Now Playing Tracks

a look at religion…

Q: What is the African-American tradition called “hoodoo,” and what role did magic play in the lives of Frederick Douglass, Marcus Garvey and other black leaders?

Mitch: The entire idea of Africa as a cradle of world civilization – today very popular, but was once very marginal – This idea began to enter the American mindset through the migration of African magical and esoteric ideas to the New World. By the early 20th century, the African-American magical system called hoodoo (often confused with the related but very different Afro-Caribbean religion of Voodoo) produceda literature and a spiritual counter-culture that challenged the West’s misconception that Africa lacked a deep mythological past. African traditions later gained a voice in America through the work of figures like Marcus Garvey and Alex Haley. But it was the magical system of hoodoo that first awakened the nation, or at least parts of it, to African culture. In his classic memoirs, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass described the assistance he received from a trusted “root worker” – or a hoodoo medicine man – when Douglass was a teenage slave. This relationship has been largely overlooked, with many readers or critics probably unaware of what Douglass was even describing when he referenced “magic roots.” A few generations later,Marcus Garvey not only helped call attention to African religious and cultural traditions but himself embraced American “mind power” metaphysics – or what we sometimes call “the power of positive thinking” – as a means to black political liberation. Mind-power metaphysics formed an unseen pillar of Garvey’s philosophy, and came to influence the Nation of Islam and other Black nationalist groups. This is one of the many ways in which political and magical movements intersected in America.

Reference: Horowitz, M (2009) Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation, Bantam. ISBN-10: 0553806750

post from PoeticIslam:

Gender Segregation at UCL: A plea for Muslim womens’ rights

This post is for all of you out there: everyone can learn something from this. Whether you be an advocate for human rights or female rights. Whether you are an advocate for justice. Whether you are interested in deepening your understanding on the current media, and how events and ideas can easily be distorted and misrepresented within it.

On Saturday the 9th of March, I attended an event at University College London discussing Islam and Atheism, and an incident occurred before the event with one of the speakers, Professor Lawrence Krauss. In the article below, one female who attended the event like myself gives her side of the story-which unfortunately is not being acknowledged by the mainstream media. It’s an important read and really highlights clearly what happened, as well as giving the reader another outlook. Please read and share:

Gender Segregation at UCL

“University College London recently hosted a debate titled “Islam or Atheism: Which Makes More Sense?” featuring Professor Lawrence Krauss, an eminent atheist, and Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, a lecturer on Islam. During the debate, a minor incident occured pertaining to the seating arrangements which has since been bizzarely inflated. At the beginning of the debate the Professor made a huge spectacle concerning the way a section of the audience was segregated. The auditorium had a mixed gender section, a male section and a female section. This was not enforced and was done to cater for everyone’s social etiquettes.

On the 11th of March UCL released a statement saying that they will not allow the Islamic Education and Research Academy to hold any events on their premises. This is a highly disappointing response from such a prominent university. ‘Equal opportunities’ was cited as the reason for this decision. Hence this begs the question: why have the rights of the women involved not been taken into account? Especially since this decision violates a woman’s right to conscientiously-held beliefs.

It is no secret that there exists a Western assumption that Muslim women are subjugated or oppressed and therefore in need of liberation. Ironically in this situation, the perennial excuse of ‘liberating Muslim women’ surfaced, when it was in fact the Muslim women themselves who requested separate seating arrangements. The definition of oppression is to exercise control over another person - which is exactly what Professor Krauss did when he forced the women to sit beside men when they did not want to!  So who is the real oppressor here? A quote from Malcom X comes to mind:

“If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing”.

Furthermore, I would like to point out that enforced segregation is completely different to reserving an area to make some participants feel more comfortable, which is what the organisation did. If someone would like to sit separately out of choice, why should this not be allowed? As a woman, I choose not to mix freely with men and this should be respected. It is very disappointing that people have not questioned this, and rather than ridicule Professor Krauss for his misogynistic behaviour, they have penalised iERA, an organisation that stood up for the women’s rights.

Professor Krauss has called upon his companion Richard Dawkins to write an article when he did not even attend the event, and had practically no knowledge of the event itself. An article that cannot be considered reliable has been published over numerous websites which shows that as long as you publicise something well, you don’t necessarily have to have the facts. One can’t help but wonder if this whole fiasco was created intentionally.

As someone who did attend the debate, I can tell you that Professor Krauss gave a very disappointing performance. When someone agrees to a debate on whether Islam is the correct way of life, wouldn’t you think that he would have read at least some books about Islam? He was asked during the debate whether or not he has read even one book on Shariah Law, he said that he had not. As a world renowned academic we expected more from him. We can all appreciate that if you are going to give a good intellectual argument then you would need to have knowledge on both subjects. This to me shows arrogance from his side. Hamza Tzortzis came fully prepared for the debate, even referencing from Professor Krauss’s own book, which meant that he came to the debate with knowledge and integrity. This does make you question how someone with so little knowledge on one of the major religions in the world, can have such a strong opposing view.

It is a common ploy to use a fabricated scandal to cover something up in order to divert people’s attention away from the real problems. In my opinion, this is what has happened here. When a world renowned academic, someone who is held in high-esteem by many, endorses a practise such as incest, yet people choose to focus on a trivial matter such as segregation, you know that there is something wrong.”

-Umm Sumayya

via PoeticIslam

Post Black How a New Generation is Redefining African America Identity By Ytasha L. Womack

So for my thesis I’ve picked up a lot of books about Black Power, Afrocentricity, Blackness, the state of Blackness today in the media, society, feminism etc.

Womack’s book is very short but to the point with many of the topics she goes over. I’ll be posting notes that I’ve collected. 

One of the topics she’s gone over is Spirituality. Personally I am not affiliated with any religion but I do consider myself to be spiritual. I grew up muslim (not Nation of Islam Muslim but traditional Moroccan Muslim), I’ve read a bit of the Bible, from Buddhist scriptures, Thich Naht Hanh, Hinduism, the magic of the universe, shamanism etc. 

I remember when I was a kid during Christmas we would go visit family friends who celebrated Kwanzaa and they would have so many colors on, the house would smell of incense and food and it was beautiful. Others that I know who aren’t exactly religious have an ankh tattooed on their body or somewhere in their house, the eye of Horus and other Egyptian symbols which I feel like is a symbol of empowerment because the Egyptians were very intelligent. One of my closest friends is a buddhist but she’s the only one I know of, I’ve never seen a black Hindu or Taoist etc.

Where I stand as far as Christianity is…I see it as an oppression as it was in slavery. I still see it for being a confusing, confining, White religion that was forced upon us. So when I see so many black Christians I cringe a little bit. I want to tell them, “Do you know that they got rid of our OLD, ORIGINAL religion and replaced that greatness with a white man in a robe who can turn water to wine, just to control you?” But hey at the end of the day I respect what you believe in as long as you’re comfortable with it.

But Womack makes a great point in her passage about Spirituality, without Christianity the civil rights movement would’ve gone differently. SCLC is where Martin Luther King Jr began. Anyway to her notes!

SPIRITUALITY:

Watching the news or even reading black publications you’d think all African Americans were fundamentalist Christians. If you’re not a fundamentalist Christian or in the Nation of Islam, as far as black religious identity goes, you probably don’t exist. It’s safe to say that most African Americans have parents and grandparents who emerged out of the traditional black church culture…
Traditionally the church had served as both the primary place for spiritual upliftment and one of the few places where African Americans could be empowered personally and politically…
While the Christian religion was a tool used to control and justify the transatlantic slave trade, its spiritual core freed people from it. During the civil rights movement, the church served as that spiritual heart behind nonviolent protests…
Spirituality has played a prominent role in people’s growing disinterest in being controlled by institutions.
(Comments on African religions/traditions from Mariahdessa Ekere Talli):
The Yoruba religion celebrates one god, and the orishas are nature-based aspects of that god. Homage to ancestors is a major component of the practice…the way African traditional religions are misrepresented in the media, “They act like we’re just killing chickens and there’s all this insanity going on. There’s a prejudice against anything African and African spirituality. It’s fear. Even black folks don’t get it.”

 This I can also agree with, when watching movies about Voodooism or any sort of African religion it involves the killing of a goat or violence, it looks like dark/black magic. But I think it’s a tactic, Black folk wouldn’t want to return to the old religion if it’s nothing but chicken killing, insane dancing, seemingly primitive religion. Ah how we are confined…

Stay tuned for more notes from her book!

-yazzy

America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem.

Malcolm X

the interesting thing about this quote…is he was right. In Islam race in fact they don’t use pictures/images to represent Allah, the prophets etc. It is just not an issue…but if you look at the images of Jesus and the prophets etc, they’re mainly white however where all of those adventures mentioned in the bible took place, had brown skinned people. Brown guese. Brown.

Black Christian Voters: Get Over It

I discussed the issue on twitter with a friend of mine about how black folk-especially religious black folk (not even then my parents who aren’t exactly religious don’t condone homosexuality) are very homophobic. So when Obama stated his support for same sex marriage I’m pretty sure some of their heads flipped. But he’s right; either way, denying same sex marriage is Discrimination regardless of whether or not your support that lifestyle. It’s not fair to Discriminate against someone because they love differently.

“When I watched President Obama speaking to ABC’s Robin Roberts about his position on same-sex marriage, I didn’t think about it being another moment in history so much as I thought of another historic figure: Bayard Rustin.

Rustin, who died in 1987, is remembered as the principal organizer of the March on Washington in 1963. As one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest lieutenants, he was one of the primary architects of the civil rights movement, even said to have introduced King to Gandhi’s nonviolent-protest philosophies.

But he was also openly gay at a time when the very concept was largely unmentionable. It was all he could do to pursue human rights for African Americans who suffered oppressive discrimination in America, let alone ask for the same rights for people who loved the same gender.

The reaction of the black body politic of the time to men like Rustin, despite what he stood for, wasn’t necessarily tarring and feathering, or even outing him. (There were, however, instances where he had totake less-public positions in various campaigns.) Instead, for some black folks of the civil rights years, guided and influenced by the church, there was a de facto “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

For them, being gay was defined biblically as sin, an abomination. So the best response often was just to shut up about it. Listen to the preacher as he railed against homosexuality (even if he was in the closet himself), and hide behind a clergy-sanctioned veil of secrecy.

But this cultural behavior did not benefit anyone but authors and publishing houses (see J.L. King), because that attitude only served to spawn closeted gay men and women living double lives, the so-called down-low. Eventually it made us afraid to talk about HIV/AIDS, which so far has killed 240,627 blacks in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest figures.

Enter President Obama. Whether he was forced to say something by Vice President Joe Biden’s pronouncement supporting same-sex marriage, whether it was a political ploy or whether he really did the soul-searching he spoke about to come to the conclusion that gay people should be able to marry, his speaking out placed the issue squarely in the faces of African Americans, and it is making us address this whole thing….

This is because African Americans — 96 percent of whom supported President Obama in the 2008 election, but 41 percent of whom are against same-sex marriage — now seem to be presented with a decision: Either continue to support the president and find a way to get past this political issue, or continue to listen to people in our communities, in our churches and in our families who remain focused on gay people as if they were some major ailment for the black community.

Will black Christian voters stick with President Obama, trusting him to steward the country through four more years, as the sluggish but sure economic recovery hits its stride and as the wars that have turned the world’s view of America largely negative start to subside? Or will they decide that President Obama has betrayed their religious instruction — something they’ve been taught most of their lives about homosexuality — and either stay home on Election Day or vote for his presumptive opponent, Mitt Romney? The GOP front-runner has maintained that marriage should be exclusive to people of the opposite sex, and may well do the bidding of what could turn into a right-wing, Republican-controlled Congress.

I can break it down for you. Black people have much, much bigger fish to fry than what two adults do in their own private time or how they choose to spend their lives. Up to 10 percent of young blacks drop out of high school, rendering them largely unable to take advantage of a skilled-worker- and technology-oriented U.S. job market. Meanwhile, black males have a 1-in-3 chance of doing prison time at some point during their lives.

At the same time, we have disproportionately high numbers in far too many negative health statistics, ranging from diabetes to HIV/AIDS to heart disease to gunshots (pdf), which remain the leading cause of death among black adolescents.

So after all this, are we willing to let what people do in their bedrooms influence what we do at the polls? Whatever issue we may have concerning homosexuality is something for us to get over. We should focus instead on the healing that our communities desperately need.

Preventing gay people from getting married is not going to keep a kid in school. It is not going to stop people from using emergency rooms as clinics. It is not going to prevent two young rivals from shooting each other over a dirty look.

President Obama, in essence, has sent this message to African Americans. We can devote our energies to what churches have been preaching about same-sex marriage, or we can focus on solutions. I think Bayard Rustin would partner with Martin Luther King on the solutions part. But that’s what they would have done 50 years ago. The choice today is yours.”

VODOUN; A History of Religious Persecution and Suppression

“Contrary to popular belief, the Africans enslaved to build the economic foundation of America were not Christians.1 During slavery, African-Americans were not even allowed to worship as westernized Christians. Later, during Reconstruction, the myth that the majority of “free” Africans were devout Christians, was merely a political ploy deliberately disseminated in popular media by white Abolitionists, and black preachers, as an argument against slavery; in their naive attempt to present the enslaved masses as “civilized,” and therefore  “human.”  The latter being embarrassed and ashamed by the African religious practices which were deemed  “evil” and primitive. 2  This myth has remained unchallenged until the present.

In truth, the builders of this great nation were practitioners of the various African Religions popularly known today as “Voodoo”, (Vodoun) Akan, Ifa, Orisha, La Reglas de Congo, and Mami Wata. A small percentage were even (African-styled) Muslims3,

incorporating the ancient matriarchal practices of pre-Arabic Islam, to include ancestral veneration and honor of the family deities into their ritual practices.Vodoun houses were established in many free Black townships headed by great healers in the African spiritual arts…The Vodoun religion in the U.S. pre-dates Haitian influence. Vodoun is actually estimated to have existed for more than 10,000+ years, having its ancient roots in Egypt, East Africa and in ancient Afro-matrilineal Ionia (later known as “Greece”) where the African, Queen mothers established their powerful temples and theocratic empires. These black, African empires reigned for more than 4,000 years before the Dorian (white) Greek invaders, whom western revisionist (“historians”) now credit with their ancient history. The Vodoun religion was also one of the major religions practiced all throughout the ancient world…

 

Interestingly enough, many West Africans with an extensive history of pre-Christian Talmudic (biblical) ritual knowledge and practice, even arrived in the Americas highly familiar with their own pre-Christian tales of the legend of “Moses” .6 They were not familiar with him as the Christianized Moses who led the Jews to the promised land, but rather as “the great conjurer,” in which he was revered and celebrated for centuries as the “bringer of the law.” This lore is merely a remnant of the legends popularized during the reign of the black matriarchal empires whose sacred theology, rule and culture dominated the ancient world (Ionia, [Greece], Egypt, Asia Minor, Mycenae, Crete, Thessalonica, East Africa, and North India), for more than 6,000 years…

It was this latter ritual of African Religious practice, that incited the most fear and hatred in the hearts and minds of the slave owners, and American White citizenry. The slave owners learned only too well of the efficacy of its power.

This was so because “Voodoo’s” (Vodoun) philosophical structure, and its ritual and cultural manifestation, emphasized the warrior gods who sustained and directly aided the Africans in their long struggle toward freedom. It was in this respect that the priesthood weld considerable power as they did in Africa.”

 

 

 

There are other elements peculiar to the Nigritian [Negro] on which the disease called negro consumption, or Cachexia Africana, depends. But these belong to that class which subject the negro to the white man’s spiritual empire over him. When that spiritual empire is not maintained in all its entirety, … he is apt to fall under the spiritual influence of the artful and designing of his own color… Better throw medicine to the dogs, than give it to a negro patient impressed with the belief that he has walked over poison specially laid for him, or has been in some other way tricked or conjured.
(p. 723-724)” Elliott, L.L.D. “Pro-Slavery Arguments” (Augusta: Pritchard, Abbot & Loomis, 1860).

Voodoo Likely the First African-American Religion in America

“Chicken bones. Conferring with spirits and ethereal deities. Visions of graveyard rituals. These are the images movies and superstition have conjured about the practitioners of the religion of voodoo, or Vodoun.

Unlike Judeo-Christian religions, Vodoun encompasses all areas in a person’s life and incorporates intricate rituals for even the smallest daily routine. The religion stems from natural religions cultivated and handed down from generation to generation in Africa. Largely based on general concepts such as “nature” or the “spirit,” Vodoun is the predecessor to American voodoo. The name “voodoo” is actually a term created by those who saw the religion as evil, but it has derived from several sources, including “Vodou” in the Fon language and “Vudu” in the Ewe language. All told, more than 30 tribal groups in West Africa subscribed to the religion.

“Vodou” means “spirit,” and is used to identify the divinity of nature that is staple to the Vodoun tradition. The Ewe tribes use the term to describe not only nature, but the totality of existence and harmony within the juxtaposition of the worlds of the living and the spirit realm.

When slaves were first brought from Africa to America, Voodoo was immediately outlawed by the largely Christian slave owners and demonized as a savage religion. Immediately, the religion became one of the key ways for slave to resist the oppression of their slave owners, and it gave them a very personal connection with their African homeland.

“When the Africans were transported to the New World, the religion became considerably maligned and actively suppressed by the colonial government,” says Mamaissii “Zogbé” Vivian Hunter-Hindrew, founder of the Organization of African Traditional Healers in an interview with About.com. “This was so because the Vodou’s philosophical and political structure and cultural manifestation emphasized the warrior gods who sustained and directly aided the Africans in their numerous slave rebellions, and ultimately their freedom from the brutal system of chattel slavery forced upon them.”

Hunter-Hindrew, considered a holy leader in the religion, points out that some of the things that have led to the mislabeling of Voodoo practices in the west are misconceptions about magic and animal sacrifice.

“This is perhaps one of the biggest myths regarding the esoteric understanding of African Traditional Religions in general,” she says. “and the Vodoun religion in particular. There is no use of magic in Vodoun as it is understood and practiced in the West. However, there are aspects of phenomena, or what some would regard as “miracles” that are made manifest by the Vodou spirits themselves. But, these manifestations in no way involve the use of “magic” or “trickery” as Hollywood has often misrepresented it.”

She is also quick to point out that while the religion does incorporate animal sacrifices with stock animals—particularly chickens and goats—these creatures are often shared in communal meals by practitioners and given a high state of regard within the spiritual realm. She notes that this differs considerably from the Western slaughterhouses that take dispassionately bred livestock and process them for general consumption throughout the world.

The American tradition of Voodoo has also been integrated into the heavily herbal-based “Hoodoo,” which incorporates elements of Vodoun and a number of other West African religions.

African religions have experienced a phenomenal increase in participation by African-Americans over the last 25 years or so. Neo-pagans and wiccans are also finding a place in the Voodoo world, though Hunter-Hindrew notes that many of these practitioners misunderstand the religion they are toying with.

What Hunter-Hindrew is promoting now, however, is the realization that the religion, as she states above, requires the acknowledgement of ancestry. While new practitioners can still join the religion and seek to serve the Vodoun spirits, it’s a different road than those who have African ancestry.

“Unfortunately, because they lack direct ancestral ties in the tradition,” she says, “their emphasis is focused mainly on the “power” of the divinities and what they’ve been told that they can manifest from them, as opposed to acknowledging and honoring the African ancestors who carry the “ase” (power). They have yet to understand that in order to really know the mysteries, there is no getting around the African ancestors and those who carried these mysteries in their blood and were enslaved here in the West, for it is the Ancestors who control the mysteries.” “

reasons why some people are ignorant Part 1:

http://uglyamerica.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/why-i-hate-black-people-since-the-1st-black-on-white-rape-in-the-bible-when-the-serpent-raped-adam-eve-the-black-mans-only-goal-has-been-to-terrorize-us-i-dont-hate-black-people-i-hate-e/ :

“

Black “people” are not humans. This is clear from the first book of the Bible when we learn the Serpent (used to represent a black man) could talk and spoke to Adam and Eve.

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (Genesis 3:1)

We learn from this scripture that from the beginning, black people have been the most subtil beasts in the field. We also know, as my pastor teaches that “eating of every tree in the garden” is a metaphor for having sex. This “sex” which, as in the book of Corinthians we learn, was actually a rape.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

Nothing bothers me more than logicless hate, hatred without reason.  But, the could be said for love.

Flash forward:

Today this nation has been beguiled by the subtle words of the black who, again, is presenting himself as a human.

As proven by the Bible, our biggest flaw is having sentimentality to creatures who use crafty words to appeal to our sense of reason.

The blacks’ ability to convince many that they were human and, thus, deserve “human rights” brought about the abolishment of institution responsible for making this nation what it is today: slavery.

The truth of the matter is blacks were meant to be our slaves and, as the Bible shows us, only through their subtle character and ability to beguile have the been able to manipulate us to this, the day of Obama.

Hitler’s rolling over in his grave.”

oh the shit that people say…no seriously though Check out this website, he’s listed his favorite lynchings. Some people…

the Nation of Islam; learn things

“The Nation of Islam is a black supremacist[1][2][3][4]new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930, stating their goals to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African Americans in the United States.[5] The movement teaches black pride and principles of Islam, while at the same time advocating for anti-Semitism.[4][6][7][8] They teach that their founder Wallace Fard Muhammad is a Mahdi.[9]

After Fard’s departure in June 1934, the Nation of Islam was led by Elijah Muhammad, who established mosques called Temples, Schools named Muhammad University of Islam, businesses and large real estate holdings in the United States and abroad. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “[t]he Nation of Islam has grown into one of the wealthiest and best-known organizations in black America, offering numerous programs and events designed to uplift African Americans. Nonetheless, its bizarre theology of innate black superiority over whites — a belief system vehemently and consistently rejected by mainstream Muslims — and the deeply racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric of its leaders, including top minister Louis Farrakhan, have earned the NOI a prominent position in the ranks of organized hate.”[4]

The Nation of Islam’s notable leaders are Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Louis Farrakhan and Warith Deen Mohammed. The Nation of Islam’s headquarter mosque, Mosque Maryam (Mosque #2) is located in Chicago, IL and its leader is Minister Louis Farrakhan. They publish an African American newspaper, The Final Call. The Nation of Islam does not publish its membership numbers; the core membership of the Nation of Islam is estimated between 20,000 and 50,000, but their following is believed[by whom?] to be larger. Most of the members are in the United States, but there are communities in other countries, including Canada, United Kingdom, France and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Nation of Islam was founded in Detroit, Michigan in July, 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad, also known as W. D. Fard Muhammad (1877–1934). The N.O.I. teaches that W. Fard Muhammad is both the “Messiah” of Christianity and the Mahdi of Islam. Within one year, he had approximately 25,000 followers who knew him as Prophet W.D. Fard, at Mosque of Islam #1.

Fard’s assistant minister Elijah Muhammad succeeded him as head of the movement in 1934. Because of dissension within the Detroit temple, he moved to Chicago where he established Mosque No. 2. During World War II, he advised followers to avoid the draft, as he said the US did nothing for blacks. He was charged and convicted of violating the Selective Service Act and was jailed (1942–46).

Muhammad slowly built up the membership of the Black Muslims through recruitment in the postwar decades. His program called for the establishment of a separate nation for black Americans and the adoption of a religion based on the worship of Allah and on the belief that blacks are his chosen people.[10]

During this time the Nation of Islam attracted Malcolm Little. While in prison for robbery from 1946 to 1952, Little joined the Nation of Islam. He was influenced by his brother, Reginald, who had become a member in Detroit. Little quit smoking, gambling and eating pork, in keeping with the Nation’s practices and dietary restrictions. He spent long hours reading books in the prison library, even memorizing a dictionary. He also sharpened his oratory skills by participating in debate classes. Following Nation tradition, he replaced his surname, “Little,” with an “X,” a custom among Nation of Islam followers who considered their surnames to have been imposed by white slaveholders after their African names were taken from them.

Malcolm X rose rapidly to become the minister of Boston Temple No. 11, which he founded; he was later rewarded with the post of minister of Temple No. 7. Elijah Muhammad named Malcolm X the National Representative of the Nation of Islam, his second in rank. Under Malcolm X’s lieutenancy, the Nation claimed a membership of 500,000. Malcolm X left the Nation in March 1964 and in the next month founded Muslim Mosque, Inc., claiming, “I never left the Nation of Islam of my own free will. It was they who conspired with Captain Joseph here in New York to pressure me out of the Nation.” [11]

In 1955, Louis Walcott joined the Nation of Islam. Following the custom of the Nation, he replaced his surname with an “X”. Louis X first proved himself at Temple No. 7 in Harlem, where he emerged as the protege of Malcolm X. Louis X was appointed head minister of Boston Temple No. 11, which Malcolm X had established earlier. He was given his Muslim name, Farrakhan, by Elijah Muhammad.

After Malcolm X’s break with the Nation in 1964, Farrakhan replaced him as head minister of Harlem’s Temple No. 7 and as the National Representative of the Nation, the second in command of the organization. Like his predecessor, Farrakhan was a dynamic, charismatic leader and a powerful speaker with the ability to appeal to the African-American masses.[12]…”

Click to Read more…and yes it’s from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_of_Islam

To Tumblr, Love Pixel Union