LONDON—The controversial British government ban on the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is a millstone around the neck of every Black Briton, Minister Ava Muhammad, southern regional representative of the Nation of Islam, declared at a rally here on June 5.

Min. Ava, attorney and the first female in the Muslim world to head a mosque, was speaking at a rally organized by the London Nation of Islam. The rally was part of the Nation’s efforts to energize the campaign against the continuous exclusion of the popular Muslim leader from the United Kingdom.

In a keynote speech titled "Farrakhan in the UK: The Fulfillment of Prophesy," the minister of Atlanta’s Muhammad Mosque No. 15 said the issue of Min. Farrakhan coming into the UK is a challenge to Black people—and indeed all people—who profess the right to freedom, justice and equality.

"You cannot take the risk of being denied what many believe is the only opportunity to hear this man (Min. Farrakhan) because your survival may depend upon it," she told the packed auditorium.

"Who is this man Farrakhan that the (British) government is so afraid?" she asked. "Min. Farrakhan is not a political figure, (but) a man who’s genetically and spiritually prepared by God to bring Black (and the oppressed) people all over the world together."

She told her audience that the Minister is banned from the UK because the government here is aware of his inspirational and healing power. "For you and I to be told that we lack the intelligence and the ability to discern his (Min. Farrakhan’s) message is an insult to us a people," she declared. "Let’s make up our minds that from this moment the number one … agenda in the Black community in the United Kingdom is ‘Lift the ban on Farrakhan,’ " she said.

The UK Nation of Islam is currently mounting a challenge to the ban, which observers predict will be a battle royal.

Until now, the campaign to lift the ban has been waged largely on the political fronts. But Min. Ava told the audience that the issue was not only political, but has legal and spiritual dimensions. Hence, the Nation’s decision to adopt a two-pronged approach to the campaign where legal and political actions work in tandem.

Many in the Black community welcome the challenge to the ban. They point to a similar order slammed on Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church in the 1980s, which the courts crushed last year after his supporters challenged the British government.

Since the exclusion order on Min. Farrakhan was issued in early 1986—on the timeworn pretext that the Minister’s presence in the UK would not be "conducive to the public good"—successive British governments have claimed to have carried out "reviews" of the exclusion. But the Black community has viewed their efforts as insincere.