke about the Prophet Muhammad. He probably did not believe in life after death. After all, he taught that heaven and hell were conditions
After W.D. Fard's departure in 1934, Elijah Muhammad's family launched the Final Call to Islam newspaper. The paper seemingly only had four editions. It was written in a time when Elijah was still collaborating with his brother Kallatt Mohammed, who was then called the "Head Investigator." The newspaper features a group picture of the Nation's "high ranking officials," with Kallatt standing in the foreground.
Interestingly, a Wali Mohammed is called the "Manager" of the newspaper. Could it be that the first manager of the first Final Call newspaper was a blue-eyed white devil?! This would be shocking for a militant black nationalist organization like the NOI. But since Wali was apparently college-educated, in a time and a community where that was rare, he was a possible choice for this role. However, Willie Muhammad - one of the brothers of Elijah and Kallatt - was also sometimes called "Wali Mohamme
If Wali Mohammed was Tom White and he lived in Ferndale, Michigan between 1930 and 1934, this fact should be easily corroborated. And it is. The man in question, and the only who matches the profile, was William Thomas White. He lived in Ferndale, Michigan, and was the father of Glory and Verdun.
While one might have expected this Wali Mohammed, or Tom White, to have been a Lebanese, a Syrian, a Bosnian, an Albanian, or any other ethnicity associated with Islam, he was born in Alvington, Gloucestershire, in the United Kingdom in December 1868, when his father William, was twenty-four and his mother, Mary Ann Tarrant (1840-1908), was twenty-eight. William Thomas White, who had four brothers, would marry three times and father twelve children.
William Thomas White immigrated to the United States as a teenager. His son Vernon was born in Michigan in 1891. His daughter Lettie was born there in 1893. He was listed as working as an engineer in the Detroit City Directory in 1898. He married Ada Lemon in Detroit on December 11, 1894, when he was twenty-six years of age. He married Theresa Margaret Ponzer Bayerl White Negus Haigler Fuller in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on March 25, 1897, when he was twenty-eight years old. His daughter, Lilian
William Thomas White was living in Detroit Ward 16 in 1900. His daughter Eva was born in 1905 in Michigan as was his daughter Lucille. He divorced Theresa on January 15, 1909, in Michigan after eleven years of marriage. He was forty years old. His son, Harry T. Gill, was born in Michigan in 1909. In 1910, he was living in Elk Rapids, Michigan. On January 27, 1912, he married Ethel Florence Lewis Gill in Detroit. He was forty-two years old. His daughter, Dorothy Gill, was born there in 1912. The
A meticulous search of Ahmadi literature turned up no sign of any William Thomas White, Tom White, Wali Mohammed, or Wali Muhammad. This is unusual as the Ahmadis were proud of showing off their converts, particularly the white ones they fetishized. There is nothing in The Review of Religions, in print since 1902, or in the Moslem Sunrise, which started publication in 1921. There is no evidence tying William Thomas White with the Ahmadis at all. One of the cities with which he was associated, na
/
(Figure 12.1: Sketch of William Thomas White, aka, Wali Mohammed, thewhite dancing partner of W.D. Fard, based on an original, fair use, photograph)
In two articles, Wali Mohammed accompanied a John Smith at the Ahmadiyya mosques in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. John Smith was also known as Abu Saleh. Was this John Smith an associate of Wali? Were they working together to gain black converts? Is it merely a coincidence that "Abu Saleh" is one of the nicknames sometimes associated with the Mahdi in Shiism? Is it possible that John Smith was our protagonist, Master Fard Muhammad? "John Smith" is about as inconspicuous of an alias as one can have
William Thomas White, one would suspect, was a Freemason. The Grand Lodge of Michigan was contacted, and they were provided with the name of William Thomas White, born in 1868, and who lived in Ferndale, Michigan. The only person with a similar name, who was a member between 1930 and 1934, was William M. Thomas, who joined Fellowship #417 in Detroit, right near Ferndale. The person in question was an inspector. Further research proved that this was a different person. The one in question had die
/
(Figure 12.2: William M. White Profile. Courtesyof the Grand Lodge of Michigan. Public domain)
Our protagonist, William Thomas White, was an engineer, born in the United Kingdom, who disappeared around the same time that W.D. Fard vanished from the face of the earth. In fact, according to his descendants, word is he possibly died in South America. This is beyond curious as W.D. Fard sent a letter from the southwestern part of North America in 1933. Texas? New Mexico? Arizona? California? Mexico? According to John Muhammad, it was sent from Mexico. If so, how would he know unless he was to
A final letter, sent from Mexico, was received in March 1934. Hence, it was long suspected that he crossed into Mexico. The problem with that theory is that W.D. Fard was reportedly back in Chicago in 1935. However, the only source for this claim is the introduction to the new Burnsteen Muhammad book (written by Medina and company).
/
(Figure 12.3: "Celebration of the New Generation Islamic Society," c. 1920s.Source: Bentley Library, University of Michigan. Public domain)
At this point, there is no reason to believe this claim. Her father, John Muhammad, who knew the founder of the Nation of Islam personally, said many times on video that the last time he saw W.D. Fard was in Gary Indiana in 1934. This is interesting because it is right next to Michigan City, an immigrant town, with deep Syrian/Lebanese Twelver Shiite roots. As Edward E. Curtis IV notes,
The first Muslim congregation in Michigan City was incorporated on April 26, 1914, as the Bader Elmoneer Society. Its leader was Hussein AbouDeeb Mohamed. During that decade, according to another Muslim immigrant, Hussein Hussein Ayad, at least two other Muslim groups were formed. All three groups were short-lived, but by May 15, 1924, many of their supporters came together to form the Asser El Jadeed, or the "New Generation," Arabian Islamic Society.
In the early 1930s, they established the oldest formal mosque in the United States and one of the oldest Twelver Shiite ones: The Temple of Asser El Jadeed Arabian Islamic Society, namely, the New Generation Mosque, which was established in Michigan City, Indiana, in the early 1930s, and which was renamed The Islamic Center of Michigan City in 1969. This might provide a clue as to why W.D. Fard named his center the Allah Temple of Islam as opposed to referring to it as a mosque. Of course, "temp
Wherever W.D. Fard went, and apparently, he traveled to California regularly, a fact that was confirmed personally by Medina Mohammed in her conversations with one of the authors of this work, he was last seen in the Windy City, namely, the City of Big Shoulders. Academic detectives should search for any traces of W.D. Fard in Gary and Michigan City, Indiana, focusing on historical records, newspapers, photographs, and potential informants. It is just a matter of time before W.D. Fard is found i
/
(Figure 12.4: Sketch of the Asser El Jadeed Mosque in downtown Michigan City, Indiana. Source: Michigan City Library. Based on a photograph originally publishedin the La Porte Herald-Argus on Friday, September 1, 1978: page 8, column 1,without listing any photographer, source, or date of the image. Fair use)
Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad, W.D. Fard's one and only secretary, who served him faithfully from 1931-1934, had noted in her memoirs that the Allah Temple of Islam would organize picnics every Tuesday where they would dance, play games, and win prizes. She recalled that W.D. Fard would "dance the waltz with a glass of water on his head." According to her daughter, Medina Mohammed, some of these events took place at Wali's house in Ferndale, Michigan. No listing for a Wali, in any variant form, w
Much like W.D. Fard, William Thomas White was a perplexing person. He was a highly educated British American engineer. He lived in Ferndale, Michigan, one of the fastest growing cities of its size in the United States, in the 1930s. While he married numerous times, and had a dozen children, some of them were born out of wedlock. This was socially frowned upon as, in the 1930s, illegitimate births amounted to less than 4%. Initial research was unable to uncover any other link between William Thom
CHAPTER 13 W.D. FARD AND FORENSIC LINGUISTICS
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Corpus
13.3 Query
13.4 Variables
13.5 ChatGPT-4o: Forensic Analysis of Fred's Lunch Wagon Ads
13.6 ChatGPT-4o Forensic Analysis of W.D. Fard's Letters to the Editor from Oregon, His Typed Writings from the Nation of Islam, and His Letter for the Editor from Detroit
13.7 ChatGPT-4o Forensic Analysis of Letter 1 Handwritten by W.D. Fard
13.8 ChatGPT-4o Forensic Analysis of Letters 2 and 3 Handwritten by W.D. Fard
13.9 Commentary on the Findings
13.10 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow and Bilal Muhammad
"Now you must speak the Language so you canuse your Mathematical Theology in the proper Term." - W.D. Fard
The field of forensic linguistics, computational linguistics, and L-1 native language identification in speakers of English is vast. The internet is filled with scholarly papers and conferences on the topic. In the not so recent past, linguists examined texts to detect the influence of L-1, first languages, on L-2, or second languages. The process could prove arduous and time consuming. By the 1990s and early 2000s, the rise of computers improved the task. Linguists and computer programmers desi
With advances in Artificial Intelligence, the ability to determine a person's native language (first language, or L-1) has grown exponentially. If Chat GPT-3.5 had some strengths, it has been greatly surpassed by GPT 4.0 which boasts impressive capabilities. By analyzing speech patterns in speakers of English as a second language, it can even reveal subtle influences from their first language. What is more, unlike previous human-engineered programs, which focused on mistakes in grammar and style
Impressively, when tasked with NLI, or Native Language Identification, GPT 4.0 set a performance record of 91.7% in predicting a writer's first language. The study in question conclusively proves that GPT models are proficient at NLI classification. While it is superior to GPT 3.5, it produces clusters of mistakes between Hindi and Telegu as well as between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
When it came to providing linguistic reasoning for its decision, the program also has its shortcomings. As Zhang and Salle note, "Manual examination of the explanations revealed a number of hallucinations and incorrect assertions" Consequently, the explanations need to be examined by a human linguist. Despite their shortcomings, "LLMs [Large Language Models] hold great promise for explainable L-2 data analysis, potentially enabling educators and linguists to unravel the nuances of language use t
According to Zhang and Salle, "performance improves with text length, plateauing at around 1,250 characters. This finding has implications for real-world NLI applications, indicating that a minimum amount of text may be required to achieve reliable results."
In our case, we submitted all the letters and ads that Fred Dodd placed in newspapers while he was living in Oregon between 1904-1915. We then submitted his letters to the editor from the time he was in Oregon and Detroit along with the Supreme Wisdom Lessons which are said to date from 1930-1934, consisting of 7,652 words. After that, we submitted the typed and handwritten letters of W.D. Fard which consist of 1,337 words. Finaly, we submitted solely the three handwritten letters authored by W.
When submitting selections of W.D. Fard's writings to Chat GPT 4o, we asked two precise linguistic questions: "What is the first language of the person who wrote this?" and "Can you give me a detailed description at how you reached this L-1?"
Prior to submitting the various writings for analysis, we were acutely aware of the variables involved. For example, it is possible that W.D. Fard had help composing letters and ads for newspapers when he was a new arrival in America living in Oregon. We know that Hazel Barton claimed that W.D. Fard had lived with a waitress who helped him write letters to his family.
While his English is far from perfect, it does not show any strong foreign influence. Hence, somebody else could have written the documents for him or, at the very least, the editors at the newspaper corrected them since they did not want to publish texts that were not idiomatic. The same applies to the Supreme Wisdom Lessons.
Although they were attributed to W.D. Fard, it is well-known that his secretary, Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad used to type out anything that he wrote or dictated. We also know that W.D. Fard was a perfectionist and held her to rigid, if not physically and emotionally abusive, standards of excellence. Hence, the Supreme Wisdom Lessons, among other typed documents, passed through the filter of the woman he titled the Reformer because she would reform or correct his words. Consequently, we assume t
The first language (L-1) of the writer of this text appears to be English, but likely with limited formal education or exposure to standardized written English conventions. This conclusion is based on several features in the text:
1. Fluency and Idiomatic Phrasing
The writer uses phrases like "tear all the light down" and "some of those cops does not like to see me sell goods," which suggest non-standard grammar but are consistent with informal English speech patterns.
2. Repetition and Emphasis
The repeated mentions of "Fred's Night Lunch" and detailed directions, including phone numbers and locations, indicate an oral or spoken style translated into writing.
3. Grammatical Inconsistencies
Errors such as "does not like" (instead of "do not like") and "is not doing right in this matter then will stop selling" suggest possible influences from regional dialects or colloquial forms of English.
4. Vocabulary and Syntax
The writer demonstrates a solid grasp of basic English vocabulary and can communicate their points clearly, though with non-standard sentence construction and grammar.
While the writing style reflects someone who might not have formal training in written English, there is no evidence in this text to suggest an L-1 other than English. Instead, it reflects regional or socio-lectical English usage from an early twentieth century American context, possibly the Pacific Northwest.
Here is a detailed forensic analysis of the provided text to determine the writer's first language (L-1). The analysis explores grammatical, syntactic, stylistic, cultural, and rhetorical elements that collectively suggest Urdu (or a closely related South Asian language) as the most likely L-1 of the writer.
1. Grammar and Syntax
The writer's grammatical constructions reveal patterns of influence from a language with significantly different grammatical structures compared to English. Specifically, Urdu speakers transitioning into English often exhibit similar tendencies.
1.1 Subject-Verb Agreement
Examples:
"some of those cops does not like"
The use of "does" instead of "do" indicates a misunderstanding of subject-verb agreement. In Urdu, verbs conjugate based on gender, number, and the subject-object relationship, but the mechanics differ from English, leading to errors like this.
"how many time have I told you this"
The singular "time" instead of the plural "times" reflects a lack of pluralization, common among Urdu speakers, as Urdu uses plurals sparingly and relies on context instead of strict grammatical rules.
"I not brought them to enforce knowing you have taken these steps"
Missing auxiliary verbs ("I not brought" instead of "I have not brought") is common for native Urdu speakers, as Urdu verbs often express tense without auxiliary verbs.
1.2 Article Usage
Urdu does not have definite (the) or indefinite (a/an) articles. This absence leads to overuse or misuse in English writing. Examples:
"in the mouth of the Lion in his cave or civilization"
Overuse of the definite article "the" reflects a lack of familiarity with when articles are necessary or redundant.
"to the passenger people going out."
The use of "the" here reflects an attempt to translate specificity from Urdu, which would rely on context rather than explicit grammatical markers.
1.3 Word Order
Urdu follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) structure, whereas English uses Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). This difference can cause unusual word orders in English writing by Urdu speakers.
Examples:
"get on the labor now and study your assignment."
The placement of "get on the labor" reflects an attempt to use English vocabulary within an Urdu grammatical framework.
"how many time have I told you this?"
The word order "time have I told" mimics Urdu's sentence construction, where auxiliary verbs and subjects often appear at the end.
2. Vocabulary and Phrasing
The choice of words and the use of certain expressions strongly reflect South Asian linguistic patterns and cultural influences.
2.1 Literal Translations
Examples:
"minus things"
This phrase appears to be a direct translation of a concept in Urdu, such as "nuksan wali baatein" (harmful things). This reflects a tendency to translate idiomatic expressions directly into English.
"cave civilization"
This metaphorical expression seems rooted in Urdu's allegorical storytelling tradition, where vivid imagery is common.
2.2 Redundancy and Repetition
Urdu uses repetition for emphasis, a feature that carries over into the writer's English.
Examples:
"I will tell you again and again"
Repetition is used to underline importance, a rhetorical device prevalent in Urdu but unnecessary in English.
"how many time have I told you this?"
The repetitive nature of rhetorical questions mimics Urdu's emphasis patterns.
3. Rhetorical Style and Politeness
The writer's tone and rhetorical style are formal, respectful, and often didactic, hallmarks of Urdu prose and written correspondence, particularly in religious or professional contexts.
3.1 Politeness and Formality
Examples:
"My dear beloved brother"
This level of respect and endearment is typical in Urdu and South Asian culture, where written communication often includes such honorifics.
"I know you're going to ask a thousand invaluable question"
The use of "invaluable question" (instead of "important questions") is influenced by Urdu's formal register, where such hyperbolic adjectives are common.
3.2 Poetic and Religious Tone
Examples:
"you are the wise and is in the mouth of the Lion in his cave"
This metaphorical, almost poetic phrasing reflects Urdu's rich literary tradition, heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic, which prioritize evocative language.
"the law of nature will not allow a man to run the home of another man"
The phrasing reflects Islamic and South Asian cultural concepts of order and morality, expressed in a formalized, almost scriptural tone.
4. Cultural and Religious Context
The content of the text is deeply embedded in Islamic traditions, referencing "Islam," "labor of Islam," and "Allah." These references are particularly relevant to South Asian Muslims, where Urdu serves as a primary language of religious and cultural discourse. Examples:
"Islam is the father: two-thirds of the inhabitance on the planet earth are Mohammedans"
The use of the outdated term "Mohammedans" (common among South Asian Muslims during colonial times) indicates a linguistic and cultural context tied to Urdu's use in religious teachings.
"get acquainted there and start arising the Dead with your wisdom"
The phrase "arising the Dead" metaphorically refers to reviving spiritual or religious understanding, a concept prevalent in Islamic teachings expressed in Urdu.
5. Punctuation and Structure
The text contains long, unbroken sentences and limited punctuation, mimicking Urdu's flexible approach to sentence demarcation. Examples:
"you must always tell me other you will not be successful"
Lack of commas or pauses makes the sentence feel unstructured in English but mirrors Urdu's natural rhythm.
"how many time have I told you this are you wasting my valuable moments on the same things over and over"
Run-on sentences are common in Urdu writing, where punctuation is often less rigid than in English.
6. Elimination of Other Potential L-1s
The analysis eliminates other potential first languages based on unique features of the text:
Arabic: Arabic speakers tend to make errors with prepositions (e.g., "in" vs. "on") and definite articles but do not exhibit the same repetition or word order issues seen here.
East Asian Languages: Languages like Chinese or Japanese typically show errors in pluralization, articles, and verb conjugation, but these patterns are not evident here.
European Languages: Errors from Romance or Slavic languages (e.g., gender agreement, misuse of auxiliary verbs) are not present.
Conclusion
Based on the grammatical errors, word choices, rhetorical style, and cultural references, the writer's first language is most likely Urdu. This conclusion is supported by:
The SOV sentence structure influencing English syntax.
Repetition and metaphorical language rooted in Urdu prose.
Cultural and religious references common in South Asian Muslim contexts.
Grammatical patterns typical of Urdu speakers learning English
Letter 1
The writer of this letter likely speaks a first language (L-1) with grammatical and stylistic structures different from English. Based on the patterns observed, the writer's first language could be one of the following:
Key Linguistic Clues
1. Article Usage:
Errors like "Here is a few line" suggest a lack of distinction between definite and indefinite articles, which is common in languages that do not use articles (e.g., Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, or other South Asian languages).
2. Verb Agreement and Syntax
Errors such as "you have been taken" and "you do know it 100%" suggest challenges with auxiliary verbs and idiomatic expressions.
Lack of subject-verb agreement ("Here is a few line," "you have done minus things") points to an L-1 where verbs do not conjugate based on the subject.
3. Vocabulary and Phrasing
Phrases like "piece you in two," "yell out you wisdom," and "cave civilization" suggest literal translations or idioms influenced by a different linguistic or cultural framework.
4. Repetition for Emphasis
The repetition of "I will tell you again and again" and "use your wisdom with care" aligns with rhetorical styles common in South Asian and Middle Eastern languages, where repetition is used for emphasis.
5. Flow and Sentence Structure
The letter features long, complex sentences with minimal punctuation, indicative of languages where such syntax is common, like Arabic, Persian, or Urdu.
6. Politeness and Address
The use of "Dear Brother" and formal, respectful language aligns with cultural norms in South Asian or Middle Eastern societies.
Likely First Language
Based on these clues, the writer's first language is likely:
Urdu, Hindi, or another South Asian language: The use of respectful address, article omissions, and complex sentence structures are consistent with South Asian linguistic influence.
Arabic: The structure and some phrasal patterns align with common challenges Arabic speakers face in English, particularly in the use of articles and verb forms.
Final Hypothesis
The strongest candidates for the writer's L-1 are Urdu or Arabic, given the grammatical and stylistic characteristics present in the letter. Additional context, such as the writer's background or region, would further clarify this conclusion.
The writer's first language (L-1) appears to be influenced by a linguistic structure and style that suggests a non-native proficiency in English. Based on the grammar, phrasing, and stylistic patterns observed in the letters, the writer's first language is likely Urdu or another South Asian language. Here is the reasoning:
Linguistic Clues:
1. Syntax and Grammar
Phrases like "you are going after is a sure success" and "I have wrote the captains" reflect typical errors made by speakers of South Asian languages like Urdu, where auxiliary verbs and tense agreements differ from English.
2. Article Usage
The inconsistent use of definite and indefinite articles ("I have wrote the captains" and "the lost found nation of Islam") aligns with languages that either lack articles entirely (e.g., Urdu, Hindi) or use them differently.
3. Repetition for Emphasis
Phrases like "I will tell you again and again" suggest a rhetorical style common in South Asian and Middle Eastern communication, where repetition is used for emphasis.
Word Choice and Expressions
Expressions like "the life of Mohammed all in them are to go poison by the devil" and "study your lesson" seem to reflect literal translations of idiomatic expressions from Urdu or a similar language.
Cultural Context
The overall tone and phrasing reflect a formal, respectful style, aligning with cultural norms in South Asian linguistic traditions, particularly in written correspondence.
Influence of Arabic
Some phrases, such as references to "Koran" and "Sheriff," indicate a familiarity with Islamic concepts, possibly through Arabic or an Islamic cultural lens. However, the writing style is distinct from native Arabic speakers, leaning more toward South Asian influences.
Likely First Language
The strongest candidate for the writer's first language is Urdu, with possible influences from Hindi or other South Asian languages. This is supported by the mix of formal tone, South Asian English grammar patterns, and cultural-religious references typical of that linguistic and cultural background.
As predicted, the ads placed by Fred Dodd, aka W.D. Fard, in newspapers in Oregon were penned by different people. He likely dictated them, and maybe even wrote them, however, they were obviously corrected for mistakes of grammar and style by a friend, if not the editors of the paper itself. Such documents shed no light on his native language. Despite some mistakes, the English produced was so good that it appeared he was a native speaker. The letters to the editor, however, written by W.D. Fard
With advances in Artificial Intelligence, the ability to determine the native language (first language, or L-1) of ESL (English as a second language) speakers has become a reality. It could be argued that AI programs like ChatGPT-4o render L-1 identification programs developed by specialists in computational linguistics obsolete, not to mention manual methods of language analysis. When tasked with Native Language Identification, GPT 4.0 set a performance record of 91.7% in predicting a writer's
Based on forensic linguistic analysis conducted by Artificial Intelligence, it can therefore be confirmed and concluded, with the highest degree of certainty, that the mother tongue of W.D. Fard was Urdu, although this does not exclude the possibility that it was influenced by yet another language, such as Hindi. This places W.D. Fard's linguistic origin firmly in the Indian Subcontinent, in British India in particular, and in what would become Pakistan, to be perfectly specific. These definitiv
Urdu is spoken in the northern states of India. It is one of its twenty-two constitutionally recognized official languages. Urdu is also spoken by some people in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar, as well as among immigrant communities abroad. Urdu, however, is the national language of Pakistan where it is spoken by millions of native and second-language speakers. So, statistically speaking, the odds are overwhelming in favor of the thesis that W.D. Fard originated in the part of British
CHAPTER 14 W.D. FARD IN ELIJAH MUHAMMAD'S MINISTRY CLASSES AND HIS WARNING & INSTRUCTIONS TO THE MGT & GCC
14.1 Introduction
14.2 December 1934
14.3 October 1935
14.4 November 1935
14.5 July 1935
14.6 August 1935
14.7 April 1936
14.8 May 1936
14.9 June 1936
14.10 March 1937
14.11 July 1949
14.12 Undated
14.13 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"Civilize means to Teach the knowledge and wisdomof the human family of the planet Earth."- W.D. Fard
To distinguish between potentially original Fardian doctrines, and those that were purportedly developed over the years and decades by Elijah Muhammad, it is imperative to focus our study on the earliest sources available. In this case, the ministry classes taught by Elijah Muhammad in the 1930s. In so doing, we can try to determine what beliefs originally came from W.D. Fard and how, and if, his status evolved doctrinally in the Nation of Islam.
"To the Ministry Class at Temple #1, Michigan," was typed on December 3rd, 1934, nine months after Elijah Muhammad had last heard of W.D. Fard, namely, in March of 1934, the date of the letter that was sent from the southwestern part of the United States, ostensibly from the Mexican border. It commences "in the name of our Saviour the Almighty Deliverer of the Lost Founds
Prophet Fard Mohammed." It stipulates that "Allah have sent us his only Son. in the person of Prophet Fard Mohamed." He was
In a document sent to the ministers' class on October 24, 2025, Elijah Muhammad describes himself as "PROPHET ELIJAH MUHAMMAD." In a document sent to "Ministers and Moslems in General," written on October 25, 1935, Elijah Muhammad refers to W.D. Fard as "OUR SAVIOUR." Here, however, he signs as "Your Brother and Servant of Allah, Prophet Elijah Mohammed." Elijah does not simply refer to himself in terms of humility. He now speaks of himself as a prophet, a title that was perhaps only reserved fo
In "A Warning to the M.G.T. & G.C.C. to Repent and Reform," written on November 11, 1935, Elijah Muhammad describes W.D. Fard as the "Saviour." He claims that "I am ALLAH'S Apostle to you." He calls upon his followers to be obedient to Allah, W.D. Fard, and His Apostle.
In a letter sent to the Ministers of the Nation of Islam dated July 31, 1935, Elijah Muhammad speaks of "our Righteous Saviour, the Mighty Allah." Here, a clear equation is made between the Saviour, W.D. Fard, and Almighty God. It is signed "Your brother, Elijah Mohammed."
In a letter to the Ministers' Class, dated August 28, 1935, Elijah Muhammad writes that "Our Saviour gave us an example by Himself." The word "Himself" is capitalized as it refers to the divine Saviour. It is signed, "Your brother, Elijah Mohammed." In a letter titled "United of Islam, the Natural Religion of Man," written on August 30, 1935, and directed to the Ministers' Class, Elijah Muhammad stresses that
There never lived a Prophet [who] could equal our Saviour, in Love and Humanly, who spent 42 years of his life in training, for the delivering of a rejected and out casted scorned, and despised people as we. He studied the devil's language 20 years, so we could understand him in the language we speak, because our own, we know not. Also our Saviour being the wisest and last of the Imims [Imams] (Prophets), had the very highest place in the Holy City, and that, he forsook for our delivering.
Elijah Muhammad placed W.D. Fard above all the prophets and messengers that he mentioned in his letter. He points out that Fard had spent over forty years training to deliver the black man in America. He spent twenty years studying English, the devil's language, which suggests that English was not his first language. It also states that W.D. Fard was the "last of the Imams," although the term was mispronounced or mistyped. Who is the last of the Imams if not the Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi of the Tw
In a document sent to all students in the Ministry of Islam, which was written on April 2, 1936, Elijah Muhammad describes himself as the "servant of Allah," and signs the document as "Prophet Elijah Mohammed." In another one from the same date, titled "The Dawn of Light," he writes of "our Saviour (Allah)." This time, when he mentions "ALLAH," he follows it often with "PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME." He speak of "the True God, Jehovah ALLAH, whom they called God Almighty." He signs off as "Prophet Elija
In yet another letter to the Ministers' class, written on May 5, 1936, Elijah Muhammad refers to "our dear beloved Saviour (ALLAH) the Life Giver of the dead Nation." He describes "Allah," namely, W.D. Fard, as "the Maker of the Universe." He claims that "without ALLAH, we have No God." In another letter dated May 26, 1936, Elijah Muhammad speaks of "our Saviour Allah! The Creator and Maker of Man, to whom all Holy praises alone, the lord of the Worlds." He describes himself as "the Servant of o
In "Instructions to the Moslem Fathers and Mothers of Islam," Elijah Muhammad describes W.D. Fard as "our dear Merciful Saviour," "ALLAH OUR SAVIOUR," and "ALMIGHTY JEHOVAH ALLAH, OUR SAVIOUR." "PRAISE BE TO THE NAME OF OUR GOD, OUR SAVIOUR FOREVER AND EVER," expresses "Prophet Elijah Mohammed."
/
(Figure 14.1: Sketch of Elijah Muhammad.Created from an original, public domain, Wikipedia, photograph)
In "Exhortation to the Moslems Girls Training and General Civilization Class," written on March 31, 1937, Elijah Muhammad is at his most explicit concerning the divinity of W.D. Fard. It reads,
In the Name of our Saviour ALLAH, Finder and Deliverer. All Holy Praises Due to Our SAVIOUR ALLAH, the Lord of all Worlds, I Bear Witness that Our SAVIOURS Who have come to Us Concealing His Omnipotent, and Omniscient Power Under Humiliation, and Through Many Names
The same was Known to us As MR. WALLACE FARD MOHAMMED. (Signed
Mr. W.F. Mohammed) the first
(i.e. Wallace) means Saint while the middle
(i.e. Fard) means the Opening
and the First Duty of a Moslem (concerning prayer
or the Servi
I Bear witness that this Same Mr. W.F. Mohammed is the ALMIGHTY GOD ALLAH HIMSELF. Whom all the Prophet from Abraham to Jesus, Prophesied Under Divine Inspirations
that in the Last days (the end of Satan Rule) That God Himself would come from the East (Heaven) and Search until he find the Lost brother, who left Home near 400 years ago following a stranger, the devil and when HE (Allah) hath Found the Lost Brother, ALLAH would Reclaim, and Rename Him back to his own, from the enemy devil who hav
More timid, cautious, and trepid, in its earliest iterations, the divinization of W.D. Fard was unleashed like a torrent in this letter that spans three pages.
By the time Elijah Muhammad wrote to Burnsteen Sharrieff on July 13, 1949, he was starting his letters with "In the Holy name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful. Allah to Whom nothing is independent, but upon Whom we all depend, The All-Wise, the Lord of the Worlds. All praise is due to Allah." If, in the 1930s, Elijah Muhammad's language had a strongly Christian style, by the late 1940s, certainly due to further studies about Islam, and reading the Qur'an, the language becomes more str
Finally, the "Muslim Girls Training and General Civilization Class Instruction on the Law of Women in Islam," stipulates that "The Almighty Allah our Saviour
The Lord of the Worlds, has come down to us in person, to save and Deliver us from our enemies (the devils Caucasian)." It describes W.D. Fard as "Almighty God Allah" and Elijah Muhammad as "His Servant and Apostle." The cycle was complete. The Islamic shahadah or profession of faith was fully subverted.
Although this study relies on a small sample size and would greatly benefit from access to all of Elijah Muhammad's written works, particularly those dated between 1930 and 1934, while W.D. Fard was present, and those produced in the years immediately after his disappearance, it demonstrates that W.D. Fard was deified rapidly. The Christian influence on this process is palpable. However, it also shows signs of influence from the Ahmadiyya and the Shiites in general. With time, the overtly Christ
CHAPTER 15 THE THEOLOGY OF DOING TIME: W.D. FARD AND SAN QUENTIN PRISON
15.1 Introduction
15.2 The Lake of Fire
15.3 Conclusions
By Bilal Muhammad
"Yakub did not build prison houses to imprison his people.When one fell victim of the law, the penalty was deathand was enforced in every victim."- W.D. Fard
On February 15th, 1926, W.D. Fard was arrested for attempting to sell drugs to two undercover police officers. One of the officers, Raymond F. Southard, was "accused of conducting retaliatory raids against businesses who refused to pay him 'protection money.'" As Anton Batey and Kevin Morris ask, "could Ford's alleged alcohol violation and subsequent drug bust have been retaliation for refusing to pay protection money?"
In any event, it would not be W.D. Fard's first run-in with the authorities, nor his last, but it may have been his most serious, because it resulted in jail time at California's notorious San Quentin State Prison. On May 27, 1929, Fard was released from San Quentin, and just over a year later, he started his Nation of Islam in Detroit. Scholars including Peter Matthews Wright (in an unpublished thesis), John Andrew Morrow, and Michael Muhammad Knight (b. 1977) have noted the importance of W.D.
When German criminologist Martin Liepmann visited San Quentin in 1928, he noted that it represented "the worst conditions" in American prisons, as it was "terribly overcrowded," and food and accommodations were appalling. Inmates were also subject to hard labor at the jute mill, granite quarry, and at road labor camps away from prison grounds. In Fard's time, San Quentin was crowded with the largest convict population in America
reporters described it as "a seething caldron of rebellion, a volc
Knight writes that "Fard first worked at the jute grain bag mill. and later the road crews." According to Volker Janssen, "The jute mill's large plant, heat, and fiber-filled air made for particularly poor working conditions and had been California's convicts' primary target for sabotage and strike actions." Being subject to such conditions can understandably traumatize and radicalize people like W.D. Fard, if he was not already radicalized when he entered prison. It would also make sense why Fa
/
(Figure 15.1: Sketch of Jute Mill at San Quentin, 1925-1935.Created from an original, public domain, photograph)
Beyond its deplorable conditions, San Quentin was blooming with intellectual, religious, and cult activity. The University of California was offering correspondence courses. Knight notes that "the prison library contained 12,000 books, the State Library at Sacramento answered inmate requests with an average of 240 books delivered to the prison each month." Tasker notes that San Quentin was full of "cranks" (irritable eccentrics with strange ideas) and that "every person had a theory or was an ad
Knight discovered that Elijah Muhammad's claim that W.D. Fard studied at the University of California can be reconciled with the fact that these correspondence courses were being offered at San Quentin. Fard was evidently well-read, but like Spike Lee's Malcolm X, Fard had to "read behind the words" of the texts he studied. He would have been exposed to both proponents and detractors of Christianity. He would have been exposed to both academic and cult literature. He would have witnessed relativ
There was frequent comingling between the races in San Quentin. Although sporting events were sometimes segregated photographs from the time show interaction and competition between different races. Tasker mentions that he found Mexicans gravitating toward one another, and black people "chattering, singing snatches of hymns, and slipping into their environment with enviable ease." As is typical in American prisons, fights sometimes broke out between groups due to racist comments. Blue writes th
/
(Figure 15.2: Sketch of a floor Show at San Quentin, 1925-1935.Created from an original, public domain, photograph)
/
(Figure 15.3: Sketch of a rehearsal at San Quentin, 1925-1935.Created from an original, public domain, photograph)
/
(Figure 15.4: Sketch of an obstacle Race at San Quentin, 1925.Created from an original, public domain, photograph)
/
(Figure 15.5: Sketch of a Mexican Quartette at San Quentin, 1925-1935.Created from an original, public domain, photograph)
Exposure to black inmates means that Fard could have been influenced by Lucius Lehman's followers. The man in question, Lucius Lehman (b. 1863), was a self-proclaimed Muslim "mullah" who was incarcerated in San Quentin between 1910 and 1924. While his jail sentence did not overlap with Fard's, Lehman wrote in 1924 that San Quentin's black population had been "100 per cent Garveyized." This means that Fard may have interacted with ideas pertaining to black nationalism, anti-colonialism, Pan-Afric
As a short, slim, foreign-born man - possibly from the Muslim world - we can only speculate on how W.D. Fard was treated among white prisoners in the 1920s. Judging from W.D. Fard's anti-white animus after leaving prison, it is likely that white guards and cellmates tormented him. Fard would not have fit into any of the dominant racial groups, and he may have gained an affinity for black people (and non-whites) as underdogs in that environment. We cannot know for certain, but W.D. Fard's common
One of the most infamous persons in San Quentin in this period was its chief surgeon, Leo Stanley, who was there from 1913 to 1951. Stanley was a lifelong eugenicist and a proponent of the belief that illness and ugliness were causes of crime. Stanley
performed thousands of testicular implants in the prison, transferring the testes of dead prisoners (or animals such as goats and deer) into the scrotums of living men, guided by a belief that the testes would invigorate their new host bodies with increased testosterone.
This process of grafting cannot help but remind us of the Yakub story. Was Stanley a prototype for Yakub? Stanley was apparently impressed with the "jazz and pep" of the testes of black men, which further reinforces an idea of black strength or white weakness that appears in Fard's teachings.
Knight points out that the IWW "Wobblies" were active in San Quentin
Morrow suggests that Fard's definition of socialism in his lessons may have come from the Wobblies. While Arian discovered that Fard was described by The Los Angeles Herald as a "sidewalk politician," and while Knight identifies this as potentially the earliest evidence for his political activities, there are hints that predate this. As a tamale salesperson, Fard puts ads in the paper saying that World War I news could be seen
W.D. Fard was arrested repeatedly during his time with the Nation of Islam. Some of these arrests failed to deter him. Not only does he appear to be smirking in his Detroit Free Press photograph, but the newspaper also reported that "with the complacent smile of the Oriental fakir, Farad (sic) calmly told detectives that he was the 'supreme Being on Earth.'" Fard was used to the legal system by this point, and while the voodoo killings would scare off amateurs like Ugan Ali, it is likely that Fa
/
(Figure 15.6: Sketch of W.D. Fard in 1934.Created from an original, public domain, photograph)
CHAPTER 16 I AM AN ANAGRAM: W.D. FARD'S ILLUMINATI RIDDLE IS DECIPHERED?
16.1 Introduction
16.2 The Anagram
16.3 The Meaning
16.4 The Message
16.5 Alternative Explanations
16.6 Is Numerology a Possibility?
16.7 An Exceptional Anagram or Normative Practice?
16.8 Encryption?
16.9 Conclusion
By John Andrew Morrow
"Any time he reveals the Secrets, his head wouldbe taken off by the sword."- W.D. Fard
Fred Dodd, the precursor of W.D. Fard, used to print ads in local newspapers like a teenager makes social media posts. Writing in the first quarter of the twentieth century, he tried to draw attention, attract clients to Fred's Night Lunch, his tamale wagon, and start conversations about sports and politics. The most bizarre advertisement he composed, and one that resembles early twentieth century click bait, was what appears to be an anagram that was published on July 27, 1915, on page 5 of the
/
(Figure 16.1: Fard's anagram. Public domain)
This was a considerable amount of money. In fact, in 2025, it would be the equivalent of about $2,209.24. To put that in perspective, most Americans, namely, 69% of them, earned less than $2,000 per year in 1914, and the average weekly wage for women and children was about $3.70. When Henry Ford introduced the $5-per-day wage, it was double the industry standard and twice the pay that his own employees were receiving at the time. Not only did the money draw attention, but so did the anagram. It
When researching Finding W.D. Fard: Unveiling the Identity of the Founder of the Nation of Islam (2019), I submitted the letters J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom through several anagram busters. These man-made computer programs were unable to make any meaningful words or sentences out of the letters in question.
In 2024, I submitted the letters through a larger, more powerful anagram buster, and one that appears to have been powered by Artificial Intelligence, and, to my shock, awe, and surprise it succeeded in breaking the code. To my amazement, the program revealed that the unscrambled letters J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom can form the name Johann Wolfgang von Goethe with some extra letters. As ChatGPT-4o explains,
The scrambled string "J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom" can be rearranged to form "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe," with some extra letters left over. Let's break it down:
Target: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Letters used:
J, o, h, a, n, n
W, o, l, f, g, a, n, g
v, o, n
G, o, e, t, h, e
Total letters: 26 (including spaces)
Scrambled:
J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom
Remove punctuation and spaces:
JWLaimiemaoghamaogharraonom (29 letters)
It has:
J, W
L, a, i, m, i, e, m, a, o, g, h, a, m, a, o, g, h, a, r, r, a, o, n, o, m
That's 29 letters - 3 more letters than needed.
So yes, "J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom" contains letters needed to form "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe," though it includes extra letters as well.
"J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom" cannot be perfectly unscrambled into "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe" because it is missing key letters (F, T, E, V) and contains extra letters not needed. It's close, and clearly inspired by or mimicking the name, but not a perfect anagram.
How was this possible? How could Fred Dodd, an immigrant from the region of modern-day Pakistan, and a food stand operator, accidently produce such a complex anagram that most computer programs could not even decipher? Could the anagram in question be a product of chance?
As ChatGPT-4o established, the odds that 27 random letters could make a meaningful anagram in the English language is nearly impossible. Consequently, the creation of the anagram in question appears to have been deliberate and intentional. It seems that Fred Dodd took the name Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and scrambled the letters. Could the missing letters convey a code as well? Yes, indeed, FTEV could stand for "Freemasonry, the Truth in Every Virtue." The acronym could also from TFEV or "Truth
More than a mockery of long German names, as Anton Batey and Kevin Morris propose, J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom seems to be the scrambled name of a person. What names can it make when unscrambled? According to ChatGPT-4o, the only clear and plausible names that it can construct are as follows:
J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom
First, we identify clear name components:
J. W. Likely initials for a person. Common names with those initials:
Johann Wolfgang
James William
John Wesley
Next, from the rest of the string:
Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom
Let's group that by sound or segments:
laimiema resembles "Emilia," "Amelia," or "Maimie"
oghamao could suggest "Goa," "Hama," or "Mahoma"
gharraonom potentially rearranged to include "Goethe," "Aaron," "Omar," or "Roman."
Possible Full Names
Here are names you can plausibly form using parts or all of the letters:
1. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
This is a famous name (poet and philosopher), and nearly all the letters are present, though as discussed earlier, some letters are missing (like F, T, and V).
2. John William Mahom Aaron O. Gama
Rearranged from:
John William (from J. W. + Laimiema)
Mahom (a variant spelling of "Mahomet"/Mohammed)
Aaron (a common given name)
O. Gama (could reference explorer Vasco da Gama)
3. Jamila W. Monoghamaroe
A more fictional or creative construction could be a fantasy character name
4. William A. Monoghamaroe Jai
Sounds like a poetic or literary name from a fantasy novel or non-Western culture
Multi-Language Consideration
Mahom = variant of Mohammed (older European usage)
Gama = Portuguese surname
Aaronom or Gharraonom could resemble names in Semitic or African languages
Jamil / Jamila = Arabic for beautiful (male/female)
Best Guess
A creative and plausible name from this scrambled string might be:
John William Mahom Aaronom Gama
Or more compact:
John William Aaronom Gama
It sounds exotic but coherent, and every part can be derived from the scrambled letters.
W.D. Fard was a clever man. He adored problems and puzzles. I simply do not believe that J. W. Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom was a "humorously convoluted name" that was used to "satirize the negative stereotypes of Germans, who were often ridiculed for their distinctive and sometimes lengthy family names." I am convinced that it is conveying a message.
As ChatGPT-4o confirms, the string, even unscrambled, is not meaningful in any human language. Oddly, some of the segments can be reconstructed to form Indian and Muslim names like Goa, Mahoma, Aaron, Omar, Jamil, and Jamila. When processed through ChatGPT-4o, and anagram solvers, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe comes out on top when asked to form a plausible full name using all or parts of the letters from the string. The extra letters, FTEV, also convey the Freemasonic teaching that truth is a divi
The fact that W.D. Fard's food truck was parked across the street from the new Masonic Temple in Salem, Oregon, could be significant. Still, most Masonic lodges are downtown, and downtown is where foot traffic would be for a lunch wagon. What is certain is that the future deity was popular, well-liked, and well-connected. His supporters and defenders included journalists, publishers, politicians, businessmen, attorneys, and judges. Even Mayor Burpee L. Steeves sided with him against the local po
What was Fred Dodd signaling and why? What was the purpose of this cryptic code? It is known that intelligence agencies and operatives have a history of hiding codes in newspapers. Prior to texts, emails, fax machines, and telegrams, and even after their development, messages camouflaged in daily newspapers were virtually impossible to identify for everyone but the intended recipient who knew what to look for and how to break the code. Was it a joke? If so, we do not get it. Who was its intended
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749 and passed away in 1832. A prodigy and a polymath, he is considered the most accomplished and influential writer in the German language. In fact, some philosophers and scholars count him among the greatest authors and minds of all time. Why, once again, would Fred Dodd, the early incarnation of W.D. Fard, have any knowledge or interest in von Goethe? Was Fred Dodd an educated man? Was he self-taught? For Fatimah Fanusie,
Fard Muhammad's identity and intellectual background was that of a Muslim literate in the sources and traditions of Islam as represented in the revealed Qur'an and the example of Muhammad the Prophet
a knowledgeable student of comparative religious history and American religious development.
If he was born in 1891, as he claimed when he married Pearl Allen in 1914, our protagonist was twenty-three years old at the time.
When W.D. Fard entered the United States, and under what name, used to be far from factual. Fortunately, the research that has been conducted by Karl Evanzz, Patrick D. Bowen, Alam Khan, Anton Batey, Kevin Morris, Michael Muhammad Knight, Bilal Muhammad, and various other researchers, including myself, has filed a gaping historical void.
The earliest confirmed and verified identities of W.D. Fard are Wallie Dad Khan (1907), Fred Walldad (1908), Fred the Turk (1908), Fred the Greek (1908), Wali Fired Dad (1909), Fred Wali Dad (1909), Fred Dad (1910), Fred Dadd (1911), and Fred Dodd (1913).
If he entered the United States in 1904, as was claimed in the past, he would have been thirteen years old based on the date of his first marriage license. If he were born in 1877, as he later claimed, he would have been twenty-seven years old when he married a seventeen-year-old girl. Either way, that is extraordinarily little time for a person to become "literate in the sources and traditions of Islam" rooted in the Qur'an and the sunnah of the Prophet. The only way he could have been well-gro
Determining his age upon arriving in the United States is essential to establishing whether his knowledge of Islam was acquired abroad or in his country of adoption. Fortunately, Kevin Morris uncovered a passenger list that a man named Wallie Dad Khan arrived at the Port of San Francisco in January 1907, that he was eighteen years old, and that he was literate.
The literacy rate in India, at that time, was 4-5%. In Afghanistan, it was around 37%. Either way, W.D. Fard belonged to an educated elite. When he arrived in 1907, he was carrying one hundred dollars in American dollars which is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,402.12 in 2025. He was a young entrepreneur who was ready to start and manage businesses. He was no farmer or goat herder.
Obviously, W.D. Fard did not need a background in Islam to make an anagram on Goethe. He needed Western intellectual culture. Still, in the early twentieth century, there was a fusion between Islam and Freemasonry. The factors that contributed to the spread of Freemasonry included liberal ideas, political engagement, nationalist aspirations, Sufi connections, as well as intellectual and cultural exchange.
Many prominent Muslims were Freemasons in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Abdelkader ibn Muhyi al-Din, Shaykh Abdullah Quilliam, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Bechara El Khoury, Sheikh Salim Takieddine, Noble Drew Ali, and Elijah Muhammad. Not only does Elijah Muhammad state that he used to be a Mason in The Secrets of Freemasonry but he intimates that W.D. Fard granted him a more profound understanding of its rituals and ceremonies.
/
(Figure 16.2: Ancestry.com)
Had W.D. Fard spent his adolescence and adult life in the United States, then most of his knowledge would be of Western origin with only trace elements from the East. If he arrived at eighteen, and was literate, that signifies that he received an education in Asia. Hence, he brought religious and cultural baggage. This was then supplemented with knowledge he would come to acquire in the United States. In that case, one must wonder whether Fred Dodd was a member of the Odd Fellows, the Shriners,
During the time period that Fred Dodd (Wallace Fard Muhammad) was in Oregon, Odd Fellowship in the United States was segregated. "White" Odd Fellows belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and people of color belonged to the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows. I put "white" in parentheses because the actual rule of the IOOF was that only Caucasians were eligible for membership. Syrians were ruled by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows to be Caucasian regardless of complexion and were e
New Northwest Lodge 2554 in Portland, founded in 1884, was the only Grand United Order lodge in Oregon at that time. To join the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, he would have needed to travel to Portland. Unfortunately, the records of the New Northwest Lodge have been lost to history. They were most likely destroyed in the Van Port flood.
The Independent Order lodge in Salem is Chemeketa Lodge 1 and the lodge in Eugene is Spencer Butte 9. Despite not being visually "white," it is possible that he could have joined one of these lodges, especially if he represented his heritage as being Syrian. If he did join one of these lodges, it would be very difficult to confirm as records from that era are handwritten and not digitized. It is also possible that he was initiated into the Odd Fellows but his paperwork was never turned in. My fa
Finally, I have heard from Odd Fellows who belong to the Nation of Islam and others who belong to Moorish Science that there was a historic connection to the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows. For this reason, if he did join the Odd Fellows in Oregon, It is most likely that he traveled to Portland and joined New Northwest Lodge 2554.
Did the Odd Fellows, Freemasons, Shriners, or another esoteric or occult group initiate Fred Dodd, alias W.D. Fard, into the teachings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Not only is such a discovery unforeseen, but it is peculiar and extraordinary. What possible connection could there be between Fred Dodd and von Goethe?
While one would not think so based on his German name, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was of Turkish ancestry through his maternal grandmother who descended from the Soldan family, an old noble family from Moldova. Among his many academic interests, Von Goethe was fascinated by religion and held positive views of the Islamic faith. He had read the Qur'an several times and knew it better than the Bible. He had a special relationship with the Prophet Muhammad and authored a poem in honor of him. He wa
When some of von Goethe's manuscripts were found by a research team in 2020, it was discovered that he learned to write Arabic calligraphy. Curiously, the phrase that was repeated a lot in his exercises was 'Ali wali Allah or "'Ali is the Friend of God." This statement, which forms part of the Shiite profession of faith, "There is no god but God / Muhammad is the Messenger of God / 'Ali is the Friend of God" is often invoked by Sufi Muslims, as well, in art and song. Since he was only learning t
As was common for intellectual elites across the ages, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a Freemason and frequently alluded to their teachings in his works. What is more, he was drawn to the Illuminati, a secret society that was founded in Bavaria in 1776.
/
(Figure 16.3: Calligraphy by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe professingthat 'Ali is the Friend of God. Public Domain)
The case for the Illuminati anagram could seem quite compelling to some. For others, the tenuity of the claim is transparent. Was W.D. Fard mocking German names? Was it a joke we do not understand? When asked to make Muslim names out of the string of letters, ChatGPT-4o produced the following: Imam, Omar, Ali, Amir, Jamal, Haram, Rahman, Wali, Halim, Ghaith Aamir, Ghazi, Noman, Amina, Fatima, Hala, Lamia, Maha, Noor, Rania, Iman, Ghada, Wiam. The letters could also be used to form Jawhar al-Ma'm
When I asked ChatGPT-4.o which of the names of W.D. Fard could be formed from the letters jwlaimiemaoghamaogharraonom, it found the following:
? Names that can be formed:
1. Wallie Ford (W, A, L, L, I, E, F, O, R, D)
o All letters available and not overused.
2. Wallie D. Ford (same as above + D)
o D is not available. ?
3. Wally Ford
W, A, L, L, Y, F, O, R, D No Y, so ?
4. W.D. Ford
W, D, F, O, R, D D is not in the string, so ?
5. Wallace Ford
o C is missing, ?
6. Wallie Ford
o Same issue as above with D - ?
7. One Allah
O, N, E, A, L, L, A, H ? Yes!
8. W.D. Fard
o Needs D - ?
9. Ali Mohammad
o Needs D - ?
10. Mohammad Wali
o Needs D - ?
11. Mohammad Farrad
o Needs D and 3 R's - only 2 R's available - ?
12. Wali Mohammed
o Needs 2 D's - ?
13. Wali Farrad
o Needs 3 R's, we have only 2 - ?
14. Mohammed Fard
o Again, D - ?
15. Mohammed 'Ali
o D issue again - ?
16. Fred Dodd
o Too many D's - ?
? Confirmed Possible Names:
? Wallie Ford
? One Allah
It is therefore possible that the anagram consisted of W.D. Fard's name, Wali Farr, Wallie Farr, Wallie Farr, along with some other names that were significant to him. Curiously, the only alias of W.D. Fard that can be perfectly formulated is one that is rarely used: One Allah. Since this only uses eight of the letters, this seems like a stretch. Still, the most perfect anagram of all, and the one that uses all the letters, is the one that forms Johann Wolfgang von Goethe along with TFEV or "Tru
When asked what was the meaning of the following string of letters -- jwlaimiemaoghamaogharraonom -- in numerology? ChatGPT said:
To interpret the string jwlaimiemaoghamaogharraonom in numerology, we use the Pythagorean system, where each letter corresponds to a number from 1 to 9:
Now, we'll convert each letter:
j w l a i m i e m a o g h a m a o g h a r r a o n o m
1 5 3 1 9 4 9 5 4 1 6 7 8 1 4 1 6 7 8 1 9 9 1 6 5 6 4
Step 1: Add all the numbers
1 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 9 + 4 + 9 + 5 + 4 + 1 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 1 + 4 + 1 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 1 + 9 + 9 + 1 + 6 + 5 + 6 + 4 = 141
Step 2: Reduce to a single digit (unless it's a master number: 11, 22, or 33)
1 + 4 + 1 = 6
Final Result: 6
Meaning of the Number 6 in Numerology:
The number 6 symbolizes:
Nurturing and responsibility. A deep sense of family, protection, andservice to others. Tendency to be a peacemaker, caregiver, or teacher
Strong aesthetics - associated with beauty, home, and balance
This string of letters - despite its seemingly random arrangement -numerologically resonates with themes of compassion, duty, and harmonious support. If this sequence is part of a code, it may carry an undertone of caregiving energy, healing, or community building. Perhaps, dare I say, the secret name of a cosmic homemaker.
The number six seems significant as it is used a lot in Nation of Islam lore. For example, the 6000-year history, the 600 years to make the white man, and the 59,999 followers of Yakub.
Critics might claim that the anagram under study was exceptional, a one-off, an aberration, or a coincidence. Consequently, I asked ChatGPT the following: Did WD Fard use anagrams? ChatGPT said:
Yes, W.D. Fard (or Wallace Fard Muhammad), the mysterious founder of the Nation of Islam in the 1930s, did use anagrams, wordplay, numerology, and coded language in his teachings - especially in the Supreme Wisdom Lessons (also called the "Lessons" or "120").
Not all occult and esoteric groups use classical anagrams or scrambled letters like those used by W.D. Fard in 1915. However, Vigenère Cipher, Book ciphers, and Wahlworts (keyword fillers) do produce scrambled-letter sequences that look arbitrary to the uninitiated. These are structured encryption, not playful anagrams, and are used for secure communication.
To all appearances, Fred Dodd, aka W.D. Fard, was sending cryptic messages through the press in the first quarter of the twentieth century. He published an extremely difficult anagram, one that would be virtually impossible to create accidentally, and which was almost impossible to decipher. When unscrambled by an initiate, it spelled out the name "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe." While it missed several letters, FTEV, their absence seems to be intentional. The acronym seems to stand for Freemasonry
Not only was von Goethe a Freemason, but he was a member of the Bavarian Illuminati. With this in mind and considering he spent his life moving through secret societies, and creating one of his own, it seems that Fred Dodd, who was also known as W.D. Fard and over eighty different aliases, was an active and prominent member of the Freemasons, Illuminati, Thelemites, or another occult group that use anagrams and/or ciphers.
I can find no other reasonable explication as to why Fred Dodd would seemingly send a complex coded anagram invoking one of the leaders of the Illuminati: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one that lacked four letters that formed TFEV, the Freemasonic teaching that "Truth is the Foundation of Every Virtue," one that could form two of his names, namely, "Wallie Ford / One Allah," and which contains the numerological message 6 that signifies compassion, care, education, and unity. As far as ChatGPT was
Finally, if W.D. Fard used anagrams and numerology as early as 1915, there is no reason to believe that he stopped doing so. In fact, this is the way members of secret societies communicate with one another. I know Twelver Shiite scholars who use numerology to send confidential messages to other clerics, including those that are family members. That way, they can protect themselves from government censors and spies. Consequently, it is within the realm of possibility that W.D. Fard recurred to t
CHAPTER 17 BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY! THE MOTHERSHIP AND ITS CONCEPTUAL ORIGINS
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Fard and Airplanes
17.3 Ufology Meets Theology
17.4 Mystery Airship?
17.5 Conclusions
By Bilal Muhammad
"Let us pray that we do not use Mother's Plane."- W.D. Fard
W.D. Fard, the founder of the Nation of Islam, taught that "our Asiatic brothers" designed and built the "Mother Plane" (sometimes called the Mother Airplane, Mother Ship, Mother Wheel, or Mother's Wheel) - a UFO-like airship that would release smaller ships that will drop explosive and poison bombs on the United States. Elijah Muhammad said that the Mother Plane's bombs were the same type that gave the Earth its mountains, and that they would dig one mile deep into the Earth. He connected it wi
In 1942, Elijah Muhammad was indicted for his sympathies with the Japanese. Japan went on to lose the war, and Elijah was released from prison in 1946. With his unshakeable faith in Fard's words, Elijah Muhammad persisted in his doctrine that America would soon be destroyed. The burden of this War of Armageddon shifted away from Japan and toward a divine intervention from God. The Mother Plane still plays a prominent role in his eschatology and that of his ideological successor, Louis Farrakhan
In this study, I explore the potential conceptual origins of the Mother Plane. There is hardly a book on NOI beliefs that does not mention it, and books like Stephen C. Finley's In & Out of This World: Material and Extraterrestrial Bodies in the Nation of Islam (2022) dedicate large sections to understanding the theological significance of the Mother Plane. Belief in the Mother Plane is a distinctive doctrine that is ripe for a modern religion. While Fard and Elijah's Mother Plane is unique, the
/
(Figure 17.1: Sketch of the Mother Plane. Public domain)
W.D. Fard lived in a time of major technological innovation. The Wright brothers' first powered flight at Kitty Hawk marked the beginning of modern aviation in 1903. Airplanes gained prominence as military vehicles during World War I. The 1920s saw the first commercial airlines and recreational aviation - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was established, Western Air Express was operating passenger flights, and Charles Lindbergh's 1927 nonstop transatlantic flight boosted public interest in aviation. St
This was also a time when airships captured the imaginations of Americans. The 1890s "Mystery Airship Phenomenon" was an example of widespread UFO sightings (or mass hysteria) even before the first airplanes took off. H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1898), E.E. Smith's The Skylark of Space (1928), and other science fiction stories introduced the public to ideas of extraterrestrial machines and fleets.
Fard's last recorded visit to his common law ex-wife Hazel Barton and their son was possibly in July 1933. Hazel said that his visit coincided with an annual air show, which A.K. Arian, the penname of Karl Evanzz, suggests was the 13th Annual National Air Races. It is not known if Fard attended this event. However, as Batey and Morris note, it hints at "Fard's keen interest in aircraft (hence, the Mothership), and public spectacles.
In September 1933, W.D. Fard was arrested by police in Chicago for "disorderly conduct" while preaching in a rented hall. The charges were soon dismissed, and Fard went to Detroit. There, he revealed to his followers that the race war would begin "this year." He explained that "the unidentified flying object sighted in Canada recently. was really the Mother Plane." Was Fard's Mother Plane partly inspired by the airshow just two months prior? In Elijah Muhammad's 1973 book The Fall of America, he
After the Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941, the FBI took special interest in the Nation of Islam due to its pro-Japan sympathies. A case file dated October 18th, 1943, included a detailed description of the Mother Plane:
The organization has many beliefs which are fanatical, including a belief that Japan has had for many years a monster airplane, known to the Moslems as a "mother airplane." The "mother airplane" is said to carry 1,000 small airplanes, each of which carries bombs, which will be used against the white man. Each bomb is said to be such size to penetrate the earth for a distance of one mile, and to destroy an area of fifty square miles when it explodes. The Moslems have also told their people that t
A file from February 1957 describes the Mother Plane as
an airplane about one-half mile wide, and one-half mile long, which would travel from 350 to 400 miles per hour. This plane was completed in 1929. It took twenty years to build it. On the plane there are 1500 small planes. On each plane there are three bombs, each weighing 2000 pounds. The plane was made on the Island of Nippon. These bombs travel into the earth's surface for one mile and do not go off for ten minutes. When they explode, they cast up mountains one mile high.
This largely matches the description of the Mother Plane that we find in NOI sources. Knight mentions that Elijah Muhammad was teaching on the Mother Plane at least as early as 1935, saying that the plane was built "about 23 years ago" - corresponding to 1912. According to FBI transcriptions of Elijah Muhammad's sermons, he frequently taught that the "Japanese will slaughter the white man" and that they were only waiting on Fard's word. Was Fard's Mother Plane the result of some foreknowledge of
Elijah Muhammad claimed that Master Fard Muhammad "pointed out to us a dreadful looking plane" and that it can be seen regularly in the sky. This implies that Fard showed the plane to his followers. Indeed, Elijah Muhammad said, "I have seen that plane. I saw this plane." While we cannot independently verify this, it is possible that there was a unique airship that flew over Detroit or Chicago in the 1930s. Namely, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, a German passenger airship - the largest airship in the
/
(Figure 17.2: Sketch of the Graf Zeppelin over Detroit. Created from an original photograph taken by William A. Kuenzel, the first photographer of the Detroit News. Public domain. Source: the Detroit News Archives)
Of course, while the timing and the harrowing images are pertinent, the Graf Zeppelin is not a perfect candidate for our Mother Plane. Sometimes the Mother Plane is described as "oval," but the best known and attested descriptions note that it is a circular object that is half a mile long and half a mile wide. The Graf Zeppelin was not a military airship, it did not carry "baby planes," and it did not fly as high as the Mother Plane reportedly could.
Elijah Muhammad claimed that Fard taught that the Mother Plane could fly forty miles above the Earth. Elijah goes on to say that the "forty miles" figure may have been symbolic for forty years, "in which the Plane will go into action." This would mean that Elijah Muhammad was (at this point) expecting the Mother Plane to attack sometime around 1973. In one recorded lecture, he had his eldest son draw a diagram of the Mother Plane on a chalk board, and he told the audience "I'm trying to show you
During the 1920s and 1930s, aircraft were limited to altitudes of about 40,000 feet or less. Elijah Muhammad said that the Mother Plane was capable of going into outer space and staying there for six to twelve months at a time. Knowledge of distinct atmospheric layers was still emerging at this time, and it was not until the 1950s when the Kármán line was discovered - the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space, at sixty-two miles above Earth's surface.
/
(Figure 17.3: The Graf Zeppelin over Chicago. Created from an original,public domain, photograph from Rare Historical Photos)
According to some sources, the Mother Plane could fly at a speed of 25,000 miles per hour. Of course, no known plane can fly that fast, and the origin of this number is unclear. It may be related to Fard's idea that a cycle of time lasts 25,000 years, which itself may be based on the Great Year in astronomy. Since Fard's Twelve Scientists may be aboard this vessel, these ideas may all be linked.
Elijah Muhammad taught that the Mother Plane would carry 1,500 baby planes. There is precedent for a large plane that carries smaller planes in W.D. Fard's milieu. Between 1931 and 1933, the U.S Navy had an airship called the USS Akron, which was the world's first purpose-built flying aircraft carrier. It was able to carry, launch, and recover F9C Sparrowhawk fighter planes while in flight.
/
(Figure 17.4: Sketch of USS Akron, May 1932. USN - U.S. Navy Naval Historyand Heritage Command photo NH 42156. Created from an original,public domain, Wikipedia, photograph)
It was also taught that each baby plane would carry three bombs. This also has precedent from the same period: the Japanese Mitsubishi B1M, Mitsubishi B2M, and Aichi D1A, and the American Curtiss F8C Helldiver, Martin T4M, Great Lakes BG, and Vought SBU Corsair all could carry up to three bombs as a part of their payload. However, one unique characteristic of the Mother Plane was that its bombs could drill into the Earth, and its explosions could create mountains - I did not find direct preceden
It is possible that some inspiration was taken from aircraft carriers. Aircraft carriers were "ships," and the world's first commissioned ship that was built as an aircraft carrier was Imperial Japan's Hosho ( ?, literally "phoenix flying") in 1922. In 1928, Japan built the Kaga aircraft carrier
both carriers were primarily made of steel.
Of course, Elijah Muhammad (and possibly W.D. Fard) used scripture to describe the Mother Plane. Ezekiel 1 describes a revelation in the form of a wheel
later ufologists similarly described this wheel as an ancient UFO-sighting (indeed, for NOI adherents, all UFO sightings are potential Mother Plane sightings). Ezekiel's vision would become the primary scriptural basis for the Mother Plane. Elijah also drew from the "shooting star" verses from the Qur'an (72:8-9), Revelation 20:9, "signs in the
The Mother Plane would remain at the crux of Farrakhan's theology, as he believes that Elijah Muhammad is currently on board the plane. Farrakhan also says that he experienced a vision proving this, where he was taken up onto the Mother Plane, and Elijah Muhammad divulged a secret about the Reagan administration. It is unknown when the Mother Plane is expected to make its appearance, and John Muhammad reported that Master Fard Muhammad said, "let us pray that we do not use Mother's Plane. I have
It is possible that the Mother Plane symbolized the impending war between the United States and Japan, or the United States and Germany. In any case, the Mother Plane was taught at a time of interwar tension, burgeoning technological development, science fiction, and creative reinterpretations of scripture. It brought a modern flavor to the apocalypse - instead of the onus being on a spook God, the destruction of America would be brought about by the hands of the Asiatic people themselves. In th
CHAPTER 18 YAKUB'S CREATION
18.1 Introduction
18.2 Yakub's Creation
18.3 A Devil Deity?
18.4 The Hate that Hate Produced
18.5 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"Yakub was. the Father of the Devil.He taught the Devils to do this devilishment."- W.D. Fard
Of all the mind-bending and mind-blowing teachings that were transmitted by W.D. Fard, from the Mothership to Martians, the myth of Yakub's creation takes the cake. To this day, when it is preached on street corners, it stops people in their tracks. The story of Yakub's creation is summarized as follows by Wikipedia.
According to the story, at the start of human history, a variety of types of black people inhabited the moon
when a black "god-scientist" became frustrated that all those living on the moon did not speak one language, he blew up the moon. A piece of this destroyed moon became the Earth, which was then populated by a community of surviving, morally righteous black people, some of whom settled in the city of Mecca. Yakub was born a short distance outside the city and was among the third of origin
At the age of six, he discovered the law of attraction and repulsion by playing with magnets made of steel. He connected this to the rules of human attraction: the "unlike" people would attract, manipulate the original "like" people. By the age of 18, he had finished his education and had learned everything that Mecca's universities had to teach him, widely known as a successful scientist. He then discovered that the original black man contained both a "black germ" and a "brown germ," with the b
He attracted a following but caused trouble, leading the Meccan authorities to exile him and his 59,999 followers. They then went to an isle in the Aegean Sea called Pelan, which Elijah Muhammad identified as modern-day Patmos. Yakub developed Christianity to fool the black people into supporting him and to trick them into not knowing their true history. Once there, he established a despotic regime, starting to breed out the black traits of his followers. This entailed breeding new children, wit
The brutal conditions of their creation determined the evil nature of the new race: "by lying to the black mother of the baby, this lie was born into the very nature of the white baby
and murder for the black people was also born in them - or made by nature a liar and murderer." As a group of people distinct from the Original Asiatic Race, the white race is bereft of divinity, being intrinsically prone to lying, violence, and brutality. According to the Nation's teachings, Yakub's newly created
To help the whites develop, the ruling Allah then sent prophets to them, the first of whom was Musa (Moses), who taught the whites to cook and wear clothes. Moses tried to civilize them but eventually gave up and blew up 300 of the most troublesome white people with dynamite. According to the Nation, Jesus was also a prophet sent to try and civilize the white race. However, the whites had learned to use "tricknology
" a plan to use their trickery and lack of empathy and emotion to usurp power an
On August 21, 1947, Elijah Muhammad was asked "Who was Allah before W.D. Fard Muhammad?" He explained that "MASTER W.D. FARD MUHAMMAD is only seventy (70) years old and was not born before the time of Jesus." When asked how W.D. Fard came to be Allah, he responded:
First, we all are ALLAH, but MASTER W.D. FARD MUHAMMAD is SUPREME over all of us is referred to all times as the SUPREME BEING. He is SUPREME over all other beings, because HIS WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING and POWER to destroy and reproduce and create another Universe or make a people, makes HIM GREATER than all, and is WISER than those before HIM even He who created this Universe, because this ONE is able to reproduce or destroy it, or bring in one better, so says THE HOLY QUR-AN.
When asked "who was Allah before Master W.D. Fard Muhammad was born," he provided a startling response:
Now there are twelve (12) Imam[s] or Scientists, who have been ruling all the time, and one of the twelve is always greater than the other eleven (11), but the God of this world before the birth of Jesus and up until 1877 was Yakub. That means that God of this World, Yakub, although he lived only 152 years, has ruled for the last six thousand (6,000) years
therefore, he was in power when Jesus was born, and that is why Jesus wasn't able to see up His Kingdom, because the wicked God's time was n
According to Elijah Muhammad, the Allah of our age was W.D. Fard
however, the Allah of the previous age was Yakub, "the wicked God." To a certain degree, this resembles the belief in the demonic Demiurge, the evil creator, shared by Gnostics. The Demiurge, known variously as Yahweh, Yaldaboath, Samael or Saklas, is antagonistic to the will of the Supreme Being. Unlike the Demiurge, the craftsman who created a wicked world that traps souls, Yakub did not create the material world. However, like
Since W.D. Fard was incarcerated at San Quentin Penitentiary from June 12, 1926, until May 27, 1929, some scholars, like Peter Matthews Wright, showed how penal trauma could have launched him into religious activism. Perhaps this even included penile trauma. Reality, however, was worse than fiction. In fact, a horrific possibly presents itself, and one that was proposed by Bilal Muhammad, namely, that W.D. Fard was one of the thousands of victims of Dr. Leo Leonidas Stanley (1886-1976), the Chi
The man in question, who briefly served as warden in 1933, was a veritable Dr. Frankenstein. A lifelong racist, white supremacist, and segregationist, he was appalled to discover that San Quentin was not segregated. "Whites, Negroes, and Indians commingled here indiscriminately," he complained. After he was assigned a building to use as a hospital, he ensured that it was properly segregated.
/
(Figure 18.1: Sketch of Yakub. Created based on the depiction of Yakubfrom Dwight York's The Holy Tablets, 1996. Wikipedia. Fair use)
As a eugenicist, a proponent of racial improvement and selective human breeding, Dr. Stanley staunchly supported the sterilization of prisoners, poor whites, people of color, the weak-minded, and homosexuals. As he expressed in his best-selling memoirs, Men at their Worse, which was published in 1940, "Twenty per cent of our state prisoners may be classified as feeble-minded. In these cases, sterilization would be as beneficial as it has proved to be in the homes for the mentally abnormal." What
Look back in their family histories! Look beyond the faces of our prisoners and back to the unseen forces that gave them birth. Sterilization, when given its chance, will do much to stamp out crime. The right to bear children will in time be reserved to the fit.
As such, he applauded mandatory sterilization of prisoners. He lamented the fact that "in California, the law regarding compulsory sterilization of prisoners is so encumbered with provisos and exceptions that it is practically inoperative." He was pleased, however, that "many vasectomies have been performed in recent years."
Not only did he promote and perform vasectomies on undesirables who did not deserve to contribute to the gene pool, but Dr. Stanley also advocated euthanizing individuals he viewed as inferior due to their race, social class, sexual orientation, or criminal activity. And who, exactly, deserved to die? He gave the following example:
Nelson, thin and harried, age fifty, serving his fifth term for passing checks, blames liquor. Insanity is in his family. He has had brain concussion after an accident
has been wounded by a shotgun
and is a typical example of an economic misfit. He is a chronic alcoholic with syphilis, kidney trouble, and an assortment of aches and pains. He was convicted for passing a five-dollar check. "I never drawed five cents on it, Doc," he whined to me by way of apology. But his bad record condemned him
A repeated violator with moron intelligence, Nelson is finding prison a haven in his old age and evidently does not suffer by continued incarceration. He is to be typed among the typical prison malingerers and petty chiselers. He is a perfect specimen for any proponent of euthanasia, or painless elimination of the socially unfit.
Not only was Stanley infatuated with emasculating so-called deplorables, but he was also obsessed with transplanting their testicles, particularly those from vigorous young black men, into old, impotent, and sterile white ones. He even implanted animal testicles, extracted from goats, boars, rams, and deer, into human beings. In Stanley's mind, the operations were a success, and the surge in testosterone turned the old men into young studs.
As the Chief Surgeon of the San Quentin State Prison for thirty-eight years, Stanley devoted decades to sterilizing, emasculating, and castrating criminals, people of color, and so-called deviants and undesirables of all kinds. He even encouraged his interns to conduct experiments on prisoners. In fact, inmates said that his initials, (L.L for Leo Leonidas), stood for "Lewd and Lascivious." What should one expect from a man obsessed with castration and the creation of eunuchs? As he wrote in Men
For many years, the effects of the removal of testes from animals and men have been known. No other organ of the body has been subjected to such wholesale removal as have the testes. This has been done for the most part by stock raisers, but also by various religious sects in their religious fervor. Long before Biblical times, the wether, the gelding, and the ox are mentioned, and the Bible is full of references to the eunuch.
For those who do not have farms and ranches, a wether is a castrated male sheep or goat
and a gelding is a castrated male horse. For those who do not live in centuries past, during the dark days of slavery, a eunuch is an emasculated man, one without testicles, or, in some cases, one devoid of a penis as well.
This monster, Dr. Leo Stanley, whose imagination was filled with fantasies of castrated creatures, and one who conducted immoral and unethical medical experiments on human beings, shows uncanny similarities to Yakub, the prototypical mad scientist of Temple of Islam theology, the lunatic black god who sought to create a master white race. Did W.D. Fard literally lose his manhood to Leo Stanley, a man with a god-complex who, like most eugenicists, never produced any offspring? Was he mutilated by
/
(Figure 18.2: Drag show at San Quentin in 1930. Public domain)
Many theories have been posited to explain the origin of the myth of Yakub's creation. Some contend that W.D. Fard made it up entirely. Others point to Biblical precedents, namely, the creation of Jacob sheep. For some, the story was inspired by the Eugenics movement. Others claim that it came from the doctrine of the Yacobites that was invented by Noble Drew Ali's Moorish Science Temple. In Finding W.D. Fard, I suggested that the story contained elements from Asian lore. While the story of Yaku
CHAPTER 19 THE NATION OF ISLAM FLAG IS BASED ON THE FLAG OF THE YOUNG TURKS
19.1 Introduction
19.2 Ghost Hunting
19.3 The Red Banner: A Taste of Türkiye
19.4 Conclusions
By Bilal Muhammad
"The Holy Flag of Islam is the greatest and only Flag known." -W.D. Fard
Was W.D. Fard, the founder of the twentieth century Nation of Islam, a Turkish immigrant to the United States? Researchers like Edward C. Curtis, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Richard Foxe, and even the late Akbar Muhammad (the son of Elijah Muhammad) have suggested that he was. This, however, seems statistically unlikely, as there were probably only a few thousand ethnic Turks that permanently immigrated to the United States between 1899 and 1924. Still, in W.D. Fard's past life as a tamale vender, he
People have hypothesized that Fard was Meccan, Syrian, Indian, Afghan, New Zealander, white, black, and many other nationalities, but without a smoking gun. Akbar Muhammad (1939-2016), the son of Elijah Muhammad, claimed to have seen W.D. Fard's Arabic handwriting in his father's home
much later in his life, after he learned Arabic, he said that the handwriting looked like it was in an "Ottoman" style. But outside of a couple of NOI membership cards with names written in Arabic script, we do no
Scholars have noted that the official NOI flag (which the movement calls the "national") appears to be a modified Turkish flag. Indeed, they are both red, with a white star and crescent, but the NOI star and crescent are reversed. Some may say that this similarity is just a coincidence. The national holds some importance to the Nation, as W.D. Fard originally drew it on the Temple chalkboard, comparing it to the American flag. Fard taught that the national was the flag of their ancestors, which
There is an alternative NOI flag with the English letters "F," "J," "E," and "I" in the four corners:
/
(Figure 19.1: Nation of Islam flag. Wikipedia. Public Domain)
The letters stood for "Freedom," "Justice," "Equality," and "Islam." In NOI lore, the red represents the Sun
and the meaning of the flag is that black people are the rightful owners of the Sun, Moon, and stars. According to Supreme Minister John Muhammad, Fard would even wear a red Turkish fez with this flag with the letters printed on it.
It seems to have evaded scholars that the NOI flag with the letters is based on the flag of the Young Turks Revolution:
/
(Figure 19.2: The flag of the Young Turks. Wikipedia. Public Domain)
On the top left, in Arabic script, it says hurriyah (freedom). On the top right, it says ?adalah (justice). On the bottom left, it says musawah (equality). On the bottom right, it says ikhuwwah (brotherhood). To the middle right, it says ittihad (unity). This flag was used in 1908, while the NOI flag was used sometime between 1930 and 1934.
The only differences between the Young Turk Revolution flag and the NOI flag are: (1) like the star and crescent, the placings of some of the words have been reversed, and (2) instead of "brotherhood" and "unity," W.D. Fard placed the "I" for "Islam." Black brotherhood and unity are still prominent features of W.D. Fard's teachings, but perhaps he wanted to emphasize Islam's role in achieving this. Otherwise, the similarities between the two flags are far too close to be a coincidence.
The similarities between the Nation of Islam and the Young Turks are more than superficial. Both movements emphasized nationalism, reform, and independence. Both movements modernized their Islam while maintaining its identity and heritage. Both movements opposed European imperialism.
In 1959, a New Chicago Crusader article claimed that Fard was "a Turkish-born Nazi agent [who] worked for Hitler in World War II" based on an FBI dossier - but again, this claim is hitherto unverifiable. The tenacious researchers at the Simon Wiesenthal Foundation were asked if they came across any evidence that W.D. Fard was a Nazi agent. They failed to respond, leading one to believe that they have not. Be that as it may, W.D. Fard was reportedly an opponent of racial integration. According to
I say to you that Master Fard Muhammad didn't go for that. NO INTEGRATION! He came, according to His words and the words of the Messenger Elijah Muhammad, TO SEPARATE US! That is why He came to us.
The early NOI was known to be pro-Japan because Japan was seen as a champion of the darker races. However, in the time when W.D. Fard was active, Atatürk was ruling Türkiye, and his regime pursued a policy of non-alignment - Türkiye was neither an ally of Germany nor Japan. The Young Turks and the Ottoman Empire were indeed allied with Germany in World War I, but they had no meaningful relationship with Japan.
Despite this interesting find, we cannot conclude therewith that W.D. Fard was a Turkish immigrant. Fard, evidently, was a resourceful man who drew from the Qur'an, the Bible, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Theosophical Society, and books of science, history, and encyclopedias available to him. Any further influence found in his teachings may be just that. But it was not strange at that time for Muslims to have some sentiment toward the Ottoman Empire, even in the West (see Abdullah Quilliam's Ott
/
(Figure 19.3: Sketch of Detroit police raid on the University of Islam,Detroit Free Press, April 17, 1934. Created from an original photograph.Public domain)
CHAPTER 20 W.D. FARD AND WHITE WOMEN: BLACK SUPREMACISTS PREFER BLONDES
20.1 Introduction
20.2 Pearl Allen / Dodd / Campagna / Enouf / Foster (March 20, 1897-January 23, 1960)
20.3 Laura Ethel Messinger / Swanson / Estberg (September 2, 1890-May 5, 1958)
20.4 Hazel Elizabeth Barton / Holzknecht / Evelsizer (November 3, 1894-July 1, 1977)
20.5 Carmen Treviño
20.6 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"His own word was that He came from Mecca, the sonof a jet-black man, the Hidden Imam, first, among twenty-fourblack scientists who manage Allah's creation, and aplatinum-blonde Armenian woman - the devil."- Peter Goldman
The white man is the devil, taught W.D. Fard. Presumably, this applied to white women, as well. Or so it seems. After all, according to Nation of Islam lore, W.D. Fard claimed that his mother was a white devil herself, a Jewess, and a platinum blonde! It was as if she was the fusion of a Jewish woman and a German woman from the Elite Guards, the special SS squads of the Nazis. This composite woman, his mother no less, embodied both hatred and lust, a concept that would have fascinated Sigmund Fr
Pearl Allen was born in Klamath County, Oregon, in the United States, on March 20, 1897. She was a tribally enrolled member of the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon, a federally recognized First Nation. She married Fred Dodd, a foreigner, on April 20, 1914, when she was seventeen. Dodd claimed to be a twenty-three-year-old white salesperson who had been born in Europe. That would mean he was born in 1891. Allen claimed to be an eighteen-year-old white woman from Oregon. Perhaps she wanted to preten
/
(Figure 20.1: Marriage of Fred Dodd and Pearl Allen. Public domain)
A mere two years earlier, in 1912, our protagonist had been informing the press that he was a New Zealander, a claim he would repeat to Hazel Barton, in Los Angeles between 1919 and 1923, as well as to the United States Federal Census in 1920. According to Hazel, W.D. Fard had lived with an unknown waitress from late 1916 to 1919 and that she used to help him write letters to his parents in New Zealand. How much do you want to bet that the woman was white?
/
/
(Figure 20.2: Statesman Journal, Salem, Oregon , Fri, Aug 9, 1912: 5. Public domain)
Pearl Allen may have been one-quarter Klamath Indian
however, she identified as white. Why? Perhaps for self-preservation. Perhaps for social mobility. Perhaps driven by a desire to become white. Whether Fard even knew that she was of indigenous ancestry cannot be confirmed. It is possible that, as far as W.D. Fard was concerned, Pearl was a white woman. Marrying a white American woman was a means to accelerate acculturation, facilitate social integration, and strengthen the process of naturali
/
(Figure 20.3: Pearl Allen. Sketch based on an original, fair use, photograph)
/
(Figure 20.4: Pearl Allen. Sketch based on an original, fair use, photograph)
/
(Figure 20.5: Pearl Allen. Sketch based on an original, fair use, photograph)
The woman who would be known as Laura E. Messinger, Laura E. Swanson, Laura E. Thompson, and Laura E. Estberg was born in Oregon on September 13, 1890. She married James Samuel Thompson (1880-1936) in 1907 when she was seventeen years of age. Laura had an unnamed daughter who died within one day of being born on November 17, 1908. She has a second son, at the age of nineteen, by the name of George E. Thompson (1909-1986). In 1910, she was living in Portland Ward 3, in Multnomah, Oregon. She was
/
(Figure 20.6: Laura Swanson's marriage certificate. Public domain)
Laura E. Swanson had a relationship with Fred Dodd in 1914. Whether she was sexually assaulted, seduced, or consented to commit adultery is impossible to determine. The impact of the infidelity was consequential and led to the dissolution of their marriage. In fact, she remarried a man by the name of Leland Oliver Whitesell (1892-1962) in 1916, just two years after the incident with the infamous Fred Dodd. Perhaps her marriage had already been on the rocks. As such, Fred Dodd encouraged her to l
/
(Figure 20.7: Laura Ethel Messinger.Sketch based on an original, fair use, photograph)
/
(Figure 20.8: Laura Ethel Messinger.Sketch based on an original, fair use, photograph)
/
(Figure 20.9: Laura Ethel Messinger. Sketch based on an original, fair use, photograph)
When she was a young woman, at the time that W.D. Fard met her, Laura Swanson was a gorgeous blue-eyed blonde. She was as white as virgin snow. Who could blame W.D. Fard for falling for such a pretty face? After all, as much as people would come to call him God, he was only a man. Laura was exotic to him, and he was exotic to her. Problem is, of course, Laura Swanson was married to another man. The solution was simple: "Leave your husband and come live with me." Fard, it would seem, had no qualm
When Laura's fling with the foreigner came into the forelight, she cried rape and coercion instead of adventure, seduction, and adultery. Whether she told the truth, or whether Fard was frank, cannot be ascertained. Women, at the time, were rarely believed even when they were the victims. In fact, quite often, even when they were victims, they were accused of having provoked their rapists. The guilt and shame were passed onto them. In her case, Fred Dodd was found not guilty because Laura Swanso
Even if Laura Swanson consented to, or even initiated, the relationship with Fred Dodd, the not so tall, but nonetheless dark and handsome foreigner, she could easily have cried foul when confronted by her jealous husband. Blame the brown or black man is a tactic that is tried, tested, and true, and that has led many men of color to the gallows and the noose. Fred Dodd was fortunate. The good old boys did not string him up. Whether he was innocent or guilty, the case was closed. Laura Swanson mo
/
(Figure 20.10. Laura Swanson. Original photograph. Fair Use.Obtained from Chris Schraml)
Fred Dodd, who would become W.D. Fard, moved to Los Angeles in 1913 after having lived in Oregon. Curiously, a man by the name of Wallie D. Ford made a one-dollar donation to the National Defenders' Yuletide Fund in 1917, the equivalent of $25 dollars in 2025. The fund-raising campaign was on behalf of "soldiers and sailors" to give them Christmas cheer. According to Los Angeles Evening Express, there were "12,000 brave Southland lads now under arms." What was a Muslim doing celebrating the hol
In any event, W.D. Fard, then going by the name of Wallace Dodd Ford, was soon "living in sin" with Hazel Barton from approximately 1919 until 1923. She was a white woman with dark eyes. Her hair color is more difficult to determine. She had dark hair in her older years, probably the product of hair dye. However, the blonde hair she sported when she was a young woman, and the common-law partner of W.D. Fard, was platinum blonde or blonde platine, which, along with jet black, were the most popula
Hazel Barton worked as a server at W.D. Fard's restaurant in Los Angeles. That is probably where he met her. In fact, he had a history of hooking up with the waitresses he hired. They served him well and he gave them a big tip. If that were not spicy enough, the café in question doubled as a drug hub. A bootlegging operation with Chinese connections, the establishment participated in the illegal production and sale of liquor. A photograph of Hazel Barton appeared in the Los Angeles Times (on Tue
Fatimah Fanusie's claim that "Fard was successful in veiling his Ahmadiyya connection by cultivating the persona of a petty criminal, con-artist, or cult leader" is unconvincing. No Ahmadi missionary would feel the need to hide his identity under the veil of criminality, going to the length of serving years in San Quentin, one of the most notorious prisons in the United States. Some Ahmadi missionaries were womanizing swindlers
however, that applies to many other spiritual leaders. After all, r
Whether W.D. Fard introduced Hazel Barton to the criminal life, or whether she already belonged to this underworld, cannot be ascertained.
/
(Figure 20.11: Hazel Barton. Sketch based on an original, fair use, photograph)
What can be proven, however, is that she followed his example after they broke up. In fact, as Michael Muhammad Knight (b. 1977) reveals,
In 1925, Hazel Barton became the housekeeper for a convicted bootlegger, Shirley (Charley) Wing. In Sacramento, Wing, like Fard, had used a restaurant as the front for his dealing
in 1921, authorities raided Wing's "fashionable Chinese restaurant," Shanghai Low, producing $6,500 (nearly $100,000 in 2021 dollars) in cocaine and morphine. During a 1925 drinking party with Clarence Earl Osborn and his wife Helen at Wing's house, Helen ingested poison and died. Police briefly held Hazel and the two
Did Hazel kill her friend to steal her man? Did she then kill the man to take over his criminal operation? No wonder she was so restrained when the FBI came to question her about W.D. Fard in 1957. She had every reason to believe that they might be after her. Curiously, she outlived all her husbands (four, if I am correct), something her relatives are tight-lipped about till this day. For some, she sounds like a white, black widow. Whether or not that was the case, we see that W.D. Fard, Allah i
On June 5, 1924, W.D. Fard, then going by the name Wallie Dodd Ford, married Carmen Fremino, which was probably Carmen Treviño, in Orange County, California. According to the 1910 US Census, she was born in Mexico in 1898 and belonged to the white race. Although her marriage certificate listed her as "Spanish," Mexicans, Hispanics, and Latinos were all considered white in California in the 1920s. How things have changed. For all intents and purposes, Carmen Treviño was a white woman. What a wond
According to Nation of Islam doctrine, which presumably traces back to W.D. Fard, blacks should only marry blacks. They should not copulate or procreate with white devils. White nationalists, purists, eugenicists, and supremacists would most certainly have agreed and celebrated such a teaching that helped preserve the purity of the white race. Of course, according to the autobiography of Malcolm X, many black men, and other men of color, take pride in conquering the white man's prize: the white
CHAPTER 21 FARD RETURNS? INVESTIGATING AN ALLEGED SIGHTING OF W.D. FARD IN THE 1960S
21.1 Introduction
21.2 The Investigation
21.3 Conclusion
By Bilal Muhammad
"I'll be back"- W.D. Fard
Fellow researcher Anton Batey brought the online obituary of a man named John Abdullah Shamsideen (d. 2005) to my attention. John Shamsideen was a member of the Nation of Islam, and on his obituary, it says "It is noteworthy to mention that Brother John met the mystical founder of the Nation of Islam, W.D. Fard, in New London at one time." I curiously followed this lead, which brought me to John Shamsideen's son Varnaud Shamsideen.
I called Varnaud on March 30th, 2024, and I interviewed him regarding his father's alleged meeting with Master Fard Muhammad. At the time, Varnaud was a 62-year-old man living in Connecticut, who belonged to the Islamic Center of New London - a Muslim community that started in his family's home.
John Shamsideen had seen Malcolm X speak in the late 1950s or early 1960s while he was living in Albany. John immediately felt that Malcolm X's rhetoric would get him killed. John and his family would convert to the Nation of Islam, and according to Varnaud, his was the only Muslim family in New London for "decades." They had the official portrait of Master Fard Muhammad displayed in their house.
Varnaud Shamsideen told me that, sometime in 1967 or 1968, he and his father were walking by the Crocker House hotel on Union Street in New London. Varnaud, who would have been five or six years old at the time, spotted a man speaking to a group of people. Varnaud turned to his father and said, "that's the man in the picture!" To him, the man looked exactly like the portrait of Fard that they had at home. The man proceeded to speak to John Shamsideen.
Varnaud Shamsideen also told me that this man visited their family's home twice in New London. The man apparently identified himself to the family as "Fard Muhammad." Varnaud does not remember what he taught, but he recounted that the man had a British accent. After the second visit, the Shamsideen family never saw this man again.
I then showed Varnaud the available pictures that we have of W.D. Fard - the Detroit Free Press photograph, the Des Moines Tribune photograph, and the various mugshots - and I asked him if the man that his family met resembled the person in any of these images. He said that they did not, except the Des Moines Tribune one "a little bit." He was adamant that the man looked like the one in the official NOI portrait.
While the official NOI portrait of Master Fard Muhammad is based on a real photograph, it has several variations, and it looks quite different from the pictures of W.D. Fard in the newspapers and mugshots. Warith Deen Muhammad, the son of Elijah Muhammad, once described the official portrait as a "made-up" and "cosmetic" photograph. In the same interview, Warith Deen said that his family had photographs of W.D. Fard that were kept from the community, that W.D. Fard's hair was wavy and not parte
The pioneers, who knew W.D. Fard in person, including Jam Muhammad, his barber, who used to massage and cut his hair, adamantly opposed claims that the Master's hair was kinky. Minister Jam Muhammad used to write the original names in the Book of Life upon the directions of W.D. Fard. According to the Muhammad Speaks website,
[Jam Muhammad]. worked as a secretary for Master Fard Muhammad. He wrote the names in The Book of Life, while the Saviour was among us. According to Minister Jam Muhammad, one day Master Fard Muhammad told Messenger Elijah Muhammad to bring him [Jam Muhammad] with him the next time he came to see Him, because it was something He wanted Jam to do. Jam had good handwriting skills. Minister Jam Muhammad said he went with Messenger Elijah Muhammad on the next visit with Master Fard Muhammad.
The Saviour [Master Fard Muhammad] had a big book with a lock on it. He also had two big boxes. One was full of letters, and one was empty. Minister Jam Muhammad said that the Saviour would unlock the big book, Himself, and turn to the page that he wanted Minister Jam to write the names. Minister Jam said that if he made even a small mistake, the Saviour would rip out the entire page so that the name could be re-written correctly.
Minister Jam Muhammad said that the Saviour would take the letters out one at a time. And read and spell the name of each person. Every now and then, he would put a letter in the empty box. Minister Jam said, the Saviour said, those were from devils. Minister Jam Muhammad said that many times the Saviour would write something after each name but that the Saviour never let him see what he wrote. Minister Jam Muhammad said that he was never left alone with the book, but that he always wished he wo
Not only did W.D. Fard have a Book of Life but he also had a Book of Death in which he used to write the names of "devils" who applied for membership in the Nation of Islam. The Book of Life and Black Book of Death are mentioned in canonical and apocryphal Jewish and Christian sources (Psalm 69:28, Exodus 17:14
Revelation 3:5, 20: 11-15, and the Book of Jubilees). In Rosh Hashanah, for example, God is said to write the names of righteous in the Book of Life and the names of the wicked in the Bo
As for the Detroit Free Press and Des Moines Tribune photographs, it would be a useless gesture to dispute their authenticity because they were printed publicly in 1932 while Fard was still active
and there is no record of Fard or Elijah ever disputing those photographs. In fact, John Muhammad, the brother of Elijah Muhammad, confirmed the Detroit Free Press picture. The newspaper photographs of W.D. Fard happen to resemble his mugshots much more than they resemble the official portrait, even t
If John and Varnaud Shamsideen did indeed see W.D. Fard in 1967, he would have been an elderly man (between seventy-four and ninety years old, depending on when Fard's birth year was). When I mentioned this, Varnaud said that the man he met was not old, and that he looked the same age as the Master in the official NOI portrait. While these encounters were significant enough to make it to his obituary, John Shamsideen apparently did not discuss his meetings with Fard Muhammad much with others.
The man was probably not the historical W.D. Fard. This was thirty-three years after his disappearance, in a city that he was not known to have visited, looking more like the official NOI portrait in question than the real pictures, apparently not having aged at all, and initially identified by a young boy that had not previously met him. The story does not appear anywhere else either. It is possible that a young Varnaud simply spotted a man in New London that resembled the portrait that they ha
John Shamsideen would later join Warith Deen's movement and adopt the surname "Shamsideen" in 1976 - while Warith Deen was shifting his community toward a more orthodox understanding of Islam. John Shamsideen still had "lots of interactions with Farrakhan over the years" and even went to defend his mosque when it was attacked in Harlem in 1972. While John considered Farrakhan his fellow brother, he felt that there was a higher calling for Muslims than in the American black man. He quickly learne
Many people claimed to have met Master Fard Muhammad in the later years of the Nation of Islam. Many intensely believed in Fard as God in Person, and some wanted to connect themselves to this great historical personality. This is common with important historical events and figures. Researchers are encouraged to continue finding leads and follow up with them. It is always possible that one of these post-1934 stories is true. But whether or not John Shamsideen met the Saviour, his life story is a
CHAPTER 22 WISDOM REVEALED TO THE REFORMER
22.1 Introduction
22.2 Right and Wrong
22.3 The Spiritual Side of the Seven Training Units
22.4 The Messenger in the Ninth Month of Labor
22.5 We Walked and Talked with God
22.6 Historical Letters 1933-1962
22.7 Calling a Cult a Cult
22.8 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"Praise be our God Allah,Master W.D. Fard Mohammed, the Lord of all the worlds." - Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad
Fanatics of W.D. Fard wait in anticipation for any updates, news, developments, announcements, insights, discoveries, revelations, findings, breakthroughs, data, and intelligence about him. They long for the release of the treasure trove of Fardian manuscripts that belonged to Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad (born Richardson
July 14, 1915-February 28, 2002), his secretary, and her husband, John Muhammad, the Supreme Minister. Although they are ecstatic when new documents are released, they have be
The Reformer: Wisdom Revealed to Me by Master Fard Muhammad contains some factual errors. The introduction claims that black people suffered under slavery for 310 years. In fact, slavery in the United States lasted from 1619 to July 1865. Hence, blacks were enslaved for 246 years. It claims that W.D. Fard was born in Saudi Arabia on February 26, 1877. No serious scholar or historian believes such a thing. What is more, it was not called Saudi Arabia until September 23, 1932. The introduction als
/
(Figure 22.1: Sketch of Burnsteen Richardson. Created from an original, copyrighted, photograph. Reproduced with the permission of her daughter, Medina Mohammed)
The introduction claims that W.D. Fard wanted to create a new world system based on love, sidelining all his hateful rhetoric against whites. While most white Americans had deeply ingrained racist views, the degree of those views varied considerably from individual to individual and from region to region. What is more, not all whites, Europeans, Caucasians, and light-skinned human beings were racist. Treating all whites as some monolithic mass deprives them of their diversity. Most importantly,
According to the introduction, Burnsteen Muhammad, and other believers, traveled to Chicago to see W.D. Fard in early 1935. This was the last time they saw him. This is important. It suggests that W.D. Fard returned from the south-west part of North America after 1934. However, it is possible that Medina Mohammed mixed up her dates. This claim would need to be verified by other sources as it contradicts what her father John Muhammad stated in video recordings. He was explicitly clear that the la
According to Medina Mohammed, W.D. Fard taught Burnsteen and Clara Muhammad how to make whole wheat bread and other dishes. As a result of his culinary education, she became a superb cook. Elijah Muhammad's daughter, Ethel Sharrief, and his son, Emmanuel Muhammad, both confirmed that W.D. Fard gave cooking lessons to Elijah and Clara Muhammad. This supports the claim that W.D. Fard had been a cook at his restaurant in Los Angeles, and as the owner and operator of a tamale stand.
According to Burnsteen Muhammad's notes and memoirs, W.D. Fard gave out well over 25,000 names to new converts in Detroit alone. This would amount to one of the most effective campaigns of "Islamic" proselytization in the United States and the western world in the twentieth century. Billions of Saudi petro-dollars have never reaped so many rewards in such a short span of time. Fard's impact was simply staggering. It is incredible to imagine the results he would have had if he had propagated his
New quotes from W.D. Fard can shed light on his ideas. Burnsteen Muhammad notes that he used to call preachers "icemakers" because they were freezing the brains of people with Christian teachings. For W.D. Fard, the Church was the "Icehouse." Was this an expression of his own or did he borrow it from another preacher?
The Reformer: Wisdom Revealed to Me by Master Fard Muhammad contains a booklet written by Burnsteen Muhammad which features the spiritual lessons revealed to her by W.D. Fard. No date is given as to when it was written. Such information is essential to scholars. The estate of Burnsteen and John Muhammad is urged to be transparent. When it comes to the development of theology, chronology is key. We need to trace genealogy, growth, and development of ideas, concepts, doctrines, and dogmas. We need
In "The Spiritual Side of the Seven Training Units," the names and titles of W.D. Fard are always in bold. The very name of the training unit was provided by W.D. Fard. He is referred to as "our PROPHET and LEADER of ISLAM W.D. FARD," "our SAVIOUR ALLAH to whom all praise, honor, and credit is due." When referring to W.D. Fard, the third person singular pronoun is always capitalized as HE out of respect for his divinity. Burnsteen Muhammad gives "all credit to ALLAH and HIS APOSTLE our INSTRUCTO
They felt HIM by dancing with him, shaking his hand, kissing him on the cheek, sitting closely beside HIM while riding with HIM from city to city, and walking with HIM from place to place. Thereby knowing for themselves that HE was and is flesh and blood. They feasted on pure food from Heaven (wisdom) from HIS DIVINE LIPS. Raw ISLAM was drawn through the head of needles. DIVINE POWER was penetrated in his body.
"Without a doubt," writes Burnsteen Muhammad, "HE ALLAH who came in the person of Mr. W.D. FARD MUHAMMAD is the SUPREME BEING of the Universe and HIS NAMES shall never die nor will HIS TEACHING." "Praise, praise, and praise ALLAH Who most surely is the SUPREME BEING, The GREAT MAHDI." Clearly, not only was W.D. Fard identified as God Almighty, but he was being praised, worshipped, and adored as such.
When was any of this written? Between 1931 and 1935? After W.D. Fard disappeared? It matters when it comes to determining if this tract represents the original teachings of W.D. Fard or the alleged theological development or exaggerations of Elijah Muhammad. We need dates and we need them desperately. Otherwise, our interpretations can be erroneous. The terminus post quem for this material is 1962. This is a span of thirty years. Within that time, Jesus, a mere mortal, was turned into God. W.D.
W.D. Fard is quoted as warning women, saying, "Do not let ME catch any sister other than her own self in regards to living the life, and weighing properly." Contrary to other teachings attributed to W.D. Fard, the lessons in question speak of an eternal and everlasting heaven that He has prepared for the faithful. This seems to contradict Fard's teaching that there was neither heaven nor hell in the hereafter and that these were only conditions that were created on earth.
W.D. Fard's depiction of how black people are, and how they used to be, is incredibly demeaning. Basically, he was insulting them and making them long for the ancestral beauty they had once lost. The descriptions of black people found on pages sixteen to seventeen are too offensive to reproduce. His comments about the breasts of women come across as creepy: "the breast was small and becoming, not big flabs of fat hanging nearly to her waist
" "breasts that were once medium and becoming, became l
Curiously, W.D. Fard taught that "masturbation, which at first may be harmlessly practiced" can "cause complete ruination to the entire body and may cause Homosexuality (lovers of the same sex)." These are not medical views from the 1930s. They are not even views from the 1920s. At that time, few doctors still believed that masturbation caused madness, epilepsy, and homosexuality. Still, there were people like John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943) who continued to claim that it "produced results" that
/
(Figure 22.2: Health poster from 1922. Public domain)
W.D. Fard's animosity toward the hog reaches epic proportions not found among Muslims of his time. Nobody that I am aware of went to the extent of claiming that pork was poisonous and more deadly than a rattlesnake. Burnsteen Muhammad quotes ALLAH, namely, W.D. Fard, as teaching that "The Big Field is awaiting the wide-awake man to work out and arise the dead by the thousands." The source of this bizarre quote could come from the 1934 edition of Fur Fish Game (vol. 59-60: 37) which speak of "a b
W.D. Fard is cited as saying that, "Islam is too strong for some. Some would lose their mind trying to penetrate into the Wisdom." Such notions are found in Sufism and esoteric circles. They are also found in Shiite sources. Take, for example, the following tradition from al-Kafi by al-Kulayni:
O 'Ali this religion is strong, so penetrate into it with gentleness. Do not make the worship of your Lord hateful to yourself, for one whose camel has broken down out of fatigue - meaning, one who has exceeded the bounds - has no back that remains and no land that he traverses. So, act like one who hopes to die in old age yet be cautious like one who fears that he will die tomorrow.
This hadith is not a particularly well-known one. Hence, it is doubtful that Fard would have been exposed to it, at least in a written text, and the general wisdom of it is intuitive. There is, of course, a remote possibility that he heard it quoted in a sermon in proto-Pakistan or even at a Shiite congregation in Michigan and that it stuck in his head.
W.D. Fard is quoted as teaching that "If you take my Teaching for six hours no one will be able to fool you anymore." Similar language is found in Christian literature of the time, namely, that those who receive the teachings of the Church can no longer be fooled. A simple search of Newspapers.com shows this to be the case.
Unlike "The Spiritual Side of the Seven Training Units," which is undated, "The Messenger in the 9th Month of Labor" was transcribed from a 1962 handwritten speech by Burnsteen Muhammad. That helps tremendously. She speaks of "the coming of Allah and the raising of his servant, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad." She thanks Allah, W.D. Fard, for having sent Elijah Muhammad, "a great Leader, Teacher, and Guide."
Burnsteen Muhammad cites Elijah Muhammad as saying, "All nations will bow to us." This could refer to all things bowing or yielding to God. However, it could be an allusion to the Qur'an, which states that all nations will be summoned before their Imam: "On the Day We shall call every people with their Imam (leader)" (11:71). The verse has a general sense among Sunnis
however, its meaning, among Shiites, is much more precise and has huge theological implications. In fact, according to some trad
One of the most potent and poignant parts of The Reformer: Wisdom Revealed to Me by Master Fard Muhammad is "The Declaration" which is related by Medina Mohammed, the daughter of Burnsteen. She recalls a meeting at Temple No. 1 in Detroit in the early 1970s when Minister Clyde Rahman from Cleveland complained to a packed room that people were going around claiming that, not only had they seen God, but they had walked and talked with him. "They did not see God," he said bluntly. This elicited a f
I'm tired of hearing people say that we, the Pioneers, did not see God when we know who we saw. We walked and talked with Him, so don't tell us who we did not see! We know we met God! (41)
Two of her sons stood in solidarity with her. The Pioneers of the Allah Temple of Islam all agreed with her, saying aloud: "Yes we did, we did!" People in the audience were so moved at their sincerity that they were overwhelmed with emotion and started to cry. Although some scholars have suggested that Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad intimated that W.D. Fard was not God in the first Reformer book, in the second one, which draws from her notes and memoirs from 1933-1962 is it evident that she was ge
The publication of the letters from Burnsteen Muhammad, W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, and Herbert Muhammad is simply priceless. The letters that she directed to W.D. Fard and to Elijah Muhammad are moving. They are so filled with faith, love, devotion, loyalty, and hope. Burnsteen Muhammad was a true believer. It is incredible that W.D. Fard could instill so much adoration in such a short span of time. He must have been magical and magnetic. To be entirely honest, they sound very much like love le
Writing to W.D. Fard on July 1, 1933, she refers to him as "your Reformer." She was particularly touched by his gifts:
Prophet, we were very glad to receive our presents. They really did make us happy, especially coming from you. They are beautiful, of course, I must say that mine is the prettiest of them all. I only wish I had something to send you in return.
"Prophet, we want to see you real bad," she writes. "Please give us a little hint of when we will be able to see, talk, eat and drink with you again. I wish it was so." "If there is anything you would like for me to do, please tell me," she offers. "My greatest desire is to satisfy you." "We all send our Love to you." Like Noble Drew Ali who exploited teenage girls, and like any good cult leader, did W.D. Fard dazzle Burnsteen with his exotic charms?
Take, for example, the letter from July 19, 1933, in which Burnsteen speaks like an enamored schoolgirl: "I am feeling 100% since I have heard from you, in fact, I always feel 100% whenever I think of you, and that is every day." "Prophet," she writes, "I must thank you again for my present. Every time I look at it, I gets enthused more and more. I shall keep it forever and ever." Look at the explosion of physical and spiritual love that she senses for W.D. Fard:
Prophet, I thank you, BILLIONS and SEXTILLIONS. Master, I know that you are our Deliverer, and Saviour, and besides you, there is none other. I haven't the least doubt of who you are. You are that Jesus. You are Michael. You are the Lamb. You are the light of the world. You are spoken of in Isaiah. "and his name shall be called. the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." So why would I look for another, when I know that you are the one, the only one, without you we would peris
It could be claimed that the fact that she addressed W.D. Fard as "Dear Prophet" suggests that Fard was promoted from Prophet to Saviour to Deliverer to Lamb of God to Prince of Peace to Mahdi to Mighty God to Allah. However, based on these letters from 1933-1934, those titles were all used concurrently. There was no push-back from W.D. Fard that we know of for sure.
The spiritual romance is full of fireworks. She writes to Fard almost every day. She is like a teen from the 90s who cannot stop emailing or a teen from the 2000s who cannot stop compulsively texting. She seems positively infatuated with W.D. Fard. "My greatest desire and Love," she writes, "is to satisfy you 100%." There is much more in these words than religious devotion. We see the same in her letter from August 17, 1933. She addresses W.D. Fard as "the greatest man on the Planet Earth". "ou
In the letter in question, Burnsteen Muhammad reports that she is collecting funds to buy W.D. Fard a car. Whether they purchased him a vehicle is unclear. According to the NOI Reformer website, "Master Fard Muhammad drove a Ford automobile, and he referred to it as 'Cavy' because a Caucasian had given it to him." Apparently, this was a "humorous moniker." The idea that a white man just gave him a car strains credulity. People do not give away new souped-up vehicles like the one he was driving i
This could suggest that W.D. Fard took a train or a plane to California and rented a car. It could also mean that he drove to California and got new plates. In the 1930s, license plates were renewed on a yearly basis. One had twenty days to register an out-of-state vehicle. It is also possible that W.D. Fard had no intention of returning to Detroit or Chicago after his trip to California in 1933. Or he only planned to visit for a final farewell.
What is strange, however, is the suggestion that he left his vehicle behind in Chicago. In the epistolary exchange W.D. Fard had with Burnsteen Muhammad in the early 1930s, obtaining a vehicle for him was a primary concern. Why abandon a brand-new vehicle that he cherished so much?
Elijah Muhammad's story of driving W.D. Fard to the airport in February 1934, does not make a rock-solid alibi, especially if he drove back with what appears to have been a missing person's vehicle. As for the car, he could have kept it or sold it. Elijah Muhammad gave contradictory statements regarding the date of W.D. Fard's disappearance: March 1934, February 1934, and even June 1934. Burnsteen Muhammad's last letter that she sent to W.D. Fard, that we know of, was dated May 23, 1934. Her dau
During the same week that W.D. Fard was visiting Hazel and their son Wallace, namely, during the first week of July 1933, Burnsteen Muhammad wrote him a letter to an undisclosed address:
Although this address remains protected by the authors of the 2025 book The Reformer: Wisdom Revealed to Me by Master Fard Muhammad, the Founder of the Nation of Islam, it was confirmed through a colleague that letters were indeed sent to California.
Since they deny that W.D. Fard and Wallie Dodd Ford were the same person, the Nation of Islam pressures people to suppress any information that would substantiate this fact. Truth always takes flight, and caged birds will always fly away and sing when they have freedom.
Considering that commercial aviation was in its initial stages at this time, it was curious that Fard would choose to fly out. What further weakens Elijah Muhammad's alibi is the fact that he failed to provide a precise date and merely gave a month. In what appears to be the earliest source of the claim, E. U. Essien-Udom's Black Nationalism: A Search for an Identity in America, which was published in 1962, "[Elijah] Muhammad claims that. he was with the Mahdi at the airport when he was deported
According to Wakeel Allah, W.D. Fard drove "a 1925 Ford Model Roadster." However, he provides no source to support this claim. As Hazel Barton reported to the FBI, W.D. Fard had visited her driving a 1929 Ford Model A coupe. The cost of such a vehicle ranged from $385 to $1,400 depending on the model. The high-end Town Car fetched the highest price. Adjusted for inflation, $385 in 1929 is equal to $7,106 in 2025. Adjusted for inflation, $1,400 in 1929 is equal to $25,839 in 2025.
Although many early members of the Nation of Islam were destitute, and relied upon charity to survive, those who were employed, most often at the Ford auto plant, earned approximately $1,500 per year. The cheapest 1929 Ford Model A would have been the equivalent of three months' salary. The top end model would have represented an entire year's salary. Welfare, which was only introduced in 1925, paid around $30 per month or $360 per year. To pay for a car, a person on welfare would have to save a
If a white man did, indeed, purchase a new vehicle for W.D. Fard, who was the generous man who did so? I could only think of one person: Wali Mohammed, aka William Thomas White, a middle-class engineer. But why would a man buy another man a brand-new car? It is beyond bizarre. After all, they both seem to have disappeared in 1934.
If his followers in the Nation of Islam did not buy him a vehicle, it is possible that W.D. Fard did so himself. After all, if he was charging $10 to give original names to the faithful, he would have had plenty of cash in hand. Estimates vary as to the number of NOI members in 1933. Numbers range from eight thousand, ten thousand, and even thirty thousand. Hence, he would have cashed in $80,000, $100,000, or even $300,000 dollars, less the cost of the cards obtained from the printing company. E
/
(Figure 22.3: Sketch of 1929 Ford Model A Coupe.Created from an original, public domain, Wiki Commons, photograph)
Considering how profitable cults and organized religions are, the Nation of Islam afforded W.D. Fard a wonderfully comfortable life and retirement. Not only did he have a history of loving the fast life: fast cash, and fast women, but he also loved fast cars. Reportedly, "when master Fard Muhammad drove his car, he drove so fast he was known to have a heavy foot." He was also a dapper dresser who cared for his appearance. No wonder W.D. Fard attracted women like Burnsteen. Once again, she closes
In her letter dated August 20, 1933, she stresses, once again, that W.D. Fard is "the greatest man on the planet earth today." She overflows with emotion, emphasizing that "It makes me happier, and happier, to know that you are my Deliverer and Saviour." "Prophet we all love you 100%," she reassures Fard, "and are willing to die for you, at any time." This is cosmic love that is reaching dangerous levels from a psychological standpoint. Longing for Fard, she closes with, "Hoping to see you very
In her letter dated August 21, 1933, she stresses that W.D. Fard is her Deliverer, and Saviour, "who is all the world to me." "It is my greatest desire to make you happy," she reminds him. We see the same in the letter dated August 23, 1933: "I am so happy as I can be to write to my Deliverer and Saviour by the name of Mr. W.D. Fard, who I love so much until I will give all I have, and that is my life, for I have no money." "My greatest desire," she submits, "is to see you soon." In her letter d
When women insist that they want to satisfy men, that they will die for them, that they only want to make them happy, and that they will give everything to them, the meaning is transparent. Burnsteen was not selling bean pie on a street corner. It sounds very much like she was offering her hot Michigan cherry pie as an act of adoration. She sounds like a sexual volcano that is about to explode under tremendous, accumulated pressure. It might seem scandalous, and it is, but it makes one wonder. D
After eight months of imploring W.D. Fard to write to her, he finally responds on April 10, 1934. The letter was general in tone. He indicated that "I am so happy, and I am so proud of you." Burnsteen was much relieved at receiving a letter from her Lord. "How happy I am, after hearing such a consolating Letter from you My Deliverer," she responded on April 13, 1934. "When you are happy," he observed, "there is nothing. to worry about." Addressing his as "Master" and "Prophet" she reiterated tha
In a letter dated May 23, 1934, she expressed her happiness at the wonderful opportunity to write to "the Great I AM. The Supreme and Saviour of the World. It isn't in my power to express just how happy I really am." This is an astonishing revelation. It had been suggested before
however, now, we have confirmation. The I AM religious movement was started by Guy Ballard (1878-1939) and his wife, Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard (1886-1971), in the 1930s in Chicago, Illinois. This offshoot of Theosophy
Was W.D. Fard a part of the I AM Temple? There is no way to know. Barbara Schrock contacted me from the Headquarters of the Saint Germain Foundation in March 2025. She informed me that "in the early years of the I AM activity, Mr. and Mrs. Ballard were travelling to various cities giving public lectures." Not only was there "no formal corporation until March 24, 1938," but no membership lists have ever been kept.
Did W.D. Fard claim to be "the Great I AM?" Namely, did he claim to be "I Am that I Am," namely, the divine biblical name? Or was Burnsteen Muhammad familiar with the I AM movement? If W.D. Fard believed in reincarnated masters, perhaps he did, after all, pretend to be the reincarnation of Noble Drew Ali (1886-1929) when he arrived in Detroit in 1930. Once again, she signed off with "Love to you."
Burnsteen Muhammad's letters to Elijah Muhammad are also highly informative. In the one dated February 24, 1949, W.D. Fard is described as "the Great Mahdi, the Finder and Life Giver." She professes that "there is no God but Allah," namely, W.D. Fard. Echoes of the Opening Chapter of the Qur'an are apparent: "there has never been and never will be a God but Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Master of the day of requital judgment. He is none other than Master W.F. Mohammed." She claims that "L
It is worth mentioning that Burnsteen Muhammad was also calling Fard "Prophet and Leader of Islam," which, to a Muslim, is different than God. The Nation of Islam, however, was operating within a largely Christian framework. For the Catholic Church, for example, Christ performed three functions in his earthly ministry: those of prophet, priest, and king. Many Nation of Islam members, however, came from Protestant background. Some had also been Baptist preachers, including Jesse James, Burnsteen
If she had given an example of W.D. Fard's temper in her memoirs, I Am Burnsteen Sharrieff Mohammed, where she noted that he pressed her head roughly against a piece a paper to scold her for making a mistake, more indications that he was a hothead are seen in her letter from February 24, 1949. As she recalls, "Little did we know and fear his great Power of which some of us experienced just an iota, felt from His fierce anger or the waving of His hand or stamping of his foot for we were and is ye
Burnsteen, it is obvious, was like girls and women who fall madly in love with celebrities. She transferred her excessive affection to Elijah Muhammad, hoping to someday "give unto you Rubies, Diamonds, Silver and Gold without limit." By 1950, Burnsteen was praising Elijah Muhammad as "the last and greatest Prophet". "who knows the past, present, and the future." She also adored his teacher: "Praise be our God Allah, Master W.D. Fard Mohammed, the Lord of all the worlds."
The first time I wrote about the Nation of Islam was in grade ten English in the 1980s. I submitted an essay titled "Is the Nation of Islam a Cult?" I went through all the characteristics of cults, now known as "new religious movements," which works wonders for marketing, public relations, and proselytization, and argued that the Nation of Islam met all the criteria during its early decades.
To control and manipulate their followers, cult leaders use a variety of techniques, including isolation, deception, financial means, threats, punishment, deprivation, and love-bombing. High-controlling sects are characterized by authoritarianism, isolation, and the presence of a charismatic leader. They use sleep deprivation to break down the defenses of members. They hold extreme and dogmatic beliefs. Their leaders often exploit members economically and sexually.
The Nation of Islam may have exhibited these traits of cults or high-controlling religious movements during the twentieth century. However, these characteristics have become gradually less salient as its popularity has waned. The strict dress policy of the Nation of Islam and its restrictive code are no longer imposed rigorously.
Providing examples of all these techniques and characteristics is pointless. The Allah Temple of Islam fits them all. It could therefore be argued that the Nation of Islam was and is a cult and that W.D. Fard had all the traits of cult leaders. But is this fair? The same could be said of most world religions and their founders. As strange as they may sound, the teachings of the Nation of Islam are no more bizarre than those shared by the mainstream followers of major world faiths. There is indee
Never undermine your subject, my mentor, Keith Ellis, taught me. Respect your subject, he instructed me. Although I have fallen short, at times, I have striven to follow this motto. I have always been fond of W.D. Fard Muhammad and fascinated with his teachings. As such, I have attempted to present him in as favorable a light as possible. My biographical portrait of W.D. Fard, which spans many articles and books written over the past few decades, is empathetic. However, objectivity and impartial
I do not know who W.D. Fard was. I do not know his inner psychology and intentions. I do not know if he was sincere, a swindler or a saboteur. I do not know if he acted independently or was foreign or domestic asset or agent. I do know, however, that despite all his shortcomings, and extremes, he did a tremendous amount of good for black people and transformed many of them. For this, he has earned my respect and admiration and continues to fuel my fascination. People had a deep and profound fait
I fear that Burnsteen Muhammad lost her faith in W.D. Fard over the decades. She did, after all, enter so-called orthodox Sunni Islam under Warith Deen Mohammed. Her husband, however, Supreme Minister John Muhammad, does appear to have preserved his faith in Fard. As important as these posthumous publications from Burnsteen Muhammad may be, they fail to mention the fact that she had parted from the original Nation of Islam. Burnsteen grew out of Fardism and rejected it, and yet Medina is immorta
As for The Reformer: Wisdom Revealed to Me by Master Fard Muhammad, the work is priceless. Anything and everything related to W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, Burnsteen Muhammad, John Muhammad, and the Pioneers of the Nation of Islam merit to be preserved for the sake of posterity and historical study. The work, which was "revealed by God to the Reformer," as the back cover claims, corrects past claims and sets the record straight regarding W.D. Fard's person and illuminates his identity.
The Nation of Islam, under the true teachings of W.D. Fard, gave meaning and purpose to the lives of hundreds of thousands of human beings. Drawing the Nation of Islam into so-called orthodox Sunni Islam, as Warith Deen Mohammed did, was, in the estimation of some, deeply damaging. The Nation of Islam, in their view, should have held fast to the original teachings. According to these critics, Louis Farrakhan was right to revive them
however, modifying some of them, and introducing mainstream Mu
The Nation of Islam, under W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad, worked. In fact, at its peak, under the lieutenancy of Malcolm X, it claimed to have 500,000 followers. While this number was exaggerated and included sympathizers who were not card-carrying members of the movement, the NOI loomed large over the black community. It was truly transformative. And for that, many will be forever thankful to Master W.D. Fard Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad, and the Nation of Islam.
CHAPTER 23 THE PROFESSOR PROVIDES A CLUE: HAS FARD FINALLY BEEN FOUND?
23.1 Introduction
23.2 The Letter
23.3 The Farewell
23.4 The Final Flight
23.5 A Fateful Date: February 26, 1934
23.6 Other Airports?
23.7 The Last Letter
23.8 The Professor
23.9 The FBI Fails to Find Elijah Muhammad's Professor
23.10 Professor Ford
23.11 All Roads Lead to Cuernavaca
23.12 Elijah Muhammad Moves to Mexico
23.13 The Path of No Return
23.14 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
"Master Fard suffered greatly for bringing us the teachingof our mother religion Islam. He of all foreigners had moreheartfelt sympathy for our pitiful condition than any Imam,Sheik, Islamic scholar or dignitary from where? FromMecca, Medina or anywhere else! Did you hear me?" - Emmanuel Muhammad
Just like Christians have been seeking the holy grail, investigators, both Muslim and non-Muslim, have been searching for W.D. Fard since he went missing in 1934. Some suggested he fell victim to foul play, at the hands of the Detroit Police Department or Elijah Muhammad himself. Some claimed he returned to New Zealand. Others thought that he headed south like a snowbird. Mexico, some thought, he must have headed to Mexico. After all, the final officially known letter that W.D. Fard sent to Elij
Far from an elusive signal, W.D. Fard's last publicly known letter to Elijah Muhammad, which was curiously authored at 4:00 a.m. in the morning on December 18, 1933, was not a final goodbye: it was a see you soon with what appear to be tangible plans. In fact, W.D. Fard told Elijah,
You keep this letter and present to me when I see you and I will read for you and explain to you. I shall have big time with you when I see you: Write to me every day and tell me about your study. I am going with you.
These are not the words of a man, or a god, who was abandoning his Nation of Islam. They are those of a "guide" who was continuing to the manage the movement in precise detail. Unless he fell off the face of the Earth, was killed, or dropped dead - enigmatically, he said that "my movements time and hours are limited" - W.D. Fard had planned to remain in daily communication with Elijah Muhammad. If W.D. Fard asked Elijah Muhammad to write him every day, it means that the Messenger of Allah had hi
As Wakeel Allah relates, Master Fard Muhammad traveled throughout the United States in 1933. Of course, Wakeel Allah does not mention the fact that W.D. Fard went to visit his son, Wallace Dodd/Max Ford, and his former partner, Hazel Barton, in California during the National Air Races that lasted from July 1-4, 1933. From there, it appears that he headed to his old stomping grounds in the Pacific Northwest. As Anton Batey and Kevin Morris note,
A potential sighting of Fard surfaced weeks after his visit to Hazel and Max, on July 18th, when a "W.D. Ford of Detroit" checked into the Hotel Evergreen in Vancouver, Washington - a city approximately 60 miles north of Salem, Oregon, and less than 2 miles from Portland, just across the Columbia River. The remarkable proximity to Portland - a city closely tied to Fard's first footprints in America - makes the likely appearance especially compelling. Could he have been reconnecting with long-los
If W.D. Fard was planning to leave the United States, it is possible that he wanted to bid farewell to his old flames, Pearl Allen and Hazel Barton, and the love children they produced: Wallace Max Ford and Donald Lloyd Campagna. Although DNA testing strongly indicates that Donald Lloyd Campagna was not the biological son of Fred Dodd, namely, W.D. Fard, our protagonist believed that he was. How could Hazel Barton have known about Fred Dodd's son unless Wallie D. Ford had told her? As Anton Bate
Fard's. common law wife Hazel Barton claimed to the FBI on October 17, 1957, that he stated that he was the father of the child after learning about his "Fred Dodd" past identity. This implies that Pearl either told Fard he was the father, Fard believed he was the father, or he convinced himself that he could be the father.
Considering the distance that W.D. Fard traveled, Bilal Muhammad asked ChatGPT-4o how long it would take to drive from Detroit to California in a 1929 Ford back in 1932. Depending on the conditions, it could have taken anywhere from eight days (best case scenario) to three weeks (worst case scenario). Decidedly, he must have loved driving, and putting the pedal to the metal, because he was traveling to Detroit, Chicago, Evanston, Milwaukee, Hammond, Gary, Madison, Kansas City, St. Louis, Califor
When we think of these distances in 2025, we figure four hours from Detroit to Michigan. Nearly a hundred years ago, it was an entirely different story. According to GPT-4,
In 1934, the distance between Detroit and Chicago is about 280 to 300 miles, depending on the exact route taken. Driving a Model T Ford at that time would have been significantly slower than modern vehicles, with the average speed being around 35-40 miles per hour on highways, though the car was capable of reaching higher speeds on good roads.
However, the roads in 1934 were not as developed as they are today, and many sections would have been unpaved or in poor condition. Considering these factors, a trip from Detroit to Chicago in a Model T Ford would likely take between 8 to 10 hours, assuming typical road conditions and stops. If the weather was bad, or if there were any mechanical issues, the trip could have taken even longer.
It takes five and a half hours to go from Chicago to Milwaukee and over another hour to get to Madison, Wisconsin. W.D. Fard had contacts in Evanston, Illinois, and, apparently, in St. Louis and Kansas City. Perhaps these were friends and acquaintances he had made as a traveling salesperson. The amount of driving, and the time it would have taken, is immense, not to mention the cost.
Who was funding W.D. Fard? Who paid for his car? According to Burnsteen, the faithful bought it for him. However, he was traveling extensively in another vehicle before 1933. How did he pay for the gas? How could he afford the hotel rooms and restaurants? In 1934, a gallon of gas cost around $0.19, which is equivalent to about $4.08 in 2022 dollars. In 1934, hotel rooms used to cost between 5$ and $30 per night. At the lowest range, it is the equivalent of $120 today. In 1934, meals were 20-30 c
It is hard to imagine that W.D. Fard could travel so much without having another unidentified source of income. The United States did not have a dedicated, centralized intelligence agency between 1930 and 1934. However, foreign powers, like the British and the Japanese most certainly did. In fact, the Secret Intelligence Service of the British was founded in 1909. Japanese intelligence services trace back to 1895. Was W.D. Fard involved in clandestine activities? His behavior suggests so. As Wak
The Reformer recalled Master Fard Muhammad advised her to take great care with the task [of typing all the lessons], often meeting her in obscure places such as defunct freezers to review the Lessons. He taught her to put the lessons in different hiding spots such as under furnaces in case police raided their meeting places. This way they wouldn't be able to seize all of the Lessons because they'd have plenty stashed away.
For a young woman, meeting W.D. Fard, at late hours, in alleys, and abandoned freezer cars, was as perilous as it was exhilarating. It helped conjure up the image of W.D. Fard as some sort of master spy engaged in subversive missions.
In any event, according to Wakeel Allah, W.D. Fard returned to Detroit from his travels throughout the United States. He was arrested on May 4, 1933, and expelled from Detroit. Emmanuel Muhammad, Elijah's eldest son, stated that
The last time I saw Master Fard, he left our home in Detroit, Michigan, [on] May 26, 1933. Master Fard was given twenty-four hours by the police commissioner in Detroit to leave the state of Michigan. From Detroit, Master Fard came to Chicago. As soon as [he] arrived here in Chicago, he was arrested. But he did not spend no time in jail. They turned him loose. He stayed here in Chicago for a while before he left for good.
This contradicts what Elijah Muhammad told FBI officers in Chicago on September 20, 1942. He explained to them that although W.D. Fard had been ordered to leave Detroit on May 26, 1933, he continued teaching Islam there until September 1933 when he finally left as a result of police pressure.
/
(Figure 23.1: FBI File on the Nation of Islam)
After leaving Chicago, Wakeel Allah reports that W.D. Fard traveled across America. He came back to Chicago and left, for the last time, in February 1934.
According to both E.U. Essien-Udom, and an official and verified statement from Temple #2 in Chicago, the last time Elijah Muhammad saw W.D. Fard was in 1934, at the airport in Chicago, when he was deported from the United States. Elijah Muhammad reported that he drove him there himself in a Model-T Ford. Whose Model-T Ford? W.D. Fard's? According to Elijah Muhammad, W.D. Fard told him, "You don't need me anymore." "Oh, yes, I do," replied Elijah in tears. Fard then boarded the plane. He flew of
If we are to believe the claims of Temple # 2, and the statement of Ishmael Muhammad, W.D. Fard gave a final gift to Elijah Muhammad during their last encounter in Chicago, a small fold of paper, containing Psalm 23, which he pressed into his hand. It read:
1 The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil
my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Cleary, it was from the King James version. Why would a "Muslim" or "Allah" give a Biblical verse to his Apostle? The answer came swiftly: it is a favorite verse of the Freemasons. It reflects their faith in the Great Architect and in themselves. The verse is commented upon in Masonic literature. The verse serves as a Freemasonic consolation. W.D. Fard's final written words were a Masonic message. For Elijah Muhammad, who would author The Secrets of Freemasonry, its meaning was manifest. He woul
In 1934, there were several airlines that were flying out of Chicago. According to the Museum of Flight,
In 1934, flights would have likely left from Midway Airport (originally Chicago Municipal Airport) as O'Hare wasn't built until the 1940s. At that time there were several airlines flying out of there: TWA, United, American, Chicago and Southern, Eastern, Northwest, and Braniff.
According to the Delta Museum,
Pacific Seaboard Air Lines inaugurated mail service between Chicago and New Orleans on June 3, 1934. Passengers were first flown over the route on July 13, 1934. Cities served along the route: Chicago and Peoria, Illinois
Springfield and St. Louis, Missouri
Memphis, Tennessee
Greenwood and Jackson, Mississippi
and New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 1934, United Airlines focused primarily on destinations in the western United States. Its hub in Chicago offered fights to Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These findings are formidable. Rather than look for a specific fish in the ocean - after all, W.D. Fard could literally have gone anywhere in 1934 - we can now narrow down his destinations. The odds that he went to the Mid-West are next to null. It seems unlikely that he went to St. Louis, Memphis, Jackson, or New Orleans as
If W.D. Fard drove off, it is tempting to consider that he took the iconic U.S. Route 66. The highway officially started in Chicago. It passed through Springfield, Illinois
St. Louis, Missouri
Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma
Amarillo, Texas
Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
and finished in Los Angeles, California.
/
(Figure 23.2: Sketch of United Airlines aircraft from 1933. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.3: 1933 United Airlines routes. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.4: Sketch of United Airlines aircraft from 1933. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.5: Sketch of the inside of a United Airlines aircraft from 1933. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.6: Sketch of a United Airlines aircraft from 1933. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.7: 1933. United Airlines Schedule. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.8: 1934 Pacific Seaboard routes. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.9: 1934 American Airlines routes. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.10: 1934 American Airlines routes. Public domain)
If W.D. Fard left Chicago by airplane in February 1934, we have a good idea of where he could have gone. If he left on February 26, 1934, and this is not just a theologically convenient date that aligns with the alleged month and year of his birth, we can be even more precise when it comes to potential destinations.
Thanks to the phenomenal research conducted by Melissa A.N. Keiser, Photo Archivist at the National Air and Space Museum, and her library colleague, Phil Edwards, I was able to obtain a copy of The Official Aviation Guide of the Airways for February 1934. As Melissa Keiser noted in her email dated March 27, 2025,
If you refer to the OAG Index (page 51 of the periodical
page 3 of the PDF, with detail view on page 4) you can see that four airlines were making regular stops at Chicago in February 1934: American Airways (which later because American Airlines), Northwest Airways, United Air Lines, and Transcontinental & Western Air (later Trans World Airlines, TWA). Note that Braniff Airways' service to Chicago had been discontinued by February 1934. The text and tables on the subsequent pages should provide
/
(Figure 23.11: February 1934 United Air Lines routes)
If W.D. Fard departed on a United Air Lines flight in February 1934, the most logical final destinations, based on his history, would have been Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle, unless he headed to New York. If he wanted to head to Mexico, Dallas would have been the best option. We have a year. We have a month. We have a day. If only we had an hour, or even, morning, afternoon, or evening, we could be even more accurate. If Elijah did indeed drop W.D. Fard off at the airport on
/
(Figure 23.12: February 1934 United Air Lines schedule)
/
(Figure 23.13: February 1934 United Air Lines schedule)
/
(Figure 23.14: February 1934 United Air Lines schedule)
/
(Figure 23.15: February 1934 United Air Lines schedule)
/
(Figure 23.16: February 1934 United Air Lines schedule)
In February 1934, there were several airports in Chicago. The Chicago Municipal Airport which opened in 1926, and which is now known as Midway International Airport. By 1934, this was Chicago's primary airport for both commercial and mail flights. In fact, it quickly became one of the busiest airports in the world in the 1930s and 1940s.
There was also the Curtiss-Reynolds Airport (also known as Glenview Airport). Operational in 1934, it was originally a private airfield that hosted some commercial and charter activities. In 1934, it was a private, commercial airport, and was not municipally owned. It was, however, open to the public for use. When asked how likely it was that W.D. Fard flew out of these other airports, Melissa Keiser had this to say:
Yes, there were several airports in the Chicago area in 1934, but I think it most likely that Fard - whom I assume was not involved in the aviation world - would have left Chicago Municipal Airport. Note that all the airlines listing service to Chicago in the February 1934 OAG were operating out of Chicago Municipal Airport (look at the "Transportation to and From Airports" listings for each airline).
Have you had a look at Chicago newspapers in that period to see what kind of air travel advertising he would have been seeing? Was he staying near any of the airline offices in downtown Chicago? (Their addresses are in the OAG pages I sent.) People routinely went to an airline's downtown office to purchase a ticket for a flight, although obviously you could do that at the airport as well.
In 1934, the other Chicago area airports were mainly used for civil, air mail, and military aviation, and non-scheduled commercial aviation (charter, cargo, etc.).
Now you've got ME invested in figuring out where Fard disappeared to! Do you know WHO drove him to the mysterious airport? Any idea if he had any friends who had pilot's licenses? I don't suppose Fard knew William J. Powell, for example, or any members of the Bessie Coleman Aero Club? You might find these collections of tangential interest:
Black Wings Exhibit and Book Collection,
NASM.1993.0060: https://sova.si.edu/record/nasm.1993.0060
William J. Powell Collection,
NASM.1999.0049: https://sova.si.edu/record/nasm.1999.0049
William J. Powell (Craftsmen of Black Wings, Inc.) Photograph Collection,
NASM.1996.0008: https://sova.si.edu/record/nasm.1996.0008
I think the only reason he'd be using one of the other airports would be if he had some personal connection with a pilot. Hope this adds some more breadcrumbs to the trail.
As Elijah Muhammad attested, the last letter he received from W.D. Fard was from March 1934. It was sent from Mexico. It is unclear whether it was post-marked March 1934 or was received in that month. Looking for a man in Mexico is an almost impossible task. Having a post-mark listing the city, state, and zip code in Mexico would enormously facilitate the task of tracking his movements. The content of the letter has not been made publicly available. According to John Muhammad, it contained Engli
Although it is unclear whether he was speaking about the last time he physically saw him, or the last time he heard from him, Elijah Muhammad informed some journalists that W.D. Fard disappeared on March 19, 1934, as mysteriously as had appeared. Was Fard ill? Was his diabetes getting the best of him? Was he on his last leg? Or did he continue to communicate with Elijah Muhammad for years and decades to come? A captivating clue has sparked our curiosity, drawn our interest, and encouraged furthe
After he dreamed that I found W.D. Fard in Mexico, Bilal Muhammad, a fellow obsesionado, continued to encourage me to pursue the Mexican trail. Apparently, I was not the only one who was intrigued about W.D. Fard and Mexico. Another journalist, Jefferson Morley, a correspondent for AlterNet.org, had submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in 2018 regarding anything related to Elijah Muhammad and Cuernavaca, Mexico. I scoured the pages in search of any reference to W.D. Fard in relation to
On March 30, 1964, ELIJAH MUHAMMAD was told [censored] in Phoenix, Arizona, after he had asked if "his professor had answered him from Mexico yet?," that an answer had been received, and it should have been transmitted to Chicago by this time. MUHAMMAD was told that [censored] was going to translate it. MUHAMMAD stated he was surprised the answer was in Chicago, adding he was anxious to have the reply as soon as possible.
Phoenix is also requested to review information available from its sources and attempt to determine the identity of "his professor" in Mexico. Any pertinent developments should be furnished to the Bureau and Chicago in appropriate communication.
In a Memorandum dated 4/17/1964, which was sent from the Phoenix office to the director of the FBI, regarding the airtel dated 4/2/64, the following details were provided,
In response to reairtel the Phoenix Division has reviewed information available from sources, but no data was located which would identify "his professor" in Mexico.
Phoenix sources have been alerted to any plans by ELIJAH MUHAMMAD to go out of the United States. Any information in this regard or which might possibly identify "his professor" in Mexico will be brought immediately to the attention of the Bureau and the Chicago Division.
/
(Figure 23.17: FBI File on Elijah Muhammad. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.18: FBI File on Elijah Muhammad. Public domain)
Elijah Muhammad had one teacher and one teacher alone: W.D. Fard, who was also known as Professor Ford. While it is possible that the professor in question was merely an educator at a university in Mexico, who was assisting him in the purchase of a property in Cuernavaca, and helping get him settled in, why did he not just refer to him as "the professor?" Why refer to him as "my professor?" And if we were dealing with a teacher, educator, or professor, based in Cuernavaca, Mexico, it would have
For researchers who espoused the Mexican hypothesis, many presumed that W.D. Fard entered Mexico from the border of California, probably at Tijuana. Speaking of W.D. Fard's last officially known letter, Minister Carlos Muhammad made some important points in 2021,
We can see it's written from the south-west part of North America. Well, where is that? Is it Texas? Is it New Mexico? Is it Mexico? Is it just across the border? We don't know. But we do know that the Saviour obviously had some relationship and roots and seeds planted in Mexico because the Honorable Elijah Muhammad at a point, which is of greater conversation of what guided and led him to move his family there and establish a residence there and establish his divine mission there which continue
However, the road from Tijuana led nowhere. If W.D. Fard entered Mexico, the most logical entry point would have been at Laredo / Nuevo Laredo in Texas. By 1934, long stretches of the Pan-American Highway had just been completed, and Americans were starting to explore Mexico by car. From the time he was in California, to the time he was in Michigan, W.D. Fard was fond of driving, as were many Americans, reveling in the freedom that the automobile, gas stations, motels, amenities, and tourist att
From Nuevo Laredo, in northern Mexico, on the border of the United States, the Pan-American Highway runs to the capital, Mexico City. From there, Cuernavaca is merely thirty miles south. In 1934, that is basically where the safe, paved, drivable, all-weather highway ended. Beyond that, there were segments that were only good or fair in dry weather, portions that were only passable with difficulty in dry weather, parts that were merely trails, and yet others that remained under construction. For
/
(Figure 23.19: 1933 map of the Inter-American Highway portion of the Pan-American Highway. Wikipedia. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.20: 1933 map of the Inter-American Highway portion of thePan-American Highway. Cuernavaca, not mentioned on this map,is just an inch south of Mexico City. Wikipedia. Public domain)
/
(Figure 23.21: Mexico travel map 1935. Public domain)
As the FBI reported in March of 1964, Elijah Muhammad had been in communication with "his professor" in Mexico. This mysterious person appears to have been involved in helping Elijah Muhammad acquire land, build a home, and establish a mosque in Cuernavaca, Mexico, a city with a historic Syrian Lebanese Muslim population, however numerically small. Elijah Muhammad informed Tynetta, his mistress, and the mother of four of his children, that he was making some especially important strategic moves
As careful as Elijah Muhammad may have been when it came to occulting W.D. Fard's location and identity, the use of the possessive pronoun, "my professor, "as opposed to definite article "the professor," seems to be the result of a slip. This was not just a professor, or the professor, but "my professor," perhaps even a term of endearment. The fact that the professor was communicating in a language that needed to be translated seems strategic just like the fact that he sent the letter, not to hi
The odds are the letter was in Spanish, a language that Fard may have spoken since his time in California or one that he perfected over the past few decades in Mexico from 1934 to 1964. Tynetta Muhammad (1914-2015), Elijah's mistress, could have been the translator. Whoever the translator was, the person was an FBI informant as the name was blacked out.
Although Tynetta spoke Spanish, Arely Medina's claim that she descended from Latinos is unsubstantiated. Her ancestors are listed as being black. One of her relatives assured me that Tynetta had no Hispanic ancestry. If she was so light-skinned, and white-passing, it was because of the influx of white blood. When forced to explain why their children were light skinned, many blacks claimed that they had Spanish or Native American blood to conceal the real cause of shame.
It is also conceivable that the letter from Mexico was in Urdu and was translated by Muhammad Abdullah (1905-1992) who had been working with Elijah Muhammad since the 1950s. If the letter was in Arabic, Jamil Diab, the Palestinian teacher who taught for the Nation of Islam in the 1950s and 1960s, would have been the logical person to translate it. In any event, if W.D. Fard were born in 1877, he would have been eighty-seven in 1964. If he were born in 1891, he would have been seventy-three. If h
Elijah Muhammad did not just plan to move to Mexico. He did, in fact, move there in 1974. He purchased land at the Club de Golf de Cuernavaca, which, curiously, was founded in 1934, and had a home built. Tynetta Muhammad preceded him and made all the preparations for his arrival. Patrick D. Bowen has claimed that Elijah Muhammad "bought a home and opened a mosque." According to Omar Weston, formerly Mark Weston, a British-born surfer and missionary who has been spreading Salafism and Wahhabism i
If the Messenger of God went to Mexico, it was not merely to fish for converts. It seems that he knew something about Mexico that others did not. In fact, he "disclosed to some of his close laborers and family members in the palace that he had planned a trip. to take care of very important business outside of the country." According to his mistress, Tynetta Muhammad, "Elijah Muhammad was Divinely Guided to settle a part of his family in that country." Who was guiding the Honorable Elijah Muhamm
The details of Elijah Muhammad's move to Mexico are intriguing. As Tynetta Muhammad revealed in 2010,
It was during the Easter holiday week, thirty-six years ago [i.e. 1974], when the Honorable Elijah Muhammad traveled to Mexico to prepare a foundation and base of contact with the Mexican Government and people. He established a residence in the city of Cuernavaca which was located on the grounds of the first golf course or country club established in Mexico by the first President of the Ruling Revolutionary Party (PRI). The name of the street where we are located is named after this first presi
The historic Club de Golf was established in 1934, 76 years ago. We will note that this date, 1934, corresponds to the last year marking the departure of Master W. Fard Muhammad and is also the date of the last letter mailed to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad from Mexico.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad planned to purchase the Golf Club as a place for his Laborers to come in the future to rest and to work in another environment outside of the United States for brief periods of time before returning to their work in America in the spiritual resurrection of our people. He shared with me that there were scientists in this country going about their work in preparation for this time. He instructed me to go to the Mexican Government to find out what was required to set
He also shared with me details on the purpose that Mexico would serve down the line of time. He guided me in the training of our children in the Spanish language, history, and social development of the country. [italics mine]
Elijah Muhammad's emphasis on the importance of Cuernavaca, Mexico, and the Spanish language is curious. Rather than root himself in the Arabic and Islamic world, as one would have expected, the Messenger of God selected a specific place in the Hispanic world. Perhaps this was because W.D. Fard had connections to Mexican activists in California. After all, he was described as a street-corner politician in a Spanish newspaper. What is more, there were always Latin Americans in the Nation of Islam
Akbar Muhammad and Warith Deen Mohammed may have learned Arabic
however, one would be hard-pressed to find descendants of Elijah Muhammad who are proficient or even have a basic understanding of Arabic. However, a whole contingent of them is not only perfectly fluent in Spanish but are also Mexican citizens. Another interesting issue is that Mexico is predominantly Mestizo, namely, people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. Only 2.4 to 3% of them are Afro-Mexicans
however, even these id
Why not establish the Nation of Islam in a predominantly black part of the Caribbean or Latin America? Its teachings would surely have spread more easily among such populations. Not only has the Nation of Islam made no significant inroads in Mexico, but neither has Sunnism, Sufism, or Salafism. There were only eight thousand Muslims in Mexico in 2020. If anything, Muslims, including the Muhammad family, are integrating and assimilating into Mexican culture. As a result of the infusion of conside
If Louis Farrakhan is to be trusted, and it was not merely a ruse to prepare a claim to succession, he reported that prior to his death, which would have been in 1974, Elijah Muhammad told him,
Brother, I'm going away. I'm going away to study. I'll be gone for approximately three years. Don't change the teachings while I'm gone. And if you are faithful when I return, I will reveal the new teaching through you.
According to Farrakhan, it was not long after this that Elijah Muhammad "left this world" or "ascended into the Mothership," as he does not believe that the Messenger of God passed away. He insists that Elijah Muhammad is still alive.
If this account it truthful, and Elijah was planning to study abroad for three years, where did he intend to go? And who was going to teach him if not his one and only teacher, W.D. Fard? Elijah Muhammad had just come back from Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he had settled into his new home and where he wanted to reside long term. While in Cuernavaca, he had warned his son, Ishmael Muhammad, that "They are trying to kill me in Chicago," revealing to him that people in the Nation of Islam, and even in
In what proved to be a poor strategic move, Elijah Muhammad returned to Chicago, briefly, to seek medical care for complications of heart disease, diabetes, bronchitis, and asthma. He died of congestive heart failure at Mercy Hospital Chicago on February 25, 1975. Both Tynetta Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan would claim that it was a death plot, and that Elijah Muhammad had not died. Tynetta and Elijah's children would repeat these claims when they grew up, making them official Nation of Islam dogm
If the claim that W.D. Fard was still alive in 1964 is credible, to pretend that he was living in 1974 can reach illogical and preposterous proportions. If W.D. Fard was born in 1877, he would have been ninety-seven in 1974. If he came into the world in 1891, he would have been eighty-three. If his mother delivered him in 1893, he would have been eighty-one years old. Born in 1897, Elijah Muhammad was seventy-seven years old in 1974. He surpassed the life expectancy of the time. The average age
Issues of W.D. Fard's age, however, were of no concern to Elijah Muhammad. In 1972, when he was seventy-five years of age, he asserted that W.D. Fard spoke to him from time to time and even appeared to him in a vision a few years before. When asked if it was really W.D. Fard, he responded confidently that "He's very much alive. He will be alive for probably 400 years yet."
This number is intriguing as some NOI members believe that the four hundred years would be up in 1955. One such person, Charlie, was a barber who converted John Ali and Jeremiah Shabazz in Philadelphia in the 1940s. This individual moved to Virginia to start a farm and await the Mother Plane and the End of Times which he expected to come in 1955 - four hundred years after John Hawkins in 1555. If, in 1974, Elijah Muhammad believed that W.D. Fard would live another four centuries, that would brin
Perhaps a spiritual being, entity, or intelligence, if one believes in such things, could live for four hundred years. However, the organic body it occupies could never last for centuries. The key, here, is that Elijah Muhammad admitted that W.D. Fard was mortal. He may have been God in Human Form
however, that physical form had an expiration date. Maybe W.D. Fard was no longer living in 1974
however, if he was the professor with whom Elijah Muhammad was in contact with in Mexico, he was alive
Tynetta Muhammad often spoke of Mexico. She mentioned that it was Elijah Muhammad's final base of operation, that he went to Mexico to prepare to teach others, that he planned to open a school there, and that he wanted the Supreme Wisdom Lessons to become the foundation of the education system in the country.
After Elijah Muhammad passed away, Tynetta Muhamad continued to live in his home at the Club de Golf de Cuernavaca for the rest of her life. Not only did Elijah Muhammad leave her a paid home, but he also left her considerable sums of money. Not only was it enough to provide for her and her family for the rest of her life, but it enabled her to travel the world extensively for decades. Impressively, "the empire which Elijah Muhammad established" was "estimated to be worth $70 to $100 million."
/
(Figure 23.22: Sketch of a teenaged Tynetta Nelson. Created from an original,fair use, photograph. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999[database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010)
Tynetta Muhammad would raise her children from Elijah Muhammad in Cuernavaca, Mexico, including, Madeeah, Ishmael (b. 1964), Rasul, and Ahmad. It is reported that Ishmael studied Islam for decades in Cuernavaca. Under whom? His mother? He only returned to Chicago upon the request of Minister Louis Farrakhan where he became his assistant minister. It is assumed that he will succeed Farrakhan as the leader of the NOI. As for Rasul Muhammad, he became a popular musician in Mexico, and abroad, and h
According to Tynetta Muhammad, the city of Tepoztlán, which is close to Cuernavaca, where Elijah Muhammad established a residence, is associated with the Mother Plane. It is also the place where Louis Farrakhan claims to have ascended into the Mother's Wheel on September 17, 1985. Tepoztlán has long been a hub of UFO sightings and investigations, including some conducted by academics, scientists, and professors. Tynetta Muhammad has written and spoken extensively about contact with these extra-t
Tynetta Alethea Nelson was intimately involved with Elijah Muhammad after embracing Islam in 1958 and becoming his secretary at the age of seventeen. She used to write columns in Muhammad Speaks in the 1960s under the pseudonym Tynetta Deanar. After the passing of the Messenger of God, she came out as his secret wife. Moving from mistress to Mother of the Believers, the self-described womanist became an intellectual and spiritual leader in the Nation of Islam. Attractive, intelligent, talented,
/
(Figure 23.23: Sketch of Louis Farrakhan. Created from an original, public domain, photograph taken in Iran in 2018. Tasnim News Agency. CC BY 4.0)
Whether she was conveying what Elijah Muhammad had taught her, or what she had learned from W.D. Fard himself cannot be proven. It is also possible that she just concocted all her theology, drawing from Theosophical teachings about out-of-body experiences and astral projection. When she met Edip Yüksel (b. 1957) at the 1989 United Submitters International Conference, she claimed to follow Qur'an-only Islam. She embraced the code 19 theory popularized by Rashad Khalifa (1935-1990) and Edip Yüksel
Not only did Tynetta Muhammad expound upon Nation of Islam theology, but she expanded upon it, providing previously unknown information regarding W.D. Fard, historical or mythological. She purported that W.D. Fard had the ability to revive the dead within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of their passing. She claimed that he could be in multiple places simultaneously like the ascended masters. She also reported that W.D. Fard was in contact with Martians.
If that were not enough, Tynetta Muhammad alleged that W.D. Fard had traveled the world collecting the best cultural combinations to create a master race. She maintained that W.D. Fard could communicate with animals. She contended that he had an on-going association with the Muslim Sons, namely, the Masons and Shriners, in 1930, as well as with President Hoover. She professed that W.D. Fard could reverse the aging process. She asserted that he could break up the circle of the twelve gods. She st
Omar Weston, who runs an Islamic retreat on Lake Tequesquitengo, appears to have been instrumental in having the Islamic Cultural Center of Mexico renamed the Salafi Center of Mexico to better identify the ideology disseminated there. Since Weston does not agree with the Nation of Islam, he has made little efforts to collaborate with them. Nonetheless, he reported that he knows people who know the Muhammad family in Cuernavaca. What is more, he noted that an English ex-pat dated one of the Muham
According to the transcript of a video-taped interview, the date of which is not indicated, Elijah Muhammad asserted that W.D. Fard was gone for good, that he had withdrawn from the world, and that he had no need to return. That tosses the doctrine of the occultation and Second Coming of W.D. Fard into the theological trash bin. In words of tremendous consequence, he asserted,
After He had given to me what He wanted to give to me in the Teachings and the work of preparing me for our people, then it was not necessary for Him to remain here among us. So He has taken His leave, as it is said in [the] Qur'an that the people are not worthy that God remain among them, but He makes a Messenger of that people that through that Messenger, He will reach the people, through him. And the Bible verifies such. And so, He left, and He gave me hints about His return. But now there is
W.D. Fard hinted about his return. For decades after Fard's departure, NOI members would go to the temple every week because they expected him to return and did not want to miss it. According to Supreme Minister John Muhammad, this was supposed to take place at the temple in Chicago.
By the time Elijah Muhammad made the statement quoted above, the odds of his Second Coming were 50/50. However, the Messenger no longer expected him to return in Person. Rather, W.D. Fard, Allah in Person, would send his angels to do his bidding. So it looks like the doctrine of Fard's disappearance evolved over time. In light of the above, several possibilities present themselves: W.D. Fard disappeared for good in 1934
W.D. Fard's communication with Elijah Muhammad was intermittent and perhaps
This scenario of staying in Chicago or Detroit seems highly unlikely. Both the Detroit and Chicago police departments were sick and tired of W.D. Fard "stirring up the Negros." He had tens of thousands of supporters and had been accused of inciting riots and human sacrifices. He had been arrested repeatedly. Both the Detroit and Chicago police departments had expelled him from their cities. He would also have been recognized by his followers and opponents. What is more, we would have had more ac
W.D. Fard's life is worthy of a Stephen King novel. The mysterious nature of his origins, his charisma, his style, his magnetic charm, his radical reinterpretation of Islam, his highly unusual ideas, his reported miracles, the rapid growth of his movement, and his sudden disappearance, as well as lingering questions of his true identity continue to fascinate, perplex, and intrigue readers and researchers to this day. What happened to W.D. Fard, the man who would speak to packed halls of thousand
Master Fard said that he was going up in the mountains, where the cavies (he referred to the Caucasian race as cavies) - where they would not be able to find him. Master Fard didn't specify no particular mountain. That was in 1934.
For anyone with an in-depth knowledge of Shiism, these words are startling. According to numerous traditions in Twelver Shiite sources, some of which are clearly of Kaysani origin, the Twelfth Imam is in occultation on Mount Radwa, in the Tahama mountains, between Mecca and Medina. Others claim that he is in occultation in the sacred sanctuary in Mecca. Some speak of an island off the coast of al-Andalus. Yet others say he resides in Greenland. There is also a mystical belief in the Mountain of
For any detective, the investigation commences at the last confirmed location of the missing person. In this case, that place was thought to be the border between California and Mexico where the trail supposedly went cold. It did not. In fact, for a person coming from Detroit or Chicago, the East Coast or the Mid-West, any entry into Mexico would have logically occurred in Texas at New Laredo / Laredo border crossing along the newly completed Pan-American Highway.
If W.D. Fard was expelled from the United States by immigration services, as he does not appear to have completed the naturalization process, he would have been sent back to his country of origin. That would have been India. He would not have been shipped off to Mexico unless he claimed to be Mexican. It is also possible that W.D. Fard was caught up in the Mexican repatriation campaigns that lasted from 1929 to 1936. In fact, up to one third of Mexicans in the United States were deported by 1934
As the FBI reported in April of 1964, Elijah Muhammad had been in communication with "his professor" in Mexico. This mysterious person appears to have been involved in helping Elijah Muhammad acquire land, build a home, and establish a mosque in Cuernavaca, Mexico, a city with a historic Syrian Lebanese Muslim population, however numerically small. Elijah Muhammad informed his mistress, Tynetta Muhammad, and the mother of four of his children, that he was making some especially important strateg
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS, LEADS, AND NEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH
By John Andrew Morrow
"Nobody wanted you but me." -W.D. Fard
W.D. Fard: The Man, Myth, and Mystery Behind the Nation of Islam is a gold mine of information and a treasure trove of answers. It strives to sieve fact from fiction and to disentangle W.D. Fard's magic realism which blurs the lines of history and fantasy. While it would be onerous to recapitulate every new fact that has been uncovered, every mistake that has been corrected, and every blank that has been filled, an overview of the work's most remarkable findings merits mention.
The Bible of Islamism from which W.D. Fard preached, and which had been presumed to be the Qur'an, has turned out to be Deliverance!, an apocalyptic text produced by Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1869-1942), the second president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. In other words, W.D. Fard was preaching from one of the scriptures of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Ties between W.D. Fard and the Witnesses remain understudied. The claim that he met with Judge Rutherford requires further investigati
Not only was W.D. Fard impacted by the Witnesses, but he was influenced by Imperial Japan. More research needs to be conducted on Satokata Takahashi (born Naka Nakane, 1870-1954) and his ties to W.D. Fard. Most importantly, research must be conducted, not in the United States, but in Japan, consulting Japanese sources. What role did Imperial Japan play in spreading racial division and strife in the United States between 1930 and 1934? It appears that "the champion of the dark races" had a hand,
W.D. Fard shared the same exaggerated view of the Twelve Imams as the theologically extreme Shiites. Did he bring these teachings with him to America from his ancestral homeland in the East? Quite possibly. As a receptive and impressionable child or youth, they may have remained anchored in his conscience and subconscious. Could he have learned them from the Druze, Alawites, Alevis, Bektashis, Nusayris, Sufis, and Ithna-Asharis that he met in the United States, particularly in Detroit and Michig
W.D. Fard's "Actual Facts" came from The World Almanac and Book of Facts which was widely available in public libraries and bookstores. The scientific facts he quoted, and which Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan invoked as proof of W.D. Fard's divinity, were, in fact, statistics that were readily found in almanacs in the 1920s and 1930s. Although the Actual Facts do not prove that W.D. Fard was God, they do demonstrate that he was well-read and well-informed, that he purchased books, or read t
As the "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam," a work compiled by academics between 1935 and 1939, demonstrate, W.D. Fard was deified by some believers while he was among them and not solely after his departure. Elijah Muhammad, Robert Harris, Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad, and others were already referring to him as God between 1930-1934. So, clearly, some people considered him a divinity early on. W.D. Fard never disapproved of efforts to deify him. In fact, the evidence suggests that he encour
As DNA studies have confirmed, W.D. Fard did not have a son with Pearl Allen from the Klamath Nation. There is no evidence that he is the biological ancestor of the people descended from Tony Campagna. W.D. Fard's only biological son, that we know of, was Wallace Dodd/Max Ford, the son of Hazel Barton. As much as some researchers yearned to have a DNA test conducted on the remains of Wallace Max Ford, to the opposition of the graveyard, forensic linguistic analysis of W.D. Fard's written letters
The facial analysis of W.D. Fard's photographs show the man to be neutral, happy, or angry at critical moments in his life, shedding light on his internal psychology and motivations. He was remarkably stoic at times of severe stress. His temper could shift from calm to livid at a moment's notice. He appears to have radiated pride and happiness when quoting the Bible of Islamism or professing to be the Supreme Being.
W.D. Fard's photographs, which capture living moments and moods, show a wide range of normal human emotions. There is no blunted facial expression, or lack of emotions, which could be signs of schizophrenia or mood disorders. There is no facial asymmetry, which has been shown to signal anxiety, depression, schizotypy, or psychological distress. What is more, there is no sign of dissociative identity disorder. When this condition is present, facial expressions vary significantly between distinct
If W.D. Fard did indeed teach Elijah Muhammad, day and night, for stretches of three days at a time, giving him only fifteen-minute breaks, it is conceivable that W.D. Fard was bipolar, and he taught during his manic phases. As Peter Goldman relates,
Their tutorials. ran night after night until dawn. Elijah would nod off: Mr. Farrad would shake him awake and dose him with black coffee. Elijah began to wonder if Mr. Farrad ever slept. Once, curious, he left the room on a pretext and peeked back in through the keyhole to see if Mr. Farrad was napping. It seemed to him that Mr. Farrad was staring back at him. Through the door.
As for John Muhammad, he claims that he never saw W.D. Fard sleep at all during the three years that he knew him. In fact, his bed, at the hotel, was always made, as if he never slept in it. If W.D. Fard did go days without sleeping, this would lead to anxiety and irritability, hallucinations, depression, delusions, and periods of involuntary microsleep. The problem is that to be bipolar, one needs to be both manic and depressive. Where is the evidence that W.D. Fard was ever depressed? Perhaps
If W.D. Fard was one thing, it was euphoric. This state of intense excitement is characteristic of bipolar disorder, substance use disorder, borderline personality disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. W.D. Fard appears to have had a history of substance use, notably the use of alcohol and opioids. What is more, America's first amphetamine epidemic started in 1929 and lasted until 1971. Could this explain W.D. Fard's bursts of energy that lasted days on end? Was he popping pep pills? Was
Although a professional cannot rely solely on facial expressions for diagnosis, which requires a professional evaluation, the photographs of W.D. Fard can help contribute to a potential diagnosis. When all evidence is considered, namely, life history, social interaction, facial expressions, statements, citations, writings, descriptions, demeanor, deeds, and behavior, it is possible to point to potential mental health conditions. Despite his difficult life, W.D. Fard showed strength and single-mi
The teachings of Supreme Minister John Muhammad provide invaluable information into the identity and ideology of W.D. Fard and whether he had a discernable foreign accent. It also suggests that W.D. Fard had brothers. If this is correct, this is a path that needs to be pursued. He also gives vital information on the potential place of origin of Fard's parents. He also confirms that, even at the time of Master Fard Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad was taking the entirety of the profits of the Allah Temp
Michael Muhammad Knight's work on The Supreme Wisdom Lessons: A Scripture of American Islam uncovers many potential sources for the teachings of W.D. Fard, not from his faraway home, but from the subcultures in which he operated, namely, esoteric societies of all sorts. Why look for influences far away, and distant in time, when we could look at the ones that surrounded him? He was a living and breathing example of the intellectual and spiritual environment of his time. It was an apocalyptic and
Among the multitudinous influences that forged W.D. Fard, the Theosophical Society stands out. It was an influential movement and one that appears to have impacted W.D. Fard's ideas considerably. The case is particularly poignant considering that the Theosophists had an active presence at San Quentin during Fard's stay there. With this fact in mind, it is not surprising that many of W.D. Fard's ideas and concepts find parallels in the teachings of the Theosophical Society, from anticlericalism,
Although a lead and tip reopened the possibility that W.D. Fard was from Oceania, the founder of the Nation of Islam did not attend the funeral of Fred White, an alleged Freemason, in Australia, in 1940. The W.D. Fard from the newspaper was a typo for W.D. Ford, namely, Wilfred Donald Ford, who was born in Australia in 1925. He would have been five years old when W.D. Fard appeared in Black Bottom, Detroit, in 1930. That lead is dead, and let us be frank, so is the founder of the Nation of Islam
W.D. Fard's waltzing partner, Wali Mohammed, from Ferndale, Michigan, and of the early teachers in the Nation of Islam, was none other than William Thomas White, a white man who was born in Britain. This blue-eyed man mysteriously vanished from the United States at around the same time as the founder of the Nation of Islam and is rumored to have died somewhere in South America. Did Fard and White elope together? Or did they plan their getaway together? Were they partners in spiritual crime? This
As forensic linguistic analysis has scientifically confirmed, W.D. Fard's maternal language was Urdu. It is almost certain that he originated in British India. There is a slight possibility that he came from one of its colonies that were populated by Urdu, first-language, speakers. His Urdu substrate was so strong that he did not grow up in a region where English was the dominant language. He did not belong to that class of Indo-Pakistanis who are perfectly proficient in both English and Urdu. H
The Indo-Pakistani theory has circulated for some time. Speaking in 1959, one teacher from the University of Islam observed that Fard "looked like an Indian." Claude Andrew Clegg III argued that "the version of the story that characterizes Fard as being of Pakistani descent. seems to have some validity." Mohammed Nimer asserted in strong terms that Fard "was an immigrant from India." Although his claims that W.D. Fard taught Buddhism are unconvincing, Paul Guthrie was correct to claim that the f
In The Messenger, Karl Evanzz made a compelling case that W.D. Fard came from British India: "Muslims who remember seeing photographs of Fard recall, without exception, that he appeared to be Pakistani." According to Ozier Muhammad, the grandson of Elijah Muhammad, "He looked like he was Pakistani." For Rodney P. Collins, the son of Ella Collins (1914-1996), the half-sister of Malcolm X, "Everyone knew Fard was a Pakistani. My mother, Malcolm, all the ministers knew." Wilfred X, the brother of
Although I remained uncommitted in Finding W.D. Fard, after having explored every possible ethnic identity, I had narrowed his origin to British India, namely, the modern regions of Baluchistan, Afghanistan, or Pakistan. Based on forensic linguistics alone, we can now confidently claim that W.D. Fard came from the part of British India that became Pakistan. When all other evidence is combined, and the critical details are considerable, that conclusion is only fortified even further.
In W.D. Fard's First Footsteps in America, Anton Batey and Kevin Morris present the earliest known document that apparently points to W.D. Fard. The passenger list in question indicates that an eighteen-year-old man named Wallie Dad Khan arrived in the United States on January 6-7, 1907. He was born in 1888 or 1889. He left Hong Kong on December 8, 1906, with a stop in Yokohama, Japan, on December 18, and one in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 30. His final destination and port of landing was San
If this is our man, or our God, it would prove that he was of Muslim origin after all and not a Buddhist, a Christian, or a Jewish person. His place of origin was listed as Ghunzee, Kabul, suggesting he came from the Emirate of Afghanistan. The manifest indicated that he was literate, which answers some important questions. It also noted that he was 5'7 - 5/8 tall, slightly taller than the 5'6 3/8 measured at San Quentin. Still, the height is almost identical to the one that Elijah Muhammad gave
Wallie Dad Khan came to the United States to visit Gool Ahmed Khan, Najeeb (Najib) Khan, as well as Mohamad Kan, tamale vendors, who were possibly related to him. Although they claimed to come from Afghanistan, records reveal they were from the Attock District which was part of Punjab in British India and which came to form part of Pakistan. Wallie Dad Khan was also associated with a tamale vendor named Sargand from Sheenka, India, in the same district. "Given the geopolitical context of 1917,"
Since his mother tongue was Urdu, based on the forensic analysis of his letters, it is virtually impossible that he came from Afghanistan where less than 3% of the population spoke Urdu in the 1900s as the dominant languages there are Dari and Pashto. The speculation that W.D. Fard spent his childhood in Ghazni, Afghanistan, is unconvincing. It flies in the face of the compelling linguistic evidence. The claim that his family was "likely subsistence farmers, herders, or small-scale traders" is e
To all evidence, W.D. Fard was an Indian, from the Punjab, in British India, in what is now Pakistan. Still, that poses problems. Although it is widely spoken, Urdu is only the mother tongue of about 3% of the inhabitants of the region. 15% list Hindko, 16% Pashto, and 65% Punjabi. Like many Indians, it is likely that W.D. Fard spoke several Indian languages.
Most Muslims in the Attock District are Sunnis. However, a significant number of them are Shiites. Sufism is also significant and serves as a bridge between both communities. Hence, it is possible that W.D. Fard came from a Shiite background or was exposed to its doctrines. Since the Attock District has an Ahmadi minority, and the Punjab is the birthplace of the reformist movement, it is within the realm of possibility that W.D. Fard was of Ahmadi origin or, at the very least, familiar with its
As Elijah Muhammad's Ministry Classes confirm, W.D. Fard was indeed deified as early as 1934. Some scholars had posited a gradual deification that only fully crystallized in the years and decades after W.D. Fard's departure. We know that within nine months of his disappearance, W.D. Fard was already considered the Saviour, the Deliverer, a Prophet, and the Son of God. He was very much viewed as Allah in Person. In lessons written in 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1949, W.D. Fard was described as a
W.D. Fard suffered from penal, and maybe even penile, trauma at San Quentin prison. He would be marked forever: psychologically, spiritually, and perhaps physically. What is more, since the prison was not segregated, and many of the blacks were Garveyites, his years there provided him many opportunities to become radicalized and partially Islamized. Once Fard left San Quentin, with knowledge as his weapon, he was ready for war with the white man.
On July 27, 1915, W.D. Fard published a bizarre anagram in the Daily Capital Journal. Although it proved impossible to crack in the past, it has finally been deciphered by an anagram breaker powered by Artificial Intelligence. It seems to reveal an Illuminati and Freemasonic code. If so, this could confirm that Fred Dodd, who became W.D. Fard, was a Freemason, a member of the Illuminati, or other secret societies, or at least an associate of people who were. This could explain why he spent decad
W.D. Fard's teachings regarding the Mothership were inspired, like UFOs and UAPs, by sightings of new aerial technology. Not only was he impressionable, but he was up to date on the technological advancements of his day. He was also incredibly creative in concocting myths. With his tales of spaceships, and alien life on Mars, W.D. Fard blended science fiction with religion. To a certain extent, he was a precursor to UFO-religion, only, in his case, the aliens were not green men but presumably bl
As much as he preached black supremacy and white demonology, W.D. Fard was fond of white women who were blue-eyed blondes. He had a weakness for them. Although she was one quarter Klamath Indian, Pearl Allen identified as white, had light hair, and a fair complexion. She was phenotypically white. Carmen Treviño may have been born in Mexico
however, she claimed to be of Spanish ancestry, thus European, and was classified, racially, as white, according to the American standards of the time. Was C
Although she had dark eyes, Hazel Barton was, at one time, a platinum blonde. This evokes images of W.D. Fard's mother: a blue-eyed, platinum blonde, white devil Jewess. Some people have daddy issues. Fard had a mommy issue. His hatred and violence toward white women may have manifested itself in the rape of Laura Swanson who, at the time, was a ravishing blue-eyed blonde who was as fair as snow white. Call it a personal preference. Call it hypocrisy. Call a spade a spade. Or maybe W.D. Fard was
As for the flag of the Nation of Islam, it was inspired by the banner of the Young Turks. This should not be surprising. They were secular nationalists and W.D. Fard showed little signs of piety and religiosity. In fact, as Supreme Minister John Muhammad mentioned in one of his lectures, W.D. Fard disliked people getting on their knees to pray. If that was the case, W.D. Fard was more of a homo politicus than a homo religiosus. Although it was coated in religious terminology and mythology, his s
As spine-chilling as it may sound, it is possible that the myth of Yakub was based on a real, devilish, white man: Dr. Leo Stanley, the surgeon at San Quentin prison. A man who fits the proverbial profile of the mad scientist, Dr. Stanley, a eugenicist, segregationist, and white supremacist, who himself failed to father a single child, emasculated and castrated thousands of men. He even changed their appearance through plastic surgery to make them less ugly, and, of course, whiter. While it has
Since his scrapbooks and papers were stored in the Archive of California, a review of his surgical notes should have been undertaken. In 2025, however, they were in the process of being transferred to Stanford University, where staff were absorbing the collection and processing materials to make them eventually discoverable and available for research. Considering how vast the collection is, the library anticipates that this process will take multiple years. Until that process is complete, the do
In the same fashion that people purport to see the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and the Mahdi, the faithful members of the Nation of Islam still pray and hope for the return of W.D. Fard who has been missing in action since 1934 or 1935. So far, none of the alleged sightings, many of which were investigated by police departments in the past, have produced any results. They all turned out empty. Still, hope remains that other claims will be confirmed.
Some of the most revealing findings in this study stem from the letters that the Reformer, Burnsteen Sharrieff Muhammad, sent to W.D. Fard between 1933-1934. These primary sources irrefutably prove that the founder of the Nation of Islam was deified during his days in Detroit and not after his disappearance. The Reformer knew W.D. Fard personally. She was an eye and auditory witness. In letters that she wrote to him in 1933, she called him Prophet, Deliverer, Saviour, Jesus, Michael, Lamb of God
In letters sent in 1934, Burnsteen Muhammad identified W.D. Fard as the Great I AM, namely, the Being of beings, and the Supreme Saviour of the World. If W.D. Fard is "I am that I am," Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament (3:14), and the title that Jesus used to describe himself, then he was God, the Creator, in the eyes, mind, heart, and soul of Burnsteen Muhammad. At no point did W.D. Fard push back, and say, astaghfirullah, "forgive me Allah," or a'udhu billah, "I take r
He went to a church and the preacher was preaching concerning Jesus and Master Fard got up and said that he was the long-awaited Jesus whom they have been looking for, for the past two thousand years. He knocked on the door for the usher to open it and the usher opened the door. He said to him: "I am your Jesus. I am here," and when he said that this big black man hit him in the mouth and knocked out his teeth.
Supreme Minister John Muhammad, the uncle of Emmanuel, provided further details:
They were singing a song about Jesus. he knocked on the door for the usher to open the door and when the usher opened the door, He said to him, "I am your Jesus, I am here." And when he said that this big black man hit him in the mouth and knocked out his teeth.
When there was a dearth of early sources, there was room for speculation and conjecture as to when W.D. Fard became Allah. Karriem Allah, who converted in 1933, may have claimed that he never knew that W.D. Fard was Allah until it was revealed to him by Elijah Muhammad after the Master had left. That, however, does not mean that it was unknown to others. However, in clear contradiction, he states in the same article that when he first heard Elijah Muhammad in Chicago in 1933, he was preaching th
With primary evidence dating from the period between 1930-1934, letters directed to and from W.D. Fard, we can now be certain as to who he was, to himself, and to his followers. W.D. Fard did indeed claim to be divine, tacitly and categorically, and was considered as such by many of the pioneers in the Nation of Islam. As for how W.D. Fard viewed himself internally, it is impossible to establish. Men are what they say and do. We judge the internal based on the external.
If the question, "Where did W.D. Fard come from?" has now been answered definitely - he was an Urdu speaker who traced his ancestry to what became Pakistan - the answer to the question "Where did he go after 1934?" remains tenuous and tentative. If the answer to the first question is certain, and beyond any reasonable doubt, the answer to the second one is suggestive but not definitive. While this is not a case of habeas corpus or "having a body," the evidence, direct, documentary, and circumsta
APPENDIX 1 RECONCILING RELIGION AND HISTORY
By John Andrew Morrow
The life and teachings of W.D. Fard, like any religious figure, including Muhammad, Jesus, and Moses, combines both history and mythology. Some people focus firmly on faith, and dismiss anything that is contrary to it, however well-rooted it is scientifically, historically, and archeologically. Others focus firmly on the facts and toss religious tradition into the trash. While it requires considerable intelligence, strong critical thinking skills, and the ability to compartmentalize, distinguish
To a certain extent, the life and teachings of W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad, and the beliefs of the Nation of Islam, are no more nonsensical than those of other religious systems. To believe that W.D. Fard is God is no different than believing that Jesus is God. Believing in Yakub, the Mad Scientist, is no more absurd than believing in Jonah and the Whale, Noah and the Flood, the Garden of Eden, or the Virgin Birth. To believe in the Mother Ship, piloted by the Twelve Imams, is no more insane t
To the Nation of Islam, W.D. Fard is not a mere mortal. He is transcendental and metahistorical. He is both human and superhuman. His personhood forms part of a larger metaphor. He reached mythical status within the span of a mere four years in Detroit manifesting how the process of deification develops, not over centuries, or even decades, but in a matter of years, months, weeks, days, minutes, and seconds. Through the process of mythmaking, allegory, and creative imagination, W.D. Fard, the ma
Although there is an important distinction between sacred history and actual history, at times they overlap. If we compare the account of the life of W.D. Fard, as taught by Elijah Muhammad, with what historical research has uncovered and established, it is impressive how close and accurate they are. If we set aside hyperbole, and cast aside allegory, we find that the W.D. Fard of Nation of Islam theology aligns largely with the W.D. Fard of historical biography. Rather than remain mutually excl
Beware my people! Do not take what I am writing here as a joke or mockery. It is the divine truth, from the very mouth of God, and not a make-up story of myself. I have not the brains to think up such truth. (emphasis mine)
Does a historical-critical biography of W.D. Fard destroy the foundations of his teachings and the Nation of Islam. No. They do not. Why? Because there is a difference between sacred history and the science of history. They consist of two different fields that should not be conflated. Religion revolves around beliefs and practices based on faith and spiritual interpretation. It develops dogmas and is constrained by them. History relies on reason, objectivity, neutrality, empirical evidence, tang
APPENDIX 2 W.D. FARD'S INMATE CARD AND CORRECTIONAL RECORD FROM SAN QUENTIN
Key Measurements and Details
By John Andrew Morrow
/
(Figure A-2.1: Public domain)
/
(Figure A-2.2: Public domain)
/
(Figure A-2.3: Public domain)
Wallie D. Ford was 5 feet 6 3/8 inches tall. John Muhammad said Fard was "about half an inch taller than my father." Elijah Muhammad was 5 feet 5 inches tall. Wallie D. Ford was white. His complexion was dark. His hair was black. His eyes were maroon. His forehead and nose were medium. He weighed 133 pounds and had a medium build. John Muhammad said that Fard "weighed a little more than" Elijah Muhammad. According to the FBI's file, Elijah Muhammad weighed 140 pounds in 1971. This was age-relat
APPENDIX 3 MORE ON WALLACE MAX FORD, THE SON OF W.D. FARD
By John Andrew Morrow
In 2025, Resume Byron, a podcaster, shared the following photo on YouTube:
/
(Figure A-3.1: Wallace Ford High School Yearbook Photo from 1940)
He claimed to have received it from the Holzknecht family, namely, the relatives of Hazel Barton, the common-law partner of Wallie Dodd Ford. It was claimed that it was Wallace Ford's graduation photo. I was asked what I thought. I responded that I could not confirm or deny that it was Wallace Dodd/Max Ford unless Resume Byron produced a source: a cover of the yearbook, its date, the high school it belonged to, the page on which the image is found. In other words, verify, verify, verify.
It is quite possible that many non-scholars do not understand the hierarchy of evidence and verification needed to corroborate the authenticity of sources. They probably do not even understand the process of peer review. To be succinct, any claim must be verifiable. Otherwise, it has no credence. It is groundless. Since Resume Byron failed to provide the photo's provenance, I did my own digging. I found it within a few minutes of searching through high school yearbooks on Ancestry.com. And I fou
/
/
(Figure A-3.2: U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016. Ancestry.com)
The person in the photograph is most certainly Wallace Max/Dodd Ford, the son of Hazel Barton. To the average person, even a cursory comparison of this photo with the one from the Coast Guard shows this to be true. What came as a shock was the description of the person in question:
Name: Wallace Ford
Estimated Age: 16
Birth Year: abt. 1924
Yearbook Date: 1940
School: Benjamin Franklin High School
School Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
(U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016. Ancestry.com)
Logic dictates that this information was provided by Ancestry.com. It is inconceivable that a yearbook would contain estimated ages and years of birth. If Wallace Max Ford was born in 1920, as Hazel Barton claimed, he would have been twenty years old in this photograph. In contrast, the information provided estimates that he was born in 1924 and that he was sixteen years old.
The problem is patent: Wallie Dodd Ford married Carmen Treviño, a Mexican-born woman of Spanish ancestry, in Santa Ana, California, on June 5, 1924. This would suggest what Wallace Max/Dodd Ford was born after Wallie Dodd Ford and Hazel Barton broke up. According to some researchers, they hooked up around 1919 and broke up in October 1922. While that is speculative, it is a fact that she married Clarence Earl Osborn (1892-1926) on June 25, 1925, in Santa Ana, California. If these dates are accur
Name Wallace M. Ford
Birth Date 1 Sep 1920
Gender Male
Mother's Maiden Name Barton
Birth County Los Angeles
(Ancestry.com)
Curiously, and unusually, the name of his father is not listed on the California Birth Index. Why? Because the boy was illegitimate? Because the father did not acknowledge paternity? Or because Hazel and/or Fard wanted to hide his identity? This could be the case if Fard was involved in crime or politics.
It is important to note that the California Birth Index does not include the original declaration of birth and the date it was submitted. It could have been submitted a few years after the boy was born. This was not entirely uncommon at the time, particularly when children were born at home with the help of a midwife.
Although Wallace Ford junior certainly resembles Wallace Ford senior, physiognomy or qiyafah, using physical traits to determine parentage, is a medieval pseudo-science. "Although some degree of facial resemblance is expected as a by-product of the heritability of phenotypic traits," note scientists, "it does not guarantee that genetic paternity can accurately be detected as both facial phenotype and perceptual processes are shaped by the environment." So, more proof than "they look similar" is
Despite the doubts that the yearbook dates could cause, not to mention the absence of a father on the California Birth Index, further research produced the original certificate of birth which establishes that Wallace Dodd Ford, born on September 1, 1920, was the son of Wallace Dodd Ford, who described himself as a 26-year-old white man who was born in New Zealand and who ran a restaurant.
/
(Figure A-3.3: Birth Certificate of Wallace Dodd Ford. Public domain)
/
(Figure A-3.4: Wallace M. Ford US Coast Guard photo.This is not Wallace Max Ford. This man was from Tennessee)
/
(Figure A-3.5: Photo of Wallace M. Ford, son of Hazel Barton, and Wallace Dodd Ford. The Highland Park News-Herald, Friday, August 14, 1942: 1.Source: Newspapers.com. Fair use)
/
(Figure A-3.6: The Highland Park News-Herald, Friday, August 14, 1942: 1.Source: Newspapers.com. Fair use)
This newspaper article, published on August 14, 1942, also confirms that Wallace Ford attended Franklin High School. This verifies that the image in the 1940 yearbook is that of Wallace Ford junior, the son of Wallace Dodd Ford aka W.D. Fard.
APPENDIX 4 WHERE O WHERE DID MY MASTER FARD GO?
By John Andrew Morrow
"There they found a servant of Ours, to whom We had grantedmercy from Us and enlightened with knowledge of Our Own." - (Qur'an 18:65)
On May 19, 1942, the FBI received information from its office in Milwaukee that W.D. Fard was hiding in Elijah Muhammad's home at 6026 Vernon Street in Chicago, Illinois.
/
(Figure A-4.1: FBI File on W.D. Fard. Public domain)
If W.D. Fard had been at Elijah Muhammad's home in May 1942, where he was hiding in some closet, he was long gone by July 1942, at which time sources reported that he was the head of the Japanese Army.
/
(Figure A-4.2: FBI File on W.D. Fard. Public domain)
That would probably be the fastest promotion in military history. Still, considering his deep ties to Japanese operatives, and his associations with white supremacists and Nazis, it is not beyond belief that W.D. Fard joined the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Relying on information it received from the FBI in 1959, the New Chicago Crusader claimed that W.D. Fard was a Nazi agent who had worked for Hitler in World War II. As such, research needs to be completed in Germany and Japan to
While conducting research on Wallace Max Ford, I came across his obituary, which provides an important hint. It indicates that W.D. Fard was alive in August 1942. Obituaries are prepared by next of kin at times with the help of the funeral parlor. It is Hazel Barton, the mother of Wallace Max Ford, who would have composed it. If she had knowledge of W.D. Fard's death, she would have indicated so. As far as she was concerned, W.D. Fard was alive. It is possible that she knew this for certain. And
/
(Figure A-4.3: Los Angeles Times, August 19, 1942)
While several other newspapers listed Wallace Max Ford's stepfather, Clifford Evelsizer, in their obituaries, it seems the only way the Los Angeles Times could have known about Wallace Ford Sr. would have been if Hazel provided his name or if he attended the funeral. While this last claim is suggestive, it is not the hard evidence that we need to prove, without the shadow of a doubt, that he was alive at the time.
According to FBI informants, W.D. Fard reportedly appeared sporadically in various locations over the following decades, including a sighting, which featured interaction, and feats of magic, which took place at the Temple of Islam in Harlem in 1963. As far as the FBI was concerned, W.D. Fard was still believed to be alive in 1955. However, he kept ghosting them:
/
(Figure A-4.4: FBI File on W.D. Fard. Public domain)
These dates and places are not based on rumors or speculation. They are based on actual intelligence. I found the source for the October 1951 report in the FBI's Nation of Islam File. It relates that
/
(Figure A-4.5: FBI File on Nation of Islam. Public domain)
If the obituary for Wallace M. Ford appears to place W.D. Fard in Los Angeles in 1945, the person who spoke at the NOI temple in San Diego in 1950 also indicated that Allah was in the US at the time, quite probably in California. Otherwise, how else would he have known? This went against the most common dogma that Master Fard Muhammad had returned to Mecca. While the person who spoke is not identified, it could have been Yusuf Abdullah (b. 1918) or Henry Majied who established Temple No. 8 in Sa
In 1957, the FBI reported that a "specific letter" was sent to the "Honolulu branch." It was postmarked: Sandersville, GA. This was the birth home of Elijah Poole (Muhammad) where Muhammad Farms was founded in the 1960s. It came from the rural roots of the Nation of Islam. The nature of the specific lead is not specified, nor are the contents of the letter. However, it appears that its author was dismissed as a "psychopath," unless the pejorative adjective applied to Abdul Muhammad, who is liste
/
(Figure A-4.6: FBI File on Nation of Islam. Public domain)
On January 14, 1958, the FBI reported that a reliable informant revealed the following information:
On January 4, 1958, an individual. from Detroit, Michigan, contacted CLARA MUHAMMAD (wife of Elijah). He stated that he is an artist and the person who drew the picture "with the jewels and of Brother Elijah about ten years ago." He stated, "I am a good Muslim and I have had a whole lot of torment the last few days and something is trying to kill me to keep me from helping him, and told me that I was supposed to help the temple raise him up because I am a good Muslim and I get messages from W. D
/
(Figure A-4.7: FBI File on W.D. Fard. Public domain)
Once again, it would seem, the lead was dismissed by the FBI on grounds that the individual was a "psychopath." However, since the beliefs of the Nation of Islam were viewed as "crazy," when they are no crazier than the dogmas of other religions, many of its leaders and followers were deemed to be insane, unstable, or abnormal: W.D. Fard, Ugan Ali, Robert Harris, Abdul Muhammad, and others.
/
(Figure A-4.8: FBI File on W.D. Fard. Public domain)
If any of these leads are reliable, it would appear that W.D. Fard, even if he established a base of operations in Mexico, continued to do, as he had always done, namely, to wander the Wilderness of North America like St. George or al-Khidr while shifting his skin like a chameleon.
Most interesting of all is the report from Peter Goldman (b. 1933), the author and journalist, which appears in The Death and Life of Malcolm X. According to the author,
Benjamin Goodman [Karim] told me that a light-skinned "Eastern-looking" stranger who called himself The Master appeared among the brothers in Harlem in 1963, during Malcolm's last months in the Nation of Islam, and stayed until 1965, after Malcolm's death. According to Goodman, the stranger would work difficult mathematical problems at computer speed
could narrate history "as if he had lived it
" could speak not only English but Spanish, Chinese, Swahili, and other languages fluently and accent
This man, whoever he was, shared uncanny similarities with W.D. Fard. From his looks to his prodigious mathematical and magical skills, knowledge of history, and proficiency in multiple languages, The Master sounds very much like W.D. Fard. He could have learned to speak Spanish while living with Carmen Treviño or after living in Mexico. He could have learned Mandarin or Cantonese in the vibrant Chinese communities in San Francisco or Los Angeles. If he was a Swahili-speaker, he could have been
The only problem with the thesis that The Master was W.D. Fard is that, according to Benjamin Karim (1932-2005), the former did not resemble the latter. However, he was unequivocally comparing him to the official NOI portrait of W.D. Fard which was doctored, altered, and glamorized. Had he been shown the mugshots and newspaper photographs of the man known as Wallie D. Ford, Wallace Dodd Ford, and Wallace Farrad, he could have positively identified him.
If a person posing as W.D. Fard did indeed surface in New York between 1963 and 1965, in the years preceding the death of Malcolm X, and hastily disappeared right after, a horrifying possibility presents itself
namely, that this "Master Fard Muhammad" was an intelligence operative who was activated to help orchestrate and oversee the assassination of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (1925-1965).
If the person in question was indeed W.D. Fard, who was possibly born in 1877, 1891, or 1893, he would have been seventy-two, seventy-four, or eighty-eight years old in 1965. However, to all appearances, he had not aged. If we even contemplate the possibility that W.D. Fard was still alive and active in 1965, and was not subject to the laws of aging, we leave the rational world and enter the realm of the supernatural. As far as Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam would be concerned, this wou
APPENDIX 5 REGARDING THE NATION OF ISLAM
By John Andrew Morrow
We wish to acknowledge the complete and total lack of cooperation on the part of the Nation of Islam, its leaders, and members. They have exhibited a lack of transparency with regards to early Nation of Islam documents and photographs. They have a history of destroying documents. They take legal action to prevent parties from selling historical items. And they keep the artefacts they have under lock and key.
Rather than cooperate with sympathetic scholars and historians, the Nation of Islam strives to prevent the historicization of W.D. Fard. While works by Nation of Islam writers, like Wakeel Allah, are valuable in that they share testimonies from early NOI pioneers, they are works of theology: not history. The History of the Nation of Islam: The Pioneer Years (1930-1950) deliberately ignores all information that does not align with Nation of Islam dogma. In some cases, NOI members have threatened
Wakeel Allah admits that W.D. Fard was arrested numerous times
however, he fails to identify who he was confirmed to be, namely, Wallace Dodd Ford and Wallie Dodd Ford. He admits that W.D. Fard traveled throughout the United States but never identifies who it was that he was visiting, namely, his ex-partner, Hazel Barton, and his son, Wallace Dodd Ford in California. He reveals that W.D. Fard was receiving sweets and cakes from California but never addressed the issue of who was sending these g
Even though W.D. Fard preached that God is Man and Man is God, and even though he excoriated the concept that God was a "spook" or a "spirit," the Nation of Islam has effectively turned their founder into a mystery god. Louis Farrakhan can claim all he wants that if W.D. Fard is not Allah then the teachings of Elijah Muhammad are worthless. The fact remains that they retain all their value. Whether or not the Talmud, the New Testament, or the Qur'an come from God has no bearing on their content.
Whether W.D. Fard was Allah, or not, has no bearing whatsoever on his wisdom and that of Elijah Muhammad. For a believer in W.D. Fard, it should make no difference if he was Wallie Dodd Ford, Wallace Dodd Ford, Fred Dodd, or Fred Dad at previous points in his life. It would make no difference if he had a child with Hazel Barton. After all, W.D. Fard told Elijah Muhammad that he had lived among whites, in the United States, for over twenty years. In fact, W.D. Fard represents one of the rare case
The Nation of Islam's obfuscation is also concerning from a legal standpoint. W.D. Fard disappeared in February 1934 or February 26, 1934, to be precise. "His departure, according to NOI literature, was on February 26, 1934," writes Yahia Zeghoudi. According to Donald Muhammad a minister in the Nation of Islam,
After several incidents of police harassment. in both Detroit and Chicago, on February 26, 1934, Master W. Fard Muhammad departed the scene, under the veil of mystery, leaving the Honorable Elijah Muhammad with the mission of resurrecting the black man and woman.
Although he was heard from, in writing, for a couple of months, W.D. Fard has allegedly never been seen since. The last person who claimed to have been with him was Elijah Muhammad. He maintained that he dropped him off at the airport in Chicago. He declared that he watched him board a flight and fly away. This claim has not been corroborated. The assertion that W.D. Fard sent Elijah Muhammad a letter from Mexico in March 1934 has not been independently confirmed or verified. That letter has not
Wakeel Allah reveals that "W.D. Fard continued to receive threats in the face of violence." "On at least one occasion," he explains, "his enemies went to the lengths of poisoning him." As Jabril Muhammad Cushmeer, aka Edward Moore (1936-2023), revealed in a speech on November 15, 2000,
Master Fard Muhammad had his stomach pumped in the thirties. He had to pay money. Somebody paid money. See my point? Let's get real about this. He allowed a Negro to poison him, went to the hospital, checked himself in, had his stomach pumped, came back and told the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who told the rest of us, "That if that had been one of you all, you wouldn't survive." Why did he even go through that? He was teaching his servant lessons. That's real, huh? Now look, if God is going to mak
Who was the "Negro" who poisoned W.D. Fard? How did Jabril Muhammad even know he was black? Why would he fail to identify the attempted murderer? Did Elijah Muhammad not tell him? The claim that W.D. Fard was the subject of an assassination attempt surfaced over sixty-six years after the incident. It could be dismissed as hearsay. After all, Jabril Muhammad only embraced Islam in the 1950s. The claim, however, was also independently verified by John Muhammad (1910-2005). Not only was he there at
John Muhammad, and other pioneers, have admitted that attempts were made on W.D. Fard's life between 1930-1934. They knew that he had been poisoned. However, they failed to warn him. John Muhammad even knew that the poison contained spiderwebs. As he explained,
They tried to do something to him. They even give him a dish with [a] little poison in it. Spider webs and such things for him to eat. He sit there and ate 'em. And got up and walked away from the table. And lived for many more to see him. Could you do that?
As a result of the inaction of his disciples, W.D. Fard had to have his stomach pumped to survive. Otherwise, he would have died. And it could not have been due to spider webs, which are not toxic or poisonous. They are, however, used in Voodoo and Hoodoo for spells, along with spider nests and dead spiders. After all, W.D. Fard was dealing with blacks from the Deep South. They seem to have given him "goofer dust," which is used in witchcraft to inflict harm. Something more sinister and deadly w
For John Muhammad, surviving a poisoning was proof that W.D. Fard was God. Was he poisoned by his partisans for that very reason? The ultimate test of his divinity? The fact that rumors were circulating that W.D. Fard had been the victim of foul play and that he had been sacrificed by Elijah Muhammad raise serious concerns. This incident makes us wonder whether the Allah Temple of Islam was really a Voodoo Cult after all. Perhaps Fard was fighting against black superstitions and people fought ba
While it is true that some black Christian leaders vehemently opposed W.D. Fard - he was infringing upon their territory by converting colored people to Islam - this hardly seems sufficient grounds to have him assassinated. Rather, they may have collaborated with the police to have him forced out of town. As for the "hypocrites" and "disbelievers," Elijah Muhammad's definition of those Nation of Islam ministers and believers who refused to follow his leadership, they were certainly capable of vi
According to Elijah Muhammad, up to 75% of Fard's followers were hypocrites "who united to drive me out of here and kill me." According to Nathaniel Muhammad, Minister Augustus had been given a gun to kill Elijah Muhammad. Instead, he broke it into pieces, and disappeared, never to be seen again. Did he truly disappear? Did Elijah Muhammad's faction make him disappear? Or was he disappeared by Elijah's Muhammad's opponents for failing to execute him?
Far from being a profitable enterprise, the Nation of Islam, during its dawn, was downright dangerous. Police, FBI, and newspaper reports present NOI members as violent and murderous. According to Jabril Muhammad, Elijah Muhammad's own blood brother, Kallatt, rebelled against him and "a group of envious hypocrites, who were formerly his followers, sought his life." Elijah Muhammad also explained that he spent seven years of hell, "running and dodging from my own people, who were out to kill me f
Since it appears that Elijah Muhammad and his family sincerely believed in W.D. Fard, I do not personally believe that they were implicated in his death. I am convinced, however, that they knew more than they revealed. Not only was there considerable internal and external fighting after W.D. Fard disappeared in 1934, but there was a violent positioning for power in the years preceding.
Abdul Muhammad, one of W.D. Fard's early ministers, reportedly aspired to be head minister. It is said that he became arrogant and aggressive toward W.D. Fard. On one occasion, it is claimed that he confronted W.D. Fard with anger and defiance. This big, jet-black man, with bright red eyes, stood up and tried to intimidate him: "You say that God is a black man, but you are not black. I'm black. How come you don't let a black man be the leader!" According to John Muhammad, Abdul Muhammad went so
Not only was he angry with W.D. Fard, but he was insanely jealous of Elijah Muhammad. As Wakeel Allah reports,
Abdul [Muhammad] gathered some henchmen and went to pay Elijah a visit at his home. With Elijah's family looking on, an incensed Abdul started to shout at the Messenger. Abdul slammed a silver dollar on the kitchen table. Pointing at the stars on the coin, Abdul shouted, "You see this star? Well, that's me! You are nothing!" Elijah's son Nathaniel recalls how the foes intended to harm Elijah, except their plans were foiled by Master Fard who happened to see Abdul and company enter Elijah's house
According to Elijah Muhammad's son, Nathaniel, "they had a gun to shoot him. And I was right in the kitchen when all this happened." Abdul Muhammad, reports Wakeel Allah, returned to his Moorish roots, created a Nation of Islam faction that faded away, and joined Satokata Takahashi's Development of Our Own. Obviously, this is all Elijah Muhammad's version of events. There are two sides to every story.
Wakeel Allah fails to mention that the dispute between W.D. Fard and Abdul Muhammad did not revolve solely around leadership. It was due to ideological differences. Abdul Muhammad was loyal to America and honored the American flag. As an FBI informant revealed, Abdul Muhammad refused to allow W.D. Fard to play a role in the Development of Our Own on grounds that he was "of a violent and revolutionary mind, where the Development of Our Own was established for the general betterment and uplifting
/
(Figure 5.1: FBI File on W.D. Fard. Public domain)
It is ironic that Abdul Muhammad would denounce W.D. Fard for his extremism when Verlen Ali McQueen, a man reportedly associated with his group, attempted to boil his wife and daughter in a ritualistic sacrifice. Not surprisingly, Abdul Muhammad was declared a psychopath and was confined to a mental asylum where he died in 1938. Such things happen to those who try to cook their family members in a big pot.
/
(Figure A-5.2: FBI File on W.D. Fard)
Clearly, there was no shortage of lunatics among the Allah Temple of Islam and its offshoots that could have killed and even sacrificed W.D. Fard. The reality of the matter is that most of the victims of homicides are located. Statistically, only 12% of bodies are never found. It is very difficult to conceal such crimes. People are sloppy. Even professionals do not make bodies disappear. Open cases are a liability. They want the cases to close. Hence, they make murders look like heart attacks, f
/
(Figure A-5.3: FBI File on W.D. Fard. Perhaps referring to Abdul Muhammad)
/
(Figure A-5.4: FBI File on W.D. Fard)
/
(Figure A-5.5: FBI File on W.D. Fard)
Due to its destruction and suppression of documents, it could be claimed that the Nation of Islam is complicit in a missing person's case. It could be argued that, if an investigation were conducted, it could be accused of obstruction of justice. According to the law, if a person is innocent, that person will volunteer to prove his innocence. When a party destroys evidence, it is reasonable to infer "consciousness of guilt" or another motivation, a theological one perhaps, to want to destroy it.
APPENDIX 6 THE MANY FACES OF FARD: COMPUTERIZED FACE COMPARISON BY AMAZON REKOGNITION
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Edward Muhammad and Anton Batey
6.3 Official W.D. Fard (c. 1934) vs. Muhammad Abdullah
6.4 Wallace Farrad (1933) vs Early MSTA Member (1928)
6.5. Official W.D. Fard vs. Official W.D. Fard
6.6 Official W.D. Fard (c. 1934) vs All Photos of Wallace Dodd Ford (1926-1933)
6.7 Wallie Dodd Ford (1926) vs. Alleged W.D. Fard (c. 1934)
6.8 Wallie Dodd Ford (1926) vs. Wallace Farrad (1933)
6.9 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow
Amazon Rekognition is more than 80% accurate when it comes to distinguishing similar-looking people. It is also 35% more accurate in recognizing people who have significantly altered their appearance. It identifies the same individual irrespective of changes in facial hair, hairstyle, hair color, the presence or absence of glasses, and so forth. A study conducted by Joy Buolamwini and Deborah Raji found that the software was 83.5% accurate. Another study found that the program was 98% accurate i
Edward A. Muhammad, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading at Georgia Southern University, was the first academic, to my knowledge, to use Regoknition to compare what is claimed to be the earliest photo of W.D. Fard with the photographs of Wallie Dodd Ford and Wallace Farrad from Los Angeles and Detroit. The program concluded, with 99.9% confidence, that they were different people. After he shared his findings with me, I verified them and was open to the
As far as I know, Anton Batey was the first researcher to compare the various photos of Wallie Dodd Ford and Wallace Farrad using Rekognition. The program concluded, with 82 to 99% confidence, that they were photos of the same person. After Anton Batey shared his findings with me, I confirmed and independently verified them. Such is the scientific method. In addition, having been inspired by the efforts of Muhammad and Batey, I subjected a plethora of photos to facial comparison analysis. The fi
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
Only 0.3% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
Only 1.3% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
Only 1% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
Only 0.36% similar
The hackneyed theory that Muhammad Abdullah was W.D. Fard can once again be laid to rest. The Muhammad Abdullah theory was also debunked by Anton Batey and Kevin Morris.
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
Only 17.4% similar
The fanciful theory that this early member of the Moorish Science Temple of America, purported to be David Ford El, was W.D. Fard, can now be scientifically set aside for good. There is a degree of resemblance between both men which explains why some writers came up with this claim. Apparently, the man is really Aaron Payne Bey.
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
83.35% similar
The photo to the left is supposed to be the earliest one of W.D. Fard, namely, the one with the flag on the upper left-hand side. Edward Muhammad had the photograph subjected to forensic analysis. The results found that the photo itself was genuine but that the flag had been inserted.
/
(The oldest photo of W.D. Fard?)
According to Rekognition, the two photos do not represent the same person with 99% certainty. However, they are the same individual. This is why researchers should be cautious and avoid judgment rushing. Rekognition has noticed some significant differences or discrepancies. Hence, it has raised red flags as it should rightly do when it comes to facial verification, security access, law enforcement purposes, or customs and immigration. Rather than jump to conclusions, it is imperative to examine
Rekognition has recognized that the second photograph has been edited and altered. It could also be struggling with its inadequate quality. The higher the quality of the images, the sharper they are, the greater the resolution, and the more similar the pose, the more accurate the analysis. Rekognition refuses to ignore the unusual texture and pixilation of the second photo, the dark rectangle in the ear, and the full set of hair, which is not parted. Rekognition has noticed that there is somethi
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
65.28% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
57% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
51.57% similar
/ vs /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
47.61% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.8% confidence
42.29% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
40.68% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9 % confidence
14.7 % similar
6.4 Official W.D. Fard (c. 1934) vs. Wallace Farrad (1932)
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
36% similar
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.9% confidence
93% similarity
Hasty conclusions can lead to the belief that the person in the official photograph of W.D. Fard is not Wallie Dodd Ford from Los Angeles or Wallace Farrad from Detroit. That conclusion, however, would be false. Rekognition has its limitations. Its accuracy is impacted by black and white photographs, poor resolution, and different poses. Identical poses are more accurate: face to face, as opposed to face to side.
When Rekognition indicates, with 99% certainty, that the photos do not match, it is because there are flaws in the photographs or that there is something inherently problematic with the official W.D. Fard photo. As much as Edward Muhammad's forensic analysis suggests that the photo is genuine, except for the flag, suspicion is warranted. The addition of the flag is immaterial. It is the image of Fard himself that is important and that photo has been tampered with.
A comparison of all the official W.D. Fard photos in circulation clearly shows that the photograph was being altered as early as 1934. In fact, the book that W.D. Fard holds in the photograph reproduced in the August 11, 1934, edition of the Final Call, is extremely thin, much thinner than the one that appears in what is purported to be the original and authentic photograph: the official standard. W.D. Fard's photos have been doctored. Did this take place after his occultation? Or did this occur
/
(August 11, 1934, The Final Call)
/
(The alleged original and authentic photo)
Although Rekognition raised red flags when it compared the official standard photo of W.D. Fard to those of Wallie D. Ford, and Wallace Farrad, it qualified its findings by noting that they are 15%, 36%, 41%, 42%, 52%, 57% and 65% similar. These are not the results you find when comparing two different people. When compared to Muhammad Abdullah, whom many people thought looked like W.D. Fard, there was only a 0.3%, 04%, 1%, and 1.3% similarity. Motivation can cause perception bias. It is called
/ vs. /
Facial match with 99.9% confidence
/ vs. /
Facial match with 93.6% confidence
6.7 Wallie Dodd Ford (1926) vs. Wallace Farrad (1933)
/ vs. /
Facial match with 98.9% confidence
/ vs. /
Not a facial match with 99.8% confidence
59.14 % similar
There is no doubt that the last two photographs represent the same person. This shows, however, that Rekognition cannot make correct matches when the image quality is poor and the pose is radically different. What is clear from these comparisons is that Wallace Farrad, Wallace Dodd Ford, and Wallie D. Ford, who was previously Fred Dodd, were the same. But was this man W.D. Fard? Absolutely. This is the man that was arrested and charged in Detroit for being the leader of the Allah Temple of Islam
According to Amazon Rekognition, Muhammad Abdullah was not W.D. Fard nor was the Moor who was alleged to be David Ford El but appears to be Aaron Payne Bey. As the results demonstrate, the man in the 1926 Los Angeles mugshots is the same as the one in the 1933 Detroit mugshots. Wallie Dodd Ford and Wallace Farrad were identical. Is the man known as Wallace Farrad, Wallace Dodd Ford, and Wallie D. Ford the one who appears in the official Nation of Islam photograph? Rekognition is 99% certain that
When Rekognition concludes that the photos compared are not the same with 99% certainty, it depends on the threshold that is set. The program is set at an 80% threshold. This is suitable for locating family members for genealogical purposes. Amazon recommends a threshold of at least 95% for law enforcement uses. For high security building access, Amazon advises a threshold of 99%. In other words, if we lower the threshold to 50, 60 or 65% similarity, to account for the inferior quality of the im
Are we dealing with different people or different quality images of the same person? The odds of two people having identical faces are one in a trillion. The odds of having a look-alike or doppelganger are one is 135. The odds of having an identical twin are one in 250. It is therefore improbable that W.D. Fard had a double. Could W.D. Fard, or Elijah Muhammad, have used a stand-in, a decoy, or an actor in his place? Perhaps. However, the odds that such a person's face would be 65% the same as W
APPENDIX 7 OF PHOTOS AND FRAUD: A CHRONOLOGY OF FARDIAN ICONOGRAPHY
7.1 Theus Photo
7.2 All Dolled Up
7.3 The First Photo
7.4 The Second Photo
7.5 The Third Photo
7.6 The Fourth Photo
7.7 The Fifth Photo
7.8 Conclusions
By John Andrew Morrow and Bilal Muhammad
The icon of the Nation of Islam, namely, the official picture of Master Fard Muhammad, was taken at Theus Photo. The studio was located at 3419 Hastings Street, Detroit, Michigan from 1926 to 1936. This was "just across the street from the Temple at 3408 Hastings St." It then moved to 4640 Hastings, near Forest. By 1939, the shop had moved its quarters to 4508 Hastings Street, Detroit, Michigan.
There is an audio Q&A of John Muhammad saying that Fard had the picture taken at a studio called "Thesis," a mispronunciation of Theus. Norman Thrasher Muhammad also stated that he personally received a picture of Master Fard Muhammad from the photographer, Mr. Theus of Theus Photo Service. Owned and operated by John James Theus (b. c. 1878), Theus Photo, whose advertisements stated that "Photographs Live Forever," was in the business of copying, enlarging, and restoring photograph. As their an
/
(Figure A-7.1: Original business card)
/
(Figure A-7.2: Photograph taken by Theus Photo)
W.D. Fard's hair is greased and parted in the early photos. His face seems very smooth. His mole is missing. Why? While it might come as a surprise to some, men wore hair and makeup for photos in the 1930s. Considering that W.D. Fard gave himself the name of a famous movie actor, Wallace Ford (1898-1966), whose films he likely watched at the Globe Theatre in Salem, Oregon, where he had a lucrative tamale stand, it is not improbable that W.D. Fard had his hair and make-up done in Hollywood fashio
/
(Figure A-7.3: August 11, 1934, The Final Call)
This is one of the oldest pictures of W.D. Fard. His hair is greased, parted, and shiny. The mole on his face appears to have been airbrushed out. His skin has been softened. There is a pen in his pocket. The suit seems darker. The book is thin. The photo was cropped for an oval picture frame as was popular at the time. Either he poses in front of a white background, or the background was airbrushed white. This is a photograph, and not a painting
however, it has been altered and airbrushed.
/
(Figure A-7.4: W.D. Fard)
W.D. Fard's hair is parted and greased. Light reflects upon his lustrous hair. The mole on the left side of his face has been removed.The book is thicker. His thumb is about two inches from the top of the book. There is a pen in his pocket. He might be posing in front of a backdrop or the background was airbrushed in the dark room. He is sitting on a stool. His skin has been smoothened This is a photograph, and not a painting
however, it has been altered and airbrushed.
/
(Figure A-7.5: W.D. Fard)
The resolution is superior. The lighting is better. His hair is parted and greased. Light reflects upon his glossy hair. His skin has been smoothened. The mole on the left side of his face has been removed. The book is thick. His thumb is about three inches from the top of it. The hands are more clearly visible. There is a pen in his pocket. The background has clearly been airbrushed in the dark room. He is sitting on a stool. This is a photograph, and not a painting
however, it has been altere
/
(Figure A-7.6: W.D. Fard)
According to some members of the Nation of Islam, this is the oldest picture of W.D. Fard. It resembles the fifth photo
however, in this one, the book is thicker. Presumably, the photographer would have made the book thicker as opposed to thinner. Perhaps the dating of the photos should be ordered on that basis, namely, from thin to thick. None of these photos are copies of a single photograph. They are all altered versions of an original negative. It seems that each time copies were ordered, t
/
(Figure A-7.7: W.D. Fard)
There is no pen in the left pocket. There is no part in his hair. He was given a full head of hair in the dark room. There are no products in his hair. It is dry
not greased. There is no reflection of light on his hair. His eyebrows are darker and thicker. His skin has been smoothened. The mole on the left side of his face has been erased. The hands are obscured. The book is thin. His thumb reaches the top of it. It might be half an inch from the top of the book. The background appears too lump
/
(Figure A-7.8: The Paassche airbrush. Factory built in Chicago in 1922)
In the same way that people photoshop pictures of themselves today, improving human appearance goes back to the dawn of art. When they painted portraits of people, artists went out of their way to idealize their subjects and make them more attractive. They removed flaws of all kinds. With the advent of photography, this role passed on to photographers. They worked wonders in the dark room. They could change backgrounds, create halo effects and burn marks, and even alter and remove objects and pe
Far from a modern invention, airbrushing goes back to the dawn of photography. Photo manipulation commenced shortly after photography was invented in the 1820s. Photographers would physically alter both negatives and prints. They would retouch them with ink or paint. They would scratch or even burn them. With the invention of the atomizing airbrush by Charles Burdick in 1893, airbrushing became common practice. In fact, Soviet photographers used it to airbrush people out of history.
Since the official photographs of W.D. Fard have been airbrushed and altered, they are producing false negatives when they are compared to the untouched photographs of the same person, namely, those of Wallie D. Ford, Wallace Dodd Ford, and Wallace Farrad. Only the negative offered a realistic photographic image of W.D. Fard. One can only hope that it survives somewhere. According to A.K. Arian / Karl Evanzz, "Fard gave the original photo to Kallat as a token of their strong bond." All of the ph
How were photographs restored and retouched in the 1930s? They were airbrushed to remove imperfections and enhance them. Photographers used "paintbrushes, dyes, and other materials to correct imperfections." Such airbrushing was done by hand. Both "negatives and prints were altered directly through a variety of techniques." So, clearly, J.J. Theus was the one who altered the photos.
Was it part of a plot? Was it at the behest of W.D. Fard or Elijah Muhammad? Were attempts made to alter his appearance so that the authorities could not track him down? Was it to make W.D. Fard look different from the man who appeared in mugshots and newspapers? Was the objective to produce plausible deniability? Maybe but not necessarily so. Since airbrushing photographs was widespread in the 1930s, the purpose was probably artistic or aesthetic.
It was standard practice for any photographer to improve the appearance of his or her subject. Hence, photos were aspirational or glamorized. Moles and scars were removed. Skin was smoothened. Faces and body shape were altered. In addition, people who posed for photographs had their hair and makup done. J.J. Theus, for example, was hired as a Hollywood photographer by makeup artists.
As one can imagine, the impact of even small alterations to the nose, chin, face, ears, head, and hair can produce problems when it comes to computer facial recognition. Rather than claim that the man in the NOI icon is a double, a stand-in, or a decoy, the most reasonable position is that we are dealing with a W.D. Fard who was physically altered by a professional makup artist and photographically altered through early twentieth century photoshopping. As the FBI reported on February 26, 1958,
On February 11, 1958, Mrs. MARION KIEBER, 609 East Baker, Flint, Michigan, was show a photograph obtained from the Detroit Police Department bearing the date of May 26, 1935, and Detroit Police Department Number 45138. KIEBER stated that this photograph was identical to the photograph of the person she knew to be named FARD whose picture she had seen on the wall at the University of Islam some twenty years ago while with her father interviewing persons who were Nation of Islam (NOI) members.
KIEBER advised that the photograph of FARD at the University of Islam -- either a 5'' x 8'' or a 10'' photograph in black and white - was a 'glamorized' or touched up picture. She stated that she recalls that the picture was taken from a 45-degree angle instead of a full face of a profile. Mrs. KIEBER was asked if she was positive of the identification she had made and she stated that there was no doubt in her mind that the two persons were the same. [Italics ours]
/
(Figure A-7.9: FBI File indicating Fard's photo was glamorized and touched up)
APPENDIX 8 CHRISTOPHER C. ALSTON: AN EARLY EYEWITNESS TO W.D. FARD?
By John Andrew Morrow
Christopher C. Alston (1913-1995) was born in Florida and moved to Detroit when he was three. His father was an autoworker who earned his El in the early 1920s. Christopher Alston was raised in the Moorish Science Temple of America and attended children's classes there. He witnessed the splintering of the movement and the battle for leadership that took place in late 1930. He also claims to have met, known, and listened to W.D. Fard.
Christopher C. Alston was a committed and militant communist. He was a competent and respected labor and union organizer and activist. He was seventeen years old when W.D. Fard arrived in Detroit in 1930. He was twenty-one when he left in 1934. Hence, he was old enough to remember him well. However, Les Payne, the journalist, interviewed him in 1993 when he was eighty years old. His testimony came over sixty years after the events they described and appear to have been colored by information acq
[Fard] sold rugs, carpets from samples that he brought around. Initially, he didn't have anything to do with this movement at all. He came to our house at 981 Leland, and other people's houses. He was a very nice guy. I remember him as a boy. My family bought a rug from him.
This description, which provides no added information, is sound, as it has been verified by other sources.
According to Christopher C. Alston, "We knew Fard [Muhammad] for a couple of years in the neighborhood here, before he was associated with the [Moorish Science] Temple." According to Alston,
My father knew Fard. He said this fellow has been coming around the temple. The temple was on Livingston and Hastings Street. It was called the Moorish American Temple of Science. And they had rented a building or bought a building from the [fraternal] Masons. They used the whole building, with classrooms, an auditorium, and everything in it. [Fard] said he was from the Middle East. That's all he said. I don't know what he was. He looked Egyptian. A very sharp nose and light skin. He had straigh
He claimed that,
When Noble Drew Ali came to Detroit, Fard met him, talked to him, and cooperated with him. It was an honest thing. He wasn't trying to make a racket out of it. He was [supposedly] from the East, and Drew Ali was talking about an Eastern thought. So it all fitted, and it attracted him. They had large crowds. But Fard never appeared at these large crows and said anything. He left the [spiritual] leadership to Noble Drew Ali and the others. He would appear, but he never tried to dominate the scene
This is all chronologically impossible. W.D. Fard was released from San Quentin, in California, on May 27, 1929. Noble Drew Ali died on July 20, 1929. There is no way that W.D. Fard was in Detroit for several years before he joined the MSTA. He was locked up at that time. Even if he was released at the end of May 1929, that would have given him less than two months to join the movement, earn the trust of its leader, take charge of its finances, and plot to replace Noble Drew Ali.
Christopher C. Alston claimed that Fard was an "excellent listener" and a good salesperson who spoke mostly about the problems of Negroes in America. "Incidentally, he was in favor of the Japanese [in World War II]." While it is confirmed that W.D. Fard was pro-Japanese, he was long gone when World War II broke out in 1938. Alston seems to have suffered from a temporal overlap in his memories.
Christopher C. Alston also alleged that W.D. Fard was attracted to Noble Drew Ali because the latter was exceptionally soft, incredibly quiet, and a tremendous organizer. In his words,
That fitted the personality of Fard also. They associated together at the Moorish Science Temple here in Detroit. That's where he started off, and it was logical. Noble Drew Ali was in Chicago and Detroit and other cities. He set up things [temples] all around, and Fard never tried to take control - now this I know of the organization. It was a spiritual thing. That's what Drew Ali wanted to be, and that's what he was.
This information is entirely imagined. Was Alston seeking "fame by association?" Did he want to become famous in his final days for his presumed connection to W.D. Fard? Whoever he was talking about, if what he was saying was even true, that person was not W.D. Fard.
According to Christopher C. Alston, W.D. Fard was not a member of the MSTA in the 1920s, the years in which the young Alston attended children's classes. "He came later," he clarified, "and would talk to us about life in the east. And he did talk about life in Japan, too. He said he had been to Japan." This is preposterous.
W.D. Fard never taught classes for children in the MSTA. It was Noble Drew Ali who shared legends of Morocco, as Alston explained in another part of the interview. It is possible, however, that W.D. Fard spoke about the brief time he spent in Japan. Ships out of Karachi would make port in Japan. The next port of call was Hawaii. And, finally, they reached their destination in California, typically Los Angeles or San Francisco. Alston seems to have been suffering from cognitive glitches in which
After Noble Drew Ali died on July 20, 1929, killed by the authorities according to Alston, W.D. Fard seized the moment to take power. W.D. Fard was paroled on May 27, 1929. According to the 1930 census, which was conducted in April of that year, W.D. Fard, then going by the name of William Fard, lived in Chicago. It is possible that he was living in Chicago between June 1929 and July 1929. He could have lived there until June 1930. However, by July 4, 1930, W.D. Fard was residing in Detroit. Unl
According to Christopher C. Alston, his family was surprised when W.D. Fard, who was formerly faithful to the MSTA, surfaced in Detroit claiming to be "the spiritual reincarnation of Drew Ali." As he remembered, "Fard didn't seem [previously] to seek this deification for himself." Once again, Alston showed significant signs of confabulation, misattribution, and cryptomnesia which are common in dementia. He was confusing concepts. Reincarnation and deification are two different things. Alston was
Did W.D. Fard draw converts from the MSTA in Detroit and Chicago? He most surely did. And there are sources that support that. In fact, in 1950, an informant told the FBI that
/
(Figure A-8.1: FBI File on the Nation of Islam)
According to the FBI file on W.D. Fard, another informant reported that Fard "was instrumental in having many members leave the MSTA and affiliate themselves with a group which he referred to as the Muslims" (Reference Number: CG 25-20607). If this is true, notes Dawn-Marie Gibson, "Fard would have entered the MSTA just weeks before Ali's death
in time to make himself known to cult members as a follower of Ali."
Did W.D. Fard claim to be the reincarnation of Noble Drew Ali? Who knows? Many others made the same claim over the years. The problem with Alston's account is chronology and geography. W.D. Fard did not spend several years in Detroit prior to 1929. He arrived in Chicago shortly before Noble Drew Ali was murdered. In the violent chaos that ensued, W.D. Fard relocated to Detroit where, it is possible, he took control of a faction of Moors and transitioned them into a movement of his own, the Allah
APPENDIX 9 FOIA REQUESTS
By John Andrew Morrow
(For all information pertaining to W.D. Fard and all his known aliases)
American Agency Results
National Security Agency Refusal
CIA Ignored
FBI Ignored
United States Department of the Navy / US Coast Guard Negative
US Department of State Negative
Department of Homeland Security / USCIS Awaiting
United States Secret Service Negative
Detroit Police Department / City of Detroit Negative
Chicago Police Department / City of Chicago Negative
Los Angeles Police Department / City of Los Angeles Refusal
San Francisco Police Department / City of San Francisco Negative
Salem Police Department / City of Salem Negative
Indiana Office of Judicial Administration Ignored
Hammond Police Department / City of Hammond Negative
Canadian Agency Results
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Negative
CSIS Awaiting
British Agency Results
Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom Negative
MI5 and MI6 Refusal
Chinese Agency
Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong Negative
APPENDIX 10 RESEARCH REQUESTS / HISTORICAL INQUIRIES
By John Andrew Morrow
(For all information pertaining to W.D. Fard and all his known aliases)
Group Results
Church of Latter Day Saint Ignored
Freemasons / Shriners Negative
Governing Body of the Jehovah's Witnesses Ignored
Independent Order of Odd Fellows Negative
Order of the Eastern Star Negative
Ordo Templi Orientis Refusal
Prince Hall Masons Ignored
Rosicrucian Order Refusal
Simon Wiesenthal Foundation Ignored
Collections Results
Gerald Winrod Papers Negative
Winrod Collection Negative
John W. Jackson Papers Negative
Kenneth Bradley Collection Negative
Louis Wirth Papers Negative
APPENDIX 11 WHAT HAPPENED TO FARD AFTER 1934?
1) He died a natural death.
2) He met with foul play.
3) He assumed a new identity.
4) He went to Mexico.
5) He went to South America, probably Argentina, withWilliam Thomas White, aka Wali Mohammed, his waltzing partner.
6) He went to Canada.
7) He went to New Zealand or Australia
8) He returned to the United States after travel abroad.
9) He went to Japan or Hong Kong.
10) He went to Germany.
11) He returned to British India.
12) If he was an intelligence operative at the service of Imperial Japan, he was reassigned. In 1934, Japan's espionage activities were widespread. During that year, they sent spies to China, Manchuria, Korea, Singapore, Inner Asia, the United States (San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles), southern California (where Japanese fishing vessels conducted espionage along the coastline), and Central and South America, including Panama where a secret ring of spies was located. Instead of searching
13) He ascended into heaven.
14) He boarded the Mother Ship and awaits the Day of Doom.
PERMISSIONS
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 19 were previously published online on the website of the Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies. The same goes for Appendix 3. They are reproduced here with permission. Chapters 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, and 23 consist of entirely new research that is published for the first time. The authors reserve the right to use any of their research for educational purposes, including lectures and video presentations.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND IMAGES
All photographs and images used in this work are duly credited. Most are public domain. Others are reproduced with permission. For example, the photograph of Donald Lloyd Campagna and the photographs of Pearl Allen were reproduced with the permission of Malaya Campagna. Some photos fall under the 95-year rule and are treated as public domain. The photo of Burnsteen Muhammad was reproduced with the kind permission of her daughter, Medina Mohammed. Other photographs are treated as fair use, namely
WORKS CITED
(URLs are truncated. Complete URLs are in the end notes.Due to the nature of the internet, URLs can break or be broken)
Alam Khan Publications. "Muhammad was not a Prophet: W.D. Fard's Heterodox Islam." YouTube (2025). https://www.youtube.com
Alam Khan Publications, "The W.D. Fard Portrait Is Doctored." YouTube (2024). https://www.youtube.com
Alam Khan Publications, "W.D. Fard's Newspaper Photos Authenticated by John Muhammad." YouTube (2024). https://youtu.be
Alam Khan Publications, "When & Where W.D. Fard's Photo Was Taken?" YouTube (2024). https://www.youtube.com
Alam Khan Publications. "W.D. Fard's Angry Letter to Elijah Muhammad (December 18, 1933)." YouTube (2024). https://youtu.be
Alam Khan Publications. "Did W.D. Fard Sleep?" YouTube (2024). https://www.youtube.com
Allah, Wakeel. The History of the Nation of Islam: The Pioneer Years (1930-1950). Atlanta: A-Team Publishing, 2025.
Allah, Wakeel. Our Story: A Black Muslim Anthology of Nation of Islam Pioneers (1930s-1940s). Atlanta: A-Team Publishing, 2025.
Allen, Ernest. "Religious Heterodoxy and Nationalist Tradition: The Continuing Evolution of the Nation of Islam." The Black Scholar (1996) 26: 2-34.
Allen, Ernest. "Waiting for Tojo: The Pro-Japan Vigil of Black Missourians, 1932-1943." Gateway Heritage (Fall 1995) 38-55. http://www.umass.edu
Allen, Ernest. "When Japan Was 'Champion of the Darker Races:' Satokata Takahashi and the Flowering of Black Messianic Nationalism." The Black Scholar 24.1 (Winter 1994) 23-46. https://www.jstor.org
Alvergne, Alexandra et al. "Identification of Visual Paternity Cues in Human." Biol Lett April 10.4 (2014). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Anonymous. Fama Fraternitatis. Trans. By Thomas Vaughan, 1652. https://www.crcsite.org/rosicrucian-library/fama-fraternitatis/
Arian, A.K. Chameleon: The True Story of W.D. Fard. Arian Press, 2020.
Arian, A.K. Chameleon: The True Story of W.D. Fard. Np: Xix Books, 2016.
Asatryan, Mushegh. Controversies in Formative Shii Islam: The Ghulat Muslims. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017.
At My Sister's House Talk Show. "At My Sister's House: Replay." YouTube (2022). https://youtu.be
Azaziah, Jonathan. "The Brotherhood Between Malcolm X and Dr. Mohammad Taki Mehdi: How Shia Islam Changed Malcolm XForever." Uprooted Palestinian (May 19, 2017). http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com
Baitcal Media Group. "W. Deen Mohammed and Louis Farrakhan Interview." YouTube (2009). https://youtu.be
Bar-Asher, Meir M., and Aryeh Kofsky, The Nusayri-Alawi Religion: An Enquiry into Its Theology and Liturgy. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
Berg, A. Scott. Lindbergh. New York: Putnam, 1998.
Batey, Anton, and Kevin Morris. W.D. Fard's First Footsteps in America: The Trail in Oregon. USA: W.D. Fard Research Society, 2025.
Beachy, Robert. "Recasting Cosmopolitanism: German Freemasonry and Regional Identity in the Early Nineteenth Century." Eighteenth-Century Studies 33.2 (2000) 266-274.
Berg, Herbert. Elijah Muhammad. London: Oneworld Publications, 2013.
Besant, Annie. The Masters and the Path. Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1925.
Beynon, Erdmann Doane. "The Voodoo Cult Among Negro Migrants in Detroit." American Journal of Sociology 43.6 (May 1938) 894-907.
Bisbort, Alan. "American Frankenstein: San Quentin's Surgeon & His Human Experiments." Please Kill Me: This is What's Cool (September 21, 2017). https://pleasekillme.com
Blain, Keisha B. "'For the Rights of Dark People in Every Part of the World:' Pearl Sherrod, Black Internationalist Feminism, and Afro-Asian Politics during the 1930s." Souls 17.1-2 (January-June 2015) 90-112.
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. The Key to Theosophy. 2nd ed. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1889. https://www.theo society.org
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna. The Secret Doctrine. Vol. 2. London: Theosophical Publishing Company, 1888. https://www.theosociety. org
Blue, Ethan. Doing Time in the Depression: Everyday Life in Texas and California Prisons. New York: New York University Press, 2012.
Blue, Ethan. "The Strange Career of Leo Stanley: Remaking Manhood and Medicine at San Quentin State Penitentiary, 1913-1951." Pacific Historical Review 78.2 (1 May 2009) 210-241.
Bobo, Jacquelin, et al., editors. The Black Studies Reader. London and New York: Routledge, 2004.
Boddle, Derk. "Japan and the Muslims of China." Far Eastern Survey 15.20 (October 16, 1946) 311-313.
Bowen, Patrick D. A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Vol. 2., The African American Islamic Renaissance, 1920-1975. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
Bowen, Patrick D. "'The Colored Genius': Lucius Lehman and the Californian Roots of Modern African American Islam." Cult/ure 8.2 (Spring 2013) 10-11.
Bowen, Patrick D. "Early U.S. Latina/o - African-American Muslim Connections: Paths to Conversion." The Muslim World 100.4 (September 2010) 390-413.
Bowne, Patrick D. "The Moorish Presence in the Early Nation of Islam: Notes on the Chicago-Herald-American's 1942 Exposé." Moorish Men's Brotherhood Summit (November 4-6, 2016) 5-6. www.academia.edu
Brown, David. Carrier Operations in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998.
Buck, Christopher. God & Apple Pie: Religious Myths and Visions of America. Kingston, NY: Educator's Press, 2015.
California Eagle. "Religious Fanatic Group, Chicago, Break up Member's Trial." California Eagle Friday (March 8, 1935) 1. https://www.newspapers.com
Chaddock, Don. "San Quentin Doctor Pushes Prison Medicine into 20th Century." California Department of Corrections (November 8, 2018). https://www.cdcr.ca.gov
Columbian, The. "Personals." The Columbian (July 18, 1933).
Conscious Course, The. "Understanding: The Mother of Planes - Messenger Elijah Muhammad Teaching on Ezekiel's Wheel." YouTube. https://youtu.be
Conyers, James L. Africana Faith: A Religious History of the African American Crusade in Islam. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
Crow, David. "San Quentin Part 3: Dr. Leo Stanley." David Crow (2023). https://www.davidcrowauthor.com
Curtis, Edward E. "Indiana's First Mosque. Syrian Shia Muslims in Michigan City." Edward Curtis (2017). https://edward-curtis.com
Curtis, Edward E. "Science and Technology in Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam." Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 20.1 (August 1, 2016) 5.
Curtis, Richard H. "Dr. Mohammad T. Mehdi (1928-1998)." Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (April 1988) 82-83. https://www. wrmea.org
Daftary, Farhad. The Ismailis: Their History and Doctrines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Däniken, Erich von. Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past. Translated by Michael Heron. New York: Putnam, 1968.
Davies, R.E.G. Airlines of the United States Since 1914. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998.
Day, Takako. "The Japanese Consulate and Nake & Pearl Nakane: Part 1 and Part 2." Discover Nikkei (August 19, 2019). https://discover nikkei.org
Day, Takako. "Japanese Affinity with African American Communities: Part 1-5." Discover Nikkei (2022). https://discovernikkei.org
DeCaro, Jr. Louis A. On the Side of my People: A Religious Life of Malcolm X. New York: New York University Press, 1996.
Delta Flight Museum. "Family Tree." Delta Flight Museum. https://www.deltamuseum.org
Detroit Free Press. "The Lore of Islam Recounted by Girl." Detroit Free Press (April 26, 1934): 2.
Detroit Free Press. "13 Policemen Hurt Battling Voodoo Band." Detroit Free Press (April 19, 1934) 2. https://www.newspapers.com
Detroit Free Press, "New Human Sacrifice with Boy as Victim is Averted by Inquiry." Detroit Free Press (November 26, 1932) 1-2.
Detroit Free Press. "Cult is Traced to Islam Fakir: Negro Leaders Join Fight on Worship." Detroit Free Press (November 24, 1932) 2. https://www.newspapers.com
Detroit Free Press, "Pair Slug, Rob Ailing Grocer." Detroit Free Press (August 4, 1931) 5. https://www.newspapers.com
Detroit Tribune. "Theus Named Official Hollywood Photo Man." The Detroit Tribune (Saturday, September 30, 1939) 3.
Detroit Tribune. "Theus Photo Service." The Detroit Tribune (Saturday, March 21, 1936) 2.
Detroit Tribune. "Theus Photo Studio to Occupy New Quarters." The Detroit Tribune (February 16, 1936) 4. https://www.newspapers.com
Dowd, Katie. "The San Quentin Prison Doctor Who Performed Over 10,000 Human Experiments." SFGATE (August 9, 2019). https://www.sfgate.com
Duranton, Nils. "Life in Abundance: Diet, Black Health, and Spirituality in the Nation of Islam, 1930-1975." Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 53.4: 593-611.https://journals.sagepub.com
Equinox Publishing. The Supreme Wisdom Lessons. https://www.equinox pub.com
Essien-Udom, E.U. Black Nationalism: A Search for an Identity in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.
Evanzz, Karl. The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad. New York: Vintage Books, 2001.
Evanzz, Karl. The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad. New York: Pantheon Books, 1999.
Expositor, The. "Weird Voodoo Cult is Investigated by Police." The Expositor (January 20, 1937) 1. https://www.newspapers.com
Fanusie, Fatimah. Fard Muhammad in Historical Context: An Islamic Thread in the American Religious and Cultural Quilt. Doctoral dissertation. Washington, DC: Howard University, 2008.
Fard, W.D. The Supreme Wisdom Lessons. Detroit: Nation of Islam, 1934. http://www.ciphertheory.net
Fard, W.D. The Supreme Wisdom Lessons by Master W.D. Fard Muhammad to His Servant, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad for the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in North America. Detroit: Nation of Islam, 1934.
Farrakhan, Louis. "The Great, Life-Giving Wheel ('Mother Plane'): 'The New Jerusalem.'" The Final Call (January 20, 2014). https://www. finalcall.com
Farrakhan., Louis. "The Greatness of Master Fard Muhammad." The Final Call (2009). https://www.finalcall.com
Farrakhan, Louis. "The True Mission of the Hon Elijah Muhammad." YouTube (1998). https://www.youtube.com
FBI. Wallace Fard Muhammad. https://vault.fbi.gov
FBI. Malcolm X File. https://vault.fbi.gov
FBI. Elijah Muhammad File. https://vault.fbi.gov
FBI. Nation of Islam File. https://vault.fbi.gov
Find a Grave. "Wallace Max Ford." Find a Grave. https://www.finda grave.com
Finley, Stephen C. In & Out of This World: Material and Extraterrestrial Bodies in the Nation of Islam. Durham: Duke University Press, 2022.
Fraser, Shane. "How a Japanese Café Owner from Moose Jaw became an FBI-targeted Black Nationalist." SaskToday (May 22, 2023). https://www.sasktoday.ca
Friedman, Norman. Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing, 2011.
Friedman, Yaron. The Nusayri-'Alawis: An Introduction to the Religion, History and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
Fritze, Ronald H. Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science, and Pseudo-Religion. London: Reaktion Books, 2009.
Gardell, Mattias. In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996.
Gates, Jr. Henry Louis. "The Charmer: The Many Faces of Louis Farrakhan." The New Yorker (April 21, 1996). https://www.news papers.com
Gibson, Dawn-Marie. "The Prophet in Detroit: Fard Muhammad and the Origins of the Nation of Islam." BASS 13.3 (2008). https://baas.ac.uk
Goldman, Peter. The Death and Life of Malcolm X. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1979.
Golinkin, David. "Why do Jew from Islamic Lands Object to Sitting with Crossed Legs in a Synagogue?" Schechter (May 8, 2018). https://schechter.edu
Gomez, Michael A. Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Gray Lodge # 329, "Masonic Readings - 'Truth' as Told from a 1932 Essay." Gray Lodge #329. https://www.gray329.org
Guthrie, Paul. "The Hills of West Asia." YouTube (2017). https://www.you tube.com
Guthrie, Paul. "Master Fard and India." YouTube (2013). https://www.you tube.com
Hakim, Minister Nasir Makr, editor. The Mother Plane. Phoenix: Secretarius MEMPS, 1996.
Heagy, Hilarion. "Goethe's Embrace of Islam." Medium (May 18, 2024). https://medium.com
Hourly History. Elijah Muhammad: A Life from Beginning to End. Np: Hourly History, 2022
Illinois Writers Project. "Notes on the Chicago Temple of Islam." Illinois Writers Project: Negro in Illinois Collection. Ed. Arna Bontemps and Jack Conroy. 1936-1942. https://cdm16818.contentdm.oclc.org
Inloes, Amina. "Racial 'Othering' in Shi'i Sacred History: Jawn ibn Huwayy the 'African Slave,' and the Ethnicities of the Twelve Imams." Journal of Shia Islamic Studies (Autumn 2014) 411-439. https://al-islam.org
Ironmuhammad68. "Saviours' Day 2007: One Nation Under God." YouTube (2007). https://youtu.be
Jafri, S.H.M. The Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979. https://samensterk.files.word press.com
Janssen, Volker. Convict Labor, Civic Welfare: Rehabilitation in California's Prisons, 1941-1971. Dissertation. San Diego: University of California, 2008.
Jazwinska, Klaudia and Aisvarya Chandrasekar. "AI Search Has a Citation Problem." Columbia Journalism Review (March 6, 2025). https://www.cjr.org
Jet Magazine. "Elijah Muhammad Wills $200,000 Estate to Kids." Jet Magazine (April 17, 1975). https://www.elijahmuhammadspeaks.com
Johnson, Sylvester A., and Steven Weitzman, eds. The FBI and Religion: Faith and National Security Before and After 9/11. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2017.
Kármán, Theodore von, and Lee Edson. The Wind and Beyond: Theodore von Kármán, Pioneer in Aviation and Pathfinder in Space. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967.
Knight., Michael Muhammad. "I am Sorry, Mr. White Man, These are Secrets that You are Not Permitted to Learn: The Supreme Wisdom Lessons and Problem Book." Correspondences 7.1 (2019) 167-200.
Knight, Michael Muhammad. The Supreme Wisdom Lessons: A Scripture of American Islam. New York: Soft Skull Press, 2024.
Knight, Michael Muhammad. The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip-Hop and the Gods of New York. London: Oneworld Publications, 2013.
Kulayni, Muhammad al-. al-Kafi. 8 vols. Trans. Muhammad Sarwar. New York: Islamic Seminary, 2015.
Legacy.com. "John Shamsideen Obituary." The Day (2005). https://www. legacy.com
Lieb, Michael. Children of Ezekiel: Aliens, UFOs, the Crisis of Race, and the Advent of End Time. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998.
Lincoln, C. Eric. The Black Muslims in America. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1994.
Marable, Manning. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. New York: Viking, 2011.
Masoner, Liz. "What is Airbrushing in Photography?" The Spruce Crafts (October 12, 2019). https://www.thesprucecrafts.com
Medina, Arely. Islam-Latino: Identidades étnico-religiosas, Un estudio de caso sobre los mexicanos musulmanes en Estados Unidos. Jalisco: El Colegio de Jalisco / El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 2019.
Mehdi, Mohammad T. Peace in Palestine. New York: New World Press, 1976.
Millar, Angel. The Crescent and the Compass: Islam, Freemasonry, Esotericism, and Revolution in the Modern Age. Victoria: Numen Books, 2015.
Mommsen, Katharina. Goethe and the Poets of Arabia. Martlesham, UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2023. https://www.cambridge.org
Moosa, Matti. Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1988.
Morales, Tatiana. "World Almanac's Top 10 Stories." CBS News. (December 30, 2003). https://www.cbsnews.com
Morley, Jefferson. "Elijah Muhammad in Cuernavaca, Mexico." Muckrock (May 4, 2018). https://www.muckrock.com
Morrow, John Andrew. Muhammad and the Christians: Commemorating the Covenants of the Prophet. Washington / London: Academica Press, 2025.
Morrow, John Andrew. "More on Wallace Max Ford, the Son of W.D. Fard." Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies (April 8, 2025). https://bliis.org
Morrow, John Andrew. Hijab: Word of God or Word of Man? Washington / London: Academica Press, 2024.
Morrow, John Andrew. Islam & Slavery. Washington / London: Academica Press, 2023.
Morrow, John Andrew. Controversies in Islam: Religious Law, Qur'anic Ethical Imperatives and Higher Moral Objectives. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023.
Morrow, John Andrew. "W.D. Fard's Bible of Islamism Identified: A Century-Old Mystery Is Solved." The Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies (2023). https://bliis.org
Morrow, John Andrew. The Islamic Interfaith Initiative: No Fear Shall be Upon Them. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021.
Morrow, John Andrew. The Messenger of Mercy: The Covenants of Coexistence from the Prophet of Pluralism. New Delhi: Sanbun Publishers, 2021.
Morrow, John Andrew. Shi'ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus. 2 vols. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020.
Morrow, John Andrew. "Malcolm X. and the Twelve Imams of the So-Called 'Extremist' Shiites." The Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies (March 27, 2020). https://bliis.org
Morrow, John Andrew. Finding W.D. Fard: Unveiling the Identity of the Founder of the Nation of Islam. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.
Morrow, John Andrew, ed. Islam and the People of the Book: Critical Studies on the Covenants of the Prophet. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.
Morrow, John Andrew. Restoring the Balance: Using the Qur'an and Sunnah to Guide a Return to the Prophet's Islam. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.
Morrow, John Andrew. The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World. Hillsdale, NY and Tacoma, WA: Angelico Press and Sophia Perennis, 2013.
Morrow, John Andrew. "Malcolm X. and Mohammad Mehdi: The Shi'a Connection?" Journal of Shia Islamic Studies 5.1 (2012) 5-24.
Muhammad, Bilal. "The NOI, the Theosophical Society, and W.D. Fard's Milieu." The Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies (2024). https://bliis.org
Muhammad, Bilal. "The Origin of W.D. Fard's 'Actual Facts.'" The Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies (2023). https://bliis.org
Muhammad, Bilal. "The War of Armageddon: The NOI, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Imperial Japan." The Berkeley Institute for Islamic Studies (2023). https://bliis.org
Muhammad, Burnsteen Sharrieff. I am Burnsteen Sharrieff Mohammed Reformer and Secretary to Master W.D.F. Mohammed. and these are some of my Experiences. Detroit: np, 2011.
Muhammad, Carlos. "W.D. Fard's History in Mexico." YouTube (2021). www.facebook.com
Muhammad, Donald. "My Mission, My People." The Final Call (October 7, 1999). https://www.finalcall.com
Muhammad, Elijah. Warnings & Instructions to the M.G.T. & G.C.C. from the Honorable Elijah Mohammed. Detroit: np, 2012.
Muhammad, Elijah. Yakub (Jacob): The Father of Mankind. Phoenix: MEMPS, 2008.
Muhammad, Elijah. Theology of Time. Phoenix: Memps Publications, 2008.
Muhammad, Elijah. The True History of Elijah Muhammad. Ed. Nasir Makr Hakim. Phoenix: Memps Publications, 2008.
Muhammad, Elijah. The Genesis Years: Unpublished and Rare Writings of Elijah Muhammad, Messenger of Allah (1959-1962). 2 vols. Maryland Heights, MO: MEMPS, 2003.
Muhammad, Elijah. Our Saviour Has Arrived. Phoenix: Memps Publications, 1996.
Muhammad, Elijah. The Mother Plane. Edited by Minister Nasir Makr Hakim. Phoenix: Secretarius MEMPS, 1996.
Muhammad, Elijah. The Secrets of Freemasonry. Phoenix: Secretarius MEMPS Publications, 1994.
Muhammad, Elijah. The Fall of America. Chicago: Muhammad's Temple No. 2, 1973.
Muhammad, Elijah. How to Eat to Live, Part 1. Chicago: Muhammad's Temple No. 2, 1967.
Muhammad, Elijah. Message to the Blackman in America. Chicago: Muhammad's Temple No. 2, 1965.
Muhammad, Elijah. The Supreme Wisdom: Solutions to the So-Called Negroes Problems. Vol. 1. Phoenix: Secretarius MEMPS Publications, 1957.
Muhammad, Elijah. "Concerning Allah, the Supreme Being. W.D. Fard Muhammad is Allah." Elijah Muhammad. Speaks (August 21, 1947). https://www.elijahmuhammadspeaks.com
Muhammad, Ishmael. "Ishmael Muhammad on Moment with Elijah Muhammad." YouTube (2020). https://www.youtube.com
Muhammad, Jabril. "The Power of the Mother Plane." The Final Call (August 4, 2020). https://new.finalcall.com
Muhammad, Jabril. "The Work is On Us to Do." The Final Call (September 6, 2015). https://www.finalcall.com
Muhammad, John. "Supreme Minister John Muhammad Advice from Master Fard Muhammad." YouTube (March 28, 2025). https://www.youtube.com
Muhammad, John. "Supreme Minister John Muhammad 1989 Saviours' Day." YouTube (2024). https://youtu.be
Muhammad, John. "Supreme Minister John Muhammad How Jesus Died." YouTube (2024). https://youtu.be
Muhammad, John. "Supreme Minister John Muhammad Moses History." YouTube (2024). https://youtu.be
Muhammad, John. "Supreme Minister John Muhammad the Blind Man." YouTube (2024). https://youtu.be
Muhammad, John. "Supreme Minister John Muhammad Demonstrating the Fez." YouTube https://www.youtube.com
Muhammad, John. "Supreme Minister John Muhammad Saviours Day." YouTube (2024). https://youtu.be
Muhammad, John. "Supreme Minister John Muhammad 1988 East Point, Georgia." YouTube (2023). https://youtu.be
Muhammad, Tynetta. "Mother Tynetta Muhammad Compilation." YouTube (2023). https://youtube.be
Muhammad, Tynetta. "Bringing up a Mountain One-Mile-High Equals Five Thousand Two Hundred Eighty Feet." The Final Call (January 14, 2014). https://www.finalcall.com
Mythic Detroit. "Coverage of the 'Voodoo Murders.'" Mythic Detroit (1932). http://mythicdetroit.org
Navy Department. "Resume of Japanese Influence on the Negroes in the United States." Navy Department (October 22, 1942). https://ncisahistory.org
New York Times, "Succeeds Pastor Russell: J.F. Rutherford, New York Lawyer, Heads Watch Tower Society." New York Times (January 17, 1919) Section I: 9.
New York Times. New York Times Archive. https://www.newspapers.com
Novus Veteris Lodge. "What is Freemasonry?" Novus Veteris Lodge (2025). https://novusfreemason.org
Official Aviation Guide Company. The Official Aviation Guide of the Airways (February 1934, Volume 5, No. 11). Chicago: Official Aviation Guide Company, 1934. [Smithsonian Libraries and Archives call no. TL720.8.O38X SLRA].
Online Archive of California. "Views of San Quentin Prison and Events, ca. 1925-1935." Online Archive of California. http://www.oac.cd lib.org
Online Archive of California. "Finding Aid to the Leo L. Stanley. Scrapbooks and Papers, 1849-1974 (bulk 1928-1965), MS 2061." Online Archive of California. 2001. https://oac.cdlib.org
Pavri, P. The Coming World Teacher. Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1925.
Payne, Les, and Tamara Payne. The Dead are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X. New York: Liveright Publishing, 2020.
Penton, M. James. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. 3rd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.
Pinn, Anthony B. Varieties of African American Religious Experience. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998.
Polk, Andrew R. "The Best Knower: Mythmaking, Fard Muhammad, and the Lost-Found Nation of Islam." The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality 10.1 (2020) 81-93.
Ringle, Ken. "Farrakhan's Figures." The Washington Post (October 22, 1995). https://www.washingtonpost.com
Rogerson, Alan. Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses.. London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1969.
Rutherford, J.F. Deliverance! New York: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1926.
Rutherford, Joseph F. "Salvation." The Watchtower 59.22 (November 15, 1938) 346.
Saduq, Shaykh. A Shiite Creed. Trans. Asaf A.A. Fyzee. https://www.al-islam.org
Sahib, Hatim. "The Nation of Islam." Contributions in Black Studies 13/14 (1995/1996) 48-160. https://scholarworks.umass.edu
Sahib, Hatim. The Nation of Islam: An American Millenarian Movement. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996.
Schüttler, Hermann. Die Mitglieder des Illuminatenordens, 1776-1787/93. Munich: Ars Una, 1991.
Scheer, David. "Historical / Genealogical Inquiry." Email to the author (January 13, 2025).
Seventh Jewel Productions. "Hon Elijah Muhammad Interview: Part 1." YouTube (2021). https://youtu.be
Shabazz, Lance. "The Lance Shabazz Show 2013 Part 4." YouTube (2013). https://www.youtube.com
Shabazz, Shah-Allah. "Was Messenger Elijah Muhammad a Moor?" YouTube (2018). https://youtu.be
Shabazz, Shah-Allah. "Minister Jeremiah Shabazz Speaks on His Early History and Malcolm X." YouTube (2015). https://www.youtube.com
Shabazz, Shah-Allah. Q&A With the Supreme Minister." YouTube (2014). https://youtu.be
Shabazz, Shah-Allah. "The Physical Whereabouts of the Messenger." YouTube (2014). https://youtu.be
Shah, Bashir. "The Ahmadiyya Schism in the USA (in Pittsburgh in 1934 and Cleveland in 1934-36)." Ahmadiyya Fact Check Blog (2024). https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com
Stanley, Leo. Men at their Worst. New York and London: D. Appleton-Century, 1940.
Statesman Journal. "Fred on His Vacation." Statesman Journal (November 23, 1915) 4.
Tasker, Robert Joyce. Grimhaven. New York: Vanguard Press, 1935.
Theosophical Society, The "Mission Statement." Theosophical Society in Australia (2024). https://theosophicalsociety.org.au
The Tidings. "Yorba." The Tidings (March 30, 1923) 11.
Watchtower, The. "Armageddon - God's War to End All Wars." The Watchtower 129.7 (April 2008) 5-8. The Watchtower. https://wol.jw.org
Watchtower, The. "The Marvelous New World of God's Making." Does God Really Care About Us? Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (2008) 22-28. The Watchtower. https://wol.jw.org
Watchtower, The. "What Is the Battle of Armageddon?" JW.ORG. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, https://www.jw.org
Watchtower, The. "1935 Calendar Golden Age." The Golden Age 16: 1-2 (January 1935). The Watchtower. https://web.archive.org
Weston, Omar. "Preguntas sobre el islam en Cuernavaca." Email to the author (February 2, 2025).
Wikipedia. "Wallace Fard Muhammad." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia. org
Wikipedia, "Yakub (Nation of Islam). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia. "Flag of the Young Turk Revolution." Wikipedia. https://en. wikipedia.org
Wills, Tony. A People for His Name: A History of Jehovah's Witnesses and an Evaluation. Lulu.com, 2006.
Wolfenstein, Eugene Victor. The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X. and the Black Revolution. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1981.
World Almanac and Book of Facts, The. New York: Press Publishing Company, 1921. https://archive.org
World Almanac and Book of Facts, The. New York: Press Publishing Company (The New York World), 1923.
World Almanac and Book of Facts, The. New York: Press Publishing Company (The New York World), 1928.
Wright, Peter Matthews. A Box of Self-Threading Needles: Epic Vision and Penal Trauma in the Fugitive Origins of the Nation of Islam. M.A. thesis in Religious Studies. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2004.
X, Malcolm. The Diary of Malcolm X: El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, 1964. Ed. Herb Boyd and Ilyasah Al-Shabazz. Chicago: Third World Press, 2014.
X, Malcolm. The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches. New York: Arcade, 2011.
X, Malcolm and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Grove Press, 1966.
Zeghoudi, Yahia. A History of the Nation of Islam Movement in the USA, 1930-2003. The Shift from a Heterodox Movement Toward Sunni Islam. Seattle: Kindle, 2022.
Zhang, Wei, and Alexandre Salle, "Native Language Identification with Large Language Models." ARXIV (December 13, 2023). https://arxiv.org
INDEX
Aryan race, 134, 137
1929 Ford Model A, 265
Ashura, 33
A
Asiatic black man, 62, 67, 78, 111
Atatürk, 226
Abdul Muhammad, 70, 129, 347, 349, 357, 358, 359
Audubon Ballroom, 34
Australia, 139, 142, 144, 145, 146, 319
accent, 79, 83, 114, 248, 319
Actual Facts, 56, 57, 59, 316
Azerbaijan, 36, 118, 131
Adam, 52
Adamic race, 24
B
ADL, 33
Baby Gee, 118, 119, 120, 121
Afghanistan, 36, 126, 131, 136, 321
Bahai, 10
Africa, 52, 68, 92, 108, 135
Ballard, Edna Anne Wheeler, 268
Ahl al-Bayt, 29
Ballard, Guy, 268
Ahl al-Kitab, 33
Baluchistan, 321
Ahmadiyya, 10, 79, 120, 150, 151, 152, 155, 242
Baptist, 8, 269
Barton, Hazel, 82, 90, 117, 126, 131, 163, 185, 207, 230, 241, 242, 243, 244, 263, 265, 317, 324
Alevis, 36, 50, 316
Alexander the Great, 120
Allah in Person, 110, 111, 243, 311, 323
Batey, Anton, 247
Bektashis, 36, 48, 51, 316
Allah Temple of Islam, 6, 64, 69, 71, 154, 157, 159, 260, 269, 270
Belle Isle, 149
Berry, Oscar, 5
Allah, Karriem, 327
Besant, Annie, 135
Allen, Pearl, 81, 127, 194, 230, 232, 234, 235, 244, 317, 324
Beynon, Edrmann Doane, 61
Bible, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 38, 39, 42, 45, 56, 104, 129, 136, 152, 181, 198, 205, 221, 226, 310, 315, 317
almanac, 57, 58
anagram, 189, 190, 191, 202, 323
Angels, 39
Antichrist, 46
Bible of Islamism, 3, 4
Arabia, 41, 45, 82, 92, 121, 253
Black Dragon Society, 3, 25
Arabic, 2, 35, 42, 51, 73, 83, 116, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 198, 223, 225, 251, 254, 300, 302
Black Hebrews, 10
black nationalism, 34, 185
black stone, 45
Arabization, 52
Blavatsky, Helena, 133
Arian, A.K., 114, 207
blue-eyed devil, 149, 229
Armageddon, 9, 19, 21, 24, 25, 27, 56, 109, 205
Bontemps, Arna, 61, 70, 79
Detroit Police Department, 7, 48, 273
bootlegging, 244
DNA, 52, 82, 90, 91, 92, 93, 131, 317
Bowen, Patrick D., 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 71, 131, 300
Dodd, Fred, 81, 82, 126, 127, 130, 162, 170, 189, 191, 194, 195, 197, 198, 202, 203, 230, 236, 238, 239, 323
Buddhism, 133, 320
C
Druze, 10, 35, 51, 83, 315
café, 241
Dufresne, Andy, 273
California, 32, 84, 126, 156, 157, 179, 180, 181, 182, 220, 222, 239, 244, 273, 296, 300, 312, 325, 330, 331
E
Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, 326
Campagna, Donald Lloyd, 81, 82, 84, 85, 90, 92, 93
Ellis, Keith, 271
eugenicist, 185, 219, 325
Campagna, Malaya, 84, 85, 90, 93
eunuchs, 221
Campagna, Tony, 81, 82, 92, 317
euthanasia, 220
Caucasus, 118
Evanzz, Karl, 82, 134, 136, 320
Cavy, 262
Ezekiel, 205, 212
Christianity, 10, 20, 62, 68, 78, 137, 182, 216
F
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 73
Fanusie, Fatimah, 152, 194, 222, 242
Church of Latter-Day Saints, 10
Farr, George, 126, 134
Clark, Dr., 111
Farrakhan, Louis, 27, 55, 56, 107, 109, 115, 116, 119, 123, 152, 206, 212, 250, 251, 272, 303, 304, 306, 307, 308, 316
cocaine, 243
Collins, Ella, 321
Collins, Rodney P., 321
Conroy, Jack, 61, 70, 79
Fatimah, 44
crescent, 224, 225
FBI, 26, 33, 114, 117, 208, 225, 243, 244, 265, 271, 293, 294, 295, 299, 300, 312, 330
Crowley, Aleister, 4
Cryptology, 203
Cuernavaca, 293, 295, 296, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 306, 307, 309, 310, 312, 327
Ferndale, 149, 150, 151, 153, 154, 155, 159, 319
Final Battle, 19
cult, 6, 63, 64, 65, 75, 181, 182, 242, 261, 270
Finley, Stephen C., 206
Five Guiding Principles, 2, 3
Curtis, Edward E., 56
Ford, Henry, 189
Cushmeer, Bernard, 109, 119, 355
Ford, Wallace Max, 82, 90, 92, 131, 317
D
Ford, Wilfred Donald, 144, 145, 319
forensic linguistics, 161, 321
Darwin, 135
Fred's Night Lunch, 163, 189
Deanar, Tynetta, 307
Freemasonry, 10, 49, 130, 138
Deliverance!, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 19, 20, 23, 57, 104, 315
Freemasons, 68, 142, 198, 202, 224, 309
Deliverer, 173, 176, 262, 267, 326
French Canadians, 254
Demiurge, 218
I am that I am, 326
Freud, Sigmund, 229, 258
Illinois Writer's Project, 78
G
Illuminati, 198, 202, 323
Imamology, 36
Gardell, Mattias, 136
Imazighen, 52
Garvey, Marcus, 10
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 68, 197, 391
Gary, Indiana, 117, 157, 158, 255
gender segregation, 75
Indian Subcontinent, 121, 172
Germany, 212, 226
Indo-Pakistani, 73, 171, 194, 320
Ghadar movement, 126, 137, 138
infidelity, 236
Ghulat, 10, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 130, 137
Inloes, Amina, 52, 53
Irish, 254
Islamization, 52
Givens-El, 71
Ismailis, 48, 136
Gnosticism, 10, 49
Ismailism, 136
God in Person, 49, 55, 56, 129, 251
Israel, 33, 48, 74, 119
God incarnate, 177
Italians,, 254
gods, 6, 38, 49, 50, 67, 79, 111, 128, 137, 309, 324, 329
J
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 190, 191, 200
Jacob, 42, 222
Janssen, Volker, 180
gorillas, 216
Japan, 3, 25, 26, 27, 56, 109, 205, 208, 212, 226, 315
Graf Zeppelin, 209, 210
Graves, Kersey, 137
Jehovah ALLAH, 175
great Ahmadi schism, 154
Jehovah's Witnesses, 5, 7, 9, 10, 19, 23, 25, 27, 76, 77, 78, 83, 109, 135, 137, 226, 315
Great Depression, 1, 23, 75, 109
Great Migration, 23
Great Year, 136, 211
Jesus, 24, 43, 47, 73, 79, 120, 128, 137, 177, 216, 217, 257, 262, 268, 269, 325, 326, 329
Guthrie, Paul, 83, 320
H
Jews, 43, 49, 53, 74, 254
Hallaj, 46
Jim Crow, 23, 182
Harris, Robert, 7, 69, 316
Jonah, 329
Hermeticism, 133
Judaism, 10, 33
Hidden Imam, 48, 229
Jung, Carl, 229
Hinduism, 133, 136, 137
Hitler, 225
K
Holzknecht, 337
Kabbalah, 133
Homosexuality, 257
kafirs, 120
Hoover, President, 309
Kalash, 120
How to Eat to Live, 24
Karbala, 32, 33, 34
Husayn, 33, 34, 44
Kashmir, 119, 320
I
Khalifa, Rashad, 308
King, Stephen, 311
I AM, 128, 189, 268, 326
Mohammed, Medina, 118, 157, 255, 260
kinky, 249
Klamath Falls, 84
Mohammed, Wali, 150, 151
Knight, Michael Muhammad, 3, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 136, 179, 180, 181, 182, 186, 208, 243, 319
Mohammed, Warith Deen, 20, 29, 32, 107, 109, 110, 112, 117, 127, 152, 271, 272
monkeys, 216
L
Moorish Science Temple of America, 10, 69, 112
Laimiemaoghamaogharraonom, J. W., 189
Moors, 64, 71
Moosa, Matti, 36, 41, 43
Lamb, 46, 262, 326
morphine, 243
larceny, 230
Moses, 41, 42, 45, 216, 329
Lehman, Lucius, 184
Mother Plane, 27, 56, 93, 138, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 307
Lemurians, 135
Library of Congress, 3, 57, 58
Liepmann, Martin, 180
Mother Ship, 76, 78, 205, 329
Loon, Hendrik Van, 134
Mother's Airplane, 66
lost tribes, 120
Muhammad, Ahmad, 307
M
Muhammad, Akbar, 83, 223
Muhammad, Burnsteen Sharrieff, 109, 127, 128, 150, 159, 163, 253, 260, 316, 325
Mahdi, 2, 37, 48, 52, 53, 79, 155, 175, 257, 262, 268, 313, 325, 329
Maitreya, 137, 268, 329
Muhammad, Cedric, 8
Mars, 138, 324
Muhammad, Donald, 354
Martians, 215, 309
Muhammad, Edward, 97, 361, 364, 370
Masons, 309
masturbation, 257
Muhammad, Elijah, 7, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 57, 62, 69, 70, 71, 73, 76, 79, 80, 83, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 122, 123, 126, 127, 129, 130, 136, 137, 150, 152, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 182, 205, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 216, 218, 223, 248, 249, 250, 256, 257, 260, 261, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 293, 294, 295, 296, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 310, 311
Mathematics, 56, 68, 139
McInturff, David N., 8
Mecca, 32, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44, 45, 49, 61, 62, 63, 64, 68, 69, 71, 82, 117, 121, 215, 229
Medina, Arely, 300
Mehdi, Mohammad Taki, 29, 32, 33, 34
Messiah, 2, 37, 79, 313, 329
Mexicans, 182, 244, 302, 324
Mexico, 117, 156, 159, 244, 273, 293, 294, 295, 296, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 305, 306, 309, 312, 324, 327
Mexico City, 296, 298
Michigan City, 157, 158, 310, 316
Muhammad, Emmanuel, 326
Muhammad, Ishmael, 303
Original Man, 39, 78
Muhammad, Jam, 249
Muhammad, Jamila, 307
P
Muhammad, John, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 121, 123, 127, 137, 150, 157, 185, 212, 225, 250, 253, 255, 256, 261, 271, 301, 303, 318, 319, 325, 334
Pacific Movement of the Eastern World, 3, 25
Pakistan, 36, 73, 74, 75, 119, 120, 126, 131, 172, 191, 259, 320, 321
Pan-Africanism, 185
Muhammad, Kallat, 111
Pan-American Highway, 296
Muhammad, Prophet, 32, 37, 42, 43, 45, 46, 50, 121, 152, 198
Paradise Valley, 48
Patmos, 19, 135, 216
Muhammad, Wali, 110, 150, 151, 152, 154
Pearl Harbor, 25, 208
peddler, 62, 69
Muhammad, Willie, 114, 153
Pelan, 42, 216
Muslim Sons, 309
Pentecostals, 79
picnics, 149, 159
N
Pinn, Antony B., 46
Pioneers, 260, 269, 271
National Geographic Society, 58
Poisoned Book, 152
Native American, 82, 92, 300
pork, 65, 259
Nazis, 135, 229
professor, 23, 293, 294, 295, 299, 305, 312
Nelson, Tynetta Alethea, 307
New Deal, 61, 66
Psychopathic Ward of Receiving Hospital, 6
New Generation Mosque, 157
New London, 247
PTSD, 102
new religious movements, 270
New World, 25
Q
New Zealand, 117, 142, 231, 273
Noah, 329
Quilliam, Abdullah, 226
Norris, Frank, 8
Qur'an, 2, 45, 50, 52, 57, 81, 83, 95, 125, 128, 129, 136, 152, 175, 177, 178, 194, 195, 198, 212, 226, 260, 268, 315
North America, 39, 43, 62, 65, 68, 69, 90, 156, 255, 273, 296
Nuevo Laredo, 296
numerology, 59, 203
Qur'an-only Islam, 308
Nusayris, 44, 47, 51, 316
R
O
Rakim, 130
occultation, 37, 48, 310
Ramadan, 116
Odd Fellows, 197, 198
Rastafarianism, 10, 49, 73
Office of Naval Intelligence, 134
Reddin, Ellis Boyd, 273
One Meal a Day, 73
Reformer, 109, 118, 127, 149, 163, 253, 255, 260, 261, 262, 271, 325
Ordo Templi Orientis, 4, 68
Oregon, 84, 85, 162, 163, 164, 170, 194, 197, 198, 223, 230, 232, 235, 239, 269
Romanticism, 133
Roosevelt, 61, 66
Rosicrucianism, 133
Spiritualist movement, 133
Russell, Charles Taze, 5, 9, 24
spook, 27, 66, 76, 122, 213
Russia, 118
Stanley, Leo, 185, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 325
Rutherford, Joseph Franklin, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 57, 104, 109, 315
Sterilization, 219, 220
Suez Canal, 121
S
Sunnism, 302
Supreme Being on Earth, 7, 111
sacred feminine, 73
Supreme Ruler of the Universe, 67, 78, 79, 128
sacred masculine, 73
Sahib, Hatim, 109, 111, 115, 116, 119
Supreme Wisdom Lessons, 2, 6, 49, 78, 125, 131, 133, 162, 163, 171, 305, 319
Saklas, 218
Salvacon, Ben, 123
Samael, 218
Swanson, Laura, 81, 130, 236, 238, 239, 244, 269, 324
San Quentin, 98, 99, 114, 126, 133, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 218, 220, 221, 222, 242, 244, 319, 323, 325
T
Takahashi, 3, 25, 27, 315
Satan, 4, 19, 62, 69, 177
Takis, Ashima, 26
Savior, 47, 119, 128, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 249, 251, 256, 262, 266, 267, 268, 296, 323, 326, 327
tamale, 186, 189, 223, 255
Tasker, Robert Joyce, 180
Teaching for the Lost Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical Way, 2
Scientists, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 53, 211, 217
Temple of Asser El Jadeed Arabian Islamic Society, 157
Second Coming, 310
Secret Ritual, 2, 64, 72
Tepoztlán, 307
Sevener, 10, 35, 40, 44, 48, 49
testicles, 220, 221
Seventh Day Adventists, 73, 181
Thelemites, 202
Shabazz, Jeremiah, 116
Theosophism, 10, 49
Shamsideen, John, 247
Thule Society, 135
Shanghai Low, 243
Tijuana, 296
Shawarbi, Mahmoud Youssef, 32
Treviño, Carmen, 339
Shawshank Redemption, 273
Tribe of Shabazz, 215
Shiism, 34, 35, 43, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 82, 130, 137, 155, 157
tricknology, 63, 66, 78, 216
Türkiye, 36, 92, 224, 226
Shriners, 68, 197, 198, 224, 309
Turner, Beverlee, 33
Smith, James J., 69
Twelve Imams, 29, 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 129, 315, 329
Snyder, Charles, 5
socialism, 186
Society for the Development of Our Own, 3
Twelver, 10, 29, 32, 34, 35, 40, 42, 44, 45, 49, 51, 53, 54, 157, 175, 203
Son of God, 174, 323
South America, 68, 156, 159, 307, 320
spaceships, 324
White, William Thomas, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 159, 265, 319
U
UAPs, 213, 324
Winrod, Gerald B., 8
UFO, 27, 56, 205, 207, 212, 307, 324
Wirth, Louis, 8
Ufology, 49, 207
Wobblies, 186
United States, 8, 10, 23, 25, 26, 32, 37, 53, 69, 75, 114, 125, 131, 136, 153, 157, 159, 173, 194, 195, 197, 205, 212, 223, 230, 242, 253, 255, 294, 296, 301, 304, 310, 315, 316, 319, 324
women, 52, 65, 73, 75, 78, 81, 119, 189, 198, 229, 239, 241, 243, 257, 266, 267, 270, 324
World Teacher, 137
Wright, Peter Matthews, 179
X
United Submitters International, 308
University of Islam, 56, 63, 74, 109, 150, 227, 320
X, Malcolm, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 51, 53, 54, 107, 129, 182, 244, 247, 272, 321
Upton, Charles, 4
Urdu, 119, 121, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 254, 300, 320
Y
Yakub, 19, 41, 42, 47, 111, 137, 138, 185, 215, 216, 218, 222, 325
V
Yaldaboath, 218
vasectomies, 220
Yezidis, 10, 136
Voodoo Murders, 6
Yezidism, 136
Young Turks, 225, 226, 324
W
Yüksel, Edip, 308
waltz, 149, 159
Yuz Asaf, 119
Watch Tower, 5, 315
Z
Weston, Omar, 309
White House, 224
Zionism, 33, 34
White, Fred, 139, 142, 145, 146, 319
White, Tom, 150, 151, 153, 154, 159, 320

System requirements

Save as PDF Copy link into clipboard

Schweitzer Fachinformationen

W. D. Fard

Description

More details

Other editions

Additional editions

Persons

Content

System requirements