Nation of Islam

The Nation of Islam (NOI) was founded by a man calling himself Wallace D. Fard, or W. D. Fard, on July 4, 1930. Fard worked as a peddler and his ethnic origins are somewhat of a mystery. He told his early disciples, “I am W. D. Fard and I came from the Holy City of Mecca. More about myself I will not tell you yet, for the time has not yet come. I am your brother. You have not seen me yet in my royal robes.” He was, regardless of his ethnic origins, a Muslim. Fard's proselytizing appealed to disenfranchised urban blacks during the era of Jim Crow and those affected by the lack of real opportunities promised by northern cities during the Great Migration (1915–30).

He utilized messianic iconography and relied upon the Bible, rather than the Qur'an, to relate better to urban Christian blacks. He wanted to replace the “white Christianity” that had been imposed upon blacks with a religion that elevated blacks. Fard's mission also offered sensible advice for racial uplift. The NOI promised a steady income, good jobs, and liberation from social and economic depression, if followers accepted Islam. Fard encouraged his followers to fast by only eating one meal a day, emphasized thrift and family, and banned alcohol and smoking. In 1934, Fard disappeared from Detroit as mysteriously as he had arrived, and his most enthusiastic disciple, a man named Elijah Poole, became Fard's successor. Every February 26 is observed as “Savior's Day” in the NOI, in honor of the organization's founder.

Elijah (Poole) Muhammad was W. D. Fard's successor. He met Fard at a meeting of the NOI in Detroit during August 1931, where he supposedly told Fard, “I know who you are, you're God himself.” Fard replied that this was true, and Elijah Muhammad became one of Fard's most enthusiastic and devoted disciples. After Fard's mysterious departure, Elijah Muhammad, the son of a Baptist preacher from Georgia, became the leader of the NOI. During his 41 years as head of the NOI, he transformed the NOI into a powerful religious organization for black Muslims, espousing racial separatism and the supremacy of the black man. At the time of his death in 1975, the NOI claimed a membership of more than 25,000.