{"id":118,"date":"2012-06-25T20:27:41","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T20:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/islaminamerica\/?p=118"},"modified":"2012-07-05T20:27:53","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T20:27:53","slug":"black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Muslim Leaders: Elijah Muhammad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among Black Muslims, two names stand out: Wallace D. Fard and Robert Poole. Even if you’re familiar with the history of this indigenous Islamic religion, you may not recognize them — both were better known under different monikers: Wali Fard<\/a> and Elijah Muhammad.

\n

\"\"<\/a>
Elijah Muhammad: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection<\/I><\/figcaption><\/figure>

\nRobert (or Elijah) Poole was a laborer in Georgia before migrating north to Detroit with his wife, the former Clara Evans, and their two sons. Four more sons and two daughters were born in Michigan, where Poole worked in the auto industry until the Depression forced the family onto public relief. Poole attended one of Wali Fard<\/a>‘s sermons in 1931, and became a convert. Fard renamed him, eventually, Elijah Muhammad and appointed his proteg\u00e9 Chief Minister of Islam.

\n\tIn 1932, Elijah Muhammad moved to Chicago to establish the Nation of Islam’s Temple #2. Police confrontations (involving mandatory school attendance for Muslim children) forced Fard to flee Detroit for Chicago, where he was arrested again. Soon after, Fard disappeared for good and Elijah Muhammad became the movement’s leader.

\n\tEventually, the Nation of Islam became a powerful force nationwide through both political and social programs. Elijah Muhammad’s power began to unravel when his proteg\u00e9, Malcolm X, discovered that the Nation of Islam’s leader had not only committed adultery, but had fathered illegitimate children. Following Malcolm X’s defection and assassination, Elijah Muhammad clung to power over a diminishing realm. Upon his death in 1975, a power struggle splintered the Nation of Islam.
<\/p>\n

See also: Wali Fard<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among Black Muslims, two names stand out: Wallace D. Fard and Robert Poole. Even if you’re familiar with the history of this indigenous Islamic religion, you may not recognize them — both were better known under different monikers: Wali Fard and Elijah Muhammad. Robert (or Elijah) Poole was a laborer in Georgia before migrating north…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16],"tags":[8,17,34],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-20th-century","category-people","tag-black-muslim","tag-elijah-muhammad","tag-robert-poole"],"yoast_head":"\nBlack Muslim Leaders: Elijah Muhammad - Islam In America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Muslim Leaders: Elijah Muhammad - Islam In America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Among Black Muslims, two names stand out: Wallace D. Fard and Robert Poole. Even if you’re familiar with the history of this indigenous Islamic religion, you may not recognize them — both were better known under different monikers: Wali Fard and Elijah Muhammad. Robert (or Elijah) Poole was a laborer in Georgia before migrating north…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Islam In America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-25T20:27:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-07-05T20:27:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/islaminamerica\/files\/2012\/07\/Muhammad_Elijah.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Suzy Shuraym\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Black Muslim Leaders: Elijah Muhammad - Islam In America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Black Muslim Leaders: Elijah Muhammad - Islam In America","og_description":"Among Black Muslims, two names stand out: Wallace D. Fard and Robert Poole. Even if you’re familiar with the history of this indigenous Islamic religion, you may not recognize them — both were better known under different monikers: Wali Fard and Elijah Muhammad. Robert (or Elijah) Poole was a laborer in Georgia before migrating north…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/","og_site_name":"Islam In America","article_published_time":"2012-06-25T20:27:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-07-05T20:27:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/islaminamerica\/files\/2012\/07\/Muhammad_Elijah.jpg"}],"author":"Suzy Shuraym","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/","name":"Black Muslim Leaders: Elijah Muhammad - Islam In America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/islaminamerica\/files\/2012\/07\/Muhammad_Elijah.jpg","datePublished":"2012-06-25T20:27:41+00:00","dateModified":"2012-07-05T20:27:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/#\/schema\/person\/d5810a8303f7a52a4e4623e330c93323"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/islaminamerica\/files\/2012\/07\/Muhammad_Elijah.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/islaminamerica\/files\/2012\/07\/Muhammad_Elijah.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/2012\/06\/25\/black-muslim-leaders-elijah-muhammad\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Black Muslim Leaders: Elijah Muhammad"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/","name":"Islam In America","description":"Islam, Muslim Wisdom, Muslim Inspiration, Muslim News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/#\/schema\/person\/d5810a8303f7a52a4e4623e330c93323","name":"Suzy Shuraym","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/author\/smckee\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/islaminamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}