The Final Call

More powerful memories from an important day

What's your opinion on this article?

Joshua Farrakhan: No, his window would be facing north. I believe it was north.

Jabril Muhammad: North. And the lounge would be facing ...?

JF: East.

JM: Now, you say which window is facing north? His window?

JF: Right.

JM: The dorm that he was in? This lounge would be facing the river ...?

JF: The lake.

JM: The lake, which would be east. O.K. Now, did you notice, did you happen to notice, whether or not this cloud was there before 8:00, or before they pronounced him dead or not? Or were you just not paying attention at that time?

JF: No, when I saw all the commotion, when I heard the alarm go off...

JM: Which was about what time?

JF: It was about 8:00, 8:05, somewhere around that area—no, it was between ten to 8:00 and ten after 8:00, somewhere.

JM: Somewhere in the twenty minute time period.

JF: Right. When the alarm went off, I immediately went down to the room, where the Messenger was. The alarm was that someone was having cardiac trouble. I knew that. So, the doctors rushed in, and I slipped into the room and I was checking out what they were doing. But at that time—

JM: When you left the lounge area do you recall what the weather situation was?

JF: The weather wasn't as clear—it was still sunny—but from a dis-tance you could see a cloud, a storm coming—and before you knew it, it was just right over the hotel, the hospital.

JM: Now when did you notice that last point?

JF: When it was actually over the hospital. After they pronounced him dead, after I spoke to the Minister. You know, there was noth-ing else for me to do.

JM: Is it that you were not paying attention? That you were so ab-sorbed in the prayers, and his feet, and what the doctors were do-ing?

JF: At that particular time, I forgot all about the weather. But I knew after they announced him dead, and I said my prayers, and I asked Allah to give him my life. I went back out there and it was basically pitch black outside.

JM: So it is possible that that cloud that was rolling in, right about the time that the alarm was going off, that it, when you went down to the room and then you were totally absorbed, the cloud could have been ...?

JF: Yes, it could have been there already, Right. Because it was moving pretty fast, you know, the way it was coming in.

JM: So when you came up out of dealing with that and the phone, it was there?

JF: It was there. Stuck there! But it was there for a long time.

JM: What about this cloud that caught your attention? What about it was so unusual?

JF: Because it was a beautiful day before then. There was snow down on the ground. But it was sunny. It was beautiful, bright. Then all of a sudden, it was a doomsday type of cloud—you know, lightning, and rain, and wind. It was thick. I had never seen a thick, black cloud like that.

The thing that really caught me was that when it came in it was moving. But all of a sudden, when I was sitting there saying I can't believe that the Messenger was dead. I don't even feel like it. I was talking to Kamal again, after he told me he was at the other end, and whatever, that he said, ‘Yeah, it is a strange cloud.' He bore witness to that. Then, the cloud didn't move any more.

At one point you could see it moving, but all of a sudden, it was there. And it didn't leave. It stayed there, Brother, for a couple of hours. It appeared that the cloud was just there. All the time they were talking, and I saw Wallace (My note: Imam Warith D. Muhammad) come, I saw other family members. Everyone was coming to look at the Messenger's body or whatever and the cloud was still there. It was there. But it didn't move.

So I decide to leave about an hour and a half later, and when I left, that dark cloud was still there. But, as I got back on Lake Shore Drive, and got closer to Hyde Park, there was no cloud. It was dif-ferent weather. It was weird.

JM: Did you have any opinion about that at that time? That was nineteen years ago, I know, but later on, naturally, you could have all kinds of views. But what about back at that time? You didn't think anymore other than the weirdness of it all?

JF: I always used to hear that whenever a great man goes, the weather changes. And I just bore witness to that. I think it was Kamal who was telling me that. And the weather immediately changed after they announced him dead. Once I could focus, and just say that it's over, and I walked out and I just saw the weather again, Sum-mer and winter storm—mixed! It was shocking. I've never seen nothing like it, Brother.

JM: What were the facial expressions of the ones who came up-stairs? The Imam, and whoever else. Herbert—did Herbert come?

JF: Herbert was there. Emmanuel, and Wallace and whoever else who came up to the room—none of them was as tore up as Herbert. Herbert blew boogers out of his nose, brother, snot, boogers. Big boohoo, falling up against the wall. People having to hold him up, you know, trying to get a doctor to help him. He was tore up, but it was Wallace and the other family members that were just real cool about it. Walked in, looked around, gave me the greetings, talking about thank you for the good job of standing post for my father, whatever, whatever, and then after that, Alif said let's go home.

JM: What about (Elijah Muhammad) Junior? Did he show up?

JF: Junior was—yeah, he showed up.

JM: What about (Raymond) Sharrief?

JF: I think they all came with Wallace.

JM: Who was National Secretary then? Abass Rassoul?

JF: Rassoul. I didn't see Abass—I don't remember seeing Abass Rassoul. Now, they could have been there, it was so long ago, the faces that stuck out in my mind were the Messenger's children be-cause, you know, the Messenger's family, the holy family, you know who comes. And, that was about it, that's what I remember.

JM: Yeah. Now what caused all of this to come back so forcibly as it did three years ago? As you recall we had just come back from the Minister's Saviours' Day speech-event and we got to the stairs—what caused it to come back to your mind at that time?

JF: When we started talking about how Jesus had died on the cross. And I think when you said what you did about that, or the way you said it, I pictured the Messenger and I saw him laying in a cross position, with his arms lumped over on each side of the bed. Your words just brought that back strongly to me.

JM: It triggered that whole memory?

JF: Yeah.

More next issue, Allah Willing.