By STEVEN A. HOLMES, Special to The New York Times

Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, demoted a senior aide today for anti-white and anti-Semitic statements made in a recent speech, calling them "repugnant" and "mean-spirited," but defended the "truths" he said the aide had expressed.

In a rare news conference, Mr. Farrakhan left those "truths" unspecified beyond saying that the aide, Khalid Abdul Muhammad, was correct when he said that 75 percent of slaves in the antebellum South were owned by Jews.

Leaders of Jewish organizations were quick to condemn Mr. Farrakhan's  remarks. Several black officials said they welcomed the decision to remove Mr. Muhammad from the posts of minister and representative of the Nation of Islam, but they declined to comment on the substance of Mr. Farrakhan's remarks.

Mr. Farrakhan said of the remarks made by Mr. Muhammad at Kean College in Union, N.J.: "I found the speech, after listening to it in context, vile in manner, repugnant, malicious, mean-spirited and spoken in mockery of individuals and people, which is against the spirit of Islam. While I stand by the truths that he spoke, I must condemn in the strongest terms the manner in which those truths were represented."

By affirming some of the opinions expressed by his subordinate, Mr. Farrakhan may have ended the efforts by black officials like Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Representative Kweisi Mfume, the Maryland Democrat who heads the Congressional Black Caucus, to forge a working relationship with the Nation of Islam.

On Wednesday, Mr. Mfume said no alliance could exist between the caucus and the Islamic group as long as blacks in Congress had doubts about Mr. Farrakhan's tolerance toward Jews, Catholics and other groups.

"I welcome the action of Minister Louis Farrakhan to discipline and rebuke Khalid Muhammad and to dismiss him from his position as national assistant within the Nation of Islam," Mr. Mfume said in a statement.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson also commended Mr. Farrakhan for dismissing Mr. Muhammad. "I hope we can overcome this painful period and work together to lift the African-American community to new heights," Mr. Jackson said.

The recent debate over the Nation of Islam stems from the speech by Mr. Muhammad in November in which he called Jews the "blood-suckers" of the black community, labeled the Pope a "no-good cracker" and urged black South Africans to kill all whites.

In a speech today in Sarasota, Fla., Mr. Muhammad was quoted by The Sarasota Herald-Tribune as saying that today was "one of possibly the most trying days in my life." But he said he would remain loyal to Mr. Farrakhan. "To hell with you if you expect me to say otherwise," he added. "The honorable Louis Farrakhan is my spiritual father."

One item Mr. Farrakhan said he stood by was the assertion by Mr. Muhammad that Jews were disproportionately involved in the African slave trade. Citing a book published by the Nation of Islam, Mr. Farrakhan said 75 percent of slaves in the antebellum South had been owned by Jews.

A historian cited by Mr. Farrakhan in his talk today, Harold Brackman, who is associated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center for the Holocaust, said in a telephone interview from his home in California that such an assertion was nonsense.

At his news conference today, Mr. Farrakhan sought to make a fine distinction between Jews in general and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith that had helped fuel criticism of the Nation of Islam by publishing excerpts of Mr. Muhammad's speech in a full-page advertisement in The New York Times.

Orator Strikes Back

Mr. Farrakhan asserted that the Jewish organization was trying to drive a wedge between the Nation of Islam, and traditional black politicians and civil rights leaders. He also accused Vice President Al Gore of conspiring with the Anti-Defamation League to undermine the Muslim sect, which is based in Chicago.

"What was their aim and purpose?" Mr. Farrakhan said of the publication of the advertisement by the Anti-Defamation League. "Their aim was and is to destroy the reputation and character of Louis Farrakhan in the eyes of the world and to ultimately destroy the Nation of Islam."

Dressed in a dark suit and wearing tinted eyeglasses, Mr. Farrakhan  addressed reporters and supporters in a Washington Hotel room that at times seemed as much a revivalist meeting as news conference. Members of the audience, including Rock Newman, manager of the former heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe, cheered the charismatic Mr. Farrakhan when he denounced certain Jewish organizations and urged black officials like Mr. Jackson to sever their ties to them.

"I therefore, am calling on the Black Caucus, the N.A.A.C.P., Reverend Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition, black churches, and black leaders to review their relationship with the A.D.L. in view of its wickedness against our people," Mr. Farrakhan said.

Alluding to accusations that the Jewish organization had gathered information on Arab-American, black, Hispanic and other groups that did not share its views on Israel, Mr. Farrakhan accused the Anti-Defamation League of spying and called on black and Jewish organizations to disassociate themselves from it.

He also waved a copy of what he said was an internal and secret Anti-Defamation League document that he asserted "reveals their strategy for dealing with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam."

Quoting from parts of the document, "Mainstreaming Anti-Semitism: The Legitimation of Louis Farrakhan, " the leader of the black nationalist sect said the Jewish organization viewed the growing acceptance of him and his group as a phenomenon that must be fought with every weapon at this disposal.

"What do these weapons include?" Mr. Farrakhan asked. "One of the weapons identified by the A.D.L. and mentioned in their document is their exploitation of 'some of the nation's top black political and civil rights leaders who have long been envious of Farrakhan's ability to reach large enthusiastic audiences.' "

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, described the document, which was mailed to 3,000 members of the organization, as a background paper that would be used to stimulate discussion at the meeting of his organization's executive committee next week in Palm Beach, Fla. A copy of the document, provided by the league, makes no reference to "exploitation" of black officials' envy of Mr. Farrakhan. 

Anti-Defamation League officials have also denied the spying accusations, which were the subject of a lawsuit that has since been settled out of court. In addition, officials of the group said Mr. Farrakhan's remarks today reaffirmed their view that he is a bigot.

"It's a sad day," Mr. Foxman said. "I'm troubled because he raised the ante. He went one step further. The issue of Khalid Muhammad's speech was a classic example of double talk and double think."

The Rev. Calvin Butts 3d, the pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem who recently met with black clergymen, including Mr. Farrakhan, said Mr. Farrakhan "did what he believed in his heart he had to do."

Councilman Adam Clayton Powell 4th was also supportive. "I think it's appropriate and I applaud Minister Farrakhan, " he said.

In a telephone interview in his office, C. Vernon Mason, a lawyer who represents the Nation of Islam in a claim filed against New York City over a melee at a Harlem mosque in January, said Mr. Farrakhan's actions "certainly should set another level of sophistication and standard as far as how business is conducted in the black community."

To Mr. Farrakhan, the outcry represents an unfortunate schism among black leaders.

"What happened to our agreement that if we had any criticism of one another, we would call each other and go behind the door and speak frankly and candidly to one another?" he said. "Why could not I have been spoken to and a meeting arranged with me to discuss this issue and how we should handle it so that this issue would not be allowed to fracture our budding relationship nor destroy the hope in the black community that was created by our budding but fragile unity?"

Copyright 1994 The New York Times Company