Wallace Fard Muhammad

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Wallace Fard Muhammad , also Wallace D. Fard , was the founder of the Nation of Islam organization , also known as Black Muslims . Little is officially known about his background and personal details. From July 4, 1930 to June 30, 1934, he worked in Detroit under various pseudonyms; since then he has been considered lost.

Biographical information

The sociologist Erdmann Doane Beynon published a report in the American Journal of Sociology in 1938 on interviews with about 200 families in the state of Michigan . From this it emerged that from 1930 to 1934 Wallace Fard had visited black families in Detroit who had moved to Detroit from the southern states as part of the Great Migration . As a peddler, he first sold silk fabrics and told his listeners that the silk came from their homeland. At his suggestion, he gave his clients religious instruction, initially based on the Bible , but shocked his audience when he increasingly viewed the whites in a bad light. With the help of money collections, a hall could be rented and used as a temple, which is named Temple No. 1 received. At this place, Fard used the Koran as the final valid basis for his written statements, which his followers learned by heart word for word.

Tensions arose between the new religious group and the police when parents refused to send their children to public schools. 1932 some group members were accused in the course of exorcisms in human sacrifices to have been involved.

Fard named the newly formed community under his leadership the Nation of Islam . A group of guards was named Fruit of Islam . The Muhammad University of Islam was built for school teaching , next to today's Mosque Maryam in Chicago .

According to Beynon, the number of Fard's followers was about eight thousand. Regarding personal information about the "Prophet", Beynon notes that almost nothing was known about him:

“He 'came from the east' and called on the blacks of North America to join the Nation of Islam. He was commonly known as Mr. Wali Farrad or Mr. WD Fard, but he also used the following names: Professor Ford, Mr. Farrad Mohammed, Mr. F. Mohammed Ali. He is reported to have introduced himself with the following words: 'My name is WD Fard and I come from the holy city of Mecca. I won't tell you more about myself now, because the time has not yet come. I am your brother. You haven't seen me in my royal robes yet. '"

The basis of Fard's teaching was described by Beynon as follows:

“The black men in North America are not negroes, but belong to the lost Shabazz tribe, stolen from the holy city of Mecca by traders 379 years ago. The Prophet came to America to find and bring back to life his long-lost brothers from whom the Caucasians had stolen their language, nation and religion. Here in America they couldn't live by themselves. They must learn that they are the original, noblest people on earth. The Caucasians are colored because they have lost their original color. The original people need to regain their religion, this is Islam, their language, this is Arabic, and their culture, this is astronomy and higher mathematics, especially calculus. You must obey Allah's Law and avoid all meat from 'poisonous animals': pigs, ducks, geese, possums and catfish . You must completely give up the use of stimulants, especially spirits. They need to purify themselves - both their bodies and their homes. If they obey Allah in this way, He will lead them back to the paradise from which they were stolen - the Holy City of Mecca. "

reception

Elijah Muhammad , who first met Wallace Fard in 1931 and as his successor led the Nation of Islam from 1934 to 1975, referred to his predecessor as Mahdi . In an FBI memorandum from August 1963, it is stated that despite various inquiries, neither the date nor the place of birth of Wallace Fard or Ford could be established and that he was last heard from at the end of June 1934. Within the Nation of Islam, February 26, 1877 is his birthday.

In the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides to play in Fards Temple No. 1 in Detroit. There are also numerous allusions to Fard and his teachings in hip-hop . Examples can be found at Jay-Z , Jay Electronica , Public Enemy , Big Daddy Kane , Kanye West , Wu-Tang Clan , Poor Righteous Teachers , A Tribe Called Quest , Ice Cube and Rakim .

Fonts

Fard wrote two manuals: The Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam and Teaching for a Lost-Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical Way to guide and develop the organization of the NOI, and he founded the University of Islam to instruct members especially of children.

References and footnotes

  1. ^ Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture , ed. Jessie Carney Smith, 2010, Vol. 1, p. 986 .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Muhammad, Wallace Fard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wallace D. Fard; Wali Farrad; WD Fard; Professor Ford; Farrad Mohammed; F. Mohammed Ali
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Founder of the Nation of Islam
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century
DATE OF DEATH 20th century