From The Final Call Newspaper

A beacon of love and laughter Family – Friends gather to honor ‘Brother Josh’

By The Final Call
- November 28, 2023





by Toure Muhammad and Shawntell Muhammad

CHICAGO—People traveled near and far to commemorate the life of Brother Joshua Nasir Farrakhan, the fifth child of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah Farrakhan. The Nation of Islam, family and friends gathered on Nov. 25 with his beloved parents and to celebrate the foresight, commitment and contributions of Bro. Joshua to the Nation of Islam. Bro. Joshua returned to Allah on Nov. 18 at the age of 64.

The service, which was also streamed online included words of comfort and the janazah (Islamic funeral service) held at Mosque Maryam in Chicago. Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, the National Assistant to Minister Farrakhan, delivered a beautiful, reflective message to the hundreds gathered in the sanctuary and the countless others that tuned in via internet webcast.

Muhammad Farrakhan shares a moment with his grandfather. Photo: Abdul K. Muhammad

With words that seemed to resonate with everyone’s sentiment in attendance, Stevie Wonder, who attended the service said he came “because I love him.”

Attendees included local and national notables such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and his son U.S. Congressman Jonathan L. Jackson (D-Ill.), Muhammad Ali’s aide, companion and friend Gene Kilroy, hip hop pioneers Doug E. Fresh, Chuck D and Eric B, activist Afrika Porter, activist Wallace “Gator” Bradley and Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church who thanked God for knowing Bro. Joshua.

Father Pfleger said Bro. Joshua had “a heart the size of Soldiers’ Field.”

“He’d always tell you exactly what he thought,” Father Pfleger reminisced on a man he said was unapologetically genuine. “He was consistent, always faithful and just a strong brother. I thank God I got to know him. The deposit he made in my life was his commitment, his faithfulness, his love of his father and the love of his father’s work,” he told The Final Call.

“We thank God for his blessing, his earnestness, his care, his compassion, and we celebrate him today,” said Rep. Jackson.

Mr. Kilroy attributed Joshua Farrakhan with saving his life. Ten years ago, the doctors gave him three months to live. Bro. Joshua called him and less than an hour after the diagnosis, “I got the call from Minister Farrakhan who said, ‘The angel of death isn’t coming for you. You got too much to do.’ I believe in all my heart that if Joshua didn’t make that call, I wouldn’t be here today,” Mr. Kilroy said.

The legendary Stevie Wonder, Min. Farrakhan and Bro. Mustapha Farrakhan after the janazah service. photos by Donna Muhammad

Doug E. Fresh, the legendary entertainer and hip hop pioneer, spoke with a heavy heart, remembering Bro. Joshua as a brother beyond titles. “(He was) just a beautiful person. Great heart,” he reflected. “I had to come. There was no way I wasn’t going to make this.”

A message for the living

Activist Afrika Porter told The Final Call that she grew up with members of the Farrakhan family and she shared countless childhood memories about their Hyde Park memories in the city.

“What stands out about Brother Joshua for me was his infectious smile, laughter, and jokes,” recalled Ms. Porter.

During his remarks Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad fondly reflected on the many monikers of Bro. Joshua, including “Josh” and “Joshi,” something Ms. Porter could relate to.

“Like many of us, I’ve had multiple names over the years, transitioning from Jeri, Jamilah to Afrika, a fact he playfully reminded me of whenever we met. ‘Afrika, who are you today?’ I’m all three of us, I’d respond. I appreciate the impactful program delivery, its style, and the profound takeaways from today. I firmly believe the service isn’t for the dead but for those of us present.”

Student Minister Daniel Muhammad of Chicago agreed, calling the janazah service “beautiful.” “Minister Ishmael did a wonderful job lifting the spirits of all the believers, but really giving us a lot of context as to how we should perceive one another as believers but especially the family of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” he told The Final Call.

Lazette Muhammad of Chicago stated, “It was so much beauty in the words of Brother Ishmael; reminders of the way we live our lives, reminders about how much work that still needs to be done and the beautiful works of the shoulders that we stand on.”

Student Minister Joseph Makhandal is the Nation of Islam’s representative to Haiti. He first met Bro. Joshua years ago in the small Caribbean nation as part of a N.O.I. delegation. Student Min. Makhandal translated for the Minister and shared: “Everywhere we would go, Brother Joshua would be there ensuring that the place is secured and that the Minister is drinking his water and really monitoring his pace. It’s almost like he was a doctor to the Minister.”

Min. Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah

He continued, “This janazah has given me a stronger sense of the mission and also encouraged me and inspired me to do more so that I, personally, can continue the legacy that he has left off in terms of showing care and love to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in our own ways.”

Student Minister Abdul Hakeem Muhammad, the N.O.I. European region representative, expressed his gratitude for the message delivered by Student Min. Ishmael. Having known Bro. Joshua for many years, Student Min. Abdul Hakeem was deeply moved by the heartfelt words he expressed.

“The janazah was an incredibly emotional experience, resonating with me,” he said. “I thanked the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah for raising such a wonderful son who treated members of the Nation of Islam as family, regardless of their location in the world.”

Bro. Joshua’s son Muhammad and his family, Jessica, Juan, Muhammad Jr., Louis, Awenasa and Ezekiel. Photos: Haroon Rajaee

A favorite uncle, friend and helper in the cause

Student National Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad is a great-grandson of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and also serves on the Nation of Islam Shura Executive Council. He recited the janazah prayers in Arabic at the close of the service.

“Brother Joshua Farrakhan, may Allah be pleased with him, was named ‘Nasir, the helper, the supporter,’ and he always was that to all he engaged. Everyone who was in his presence received some sort of assistance, whether it was to help them to facilitate any activity or even [his] spirit of joy or happiness, he always has been a helper in that way, of course as well to his father, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” Student Imam Sultan stated.

He referred to Joshua Farrakhan fondly as “the favorite uncle.”

“He would let us get away with almost anything we wanted to. It was time to have fun when Uncle Josh was around. He always had the candy, the music, he always had the vibe of joy with him,” he reflected.

 

Bro. Joshua Jr. and his children, Nasir, JJ, Issa, Azia and Jalil. Photo: Haroon Rajaee

Sister Aminah Bayyinah Muhammad serves as the executive administrative assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and also serves on the Shura Executive Council.

“I was blessed to have a close working relationship with Brother Joshua in service to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Since Brother Joshua and Brother Mustapha knew my biological brother, before I knew them, because they went to high school together; he said I was like his little sister, and he endearingly called me, ‘Kimbo.’ There will never be another one like him and I will truly miss him,” Sister Aminah Bayyinah Muhammad shared.

Bro. Joshua Muhammad is a son of Student Southern Regional Minister Abdul Sharrieff Muhammad and the host of a popular podcast. He was named after Bro. Joshua Farrakhan. “He was a phenomenal human being. He brought so much transparency to the People’s Podcast. He did seven interviews.

He was very honest, he told things that we had never heard before. Not only was he on post for the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1975 when He departed, but there’s so much history with Brother Joshua during the rebuilding phase. It is an honor to know him, and I pray that the Nation and the world begin to know his heart. (He was a) beautiful human being.”

Sis. Marie Muhammad with her and four of Bro. Joshua’s sons, from left, Joshua Jr., Fard, Muhammad, Louis, and her brother, Student Min. Ishmael.

Student Min. Abdul Rasul Muhammad is the Final Call General Manager. “Brother Joshua Nasir Farrakhan was one of the most genuine, sincere, beautiful brothers that I ever had the honor to know personally. He loved me tremendously and we had an expression with one another: he called me his little brother or baby brother for the last three decades.

Hip hop legend Eric B Photo: Donna Muhammad

Even in tough times, we labored together on multiple projects at The Final Call. We never lost our brotherhood; we never lost our sincere love and appreciation for one another. I treasure him, I thank Allah (God) for him, and I am going to miss him tremendously,” he shared.

“I am honored to be a brother who stands on his shoulders, as he was the brother who introduced the audio department to the Final Call Administration Building. Long live the spirit of our brother, Joshua Nasir Farrakhan.”

Student Minister Arthur Muhammad of Mosque No. 7 in New York said that Bro. Joshua was a good friend. “To me, he brought the entertainment world, hip-hop in particular—he befriended a lot of them and introduced them to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

He was resourceful, very loving fierce defender of the Teachings, and a caring brother. Student Minister Ishmael hit the nail on the head in terms of Brother Joshua’s contributions by spreading the message through video and audio.”

Bro. Arron Muhammad is a longtime member of the Minister’s Executive Team (E-Team) and reflected on his first interaction with Bro. Joshua, which occurred in Chicago during the early days of the rebuilding of the Nation of Islam.

“During Saviour’s Day 1981, I worked at the hotel that was across the street from the venue where Saviour’s Day was held and the Muslims stayed at,” explained Bro. Arron Muhammad. That year was the first annual convention held since Min. Farrakhan began rebuilding and restoring the Nation of Islam.

 

Father Pfleger greets Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad Photos: Donna Muhammad

“Prior to this, I had never heard the name ‘Farrakhan.’ I attended Saviour’s Day that year, and when the lecture was over, I saw Brother Joshua at a table duplicating tapes.”

He continued, “I ordered books and tapes from Brother Joshua, and I worked graveyard at the hotel. He brought what I ordered and books that I had not ordered to me at my job. My first Holy Qur’an was from Brother Joshua, along with several of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s books and tapes, Brother Jabril Muhammad’s books, and the Honorable Minister Farrakhan’s tapes. I worked graveyard, so I was taking in all this information,” he added.

“Brother Joshua and I stayed close since then, and he picked me up from my house and took me to my first Wednesday night study group. I became registered not too long after. I started spending a lot of time, at his house, duplicating tapes. I would take my daughter Cristel, who was about five years old at the time to his house and she played with his daughter, Melia,” recalled Bro. Arron Muhammad.

Hip hop legend Chuck D of Public Enemy greets Min. Farrakhan.

Yousef Ben Israel, is the son of the late Nasik (Prince) Asiel Ben-Israel, who was the Prime Minister and International Ambassador of The Original African Hebrew Israelite Nation Worldwide. Prince Asiel was longtime friends with Min. Farrakhan.

Yousef Ben Israel discussed his first encounter with Bro. Joshua as a teenager. “He definitely represented his father in the very best of ways. My first impression of Brother Joshua is that this man truly has his father’s charisma, spirit and love.

He greeted my father with the biggest, warmest hug and kiss on the cheek and said, ‘my big brother, my uncle prince, it’s so good to see you.’ And then he went to greet me and said, ‘that means you are my little brother and don’t you ever forget that. If you need anything, you let me know,’” he reflected.

“I’m so grateful for the 64 years to have him in the midst of us to spread the truth, to spread love, to spread peace and to be an example for us.”

Hip hop pioneer Doug E. Fresh greets Mother Khadijah Farra- khan and Sister Maria Farrakhan. Photos: Donna Muhammad

Mandene Muhammad is from the Coalition for the Remembrance of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (CROE). He reflected on Bro. Joshua’s foresight in preserving his father’s teachings. “He had the wherewithal and foresight to get those high-speed recorders and duplicate his father’s lectures,” Mandene Muhammad recounted. “I didn’t have a close relationship with him, but every time I saw him, he made me feel like we did. I thank Allah that I was able to encounter him. He was always personable.”

Brother Joshua was also a visionary. Among other things, he encouraged his father to produce the historic 58-part series, “The Time and What Must be Done,” in 2013 and the Minister’s documentary project “My Life’s Journey Through Music,” in 2018.

Amidst the tributes, a familiar voice joined the chorus. “Josh was instrumental in pushing the boundaries,” Chuck D, head of the legendary rap group Public Enemy, declared. “He moved us into the era of DVDs and online platforms,” said the iconic emcee.

Father Michael Pfleger bows his head in prayer. Photo: Abdul K. Muhammad

“Public Enemy doesn’t go around the world without the Nation of Islam and Josh was a big part of that culturally. If a (music) tape goes out there, Josh would say, a tape of the Minister could go. Josh was the first to go into the realm of DVD. Josh was also to bring along the sensibility of maybe this all can go online and not even have to deal with the TV channels. He was thinking like that in the 90s,” Chuck D said.

From the infectious smiles of childhood to the foresight that propelled Minister Farrakhan’s teachings into the digital age, the commemorative service stood as a testament to a life well-lived and a legacy that transcended generations, religions and ethnicity.

Final Call Staff Writer Tariqah Muhammad and Contributing Writer Michael Z. Muhammad contributed to this report.

Bro. Joshua Farrakhan was a great helper to his father and the Nation of Islam.

Bro. Joshua’s niece reads program.

Brother Joshua F Janazah Photos by Abdul K Muhammad (Mosque)

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson was in attendance at the service honoring Bro. Joshua Farrakhan. Photo: Andrea Muhammad

From The Final Call Newspaper

‘This is a textbook case of genocide As the slaughter of Palestinians continues, demands grow to hold Israel and the West accountable

By Brian E. Muhammad, Staff Writer
- November 14, 2023

Palestinians evacuate survivors after Israeli airstrikes on buildings in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Nov. 7. Photo: AP Photo/Adel Hana


The Zionist State of Israel continues to exact excruciating collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and genocide on the Palestinian people, charge human rights advocates, global activists, and international experts. As rivers of blood flow in Gaza and the West Bank at the hands of the occupying army and roguish Jewish settlers, legal experts have presented a legal brief showing how the U.S., Britain, and members of the collective West can face charges of complicity for aiding and abetting genocide, and not involving processes to stop it.

An emergency legal briefing paper titled “Israel’s Unfolding Crime of Genocide of the Palestinian People & U.S. Failure to Prevent and Complicity in Genocide” was issued on October 18 by The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

“There is a plausible and credible case, based on powerful factual evidence, that Israel is attempting to commit, if not actively committing, the crime of genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory, and specifically against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” said the document’s introduction.

Some analysts said that whether Israel is actively or intending to engage in genocide, over the month of the current war, Israeli leaders’ rhetoric expressed an intention for it.

 



“You’ve had numerous statements from the most senior levels of the Israeli government … Israeli military … leading politicians from across the Israeli political spectrum … of parliament …. which are all indisputably genocidal in nature,” said Mouin Rabbani, a Middle East analyst.

“Regarding what Israel is actually doing, I think there is sufficient evidence to at least warrant an investigation by, for example, the International Criminal Court,” said Mr. Rabbani. He expressed doubt in the virility of the ICC which has been the focus of resentment and disappointment in the slowness of its chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to assertively act on the Palestinian question.

“But there does appear to be a growing number of authoritative specialists in not only international law, but specifically in genocide, who have been making statements, either that Israel is conducting itself with genocidal intent, or actually is already guilty of the crime,” said Mr. Rabbani.

Since the start of the present war, Israeli forces killed over 11,000 Palestinians under the pretext of completely obliterating Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group. Israel holds Hamas solely responsible for 1,400 Israelis killed and over 200 taken captive in the unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on occupier settlements.

Since the current war began, Israel doubled down on a 16-year blockade in Gaza by blocking food, water, and fuel from the area, forcing deadly interference in life-sustaining and life-saving functions of hospitals, desalination plants, and infrastructure, subsequently killing many. Israeli officials dismissed the carnage as collateral damage of an extreme degradation campaign to eliminate Hamas. However, analysts argue total eradication is unrealistic because Hamas exists throughout the Arab world.

Furthermore, it appears the only eradication in the war is ordinary Palestinians. War opponents argue the disproportionality of Palestinian civilian deaths is excessive. Some see it as another sign that what Israel—backed by America—is doing in the name of “erasing” Hamas is extermination, according to the Geneva Convention on Genocide.

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

It was the first human rights treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948 and is considered the foundation of the international human rights system. War opponents argue the disproportionality of Palestinian civilian deaths is excessive. Some see it as another sign that the real aim of Israel, in the name of “erasing” Hamas is Palestinian extermination, according to the Geneva Convention on Genocide.

The convention defines genocide as committing the following acts with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group:

(a) Killing members of the group.

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Palestine, Israel, and the U.S. are signatories to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which obligates all 153 signatories to prevent and punish genocide. The convention criminalizes not just the commission of, but incitement, attempts to commit, and complicity in genocide.

The complicity of America and Western powers who fund and provide weaponry to Israel are complicit, say experts. Some cite the U.S. failure to use the leverage it holds to influence Israeli negative actions toward the Palestinians. Observers argue it’s absurd to push billions of U.S. taxpayer monies to Israel and act powerless to hold it accountable.

Palestine, Israel, and America are signatories to the Convention which obligates all 153 signatories to prevent and punish genocide. The Convention criminalizes not just the commission of, but incitement, attempts to commit, and complicity in genocide.

America and Western powers funding and providing weaponry to Israel renders them complicit in the crime of genocide, experts argue. Some cite the U.S. failure to use the leverage it holds to influence Israeli actions toward the Palestinians. Observers also argue it’s absurd to provide billions of U.S. taxpayer monies to Israel and act powerless to hold it accountable.

Washington has moved from its usual “see no evil, hear no evil” posture to a “see the evil but powerless to stop the evil” position, despite the annual $3.8 billion unconditional check it cuts for Tel Aviv. However, a wide range of voices are saying “enough is enough” and Israel must be held accountable. Advocates and change agents across the globe are calling America and Israel out.

The U.S. delivers lip profession toward Palestinians and notoriously shields Israel from body blows of criticism. The West allows the destruction of Gaza, the massacre of children, and the forced displacement of survivors.

The collective West is destroying its credibility because of its unconditional backing of the Israeli regime, according to some observers.

“Because of their support for the #GazaHolocaust, the collective West has lost the respect of the international community,” said Seyed Mohammad Marandi, political analyst and professor at the University of Tehran, in a Nov. 8 remark on X (Twitter).

“This unprecedented Israeli extermination of Gazans carried out live before the eyes of the world has only been made possible by these diabolical regimes,” he added.

“Those who survive the Gaza Holocaust are ethnically cleansed,” said Mr. Marandi. “NEVER FORGET: Both the holocaust and the ethnic cleansing are fully backed by the collective West,” he posted.

As Israel advanced its ground offensives in Gaza on Nov. 10, tanks and snipers surrounded several hospitals in Gaza, reported Al Jazeera. Health officials said Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital—the largest—in Gaza City was attacked five times in less than 24 hours. The Zionist State alleges that Hamas houses a command center and underground tunnels at the site, which hospital officials and Hamas vehemently refute.

“This is false, these are utter lies,” Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa told Al Jazeera. “This is a civilian hospital. We cater to more than 1.5 million Gazans,” he added.

“The Israeli occupation forces are fully aware that this is a totally safe area. They are certain that there is no command center or any tunnels under these hospitals,” Mr. Salmiya said.

On the same day, at least 50 Palestinians were killed after Israeli missiles and artillery pounded a Gaza school sheltering internally displaced people. In another incident, more injuries and fatalities occurred on the main road to southern Gaza, bombarded while Palestinians escaped Israeli attacks in the north.

“I can’t even count,” lamented one survivor. “The ones I brought to the hospital myself are five [martyrs],” he said. “I’m sure there are many more coming behind me.”

Al Jazeera reported that Israeli authorities assured people the Salah al-Din Road was a secure route to use. Another survivor said many were injured and killed where the missiles struck.

“We are helping our fellow Gazans … elders … disabled, women and children. The Israeli warplanes fired at women and children. Their bodies were cut in pieces; we cannot even collect what is left of them,” he said. “Why would you throw bombs at civilians after you specifically told them to leave Gaza City.”

International and humanitarian law gives comprehensive and detailed protection to civilians and specific institutions during war. Israel’s indiscriminate bloodshed and brutal blasting of prohibited targets like schools, mosques, churches, hospitals and homes is more than shock opera for terror’s sake. As far as war rules, Israel has outright violated the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution and embarked on a widespread and systematic attack on Gaza’s civilian population, critics argue.

International experts say the extremity of Israeli attacks has been the modus operandi of the settler colonial state that lends to allegations of genocide. Although, the concept of genocide has been the subject of political abuse, say some international law experts, the mass slaughter of Palestinians leaves no ambiguity.

It is comparable to the roots of America as a settler colonial state that systematically removed the indigenous Native Americans from their lands onto marginalized reservations. It is also redolent to the same Europeans enslaving Africans and currently controlling them in colony-like ‘hoods throughout the U.S. under systematic oppression.

Israel in its settler colonial ideology practiced decades of systematic persecution and purging of Palestinians based entirely on their status as Arabs.

“In the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, homes are seized and reassigned based entirely on race, and violent settler pogroms are accompanied by Israeli military units. Across the land, apartheid rules,” said Craig Mokhiber, a human rights lawyer and former director of the New York Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Palestinians inspect the damage of a destroyed mosque following an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 8. Photo: AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman

“This is a textbook case of genocide,” said Mr. Mokhiber, in an open resignation letter to the UN. He quitin angst over successive failures of the UN to end the “genocide unfolding before our eyes” by Israel. His letter expressed that the European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in Palestine entered its final phase toward destroying the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine. What’s more, America, the UK, and much of Europe, are wholly complicit in the horrific assault, he argued.

“Not only are these governments refusing to meet their treaty obligations ‘to ensure respect’ for the Geneva Conventions, but they are in fact actively arming the assault, providing economic and intelligence support, and giving political and diplomatic cover for Israel’s atrocities,” wrote Mr. Mokhiber.

America professes to be the friend and defender of peace-loving and freedom-loving people. However, her unholy alliance with Israel, despite its repressive system against Palestinians shows her claim is false. Israel’s usurping land, apartheid control of movement, forceful removal, genocidal practice and bloodthirst toward Palestinians underwritten by America undermines the future of both nations. Both parties were warned by scriptures and Divine Warners that there is no favorable endgame.

The Holy Qur’an, the Islamic book of scripture, warns that those who do not heed good advice are doomed. The law of Moses condemns the unjust taking of lives. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan along with his teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam warns that no individual nor nation can escape the law of justice today. Both Divine Servants of Allah (God) teach that the world is in the day of God’s Judgment and that the world is in a time when the consequences of deeds, individual and national, cannot be averted except if there is repentance.

In part 2 of his timely yearlong 2013 broadcast called, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” Minister Farrakhan discussed the moral compass that applies to the current U.S.-Israel-Palestine crisis. “I want our government to see the drones that have gone into Afghanistan; the ‘shock and awe’ of America’s bombers, and the bombs that fell in Iraq on the basis of a lie!” said Minister Farrakhan. “I want us to think about the drones that were in Pakistan, in Yemen, in Somalia—of the men, the women, the children that were slaughtered; of families destroyed,” he said.

“Do you think that only Americans know how to love their children? Only Americans feel the pain of loss of our children? No, no, no! Every human being on the Earth feels such loss … Yet, we can walk away from such slaughter, and call it ‘collateral damage’?” reasoned Minister Farrakhan.

Just as Americans feel the pain of watching children slaughtered in mass killings within America; Minister Farrakhan said we would feel the pain of the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Yemenis, the Somalis, and the Palestinians dying by American-made bombs. Each time Israel embarks on bombing campaigns America commits to “replace every bomb” that the Israeli Defense Forces dropped.

“Oh America, you are blinded, and that is why we must talk about ‘The Time and What Must Be Done!’ America will never have ‘enough’ ‘guns,’ ‘weapons of war’ to satiate her bloodlust,” said Minister Farrakhan.

From The Final Call Newspaper

Concerns rise that the Middle East is slipping gravely close to a wider war

By Brian E. Muhammad, Staff Writer
- November 7, 2023

To the thousands of Palestinians slaughtered, injured, and displaced in weeks of Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and increasingly in the occupied West Bank, there has only been one unified message coming from Western politicians, warmongers, and conflict profiteers who wax rich from blood-soaked theaters of war: “No Ceasefire!”

At presstime the carnage suffered by the Palestinians was approaching 10,000 deaths and nearly 25,000 injured. Tens of thousands of justice activists, anti-war voices and change agents are on the streets worldwide demanding a ceasefire. An estimated 100,000 people attended the National March for Palestine in Washington DC on Nov. 4.

They amplified the message “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and said President Biden has “blood on his hands” for continuing the U.S. “unwavering support” of the Zionist state of Israel, which they say is genocide of Palestinians.

Even though human rights experts from the United Nations and international organizations are echoing the demand for peace, events are falling deeper into fire. Observers and analysts say the Middle East is igniting dangerously closer to wider conflict.

“The possibility for a regional escalation is huge,” said activist and investigative journalist Eugene Puryear. “I think we’re seeing how especially in the broader Middle East, Palestine is almost like the heart,” he said. “The center of a broader circulatory system that is connected to almost all of the other issues in the Arab world,” he added.

There are fears concerning to what extent the Arab world may be aflame militarily. Forces in the region are positioning themselves as the onslaught of Palestinians continues. Mass demonstrations in the Arab streets are in lockstep with the Palestinian plight. Across the region resistance fighters from nearby countries have entered the fray.

When Hamas lodged its surprise attack on the Israeli occupier area on Oct. 7, and Israel launched its corridor of destruction in Gaza, combat engagements with Hezbollah fighters at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon also started. Then Houthi Ansarullah forces from Yemen officially joined the war, firing several missiles toward Israel. In Algeria, with a unanimous 100/100 vote, lawmakers authorized President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to also enter the conflict, and back Gaza, reported Albawaba news.

In Nov. 3 remarks, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said: “All options are on the table” against Israel. To avoid a regional war depends on stopping Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, he warned. Specifically to America, he said stopping Israel in Gaza is paramount because the skirmishes on the Lebanese front can easily escalate into wider war.

“You, the Americans, can stop the aggression against Gaza because it is your aggression. Whoever wants to prevent a regional war, and I am talking to the Americans, must quickly halt the aggression on Gaza,” Mr. Nasrallah said. “You, the Americans, know very well that if war breaks out in the region, your fleets will be of no use, nor will fighting from the air be of any benefit, and the one who will pay the price will be … your interests, your soldiers and your fleets,” he added.

Days before, the United States further ramped up its military game in the region. President Biden’s administration, as one of the loudest voices against a total ceasefire has pressed Congress for $14 billion-plus in military funding for Israel. The money is an “emergency supplement” to the regular annual bag of $3.8 billion the Zionist state already receives which are separate from the costs of added munitions and two aircraft carriers equipped with planes and thousands of American soldiers sent to the eastern Mediterranean Sea in early October.

Additionally, in the mix, the volume of antagonism between the U.S. and Iran is up. The region appears to be tipping past the edge.

A man sits on the rubble as others wander among debris of buildings that were targeted by Israeli airstrikes in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

Since the Gaza war started there were over 30 attacks on the U.S. military in the region that began on October 17. Washington blamed Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. An Oct. 26 statement by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III., said President Biden authorized fire play in response to the series of attacks.

“The United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. forces are unacceptable and must stop,” said Secretary Austin. An American contractor died from a cardiac incident while sheltering in place, and 21 U.S. soldiers suffered minor injuries in the attacks, he said.

The military head accused Iran of hiding its hand to deny any role in attacks on U.S. personnel and threatened that if “Iran’s proxies” continue with more attacks, the U.S. will not hesitate to take further measures.

On the timing of the military action, Secretary Austin said the strikes were intended “solely” for U.S. self-defense in Iraq and Syria. “They are separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and do not constitute a shift in our approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict,” he said. “We continue to urge all state and non-state entities not to take action that would escalate into a broader regional conflict.”

Anti-war opponents disagree with the defense secretary’s claim that attacks targeting U.S. personnel are unrelated to the Gaza crisis. “He’s totally wrong,” said Madea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK, the pro-peace and social justice organization. “There is a tremendous connection between the groups in the region … the skirmishes that are happening in Syria … in Lebanon, that are connected to this horrific massacre going on in Gaza,” she told The Final Call.

There are groups in the region having a hard time sitting quietly while witnessing their brothers and sisters in the Muslim world being viciously attacked. Ms. Benjamin said Americans should be appalled that the U.S. is giving the green light to Israel for the bombings, land invasion, and the $14 billion package when so many domestic needs are unmet. “The American people should really be contacting our members of Congress, and going out in the streets in these demonstrations,” she said.

Ms. Benjamin, who has been exerting pressure on U.S. lawmakers to sign on to the universal call for a ceasefire, also believes there is a serious threat of a regional war that could certainly involve Iran.

Mr. Puryear said that for reasons looking from a more birds-eye view of the region, Iran is being framed as the main aggressor. He explained that the U.S. and Israel have been aiming for Iran for years and are using the current conflict as a pretext to continue their efforts.

He reasons that Washington and Tel Aviv want to maintain Western hegemony over the Middle East and see Iran as a major obstacle, and with Tehran’s growing relations with China and Russia, an even more formidable opponent.

Explaining what is at stake, Mr. Puryear said they see the geopolitical project they tried to establish in the Mideast to control oil and the commercial crossroads of the world and Eurasia, which is centered on Israel, its occupation of Palestine, and influence on pro-Western governments, threatened.

The concern is “that all of that could unravel,” said Mr. Puryear. “I think they’re willing to use overwhelming force, if necessary, to try to prevent a new Middle East, which has already been coming to the forefront,” he added.

He pointed out the rise of Iran includes its rapprochement with longtime regional foe Saudi Arabia and both joining the BRICS alliance changed things. Although the U.S. sees beyond Palestine as a priority, when the resistance rose and fought back on Oct. 7, those chess pieces were knocked off the board, some observers noted.

This photo released by the Israeli military on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, shows ground operations inside the Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)

“Now the possibility that the sort of U.S.-led, U.S.-centric, imperialist setup in the Middle East could be collapsing … and I don’t think they want to allow that,” said Mr. Puryear.

For America to remain “ironclad” with the Zionist State adds to its own trouble. Before the crisis reached this level of distress, there were years of warnings to the U.S. and Israel by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his National Representative and top student, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam.

Both of these Divine Servants of Allah (God) warned that America is under Divine Judgment for her errant foreign policies and own sordid domestic policies, namely the genocide of the Indigenous Native Americans and persistent oppression of the Black once slave—which has never been corrected by way of justice.

In a November 18, 2018, press conference from Iran, while answering a question about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, Minister Farrakhan warned America concerning her direction.

“My teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, taught me years ago that the policies of our government would bring about a war in the Middle East that would be a trigger to the greatest war that has ever been, the War of Armageddon, spoken of in the Bible,” said Minister Farrakhan.

“A reporter asked my teacher: Is America going to remain in the Middle East? And my teacher said America is going to come out of the Middle East. And when they asked about war, he said, ‘Yes, there would be war.’ And he said, ‘bloodshed in this area would be much,’” said Minister Farrakhan.

When Minister Farrakhan gave these remarks, President Donald Trump was in power. However, his warning is as applicable in 2023 with Mr. Biden or whoever will win the upcoming 2024 presidential race.

“I am begging our president and the government that supports him to be very, very careful because if the trigger of war in the Middle East is pulled by you, using your surrogates at the insistence of Israel, then the war will trigger another kind of war, which will bring China, Russia, all of the nations into a war and it bothers me to say this to you, Mr. President, but the war will end America as you know it,” warned Minister Farrakhan.

From The Final Call Newspaper

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Issues a Statement on the Lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center

By The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
- October 31, 2023



The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

[Editor’s note: The following is the statement delivered by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on Saturday, October 28, 2023, concerning the lawsuit “Minister Louis Farrakhan & The Nation of Islam v. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Johnathan Greenblatt (ADL CEO/National Director), The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), Rabbi Abraham Cooper (SWC Assoc. Dean/Director of Global Social Action), which was filed on October 16, 2023, in the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York for 1st Amendment violations and for defamation. To read the press release and case documents, please visit NOI.org/NOIvADL.

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful. I Bear Witness That There Is No God But Allah. And I Bear Witness That Muhammad Is His Messenger.

As-Salaam Alaikum. This is Minister Louis Farrakhan, the National Representative of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, and that great preacher of Freedom, Justice and Equality to the Black man and woman of America, to the Black man and woman in the Caribbean, and Central and South America, in Africa, in the Isles of the Pacific, and to our Brown and Red and Yellow brothers and sisters. Wherever you are, this message is for you.

On the 28th Anniversary of the Million Man March, October 16th, we filed a lawsuit against the ADL and The Simon Wiesenthal Center, against their leadership, because our desire, now, is to state our case before the courts and before the world. We are not what they have said we are—and we intend to prove such.

This is probably the most sensitive time in our struggle for equal justice, freedom, and equality. For nearly 40 years we have withstood the awful charges that have come against me and those who are in the Nation of Islam under the leadership of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and myself.

 



We have borne a lot in these last 40 years in the absence of our great leader and teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And he, Elijah Muhammad, prepared me to receive the insults, the sneers, being evil spoken of, and my and our reputation being scarred and bruised by the false charges of “anti-Semitism” by the Anti-Defamation League. And with their influence over the media, these false charges have been spread throughout the Earth.

All over the world, I and we have been hated; and I and we are hated the same today. I have been denied entrance into several countries and have been labeled as “persona non grata.” I am presently being called “the Godfather of hate,” and I am being called “one of the leading anti-Semites in America.”

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad

Myself and my family, and those who follow the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad under my leadership, have suffered and been scapegoated, and have lost positions in media, lost positions in business, because of the vileness of the charge even though we are saying that which is absolutely the truth.

In the Holy Qur’an it reads, “And mix not up truth with falsehood nor hide the truth while you know.” The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us and taught us that hiding the truth leads to all kinds of mischief-making and vile behavior, hatred, and even death. So we thought it is now time for us to legally respond to these false charges.

Two thousand years ago in the Roman Empire, the Jews of that day caused the Roman authorities to join with them to bring false charges against Jesus, as he was the last prophet to the Jews. Two thousand years later, some members of the Jewish community, the ADL and others, have met with White House officials and some members of the United States government to formulate a strategy that would enable them to make laws and policies that would allow them to arrest me or others who are falsely accused of being “anti-Semitic.”

 

My teacher told me, “Take plenty, brother.” And he told me that his Teacher, Master Fard Muhammad, told him, “You must take plenty.” But why? You must take plenty if you are being made to be a saviour, a redeemer, a reconciler, a resurrector. You must have the patience through your suffering to bring about the salvation and the transformation of the lives of those to whom you are missioned.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught me of the three most hated persons in the world. The first, being a rich person who wishes to share his riches with those less fortunate; second, those who are considered rich in knowledge and wisdom, who want to share that knowledge and that wisdom with the ignorant. And lastly, the most hated of all persons is the man to whom the Holy Qur’an is revealed.

Why? Because the revelation of the last great book of prophecy, and teaching the Honorable Elijah Muhammad the meaning of all of the prophecies that are found in the Bible and the Holy Qur’an, gives that man the power to 1.) bring the whole of religion together in oneness, and 2.) bring about the end of a world like this, and the civilization of those who are the archdeceivers who rule this world. So Paul said, “We war not against flesh and blood, but we war against the principalities and the powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world.”

I am a follower of such a man, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who was taught the meaning of all of the prophecies found in the Bible and Holy Qur’an. So while he was among us, he said if any scholar or scientist could prove him wrong, he would pay out of his brother’s vest pocket $10,000 for every word that you could prove that was wrong, and he would pay with his life for lying.

 


As his student, whom he sat in his seat in July of 1972, and anointed me and commissioned me to make his great commission known, I issue the same challenge. If you can prove me to be a liar in my recitation of his Teachings, and my understanding of what he said to me when he brought me to The Great Wheel in 1985—if you can prove me to be a liar, you don’t have to try to kill me; I will be willing to pay with my life for such!

When we saw that the ADL and others have joined with the U.S. government to produce a legal justification for punishment of anyone who is so charged as being a “hater of the Jewish people” and an “anti-Semite,” we decided to bring a lawsuit, which we filed on Monday, October 16th, the 28th Anniversary of the Million Man March.

We summoned the lawyers in the Nation of Islam who have also suffered by just being attached to me and The Nation. But suffering is what we all have done! Yet, you cannot prove that anyone who is a follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad under my leadership has ever done anything of hatred toward the community of Jewish people, White people, any people!

You cannot find one word in the tens of millions of words that God has guided me to speak in 68 years of my service where I ever called for the death of those who call themselves “Jews.”

 

Even though my phones may be tapped, and my house may be tapped, and you have heard my private conversations, my conversations at the dinner table, and you have even heard me praying! But you cannot find me even praying like David did, for the death of his enemies; David, who is the sign of the Promised Messiah.

Boy, I have thought about such prayers, but I have never uttered them; because I, like the God I serve, do not take pleasure in God’s killing of the people who are sinful; or us, for our sins. My teacher, Elijah Muhammad, taught me that “He came to save us from our sins,” and he added “the sins of White people” that we have been nurtured under; an iniquitous people who have made us into themselves.

And this is our reason for going before the courts: To attempt, with the help of Allah (God), to prove our innocence of such false charges, and that the guilty who charge us with their crimes are the ones who should suffer the punishment of judgment because they lie! They lie on a good man, who has never been arrested, never condemned as being a liar, never done anyone evil—and you wish death for me, and for those who follow me.

So we think the time is right! We have taken aplenty, and you cannot find us calling for the death of any Jewish person, harming one hair on their head, putting a swastika on any synagogue, or walking in protest at their stores and businesses asking people not to trade with them. But this, they have done to us, so we say: Enough is enough. So we have chosen to bring this action before the courts, and also before the people of America and the world.

 

Jesus, in his “Sermon on The Mount” found in Matthew 5:11-12: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” And it was my brother, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said: “Underserved suffering is redemptive.”

And so, we have paid the price to be looked upon as saviours and redeemers of our people, and correctors of the awful condition that we have been placed in by our enemies. So if you would like to read the complaint and the exhibits that we have submitted to the court, please use the QR code that appears on the screen [visit NOI.org/NOIvADL].

And get the full transcript of the complaint, and the many pages of documents that support the charge that we have made, and then share it with your family and your friends. And don’t ever worry about what the outcome is going to be, because truth crushed to the earth will rise again.

Thank you for listening and may Allah bless each of you with the light of understanding, as I greet you in peace: As-Salaam Alaikum (Peace be unto you).

From The Final Call Newspaper

‘Let the Showdown Begin!’ Farrakhan, Nation of Islam sue Jewish groups for violation of his constitutional rights and hindering his mission

By The Final Call
- October 24, 2023





“Woe to every slanderer, defamer!

—Holy Qur’an, Surah 104:1 (The Slanderer)

“For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,

And fought against me without a cause.

—Bible, NKJ, Psalm 109:2-3

CHICAGO—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam filed an 11-count lawsuit on October 16 in the Southern District Court of New York against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), its president Johnathan Greenblatt individually and the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) and its Director of Global Social Action Abraham Cooper individually, alleging infringement of his constitutional rights of freedom of association and free exercise of religion. The lawsuit also makes a claim for defamation.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

“For nearly forty (40) years, the Anti-Defamation League (hereinafter, “ADL”), later joined by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (hereinafter, “SWC”), in violation of the rights and protections guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, have engaged in actions to hinder Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam from continuing the Mission that Allah (God) gave to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” the lawsuit states.

This mission, accepted by Minister Farrakhan, is to deliver the Truth, taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that will correct the condition of spiritual, mental and moral death of the Black man and woman of America that came as a result of the 310 years of chattel slavery and over 150 years of oppression and suppression, thereafter, the document continues.

“While the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s Mission started with the Black man and woman of America, that Mission has expanded through Minister Farrakhan to the whole of humanity,” the lawsuit notes.

In addition, the lawsuit alleges Greenblatt and Cooper, as representatives of their organizations, did such acts knowingly, willfully, intentionally, with actual malice and “under the color of law.”

“Color of law refers to the appearance of legal authority or an apparently legal right that may not exist. The term is often used to describe the abuse of power under the guise of state authority and is therefore illegal,” explains www.law.cornell.edu. The lawsuit seeks damages of $4.8 billion.

Jonathan Greenblatt

The lawsuit demands a trial by jury and alleges that Greenblatt and Cooper, through their organizations, have for decades labeled Minister Farrakhan “an antisemite,” “antisemitic,” “promoting antisemitism,” “a hater of Jews,” and even as a “Black Hitler,” all without proof.

Such relentless false labeling, the lawsuit states, has had a damaging and chilling effect on those who would support Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam and has hindered the Minister in his mission and calling.

A Divine mission amid opposition

For over 90 years, the Nation of Islam under its founder Master Fard Muhammad, Allah (God) in Person and the Great Mahdi; its Eternal Leader, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and their servant, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan have worked and labored tirelessly in the mission to resurrect, redeem and reform the Black man and woman of America.

Centuries of slavery, suffering and death, decades of abuse during Reconstruction, Jim Crow and beyond—enforced by federal, state and local laws—have impacted several generations of Black people in the United States.

In scripture, it is prophesied that God would come and choose the rejected, unloved and despised, and they would be His people and He would be their God. “Is there any people more despised, more rejected, more unloved than the Black people of America?” the Minister asked during his Saviours’ Day 2019 message, “A Saviour is Born for the Black man and woman of America.”

His teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who was taught for three years and four months by Allah (God) in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, taught Islam to Black men and women of America, first in an area of Detroit, called “Black Bottom.” The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad stated in His book, “Message To The Blackman In America,” why Islam is key in the chapter titled, “Islam Dignifies.”

Mr. Muhammad explains in part that Islam is the natural religion and way of life for Black people and it dignifies the Black man (and woman), giving them the desire “to be clean internally and externally and for the first time to have a sense of dignity.” He also states that Islam makes Black people love and know one another.

However, at every turn since its inception, the Nation of Islam has faced targeted opposition from the U.S. government and other entities, including the ADL and SWC. The 72-page lawsuit meticulously lays out the allegations leveled at the ADL, Greenblatt, SWC and Cooper over the years.

False labeling

Rabbi Abraham Cooper

The lawsuit alleges the ADL and SWC use such labels as anti-Semite singularly to mean anti-Jewish or anti-Israel when the word “Semite” refers to a diverse group of people who speak specific languages in the Middle East.

Greenblatt and Cooper know that “falsely labeling someone as ‘anti-Semitic’ is a ‘trick’ to manipulate, to punish, and/or to unduly influence others to stay away from saying and/or doing anything critical of the ADL, or its interests,” the lawsuit alleges.

Lawyers for the Nation of Islam point out that the ADL and SWC have painted a picture of Minister Farrakhan as a hater of Jews despite following his every word over four decades. The ADL has produced numerous documents, including “Farrakhan: In His Own Words.” The document maliciously accuses the Minister of anti-Semitic rhetoric yet never recounts the innumerable times he has acknowledged Judaism as a revered religion of God and his respect for the Jewish faith.

The ADL did not, in their documents, acknowledge Minister Farrakhan’s many requests for dialogue with Jewish leaders. Both the ADL and SWC have used their influence to cause damage not only to Minister Farrakhan’s persona but also to his and the Nation of Islam’s ability to conduct business and establish friendships.

The legal filing brands the ADL and SWC as “unamerican” organizations that have woven themselves into the fabric of the U.S. government, in general, and into local governments within America to advance their “interests that are unamerican.”

The SWC demonstrated its control over media outlets when, in 2018, its founder, Marvin Heir, directly caused the streaming service “Netflix” to prevent the showing of a documentary on Minister Farrakhan’s life in music. The SWC later boasted on its website how it exercised influence over another media outlet, causing it to cancel the broadcast of Minister Farrakhan’s July 4, 2020, message entitled “The Criterion.”

The SWC published a report titled “The 2020 Top Ten Worst Global Anti-Semitic Incidents,” where it defamed the Minister as “America’s Godfather of anti-Semitism.”

In addition to being falsely branded an anti-Semite, the lawsuit alleges the ADL acts “under the color of law” by its ability to directly request and receive millions of taxpayer dollars to fund its organization and promote its programs.

In 2022, the lawsuit notes, the Office of Management and Budget received from the ADL a letter requesting funding in the amount of $1.5 billion.

The ability to demand large sums of money and receive it “in a matter of days,” is the quintessential definition of “direct nexus” and “a symbiotic relationship” with the government, the lawsuit says of the non-profit ADL organization.

What makes the request even more extraordinary is that “at no time should any request for funding be made directly to the Office of Management and Budget unless it is a government agency,” according to the lawsuit.

A pattern, history of violations

While posing as a friend to numerous civil rights organizations, the ADL worked jointly for decades with the F.B.I., conducting “illegal surveillance and monitoring” of these organizations,” the lawsuit continues.

The ADL admits it trains new F.B.I. special agents and intelligence analysts and works with local law enforcement. As such, the lawsuit says it functions as a governmental actor that can be held liable for violating a person’s constitutionally protected rights.

“This pattern and history of the ADL’s nearly 83 years of illegal surveillance and data gathering on groups and persons, in joint action with state and federal law enforcement agencies, to be used for targeting groups whose views or policies the ADL disagrees with, is at the most egregious levels of the violation of constitutional rights, as secured by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” the lawsuit argues.

The false charge by the ADL against Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam started in 1984 when the Minister came to the aid of Rev. Jesse Jackson in his first run for president. The ADL and other Jewish groups targeted Rev. Jackson as an anti-Semite, and the reverend received threats to his life. Minister Farrakhan stood to warn Jewish detractors not to bring harm to Rev. Jackson or his family.

The Minister would criticize the behavior of some Jews in the U.S. and the unjust acts of Israeli Zionists against the Palestinians. From then on, he was branded falsely a “Black Hitler” by Nathan Perlmutter the then-Executive Director of the ADL, and over the years the Minister was labeled as the number one anti-Semite in America.

As an anointed and appointed servant of God, Minister Farrakhan has extended an olive branch to Jewish leaders for decades in efforts to engage in a dialogue, but his overtures have been rejected.

In part 18 of his 58-week 2013 lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” Minister Farrakhan rhetorically states: “Louis Farrakhan: An ‘anti-Semite’?” He continues by breaking down the pre-fix “anti.”

“Well, if somebody is an‘anti-’ they are ‘opposed to’; they are ‘against.’ The definition of ‘anti’ asan adjective means: ‘A person opposed to a particular policy, activity or idea,’” the Minister explained.

“We, The Nation of Islam, are ‘opposed,’ in that sense, to a wicked policy against our people. We are ‘opposed’ to a wicked activity based on the idea of ‘White Supremacy.’ Yes; we are ‘opposed’ to that, but you can never find, since I have risen by The Grace of God to rebuild the work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, not one White person that has been harmed by us, and not one Jewish person, nor one Black person, that has been harmed by us!” the Minister said.

“So how will you make us ‘haters’ when there is no deed that demonstrates ‘hatred’? We are beyond that—but, are you? It seems to me that your hatred of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam is driving you crazy! Everywhere we go we find you’ve been there, telling lies on us before we get there! Every place that we leave, here you come: Telling lies following us up! And that is why, out of The Spirit of God: We Call for a ‘Showdown’!”

The Complaint and Exhibits may be accessed at https://noi.org/NOIvADL/ and www.finalcall.com. The Final Call will continue to cover this important and critical story as it develops.

From The Final Call Newspaper

Atonement, Reconciliation & Responsibility The ongoing legacy of the Million Man March
By Charlene Muhammad, National Correspondent
- October 10, 2023





Tune in on Sunday, October 15 at 2:00 p.m. CDT at noi.org for a special message titled ‘Atonement and the Great War’ delivered by Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to commemorate the 28th Anniversary of the Million Man March / Holy Day of Atonement

This year marks the 28th anniversary of the historic Million Man March, which drew nearly two million Black men to the Nation’s Capital of Washington, D.C., for a day, devoted to Atonement, Reconciliation and Responsibility. This day unlike any other in the history of this country, still resonates as a gathering that will go down in history.

Convened by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the unprecedented, divine March brought together Black men from all over the country from various religions, political ideologies and socio-economic backgrounds.

“Now, more than ever, we need to delve deeply into the process of atonement offered to us from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” stated Student Minister Abdul Haleem Muhammad, Nation of Islam Southwest Region Representative of Minister Farrakhan.

Student Minister Abdul Haleem Muhammad was among the Black men, the husbands and fathers who stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, and demonstrated their willingness to reconcile differences at home, school, church, organizations and in society.

In answering the Minister’s call to present themselves before God and atone to themselves, their families and communities, these men became part of what many referred to that day as “a glimpse of heaven.”

“As America and the world she has ruled since World War II unravels, it is imperative that we close the gap and tighten up our house so we in the mosque and the Black community don’t unravel and devolve into anarchy also,” added Student Minister Abdul Haleem Muhammad.

In observance of the Commemoration of the Million Man March / Holy Day of Atonement which is Monday, October 16, there is no work, no school and no play that day. It is a day of Reflection, Reconciliation and Prayer.

This year, Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to Minister Farrakhan, will deliver a special keynote message from Mosque Maryam in Chicago, on behalf of the Minister for the 28th Anniversary of the Million Man March on Sunday, October 15. The message may be viewed live-streamed at www.noi.org at 2:00 p.m. CDT. The title of his message is, “Atonement and the Great War.”

“As a student of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I marveled at what God gave me to give to the nearly two million Black men present on the National Mall and to the world watching via television,” stated Minister Farrakhan, during reflections on the Million Man March, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary in October 2020.

At that time, he stated, he re-read the words that Allah (God) gave to him on October 16, 1995. “This was unlike any event ever before in the United States of America or in the nations of the earth, especially those countries that have been under the victimization of the Satanic mind that rules this present world,” stated Minister Farrakhan.

“No nation has assembled this number of men to make Atonement to God, to others we may have offended, to reconcile differences in our families, differences in our communities and to accept responsibility for our actions that have sown division, hurt and pain among us,” he stated.

The Minister continued that October 16 was the beginning of a process of healing. The day represented a high point in individual development achieved through the guidance of God and the fellowship of men and women, brothers and sisters from many different walks of life. “We came with different ideologies, religious beliefs, and political aspirations,” he stated.

Part of the continued legacy of the Million Man March, as noted by Minister Farrakhan, was that never before had an event taken place that honored women as women were honored on that day. Those on the rostrum and who spoke included the woman who was the mother of that March, Dr. Dorothy Height, a legendary leader in the civil rights struggle, said the Minister.

“Mrs. Rosa Parks, Dr. Betty Shabazz and daughter Ilyasah Shabazz, humanist and poet Maya Angelou, Cora Masters Barry, Atty. E. Faye Williams, Mother Khadijah Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, wife of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad;

Mrs. Jacqueline Jackson, Rev. Barbara Skinner, C. Delores Tucker, Black nationalist matriarch Queen Mother Moore and Dr. Delois Blakeley and then 10-year-old Tiffany Mayo participated or spoke at the Million Man March. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, Rep. Cardiss Collins, and Rep. Barbara Rose Collins were among political leaders at the March,” the Minister said.

From The Final Call Newspaper

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s impact on Black Youth

By Anisah Muhammad, Contributing Writer
- October 3, 2023





Malcolm X. Muhammad Ali. Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. These are all world-renowned students of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, a man who said he met with God.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was born 126 years ago around October 7, 1897, in Sandersville, Georgia. With a third-grade education, he shook up the scholars of this world. How was this Georgia-born Black man with limited education able to produce giants and confound the best in society?

Simple. He met with God. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was personally taught by God-in-Person, Master Fard Muhammad. The wisdom Master Fard Muhammad imparted to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad over the course of a little over three years forever changed the trajectory of Black life. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has impacted every facet of Black life in America, and His legacy is still being carried out by Black youth today.

 

Personal testimonies

Yosef Ben Prince Asiel, son of the late Nasik (Prince) Asiel Ben-Israel from the Hebrew Israelite community in Dimona, Israel, learned from a young age the importance of God and the importance of the knowledge of self.

His mother joined the Nation of Islam in 1973 and was a follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. His father lived across the street from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s family. In his adult life, Yosef Ben Prince Asiel followed in his parent’s footsteps and developed his own love for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. For him, the most impactful thing about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is His true love for Black people.

“I was once told as a young man, if you don’t love Black people, you hate them. But there’s no in-between. And you can’t even really do anything for Black people unless you have a real genuine love for them,” he said.

“It was the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad who taught us to love ourselves again and to love one another and see the divinity in the Black man and woman, which allowed us to not just transform our individual selves, but our circumstances and our environment,” he continued. “And so that would be the part that I resonate with the most. It’s the love for Black people. It’s the love for ourselves and the love for the God that created us and that chose us to be His people so that we would prove His words to be true.”

Zakiyy Shabazz

Before coming across the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Jabarri X, 25, from Atlanta, did not have a positive outlook for his life. Though he grew up middle-class in a Christian household, he felt purposeless and did not value virtue or righteousness.

During his undergraduate years at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta, a friend introduced him to the Teachings and gave him material to read, and he started to study. He officially joined the Nation of Islam on October 7, 2022, the 125th birth anniversary of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

“There’s a lot of pathways that you can take as a young man that might seem appealing, but the pathway of life that comes from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and what the Nation of Islam gives you … it seems like it will outlast all of those lifestyles,” he said. “Elijah Muhammad has been consistent. That’s been a consistent figure in Black liberation.”

Zakiyy Shabazz from Atlanta described to The Final Call the impact the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad have had on his life.

“There was a time in my life where I did not have a solid direction or foundation as far as my spiritual growth and development. I, as many young Black men, had been caught up in the justice system. I had marks on my record,” he said. “The Teachings really have allowed me the opportunity to grow spiritually, grow as a man, grow as a father and as a husband.”

Shania Muhammad

Joi X is a registered M.G.T. and G.C.C. (Muslims Girls Training and General Civilization Class) Vanguard at Muhammad Mosque No. 29 in Miami and a member of the Nation of Islam’s youth committee. Through the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, she has found a sense of fulfillment.

“The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad … has forged a way for me to find what my purpose is in life,” she said to The Final Call.

West Muhammad, a 13-year-old Jr. F.O.I. (Fruit of Islam) from Muhammad Mosque No. 6 in Baltimore, and a multi-platform journalist, also found purpose through the words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. West Muhammad is a special assistant to WHID-FM (What Has Islam Done For Me) and is a writer.

“Being a young brother in the Teachings, it’s not a lightweight thing. Even if it may not be as common in my day-to-day life, I noticed that whenever I have my bowtie on or I have my suit on and I walk into the grocery store, people will say, ‘nice bowtie’ or ‘nice suit,’ and my bowtie has the star and crescent on it,” he said. “So, I take that as, they recognize that I’m a part of something greater, and they can see that I’m not just a regular young boy on the streets.”

He has also seen the impact his presence has on other young boys. “Once I was on the Saviours’ Tour and I gave a young brother a Final Call. I had a little bit of conversation with him. And when we first came up to him with our uniforms on, with our suits on, he said, ‘Where my suit at?’” West Muhammad recounted.

 

Kalimah Muhammad

“So I think that they want this life. They want to be in this righteous world,” he added. “I believe it’s our job to help them and help our young sisters as well to grow into that best version of themselves by just being an example sometimes and giving them a word that we were given to get us to this state.”

Women impacted by Mr. Muhammad’s Teachings

Jadayah Muhammad, 28, from Brooklyn, New York, has traveled the world and has experienced different cultures. She is the executive director and the UN Representative of the International Youth Leadership Institute. She gives credit to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s vision to send committees of women around the world.

She referenced words from Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, wife of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who quoted from a September 11, 1973, Table Talks recording where the Honorable Elijah Muhammad shared his vision of women organizing conventions of classes for women’s training and organizing committees of further training that would “take us on travels around the world being honored and received in many places of the globe as the equal to the best in world society.”

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s understanding of the role of women in the world and the role of women in Islam stands out to Jadayah Muhammad.

“Through the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, women in the Nation of Islam have more freedom and more honor than in any other Islamic culture that I’ve ever encountered in the world,” she said.

She recalled a conversation with her friend from Bangladesh, who was surprised that she would be inside the mosque.

“Around her way, women do not go inside the mosque. Only men can go inside the mosque. Women pray outside the mosque in the dirt,” she said. “A lot of people take their culture of oppression of women as religion, which is not the case. And so, what the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad has given us is an Islamic culture that makes space for freedom, justice and equality for all of us, regardless of creed, class, color.”

Elisha Muhammad, 17, from Memphis, Tennessee, also propped up the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s Teachings on the value of women.

“I’m so privileged to be able to understand my value and to not abuse myself as the Second Self of God,” she said.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s words on women have been the key to her confidence as a young Black Muslim.

“In the M.G.T. class and in the M.G.T. Vanguard, we are a different caliber of women. We are strong and we’re intelligent,” she said. “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has given me that confidence, and of course, he’s given me the wisdom to be myself as a Muslim woman in this world today.”

A comfort to Black youth and a continuing legacy

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad departed in 1975 but His work and mission have continued through His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is indeed a true friend of the Black man and woman because His message is as relevant today as it was when He was physically among us.

He worked, suffered, studied and constantly prayed for our rise. He sacrificed his own personal life to devote 44 years to the rise of our people,” Minister Farrakhan stated in a message published in The Final Call titled, “A True Friend: The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.” His impact in areas of education, spirituality, business and economic development, and other areas cannot be overlooked.

Shania Muhammad, 16, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has been making headlines due to graduating college at a young age and becoming a full-time salaried teacher.

Her father, Elijah Muhammad, who was named after the Honorable Elijah Muhammad by his mother, instilled in his children principles from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that he learned growing up, such as doing for self and the importance of education. When COVID-19 hit, he decided to try something different for his daughter.

Shania Muhammad enrolled in a dual enrollment course at 13 years old, and she blew through the classes. With encouragement from her father, she kept going. At 14, she graduated with two associate degrees from two different colleges on the same day.

At 15, earlier this year, she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences and early childhood development and education. She turned 16 in July. She is now working on her master’s in business administration with a concentration in marketing and expects to graduate in May 2024.

As she pursues higher education, she is also a third-grade teacher at a Black school and the author of three children’s books.

“The Honorable Elijah, Muhammad always talks about being your brother’s keeper, being your sister’s keeper and uplifting us as a people. And I feel like that’s what I’m doing with teaching. I’m literally living the message He’s been teaching and that still continues to be taught over the years, which is, we have to uplift us,” she said to The Final Call.

Joi X described the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as “new and comforting” to Black youth.

“Just learning about who we are, which the Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches, we are a god. You can’t help but find inspiration and comfort in that,” she said.

“Also in addition, as we see a gradual rise in the consciousness among each generation of Black youth, in terms of understanding the importance of the liberation for Black people, the effects of White supremacy, the growing desire to support Black businesses and endeavors, etcetera, etcetera. Whether or not people realize it, this all stems from the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” she added.

A big part of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s message to Black people is to “do for self.” Kalimah Muhammad, 17, from Houston, Texas, has been an entrepreneur since she was nine years old, when she started “Powder Power,” talc-free powders.

“My mom came to me and said, ‘Kalimah, you’re nine years old. You need to start your own business like I did,’” she recalled to The Final Call. “And I decided to go with it. And for the last eight years, we have been developing all-natural, homemade talc-free powder products to sell nationally and praise be to Allah (God) internationally.”

She grew up hearing the words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to “Do for Self.: “His inspiration, His guidance, being able to do for myself and have this business has not only been a wonderful experience, but it gives me the chance and the ability to spread these all-natural products across the world to help keep my people safe by what they put on their bodies and what they consume,” she said.

Kalimah Muhammad described the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as someone who desires the best for Black youth, “because He knows of our potential.”

“Even if we’ve never met Him personally, He knows that we are all destined to do great things,” she said. “He is relevant because he wants us Black youth to be our best selves in whatever field of study.”

For Jadayah Muhammad, simply showing love to Black youth rather than condemning them is significant.“They get enough hate. They get enough disrespect out here in this world, and we can’t be another space with more of the same. We have to give them love and show them love, and that, at the end of the day, is at the root of our Teachings,” she said.

West Muhammad shared a message to his fellow young people: “Just stick to the words of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. Now, I’m only 13, I’m young, so I haven’t been in prior to 1975 or I’m not even registered yet. But I can already recognize that we are part of something greater. We are part of a new legacy, and it’s our job to establish this Nation of Islam and help it to move on.”