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Elijah Muhammad (October 7, 1897 - February 25, 1975) is notable for his leadership of the Black Muslims and the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death in 1975. He also was an early important teacher and mentor to Malcolm X.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Teachings 3 Assassination of Malcolm X 4 Legacy 5 Controversy 6 Footnotes 7 External links

Muhammad was born Elijah Poole in Sandersville, Georgia, as one of 13 children of Willie Poole, Sr. (1868–1942) and Mariah Hall (1873–1958). Both were tenant farmers (share croppers). At the age of 16 he left home and traveled about America. In 1917 he married Clara Evans, later to be known as Mother Clara Muhammad. In 1923 he finally settled in Detroit, Michigan where he worked at an automobile factory. The young Elijah Poole apparently witnessed three murders (lynchings) of blacks by whites before the age of twenty.^[1]

In the early 1930s, Muhammad also became acquainted with a W.D. Fard also known as Wallace Fard Muhammad. W. Fard Muhammad, then working as a peddler, had already established his Temple of Islam in Detroit. The beliefs taught by Fard, though similar to orthodox Islam in some ways, also differed from it in several essentials. Scholars have identified a wide range of possible influences on Fard's theology including Sufi Islam, the teachings of the contemporary Noble Drew Ali of the Moorish Science Temple, Egyptology, Numerology, Eastern mysticism, Black Nationalism, the earlier ideas of economic independence as espoused by Marcus Garvey, and more.

On May 26, 1931 W.D. Fard was ordered out of Detroit. He departed in 1934. Elijah Poole, renamed Elijah Muhammad by W.D. Fard, became the successor to the Nation of Islam and Supreme Minister. In 1942, Muhammad was arrested in Washington D.C. on charges of sedition and violation of the Selective Service Act. He was cleared of the sedition charges, but was convicted of the others, specifically for instructing his followers to avoid the draft. Elijah Muhammad was sent to Federal prison for four years.^[2]

Elijah Muhammad taught what was viewed by most as black supremacist doctrine. He taught that blacks were the first people on the Earth but had been tricked out of their power and oppressed by whites, who were created by a scientist called Yakub.

The Nation of Islam preaches complete separation from white society. The NOI teaches that black people must develop independence in economics, religion, and nationhood. The teachings of the NOI denounce drinking, gambling, physical abuse of black women, and the inability to protect one's family from attacks by violent white America.

Elijah Muhammad used the newly won independence of many African nations as an example for his followers in America.^{[citation needed]} Unlike many other black leaders in mid-twentieth century America, Elijah Muhammad believed that it made more sense to seek aid from independent African nations rather than going overseas to Africa while their communities at home in America were non-independent.^[3]

Simultaneously, Elijah Muhammad showed pride in his ability to stand equal with whites, and was willing to work with them when this would further the aims of the NOI. He apparently would claim that he lived in a mostly white neighborhood, and he allowed George Lincoln Rockwell of the American Nazi Party to address the NOI, at a time when both organizations were opposed to racial integration.

One of those Elijah Muhammad would influence was an ex-convict whom the world would come to know as Malcolm X. Though Malcolm X would later leave the NOI, the influence of Elijah Muhammad on Malcolm's life was undeniable. The young Malcolm developed his speaking and political outlook within the NOI and under Elijah Muhammad's tutelage.

The rift between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X was largely due to Malcolm’s discovery regarding rumors that Elijah Muhammad was having sex with various young NOI women and girls working for him, and that he had fathered their children.^[4][5] Elijah Muhammad's son, the girls, and eventually Elijah Muhammad himself confirmed to Malcolm that the rumors were true.^[4][5] Malcolm felt compelled to make this known to the congregation, and to the public. A year later, he was forced out of NOI for the release of this damaging information, famously stating that “I am most probably dead already.” His action was not forgotten by the NOI. There is controversy as to whether Elijah Muhammad ordered Malcolm X’s assassination, or whether he stood by while promoting it.

With the death of Muhammad in 1975, the NOI went through a brief period of upheaval. Under the guidance of his son, Warith Deen Muhammad, the NOI was moved into the mainstream of Sunni Islam and began to accept white members. Such shifts away from the original black-nationalist teachings of Muhammad soon caused a split within the organization, as some members preferred to espouse Muhammad's original teachings. The best known splinter group is probably the Five Percenters whose beliefs ventured further from mainstream Islam than that of the NOI. The original organization under Warith Deen changed its name to the Muslim American Society. The name and ideology of the Nation of Islam was appropriated by a splinter group led by Elijah Muhammad's second National Representative, Louis Farrakhan, who re-established it in 1978. Later, Louis Farrakhan was accused by the wife of Malcolm X of taking part in his assassination.

Warith Deen Muhammad once said in a speech that his father Elijah wanted him to change the direction of the NOI into a more orthodox view. Warith said that his father started out preaching black separatism in the beginning because Black people needed to be proud and to show pride in themselves as a people before they could enter into a more orthodox form of Islam. This claim is disputed by many die-hard NOI members.

Figures that found inspiration from Muhammad's teachings included Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, boxer Muhammad Ali, and Clarence 13X.

One of Muhammad's grandsons, Ozier Muhammad,^[6] is a photographer for The New York Times who has won a Pulitzer Prize.

The beliefs of Elijah Muhammad are highly controversial. Islam is not a religion based on race, and the historical teachings of Elijah and W.D. Fard are not consistent with mainstream Islamic thought. The NOI has excluded whites from joining, which is against standard Islamic thought. Islam accepts all converts who accept that there is no god but Allah and that Mohammad is his Prophet.

In addition, Elijah taught that Christianity was used by the white man to get black people to turn the other cheek in response to the repression they faced. This also, is not a mainstream Islamic belief. While Islam does teach the principle of self defense, Christianity is generally respected by Muslims as a valid religion (see People of the Book or dhimmi).

The racial emphasis of the NOI is specific to the NOI as an Islamic group. W.D. Fard himself claimed to be the Mahdi (savior) of the holy black race. Elijah was consistently referred to as the messenger of God. This would likely be considered blasphemous by most Muslims who considered the Prophet Muhammad to be the last messenger of God. The racial history preached by the NOI is not consistent with either the Quran or the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

Today, it is widely accepted that Elijah Muhammad was a "determined, wily and resourceful figure who got rich from his schemes, ruled his followers by intimidation and fathered an enormous number of illegitimate children" ^{[7][8] [9]} of which Elijah Muhammad's son W.D. Muhammad, the women, and eventually Elijah Muhammad himself confirmed to Malcolm X that the rumors were true. ^{[10] [11]}

Daniel Pipes went on to state in his article, 'How Elijah Muhammad Won' that:

• "Elijah Muhammad's first illegitimate child was born in January of that year, the first of thirteen unrecognized children whom he fathered over a seven-year period with no fewer than seven different mistresses. FBI tapes record Muhammad handing each woman the same line about his "divine seed," then lying about his marital intentions; the FBI also found that he had five affairs going simultaneously, and that he threatened women with violence if they revealed his paternity. To his wife's special shame, among these relationships was an incestuous one." ^[12]

• Seventh Family of the Nation of Islam
• Elijah Muhammad History
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• Who is the Messiah?

Preceded by Wallace Fard Muhammad

Nation of Islam 1934-1975

Succeeded by Warith Deen Muhammad or Louis Farrakhan (split)