Nation of Islam's future uncertain as Farrakhan prepares to step down

The fiery leader helped the group become more engaged in US society but didn't groom a successor.

from the February 28, 2007 edition

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"Under Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam was for the membership. Under Louis Farrakhan, it became an American institution," says Vibert White, a former Nation of Islam Minister and professor of public history at the University of Central Florida, who left the Nation in the mid-90s.

Professor White notes that Farrakhan's organizing abilities – which produced the Million Man March in 1995 – are legendary, and that he was able to engage the American public and media, both positively and negatively, in a way that few other black leaders have been able to.

But Farrakhan will likely be known as much for his divisive rhetoric as his oratory and organizing abilities. He has denied being anti-Semitic, but once called Hitler a "great man," and was famous for calling Judaism a "gutter religion."

"Farrakhan's whole movement rested on this hostility" between blacks and Jews, says White. He adds that while Farrakhan may have tempered some of his rhetoric in recent years – and has worked toward reconciliation with W.D. Muhammad – his basic views haven't changed.

"His tone has changed because of a changing society," says White. "But his history has been one of hostile language, inflammatory language, elements of separation and segregation and 'America is the whore of the planet Earth' – he's not going to change those views overnight."

But admirers say he has been too identified with those views, and not enough with his achievements – particularly when it comes to advancing African-American politics and helping to empower black entrepreneurs, cleaning up black communities, and doing positive work for prisoners.

"When he signed on to support Jesse Jackson's bid for presidency in 1984, it was his charismatic speaking on the road with Jesse Jackson that helped popularize the idea of a black person running for president of the United States," says Conrad Worrill, chairman of the National Black United Front, who has worked closely with Farrakhan over the years and attended his address on Sunday.

Minister Jamil Muhammad, Farrakhan's national spokesman, emphasizes that Farrakhan has not stepped down yet, and has simply ceded some leadership duties to a board of advisers.

"He's announced his intention to function in a different way than he has," says Mr. Muhammad. "But he's in remarkable health.... The question of succession is overblown and overplayed. It is as if the Nation of Islam is thought of as some cult of personality, which we are not."

Possible successors include Ishmael Muhammad – one of Elijah Muhammad's sons and the minister at the Nation's Mosque Maryam in the Chicago headquarters, Farrakhan's son Mustapha Farrakhan, and Akbar Muhammad, Farrakhan's assistant.

But all of them have drawbacks, says White. "There's going to be a fight. [Farrakhan] has had ample opportunity to highlight someone and to train someone and to bring this person to the body to say that when I retire this man is going to lead. He hasn't done this."

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