What follows is "The Wheel: Is It Real or Reel?" a chapter from an unpublished book, written in 1995, titled "Where Is The Honorable Elijah Muhammad?"

Is there really a huge physical plane, made like a wheel, which is a half-mile by a half-mile in diameter, which often flies high above the United States of America? This is what the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said was true time and again, publicly and privately, for over forty years. He made it very clear that his information about this wondrous plane came directly from God Himself, Whom he declared that he met in person.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan bears witness to the same, publicly and in private.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught that this huge plane is a half mile by a half mile and is the literal fulfillment of Ezekiel�s vision of a wheel like plane in the air, that would be seen in the last days of this world. This prophet�s vision was of wheels in the middle of a wheel. There are 1,500 smaller planes carried by this much larger plane.

Ezekiel�s vision is described in the very Bible which bears his name, on which thousands of United States government officials�including presidents�have sworn on as they assumed their offices.

Is he right? Is this huge wheel-like plane really under the control of his Teacher, Master Fard Muhammad? Is such a plane�with 1,500 smaller planes�really up in the skies? Is it for real? Or is it "reel"�like so much that comes out of Hollywood: phony, deceptive, insane and inane�the product of overworked imaginations, or the device of those trying to put one over on the public?

On April 19, 1994, on the CBS-TV program "48 Hours," Dan Rather reported that at least 25 million people in the United States have reported that they have seen these planes. There have been other reports that show that the number of people who have seen these planes, in the U.S. alone, is actually much higher than the figure reported by Mr. Rather. In any case, have these millions been looking at the same planes which the Honorable Elijah Muhammad described?

Like many others, over the years, I have read, seen on TV, and listened to much about what is called "UFOs." Like many, I have also gathered a little of this material, in books, a few magazine articles and a few video tapes of TV programs dealing with the subject of "UFOs." What I have gathered, I know, is but a tiny speck of material in comparison to what has been generated over the years.

Although I�ve had a fascination for astronomy as far back as I can remember, my interest in this subject broadened, deepened and intensified, as it has for so many others, due to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Like millions of others I too have seen what are commonly called UFOs. I�ve seen both the "baby" planes and the Mother plane; the latter at least twice. On each occasion I was among others. Only on one of these times, however, did I clearly see the shape of these smaller planes. That was in July 1952, when my brother and I accompanied our mother, during her vacation, to a place in the country, the name of which I don�t remember. I do recall that we were about three miles from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and about five miles from Annapolis, where West Point is located.

There was a lake close to the home in which we stayed. We could clearly see it, as the house we were in was only about two hundred or so feet from the water. The lake was about a mile and a half across. I was familiar with it as I had rowed a boat across it (against my mother�s will.)

One night, as we were sitting on the porch, in discussion, three large oval shaped lights suddenly appeared; seemingly out of nowhere. My mother, brother and another (who was a friend of the owner of the house), and I saw three saucer shaped objects. They seemed to be sitting out up over the lake. We were transfixed; stunned.

They just hovered above the lake. I vividly recall that they were in the formation of a triangle or like a pyramid. I could not take my eyes from them. After what was to me a long time they just vanished. Later, I learned that we had watched them for about twenty minutes. It was reported in the newspapers in Baltimore, the next day, that at least eleven people�including two policemen�saw these same objects or planes.

This was before I ever heard of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, or of his teachings. I would later learn that 1952 was a year when there were an unusual number of what many call "sightings" of these planes; especially in that area, which included the capital; Washington, D.C. and the White House.

We�ve all had our experiences in relation to the so-called UFO phenomena, regardless to what our views on this subject may be. If we have never seen one, we have probably met at least one person who has had some kind of experience with these planes and their pilots, on one level or another, if we are a young adult or older. If we haven�t, we will.

Like most, I�ve read a few, seen on TV several more and have discussed with a few others their experiences which involved stunningly close encounters with these "baby" planes.

One such person is Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan, Minister Farrakhan�s eldest child and her son, Anwar. One of the reasons their experience is so memorable is that she witnessed one of these "saucer" shaped "baby" planes right outside of the ninth floor of the very same hospital�Mercy Hospital�where the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was admitted on January 30, 1975. She was there due to her Sister (Donna) giving birth to one of her children, which was on August 12, 1988. It was during the next evening, around 7:30 or 8 o�clock, when she and her son had the experience of their lives. The full text of their powerful experience appears in the appendix of this book.

In 1994 Sister La�Tanya Muhammad and Sister Amatullah Muhammad had the amazing experience of seeing one of these planes only about 150 feet away and about 75 feet high over their heads for about ten minutes. Sister La�Tanya�s daughter, Saharah, was not far away with a friend, getting ready to go to school, after her mother had dropped her off. She also described the same plane.

Their description of the plane�like that of Sister Betsy Jean and her son, Anwar�are detailed and vivid.

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Of course, there are many instances when folk lie in claiming encounters with these planes, or in other instances, they just make a mistake about what they saw. Fine.

But there was no mistaking what over sixty or seventy of us saw in upstate Arizona, however, a few years ago. It was a memorable experience, on Big Mountain, in July 1986, on an Indian Reservation.

Thank you for visiting my web site at www.writtentestimony.com.

More next issue, Allah willing.