This year's entry in the Louis Farrakhan revival

Clifford at Red Stick Rant asked the question, Would You Vote For Someone Louis Farrakhan calls "The Messiah"?

Forget the political ramifications for the moment (see this Alan Colmes item for further detail). Let's just look at the religious aspect.

Now, last I checked, Farrakhan claimed to be a Muslim. According to ummah.net, this is what Muslims believe about a Messiah:

According to the unanimously accepted saying of the Prophet Muhammad, God will bring about a saviour before the end of time to establish the global domination of Islam over all religions. In other words, the saviour will establish the Kingdom of God on this earth. In Islamic traditions, that saviour is known by the name of "al-Mahdi".

The establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth at the hand of the righteous people has been clearly mentioned in the holy Qur’ãn. God says:

We would like to bestow a favour upon those who have been oppressed in the earth and make them leaders and make them inheritors (of the world)." (The Qur’ãn 28:5)

He again says,

Certainly, We wrote in the Psalms (Zabur)...`As for the earth, surely My righteous servants shall inherit it.’" (The Qur’ãn 21:105)

But where will this Messiah come from?

Ibn Khaldun, the 14th century historian famous for his pioneering work in philosophy of history, writes in his Muqaddima:

"It has been (accepted) by all the Muslims in every epoch, that at the end of time a man from the family (of the Prophet) will, without fail, make his appearance, one who will strengthen Islam and make justice triumph. Muslims will follow him, and he will gain domination over the Muslim realm. He will be called the Mahdi."

Ibn Khaldun clearly states that Muslims in each generation have accepted the belief in the Mahdi. The unanimity of this belief among the Muslims is furthered strengthened by the fatwa issued from the General Secretariat of the World Muslim League in Mecca on the 11th of October 1976. This fatwa was written by Shaykh Muhammad al-Muntasir al-Katani and approved by a committee consisting of four other scholars.

After listing the names of twenty companions of the Prophet who have narrated the Prophet’s statements on the Mahdi, and after giving the names of the scholars who have written exclusively on al-Mahdi, the fatwa says:

"The memorizers and scholars of hadith have verified that there are reliable and acceptable reports among the ahadith on the Mahdi; the majority of them are narrated through numerous authorities. There is no doubt about their status as mutawatir and sahih reports.

"And the belief in the appearance of the Mahdi is obligatory, and that it is one of the beliefs of the people of the sunna and jama’ah; and none denies it except those who are ignorant of the sunna and innovators in doctrine.

Needless to say, any Muslim who referred to an American political figure would be considered lax at best and blasphemous at worst.

But is Louis Farrakhan a Muslim? Daniel Pipes weighed in back in 1984:

Louis Farrakhan is not a Muslim; Islam says nothing about blacks voting in U.S. elections. Instead, Farrakhan subscribes to an American black religion founded in Detroit 50 years ago. His faith is not recognized as Islamic by real Muslims, and his teachings bear almost no resemblance to those of Islam. Farrakhan is as much a Muslim as the Shriner is an Arab....

Islam stresses the absolute transcendence and unity of God. Elijah Muhammad said the Black Nation as a whole is God, and one person, the most powerful Black Scientist of the age, is the Supreme Being. Islam stipulated that the seventh-century prophet Muhammad was the last prophet sent to mankind; Elijah Muhammad claimed prophethood for himself. Islam condemns racism; Elijah Muhammad deemed blacks morally and spiritually superior to whites, and believed that if blacks convert to his religion, they will eventually destroy whites, who are devils. Therefore, while Islam calls on all people to accept the Qur'anic message, Elijah Muhammad permitted only blacks to join his religion. Islam imposes a great body of regulations on its followers; Elijah Muhammad cast these out entirely or altered them beyond recognition.

"Ah," you say, "but that's Elijah Muhammad. What about after his death?"

Elijah Muhammad sent some of his sons to be educated in Cairo, where they studied Arabic and Islam. Although the sons knew Islam, they kept their views quiet until Elijah Muhammad's death in February 1975. Then one of them, Wallace Muhammad, succeeded his father. Within a few months he abandoned the old tenets and adopted those of Islam: one transcendent God, no prophet after Muhammad, no racism, the religion open to all, and adherence to Islamic regulations. The sect led by Wallace Muhammad is now called the American Muslim Mission.

As part of this transformation, Wallace recast his father as a "social reformer" (not a prophet) who deliberately misinterpreted the Qur'an to make it fit the needs of American blacks. Wallace also toned down his father's politics, especially the demand for a separate state, and disbanded the paramilitary force. He went so far as to take up celebrating the Fourth of July.

Most of Elijah Muhammad's followers accepted Wallace Muhammad's authority and became Muslims with him. Most but not all; Louis Farrakhan took over the leadership of the minority which continued in the old beliefs.

But by 2007, he added some new ones:

A packed house welcomed Minister Louis Farrakhan to St. Sabina Catholic Church on Friday night with a standing ovation and cheers for his health.

The 74-year-old provocative Nation of Islam leader, who has endured a series of health setbacks, didn’t speak from the Quran but from the Bible.

“Even though I am a Muslim — I don’t apologize for that — I’m also a Christian,” he told the crowd at 1210 W. 78th Pl. “Islam considers the Bible a sacred book.”

“A good Muslim is a Christian, and a good Christian is a Muslim,” he added later, stressing the common aspects of the faiths. “Whenever Christ’s name is mentioned, I feel at home.”

So if your head is currently spinning around, now you can understand some of the things that Farrakhan was saying at - you knew this was coming, didn't you? - the Million Man March. Here we go again:

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful. We thank Him for his prophets, and the scriptures which they brought. We thank him for Moses and the Torah. We thank him for Jesus and the Gospel. We thank him for Muhammad and the Koran. Peace be upon these worthy servants of Allah.

I am so grateful to Allah for his intervention in our affairs in the person of Master Farad Muhammad the Great Madi, who came among us and raised from among us a divine leader, teacher and guide, his messenger to us the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I greet all of you, my dear and wonderful brothers, with the greeting words of peace. We say it in the Arabic language, Asalam Eleecum.

I would like to thank all of those known and unknown persons who worked to make this day of atonement and reconciliation a reality. My thanks and my extreme gratitude to the Reverend Benjamin Chavis and to all of the members of the national organizing committees.

To all of the local organizing committees, to Dr. Dorothy Height in the National Council of Negro Women, and all of the sisters who were involved in the planning of the Million Man March. Of course, if I named all those persons whom I know helped to make this event a reality, it would take a tremendous amount of time. But suffice it to say that we are grateful to all who made this day possible....

Thomas Jefferson said, he trembled for this country when he reflected that God was just and that his justice could not sleep forever. Well, the day that these presidents feared has now come to pass, for on this mall, here we stand in the capital of America. and the layout of this great city, laid out by a Black man, Benjamin Banneker. This is all placed and based in a secret Masonic ritual. And at the core of the secret of that ritual is the Black man, not far from here is the White House.

And the first president of this land, George Washington, who was a grand master of the Masonic order laid the foundation, the cornerstone of this capitol building where we stand. George was a slave owner. George was a slave owner. Now, the President [Clinton] spoke today and he wanted to heal the great divide. But I respectfully suggest to the President, you did not dig deep enough at the malady that divides Black and White in order affect a solution to the problem....

[W]e're here for many reasons but the basic reason while this was called was for atonement and reconciliation. So, it is necessary for me in as short of time as possible to give as full an explanation of atonement as possible.

Short. Yeah, right.

Now, look brother, sisters. Some people don't mind confessing. Some people don't mind making some slight repentance. But, when it comes to doing something about the evil that we've done we fall short.

But, atonement means satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury. It means to make amends. It means penance, expiation, compensation and recompense made or done for an injury or wrong.

So, atonement means we must be willing to do something in expiation of our sins so we can't just have a good time today, and say we made history in Washington. We've got to resolve today that we're going back home to do something about what's going on in our lives and in our families and in our communities.

Now, we all right? Can you hang with me a few more?

Let's skip ahead a bit.

The first four letters of the word form the foundation; "a-t-o-n". . . "a-ton", "a-ton". Since this obelisk in front of us is representative of Egypt. In the 18th dynasty, a Pharaoh named Akhenaton, was the first man of this history period to destroy the pantheon of many gods and bring the people to the worship of one god. And that one god was symbolized by a sun disk with 19 rays coming out of that sun with hands holding the Egyptian Ankh - the cross of life. A-ton. The name for the one god in ancient Egypt. A- ton, the one god. 19 rays. Look at your scripture.

A woman, remember the nine, means somebody pregnant, with an idea. But, in this case, its a woman pregnant with a male child destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron. God is standing over her womb, and this child will be like the day sun, and he will say "I am the light of the world." Hands coming out of that sun, come unto me all ye that are heavy laden. I'm gonna give you rest, but I'm gonna give you life, because I am the resurrection and the life and if you believe in me, though you are dead, yet shall you live again.

You're dead, Black man. But if you believe in the god who created this sun of truth and of light with 19 rays, meaning he's pregnant with God's spirit, God's life, God's wisdom. Abraham Lincoln's statue, 19 feet high, 19 feet wide. Jefferson, 19 feet high, 16 (OFF-MIKE) and the third president, 19. Standing on the steps of the Capitol, in the light of the sun. Offering life to a people who are dead.

Black man, the a-ton represents the one God. In the Koran, Muhammad is called a light giving son. So if you look at the aton, add an "e" to it, and separate the "a" from the next four letters and you get the word a tone.

Atone means sound. And "a", the first letter of the alphabet and the first letter of the numerical system is one. So "a" equals one. So "a" sound means when you hear the "a" tone, you will hear the right sound. And when you hear the right sound from the one God calling you to divine life, you will respond. So what is the "a" tone? In music, a equals 440 vibrations. How long have we been in America? Four hundred and forty years.

Well, in the 440th year, from the one God, the Aton will come the a tone and all of us got to tune up our lives by the sound of the a tone. Because we've got to atone for all that we have done wrong. And when you atone, if you take the "t" and couple it with the "a" and hyphenate it, you get at one. So when you atone you become at one. At one with who? The Aton or the one God. Because you heard the a tone and you tuned up your life and now you're ready to make a new beginning.

So when you get at one, you get the next two letters. It is "m" "e". Me.

And he isn't done yet. More here.

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