Wallace Muhammad - Founding of The Nation of Islam

Founding of The Nation of Islam

In July 1930, Fard arrived in Detroit, where he sold coats, fine silks and trinkets under the names Wali Fard, Wallace D. Fard and Wallace D. Fard Muhammad. He made friends in the local black community, telling them that the silks he sold were similar to the fabrics worn in their ancestral homeland. When his customers inquired about his experiences in his homeland, he responded with stories that combined theosophy, traditional Islam, and ideas similar to Moorish Science. After he developed a following, he declared that he had come from Mecca and that he would soon appear in his "royal robes." He organized his movement as the Allah Temple of Islam, establishing the University of Islam, which was not a university but a "school" that taught black students from grades one through twelve. He also established a group of male security guards called the Fruit of Islam.

However, Fard's activities were brought to wider public notice after a major scandal erupted involving an apparent ritual murder in November 1932, allegedly committed by one of Fard's early followers, Robert Karriem, who later said he had committed the murder "to bring himself closer to Allah." Karriem had quoted from Fard's booklet titled "Secret Rituals of the Lost-Found Nation of Islam": "The unbeliever must be stabbed through the heart." This quotation, as well as the statement that "every son of Islam must gain a victory from the devil. Four victories and the son will attain his reward," convinced the Detroit police to seek out Fard in connection with the murder.

Although not charged with any crime, Fard was asked to leave town in early 1933 and not to return. Fard left, but returned secretly to Detroit the next year. Fard was arrested and again asked to leave Detroit.

One of Fard's first followers had been Elijah Poole, who later changed his name to Elijah Muhammad. Elijah began preaching that Wallace Fard Muhammad was the Mahdi and that it was God directly intervening in the world through Fard. He taught his followers that, Allah appeared in the person of Master Fard Muhammad. He taught, as his followers believe today, that The True and Living God operated in Fard's person. Shortly before he departed Detroit for the last time, Fard had conferred leadership of the Nation of Islam on Elijah Muhammad.