Fruit of Islam

Last updated
Fruit of Islam, Chicago, March 1974 FruitOfIslam cropped retouched.jpg
Fruit of Islam, Chicago, March 1974

The Fruit of Islam (FOI) is the security and disciplinary wing of the Nation of Islam (NOI). [1] It has also been described as its paramilitary wing. [1] [2] [3] [4] The Fruit of Islam wear distinctive blue, brown, or white uniforms and caps and have units at all NOI temples. Louis Farrakhan, as head of the Nation of Islam, is commander-in-chief of the Fruit of Islam, and his son, Mustapha Farrakhan Sr., is second in command as the Supreme Captain. The women's counterpart to the Fruit of Islam is Muslim Girls Training (MGT).

Contents

The Fruit of Islam draws its membership from male members in Nation of Islam mosques. All men registered in the Nation of Islam as members are by default a part of the FOI. All Nation of Islam mosques have a branch of the FOI headed by a local captain who is appointed by the local minister. While NOI does not release membership figures, estimates made in 2007 for total membership in the NOI range from 30,000 to 50,000. [5]

History

The Final Call newspaper salesman Call of Islam seller.jpg
The Final Call newspaper salesman

The Fruit of Islam is one of the original institutions of the NOI, created by its founder W. D. Fard in 1933, shortly before his final disappearance. The men, mostly young, active members, were considered the "fruit" of the new nation. [6] At the time the FOI was created to help defend the members of the NOI and all others. It existed until the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975. When Warith Deen Muhammad took control of the NOI he disbanded the FOI. The organization was then reorganized by Louis Farrakhan when he reestablished the NOI. [7]

NOI security agency

In 1988, the NOI created a separate security agency using members of the FOI. The agency received contracts primarily to patrol and staff public housing complexes in tough urban areas like Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles and received at least $20 million in the 1990s for security work. NOI Security had notable successes in Washington, D.C., projects particularly, but had difficulty in others and faced opposition by some members of the United States Congress and the Anti-Defamation League, among others. It also faced scrutiny from federal agencies for racial and gender preference in hiring and from the Internal Revenue Service for failure to withhold taxes from employees. [8] [9] [10] [11]

Mission statement

FOI in 1964 Fruits-of-islam-1964.jpg
FOI in 1964

The FOI says its mission is to "teach civilization, and teach what they know to those who do not know". An NOI website urging men to enroll in the FOI describes members as "brave fighter[s] for Allah" engaged in "a unique war for the very heart and soul of a people". The site explains, "The responsibility of the F.O.I. is that of a head of house: protection, provision, and maintenance of the Nation of Islam (all Original People). The F.O.I. are militant in the sense that our operations are done as a unit". [12]

Related Research Articles

The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African Americans. It practices a form of Islam that differs considerably from mainstream Islamic traditions. Scholars of religion characterize it as a new religious movement. It operates as a centralized and hierarchical organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Farrakhan</span> American black supremacist (born 1933)

Louis Farrakhan is an American black supremacist and religious leader who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI, he was a calypso singer who used the stage name Calypso Gene. Earlier in his career, he served as the minister of mosques in Boston and Harlem and was appointed National Representative of the Nation of Islam by then NOI leader Elijah Muhammad. He adopted the name Louis X, before being named Louis Farrakhan.

A number of organizations and academics consider the Nation of Islam (NOI) to be antisemitic. The NOI has engaged in Holocaust denial, and exaggerates the role of Jews in the African slave trade; mainstream historians, such as Saul S. Friedman, have said Jews had a negligible role. The NOI has repeatedly rejected charges made against it as false and politically motivated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallace Fard Muhammad</span> Founder of the Nation of Islam

Wallace Fard Muhammad, also known as Wallace D. Fard or Master Fard Muhammad, was the founder of the Nation of Islam. He arrived in Detroit in 1930 with an ambiguous background and several aliases, and taught an idiosyncratic form of what he considered Islam to members of the city's black population. In 1934, he disappeared from public record, and Elijah Muhammad succeeded him as leader of the Nation of Islam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elijah Muhammad</span> African American religious leader (1897–1975)

Elijah Muhammad was an American religious leader, black separatist, and self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah who led the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1934 until his death in 1975. Muhammad was also the teacher and mentor of Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali, and his son, Warith Deen Mohammed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warith Deen Mohammed</span> African-American Muslim leader (1933–2008)

Warith Deen Mohammed, also known as W. Deen Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Muhammad and Imam Warith Deen, was an African-American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist, and Islamic thinker.

In the beliefs of the Nation of Islam (NOI), Yakub was a black scientist who lived 6,600 years ago and began the creation of the white race. He is said to have done this through a form of selective breeding which is referred to as "grafting", while he was living on the island of Patmos. The Nation of Islam's mythology states that Yakub is the biblical Jacob.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence 13X</span> Founder of The Nation of Gods and Earths

Clarence Edward Smith, better known as Clarence 13X and Allah, was an American religious leader and the founder of the Five-Percent Nation. He was born in Virginia and moved to New York City as a young man, before serving in the United States Army during the Korean War. After returning to New York, he learned that his wife had joined the Nation of Islam (NOI) and followed her, taking the name Clarence 13X. He served in the group as a security officer, martial arts instructor, and student minister before leaving for an unclear reason in 1963. He enjoyed gambling, which was condemned by the NOI, and disagreed with the NOI's teachings that Wallace Fard Muhammad was a divine messenger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saviours' Day</span> Holiday in Nation of Islam

Saviours' Day is a holiday of the Nation of Islam commemorating the birth of its founder, Master Wallace Fard Muhammad, officially stated to be February 26, 1877. It was established by Elijah Muhammad.

How To Eat To Live is a series of two books published by Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad in the 1960s, which are still in print. (ISBN 978-1884855160) The books cover his philosophies on healthy eating and the Black Muslims' prescribed diet.

<i>Muhammad Speaks</i> Defunct American newspaper

Muhammad Speaks was a Black Muslim newspaper published in the United States. It was one of the most widely read newspapers ever produced by an African American organization. It was the official newspaper of the Nation of Islam from 1960 to 1975, founded by a group of Elijah Muhammad's ministers, including Malcolm X.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattias Gardell</span> Swedish historian of religions

Hans Bertil Mattias Gardell is a Swedish historian and scholar of comparative religion. He is the current holder of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, Sweden. He was the first Lenin Award laureate in 2009, and received The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities Award for Distinguished Research in the Humanities, the Royal Gold Medal, in 2003.

The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a black nationalist religious group founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. While it identifies itself as promoting a form of Islam, its beliefs differ considerably from mainstream Islamic traditions. Scholars of religion characterize it as a new religious movement. It operates as a centralized and hierarchical organization. It has been characterized by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League as a black supremacist hate group.

Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, born Ernest Timothy McGhee, was leader of the Hanafi Movement, a Black Muslim group based in Washington, D.C..

The American Society of Muslims was a predominantly African-American association of Muslims which was the direct descendant of the original Nation of Islam. It was created by Warith Deen Mohammed after he assumed leadership of the Nation of Islam upon the death of his father Elijah Muhammad. Imam W. Deen Mohammed changed the name of the Nation of Islam to the "World Community of Islam in the West" in 1976, then the "American Muslim Mission" in 1981, and finally the "American Society of Muslims".

Tynnetta Muhammad was an American writer. In the 1960s, she wrote articles and columns for the Nation of Islam (NOI) newsletter Muhammad Speaks. She was one of Elijah Muhammad’s wives, and mother of four of his children.

Ishmael Muhammad is an American member of the Nation of Islam, and son of Elijah Muhammad and Tynnetta Muhammad. He is the Nation of Islam national assistant minister to Louis Farrakhan. In 1995, Muhammad was a speaker at the Million Man March.

A Torchlight for America is a religious text of the Nation of Islam, written by Louis Farrakhan.

African-American Muslims, also colloquially known as Black Muslims, are an African American religious minority. African American Muslims account for over 20% of American Muslims. They represent one of the larger minority Muslim populations of the United States as there is no ethnic group that makes up the majority of American Muslims. They are represented in Sunni and Shia denominations as well as smaller sects, such as the Nation of Islam. The history of African-American Muslims is related to African-American history in general, and goes back to the Revolutionary and Antebellum eras.

Muhammad Ali was initially raised as a Baptist before entering Islam.

References

  1. 1 2 Lincoln, Charles Eric (1994). The Black Muslims in America (Third ed.). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 201–202. ISBN   978-0-8028-0703-8 . Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  2. ↑ Callahan, Sharon Henderson (2013). Religious Leadership. SAGE. p. 636. ISBN   978-1-4129-9908-3 . Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  3. ↑ Jones-Brown, Delores D.; Frazier, Beverly D.; Brooks, Marvie (2014). African Americans and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 372. ISBN   978-0-313-35717-6 . Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Jones-Brown, Delores D.; Frazier, Beverly D.; Brooks, Marvie (2014). African Americans and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 372. ISBN   978-0-313-35717-6 . Retrieved 23 July 2020. From the start, the NOI was tightly organized, a fact most clearly seen in its creation of the elite "Fruit of Islam," a group envisioned by Fard as a paramilitary wing to defend the NOI against police attacks.
  5. ↑ Lawrence A. Mamiya, Article on Louis Farrakhan in Encyclopædia Britannica 2007: also quotes at the high end of 50,000 in the NY Times on February 26, 2007
  6. ↑ Gardell, Mattias, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad, Duke University Press, 1996, p.55
  7. ↑ Charles Eric Lincoln, The Black Muslims in America, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994
  8. ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "Propagandists or Saviors?", September 4, 1994
  9. ↑ Mattias Gardell, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad, Duke University Press, 1996
  10. ↑ N.Y. Times, "As Farrakhan Groups Land Jobs From Government, Debate Grows", March 4, 1994
  11. ↑ Ralph B. Taylor, Breaking Away from Broken Windows, Westview Press, 2001
  12. ↑ "Join the Army of God: Join the F.O.I." Archived from the original on 2012-09-07. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.