Intro
Dr. Hatim A. Sahib was born in 1917, presumably in Iraq. How or why he arrived at the University of Chicago sometime in the late 1940s is unknown (See 1995 edition of “The Nation of Islam”, Via “Contributions in Black Studies”: Vol. 13, Article 3., by Hatim A. Sahib). (The U of C Alumni Office reports that he has not been in touch with them in years, and that his last known address was a teacher’s college in Baghdad).
In roughly 1950, Hatim A. Sahib began writing a thesis for completion his Master’s Degree at the University of Chicago. This thesis seems to have been re-published in 1995. Nevertheless, this Thesis was supposed to be about the Ahmadiyya Movement and their national headquarters at Wabash Ave in Chicago (their headquarters was moved to Washington D.C. by June of 1950). It should be noted that Hatim A. Sahib totally disappeared thereafter and was never heard again, he never wrote anything either, just like Fard.
However, after visiting many times in March of 1950, Hatim A. Sahib noticed that there were a few (5 people) at the daily prayers and barely 50 member’s total. He also noticed that there were no membership records going back to 1921 or even 1941. He didn’t explain if these were all African-American’s it certainly seems to be the case. We are curious to know what Qadiani-Ahmadi Maulvi he met? Was it Shukar Ilahi (he was a white convert to Ahmadiyya)? Having attained his M.A. at U of C in 1951, Sahib continued his doctoral studies there, producing a dissertation entitled “Social Psychological Analysis of Arab Nationalist Movement in Iraq” some three or four years later. But it is Sahib’s remarkable and previously unpublished M.A. thesis one of the earliest and most detailed studies of the Nation of Islam.
He makes a mistake and claims that the Ahmadiyya Movement has mosques (aka temples) in New York, Cincinatti, St. Louis and Washington D.C., this is simply not true, these were all mission houses, only the one in Chicago (on Wabash) was owned and that was the residence of the Missionary, and also doubled as a mosque-temple. Manning Marable made similar mistakes, in fact, in “Finding Fard” by Dr. John Morrow (see page 53), it is alleged that Ahmadiyya claimed to have 5-10,000 converts since its inception in the USA in 1920 (morrow was quoting Manning Marable, “A Life of Reinvention” (see pages 84 and 90).
In this study, Elijah Muhammad explained to Hatim how he super-imposed the title of “Promised Messiah” upon W.D. Fard. On page 71, Elijah Muhammad told Hatim that W.D. Fard never called himself a prophet, but he did say that he was the Messiah that “they” were looking for. On page 72, Hatim alleges that Elijah Muhammad “had stimulated Dard to pretend that he is the promised Messiah of the Bible, and whom he has raised to the position of Deity”“.
On page 148, Hatim tells us that when Elijah Muhammad first met with W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad allegedly told him that he was the “Promised Messiah” and W.D. Fard began to embody this idea. A few months later (the year is unknown), W.D. Fard made W.D. Fard his top minister. Elijah Muhammad alleges that he was the 3rd such minister (notice the Christian title), the two before him had full Muslim names, they were Abdul Mohammed and Othman Ali (both full Muslim names with no direct connection to India) and had strong connections to the Moorish Science Temple and eventually opposed W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad. Lastly, in Beynon, Mr. W. D. Fard was never called a Messiah or Mahdi, he was only called either a prophet by some of the followers that Beynon interviewed or a God by Elijah Muhammad who had been named Elijah Karriem by Mr. W. D. Fard and thus separated from his blood brothers. It should be noted that Fard was also referred to as Mr. Wali Farrad, Professor Ford, Mr. Farrad Mohammed, Mr. F. Mohammed Ali, but never as “Master Fard”, which was added later in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s and proves that this appellation was added later by Maulana Muhammad Abdullah, who was seeking to legitimize the existence of W.D. Fard.
Elijah Muhammad told Hatim that Fard’s mother was in-fact a white woman (See page 71).
Some members that were interviewed by Hatim are as follows, Jordan X, Joseph 8X, Horace X, Carl 1X, Brother Jacob, Carl 2X, Henry 2X, Horace 2X, Andrew X, Azzim Shah, Will 4X, Henry 3X, Sister Sylvia, Willie 8X, Kalat Mohammed, Theodore Rozier, Howard 2X,
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The book review
It immediately announces that the original 1951 edition of the study was edited and lots of juicy details were omitted (See page 1). Only 6 out of 9 chapters are reproduced. The comments on the Ahmadiyya Movement in Chicago in 1950 were totally omitted and even edited.
–On page 6, Hatim says that W.D. Fard was a “white” peddler (Arabian by nationality). In order to attract these Negroes to what he was selling, he was telling them that the silks he carried were the same kind that the Negro people use in their home country in the East.
–On page 7, W.D. Fard allegedly told black people that the Bible said indirectly that the world is flat, not round. Hence, the Bible should not be followed. Meetings were held in homes. Beynon’s study is quoted. W.D. Fard’s timeline is given as “July-4, 1930 until June 30, 1934” via Beynon.
–On page 8, the current Apostle [Elijah Mohammed] had told the writer that W. D. Fard told him that he was from the royal dynasty of the Hashimide Sheriffs of Mecca, who were the kings of Hejaz until the First World War. The wife of the Apostle told the writer that W. D. Fard told her that he was born in the Holy City of Mecca and that he is the son of very wealthy and noble parents of the tribe of Koreish, the tribe from which Mohammed the prophet sprang, and that
he has royal blood in his veins. He is said to have been educated at a university in England in preparation for a diplomatic career in the service of the kingdom of Hejaz, but to have abandoned everything to bring “freedom, justice and equality” to the dark people who have been lost in the wilderness of North America, surrounded and completely robbed of their virtues, names, language, and religion by the “cave man.” The current Apostle, his wife, and some of the earliest followers in Chicago say that W. D. Fard received his education at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Elijah Muhammad also alleged that W.D. Fard had been educated for 20 years at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (which is absolutely ridiculous). Elijah Muhammad also told Hatim that Eisa (as) had a biological father, and out of wedlock (naozobillah), this is totally stolen from Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (in his notes, Hatim called this haraam beliefs).
–On page 9, Hatim tells us that Since winter of 1932, after he had established the University of Islam and organized the militaristic training of the followers who constitute what they
call the “Fruit of Islam,” W. D. Fard gradually sank into the background of the movement and took the role of the administrator. He did not come to the temple anymore but he practiced his plan by contacting his minister whenever he had an order, decision, or instruction. W.D. Fard also promised to return! Elijah Mohammed mentioned that Mr. W. D. Fard, in the last two months he had seen him, had given him two copies of the Koran, one in Arabic and the other with the English translation alongside the Arabic, and he told him to learn Arabic. Also on page is the 379 years of his people missing (which is about black people and slavery, this was also in Beynon). During the three years of Fard’s preaching, approximately eight thousand Negroes in Detroit became members of the Nation of Islam.
–On Page 10, When the group transferred their informal meetings in the house to the temple, the group began to organize gradually and the movement took on a more formal character. The rapid increase in membership made necessary the development of a formal organization. A private school was organized under the name of the University ofIslam, to which the children of Moslem families were sent rather than to the public schools. In the University of Islam they taught the knowledge “of our own” rather than the “civilization of the Caucasian devils.” Courses were given in “higher mathematics, astronomy, general knowledge, and ending of the spook civilization.” For the Sisters to cook properly and to keep their houses clean a special class was established as the “Girls’ Training and General Civilization Class.”
–On Page 11, The first opposition the movement met in Detroit was that ofAbdul Mohammed, who was the first minister of W. D. Fard. He began to teach against W. D. Fard in order to preside over the group himself. Since the disappearance of W. D. Fard many NOI branches have sprung up. In 1936 one of the ministers of the movement, Azzim Shah, organized an independent group. A Haitian, Theodore Rozier, another assistant minister at the time of W. D. Fard, had organized his own group in 1938. All of these groups stayed within the same frame of teachings, although there were personal conflicts among the leaders ofthese groups. Apparently the split is mostly an expression of craving for prestige and leadership among the ministers. The prophet taught that the duty ofevery member is to offer as sacrifice four Caucasian devils in order that he might get free transportation to his original home, the Holy City of Mecca. He also taught that Allah demanded obedience unto death from his followers. No Moslem dare refuse to sacrifice himself or his loved one if Allah require it.
–On Page 12, This conflict led Elijah and his followers to be extremely enthusiastic to the pure teachings of W. D. Fard. Hence they called themselves “The People of the Temple” to differentiate themselves from the other groups and to express their distinctiveness in holding the original teachings of W. D. Fard. This group went to an extreme in identifying the prophet, Fard, with God, Allah. And since Fard has been deified, the “Temple People” raised to the rank of prophet the former minister of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Mohammed, who currently directs the movement in Chicago and is referred to reverently as the messenger or the Apostle Elijah
Mohammed. After the departure of W. D. Fard the movement underwent a rapid collapse. Most of the members had converted back to Christianity, because the movement did not appeal to them any more, especially under arising conflicts. Elijah Mohammed said, began to be careless about their affiliation in the cult. Division of the original body of the cult into small groups scattered around Hastings Street in Detroit has left around 180 members, who organized
themselves in a temple which forms a branch of the cult currently led by Elijah Mohammed.
On Page 13, Fard and his disciple appeared in Chicago in 1931 preaching the new religion. Elijah Mohammed, although he was not living in Chicago at the time, came to Chicago frequently to preach in a rented hall at 37 Wentworth Avenue. Now and then Fard came to deliver a speech to such an audience. At that time his disciple Elijah Mohammed was preaching that Fard is Allah, who came to save the dark people. At that time, Elijah told the writer, people were coming “by hundreds just to hear the Savior because they were so distressed and having a hard time that they were looking for something like this to come.” So when he “spoke here in Chicago people crowded around him; and when he attacked Christianity people seemed to accept these attacks because they themselves bear witness that it did not do good for them.”
On Page-14, In 1933, after the deportation of W. D. Fard from Detroit, the conflicts and clashes among the ministers, assistant ministers, and the members aspiring to leadership became so strong that Elijah Mohammed was not able to continue preaching in Detroit. Therefore, he changed his residence to Chicago and appointed a minister for the small group in Detroit who kept allegiance to the teachings of W. D. Fard and his disciple. Elijah Mohammad said: In the fall of 1934 most of the followers turned out to be hypocrites and they began to teach against the movement, and to join the enemies ofthe movement. The situation got so bad that in 1935 it was impossible to go among them because it seemed to me that over 75 percent of them were hypocrites. And therefore I had to leave them to savemyown life. Hypocrisywas arising in my house with another assistant minister, aligned against me because he wanted the teachings for himself. They joined myenemy here and in Detroit and they began to seek my life. So Allah warned me to leave. Hence I left to Milwaukee, where Allah warned me to leave again and showed me in a vision nine people; among them was my brother. Therefore, I left to Madison, where they followed me; and Allah warned me again to leave Madison. beginning in the fall of 1934. From around 400 members with organized meetings only 13 members had kept allegiance to the movement by September 1935.
On Page-15, in 1942, the movement began to grow again in winning new members through friendship relationships. Increase in membership drove the group from meeting in the houses to hire a place at 51 Michigan Avenue, where the group continued their meetings until 1942, the year in which most of the Brothers were arrested consequent upon their refusal to join the American army during the war. Hence, the movement collapsed again. The rest of the members who stayed out of prison left the temple and began to hold their meetings in the houses. They organized and developed themselves again by winning new members, and therefore they hired a place for their meetings on Wentworth Avenue in 1943. In 1944-45 the movement gained its vigor again by the return of the followers from prison. Therefore, the group decided to hire a big hall on 63rd Street for six months. At the end of this period the landlord compelled them to vacate the place. At that time they decided to buy a temple on 43rd Street, and so they did-a place where they meet today. During the hiding period (1935 -1942) of the Apostle many conflicts arose among the ministers in the movement.
On Page-16, in 1945 the Apostle developed the idea of buying a restaurant. After they bought a restaurant, they developed the idea to have a store in the restaurant itself, and so they did. Behind this economic trend there is the tendency to isolate the group from the larger society. The members do not eat except in the Shabazz restaurant; they do not shop, except under urgent necessity, but from the Shabazz store. The Apostle himself expressed this decision to the writer, declaring that he “wants to isolate his followers from the wicked people and impure life as much as possible.” He told the writer once that he has a plan to “have their own stores, their own school, their own homes,” etc., so as to make the group self-sufficient and “has no necessity whatsoever to demand the devil or resort to him.”
–On page 24, Hatim tells us that followers of W.D. Fard also called him the “Promised Messiah”.
–On page 41, in fact, the cult is so far from the ideology and beliefs of Islam due to the fact that the cult is not essentially a religious group, but a protest group. They have acquired some of the aspects of Islam after they have ethnicized some of them and distorted the others to fit their mythical beliefs and ideology. Allah is Mr. W. D. Fard; Prophet Mohammed did not originate Islam because Islam was before him, it was the religion of the original man; Allah is not able to resurrect people after death because this is “something no one can do”; Prophet Mohammed is not the last of the prophets because this does not leave a place for the prophecy ofElijah; the Koran was not revealed to Prophet Mohammed, but it was known before him; it was not given by Allah, but it is like the Bible and the Pentateuch and was written by a group of scientists (23 scientists) 15,000 years before the appearance ofProphet Mohammed. These are some of their beliefs concerning the God of Islam, the Holy Book of Islam, and the Prophet of Islam. In fact, there is not any Islamic feature that yet has been institutionalized except the reciting of the first chapter of the Koran, which constitutes part of the Islamic prayer.
–On page 46, The Apostle lives with his family in a beautiful, private house which the group owns collectively. How did this come about? The actual operator was this: since he was the leader of the group, visited by many outsiders who are curious about the movement or have the idea of joining, the followers felt that the house in which the Apostle was living was not appropriate to their name. Therefore they built this house for him.
–On pages 47-48, Fard has uncles in America.
–On page 71, Elijah Muhammad told Hatim that Fard’s mother was in-fact a white woman (See page 71). On page 71, Elijah Muhammad told Hatim that W.D. Fard never called himself a prophet, but he did say that he was the Messiah that “they” were looking for.
–On page 72, Hatim explained how Elijah Muhammad super-imposed the title of “Promised Messiah” upon W.D. Fard.
On page 94, Their Apostle said in one of his speeches to the followers: “I do not trust the white. The devil cannot be trusted, and that is why I do not accept them here in the temple. “In one of his Sunday speeches he said, “In the day of resurrection God said, ‘The guilty with blue eyes will be ruined’.” Brother Horace said: “I never trust the devil. Although sometimes I say yes and show him obedience or [agree] that he is right, I still have my own ideas.” In regard to the Chinese and Korean War, for example, they believe in the victory of these people against America not because they wish that only, but that this wish has been projected by their Apostle as something told to him by Allah (Mr. W. D. Fard) himself. Out of this prospective victory of the Chinese and Koreans these Negroes get hostility-satisfaction and enjoy vicarious revenge.
On Page 99, Jesus is the biological son of Yusuf Najjar.
On page 148, Hatim tells us that when Elijah Muhammad first met with W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad allegedly told him that he was the “Promised Messiah” and W.D. Fard began to embody this idea. A few months later (the year is unknown), W.D. Fard made W.D. Fard his top minister. Elijah Muhammad alleges that he was the 3rd such minister (notice the Christian title), the two before him had full Muslim names, they were Abdul Mohammed and Othman Ali (both full Muslim names with no direct connection to India) and had strong connections to the Moorish Science Temple and eventually opposed W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad.
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