Some people claim that he died from injuries inflicted by the police while he was in jail. Fard offered blacks a credo of moral and cultural superiority to their white oppressors. Members of the movement believe Fard to be the incarnation of Allh, and his birthday, February 26, is observed as Saviours Day. MSN Weather tracks it all, from precipitation predictions to severe weather warnings, air quality updates, and even wildfire alerts. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. He offered the media $100,000 if they could produce solid proof that Ford and Fard were the same person. By 1930 a permanent split developed in the movement. But as a prerequisite for black liberation, he stressed the importance of attaining "knowledge of self." [39], On October 17, 1957, the FBI located and interviewed Hazel Barton-Ford, Wallie Ford's common-law wife, with whom he had a son named Wallace Dodd Ford, born on September 1, 1920. The book Chameleon: The True Story of W.D. Muhammad, Akbar. The religion that God set forth for Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and muammad proclaimed by the latter in Arabia in the 7th century, which enjoys the, Pan-Islam WebWallace Muhammad - Disappearance Disappearance In June 1934, Fard left Detroit for Chicago and disappeared without a trace. Contemporary American Religion. Attendances to his sermons rapidly grow over the next three years and then suddenly, without announcing his departure, he disappears, never to be seen or heard from again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Fard_Muhammad. He is always referred to reverently as the 'Prophet Elijah in Chicago. The local police traced the murderer's ideology back to Fard and arrested him. Detroit sues celebrity pastor and his nuisance mega-church over unfinished Woodward project, Detroits Movement fest releases full lineup: Basement Jaxx, Skrillex, Cybotron, Zeds Dead, and more. In compliance with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements, some of these records are no longer in the physical possession of the FBI, eliminating the FBIs capability to re-review and/or re-process this material. But his strict culinary concerns may have emerged from elsewhere: it is said he carried packets of sugar in his coat pocket and is said to have bled easily. Wallace Fard, also known as Wallace Fard Muhammad or Master Fard Muhammad[3] (/frd/; reportedly born February 26, c.1877[4][7] disappeared c.1934), was the founder of the Nation of Islam. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/legal-and-political-magazines/fard-w-d-c-1877-1934-religious-and-political-leader, African American Religions: Muslim Movements, Muhammad, Elijah Karriem (18971975), Religious and Political Leader. He could've at least sent a letter! ", Beynon refers to some of the lessons by Fard as an "oral tradition" that was recorded at the University of Islam as the "Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam." But I don't get that instant feeling of recognition and "wow, these guys are obviously the same person! He claimed he was influenced by the group. At this time, Ford was going under the name Fred Dodd, and operated a lunch wagon. In fact, some of the most mysterious individuals who have graced this Earth have left the most indelible marks upon our books and records. He further reported that he was a resident alien and citizen of Afghanistan. It's strange that he never attempted further contact with his followers, however. Part of Fard's teaching also involved admiration for Japan. This fiction is obviously not the truth, so what is the real story of Wallace D. Fard? Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The Rise of the Black Internationale", "When Japan Was "Champion of the Darker Races": Satokata Takahashi and the Flowering of Black Messianic Nationalism", "The Voodoo Cult among Negro migrants in Detroit", Historical Analysis of FBI's COINTELPRO AND W. Fard Muhammad, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wallace_Fard_Muhammad&oldid=1141937668, Members of the Moorish Science Temple of America, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021, Articles lacking reliable references from May 2022, Articles with disputed statements from July 2019, Articles with trivia sections from June 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, The name Fard is a common surname in Pakistan as are other names he bestowed upon his followers such as Shabazz, Ghulam, and Kallatt, Interviews with long-time Nation figures who met him or saw original photos of him such as, Early teachings from Fard indicated a distrust and disdain for Hinduism, This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 17:20. Encyclopedia.com. Some blame the police, the FBI, or rival leaders within the NOI. He arrived in Detroits Paradise Valley on July 4, 1930, in order to achieve this goal. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He taught us the truth of how we were made 'slaves' and how we are kept in slavery by the 'slave-masters children. He bases this theory on several indications:[30], The 2019 book Finding W.D. Only a few things are certain. "Black Muslims," a name coined by C. Eric Lincoln in 1960, refers to the members of one of the most militant and separati, Muhammad, Elijah 18971975 He was ultimately forced to leave Detroit because of an allegation that he encouraged one of his followers to engage in a ritual of human sacrifice. He appeared in Detroit in 1930 and had an obscure background and used several aliases. He advocated community members to establish and own their own businesses,[13] eat healthy, raise families, and refrain from drugs and alcohol. Lincoln, author of The Black Muslims in America, originally published in 1961, recounted a legend that described Fard as the black Jamaican son of a Syrian Moslem. Now, the Messenger and his Laborers worked day and night for the last three and one-half years, and their accomplishments are approximately twenty-five thousand"[25], In this lesson, Fard places the number of converts obtained in Detroit at 25,000, and he describes a "Messenger" sent to the "Lost-Found Nation of Islam" who is "of their own". Fard had an East Indian appearance, and was a dapper dresser with perfect white teeth and dark eyes. He appeared in Detroit in 1930 and had an obscure background and used several aliases. Although I'm inclined to believe the official story that he simply fled the country after coming under heat from the police. The Nation of Islam refutes all statements that Muhammad and Dodd were the same person. In 1934 he disappeared without a trace. He also stated that his father was born in Pennsylvania and his mother was born in Illinois. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. After another brush with the law in April 1934, Fard left Detroit for good. Fard reportedly claimed to have been born in 1877. "[26] Wallace Fard Muhammad loved the black people of the United States of America. Of course, his relative obscurity in the annals of history has much to do with his brief time in the public eye and the numerous aliases he assumed over the course of his life. On the 1930 U.S. Census, a man listed as William D. Fard in Chicago, Illinois, gave his race as Mexican, his birthplace as Oregon, and his age as 32. [25] Nation of Islam theology states that this "Messenger" is Elijah Muhammad. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture, Beynon stated that Fard's position on human sacrifice "was never made clear. The later official view of the Nation of Islam was that he was in Mecca. Accordingly, he gave his followers Arabic names to replace those that had originated in slavery. Fard, which contains 40 questions answered by Elijah Muhammad, one of the lost found in the wilderness of North America February 20th, 1934."[25]. J. Edgar Hoover would not have dropped something of this magnitude in a year's time. From then onwards, he is untraceable. His concepts attracted hundreds of followers to the Allah Temple of Islam (ATI), as he called his group. The FBI report states that fingerprints from Muhammads arrests in Detroit match Fords fingerprints from arrests in Los Angeles. Was he alive to see his organization rapidly grow during the civil rights movement of the 1960s? [64][65] Fard wrote the following for his followers: "[T]he LESSONS that OUR SAVIOUR (ALLAH) gave us to Study and Learn is the Fulfillment of the Prophecies of All the Former Prophets concerning the Beginning of the Devils, and the Ending of the Civilization, and of our Enslavement by the Devils, and Present Time of our Delivery from the Devils by OUR SAVIOUR (ALLAH). What seems most remarkable is that Fard seems to have utterly disappeared from the governments (especially the FBIs) radar after leaving Detroit in 1933. You have not yet seen me in my royal robes.' He was drawn to return to the United States in order to liberate the African-Americans from their half-slave and half-free condition. He returned to Chicago, was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace through his preaching, and again returned to Detroit. [10], The annual Saviour's Day event is held in honor of Master Fard's birth. Just last year, however, I read a book that reintroduced Fard to my consciousness. Master Fard's mysterious disappearance in 1934 led to an internal struggle for the leadership of the Nation of Islam among several contending factions. In 1934 he disappeared without a trace. During our colored and Negro days, he was Black. So said Jesse Jackson shortly after the H, According to accounts of the origins of the Nation of Islam (NOI), in the 1930s in "Paradise Valley" in Detroit, a silk peddler named W. D. Fard bega, The expansion of Islam historically embraces two phenomena. 2 was given by our Prophet, W.D. Beynon described the substance of Fard's teaching as follows: "The black men in North America are not Negroes, but members of the lost tribe of Shabazz, stolen by traders from the Holy City of Mecca 379 years ago. Fard pleaded innocence and claimed he had no involvement in the murder. Wallace Dodd Ford's race is the subject of some debate. Harris was later declared mentally unbalanced, pleaded guilty and was imprisoned, while Fard and Ali were released. Leader of the Nation of Islam [45], A February 19, 1963, FBI memorandum states: "In connection with efforts to disrupt and curb growth of the NOI, extensive research has been conducted into various files maintained by this office. One minor but strange detail is that Wallace Ford's parents were born in Hawaii. His true identity remains unknown,[42] but there is strong evidence that the Nation of Islam founder Wallace D. Fard was the same man as Wallace Dodd Ford, an inmate in San Quentin Prison. Some people probably think Elijah Muhammad did it himself, since he was pretty much the only person to have any kind of real relationship with Fard. In 2007, the Nation of Islam had an estimated membership of 20,00050,000. rcel.src = "//trends.revcontent.com/serve.js.php?w=76341&t="+rcel.id+"&c="+(new Date()).getTime()+"&width="+(window.outerWidth || document.documentElement.clientWidth)+"&referer="+encodeURIComponent(referer); The Nation of Islam list Muhammads birthday as February 26, 1877, celebrated as a holiday called Saviours Day. WebMaster Fard's mysterious disappearance in 1934 led to an internal struggle for the leadership of the Nation of Islam among several contending factions. WebThe FBIs FOIA Library contains many files of public interest and historical value. He taught a unique form of religion which was based on Islam to members of the city's African-American population. April 15, 2022. Hazel claimed he briefly returned to LA and lived with her before returning to New Zealand, from where she says he came. "Fard, W. D. (c. 1877-1934), Religious and Political Leader Despite a lack of fame, Mr. Fards legacy lives on to this day whether most of us know it or not. I have no idea who Fard was but I doubt he was black, which is ironic. WebMaster Fard's mysterious disappearance in 1934 led to an internal struggle for the leadership of the Nation of Islam among several contending factions. 9 Mysterious Disappearances of People Other Than Amelia Earhart, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wallace-D-Fard, Wallace D. Fard - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Do you personally think Fard fled Detroit in the 1930s and lived on elsewhere, or do you think he was killed? [26], On November 20, 1932, James J. Smith, a black man, was killed by Robert Harris, who was his roommate and a member of the Nation of Islam, on a makeshift altar in what was described as a human sacrifice. He taught us that the slave-masters had taught us to eat the wrong food and that this is the cause of our sickness and short span of life. Evanzz believes that Fard immigrated to the United States via Canada in 1913. However, Ford himself claimed to be from various places, including Spain and Hawaii. He disappeared in 1934 after several arrests in Detroit and Elijah Muhammad took over as leader of the Nation of Islam. The past is filled with elusive characters whose true identities tend to slip just beyond absolute description. He taught a unique form of religion which was based on Islam to members of the city's African-American population. For some time, one W. D. Fard assumed leadership of the Moorish movement. He had been gone for 23_ years at this point and although important to the NOI, he would be hardly remembered anyone else! This cursory bit of knowledge was enough to satisfy my curiosity for many years, during which my contact with the Nation of Islam was limited to regularly buying bean pies from neatly dressed men standing on Livernois who were also peddling the groups newspaper, The Final Call. She also said she still kept in contact with Ford via letters she sent to his uncle in New Zealand. But over time his ideology began to shift. WebIn late 1933 or in 1934 Fardmysteriously disappeared from public record. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. WebWallace Dodd Ford or Fard was also known as Wallace Fard Muhammad and he was the founder of the Nation of Islam in the 1930s in Detroit, MI. A fully equipped kitchen is available with all of the cooking essentials including a Keurig coffee maker w/coffee and hot cocoa. Farrakhan, a high-ranking member of NOI at the time of Elijah Muhammads death, became disillusioned with the new direction and quit the NOI in 1978. . Farrakhan referred to the knowledge that Fard passed onto the NOI as actual facts. (The speech is at the Nations Web site at www.noi.org.). The original people must regain their religion, which is Islam, their language, which is Arabic, and their culture, which is astronomy and higher mathematics, especially calculus. To further muddy the waters, C.E. ." He began to denounce the Bible, criticizing its passages, to the shock of his followers, until eventually he phased out his Bible readings and began teaching from the Quran. On their marriage record, Ford gave his race as Spanish, his birthplace as Oregon, and his age as 26. However, Minister Malcolm X and other leaders of the Nation of Islam have emphatically denied any past connection whatsoever of Elijah Muhammad, Master Wallace Fard Muhammad, or their movement with Nobel Drew Ali's Moorish American Science Temple."[57]. Legends soon sprang up about this mysterious personality. The NOI teaches that Wallace Fard Muhammad was an avatar of Allah, who came to America to educate on this forgotten history. r d / (born February 26, 1877) was a co-founder of the Nation of Islam. This is my own personal theory and it is out there so this is a fair warning: I believe that Ford was a FBI plant sent in as a cointel agent to gather intelligence on the civil rights movement that would getting traction in many inner city's and southern States. [47] The paper published the story in an article titled "Black Muslim Founder Exposed As White. A few of them had come under the influence of the Moorish-American cult which succeeded it. Lincoln, C. Eric. He also listed his race as Caucasian and his birthdate as February 26, 1893. Through his friendly manner he was able to gain access to the homes of poor African Americans and began to teach about their "true religion," not Christianity but the "religion of the Black Man" of Asia and Africa. 1768, as located in "California, County Marriages, 18501952", index and images, FamilySearch (, FBI File SAC (100-26356) at 451473, SAC Chicago (100-33683), FBI File Director FBI (105-63642) at 248, SAC Chicago (100-33683), FBI File Director, FBI (25-330971) at 258, SAC Chicago (100-35635), Muhammad, Elijah (1964), Historic 1964 Buzz Anderson Interview, The Final Call, Muhammad, Jabril (1993) This is The One The Most Honored Elijah Muhammad We Need Not Look For Another, Vol. Royal robes. to severe Weather warnings, air quality updates, and his mother born... Www.Noi.Org. ) ) was a resident alien and citizen of Afghanistan theory several. 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