Muhammad Speaks

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Nation of Islam
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Muhammad Speaks now known as Muslim Journal^[1] was one of the most widely-read newspapers ever produced by an African American organization. Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad began the publication on May 1960.^[2][3] Its first issue bore the title Some of this Earth to Call Our Own or Else. A weekly publication, it was distributed nationwide by the N.O.I. and covered current events around the world as well as relevant news in African American communities, especially items concerning the Nation of Islam itself.

The paper was sold door-to-door and on street corners by Nation of Islam members (Fruit of Islam), at select newsstands in major cities and in the temples of the Nation of Islam. In his The Autobiography of Malcolm X, activist Malcolm X claimed to have founded the newspaper, but this has not been independently confirmed. According to the current Nation of Islam, Malcolm X helped create Mr. Muhammad Speaks, a different newspaper distributed locally in New York City.^[4] It is also believed that Jabir Herbert Muhammad had a hand in starting the paper also.

In addition to NOI-based ventures, Elijah Muhammad had used the nation's African-American press to publicize the organization and his views. In the 1950s his regular column in the Pittsburgh Courier, at the time the nation's largest black-owned newspaper, generated more letters to the editor than any other feature in the newspaper.^[5]

Following the death of Elijah Muhammad, his son and successor Warith Deen Muhammad renamed the newspaper Bilalian News in 1975. The title was a reference Bilal ibn Rabah, the first known black African follower of the prophet Muhammad. It was renamed once more in 1981, becoming World Muslim News and finally naming it the Muslim Journal, which is still in circulation today.^[6]

In 1979 Minister Louis Farrakhan founded The Final Call, a newspaper published in Chicago,and serves as the official communications organ of the Nation of Islam. The original newspaper of The Nation of Islam was called The Final Call to Islam and was published by Nation of Islam Leader Messenger Elijah Muhammad in the 1930s. The Final Call Newspaper is currently the only National Black Newspapers in America.

There are a number of publications that hold claims to continuing in the tradition of the original paper, such as "Muhammad Speaks Newspaper"^[7] published out of Detroit Michigan by Minister Levi Karim, and one of the same name published by Minister Wasim Muhammad in Camden, New Jersey. The Muhammad Speaks in Detroit is published by followers of Elijah Muhammad who assert that they hold on to the traditional practices of Elijah Muhammad.

References

1. ^ Lincoln, C. Eric. (1994)The Black Muslims in America, Third Edition, William B. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company) page 275
2. ^ Lincoln, C. Eric. (1994)The Black Muslims in America, Third Edition, William B. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company) page 127
3. ^ Edward E. Curtis, Islam in Black America: identity, liberation, and difference in African-American Islamic thought, SUNY Press, 2002, p.74.
4. ^ Muhammad, Askia (March 10, 2000), Muhammad Speaks A Trailblazer in the newspaper industry, Final Call, http://www.finalcall.com/national/savioursday2k/m_speaks.htm, retrieved March 23, 2009 
5. ^ Mattias Gardell, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad, Duke University Press 1996
6. ^ Lincoln, C. Eric. (1994)The Black Muslims in America, Third Edition, William B. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company) page 275
7. ^ http://muhammadspeaks.com/index2.html

External links

• http://www.finalcall.com
• http://www.muhammadspeaks.com
• http://www.muslimjournal.net