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Saviours' Day is a holiday of the Nation of Islam commemorating the birth of its founder, Master Wallace Fard Muhammad (W. D. Fard), officially stated to be February 26, 1877. It was established by Elijah Muhammad.
The Community of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed (American Society of Muslims) observed a similar celebration, observed on the last weekend of February. Warith Deen Mohammed (son of Elijah Muhammad) changed the name of the celebration to Survival Day in 1976 [1] and then to Ethnic Survival Day from 1979 to 1980 and made it a week long celebration. The change formed part of his rejection of his father's portrayal of Fard as a divine savior. [2] [3]
Warith Deen Mohammed eventually discontinued the celebration of Survival Day for his community and eventually returned to the celebration of Saviours' Day with the emphasis being on the history of the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad and not W. D. Fard. Warith Deen Mohammed re-instituted Saviours' Day for his community on Feb 26, 2000, after joining the Nation of Islam's Saviours' Day that year.
Louis Farrakhan reconvened Saviours' Day in 1981 when he reestablished the Nation of Islam under his leadership. [4] Under Farrakhan's leadership, the annual commemoration has become a three-day gathering with speakers, seminars and workshops. [5] Since 2010, it has included a Dianetics Auditor graduation ceremony, overseen by officials from both the Nation and also the Church of Scientology. Under Farrakhan, Dianetics has been advocated publicly since 2010, and it has been embraced by his followers, over a thousand of whom are now trained in Dianetics auditing. [6]
When Elijah Muhammad started the celebration, he called it Saviour's Day. Farrakhan moved the apostrophe, changing it to Saviours' Day to add Elijah Muhammad as a saviour along with Master Fard Muhammad.
Other, smaller Nation of Islam communities not related to Minister Farrakhan also hold Saviour's Day celebrations.
The Nation of Islam uses the British spelling version of the word saviour, rather than the American spelling savior. The Nation of Islam under Louis Farrakhan's leadership places a possessive apostrophe at the end of the word, emphasising the plural to indicate that “Black men and women must be the ‘saviours’ of themselves and their communities.” This plural form of the spelling was announced in 1983 to represent that responsibility. [7] However, the original spelling with the apostrophe before the "s" is also used. [8]
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African Americans. While describing itself as Islamic and using Islamic terminologies, its religious tenets differ substantially from orthodox Islamic traditions. Scholars of religion characterize it as a new religious movement.
Louis Farrakhan is an American religious leader who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI), a black nationalist organization. Farrakhan is notable for his leadership of the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C., and for his rhetoric that has been widely denounced as antisemitic and racist.
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.
Wallace Fard Muhammad, also known as W. F. Muhammad, W. D. Fard, Wallace D. Fard, or Master Fard Muhammad, among other names, was the founder of the Nation of Islam. He arrived in Detroit in 1930 with an ambiguous background and several aliases and proselytized syncretic Islamic teachings to the city's black population. In 1934, he disappeared, and Elijah Muhammad succeeded him as leader of the Nation of Islam.
Elijah Muhammad was an American religious leader, black separatist, and self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah who led the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1933 until his death in 1975. Elijah Muhammad was also the teacher and mentor of Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali, and his son, Warith Deen Mohammed.
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.
Yakub is a figure in the mythology of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and the NOI's offshoots. According to the NOI's doctrine, Yakub was a black scientist who lived 6,600 years ago and began the creation of the white race through a form of selective breeding, referred to as "grafting", while he was living on the island of Patmos.
The Fruit of Islam (FOI) is the security and disciplinary wing of the Nation of Islam (NOI). It has also been described as its paramilitary wing. 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).
The Mosque Cares is a non-profit Islamic da'wah project founded by Imam Warith Deen Muhammad (1933–2008), a former leader of the Nation of Islam and a son and successor to its first Supreme Minister Elijah Muhammad (1897–1975).
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.
Clara Muhammad was born in Macon, Georgia, the daughter of Mary Lou (Thomas) and Quartus Evans. She was the wife of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. They married in Georgia in 1917, when she was 17 and he was 20 years old, before he changed his name from Elijah Poole. Between 1917 and 1939, Elijah and Clara Muhammad had eight children: six boys and two girls, including Warith Deen Muhammad.
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.
Jabir Herbert Muhammad was an American businessman and co-founder of Top Rank, Inc. He was the longtime manager of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.
Muhammad University of Islam (MUI) is a Nation of Islam (NOI)-affiliated preschool to 12th Grade school in the South Shore area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, located next to Mosque Maryam. Every major NOI mosque has a MUI. The schools are headed by the Nation of Islam's Ministry of Education, led by Dr. Larry Muhammad. Established in 1930, MUI is the first Islamic Black school system in America.
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. Warith 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" in 1988.
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 mistresses, 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.
African-American Muslims, also 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 Muslim populations of the United States as there is no ethnic group that makes up the majority of American Muslims. They mostly belong to the Sunni sect, but smaller Shia and Nation of Islam minorities also exist. The history of African-American Muslims is related to African-American history in general, and goes back to the Revolutionary and Antebellum eras.
Wesley Muhammad is an American author and a minister in the Nation of Islam.
Muhammad Ali was initially raised as a Baptist before his high-profile conversion to Islam. In the early 1960s, he began attending Nation of Islam Meetings. There, he met Malcolm X, who encouraged his involvement and became a highly influential mentor to Ali. Ali, who was named Cassius Clay after his father, first changed his name briefly to Cassius X and then finally to Muhammad Ali in 1964.