Elijah Muhammad

Elijah Muhammad 1897-1975, American black-nationalist and religious leader, b. near Sandersville, Ga. Originally named Elijah Poole, he left home at 16 and worked at various jobs. In 1923 he settled in Detroit and became an automobile assembly-line worker. In 1931 he became a follower of Wali Farad, or W. D. Fard, who had established a Temple of Islam in Detroit. When Farad disappeared in 1934, Poole (now renamed Muhammad) assumed leadership of the movement that was to become known as the Black Muslims . He was imprisoned during World War II for encouraging resistance to the draft. Muhammad called himself the "Messenger of Allah" and preached that the only salvation for black people in the United States lay in withdrawal into an autonomous state. He retained almost autocratic control over his movement. He greatly influenced Malcolm X , although Malcolm later left the Black Muslims.

Bibliography: See biographies by C. A. Clegg 3d (1997) and K. Evanzz (1999).

Elijah Muhammad (1897–1975). Leader of the Nation of Islam, the American Black Muslim movement, called more fully ‘The Lost-Found Nation of Islam’, or, from 1976, ‘The World Community of Islam in the West’. He was born in Georgia with the name Elijah Poole. Moving to Detroit, he became a follower of Wallace D. Fard ( Wali Farad, known as Prophet Fard) who had founded the Temple of Islam to affirm ‘the deceptive character of the white man and the glorious history of the black race’. He advocated self-help, especially through education, and he produced two manuals which guided the movement, The Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam and Teaching for the Lost Found Nation of Islam … He became the chief aide of Fard, who gave him his new name, and when Fard disappeared in 1934, Elijah Muhammad took control. The original goals of the Nation of Islam were continued in what was originally a splinter group, but which rapidly grew in size, led by Louis Farrakhan (b. 1933). A fiery and inspiring orator, Farrakhan has often been dismissed as a racist and anti-Semitic orator, but he speaks from great intelligence and culture. His political ambitions on behalf of the movement came to an end with the failure of Jesse Jackson (in the presidential nominations) in 1984, but the march of a million men in 1995 re-established Farrakhan and the nation of Islam as a political force.