"Defending Farrakhan" by Dr. Wesley Muhammad

Defending Farrakhan.
By Wesley Muhammad, PhD

This is a collection of individual essays I have written over the last two years in defense of my Teacher and Guide, the Honorable Brother Minister Farrakhan, whom I sincerely believe is the Apostle of God in our midst today. I must say: I am proud to be hated for his name-sake.

A point of clarification: I, Wesley Muhammad, do not believe what I believe about Farrakhan because I am with Farrakhan. No. I am with Farrakhan because of what I, being of sound and sober mind, have come to believe wholeheartedly about Farrakhan.

1.] Farrakhan Puts Everything in its Proper Place

This is an excerpt from The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's Table Talk in December 1973 with Brother Minister Farrakhan, Dr. Salaam and a number of other attendees. The full transcript is avaialble in the recent publication by Bro Sultan Muhammad and the Table Talks Project, Table Talks of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (2012). This discussion appears on pages 130-134.

The Hon Elijah Muhammad (THEM): “Well, my Brother Minister [Farrakhan], you’ve got-a lot-of-things lined up in the right and the most best way.”

Minister Louis Farrakhan (MLF): “Thank you, Dear Apostle.”

THEM: “I love to see you wise because that gives me pleasure because I’m your teacher…and I made such wise ministers.”

Group of Ministers: “Yes, Sir!”

Dr. Salaam (DS): “Yes, you gave birth to all of us.”

THEM: “So when I see you acting and speaking wise I have rejoice in my heart. I say this is the ONE (i.e. MLF) the world can’t bother. I want to prove to Satan that my minister is a greater light to the world of man than you and your world’s man---the whole of them.”

MLF: “Yes sir. Bless you Dear Apostle.”

THEM: “It’s wonderful”

******


THEM: “Well, that’s what I’m saying I can sit here and listen to you (MLF) and then I can step back and smile. I just need you to be Paul, you know. Go ahead on and put it out just like you are doing. You’ll put it out, sometimes I sit here—we all sit here and get a chance to listen at you, I listen at you brother, preaching Brother, and you’ll be surprised just to take a peak at the room through your spiritual eye and look at us. We enjoy it!”

MLF: “All praises due to Allah.”

THEM: “You [MLF] put everything in such proper place wherein it belongs. It’s beautiful! So we all is very happy over you, from Allah—that Allah made a helper.”

So the most fundamental question for all followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is: Do we believe The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and trust his judgment, or not?


2.] Farrakhan and The Godhood of Man

(Excerpts from ‘Islam Democratizes Divinity’ by Dr. Wesley Muhammad, Saviours' Day 2012 Workshop address)

"The Father is our own kind. He wants to make you and me, not just believers, but Gods. Everyone of you, according to what He (Master Fard Muhammad) has taught me, will be Gods…There is no doubt that we are really Gods, but we lost our power and knowledge as shown in the parable of the Jesus.” The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, “Theology of Time.”

“When we say ‘Allah,’ that name means ‘God’ and covers all Muslims. All Muslims are Allahs, but we call the Supreme Allah the Supreme Being.” The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Our Saviour Has Arrived.

The Secret of the Reality of God is not just that God is A man (singular), but that Man (plural) and Woman (plural) are God.


Farrakhan is a God. We, too, are gods, but Farrakhan’s God-hood is manifest, is obvious and is compelling…[All of us who have been fortunate enough to sit and walk with the Minister in person and up close, know well that we are in the presence of a manifest God.] But, Allah Most High did not make Farrakhan a God in order to invite us to worship him [or] in order for the Nation of Islam to become a bona fide personality cult. No. Farrakhan’s Godhood is not for Farrakhan’s sake but for our sake, just as according to Colossians 2:9 the Father allowed “the fullness of God’s Godhood to dwell in the human body of Christ,” not as an invitation to worship Christ but as proof of the divine nature of all of humanity and as the road map to humanity’s final self-realization of our own divinity. The Honorable Brother Minister Farrakhan [is not THE Christ, but he is a Christ - Crusher - among us.] He has said that he is proof that this life of Islam that Master Fard Muhammad gave to us through the Honorable Elijah Muhammad can be successfully lived, and this life was/is designed to make us Gods. Farrakhan is proof not only of the real possibility of living this life, but also proof of the reward that comes from having successfully lived the life, that reward being the realization of our own divinity. The Hon Min Farrakhan, as a bona fide God, is NOT a legitimate object of worship, but he is our roadmap to achieving our own Godhood.

[Just as it requires a practicing doctor to really show a resident how to PRACTICE medicine in the real world, it takes a practicing God to show us how to unlock and practice Godhood. Farrakhan is the only known practicing God in our midst right now. His example and tutelage is absolutely essential to all aspiring Gods.]

If we, as Followers of Farrakhan, succeed in being the most eloquent representatives and defenders of the Minister, but fail to achieve, like him, our own personal Godhood, then we have failed the point our Islam.”


3.] Ride or Die For Farrakhan?

Bro Antoine Mason says:

“With all due respect sir, I have seen your comments about being 'ride or die' with and for Farrakhan. It reminds me of when I was a member and a sister told me she just wanted to touch him as he walked down the isle. You are a scholar, you are very studious, you know what you are talking about. Again, with all due respect I admire your work (which includes writings and speeches). There is no way I can compare that to Farrakhan and some of the 'promises' he has made. You are doing the work. You are walking the walk and talking the talk. To me Farrakhan is talking the talk. Sir, please do not put all your eggs in one basic. I respect Farrakhan to an extent, but some of his teachings as well as Elijah Muhammad's teachings not only need scholarship (which you are providing), but a complete makeover. We need to use our own minds as you have demonstrated. See that is where I wonder about you to some degree: how can you be against Dogma when you are dogmatic? The statement about riding or dying for and with Farrakhan is the peak of dogma. If you can disprove that please do. Love to see some scholarship or a book on 'Proof that following Minister Louis Farrakhan 100% is not Dogmatic'.”


With equal respect Bro Antoine, while it appears that you intended to compliment me to some degree, I accept no compliments that come as a package-deal with an insult to my teacher, the Hon. Bro. Min. Farrakhan. I can offer no thanks for claims or subtle insinuations that I – the student – am in some way ‘greater than’ my teacher. This is not to say that students cannot grow to excel teachers in a particular area or skill, but that NEVER means that the student is greater than his teacher. The student owes his excellence to the teacher who unselfishly guided the student in such a way that brought the excellence out of the student. One should not say “how great the student is”. One should always say “Alhumdulillah” but also acknowledge “What a great teacher he/she had.”

You say Bro Antoine: “You are walking the walk and talking the talk. To me Farrakhan is talking the talk.”

Wow. I am walking the walk, but the Hon. Bro. Min. Farrakhan is only talking the talk? That man has half of a century of walking the walk that I am only trying to walk today. I am a proud member of the Nation of Islam – which I deeply love – ONLY because the Hon. Bro. Min. Farrakhan did the arduous, dangerous labor of rebuilding the Nation of Islam after its demise. There would be no NOI for me to try to ‘walk’ within had he not done the WORK of overcoming all opposition to resurrect a movement and a nation which this government thought it killed. ALL of my scholarship – I repeat, ALL – ultimately was/is inspired by my love for the Teachings of the Most Hon Elijah Muhammad. But the only reason I was able to encounter this Teaching on that auspicious day in 1990 – when I encountered a Muslim and a Muslim God dialoguing over the Teaching – is because Louis Farrakhan snatched this Teaching back out of the trash-heap of intellectual history which this world had tossed it in after the fall of the Nation. Be clear, and I can’t say this enough: There would be NO True Islam or Dr. Wesley Muhammad if there were no Louis Farrakhan! There would have only been a Wesley Williams and whatever else Wesley Williams would have grown into. And be further clear: I am a product of the Work – the Walk – of Louis Farrakhan, not just the Talk (though that is equally potent and pregnant with success).

You say the Teachings of the Most Hon. Elijah Muhammad need not only scholarship, but a “complete make-over”. You say further:

“The sheer fact that W. D. Fard is seen as God, Elijah Muhammad is seen as the Last Messenger and Exalted Christ, and Farrakhan is seen as the Apostle in our midst today is error. Furthermore neither of those beliefs are factual. They are dogmatic in there adherence. Elijah Muhammad has a grave site and had a funeral so he cannot be an Exalted anything. W. D. Fard was born in 1877 so he cannot be an anything either. Farrakhan being an Apostle is possible, but if he believes in Elijah's teachings without question then he is not a Messenger or Apostle. Also if Elijah was the last Messenger, him being an Apostle is contradictory as well as redundant. This alone makes no sense. Also, no one can prove scientifically that all white people are devils. That is a ridiculous nonsensical belief. It is racist and prejudice. Has nothing to do with science of mathematics.”

This is only your personal view masquerading as established fact Beloved. The question of the religious (rather than historical) identity of Master Fard Muhammad, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and the Honorable Bro. Min. Farrakhan is a theological issue that is to be resolved (for now) theologically. I have laid out some of the theological reasons undergirding my belief in the religious identity of these men in my books, “The Book of God” and “Master Fard Muhammad: Who is He? Who is He Not?” Have you consulted my theo-historical reasoning laid out in those works? If so, you would know that I don’t hold such beliefs simply because Farrakhan believes such. There is no dogmatism in my religious belief about these men. There is a significant measure of ‘faith’, and there may very well be some (or total) error, but no dogmatism. To suggest that about me means two things: you are unfamiliar with my thinking and you miss understand what ‘dogmatism’ is.


Dogmatism:

1.The tendency to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others.
2.Arrogant, stubborn assertion of opinion or belief.
3.the use of a system of ideas based upon insufficiently examined premises.

I do not believe that I have been dogmatic about any of my publically defended or even privately held beliefs. I certainly have not ‘waxed dogmatic’ about the religious identity of these men. I sincerely believe in their religious identity. Some of this belief I have publicly defended, others I have only proclaimed as a personal belief of mine, without insisting that others necessarily agree with me. How is that dogmatic? All of these beliefs, however, are based on an examination of evidence and consideration of alternative explanations of that evidence. As a very rational being with critical skills, I am personally satisfied with my interpretation of the evidence and thus feel very justified in my beliefs about these men. However, I NEVER insist that other people MUST believe the same about these men because “it is Truth”. That’s dogmatism. I don’t do dogmatism.

But you say you wonder about me in this regard, Bro Antoine. You say:


“how can you be against Dogma when you are dogmatic? The statement about riding or dying for and with Farrakhan is the peak of dogma.”


You have here confused and conflated dogmatism with loyalty dear Brother. Dogmatism is a theological excess; loyalty is a divine and human virtue. I am not dogmatic about my teacher and spiritual father, the Hon. Bro. Min. Farrakhan. Sis Alisha has corrected pointed you to my Note on this subject (“Has the Nation of Islam Become a Personality Cult?”), where I publically affirm:


“I, Bro Wesley Muhammad, being of sound mind and body, bare witness that the Hon. Bro. Minister Farrakhan (THMF) is the Apostle of God, God’s man is our midst. I believe he, like the prophets and apostles before him, is the recipient of divine guidance from Allah though he is not free of the ability to err and has, by his own admission, erred in the past. Such human errors in no way argue against the fact of the guidance he has and continues to receive from Allah in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad (MFM) and His Christ, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (THEM)… while THMF is the criterion of Truth and Falsehood (Furqan) in our midst, he is not the criterion of fact and non-fact. I don’t believe he would make such a claim.”

(See also my Note, “Ending Hustle Scholarship and Black Muslim Dogmatism: An Imperative”)

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150321697002397

I personally believe that I have a very healthy and appropriate view of Farrakhan as Apostle of God (God’s man in our midst) that is free of dogmatism. See, I know that apostles of God can make mistakes and still be the Apostles of God. I thus entertain no illusion that my teacher is incapable of erring, nor does the possibility that he may have erred here or there at some point in his semi-century work cause me any discomfort or question as to who he is in my mind. A good example of this dynamic is the Holy Prophet Muhammad. There is an important hadith in Sahih Muslim (Book 030, Number 5830).

“Musa b. Talha reported: I and Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) happened to pass by people near the date-palm trees. He (the holy prophet) said: “What are these people doing?” They said: “They are grafting, i. e. they combine the male with the female (tree) and thus they yield more fruit.” Thereupon Allah's messenger (may peace be upon him) said: “I do not find it to be of any use.” The people were informed about it and they abandoned this practice. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) (was later) on informed (that the yield had dwindled), whereupon he said: “If there is any use of it, then they should do it, for it was just a personal opinion of mine, and do not go after my personal opinion; but when I say to you anything on behalf of Allah, then do accept it, for I do not attribute lie to Allah, the Exalted and Glorious.”

Here, the Prophet’s ijtihad or personal opinion about a mundane matter (in this case botany) was wrong and had negative consequences for those believers – a poor crop yield. Nevertheless, this does not mean that Muhammad was not the messenger of Allah. As he states: his own personal opinions are his own personal opinions, but his instructions in matters of the din (religion) are by divine inspiration and are to be obeyed. Now, even though I recognized that my teacher, the Hon. Bro. Minister Farrakhan, is a human Man of God and capable of making human mistakes, this does not mean that I don’t value his ijtihad. I absolutely do. It guides me. I don’t, however, presume that his ijtihad is incapable of error.

While not dogmatic in regards to the Hon. Bro. Min. Farrakhan, I am most definitely loyal to him. My statement, which apparently inspired your comments Bro Antoine, was this:

“You know, I don't care what you people think or say. I love the Hon. Bro. Min. Farrakhan. I continue to ride with and ride for him. In my 20 years as a Registered Muslim, I can't say that I have understood every move he has made at the moment he's made them. But a comprehensive, non-porous understanding is no sine qua non for loyalty to a mission and to a man that embodies and has himself faithfully served that mission. Beyond the religious titles, I know him to be a man of deep spiritual insight, moral fortitude and, most importantly (for me), profound integrity. I am happy with the man that I am today, but I would NOT be that man (intellectually, spiritually, morally, paternally) if not for the Hon. Bro. Min. Farrakhan. There would be no "Book of God" etc., if there were no 'Who is God?' Christ Universal Temple, 1991. So I'll be damned if I turn away from my benefactor simply because I don't understand his every move at every time, or because people who were my comrades are now his enemies and, thus, my enemies. I'm not fair-weather. I'm ride or die.”

This is no declaration of dogmatism toward a religious figure, but an affirmation of loyalty to a personal benefactor. You don’t see the difference? I, my children, my ex-wife, my mother, etc., are all great beneficiaries of the life and work of Louis Farrakhan. My loyalty goes beyond the admittedly debatable theological question (ALL theological questions are debatable). It is because of Farrakhan that my children have the Daddy that they have. It is because of Farrakhan that I married their mother, making her a Wife rather than a Baby Momma. When I first encountered this Teaching, I was a bitter and arrogant atheist who mocked and cursed the idea of God. It was the words of Farrakhan that brought me back to the Lord of All the Worlds and taught me how to understand His Reality. Everyone who knows me knows that the love for Islam runs through my veins rather than blood. It is Farrakhan that has inspired and guided this love in me for this Teaching. My twenty years as a Follower of Farrakhan has shaped me as a father, husband, son, intellectual, Believer, and man. I am not at all being hyperbolic when I say that there would be no True Islam/Dr. Wesley Muhammad if not for the word and the work of Louis Farrakhan. He has benefited me in ways mentioned and many more ways unmentioned. And he has asked NOTHING of me except, quote: “Be true to your God, your family, and YOURSELF”. He did not even ask of me to be true to him! I hope he knew he simply didn’t have to ask that. What type of person could turn their back on such a benefactor in a critical hour? There are names for that type of person.

All relationships of every type are challenged by and with difficulties. Marriages are challenged; friendships; work relationships; parent-child relationships; organizational relationships; etc. etc. One reason marriages in the US (including Black Muslim marriages) have such a high failure rate is because too many of us are fair-weather partners. Too many of us bolt when our marriage or other relationships encounter serious difficulty. We are so NOT ride or die. I was not fair-weather in my marriage (though it did ultimately dissolve) nor will I be fair-weather in my relation with/to Islam and the man that has taught me the principles of my Islam. My statement above was made after reading much chatter, some of which was made by Muslims who used to be with Farrakhan but now, due to one controversial issue or another (e.g. Dianetics) they are no longer with him and, more than that, publically speak ill of the man who just three months ago they hailed as Jesus and as personal savior. I have had personal friends and comrades who were personally saved by Farrakhan – he got them off alcohol and made them principled, productive men – yet when things got hot because the Minister made a decision that they simply didn’t understand, they publically slandered their life benefactor. What I am saying is that neither misunderstanding a move by Farrakhan or even a possible mistake by Farrakhan (for the doubters sake) justifies turning your back on a man like that who has so benefitted not only you and your family but the Black Nation. The irony is, these people swore they were soldiers down to ride ‘regardless.’ ‘Ride or Die’ is simply cliché today. Most people are NOT ride or die in any of our relationships. Most of us are fair-weather.

My twenty years as a student of the Hon. Bro. Min. Farrakhan and member of the NOI has been no walk in the park. Anyone who has been in this for that long will have many ‘life’ war stories and battle scars. The Minister has shown me great love and he has spanked the hell out of me. He has given me great clarity and he has confused me. In other words, the Ma’atic Balance has been real in my life in Islam, which is exactly what we should expect. Who goes into a relationship expecting all sunny and cloudless days? And who leaves a relationship or violates a relationship – organizational or otherwise – because dark clouds and pouring rain spoiled your silly hope for a totally sunny relationship?

So this, Bro Antoine, is the context of my above statement. It is not about dogmatic adherence to a theological understanding of the religious identity of Farrakhan; it’s about love for and loyalty to a man who has shown his love for and loyalty to us as a people (Black) and as a community (NOI) for over 50 years. It is a declaration of my belief that NOTHING he has said or done justifies turning our individual or collective back on this man from whom we have all benefitted. While so many in the Muslim community and so-called conscious community are speaking ill of this man because of some recent move – Obama, Dianetics, Khalid, etc – I wanted the world to know that I continue to stand with and ride for my personal and our collective benefactor. I’m not fair-weather. I’m ride or die.


4.] Has the Nation of Islam Become a Personality Cult?

In our Allah Team Study Group a wonderful Believer asked a question and raised an important issue. I wanted to share his concern and my response, hoping to stimulate further reflection. I have removed my brother’s name, only because I have not reached out to him yet to get clearance to do so.

Question:

“We can't even give honor to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan without somebody claiming that we are personality worshippers. Could it be that you just refuse to recognize the fact that he has YOUR key and can lock YOU out of Heaven if he so chooses? If you understand that, then you understand his Connection and Value to Allah, Master Fard Muhammad and the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. That don't mean that we see you as a insignificant creature. You a god too. But you're not him, sorry. He is the Son of Elijah! And like the Scriptures say, "Submit to God's royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities--for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!" Psalm 2:12 New Living Translation.”

My Response:

ASA Brother…. Thank you for this post. You have opened up what I consider to be a very important and long overdue – not to mention very difficult – discussion. I, Bro Wesley Muhammad, being of sound mind and body, bare witness that the Hon. Bro. Minister Farrakhan (THMF) is the Apostle of God, God’s man is our midst. I believe he, like the prophets and apostles before him, is the recipient of divine guidance from Allah though he is not free of the ability to err and has, by his own admission, erred in the past. Such human errors in no way argue against the fact of the guidance he has and continues to receive from Allah in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad (MFM) and His Christ, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (THEM).


With that being said, I have to say that the Nation of Islam today is absolutely a cult of personality, and this, in my humble opinion, is part of the cause of our communal dysfunctionality. You are right Brother…: it is not only proper but incumbent upon us as Believers to not only give THMF the proper honor due an apostle of God, but we also must defend such a man, his character, integrity and mission. We should follow the guidance that comes from such a man. None of this constitutes personality worship.

But too many of us in the Nation of Islam go well beyond this very legitimate display of recognition and honor of who he is. Some examples of our cultic behavior:


1.] The all too often heard insistence that the only legitimate source of knowledge and information is that which we get from THMF on a DVD, webcast, or live lecture. With this frequently is joined the claim that all knowledge derived from sources other than him (or THEM) is suspect. This attitude that “If Farrakhan didn’t say it, it is untrue or irrelevant, so leave it alone” is personality cultism, in my opinion. Now, many in the Nation of Gods and Earths too are personality cultists. To even ask the question, “Where did the Father say that at?” and then assume that, if no such citation can be offered then the statement holds no value, is equally personality cultism. Whether the Father said it or not is not the ultimate criterion by which fact and non-fact is determined. And, let truth be told, while THMF is the criterion of Truth and Falsehood (Furqan) in our midst, he is not the criterion of fact and non-fact. I don’t believe he would make such a claim. The fact of the matter is, THMF not only encourages us to read and study, he has on several occasions publically lamented the fact that we supposed ‘Students Enrolled’ actually don’t study. Making him our ONLY source of knowledge and truth is not the path to Godhood, in my opinion. Following his example is. And He, while grounded in the revealed lessons of THEM, yet has studied widely and this wide study has deepened his understanding of the revealed Teachings and made him an effective – indeed the MOST effective – teacher and defender of these divine Teachings. This is what is open to all of us as well, if we would but avail ourselves to it by following his lead. But by fearing and or refusing for pious reasons to intellectually venture beyond his words, does not grow us as human/divine intellectual beings: it stifles us.


2.] The fact that we are a cult of personality was also in evidence, in my opinion, during too many of the Wednesday and Sunday lectures by the local ministers. Too many ministers have become Farrakhan cheerleaders rather than teachers of Islam under the guidance of THMF. I do not believe that Wednesday and Sunday lectures, mainly to believers (because we don’t get too many lost founds anymore) should consist mainly of extolling the greatness of THMF. We the Believers are already convinced of this. Where is the actual teaching of Islam? Where is the practical teaching that can improve Black daily life, economically, physically, intellectually, and spiritually? Now, THMF has a number of very powerful and powerfully effective ministers that do just that. But, by his admission, there are too many that don’t. We must understand that Islam is much wider than the greatness of THMF, so our teaching of Islam must go beyond how great THMF is. Those who cannot understand that Islam is broader than the greatness of our beloved Minister are, in my opinion, participants in a cult of personality. Too much focus on who he is has made us lose sight of who WE are.


3.] The fact that so many of us want to look like him and sound like him, but not struggle to have his character, integrity and commitment to intellectual courage, is also evidence that we have become a cult of personality.


I recall hearing THMF himself stating that we have become a personality cult. He has said more than once that, due to the condition of the NOI, he does not believe THEM will accept us when he THMF) goes to his father (THEM). He is not the only one who sees our degraded condition. The larger black community sees our condition and this why we are not taken seriously any more – as scholars, soldiers, or saviors. We used to be. I believe that part of the problem is that we too often and too easily cross the line between the healthy and obligatory honor and obedience due to the man of God, and plain old personality worship. There is a profound difference between the two.”


5.] Dianetics: Apostasy to the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad?

Peace Family.


Below is part of an exchange I had with some members of the Nation of God and Earths (hereafter NGE) regarding the Hon Minister Farrakhan's (hereafter THMF) decision to set the Nation of Islam (NOI) on a course of study of the psycho-therapy technology called Dianetics, innovated by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology (COS).

Dianetics, Apostacy to the Teachings of The Hon. Elijah Muhammad?

Bro Critique and Bro Ralik I personally appreciate the respectful way you are trying to critically engage us Followers of THMF on this very sensitive issue of Dianetics. It appears to me (though of course I could be wrong) that you are seeking to understand rather than criticize or condemn. I don’t know if I can help make any progress in that regard, but I would like to try.

I would like to start by recalling that in the late 80’s THMF spoke to the Association of Black Psychologists and noted that, because of Black people’s psycho-social condition, every Black Leader should have a trained psychologist at his/her side. He along with others not in the NOI was way back then sensitive to the psychological damage that the American Holocaust of Enslavement did to us. And let Us Muslims and Muslimas, Gods and Goddess/Earths resist romanticizing about our Islam or I.S.L.A.M.: the fact of the matter is that with 80 years of Islam and (for the sake of argument) @50 years of I.S.L.A.M. among Black people, in 2010 the Black community as a whole – NOI and NGE included – is arguably in a worst behavioral and psycho-somatic condition than we were eighty years ago. Our collective psychoses do not show signs of progressive alleviation in 2010 – they show clear signs of progressive deterioration. What is the solution? Well, some would say we need to cling back to the Teachings which too many of us have forsaken. I would agree that this is a necessary part of the solution. However, I know individuals – such as myself! – who could probably make a very strong case of being true Believers in this Teaching and trying to effectuate them in our lives, yet still unquestionably suffer from some of the general effects of the slavery-induced pathologies and psychoses. So, as much as we hate to admit this, we DO need more than the literature and tapes of THEM or the 120, Supreme Math and Supreme Alphabet. God Critique I believe you when you say:

“No one wants to LEAD, no one want to BELITTLE Farakhan or take away from the many GREAT feats he accomplished, I humbly respect his work. Yet and still I respect what H.E.M. and Master Fard taught me in 120 because I lived it, I breath 120, I bear witness to how devil was made. I walked 2,200 hundred miles myself and then REALIZED that I had to WALK BACK to the best part- MECCA, the mind to return to civilization MYSELF.”

You say further:

“No matter HOW you make it to be, it comes off as HELP from something NOT original, simple and plain. You say some people NEED it. We do not need nothing outside of Self.”

I feel you Lord, but you would forgive me if I say that sounds like the type of rhetoric that I hear from many a Mosque podium on Sundays and (formerly) Wednesdays. It sounds good, but that is not a practical answer to the question of the solution to the many real pathologies and psychoses that afflict our people. It is also patently false that in our day-to-day lives we need nothing outside of self (unless I misunderstand what you mean by self). Muslims, let us remember that with all of the Islam that THMF unquestionably has, when he fell ill he had to turn to medical treatment authored by whites and administered in a ‘white’ system. Are we suggesting that he was an apostate to the Teachings for doing so? Hell, THEM himself went to the white man’s hospital to get care. Was he an apostate to his own Teachings? Am I or any other Muslim or NGE parent an apostate because we/they take our children to the white man’s emergency room to get the white man’s emergency care? Well, THMF sees our current condition as an emergency situation – a real mental-health crisis. He is willing to employ whatever aid he fills can effectively treat some of our condition. How can one be critical of that decision? Will it ultimately work? We don’t yet know, but we should not condemn him for thinking outside the ‘Black Muslim Box’ to acquire much needed, supplemental aid to his people (note: I am not at all saying the Gods Critique or Ralik are doing this. Im speaking in general).

Does it matter that this potential help-aid, Dianetics, is the brainchild of a ‘racist’ white man who founded a religion other than Islam? Please speak up all of you who, the last time you received emergency care at a hospital, stopped the nurse or doctor before receiving care to verify they were of the right religion. I live in Michigan where, between late November to as far as April, it is very cold. And I hate the cold. Therefore, I personally thank Allah for that white man, Warren S. Johnson, who invented the electric thermostat! I don’t know his religion; I don’t know his views on Black folk; and as I sit back right now on my couch in my home that is a comfortable 76 degrees while it is a freezing 30 degrees outside, I don’t care one bit about his religion or racial views. And if one of you wise scientists and powerful researchers post information on him tonight that he was the chief priest of the ‘Kill All Niggas Church,’ you think I’m going to turn my thermostat off? Sh****t. Call me an apostate all you want. “Message to the Black Man” won’t warm my house.

The God Ralik raised a very legitimate concern:

“I think that the issue that most have with the move to study Dianetics is it's relationship to the Church Of Scientology and the System which they have in place within that organization. What that organization deals with and what it has produced. Reading a book is different from joining and/OR participating in a system…It is the idea that this system which they have developed is in some way more fit to transform the Black Family than what has already been given in the form of 120 Lessons and the teachings of THEM. .. It is the SYSTEM utilized by the Church Of Scientology and the dangers associated with said system that the rest of the Family is concerned about.”


I respect that concern. I would, though, suggest that it is a non-issue in as much as the THMF and those firmly rooted in this teaching are no more at risk of falling victim to the ‘System’ of Scientology as they are of falling victim to the ‘system’ of the Shriners because they might take their children to Children’s Hospital. By participating in the study of Dianetics, we in the NOI are NOT participating in the Church of Scientology. That is a fact per the arrangements made between THMF and the COS. Whatever your personal experience was Critique, the NOI’s use of this psycho-therapy called Dianetics is according to official arrangements made. Will some individual Muslims get crazy and get caught up? No doubt. But that has less to do with Dianetics or the COS per se, and more to do with the state of that individual’s Islam. Is THMF saying that the ‘system’ of Scientology is more fit to transform Black life than the Islam of MFM and THEM? Emphatically NO! What he is saying is exactly what THEM said: “I will even use the Devil himself to build up the NOI”. By using the ‘Devil’ to build up the NOI, THEM was certainly not saying that the Devil’s system is more fit to transform Black life.


@Brother Jamal Shabazz-Allah:

I appreciate you sharing with me and us how you and those who think like you cee this issue. Understand that it will always take me some time to respond to posts directed at me, in as much as my schedule does not allow me the luxury of 24 hr Facebook engagement.

You say on behalf of yourself and you’re A-Alikes (presumably fellow members of the NGE):

“Now, for the record, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the members of the Nation of Islam studying the principles of Dianetics. Hell, it might even help them in many ways - its a possibility.”

Thank you for conceding the point. THMF believes in that possibility, and this is the ONLY reason we are having this discussion today. He believes he found something out there that can potentially help better the real life condition of his Followers in particular and Black people in general, and he is mature enough, non-dogmatic enough, and practical enough to not be concerned with the racial or religious views of the author of this thing that could potentially (as you admit) help his people. This principle should offend no one from the NGE, in as much as a cardinal point of your religion is: “We are not pro-black or anti-white”. If you are not anti-white, why does it matter who L. Ron Hubbard is after conceding the real possibility that something he brought forth can potentially help some black people? Now, admittedly this last point may not impress you, being that you are not pro-black either. However, THMF and I myself is/am very pro-Black, so whatever can benefit the Black Man and Woman in any way, we are there.

Following your reasonable concession here Bro Jamal, you make a most unfortunate factual error. You claim:

“However, as I previously discussed with Wakeel, the measure lies in the functionality of it. In reality, Farrakhan didn't say, ‘You guys should go and study Dianetics, since I feel it will be useful to you...’ Emphatically no! He said, 'I want to see ALL your names on this paper, signing up for this study. And, if I don't see your names on this paper, you'll be punished with a severe punishment (not in those exact words, of course).’ The Muslims were instructed, as a mandate, to sign up for Dianetics, and that's where the issue takes an immediate turn.”

When I came up in the 5% Nation of Islam, a non-negotiable principle was: “knowledge before you wisdom,” i.e. get the full knowledge of a situation before you speak on that situation . I guess this principle was one of the casualties in the transition from 5% Nation of Islam to Nation of God and Earths. I was at the Laborers Meeting when THMF first introduced Dianetcs. The mandate was NOT to all Believers. The mandate was ONLY for those who seek to be over the Believers in a position of authority, i.e. Laborers! As a private citizen the study was encouraged but not mandated. Nor is there any, as you claimed, ‘severe punishment’ for those who refuse. Those Student-Laborers who break protocol by refusing to take advantage of a psycho-therapy that could (as you concede) potentially make them better people in positions of authority over suffering Believers will, and well should, be denied the opportunity to serve in such capacity. That is all.

You (and presumably you’re A-Alikes) make a very fallacious argument based on very twisted logic, Beloved, by claiming:


“To imply that the Nation of Islam in any way **needs** the wisdom of L. Ron Hubbard is to also imply that your own wisdom, as manifested by Master Fard Muhammad and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, is not ‘supreme’. Supreme Wisdom doesn't need elevation, especially not from an inferior source…“When you start mixing and tampering with Supreme Wisdom, then you de-holify (is that a word? lol) it, making it less than what it originally was, and/or graft it and make it unalike. .. When you dilute a substance, eventually it becomes weaker to the degree of not having the same effect that it originally produced...Its a total replacement of the Supreme Wisdom teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, for wisdom of a less-credible source, manifested by L. Ron Hubbard...”

In as much as you Bro Jamal purport to stand on the Supreme Wisdom of MFM and THEM, please answer me this: when MFM mandated that THEM study 104 books NOT WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, at least some which (like van Loon’s ‘The Story of Mankind’) were written by whites, was he (i.e. MFM) implying that he ‘needed’ the inferior wisdom of van Loon and the other authors? Was he (MFM) mixing and tampering with his own Supreme Wisdom? Was this a ‘total replacement’ of his own teachings by a less-credible source? And if so, why then do you presume here to even defend the tampered-with ‘Supreme Wisdom’ of MFM and THEM which was early on ‘de-holified,’ as you so eloquently put it?

You say, Bro Jamal:

“Since you relayed your thoughts in terms of taking children to a colored (white) man's hospital, we can use the same line of thinking for your newly-instituted program: If your children were sick with a serious illness, and they needed emergency treatment very badly, would you take them out of a ‘supreme’ hospital, where the service, supplies and output was known to produce ‘supreme’ results; and take them to the 'free clinic', where there is considerably less quality in personnel and medical supplies and activities, and where the patients who emerge from that clinic have more problems than they went in with?”

Who are you talking about here, Beloved, the Father Allah (Clarence 13X)? You mean when he left the ‘supreme’ hospital (Mosque) where the service, supplies and output were known to produce ‘supreme’ results; and when he set-up a 'free clinic', a 'Supreme Wisdom clinic' free of the Restrictive Law (which MFM/THEM explicitly said “IS OUR SUCCESS”), and where there is considerably less quality in personnel and medical supplies and activities (the 5% NOI/NGE NEVER matched what THEM produced) and where the patients who emerge from that clinic (many Gods and Earths) have more problems than they went in with? Oh, you must be alluding to the Father’s exit from the NOI of THEM (‘supreme hospital’) and his setting up of the 5% (free-clinic), which later morphed into (another change!) the NGE. You see, when you ask, “Did the Father change the teachings of Elijah Muhammad?” the answer is, on one level, an EMPHATIC YES! The ‘Teachings’ of THEM were never just the lessons; they always included the Restrictive Laws; the General Orders; and the many prescriptions on how to live a Muslim life. These were part of the Teachings that the Father, for whatever reason, DID NOT incorporate into his ‘free-clinic’ and one of the results is that the life-style and life condition of too many who claim the Father are totally degenerate when compared to the life that MFM and THEM prescribed for us. See, life in the ‘mosque’ was a part of the ‘Teachings’ that MFM gave to THEM. Being in the Mosque, at least for a time, is a necessary part of the ‘God-hood training PROGRAM’ that MFM gave to THEM for our benefit. If you have never ‘did time’ (lol!) in the Mosque, you are NOT following the Teachings of THEM. Let’s keep it real. If you do not try to incorporate the Restrictive Laws, General Orders, or How to Eat to Live into your life, you are NOT following ‘The Teachings’ of MFM and THEM. Yes sir, the Father DID change the teachings. You claim:

“Minister Farrakhan hasn't done what Elijah did, because he hasn't stuck with the Messenger's teachings and programs. That's simple mathematics, God.”


The Father Allah (Clarence 13X) and today his Suns (members of the NGE) haven’t done what THEM did, because he and you have NOT stuck with THEM's Teachings AND PROGRAMS. Now THAT is simple mathematics, God. On a final note: when MFM, with all his Supreme Wisdom, got his stomach pumped at one of ‘cavie’s’ hospitals; when THEM, with all his ‘Supreme Wisdom’, ‘needed’ to get medical treatment for his bronchitis from 'Satan’s' medical establishment, were they replacing the ‘Supreme Wisdom’ with a less-credible wisdom?

Peace

True Islam (Bro Wesley)