Perspectives
The rise of the
Nation of Islam in London, Part I
Editor's note: This is the first of
a two-part series
about the Nation of Islam in London and Europe.
by Rosalind Muhammad
West Coast Bureau Chief
CHICAGO--The
Nation of Islam is making its mark in the United Kingdom due in part to
the influence exerted by its three principal study groups and one newly
ordained mosque. This influence can be tracked by the growing number of
Believers in the U.K. who make the annual pilgrimage to the United States
to observe the Nation of Islam's Saviours' Day convention.
This past February, nearly 300 Believers journeyed to Chicago from London to observe the convention. By contrast, just five short years ago in Atlanta, that number was 13.
In Chicago, at a private dinner and reception held Feb.25 at Salaam Restaurant for Believers from the U.K., the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan spoke on the rise of Islam in Europe.
"I know the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is rejoicing over you as we are," Mm. Farrakhan said. "For so long we have labored in the cause of Islam in the United States knowing that we had brothers and sisters all over the world.
"And
now the British are frightened. They don't want me there. But I'm there
in you. All of you are making Islam known in England, and throughout the
world that England has influence."
As the Nation of Islam rises across the Atlantic, so, too, will the opposition, Mm. Farrakhan said.
"(But) we already know that we can overcome because God overcame, Mm. Farrakhan said. "His Presence among us removes all excuses for failure."
Growth of the Nation of Islam in Great Britain
With a population of close to 59 million, the U.K. consists of England, Wales, Scotland, an4 Northern Ireland, and is twice the size of New York State. Its capital, London, is slightly larger than the city of Chicago. The Black population composed of people from the Caribbean, Africa, the Pacific Islands and India, is roughly 3 million.
Already,
the influence of the Nation of Islam is being felt in Belgium, Denmark
and Germany.
On Oct.16, l995, as close to two million Black men marched in Washington, D.C., more than 600 British Black men and women marched in unity at a community center in North London. Just 10 years prior, there was little or no knowledge available in the U.K. about the Nation of Islam. What changed that was an unlikely combination of negative propaganda launched against Min. Farrakhan by the British press, coupled with several underground copies of videotape of Min. Farrakhan's historic 1985 address at Madison Square Garden in New York.
"The Caucasian in England is very aware of the Nation of Islam," said Brother Bertram Muhammad, 36, North London Study Group coordinator in the Tottenham area. "He's been watching the horizon, scanning for 67 years to see what was coming."
In
October 1985, the British Broadcasting Corporation's slanderous news coverage
of Mm. Farrakhan's Madison Square Garden address sparked interest among
many Black Londoners, and fueled a burning desire within them to know more
about the man whom their government so vehemently despised.
By December, two Nation of Islam representatives had traveled to London to heighten awareness about the organization: Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad, the then national aide to Min. Farrakhan, and Min. Abdul Akbar Muhammad, who is now the international representative of the Nation of Islam.
In early January 1986, Mm. Farrakhan was invited to London by the Hackney Black People's Association, located in the East Borough.
London had recently suffered one of its many race riots, and on Jan. 15, the government's then-Home Secretary; Douglas Hurd, banned Mm. Farrakhan from the U.K.-an exclusion order that is still enforced--on the grounds that his presence "would not be conducive to the public good."
A Video Tape that ignited a silent revolution
"The word went out in the Black community about the ban and therefore raised the awareness of Min. Farrakhan," said Min. Wayne Muhammad, 37, head of the newly ordained Muhammad Mosque in Hackney.
But like a "thief in the night," the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as taught to him by Master Fard Muhammad, came in the form of a videotape titled, "Power at Last, Forever!: The Overwhelming Event."
For about three years, that tape circulated underground among those thirsting for knowledge about the Nation of Islam.
In 1988, Mm. Wayne, his wife, Sister Marceeah, Mm. Michael Muhammad, and several others began meeting at a private home to discuss the teachings. The following year, six of them flew to Chicago to observe their first Saviours' Day, and eventually met with Min. Farrakhan.
When they returned to London, they officially established the first Study Group, located in the Brixton area of South London. Min. Hilary Muhammad, 30, now heads that group. Three study groups were eventually spawned from the South London group.
In 1991, the West London group, located in Shepherds Bush and now headed by Mm. Michael, was formed. In January 1994, the East London group, headed by Mm. Wayne, was formed. Five months ago, the North London Group, headed by Brother Bertram, was formed in the Tottenham area.
Last Feb. 27, Min. Farrakhan ordained the East London group the first Nation of Islam mosque in Europe. The mosque oversees sole study groups in Paris, Switzerland and Birmingham. England.
"When we come to America there could be a tendency here to romanticize what has happened with London in the sense that you see so many Believers and it looks wonderful," said Captain Leo Muhammad of West London.
"But really there's been tremendous learning that's had to be gotten along the way. When we look at what's happened in London, what we find is a parallel to the history of the Nation of Islam in America, only that what has happened to us is happening on a much faster scale," he said.
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