According to the version of Elijah, he saw Fard off at the Detroit airport when Fard was being deported. var referer="";try{if(referer=document.referrer,"undefined"==typeof referer||""==referer)throw"undefined"}catch(exception){referer=document.location.href,(""==referer||"undefined"==typeof referer)&&(referer=document.URL)}referer=referer.substr(0,700); He founded the religious movement in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., in 1930, and was its leader until 1934, his disappearance. Encyclopedia.com. [60] Elijah Muhammad stated that he and Fard became inseparable between 1931 and 1934, where he felt "jailed almost" due to the amount of time that they spent together with Fard teaching him day and night.[60]. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Master Fard's identity, origins, appearance, and disappearance remain mysterious and controversial. [25] Nation of Islam theology states that this "Messenger" is Elijah Muhammad. Legends soon sprang up about this mysterious personality. Either way, most people who have investigated his life have come to the conclusion that he was probably mixed race and may have emigrated from New Zealand or the Middle East. 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. On a 1926 San Quentin State Prison file, a Wallie D. Ford of Los Angeles gave his birthplace as Oregon, and his age as 31. I worked with a devout follower of the noi. FBI records identified him as an unstable wanderer named Wallace Dodd Ford who came to the United States from New Zealand in 1913. Master Fard's mysterious disappearance in 1934 led to an internal struggle for the leadership of the Nation of Islam among several contending factions. And that He was able to force the whole world into submission to his will. The FBI were confident that Wallace Dodd Ford was, in fact, Wallace Fard Muhammad. In 1931 Fard was recognized by some of his followers as the "Great Mahdi" or "Savior" who had come to bring a special message to the suffering masses of black Americans in the teeming ghettos of the United States. [50], Karl Evanzz, in his book The Messenger, postulates that Fard was the son of a Pakistani Muslim, then known as East Indians. ", Read more about this topic: Wallace Muhammad. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Some sects within the Nation of Islam believed and still believe that Fard was murdered. 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. [47] The paper published the story in an article titled "Black Muslim Founder Exposed As White. He was an adviser of Elijah Muhammad since the late 1950s and was the tutor of his son and successor Warith Deen Mohammed. [36][bettersourceneeded], A declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) memorandum dated May 16, 1957, states: "From a review of instant file it does not appear that there has been a concerted effort to locate and fully identify W. D. Fard. [20], Beynon described disputes and tension that arose between the new community and the police over the group's refusal to send their children to public schools. At this time, Ford was going under the name Fred Dodd, and operated a lunch wagon. Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. [17] The Quran was soon introduced as the most authoritative of all texts for the study of the faith. Fard appears in the novel Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, in which Fard's Detroit Temple No. [8][29], Karl Evanzz of The Washington Post submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI in 1978 requesting its file on Fard. After another brush with the law in April 1934, Fard left Detroit for good. Some have suggested that he was a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America or the Ahmadiyyah Movement. 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. This would suggest he was, in fact, diabetic. [44], On August 15, 1959, the FBI sent a story to the Chicago New Crusader newspaper, stating that Fard was a "Turkish-born Nazi agent who worked for Hitler in World War II". He declared that we were without the knowledge of self or anyone else. Modern Nation of Islam theology is based upon the belief that Fard's teaching of Elijah Muhammad was fulfillment of scripture regarding God's teaching of an Apostle, where Fard is described as "God in Person", the "Messiah", and the "Mahdi". Contemporary American Religion. 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 wrote two books for the movement, The Secret Ritual of the Nation of Islam, which is transmitted orally to members; and Teaching for the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical Way, which is written in symbolic language and requires special interpretation. You have not yet seen me in my royal robes.' Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Trevino was a 22-year-old native of Mexico also living in Los Angeles. He spoke as a guest at the NOI temples in Detroit and Chicago. The men of the organization were drilled by captains and referred to as the Fruit of Islam. The NOI teaches that Wallace Fard Muhammad was an avatar of Allah, who came to America to educate on this forgotten history. Ford/Fard lied about his background so many times that it's hard to tell what's true and what's not. There is only one known, authenticated photograph of "Wallace Fard Muhammad", which depicts him as a light-skinned, caucasian-looking man: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Wallace_Fard_Muhammad.jpg. [20], With regard to Elijah Muhammad, Beynon's article stated: "From among the larger group of Muslims there has sprung recently an even more militant branch than the Nation of Islam itself. [4], Fard was arrested again on January 20, 1926, for violation of the California Woolwine Possession Act,[39] and on February 15, 1926, for violation of the State Poison Act, for which he was sentenced to six months to six years at San Quentin State Prison on June 12, 1926. . 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. [25] In 1933, he began signing his name "W. F. Muhammad", which stands for "Wallace Fard Muhammad". He arrived in Detroits Paradise Valley on July 4, 1930, in order to achieve this goal. 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. ." "The society cannot be blamed for anything he did," Ali was quoted in the Detroit News, November 23, 1932. WebFard offered blacks a credo of moral and cultural superiority to their white oppressors. Members of the Nation of Islam believe that he was a light-skinned black man or mulatto who knew both the white and the black world and who was born on February 26, 1877. 1997. "Interaction Between 'Indigenous' and 'Immigrant' Muslims in the United States: Some Positive Trends." He led a controversial life in his later years and it does seem there was more than one organization that was unhappy with him. Practically none of them had been in the North prior to the collapse of the Marcus Garvey movement. One of the few survivors who heard his first addresses states that he himself said: 'My name is W. D. Fard and I came from the Holy City of Mecca. He declared the doom of America, for her evils to us was past due. Fard, a man who the FBI alleged used 58 aliases during his lifetime, visited Detroit. The whole thing smells like an intelligence agency operation to me. What would he have thought of it? WebWallace D. Fard aka Wallace Fard Muhammad / f . On the 1920 U.S. Census, Ford gave his race as White, his birthplace as New Zealand, and his age as 26. By 1930 a permanent split developed in the movement. . J. Edgar Hoover would not have dropped something of this magnitude in a year's time. [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. This is the story that stuck. To Mr. Fard alone do they offer prayer and sacrifice. Their physical and economic difficulties alike were used to illustrate the new teaching. Wallace Fard Muhammad was the founder of the Nation of Islam. All written records and documents that he or other people filled out on his behalf list him as white or caucasian. What seems most remarkable is that Fard seems to have utterly disappeared from the governments (especially the FBIs) radar after leaving Detroit in 1933. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. From then onwards, he is untraceable. His concepts attracted hundreds of followers to the Allah Temple of Islam (ATI), as he called his group. WebIn late 1933 or in 1934 Fardmysteriously disappeared from public record. Alternate titles: F. Mohammed Ali, Wallace Fard Muhammad, Walli Farrad. Master Fard taught his followers about a period of temporary domination and persecution by white "blue-eyed devils," who had achieved their power by brutality, murder, and trickery. He measured and weighed the earth and its water; the history of the moon; the history of the two nations, black and white, that dominate the earth. I remember researching the noi's history and finding out about what you have written. WebWallace D. Fard aka Wallace Fard Muhammad / f . He founded the religious movement in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., in 1930, and was its leader until 1934, his disappearance. The FBI officially claims this: Fard got into hot water when in May 1933, one of his followers performed a ritual murder as a sacrifice to God. According to Bontemps and Conroy, Fard claimed that he was the reincarnation of Noble Drew Ali. "[37] The FBI took note of the article written by Erdmann Doane Beynon, and it conducted a search for Fard using various aliases including the name "Ford". The true origins of W. D. Fard remain mired in obscurity. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). In his 1965 book Message to the Blackman in America, which is a compilation of articles written by Elijah Muhammad for newspapers throughout the early part of his Ministry, he summarized what Fard taught him as follows: "He began teaching us the knowledge of ourselves, of God and the devil, of the measurement of the earth, of other planets, and of the civilization of some of the planets other than earth. ", Fard used the name "W. F. Muhammad" on several lessons written in 1933 and 1934. Part of Fard's teaching also involved admiration for Japan. Clegg, a history professor at the University of Indiana at Bloomington, responded: The version of the story that characterizes Fard as being of Pakistani descent and having a criminal background seems to have some validity, though neither allegation has been conclusively proven. [45] According to the FBI story, Fard was a "Muslim from Turkey who had come to the United States in the early 1900s. WebFard offered blacks a credo of moral and cultural superiority to their white oppressors. 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. The local police traced the murderer's ideology back to Fard and arrested him. A variety of other claims emerged; that he went to Hawaii, New Zealand, and even to the Middle East. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. But perhaps most notably, he was the man who founded the Nation of Islam, a political and religious organization that brought Malcolm X, one of the 20th centurys most important Americans, into the spotlight. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Some of his followers became suspicious of him, but he still commanded an impressive following of thousands and his message seemed to resonate well with the poor black population of Detroit. There are two popular theories regarding Ford/Fard's background - that he was the child of a South Asian/Arabic man and a white woman, or the child of a Maori man and a white woman. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. And that she is number one to be destroyed. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. "[46] Five months later, in July 1963, the FBI told the Los Angeles Evening Herald-Examiner that Fard was actually Wallace Dodd Ford. There were rumors about his whereabouts until the 1990s, when some believed he was still alive and living somewhere in California. [12], Fard taught a form of black exceptionalism and self-pride to poor Southern blacks during the Great Northward Migration at a time when old ideas of scientific racism were prevalent. Members of the movement believe Fard to be the incarnation of Allh, and his birthday, February 26, is observed as Saviours Day. He is not to be confused with, Beynon's account of Fard and his followers, Efforts to trace Fard's history 19141926. The ships manifest shows Khans nationality listed as East Indian, and his age as 31 years old. A 1920 birth record for a boy named Wallace Max Ford born in Los Angeles lists his father as Wallace Ford, who was born in New Zealand, and his mother as Hazel Barton. The onset of the Great Depression in 1929 added to the crushing poverty and racial discrimination felt by many black people and made some of them receptive to Fard's new religious message. [24], According to Beynon, Fard's followers grew to approximately eight thousand. He claimed his father was a black Arab and his mother from the Caucasus mountains. She is first hypnotized by his voice, then by his message. He drew on various sources, including Noble Drew Ali's Moorish Science Temple of America, black nationalist trends like Garveyism, and black-oriented forms of Freemasonry. $95 night. [8][9], Fard Muhammad, acting as a door-to-door travelling salesman, spread his religious teachings throughout Detroit, and within three years grew the movement to a reported 8,0009,000 members in Detroit, Chicago, and other cities. More about myself I will not tell you yet, for the time has not yet come. The first is the expansion of Islamic statesthat is, states whose ruling elite consisted, Islam Fard, most scholars have relied on his teachings as passed down, and perhaps modified, by Elijah Muhammad. [35], A marriage certificate dated June 5, 1924, was issued to Wallie Dodd Ford and Carmen Trevino (or Trevio) in Santa Ana, California. 5 (54) [41] Immigration records did not match any of his aliases. He taught us the truth of how we were made 'slaves' and how we are kept in slavery by the 'slave-masters children. 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. He denounced white people and incited racial hatred. "Fard, W. D. (c. 1877-1934), Religious and Political Leader He agreed to leave Detroit forever in order to receive immunity, and boarded a train bound for Chicago on Dec. 7. Message to the Black Man in America. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. 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. He earned his living at various times as a restaurateur, gambler, bootlegger and traveling salesman. While there is plenty written about Ford, not much is known about Fard. The culprits vary depending on who's talking. Fard through a vent. There is No God but ALLAH. Members of the movement believe Fard to be the incarnation of Allh, and his birthday, February 26, is observed as Saviours Day. Both provided their race as "Spanish"; Ford claimed that his parents, "Zaradodd" and "Babbjie", were natives of Madrid, Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Fard_Muhammad. He was drawn to return to the United States in order to liberate the African-Americans from their half-slave and half-free condition. Fard was being deported led a controversial life in his later years and it does seem was... A variety of other claims emerged ; that he went to Hawaii, New Zealand, his. Date of retrieval is often important the Detroit airport when Fard was murdered an internal for. U.S. Census, Ford gave his race as white or caucasian name Fred Dodd and... 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Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students Fard aka Wallace Fard Muhammad have not yet me. Offered blacks a credo of moral and cultural superiority to their white oppressors Science Temple of America, for time. Hypnotized by his message therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content living in Los Angeles Religions Muslim... Led a controversial life in his later years and it does seem there more! Fard claimed that he was the tutor of his aliases in his later years and it does seem there more. [ 47 ] the Quran was soon introduced as the most authoritative of all texts for time... His voice, then by his voice, then by his message whole thing smells like an agency! Appearance, and copy the text for your bibliography later years and it does seem there more. The United States in order to achieve this goal W. F. Muhammad '' several... 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