"Our 'PROPHET' W.D. Fard" -Hon. Elijah Muhammad

(14th Lesson, 1-14's/Lost Found Muslim Lesson #1)

Fard: The Man, the Myth, the Majik

Peace Fam! This subject has been in my Third (Mind) for a while so I thought is was a perfect time to manifest it. I will warn those of you who “Worship” Fard to discontinue reading this Article right from the gate! I know how much stock you place in “the belief” that Fard is 129 years old & studying on the Mothership so you may be alittle too sensitive to put beliefs such as this under a critical, analytical microscope. Those of you who are true seekers of Knowledge I welcome you to look at Fard, as he was; a Man shrouded in Myth and Majik. This Article is about being a follower only to the extent of learning how to Lead!! I want to clarify that I’m gonna approach this Article as if I’m speaking to people who already have a basic idea of who Fard is, primarily Registered “Believers” in the NOI. For those of you who don’t have a clue who Master Fard Muhammad is take a second to click on this NOI link dealing with "Fard" and NOI Chronology. Now here we go.. .

When I first learned about Fard (as a child, literally and intellectually!) he was larger than life to me! I never became a Registered “Believer” in the NOI but I did view the Man in Mythological terms. Kinda like the same way kids glorify Chris Brown today! Anyway, almost every story I heard about this Man would make David Blaine look like an Amateur! “Elijah Muhammad never saw him sleep”, “Fard is on the Mothership studying”, “Fard moved a star with his finger”, “Fard controls the weather” and the tall tales and legends go on and on! In light of Actual Facts, none of these (and other) instances have been Show & Proven to be true. For all practical purposes, these carefully constructed “Beliefs” simply serve the purpose of strengthening the faith of oftentimes faithless followers. I look at it like this, regardless how comforting and euphoric it feels to “believe” our child ate today, it can’t be compared to knowing for a fact that they had a nutritious halal meal. Like one of my Elder’s Abu Shahid say’s, “Belief never supersedes Knowledge”!

In the movie Enter the Dragon, Bruce Lee spoke these famous words, “It’s like a finger pointing to the Moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you’ll miss the Moon and all it’s heavenly glory”. To me, I see these “tales” about Fard as just a finger, something designed to point you somewhere else! Many members (not all!) of the NOI that I know seem to always be engrossed in staring at the finger and consequently, they miss the “heavenly glory”. In otherwords, instead of simply co-signing the story that “Elijah Muhammad never saw Fard sleep”, analyze how that practical information (regardless of it’s validity!) can function in your life! The idea of “someone never seeing you sleep” is Peace if you really think about it practically! If many Muslims got the point they wouldn’t “sleep” on the Lesson’s (Supreme Wisdom) that Master Fard & Elijah Muhammad compiled as the FOUNDATION of The Teachings! It’s very, very rare to come across a Muslim (including Ministers!) who study The Lessons enough to know them by heart. I’m saying this because some brotha’s/sistah’s in the NOI try to discredit members of the NGE (Nation of Gods and Earths) because we “supposedly” don’t follow Restrictive Laws. It never occurs to them that it takes a tremendous amount of commitment, endurance, discipline and restrictive focus to memorize all 120 Lessons (the bulk of Supreme Wisdom!) and be able to recite them by heart! I ain’t even talking about breaking them down, I’m just talkin’ about spittin’ them off the dome! So don’t get it twisted fam, the flyest, most spectacular Ball Player’s usually aren’t in the NBA (NOI), it’s the cat’s that rep the streets and we (The NGE) hold this Knowledge like Street Balla’s! We “handle” (dribble) The Lesson’s with a sense of insight, self confidence, flair & finesse that would make the Harlem Globetrotter’s take notes! How else do you think The Father was able to grab the attention of the youth? He was swift, educated, entertaining and socially in tune with the youth, something that many adults find impossible to do!

Nowadays when some brotha’s in the NOI hear that you’re a member of the NGE there’s usually a quiet sense of respect (at least in your face it is!). The type of respect that was shown to the Master of the Green Destiny Sword in “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”! I understand from some of my Elders that it never used to be like that back in the day. Now all brotha’s don’t have that sense of respect and for the few who have had the unfortunate experience (but blessing in disguise!) of trying to duel with the Lightening Tap, Self-Styled Wisdom of the Gods they learned very quickly never to assume that because we may appear to look like regular people that we are like them! One of the “other Rules and Regulations that are not mentioned in this lesson” (28 Lesson, 1-40) is as follows; “Don’t even step in the Arena if you BULLSHITTIN’ WITH The Lessons, because it’s Mentricide”! Let’s be real about it, because many (not all!) NOI brothers be stiff like Herman Munster, pitifully try to clone themselves into Farrakhan and keep Supreme Wisdom (The Lessons) on they shelf collecting dust they just ain’t ready to test our swift swordplay! It’s like Walker Texas Ranger vs. Tony Jaa! Now the blessing in all this is the fact that we show them how to flexibly express Islam as a living, breathing reality, not as a sterile ritualistic practice. And as painfully as many of them would like to admit it, we show them how it’s done!

Now alot of this stagnated, unworthy servant attitude that many (not all!) Muslims in the NOI have is because of their star-struck “Massah” Fard Muhammad belief that he is above them! This Religiosity is no different than how many Christians sweat Jesus, Buddhists deify Buddha and "New York" praised Flava Flav! To visualize Fard as a Man who got up with an erection in the morning, a human being who urinated/defected, brushed his teeth/hair and hung out with his boy Elijah is damn near impossible for many of them. Even now some of them cringed by reading that last sentence! He was a Man damn it!

Let me humor you for a moment, when it’s said that Fard was invited to dinner over a family’s house and he ate everything they served and then taught them about how to eat to live this is how I see it going down; Knowing that most people in Black Bottom MI migrated from the South, that’s probably the first time Fard had some Sweet Potato Pie, he probably had the shits all night from eating chitterlings & collard greens wit hog mauls, and his blood pressure probably spiked like Billy “White Shoes” Johnson! You know women was definitely trying to holla’ at him, and his pheromones probably made them hoes accost him like Jubelo, Jubela & Jubelum harassed Hiram Abiff! Make no mistake about it, Elijah and Fard rolled together! Elijah put Fard down on the street shit like Bubbles did 5-0 on The Wire. They hung out, they laughed together, shared tears together, and got upset with eachother at times! Yeah Fard is the 24th Scientist who was taught by 23 other Scientists (who happened to be his Father & Uncles), but he came to the Wilderness of North America to search for his long lost Uncle (The 25th Scientist)! The Uncle who his family wasn’t fuckin’ wit like that! Remember, we are of the Tribe of Shabazz right? “Rebellious” ass Black Sheep’s of the family who went into the Central Asia Jungle and thugged it out 50,000 years ago! Study your Lessons.. .

Anyway, when the NOI particularly chooses to focus on “the person of Master Fard Muhammad” instead of grasping “Allah” in his person, they misunderstand the reason that he came! Consequently, you begin see people gazing off in the Universe waiting for a person to return on the Mothership while neglecting their “person-al” responsibility on Earth! Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s perfectly healthy to investigate the paranormal, Ufo’s, Bigfoot, Orb’s and all of that unknown shit, I just think that it is hypocritical for some members of the NOI to criticize a Christian for their “beliefs” when alot of what they be saying is belief’s too! A Christian has the right to believe that Noah put all the animals in the world in one Ark just like the NOI has a right to believe that Fard can beat Michael Jordan in a one on one game of Basketball (That dumb shit was told to me by a NOI brother before)!

I’d like to conclude by saying that although Allah was “in the person” of Master Fard Muhammad, the Black Man “is Allah”. There’s a difference. Fard didn’t come over here to have people performing salat with his image in our mind! Nowhere in our Lessons (Supreme Wisdom) does is say that Master Fard Muhammad “is” God or Allah. A cursory glace at the lesson’s would bear witness to this fact! The Lessons clearly mentions Fard as “OUR PROPHET” on two separate occasions yet the Black Man is referred to as Allah, God, the Supreme Being, the Original Man, and Son of Man countless times! Allah was said to be “in the person” of Master Fard Muhammad because World History even tells you that it’s rare to see Higher Consciousness righteously dwelling in a physical form that’s dealing with the physiological, psychological, social and economic issues associated with albinism! A good illustration of the sense of alienation, aggression, overcompensation, gross assimilation, inadequacy, uncivilization, apathy and pathology that a person with albinism goes through is in Walt Disney’s Tarzan! It’s a lot of weight to carry knowing that you are genetically an endangered species and that anywhere on the Planet Earth you go, your a stranger!! Fard was indeed an exception just like it was an exception for his Father Alphonzo to “go up in the Caucasus Mts.” (pun intended!) to get him a White Girl that he had to civilize and have a son with! I’m sure his brother’s had jokes!

So the next time you find yourself drifting off and fantasizing about the Hereafter when Fard & his Legion of Superhuman’s comes back to slay the fire-breathing Dragonfaced White Man, save “The Believers” and make a pork free Universe, get a grip! You have the right to believe that, but as the 18th Lesson in the 1-40’s states, “The duty of a Civilized Person is to teach he who is savage Civilization, Righteousness, the Knowledge of Himself, the Science of Everything in Life, Love, Peace and Happiness”. As a “said person of that ability” (20th Lesson, 1-40’s) it’s our proactive responsibility to make things happen right now and be clear that “There is no Mystery God” (10th Lesson, 1-40’s) that’s gonna do it, not Fard, Elijah, my Momma or my child, ME! While it is respectfully critical to acknowledge Allah (Universal Mind/Consciousness) that “came in the person” of Master Fard Muhammad, it is essential that we grow in the understanding that the Black Man “is” Allah (Universal Mind/Consciousness)! It’s all in your Supreme Wisdom (120 Lessons) just take a moment to look! And oh yeah, True Master’s produce Grand Masters!!!!

-Mike Tyson's Greatest Opponent-

Build -THE EGO- Destroy

I’ve had Knowledge of Self (or 120 Lessons) for alittle over a decade and I’ve grown with this as this has definitely grown with me. One of the things that has helped my truly grow and develop as a man is “Checking my Ego”! Coming into the Knowledge of your own God-centeredness can really give you overzealous ideas of grandeur. I remember the times I was always “saying” the Blackman is God, outta context like a muthafucka’! It was an EGO thing. I remember building until nigga’s would pass the fuck out! Man, the EGO is something else and if not put in it’s proper place you become like a time bomb, waiting to blow yourself up and everything around you. Yacub didn’t necessarily have a Big Head literally! Yacub had a Big Ass EGO, and he had that shit down to a Science! Because of that (among other things) he’s credited with being the Father of the Devil and it’s definitely a lesson to be learned from that! Let me elaborate.. .

Anyway, the reason I come off so cynical, controversial and practically down to Earth is because through maturity I’ve learned to check my EGO. I’ve done this systematically (through Shamanistic techniques used to de-structure the EGO) and when I had to deal with life on life’s terms! I’m not saying that those who don’t come off like I do don’t have their EGO in check, I’m just saying that this is the way that I express it. My unique experiences have forged my identity and I’m grateful that I’ve kept two feet on the ground in the process! Identifying yourself as The Creator can become a form of Intellectual Masturbation (of which I’ve done quite a bit!!) and this self stimulation can always be ascribed to an unchecked EGO!

Now, for those of you who are not active members of the NGE (Nation of Gods and Earths). Don’t think that you have the right to regurgitate what I say as if it’s “the way it is” in regards to my Nation. I have the right to say what I say because I am a qualified “said person of that ability”. I am on the inside often speaking about what’s going on in “different places” in the inside. There is always another perspective or side to the story, this is just my perspective. There are many so-called God’s that are strait up asshole’s, niggas that be on some shit and using the name of God to shield they dirty ass ways and actions. There are also many true & living Gods who actually live principled lives and are exemplary in their expression of this Culture! There are also bitches wit they heads wrapped-up saying they the Earth but be really just taking advantage of brothers who look at them as Queen’s. You also got true Queens who are truthful and sincere, who modestly bring out the best in themselves and their family!

Sometimes I take the more “controversial” perspective because our people (NGE) don’t always speak on these things openly. I actually see it as not only therapeutic but also as a breath of fresh air. Part of my duty as a Civilized person is to help people see that just because I’m God-centered doesn’t mean that I ain’t got problems! Shit, the only difference is that I use mathematical formulas to solve my problems. My Articles are plain, digestible and never above the people’s head! At the end of the day I want people to be comfortable enough to be amongst me as they are, not feeling like I’m the muthafuckin’ Thought Police or that I’m judging them like they being weighed on the Scales of Maat! I mean sometimes we as “God” can really come off real anal like that! I try to destroy this idol, icon or archetypical model of The Creator every chance I get!

Why do I take this approach? I’ve learned from experience not to build myself up or allow people to build me up because it often opens up the opportunity to establish false expectations of who I am, especially when people are coming from a Mythological Perspective of what God is. People will begin to expect you not to enjoy sex, not take a shit, play Xbox 360 or work in a factory! I personally don’t get a hard-on if people look at me all starry eyed, the shit actually turns me off and I use “Normalcy” as a method of humbling myself so that others don’t have to humble me. Hey, my Ole’ Earth was a Psychologist so there are many cognitive tactics I’ve learned that has given me the flexibility to functionally exist in this Society without falling victim to it! Because of it I also see a lot of tools that people are missing in their tool chest.

As I mentioned earlier, when I was going through my Shaman Apprenticeship I used systemized techniques to de-structure the EGO. Basically this means “learning to fall on your face” to accustom yourself to the EGO shattering falls we go through in life or when people try to trip you! The idea is to use these techniques as a sober entrance into the unknown to minimize and psychologically prepare yourself for situations when your catapulted into the unknown. Some of the techniques I used were; living homeless (both willingly & unwillingly), playing Mute for 3 months on a job until I left, playing deaf for a year on a College Campus, having my daughters push me around in a wheelchair at the mall, wearing only all black for a year, eating 1 meal every other day for 3 months, and never showing my hair for 1 ½ years. In Shamanism these EGO de-structuring techniques are used as a method called “Stalking”. Stalking can be interpreted in the context of “The prey stalking the predator”. Hunting is a system of stalking the routines of potential prey, but in the process, the Hunter him/herself is establishing their own routines. It’s like a proud Hunter waiting in the bush for the Jaguar to appear at the waterhole while the Jaguar sits quietly crouched in the tree above him! A good analogy of this is the movie “Predator”. Shamans say that these psychologically elusive EGO de-structuring techniques allows one to shapeshift into a Mystical Animal. Mystical Animals are classified as animals undetected by the naked eye such as unicorns, dragons, griffins or any other types of animals who have “untraceable routines”, too elusive for any hunter to trap! The key phrase is “untraceable routines too elusive for any hunter to trap”!

Through the use of certain EGO de-structuring techniques, a person strengthens themselves to become almost infallible to the mind games, button pushing, and bullshit that people often try to “trap” you up in! Traps that are always based upon your “routines” they observed! Now stop for a second and think about this, some of the things we do and hold fast to are actuality just EGO-centered forms of the predatory vulnerability, that’s why a person can “routinely” fuck with you! Pay attention to those around you! If some people get the impression that you are zealously serious about your “Attribute” they will deliberately and consistently but so-called mistakenly call you Johnny or Michele! If you walking around like you got a “DON’T EAT PORK” shirt on, people will make you a chittlin’ pie for your birthday! I knew a Wiz that I got a good paying job at the Casino but she didn’t know how to talk to white people. She was always agitated and these muthafucka’s knew it too. Needless to say, she didn’t last a year there. There was an incident where she blew up on this white girl, walked off the job and didn’t come back. This was two years ago and she still hasn’t bounced back financially, which consequently means supporting her three children! I showed her the tools but she didn’t want to use them (9th Degree/1-40’s) so these Devils set it up to look like a case of Self Sabotage! That’s the type of predatory vulnerability I’m talking about!

I say all this to say what? The EGO can be a tool that allows us to Build or it can be turned into a weapon that Destroys us! Along my path I have gone through the systematic process of putting my EGO in check. I’ve tried to laugh at myself before I’ve given people the privilege of doing so. I’ve embarrassed myself before people can embarrass me, and I’ve pushed my own buttons before someone had the pleasure of pushing them for me! Now don’t get me wrong, this hasn’t always been the case. I’ve learned a lot of these things through direct experience (bumps & bruises!) and I’m not where I would like to be yet! There’s still things that really pisses me off and I’m sure you can tell by my Articles, b.u.t. I’m working through it. It’s a Journey not a destination.

-Mad Jack "The Mountain Man" & Grizzly "Bear(d)" Adams-

The Quest for "Authentic" Islam

The 9th Degree in our Student Enrollment states in it's answer, “The Lost Found Nation of Islam has no said birth record, it has no beginning nor an ending, it’s older than the Sun, Moon and Stars”. This statement alone tells us that Islam didn’t originate in the Koran, Prophet Muhammad or Arabic Culture. Islam (PEACE) is beyond all of this, therefore, Islam is not simply about how much Koran you can recite or Arabian you can look. Knowing the Koran is a plus but you damn sure don’t gotta be Arabian! I’m saying this because many people throughout the world think they are living Islamic Principles when all they’re doing is copying Arabic Culture. The concept of Islam (PEACE) always existed. Prophet Muhammad of 1400 years ago only recited this concept of “Peace” to Arabian Tribes, in Arabia using Arabian Culture/Customs and Arabic Language as the vehicle. Sometimes people confuse this vehicle with the destination! Prophet Muhammad used a methodology to reach the people from the specific language, customs, sociopolitical status, and geography familiar to them. It was already hard for Muhammad and those was his people, imagine the type of response he would have received if he came as a strait up foreigner? It never was a Mystery to me why Master Fard Muhammad “raised-up” one from amongst us and then bounced without a trace! Shit, Elijah spoke the language of many of our people! He had a “moonshine drinking” lead belly, swore by the blues, ate swine like it was going outta style, and probably couldn’t spell the word Islam. When Fard was asking Elijah Muhammad them questions that comprise our Lessons (Supreme Wisdom), he was definitely learning in the process! Elijah put him down about a lot of things and in the process, he learned what Fard saw from the outside looking in! Fard may have moved undetected amongst White People but in Black Bottom, Mi he stood out like a sore thumb! And you know women was feelin’ him like Michael Jackson when his Thriller album dropped! Yo’ let me stop, I’ll build about Fard “The Man, the Myth, the Magik” another time!!

Now, back to what I was dealing with originally. Many Arabian People try to claim Islam as if they created it. As if because you don’t speak fluent Arabic, you don’t have a Grizzly Adams beard, or your woman ain’t cloaked like a ninja that it’s not “authentic” Islam! That is just as ignorant and ass backwards as the belief that “muslim’s are terrorists!”. Arabian Culture/Customs is not Islam! Islam can however be expressed through Arabian Culture, just like in any Culture. But I must mention that there may be some Cultural Traditions that are not compatible with Islamic Principles. For example, American Culture teaches that homosexuality is simply an “Alternative lifestyle” while Islamic Principles teach that this defies the Natural Law of Gender. In cases such as this, the question always arises, “How can this situation be rectified, individually and collectively”?

Culture not only establishes identity but Culture serves the purpose of solving problems, solidifying principles, protecting/preserving interests and ascertaining individual/collective goals. Therefore, regardless of the Principles (Islamic or etc..), Culture serves as the synthesizing driving force to implement them. The problem tht many Arabian Muslims had and have with Muslims in the NOI during the early 1930’s up to the present date is not a question of “Principality”, it’s really a question about the politics of Cultural Assimilation!

Still don’t get it? Well check this out, people were only feelin’ East Coast Rap until West Coast Rap came out. We ain’t except that shit at first because the rhythm, cadence, slag, clothing and subject matter was so different, even though it was “still rap”! Eventually we understood and the same shit happened when Cat’s started rappin’ in the South. We was like “hell naw, that shit is really wack, nigga’s is on some clown shit”! Eventually we learned (some of us!) to embrace their “style” too. The key word is “style”. I think that when you look a brothers like Common, Rakim, Ras Kass, and Speech, they all may have different “styles” and reside in different geographic locations but it’s safe to say that they all represent a common spiritual centeredness and conscious perspective of the world! I’m just saying that they all are at least saying something no matter where they from! Is it fair to say that since this oral tradition called “Rap” resurfaced in New York during the early 1970’s that everybody who wants to “Rap” need to do exactly what cats in New York do? That sound’s real stupid! Of course their should be a sense of recognizing the formal chronology of how Rap evolved from both it’s ancient oral tradition and it’s more contemporary form but to say that it ain’t “authentic” if niggas don’t sound like Melle Mel or dress like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five is some bullshit! That’s just how ignorant people sound and look when they trying to accuse people of being on some “Haraam” shit because they would rather rock Tims instead of leather shoes, a hoodie and jeans instead of a sheet and a fresh line-up instead of a Grizzly Adam’s beard! On the flip side I also don’t think people in the NOI should insinuate that a brother isn’t “Civilized” because they not rockin' a Romanesque styled bald face! To me, both idea’s are too generalized and extreme.

One of the reasons that Elijah Muhammad is Most Honorable is because he taught strait up “Nigga’s” Islam in Black Bottom Detroit, MI, during the Great Depression with a 3rd grade eja-macation! Not Arabic Culture, but Islamic Principles that existed before there was even a place called Arabia!! So my Muslim brothers and sisters here in the Wilderness of North America, don’t let muthafuckas’ try to make you feel guilty because you breakin’ fast with a pot of Collard Greens & Turkey Tails! At least your Principles would never allow you to warehouse a Corner Store with “Pork” and “Alcohol” and distribute that shit to the families in ya’ Community! And to you Holier than thou Orthodox Muslims from the East, ya’ll family too but please season ya’ Koran & Hadith quotin’ with alittle common sense. Just because your home grown Arabian children have learned to express Islam in a North American context from pant saggin’ Urban Sufi’s doesn’t mean that it ain’t “authentic”! Don’t let this White Supremist Society and your Caucasian Ancestry deceive you because it was the Prophet Muhammad who said that when he ascended to Heaven Ali’s black ass was already there!

As-salaam Alaikum