The Black Man Must Turn Inward
by the Minister Louis Farrakhan
[Editor's note: The following article originally appeared in Vol. 7 No. 3, November 30, 1987]

The prevailing attitude of white supremacy has produced within the minds and hearts of Black people throughout the world, but especially in America, a serious problem in inferiority.

This attitude of inferiority has hardened into a system of beliefs and unwritten laws which govern our behavior toward self and others. Therefore, we act in a self-destructive manner, even when we know better. Many Christian preachers, Muslim Imams, Hebrew and other religious teachers, teach our people positive principles upon which to act. These principles, if acted upon, would relieve us of the heavy burden of ignorance, poverty and want in the midst of plenty.

However, the unwritten law of Black inferiority continues to permeate so effectively and forcefully that every good teacher and his message ultimately are overcome because they are unable to destroy this inferior mentality.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was the most successful of any teacher who came among us, not only because he had a teaching that would uplift us, but also because he administered a law and set up enforcers of that law that ensured His Teachings were carried out on every level.

Many young Muslims loved the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad but did not love the restrictive law and its enforcement. But it was the enforcement of the law that absolutely led us to be the most successful Black people in the world in reform, progress and building of our own institutions.

Master Fard Muhammad told us that the Restrictive Law of Islam is our success. Now we can bear witness that our failure began when we stopped observing the law. Our success will start again when we accept the law willingly and obediently and act in accordance with it.

The activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement, using a strategy of civil disobedience, violated unjust laws in order to replace them with better ones. However, the masses of our people had not been placed in a position by our leaders to take advantage of these better laws.

For example, the Law of Reproduction, constantly at work in every form of life, requires that the reproductive organs of the body are developed to a certain point before the human being can take advantage of these laws. So it is with us as a people. We cannot take advantage of the law before our growth and self-development has reached a certain point.

Some whites of this nation are upset that they have placed good laws in the books, yet Black people continue to cry out for justice. These whites wonder, "What will it take to satisfy the Negro (the mentally dead people)? They fail to understand the devastating effects of slavery and the institutions set up by their fathers to perpetuate a system of white superiority and Black inferiority. To heal the wounds of slavery requires a concentrated effort over an extended period of time.

Let all Black scholars, scientists, preachers, teachers and leaders turn within to develop ourselves and our people so that we may rise as a people.

Even our Black scholars and scientists bear the mark of the unwritten law of Black inferiority. This is why the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad are so vital and valuable to our people. And if our teachers do not study His Teachings and administer them properly, our people are lost forever. Without the Guidance of Allah (God) our scholars and scientists will not be successful in solving our problems, even if they do attempt to turn within.

I humbly and respectfully say that the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad need to be re-examined and applied programmatically by leaders and teachers of every kind. If we did this, by the close of this century we would see the signs of a new people. Even now, because of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, we are able to see some signs of a new people, but the process of resurrection (rising of our people in to the knowledge of self and God) is moving very slowly. Therefore, we, the followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, must jump up and go after the Lost Found Members of the Nation of Islam with a new vigor and determination.

We must apply properly the Restrictive Law of Islam in our sayings and doings so that we become examples of Resurrected Black men and women.

Conferences are being called by Black scholars and scientists to address the many problems of our people. But these scholars and scientists are not using the principles and methods of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. So, we go from conference to conference but the result remains the same.

Let all of the scholars, scientists, preachers, teachers and leaders turn toward Self and let us lift the masses of our poor, suffering people up from the mud of civilization.

Let us apply the Divine medicine that has been given to cure us of our afflictions, and whether you believe it or not, that medicine is the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The Holy Qur�an is called a "Healing," but no medicine can be effective unless it is administered by a competent physician. The wisdom of the Holy Qur�an is medicine to the spiritual diseases that the world is afflicted with.

Prophet Muhammad was the competent doctor to administer the medicine of the Holy Qur�an 1,400 years ago. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is the competent doctor we need in a world which is no longer in a sleep state, but has been reduced to a death state, a world of hardened attitudes of white supremacy and Black inferiority.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has healing in his wings. The wings of a man of God represent the authority, power and knowledge to bring about the results of Allah�s (God�s) intentions. He is healing us of these terrible afflictions. Unless we are healed we cannot practice the principles of Islam properly. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is giving us the opportunity to apply the teachings of all the prophets of Allah (God): that the one closest to Allah (God) is the one who is most mindful of his or her duty.

"Yea, whoever fulfills his promise and keeps his duty then Allah surely loves the dutiful." (Holy Qur�an 3:75) "Is there no balm in Gilead is there no physician there? Why, then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" (Jeremiah 8:22)

"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings..." (Malachi 4:2)