What it worshipped and taught
Fard as the incarnation of Allah and Elijah Muhammad as his Messenger — both positions incompatible with orthodox Islam. Cosmology: the Black man is the original human; white people were bred over 600 years by the scientist YAKUB on the island of Patmos as a devil race; the Mother Plane or Mother Wheel, a vast circular craft, will destroy the wicked. Strict discipline: no pork, no alcohol, no tobacco, no drugs, one meal a day, modest dress, and the Fruit of Islam as a paramilitary order. Programme of economic self-reliance and separation.
Its people
Elijah Muhammad
Elijah Poole; the Messenger of Allah
Leader, Nation of Islam · 7 October 1897 – 25 February 1975 · active 1934–1975
Born in Georgia, the son of a sharecropper and Baptist preacher, he met W. D. Fard in Detroit in 1931 and, after Fard vanished in 1934, declared him to have been Allah in person and himself the Messenger. He built the Nation of Islam over four decades on a programme of strict personal discipline, economic self-reliance and racial separation, teaching that white people were bred as a devil race by the scientist Yakub. His authority was near-absolute. Malcolm X's discovery that he had fathered several children by young secretaries — while enforcing severe sexual discipline on members — was central to Malcolm's break and, ultimately, his murder.
Before the law. Convicted of draft evasion, 1942; served four years.
Where things stand. Deceased 1975. His son Warith Deen Mohammed dissolved the racial doctrine and took the main body into Sunni Islam.
- 1931 Meets W. D. Fard in Detroit.
- 1934 Fard disappears; Elijah takes over and deifies him.
- 1942–46 Imprisoned for draft evasion.
- 1952–63 Malcolm X's recruitment drive expands the movement enormously.
- 1963 Malcolm suspended; learns of the secretaries.
- 21 February 1965 Malcolm X assassinated by NOI members.
- 25 February 1975 Dies in Chicago.
Checked
Wallace Fard Muhammad
W. D. Fard; Wali Farrad; Master Fard
Founder, Nation of Islam; later declared Allah incarnate · c.1877 – disappeared 1934 · active 1930–1934
Appeared in Detroit in 1930 as a door-to-door silk peddler and began teaching Black residents that they were descended from an original people and that Islam was their true religion. Within four years he had built a temple, a school and a paramilitary corps — then vanished in 1934 without trace. Elijah Muhammad subsequently declared him to have been Allah in person. His true identity has never been established: FBI files proposed several, including a New Zealand-born man named Wallace Dodd Ford with a California drug conviction, an identification the Nation rejects.
Before the law. Ordered out of Detroit by police in 1932. Never charged with anything.
Where things stand. FATE UNKNOWN, AND IT IS ONE OF THE GENUINE UNSOLVED DISAPPEARANCES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. He was last seen in 1934. RE-CHECKED 2026-09-07: nothing consulted adds anything, and no claim about what became of him rests on evidence rather than on the competing accounts of people with an interest in the answer.
- 4 July 1930 Begins preaching in Detroit.
- 1930–34 Founds Temple No. 1, the University of Islam and the Fruit of Islam.
- 1932 Detroit police question him after a member commits a ritual killing; he is told to leave the city.
- 1934 DISAPPEARS COMPLETELY. Never seen again.
Checked 2026-09-07 · living: health details are kept at home
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Eugene Walcott; Louis X
Leader, the reconstituted Nation of Islam · born 11 May 1933 · active 1955–present
A calypso singer and violinist recruited by Malcolm X in 1955, who became Elijah Muhammad's national spokesman after Malcolm's break. In 1964 he wrote that Malcolm was 'worthy of death', a statement he has since called a contributing factor in the murder while denying any order. When Warith Deen Mohammed dissolved the racial theology in 1975, Farrakhan rebuilt the original organisation under the old doctrine. He convened the Million Man March in 1995, the movement's high point of mainstream influence, and has been widely condemned for antisemitic statements.
Before the law. Never charged in connection with Malcolm X's murder.
Where things stand. LIVING, AGED 93 — CONFIRMED AUGUST 2026. He has led the Nation of Islam since 1978 and remains its leader. A CLAIM WITHDRAWN: this file previously said he had 'reportedly reassumed full leadership in early 2026'. He continues to preach, largely online alongside some public appearances. WORTH RECORDING FOR WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT THIS WHOLE DOSSIER: A WIDELY CIRCULATED REPORT OF HIS DEATH SPREAD IN EARLY AUGUST 2026 AND WAS FALSE. It was debunked within days. That is the hazard of every living-person entry in this file compressed into a single month — and the reason each carries a LAST VERIFIED date rather than a bare assertion. Minister ISHMAEL MUHAMMAD is widely regarded as the presumptive successor, but no formal succession has been announced.
- 1955 Recruited by Malcolm X.
- 1964 Writes that Malcolm X is 'worthy of death'.
- 1978 Rebuilds the Nation of Islam under the original theology.
- 16 October 1995 Convenes the Million Man March in Washington DC.
- 2010s–2020s
- 22–23 FEBRUARY 2025 AGED 91, HE IS LARGELY ABSENT FROM SAVIOURS’ DAY — a break with more than forty years of tradition. He appears at a private graduation ceremony but not at the public keynote, which is delivered instead by MINISTER ISHMAEL MUHAMMAD of Mosque Maryam, widely regarded as his successor.
- EARLY 2026 A senior aide states that FARRAKHAN HAS QUIETLY REASSUMED FULL RESPONSIBILITY for the movement. The succession remains unresolved in practice.
Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home
Warith Deen Mohammed
Wallace D. Muhammad
Successor who dissolved the Nation of Islam's theology · 30 October 1933 – 9 September 2008 · active 1975–2008
Elijah Muhammad's son, named at birth by Fard as the movement's future leader. He was excommunicated repeatedly for doubting his father's doctrine, and had been close to Malcolm X. On inheriting the organisation in 1975 he did something almost unheard of in this dossier: he dismantled it. He rejected the Yakub myth, denied that Fard was Allah and that his own father was a prophet, opened membership to white people, and moved the entire body — hundreds of thousands of people — into orthodox Sunni Islam.
Before the law. Imprisoned for draft refusal in the 1960s.
Where things stand. Deceased 2008. The community he led is the largest body of Black American Muslims.
- 1961–75 Repeatedly suspended and excommunicated for doctrinal dissent.
- 25 February 1975 Inherits leadership on his father's death.
- 1975–76 Dismantles the racial theology; renames the organisation; adopts Sunni orthodoxy.
- 1992 First Muslim to deliver the invocation in the US Senate.
- 9 September 2008 Dies.
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