For the second time in as many months, the Nation of Islam has successfully vanquished an opponent in court.

A Massachusetts judge recently ruled that the Nation of Islam has a First Amendment right to have separate religious events for men. The verdict dismissed a lawsuit accusing the Nation of discrimination for allegedly barring a woman from a 1994 "Men Only" meeting in Boston.

"Freedom of religion and freedom of religious expression, which traditionally will exempt a religion from certain discrimination laws, is applicable here," Judge Regina Quinlan, who is herself a white female said from the bench Aug. 9 when she dismissed the suit filed by Marceline Donaldson, a Black entrepreneur in Boston, and her husband Robert Bennett.

Ms. Donaldson’s suit claimed her civil rights had been violated when her husband was permitted to enter Boston’s city-owned Strand Theater on March 10, 1994, while she was allegedly turned away at the door.

In June, the N.Y. state Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against the Nation of Islam and its Harlem mosque by police officers who tried to force their way into the religious house, during a worship service.

"I feel vindicated," Min. Don Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 11 in Boston said, expressing thanks to Almighty God Allah and His Messenger for the excellent legal team, which was led by Min. Abdul Arif Muhammad, Nation of Islam General Counsel, and included attorneys Denzil McKenzie and Wilbur Edwards, Jr., of McKenzie & Edwards P.C. in Boston.

"We weren’t doing anything against the law," said Min. Don. God’s law says people should be told thou shalt not kill, he said, citing Boston’s violence and other problems prior to the Honorable Minister Farrakhan’s Men Only meeting and Million Man March the following year.

"We believe that the case had no merit from its inception, when filed in 1994. The problem obviously has been getting the right attorney who would advance the right argument before the court," said Atty. Arif Muhammad.

After the plaintiffs made their case, the Nation of Islam lawyers asked for a dismissal, saying the meeting was a religious gathering protected by the Constitution, and had to argue that the Nation of Islam is a religious movement. Once that argument was strongly made, the judge dismissed the case.

"The judge had to acknowledge that the nature and character of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is religious and he is a minister of Islam and the head of our faith here in the United States. She let everyone know that whenever he speaks and wherever he speaks, even if it’s matters that are of ‘public or social concern’ he’s speaking about those matters and commenting on them from the perspective of a religious leader, which is very, very significant," the attorney explained.

"There are many who would still try to represent the Nation of Islam as other than a religion. We are Muslims and our religion is Islam. Many have tried to characterize Min. Farrakhan as some social figure or some kind of activist, but not the head of the Nation of Islam—which is the religion of Islam as taught by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad," he said.

He especially thanked attorneys McKenzie and Edwards for their hard work and long days in the case. "These brothers did a great job," said Atty. Arif Muhammad. An oral argument by Atty. McKenzie complemented a written motion detailing points of law submitted to the judge. It was a fine defense of the Nation of Islam as a religious movement, said Atty. Arif Muhammad.

The two recent victories show Allah (God) is with those who do right and stand on righteous principles, he said.

"I am ecstatic," Massachusetts State Sen. Diane Wilkerson (D) said of the court ruling. "I also believe that this is one of those occasions, rare as it may be, where justice won, where the system worked in the way it was intended.

"As a lawmaker and a woman, and someone who is very involved in the politics and the culture and environment of our community, I remember the climate around the time of the Men Only event very well. I remember the excitement that was abundant in the air here. So many of the sisters were excited about that, and never felt that there was any threat, or disrespect then, nor did we feel that in the context of the environment around the Million Man March," she said.

"We have benefited greatly from the message that the Nation of Islam has shared with the people," said Robert Kinney, director of F.I.R.S.T. Askia Academy, a drug treatment facility. Patients have seen and learned lessons about responsibility, reconciliation and atonement, he said. Some 15-20 of his patients—Blacks, Latinos, whites—volunteered to attend the trial each day to both show support for the Nation and to see whether Muslims could be treated fairly by the court system.

"Whites and Latinos really wanted to go and observe," said Brother Kinney. "They thought that the Nation of Islam was not going to be treated fairly. They feel the Nation is largely misunderstood. They felt the process was one sided, and that it would be difficult for the Nation to get a fair judgment."

Another white Bostonian shares the view that there are biases against the Muslims, possibly, he says, as a result of government efforts. Railroad labor organizer Robert Shepherd attended the March 10, 1994 meeting. He waited in line for two hours in the rain with hundreds of other men, all of whom were Black, and most of whom were young.

Mr. Shepherd recalls the backdrop for the Men Only meeting was a rash of murders of young Blacks in inner cities. Mr. Shepherd wrote a letter and made an appearance on a local radio program proclaiming that he attended the meeting and was treated with respect. As a result he said, plans for a pending lawsuit to say the meeting discriminated against whites had to be dropped.

"I think the judge accurately applied the law," Melvin Miller, publisher of The Bay State Banner, said. "As a matter of fact, the problems in this case from the plaintiff’s perspective, were so clear from the beginning, it’s hard for me to understand why the case was ever brought."

Mr. Miller, who is a practicing attorney, said lawyers take on cases with the prospect of being paid, sometimes taking cases on contingency if there is the prospect of a large damage award from which they can receive a percentage, "unless there’s a big public issue they’re trying to get involved in."

Ms. Donaldson, however, said, following the judge’s ruling, that she is not ready to give up. "It’s unfortunate that you take a case to the court and the court errs. It’s got my adrenaline going a little bit, and we’ll be back," she said.

She sought unspecified damages from the Nation of Islam, from Min. Farrakhan and from the Boston mosque and local minister. John Rosenberg, her lawyer, said they are "leaning" toward appealing the ruling, according to a published report.

The Men Only Promise Keepers were in nearby Worcester, Mass., last year, Min. Don pointed out, but didn’t bring out any lawsuits. "There was no talk of any suits (when) Billy Graham had two Men Only meetings in Cleveland. They did not sue anyone other than Min. Farrakhan. In the city of Boston, a law was passed to enable women to have their own private exercise room in a gym, so they would not have the peering of men on their semi-nude bodies. It was passed overwhelmingly by the legislature," Min. Don noted.