This article focuses on the life and works of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad from 1950 to 1975. Elijah Muhammad (formerly named Elijah Poole) was born in Sandersville, Georgia in 1897. Master Fard Muhammad (Allah in Person) appointed him, Messenger of Allah, in 1934. “We believe that Allah (God) appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad on July 4, 1930, the long awaited Messiah of the Christians and the Mahdi” of the Muslims”, according to point twelve of “What the Muslims Believe”. His mission was to give life to a mentally dead people, the so-called American Negro.
The 1950s for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad came on the heels of the Great Depression of the 30s and World War II of the 40s. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad had faced many trials and hardships in the early days. From 1935 to 1942, he fled the cities of Chicago and Detroit, running up and down the east coast of America evading two enemies. One enemy was the United States government and the other, former Nation of Islam members disgruntled at his selection as Messenger of Allah. These former Nation of Islam members, more popularly known amongst the Muslims as “hypocrites” sought to take the life of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad; among them, one of his own blood brothers.
On May 8, 1942, the police arrested him in Washington, D.C. on a false charge of draft evasion. At 45 years old, Muhammad exceeded the Armed Forces draft age of 44. He would serve 5 years in the Milan Michigan Federal Penitentiary. Later, he served another eleven months for teaching his children.