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"Hate Begotten of Hate" (Part Four in a series on Islam from
Forward magazine [which became the Christian Research Journal],
Fall, 1986, page 9) by Joseph P. Gudel and Larry Duckworth.
   The Editor-in-Chief of the Forward magazine, Elliot Miller.
-------------

     _"I looked over Jordan, what did I see, coming for to
     carry me home? A band of angels coming after me, coming
     for to carry me home."_ (old Negro spiritual)

     _"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of
     all men the most pitiable."_ (1 Cor. 15:19)

    The Christian belief in an afterlife with Christ has been a
source of strength and hope for millions of people from the first
century to the present. All Christians have longed for the day when
there will be no more death, no more shedding of tears, when sorrow
and pain have passed away, and when we no longer see "through a
glass darkly" but are with Jesus face to face. As the apostle Paul
said, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil.
1:21).

    But Christianity is not simply an other-worldly hope with no
thoughts of the present. The apostle Paul went on to declare:
"Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you"
(v.23). Thus the Christian faith is concerned with both our life
here and with our eternal life with God after our work here has
been completed.

    In America a movement has arisen challenging Christianity;
indeed, arising largely because of the church's failure to meet the
"this-worldly" needs of some of the poorest in this land. It is a
religion solely interested in the affairs of this life and the
physical betterment of its people. It is a faith based on racism
and hate which expects that all of its enemies will soon be
destroyed, and that its members will then rule the world. And it is
rapidly gaining an ear among many of the afflicted and downtrodden
in this country who have waited too long to see justice and
equality become a reality for them; who have often heard that "all
men are created equal" but have rarely seen this principle applied.
Its name is the Nation of Islam and its leader is Minister Louis
Farrakhan.


*HISTORICAL BACKGROUND*

    To understand and evaluate "black Islam" we must consider its
historical roots and theology. In addition, we must also be
cognizant of the social, psychological and spiritual needs which
gave rise to it.

    The years 1917-1930 were exceedingly trying for American
blacks. During those years the Ku Klux Klan was in its heyday,
beatings and lynchings of blacks were tragically common, race riots
were proliferating and "Jim Crow" laws were widespread. The black
servicemen who returned to America after World War I found that
they frequently had been treated better in European countries than
they were in their own home.

    In the summer of 1930 a man identifying himself as Wallace Fard
Muhammad appeared in Detroit. He proclaimed that

          he had come from the holy city of Mecca, with
          a mission to teach blacks the truth about
          whites. He instructed blacks to prepare for
          the battle of Armageddon, which he interpreted
          to mean the final confrontation between blacks
          and whites.[1]

    He rapidly gained a following and "established the first Temple
of Islam during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when blacks were
vulnerable to any philosophy that provided hope."[2] The foundation
of his theology was that "Allah is God, the white man is the devil
and the so-called Negroes are the Asiatic Black people, the cream
of the planet earth."[3]

    Between 1930-33 Fard recruited 8,000 followers among Detroit
blacks. The most important of the new members was Elijah Poole, an
unemployed auto worker.


*Elijah Muhammad*

    Poole, born on October 7, 1898, in Sandersville, Georgia, was
one of a Baptist minister/sharecropper's thirteen children. He
"learned only the bare rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic
before he had to go to the fields to help his family earn a
living."[4] He worked in Sandersville and in Macon, Georgia, until
1923 when he, his wife, Clara, and their two children moved to
Detroit. From 1923 to 1929 he worked for the Chevrolet Auto Plant
in Detroit until the Great Depression caused his family to go on
relief for two years.

    Poole, given the name "Karriem" at his initiation into the
group, rose rapidly in the organization and was renamed "Elijah
Muhammad" by Fard. He was subsequently chosen by Fard to be the
Chief Minister of his "Nation of Islam."

    In about June of 1934 Fard "vanished as mysteriously as he had
arrived."[5] Elijah Muhammad, succeeding Fard as the leader, would
rule and mold the Nation of Islam for the next 41 years. Before
continuing with their history it is necessary at this point to
understand just what Elijah Muhammad's doctrine was.


*Theology/Ideology*

    From the beginning Elijah Muhammad had a very simple
explanation for Fard's disappearance: "We believe that Allah (God)
appeared in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad, July, 1930 --
the long awaited 'Messiah' of the Christians and the 'Mahdi' of the
Muslims."[6] His disappearance was due to the fact that he had
ascended back into heaven and would return at Armageddon to
proclaim the total victory of the black man over the white man. In
addition, the sole "Messenger of Allah" was Elijah Muhammad
himself: "He (Allah) has made me a door. If you get out, you will
come by me, and if you reject me, you will not go. I have been
given the keys to heaven."[7]

    It needs to be noted that any resemblance between the theology
of Elijah Muhammad and that of orthodox Islam is purely
coincidental. Orthodox Islam has repeatedly denounced The Nation of
Islam's theology for its denial of an afterlife, its deification of
Wallace Fard, its racism and hatred, etc.[8]

    The main reason for the phenomenal growth and success of
Muhammad's group was not his theology per se, but his appeal to the
hurt and despair of the black man. C. Eric Lincoln, in his classic
work _The Black Muslims in America,_ declared that many blacks
readily accepted Elijah Muhammad's message because he had "given
them a new sense of dignity, a conviction that they are more than
the equals of the white man and are destined to rule the earth."[9]

    Muhammad's approach to building the self-esteem of the black
man was two-pronged. First, the blacks in this country need to
become one -- "love and unity of self and kind" is the key to their
"salvation."[10] But this could not be accomplished unless the
white man let the blacks separate and have their own country.[11]

     The second prong of Muhammad's appeal to the blacks consisted
in highlighting the hate and racism they had suffered at the hands
of the white man. The result of this was a hate begotten of hate.
All of the black man's problems could be traced to one single
enemy, the "blue-eyed white devil":

     The entire creation of Allah (God) is of peace, not
     including the devils who are not the creation of Allah
     (God) but a race created by an enemy (Yakub) of
     Allah....These enemies of Allah (God) are known at the
     present as the white race or European race.[12]

    The late Louis Lomax, one of the foremost black journalists in
this country and the first black newsman to appear on television
(in 1959), believed that

     The Black Muslims[13] have but one message: The white man
     is by nature evil, a snake who is incapable of doing
     right, a devil who is soon to be destroyed. Therefore,
     the black man, who is by nature divine and good, must
     separate from the white man as soon as possible, lest he
     share the white man's hour of total destruction.[14]

    A corollary to this teaching is that Christianity, the "white
man's" religion, is also their enemy. Elijah Muhammad made this all
too clear:

     We called on the God that you said was the right one for
     a long time. For a hundred years we have been calling on
     your God and the Son, both. I am sure today that (sic)
     God and his Son that you are presenting to us have been
     for white people, surely they were not friends of ours.
     He never heard us. He must have been off somewhere in
     conversation over your future and did not have time to
     hear our prayers....Never any more will you fool us to
     bow and pray to a dead Jesus.[15]

     There is no hope for us in Christianity; it is a religion
     organized by the enemies (the white race) of the Black
     Nation to enslave us to the white race's rule.[16]


*Malcolm X*

    Probably the most significant event to occur in the Nation of
Islam's history during this period was the 1947 conversion of
Malcolm Little, a black inmate in the maximum-security prison at
Concord, Massachusetts. He would become known to the American
people as Malcolm X.[17]

    Due to lack of space it is not possible to detail the
tremendous role Malcolm X had in the growth of the Nation of Islam.
However, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he could be
considered the St. Paul of this movement. From 1952, when he was
released from prison, until his break with Elijah Muhammad in 1964,
the membership of the Nation of Islam skyrocketed as a result of
Malcolm's missionary efforts. During this period Malcolm "helped to
establish most of the one hundred Temples in the United
States."[18]

    In March of 1964 Malcolm announced that he was leaving the
Nation of Islam. The reasons were twofold. First, Malcolm's faith
in Elijah Muhammad had been shaken after Elijah confirmed to him
that paternity charges brought against him by two former
secretaries were true.[19] And second, Malcolm began to see that
the theology they espoused was not true to Islamic teachings. On
February 21, 1965, less than a year after he had left the Nation of
Islam, he was shot to death by three black men while giving a
public lecture at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.


*Wallace Deen Muhammad*

    Over the next ten years the Nation of Islam continued to grow,
albeit not nearly as rapidly as before. Then on February 25, 1975,
after a month's protracted illness, Elijah Muhammad died of
congestive heart failure at Chicago's Mercy Hospital. The next day,
at the annual Savior's Day Rally (which commemorates the birth of
Master Fard Muhammad), Elijah's seventh child, Wallace (Warith)
Deen Muhammad, was named to succeed his father as the new leader of
the Nation of Islam.

    The announcement that Elijah's son Wallace was to be the new
leader sent shock waves throughout the Nation of Islam. Most
members believed that Louis Farrakhan, minister of the Harlem
temple, would be the new leader. Another reason the members were
shocked was because Wallace had been excommunicated from the group
by his father on at least three different occasions. The main
reason for his excommunications was that he rejected the apotheosis
or deification of Fard. Why then was Wallace Deen chosen?
Allegedly, Wallace Fard had prophesied that Elijah's seventh child
would be a son that would head the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan
emphatically backed Wallace: "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad's
passing is the will of God. His son is the will of God."[20]

    Within months major changes occurred. Wallace had been an
extremely close friend of Malcolm X, both before and after
Malcolm's break with his father, Elijah Muhammad. Consequently
Wallace was deeply influenced by Malcolm's acceptance of true Islam
shortly before his death. This influence is seen in the changes
Wallace soon brought about in the Nation of Islam.

    One of the first changes was to rename the group the World
Community of Al-Islam in the West, thus attempting to identify more
with worldwide Islam. They would later change their name again;
they are now known as the American Muslim Mission.

    However, such cosmetic changes were not Wallace's main concern.
He immediately began to root out some of the main tenets of the old
Nation of Islam. He denounced the belief that Fard was an
incarnation of God, a teaching which is anathema to orthodox
Muslims (see Part One of this series, "Islam's Worldwide Revival,"
_Forward,_ Fall 1985). Likewise, "doctrines defining God as black
and dismissing whites as devils" were changed "with the explanation
that the former ideas were necessary transitional beliefs because
of the brain-washing the blacks underwent as slaves."[21] Indeed,
whites were now permitted to join their group. Since 1975 the
movement has been accepted by orthodox Muslims as legitimately
Islamic and one within the fold of Islam.[22]

    In 1978 Wallace resigned as the spiritual leader of "chief
Imam" of the organization in order to be an ambassador-at-large,
speaking in their behalf domestically and internationally.[23] He
decentralized its leadership into a 17-member council with six
regional imams serving one-year terms, who have equal power in
national matters, but complete power in their own regions.

    Although no official membership rolls are kept, it is estimated
that the American Muslim Mission currently has about 100,000
members.


*LOUIS ABDUL FARRAKHAN*

    Until the national presidential primaries in 1984, few
Americans had ever heard of Louis Farrakhan. He was hardly a
nationally known personality such as were his predecessors Elijah
Muhammad and Malcolm X. He wasn't particularly powerful,
politically or socially. Nor was his group of followers nearly as
large as those loyal to Wallace Deen Muhammad.

    It was during Jesse Jackson's run for the Democratic party's
presidential nomination that Farrakhan became an overnight
sensation. The reason was simple: Farrakhan, one of Jackson's
staunchest and most visible supporters, was outspoken in his
demagoguery and racism. Jerry Eddings, writing in New York City's
widely respected black community paper _The Amsterdam News,_
succinctly sums up Farrakhan's appeal for so many blacks:

     [Farrakhan] expresses the anger they feel about still
     being on the bottom layer of society....he is a Black man
     who speaks his mind without fear, and even if they don't
     believe everything he says, they see a need for more
     Black men and women who speak without fear about the
     inequities of life in predominantly white America.[24]

    Who is this man Louis Farrakhan and what does he believe? Is he
a dangerous demagogue or a fearless spokesman for black America?


*Biography*

    Farrakhan was born Louis Eugene Walcott in New York in 1933. He
was raised in a tough Boston neighborhood, learning first-hand of
the economic plight most blacks faced. He dropped out of
Winston-Salem Teachers College after two years of study and began
what appeared to be a promising career as a singer. He was known as
"Calypso Gene" and was fairly successful as a nightclub
entertainer.

    In 1955 his life was changed after a meeting with Malcolm X.
Following his recruitment to the Nation of Islam he served under
Malcolm at the Harlem mosque for nine months. Subsequently he was
asked to direct the Boston mosque.

    Farrakhan stayed at this position until Malcolm's assassination
in 1965. After Malcolm's death he became the minister of Harlem's
Mosque #7, the largest and most influential mosque outside of
Chicago. In addition, he was recognized as the "National Spokesman
for the Honorable Elijah Muhammad," a title he still retains today.

     As noted earlier, he remained under Wallace Deen Muhammad's
leadership after Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975. However, as
Wallace began to conform the organization (the present American
Muslim Mission) to orthodox Islam, Farrakhan rebelled. He left the
group in December of 1977 and formed his own reorganized Nation of
Islam, returning to the old teachings of Elijah Muhammad. So, while
the American Muslim Mission has organizational continuity with
Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, the doctrine and spirit of the
old Nation of Islam continue only in Farrakhan's splinter group,
which bears its name.


*Ideology*

    The ideology of the Nation of Islam under Farrakhan is almost
indistinguishable from what it was under Elijah Muhammad. Their
monthly paper, _The Final Call,_ reprints numerous articles of
Elijah's writings and speeches. They also reprint Elijah's Muslim
program ("What the Muslims Want" and "What the Muslims Believe") on
the back page of each issue of the paper.

    Farrakhan has initiated a few changes of his own, though. One
tenet of Elijah which is not called for anymore is the
establishment of a separate state for the blacks. Instead, the
blacks should separate economically, that is, only buy from and
sell to each other.

    Another change is the date of their annual Savior's Day
celebration. Instead of celebrating it on the anniversary of Fard's
birthday (Feb. 26) he has moved it to Elijah Muhammad's birthday
(Oct. 7).

    The other basic beliefs promulgated by Elijah Muhammad have
remained (e.g., the bitter hatred of Christianity, the belief that
the blacks and not the Jews are God's "chosen race," the denial of
a literal resurrection and afterlife, the belief in the deity of
Wallace Fard, the blaming of the white man for each and every evil
that the black man experiences, etc).

    Interestingly, Farrakhan continually tries to portray himself
publicly as a very moderate person. He has even suggested that the
Nation of Islam is really no longer a racist group: "We have long
ago left the language of white devils behind. It was a language
that was necessary for that time in our development."[25] As we
will see, this is anything but the case.

    Finally, there are two other new tenets brought forth by
Farrakhan worth noting. The first is that there is one exception to
the denial of a literal resurrection of the dead. As the last page
of _The Final Call_ declares in caps beneath a picture of Elijah
Muhammad, "HE LIVES." Farrakhan writes:

     The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I am here to declare, is
     risen. The Jesus you have been seeking and waiting for
     His return has been in your midst for 40 years, "but you
     knew not who He was." A Holy One was working among us,
     and it is only now, after He is gone, that we realize who
     He was.[26]

    It should come as no shock after the revelation that the one
and only messenger for the black man is none other than Louis
Farrakhan himself, the "Honorable Elijah Muhammad's National
Spokesman."

     I, Farrakhan, have no power to give life. However, the
     voice of Elijah Muhammad coming through me is giving life
     to the entire Nation [of Islam]. I warn you that when you
     turn me down and refuse this truth, you are turning down
     the Lord, the Savior, the Messiah, and the Deliverer that
     you seek. This Deliverer is the Honorable Elijah
     Muhammad.[27]


*Social Message*

    The heart of Louis Farrakhan's attraction for blacks is the
social/economic message he preaches. He has instilled in them a
pride and self-esteem which they have often lacked. He has told
them that they are not responsible for the state in which they find
themselves, and seemingly offers them a way out of it.

    Last year Farrakhan made an extensive speaking tour of cities
and universities across the nation. The banner under which he spoke
bore the message: "POWER AT LAST, FOREVER! MINISTER FARRAKHAN CALLS
THE ENTIRE BLACK NATION TO ECONOMIC REBIRTH." His message was one
of self-help: "You must get up from the foot of your masters and
say 'I am a free man.' It is time for black people to come out from
under white authority and stop thinking like you are an inferior
person."[28]

    The economic separatism Farrakhan preaches is centered around
POWER, an acronym for People Organized and Working for Economic
Rebirth. The first stage of POWER has been in the process of
development for over a year: its goal is the creation of jobs in
the black community by mass producing and distributing various
consumer products. This past summer the first line of products came
out: a number of different toiletry goods including soaps, lotions,
deodorants, etc.

    Thousands of blacks, with no interest in the Nation of Islam's
ideology, have been drawn to Farrakhan (and thus indirectly to the
Nation of Islam) because of POWER. Daniel K. Tabor, a black city
councilman in Ingelwood, California, writes: "The appeal of
Farrakhan's POWER program for blacks...is in its calls for the
economic development of the black community, and Farrakhan's
program offers sound steps for that development."[29]


*"Rhetoric of Hate"*

    Since Farrakhan's meteoric rise as a national figure in 1984,
many of the 25 million black people in America have been strongly
attracted to him, if not openly supportive. His is a personality
that demands a response from people, and the opinions are quite
polarized. For many blacks "Farrakhan offers perhaps the last hope
for true liberation."[30]

    However, many of the most prominent black leaders in the
country have repudiated him as an opportunist and demagogue.
Wallace Deen Muhammad gave a nationwide speaking tour last year in
an attempt to counter Farrakhan's "rhetoric of hate."[31]
Congressman Charles Rangel, representing New York City's 16th
district (Harlem), has repeatedly stated that "the hatred spewed by
Louis Farrakhan is scurrilous and intolerable."[32] Carl T. Rowan,
one of the best known and respected journalists in the country,
writes that Farrakhan "offers nothing more than religious bilge and
racial hatred and is preying on the frustrations and rage of
millions of black Americans."[33]

    But does Minister Farrakhan really deserve these denunciations?
Are he and the Nation of Islam really as malevolent as these people
have made them out to be? Let us listen to Farrakhan himself and
see.


*Farrakhan on Whites, Jews, and America*

    Even a perfunctory reading of any issue of _The Final Call,_
which lists Minister Louis Farrakhan as its publisher, will reveal
that Farrakhan's racism remains unabated, in spite of claims to the
contrary. Jews are denoted as "our enemies,"[34] America is called
the "number one enemy of freedom-loving peoples on the earth,"[35]
whites are referred to as "devils,"[36] and blacks are warned to
avoid following the "evil and filth of the white race."[37]

    The statements of Farrakhan's that are best remembered, though,
are ones he made during Jesse Jackson's unsuccessful bid for the
Democratic presidential nomination in 1984. In March of that year
Farrakhan said, "Hitler was a very great man," and in July he
referred to Judaism as a "gutter religion."[38]

    Over the years the Nation of Islam has had a close relationship
with Libyan dictator Muammar Khaddafi. A number of years ago they
received a three million dollar loan from Khaddafi and in 1985
received another loan worth five million dollars. Also in 1985
Farrakhan invited Khaddafi to be the keynote speaker, via satellite
TV hookup from Libya, at the Savior's Day celebration, and gave him
a warm introduction to the audience of 13,000.

    Much more could be said about the racism of the Nation of
Islam. A great deal also could be written about the violent
physical attacks some blacks have suffered after leaving the Nation
of Islam,[39] about the death threats issued against black
journalists and political leaders who have opposed Farrakhan,[40]
and of Farrakhan's own role in creating the climate leading up to
Malcolm X's assassination.[41]


*WHY BLACKS ARE DRAWN TO FARRAKHAN*

    We have seen some of the reasons for the popularity of
Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam. But there is more than this. Two
key areas need to be examined in greater detail: the plight of the
black man in America and the failures of the Christian church.


*The Plight of Blacks in America*

    Most white Americans have never experienced the depths of
despair and hopelessness that black men, women, and children in
this country have endured. They have never been forced to live in
ghettos or near-ghetto conditions surrounded by poverty and the
violence and crime poverty breeds. Forty-five percent of black
children are born into poverty (as compared to only 15 percent of
white children being born into poverty).[42]

    Recent government statistics show that the economic/social
plight of blacks in this country is not improving. Some of the more
discouraging statistics show:

     *    Median black family income in 1985 was about $1,000
     less in dollars adjusted for inflation than in 1978.
     *    In 1985, the typical black family had about 58 cents
     to spend for every dollar a typical white family had to
     spend. That was the same as in 1980, and four cents less
     than in 1970.
     *    More than 31 percent of all black people were
     officially poor in 1985. Among black families headed by
     single women, 52% were poor in 1985.
     *    Among black males 15 to 24 years old, homicide is
     the leading cause of death. A black man in America stands
     a 1-in-21 chance of being murdered in his lifetime.
     *    A black person was 37 percent more likely than a
     white person to be a victim of rape, robbery or assault
     in 1983.[43]

    One thing is clear: there are million of American black people
who are suffering. Louis Lomax noted that members of the Nation of
Islam aggressively proselytized "the abandoned black masses who
live in a world of despair and futility."[44] For too long this
world has been one for which Christians in America have had little
concern.


*Failures of the Christian Church*

    For the most part the Christian church has not had the care and
concern for the black man that it should have had.[45] All too
often it has shown little interest for his salvation or for helping
his economic/social plight.

    One of the greatest indictments against cultural Christianity
is the racism that so-called Christians have shown, past and
present. Members of the Nation of Islam have continuously
capitalized on this.

    During the heyday of the civil rights movement the ministers in
the Nation of Islam temples would point out that the most
segregated institution in this country was the Christian church.
They would use clippings from newspapers showing blacks being
turned away from white churches or of white Christian ministers
openly advocating segregation.

    During the Birmingham demonstrations one prominently displayed
photo was of a group of blacks, after being ejected from a white
church, praying on the church steps with whites standing a few feet
away threatening them with their fists balled up. More recently, a
front page headline in the -_Amsterdam News_ declared, "Pastor
won't admit Blacks."[46]

    One of Malcolm X's best tactics in recruiting members to the
Nation of Islam was to describe graphically the horrors of the
slave trade: how literally millions of blacks died on the trip over
here, how the black women were raped and killed by the white
"Christian" slave traders, etc. Labeling it the "so-called
Christian white man's crime," Malcolm stated that "the
dramatization of slavery never failed intensely to arouse Negroes
hearing its horrors spelled out for the first time."[47]

    Tragically, many blacks view all Christians as racists. What
changed Malcolm X's hatred of whites was the acceptance and
brotherhood he saw among Muslims in Mecca. He wrote: "I have never
before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors
together, irrespective of their color."[48]


*THE BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE*

    When the non-Christian sees hypocrisy in the church or
hate-filled Christians, he should be aware that Jesus Himself
warned that there would be counterfeit Christians among the true
ones and that God would be their judge (Matt. 7:21-23). Instead of
looking at them we should keep our eyes on what the Bible really
teaches and what true Christians believe and practice.

    Christianity, far from being the "white man's religion," is a
universal faith open to all men and women: "For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, _that whoever believes in
Him_ should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
Christianity is found on every continent on earth among every race
of man: black, yellow, red, and white.

    People in this country often think of blonde-haired, blue-eyed
Jeffrey Hunter (who portrayed Jesus in _King of Kings_) when Jesus
is mentioned. But Jesus was an Asiatic, a Semite. He was a
descendant of Isaac, the half brother of the father of the Arabs,
Ishmael (Gen. 16:1-12; 17:15-19). It is historically false to state
that Christianity is "the white man's religion."

    Additionally, one of the central themes of the Bible concerns
the care and love that true believers are to show, both for each
other and for the poor and oppressed. In the Old Testament God
rebuked Israel for pretending to love Him when they were
unconcerned for the poor and oppressed (Isa. 58:6-7; also cf. Mic.
6:8, Prov. 29:7; 30:14; Amos 8:4-5). In the New Testament Jesus
stated that the ultimate sign of those who were truly His followers
would be the love they displayed (John 13:34-35). Scripture also
tells us that anyone, whether he be white, black, brown, or yellow,
who hates other people is blinded and not a true believer (1 John
2:9-11).

    Jesus was very specific that this love was not to be directed
only toward the other members of the Christian faith. Christians
are commanded by Christ to love not only each other but also the
non-Christian, even if he might be an enemy (Luke 6:27-28, 32-33,
35).[49]

    The Christian, then, is called to a commitment of radical love
and a rejection of all hate. That many professing Christians have
failed to live up to this standard is the fault of human
sinfulness, not Jesus Christ or biblical teaching. The same cannot
be said, however, for the Nation of Islam. As we saw earlier, its
teachings _encourage_ a hateful attitude toward one's "enemies,"
whether real or merely perceived. Just as the hatred and racism of
the white man begat a reciprocal hatred and racism in Elijah
Muhammad and his followers, so their hatred can only engender more
of the same. In a world seething with distrust and hostility,
Jesus' radical teaching ("love your enemies") desperately needs to
be applied by people of all races. Only then can the vicious cycle
of hate be broken.

    To the black man in this country: we urge you to look toward
Jesus; He not only knows what you are suffering, He also
understands. For centuries you have suffered innocently, simply
because the pigmentation of your skin is different. Jesus too
suffered persecution and revilement innocently. Isaiah the prophet
foretold that the Messiah would be "a man of sorrows, despised and
rejected of men" (Isa. 53:3). The reward for His love was an
agonizing death on the cross. Reject the urge to hate and listen to
His words:

     Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I
     will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from
     Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find
     rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is
     light (Matt. 11:28-30).


*NOTES*

 1 Henry J. Young, _Major Black Religious Leaders Since 1940_
   (Nashville: Abingdon, 1979), 66-67.
 2 _Ibid._
 3 Clifton E. Marsh, _From Black Muslims to Muslims_ (Metuchen,
   N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1984), 52.
 4 _Ibid._
 5 C. Eric Lincoln, _The Black Muslims in America_ (Boston: Beacon
   Press, 1961), 15.
 6 Elijah Muhammad, _Message to the Blackman in America_ (Chicago:
   Muhammad Mosque of Islam No. 2, 1965), 164; cf. Elijah Muhammad,
   _Our Savior Has Arrived_ (Chicago: Muhammad's Temple of Islam
   No. 2, 1974), III.
 7 Muhammad, _Message,_ 235.
 8 See _Forward's_ Fall 1985 isssue for an examination of Islam's
   theology. Specific references in the Qur'an showing its
   acceptance of all races are 49:13; 3:103-104; 21:107.
 9 Lincoln, 16-17.
10 Muhammad, _Message,_ 221.
11 _Ibid.,_ 161, 164.
12 _Ibid.,_ 68.
13 Members of the Nation of Islam have never liked to be referred
   to as "black Musslims." Rather, they refer to themselves as
   "lost-founds" or "African-Americans."
14 Louis E. Lomax, "A Phony Islam's Unveiled Threat," _True,_ Dec.
   1963, 22.
15 Muhammad, _Message,_ 168.
16 _Ibid.,_ 221. The phrase "the white race" is part of the
   quotation.
17 Many people wonder why members of the Nation of Islam take on a
   new name, usually with an "X" attached. "To commemorate his
   rebirth, the convert drops his last name and is known simply by
   his first name and the letter X." Lincoln, 110.
18 Marsh, 72.
19 Malcolm X. _The Autobiography of Malcolm X_ (New York: Grove
   Press, 1964), 294f.
20 Francis Ward. "Wallace Muhammad to Head Muslims," _Los Angeles
   Times,_ 27 Feb. 1975.
21 "Islam and the American Blacks," _The Link,_ Sept./Oct. 1979, 6.
22 _Ibid._
23 Bill Drummond, "Black Muslims' Leader Resigns," _Los Angeles
   Times,_ 10 Sept. 1978. Also, cf. Marsh, 100.
24 Jerry Eddings, "The Right Question," _The Amsterdam News,_ 12
   Oct. 1985.
25 John F. Davis, "Farrakhan Speaks," _The Village Voice,_ 22 May
   1984.
26 In Thomas H. Landess and Richard M. Quinn, _Jesse Jackson and
   the Politics of Race_ (Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books, 1985),
   94.
27 _Ibid._
28 Penelope McMillan and Cathleen Decker, "Give Us Economic
   Freedom, Farrakhan Asks," _Los Angeles Times,_ 15 Oct. 1985.
29 Daniel K. Tabor, "It Became a Time for Blacks to Take a Stand on
   Their Own," _Los Angeles Times,_ 17 Sept. 1985.
30 "On Understanding Farrakhan." _The Bay State Banner,_ 17 Oct.
   1985.
31 "Black Muslim Leader Plans Tour to 'Counter' Farrakhan." _Los
   Angeles Times,_ 14 Oct. 1985.
32 Charles Rangel, "Denunciation on Demand Ruins Black-Jewish
   Links," _The Amsterdam News,_ 12 Oct. 1985.
33 Carl Rowan, "Louis Farrakhan: Why Do We Enhance His Hate?," _Los
   Angeles Times,_ 26 Sept. 1985.
34 "11,000 Flock to Hear Farrakhan in D.C.," _The Final Call,_
   Sept. 1985, 10.
35 _Ibid._
36 _Ibid._
37 _Ibid.,_ 14.
38 Louis Farrakhan, in _ADL Special Report, Louis Farrakhan: In His
   Own Words_ (New York: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith,
   Oct. 1985), 3,5.
39 Eg., Aubrey Barnette, "The Black Muslims Are a Fraud," _Saturday
   Evening Post,_ 7 Feb. 1965.
40 Eg., Wilbert A. Tatum, "Farrakhan's Final Solution," _The
   Amsterdam News,_ 12 Oct. 1985, 12; also cf. "Did Farrakhan
   Threaten Dinkins?" _The Amsterdam News,_ 12 Oct. 1985.
41 Peter Noel, "Gil Noble Urges Farrakhan: 'Tell Us about Your Role
   in Malcolm X's Murder,'" _The Amsterdam News,_ 16 Nov. 1985, 1;
   also cf. John F. Davis, 16.
42 "More Children in Poverty," _The Final Call,_ Sept. 1985, 16.
43 _Ibid._
44 Lomax, 16.
45 Nonetheless, there are a number of important Christian
   ministries in the inner cities of America, many of them staffed
   by both black and white Christians. Most of them combine the
   preaching of the Gospel with providing housing, education,
   vocational rehabilitation, food distribution, and physical and
   social recreation. A few of the most outstanding examples are
   World Impact, Voi Calvary Ministries, Harambee Youth Ministries,
   the Tom Skinner Crusades, and Rosey Grier's "Are You Committed."
46 Simon Anekwe, "Pastor Won't Admit Blacks," _The Amsterdam News,_
   7 Dec. 1985.
47 Malcolm X, 212.
48 _Ibid.,_ 340.
49 For further references cf. Luke 3:10; 4:18; 11:3; John 5:6; Acts
   20:35.


-------------
End of document, CRJ0010A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"Hate Begotten of Hate"
release A, September 6, 1993
R. Poll, CRI

(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help
in the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)
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