Letter to the Chicago Tribune that  was not published 

Editor
Metro Chicago Page
Chicago Tribune
435 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Dear Sir:

            The Chicago Tribune, Monday, July 7, 1997, MetroChicago page has the headline, "Islamic Conference honors Farrakhan" which is false and misrepresents the truth. It defames Islam and the Muslims of Chicago, the U.S. and the world. Firstly, this conference was not "Islamic" in the sense that none of the known Muslim leaders attended the conference. Secondly, who has the authority to "honor" any one as "leader of the entire Muslim community" where he himself is an unknown person? It would be like some church leader coming from the Fiji Islands to the U.S. and declaring in a conference that David Koresh or a person like him to be the "leader of the entire Christian community". Would you or the Christians accept him? Sheikh M. Sobhi Billo is totally unknown to the Muslim community of the world, with the possible exception of small part of the tiny island of Cyprus. He does not speak English, does not live in the U.S., perhaps does not know the teachings of Louis Farrakhan, and therefore, has no authority to make such a declaration that Farrakhan is a Muslim leader. Billo's own leadership of the Muslims in Cyprus is perhaps doubtful. Billo's putting a white turban on Farrakhan's head does not make him a Muslim, let alone a Muslim leader. Islam is not in clothes, head gear, shoes, carrying a staff or any such appearance. Islam is in correct beliefs and prescribed deeds compatible with those beliefs. Farrakhan does not fit the profile of a Muslim in beliefs or deeds.

    Your article mentioned that Muammar Qaddhafi called and spoke for an hour during the conference. Muammar Qaddhafi is one of the most despised rulers of Muslim-majority countries, including the people of Libya. Qaddhafi is a killer of Muslims and thousands of good Muslims are rotting in his prisons. Qaddhafi's endorsement goes against Louis Farrakhan and shows that Farrakhan cannot be and is not a Muslim or a Muslim leader.

    In North America the well known Muslim leaders are Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui, President of Islamic Society of North America (ISNA); Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, Secretary General of ISNA; Dr. Mohammad Yunus, President of Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA); Imam Warith Deen Muhammad, son of Elijah Muhammad, who inherited the leadership of the Nation of Islam in an election in 1975 (whom Louis Farrakhan pledged to support in 1975 but rebelled against in 1978); Imam Jamil Abdullah El-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown); Imam Siraj Wahhaj of Brooklyn, NY; and Dr. Jamal Badawi of Canada. There are others too but none of them attended this "Islamic" conference of the Farrakhanis in Chicago.  

I do not believe that any known Muslim leader from Chicago attended this "Islamic" conference because Dr. Talal Sunbuli and Dr. Mohammad Kaiseruddin, leaders of the Council of Islamic Organizations in Greater Chicago, were in Indianapolis, Indiana attending another Conference of Muslims. A significant majority of Chicago Muslim leadership was attending the ICNA Annual Convention in Pittsburgh, PA.

    Admittedly, Louis Farrakhan sent out invitations to Muslim leaders in Chicago and in the U.S. but almost all of them declined; some gave reasons and some didn't. Farrakhan has a serious problem with being accepted as a Muslim and his movement being Islamic. Farrakhan does not fit the criteria of Islam established by the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and salutations be upon him). For details, please refer to booklet ISLAM OR FARRAKHANISM and brochure, ISLAM AND FARRAKHANISM COMPARED. Briefly, the concept of God in Islam is that God is Unseen, there is nothing like Him and He is known only through His names and attributes. On the other hand, Farrakhan's god is a man who appeared as W. Fard Muhammad in Detroit in 1930. Muslims believe that the last Prophet/ Messenger was Muhammad (saw) whereas Farrakhan teaches that Elijah Muhammad was also a messenger of god. Muslims believe that Allah revealed books to Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad and they are called in the Arabic language Taurat, Zuboor, Injeel and the Qur'an, respectively, and there is no other book to be revealed. On the other hand, Farrakhan teaches that the Bible and the Qur'an were written by twenty-four scientists and they write such books every twenty-five thousand years. Farrakhan rejects the main body of ahaadeeth, the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (saw), which complements the Qur'an. Farrakhan rejects the Islamic teachings of the life hereafter and he replaces it with his teachings that the black man will have mental resurrection. Farrakhan's teachings are blasphemy to the Muslims. In practice, Farrakhan's teaching on Salat, five daily prescribed prayers; Sawm, fasting in the month of Ramadan; Zakat, obligatory share of Allah for the poor in the stored wealth of the Muslims, and Shahadah, witnessing to enter Islam, have different meanings from the practices of Muslims. Hajj, pilgrimage to Makkah (some times mis-spelled as Mecca) is not emphasized by Farrakhan. Islam teaches that people are equal irrespective of gender, race, color and nationality but Farrakhan teaches that black man is god and white man is the devil, which is blasphemy to Muslims.  Any rational person can see that there is nothing common between the teachings of Islam and teachings of Farrakhan. Therefore, we call his religion “Farrakhanism” not Islam. If Farrakhan gives up his blasphemous beliefs and practices Muslim will change their position about him too.  

Recently, Farrakhan made it impossible for himself to be recognized as a Muslim, when, last February, he declared himself to be a "messenger of god" but he did not mention which one of his gods appointed him as a messenger. Certainly, the Muslims believe that the God, Allah, chose Muhammad ibn Abdullah, who died over fourteen centuries ago, to be His last Prophet and Messenger and all of his teachings are preserved and available, unlike the teachings of any other religious authority in the history of mankind.

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 WILL OF THE HONORABLE ELIJAH MUHAMMAD: Terris A. Muhammad reports in his book, FROM PLANTATION TO MUSLIM, A UNIQUE TRANSFORMATION, that in October 1933 Sister Clara Muhammad whispered in the ear of her newborn baby Wallace D. Muhammad, "You were born to follow your father and succeed him; you are blessed by Allah to seek and are chosen" (page 119), and that was the desire of both the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his mentor W. Fard Muhammad.

 It appears that at some point in his life Elijah Muhammad desired to become a true Muslim and he wanted the same transformation for his followers.  For example, he published a book called THE MUSLIM DAILY PRAYERS in which he taught cleaning procedures for the preparation for the five daily prayers.  He knew the limitations of his knowledge of Islam and he indirectly or directly approved his son, Wallace D. Muhammad’s endeavors to learn Islam from the Qur'an and Hadith and to be in the company of Muslims from the East.  In effect, in the words of Terris Muhammad, he "was gradually conditioning his followers to accept Minister Wallace" (op cit page 201).  In his last major address on February 26, 1974 in the presence of learned Muslims from Muslim countries Hon. Elijah Muhammad told his followers, "I'm a Muslim ... I have visited the Muslim world. I have made pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina - and I have seen and I have heard.  These people don't believe in foolishness; so I am trying to clothe you not only with the garments of salvation but clothe you with the principles of our religion.  These men are not here to look at you just trying to be Muslims - they are here wanting to know whether or not that you are a Muslim at heart" (Terris Muhammad, op cit page 213).

 "He (Elijah Muhammad) could see from the development of Minister Wallace and Minister Malcolm that his program had been successful, and he had taken as far as he could and wanted to take us. His goal was to make us complete human beings, and complete Muslims following in the path of Prophet Muhammad of 1400 years ago" 
reports Terris Muhammad (op cit page 180).

FBI AND THE NATION OF ISLAM: The U.S government never liked the Nation of Islam and made numerous attempts to dissolve it or break it up into several small factions by implanting infiltrators in the organization for the purpose of sowing disunity and discord. On spurious charges Elijah Muhammad was arrested and imprisoned in 1934 and again in 1942 to 1946 along with many of his followers.  FBI agents were always around the homes of “Muslims” and temples of the Nation of Islam, harassing their women under one pretext or the other. 

 At some later time FBI infiltrators reached high places in the organization of the Nation of Islam.  Terris Muhammad reports, "In the written files of the FBI obtained through the Freedom of Information Act there are specific names of FBI informants and undercover agents that became top officials in the Nation of Islam.  Some of the names were illegally wiped from the file documents before they were released to cover-up the plot of the FBI in their scheme to destroy a legitimate religious group within the borders of the United States... In the FBI file documents it is plainly stated in no uncertain terms that the FBI plot to destroy the Nation of Islam was to take away its financial assets through the probate courts after the Hon. Elijah Muhammad passed, and to cause the Nation of Islam to split into factions and splinter groups" (op cit page 343). The questions remains, was the FBI successful?  And who were these informants and infiltrators?  One has to look at the direct or indirect beneficiaries of the court proceedings.  Minister Louis Farrakhan lives in the marble palace where Elijah Muhammad lived, and Minister Louis Farrakhan occupies Temple No. 2 on South Stony Island in Chicago, which Elijah Muhammad had purchased for 4.2 million dollars and Imam Warith Deen Muhammad had converted into a mosque.  Now, the same mosque on South Stony Island is a temple of paganism under Louis Farrakhan.  In November 1986, Mr. Louis Farrakhan told the author of this article that he maintains very good relationship with FBI and FBI does not bother him.  Evidently, Louis Farrakhan has good relationship with CIA and the State Department as he can easily travel to those countries which are forbidden to travel for other American citizens. This is apparently a symbiotic relationship between Louis Farrakhan and the government of the United States, the "hated" white establishment.

 Conclusion: I learned from a Hadith of the Messenger of Allah that a mu'min (a true believer) is not bitten by a snake twice from the same hole. In my understanding, a person bitten twice by a snake from the same hole is a gullible person; and a person who is bitten three times by the snake from the same hole is a purely stupid person. Louis Farrakhan is that snake and his rhetoric is that hole. He is a master wordsman and he should be listen to very, very, very, carefully.

 All sincere Muslims are requested to forward this document by Email to their mailing lists of Muslims, their leaders, Islamic organizations, newspapers in the Muslim countries and spread the word around globally as much as possible. Try to inform and discourage those Muslim leaders who may have been invited by Farrakhan and if they are contemplating attending the conference of blasphemy. If Muslims are interested in the spread of Islam, they must openly discredit Farrakhan, disown him and dissociate from him. At the same time we should not ignore his followers because they are naïve victims of fraud; try to reach them, educate them and bring them into real Islam. This will help remove the fear of Islam and it may open the door of Islam for some to look into. Let us encourage people to look into Islam: we must invite them in for the cause of Allah and our own salvation.

 If one asks a question to a non-Muslim in the streets of North America to identify an American Muslim, they will name Louis Farrakhan more than any one else. Muslims by default have allowed Farrakhan to define Islam for them. It is like Abdullah ibn Saba or Musailama the Liar defining Islam instead of the Sahâbah, which could have never happened. The least the Muslims of America can do is to expose Farrakhan and present Islam to America by themselves.