BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Wallace Fard Muhammad
| Wallace Fard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nation of Islam portrait | |
| Founder of the Nation of Islam | |
| In office 1930–1934 | |
| Succeeded by | Elijah Muhammad |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 February, Birth Year Debated[a] |
| Died | Unknown |
| Occupation | Minister |
| Religion | Nation of Islam |
| ^ a. Birth dates attributed to Fard include 1891, 1893, and 1877. The Nation of Islamcelebrates 26 February 1877. | |
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Wallace D. Fard /fɜrˈɑːd/ (26 February birth year debated[1] - ?) was the founder of the Nation of Islam. He arrived in Detroit in 1930 with an obscure background and several aliases, where he taught a distinctive form of Islam among the city's African-American population. He disappeared in 1934 after several disputes with local authorities.
Beynon's Account of Fard and His Followers
In 1938, an article by sociologist Erdmann Doane Beynon was published in the “American Journal of Sociology”, giving Beynon's first hand account of several interviews that he conducted with followers of Fard in Michigan.[2] From those interviews, Beynon wrote that Fard lived and taught in Detroit from 1930 to 1934.[3] He came to the homes of Black families who recently migrated to the area from the rural south.[4] He began by selling silks door to door, telling his listeners that the silks came from their home country.[5] At his suggestion, he came back to teach the residents, along with guests.[6]
In the early stage of his ministry, Fard “used the Bible as his textbook, since it was the only religious book with which the majority of his hearers were familiar. With growing prestige over a constantly increasing group, [Fard] became bolder in his denunciation of the Caucasians and began to attack the teachings of the Bible in such a way as to shock his hearers and bring them to an emotional crisis.”[7]
Those interviewed by Beynon told him that reports of Fard’s message spread through the Black community.[8] Attendance at the house meetings grew until the listeners were divided into groups and taught in shifts.[9] Finally, the community contributed money and rented a hall to serve as a Temple where meetings were conducted.[10]
The Quran was soon introduced as the most authoritative of all texts for the study of the faith according to those interviewed by Beynon.[11] Fard prepared texts himself, which served as authoritative manuals of the faith and were memorized verbatim by those who followed him.[12]
From his interviews, Beynon described disputes and tension that arose between the new community and the police surrounding the groups refusal to send their children to public schools, and members of the group who some alleged to have participated in "human sacrifice" in 1932 in an effort to obey lessons given to the community regarding the sacrifice of devils.[13] These incidents drew police attention to the group, according to Beynon, and contributed to persecutions and schisms.[14]
Fard named his community the Nation of Islam.[15] Following the rapid increase in membership, Fard instituted a formal organizational structure.[16] He established the University of Islam, where school age children were taught, rather than in the public schools.[17] He established the Moslem Girls’ Training and General Civilization Class, where women were taught how to keep their houses, clean, and cook.[18] The men of the organization were drilled by captains and referred to as the Fruit of Islam. The entire movement was placed under a Minister of Islam.[19]
According to Beynon, Fard’s followers grew to approximately eight thousand.[20] “Within three years the prophet not only began the movement but organized it so well that he himself was able to recede into the background, appearing almost never to his followers during the final months of his residence in Detroit.”[21]
From interviews with approximately two hundred families who followed Fard, Beynon concluded:
Fard used the name W.F. Muhammad on several lessons written in 1933 and 1934.[22] In 1933, he began signing his name W.F. Muhammad, which stands for Wallace Fard Muhammad.[23]
Efforts to Trace Fard’s Biography
A declassified FBI memorandum dated May 16, 1957 states: “From a review of instant file it does not appear that there has been a concerted effort to locate and fully identify W.D. Fard. Inasmuch as Elijah Muhammad recognizes W.D. Fard as being Allah (God) and claims that Fard is the source of all of his teachings, it is suggested that an exhaustive effort be made to fully identify and locate W.D. Fard and/or members of his family.”[24] The FBI took note of the article written by Erdmann Doane Beynon, and it conducted a search for Fard using various aliases including the name "Ford." [25]
The search produced two Fords of interest, one of which was a prominent movie actor. The other was Wallie D. Ford of California, arrested by Los Angeles police on November 17, 1918 on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, by the Los Angeles police January 20, 1926 for violation of the California Wolverine Possession Act, and by the Los Angeles police February 15, 1926 for violation of the State Poison Act for which he was sentenced to six months to six years at San Quentin Penitentiary on June 12, 1926.[26]
On October 17, 1957, the FBI located and interviewed Hazel Barton-Ford, Wallie Ford’s common-law wife, with whom he had a son named Wallace Dodd Ford, born September 1, 1920.[27] Barton-Ford gave a description of Wallie Ford, and described him as a Caucasian New Zealander.[28] The FBI’s search for Fard was officially closed one year later on April 15, 1958.[29]
On August 15, 1959, the FBI sent a story to the Chicago New Crusader newspaper stating that Fard was a “Turkish-born Nazi agent who worked for Hitler in World War II.”[30]According to the story from the FBI, Fard was a “Muslim from Turkey who had come to the United States in the early 1900s.[31] He had met Muhammad in prison… where the two men plotted a confidence game in which followers were charged a fee to become Muslims.”[32] After the story was published, Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X were subsequently able to charge Black media outlets, who re-printed the accusation in large numbers, with running the story without requesting a response from the Nation of Islam.[33]
A February 19, 1963 FBI memorandum states: “In connection with efforts to disrupt and curb growth of the NOI, extensive research has been conducted into various files maintained by this office. Among the files reviewed was that of Wallace Dodd Ford.”[34] Five months later, in July 1963, the FBI told the Los Angeles Evening Herald-Examiner that Fard is actually Wallace Dodd Ford.[35] The paper published the story in an article titled: “Black Muslim Founder Exposed As White.”[36] An FBI memorandum dated the following month, August 1963, states that the FBI had not been able to verify his birth date or birth place, and "he was last heard from in 1934."[37]
Chroniclers' History of Ford From FBI File
Karl Evanzz of the Washington Post conducted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI in 1978 requesting its file on Fard.[38] Evanzz based his account of the life of Fard on the declassified portion of the FBI file that he received about a decade after his request.[39] Evanzz detailed the experience of several other authors who based their accounts of the life of Fard on the FBI file as well.[40]
From the FBI’s response to the Freedom of Information Act request, Karl Evanzz claimed that Fard, using the name Fred Dodd, married Pearl Allen in Multnomah County, Oregon on May 9, 1914 with their first child, a son, born the next year.[41][42]
Dodd left his family in 1916 and moved to Los Angeles using the name Wallie Dodd Ford. A World War I draft registration card for Wallie Dodd Fard, from 1917, indicated he was living in Los Angeles, California, unmarried, as a restaurant owner, and reported that he was born in Shinka, Afghanistan on February 26, 1893. He was described as being of medium height and build with brown eyes and black hair. On the draft card, “Ford” is written in parenthesis. No reason is given. At the bottom of the card, Fard signed his name as "Wallie Dodd Fard".[43]
As of 1920, Fard was still living in Los Angeles, as 26 year-old Wallie D. Ford, with his 25 year-old wife, Hazel. In the 1920 United States Census he reported his race as white, his occupation as a proprietor of a restaurant, and gave his place of birth as New Zealand. He provided no known place of birth for his parents, nor his date of immigration.[44]
A marriage certificate dated June 5, 1924, was issued to Wallie Dodd Ford and Carmen Frevino (or Trevino) in Orange County, California. Ford reported he was a cook, age 26, born in Oregon, but living in Los Angeles. He reported he was of "Spanish" race. His parents names are given as Zaradodd Ford of "Madrad, Span" (presumably Madrid, Spain) and Babbjie.[45]
Moorish Science Temple of America
In addition to claiming that Fard is Ford, Evanzz also claimed that Fard was once a member of the Moorish Science Temple of America.[46] Authors, such as Evanzz, who claim that Fard is linked to the Moorish Science Temple of America, have cited as a primary source the 1945 publication by Arna Bontemps and Jack Conroy titled “They Seek A City.”[47] Authors have also cited E.U. Essien-Udom for this proposition as well.[48] In his 1962 book titled Black Nationalism: The Search for an Identity, E.U. Essien-Udom included the following passage:
On the question of a connection between the Nation of Islam and the Moorish Science Temple of America, Beynon wrote the following from his interviews with Fard's followers:
Beynon also noted: “The prophet’s message was characterized by his ability to utilize to the fullest measure the environment of his followers. Their physical and economic difficulties alike were used to illustrate the new teaching. Similarly, biblical prophecies and the teachings of Marcus Garvey and Noble Drew Ali were cited as foretelling the coming of the new prophet”.[51]
Relationship With Elijah Muhammad
With regard to Elijah Muhammad, Beynon’s article stated: “From among the larger group of Moslems there has sprung recently an even more militant branch than the Nation of Islam itself. This new movement, known as the Temple People, identifies the prophet, Mr. W.D. Fard, with the god Allah. To Mr. Fard alone do they offer prayer and sacrifice. Since Mr. Fard has been deified, the Temple People raise to the rank of prophet the former Minister of Islam, Elijah Mohammed, now a resident of Chicago. He is always referred to reverently as the ‘Prophet Elijah in Chicago.’”[52]
Elijah Muhammad, who led the Nation of Islam from 1934 to 1975, heard Fard teach for the first time in 1931.[53] Elijah Muhammad stated that he and Fard became inseparable between 1931 and 1934, where he felt “jailed almost” due to the amount of time that they spent together with Fard teaching him day and night.[54]
A hand-written lesson written by Fard states:
In this lesson, Fard places the number of converts obtained in Detroit at twenty-five thousand, and he describes a “Messenger” sent to the “Lost-Found Nation of Islam” who is “of their own.”[56] Nation of Islam theology states that this "Messenger" is Elijah Muhammad.[57]
Fard wrote, in his instructions to the leaders of his community, that they should “copy the Answers of Lesson of Minister Elijah Muhammad.”[58] He went on to state: “Why is Stress made to the Muslims to Copy, the Minister, Elijah Muhammad's Answers? The past History shows that the ALMIGHTY ALLAH sends Prophets and Apostles for the people's Guide and Example, and through them HIS Mystery was Revealed. And those who follow the Apostle would see the Light.”[59]
Fard wrote several lessons which are read and committed to memory by members of the Nation of Islam.[60] Some of the lessons are in the form of questions asked by Fard to Elijah Muhammad.[61] One such lesson concludes with the text: “This Lesson No. 2 was given by our Prophet, W.D. Fard, which contains 40 questions answered by Elijah Muhammad, one of the lost found in the wilderness of North America February 20th, 1934.”[62]
Ideology[edit]
Beynon described the substance of Fard’s teaching as follows:
Fard's lessons actually state that the "trader" referenced by Beynon, came to Africa, not Mecca.[64]
Modern Nation of Islam theology is based upon the belief that Fard’s teaching of Elijah Muhammad was fulfillment of scripture regarding God’s teaching of an Apostle, where Fard is described as “God in Person,” the “Messiah,” and the “Mahdi.”[65] Fard wrote the following for his followers:
In his 1965 book, Message to the Blackman in America, which is a compilation of articles written by Elijah Muhammad for various newspapers throughout the early part of his Ministry, he summarized what Fard taught him as follows:
His name
Many years after his death, he was sometimes referred to as Fard Muhammad, something he was never called in life.
In culture
From those in the music industry influenced by the Nation of Islam and the Five Percent Nation, has come a number of references to Fard's teaching in popular music, particularly hip-hop. Artists have made references within their music like: Jay Z - "I'm going to chase the Yacub back in the cave,"[68] Jay Electronica - "God tribe of Shabazz stylin' on the record," "The son of W.D., who hung around in the D, Who ran around in the three, The trap gods raised me, Face all on the Sphinx, Story all in the wall of the pyramids, Niggas know the Black God saved me,"[69] Brand Nubian - "This asiatic black man is a dog spelled backwards, The maker, the owner, the cream of the planet earth, Father of civilization, God of the universe, Manifestin thought with my infinite styles Making sure this travels, twenty-three million miles, The other six I set the crucifix, Because the heart of the problem is this..."[70] Similar quotes are contained within music from artists like Wu Tang Clan, Poor Righteous Teachers, A Tribe Called Quest, Ice Cube, and Rakim to name a few.[71]
A reinterpretation of the historical mantle exists in Jeffrey Eugenides’s novel Middlesex, which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In the story, Fard's real name is Jimmy Zizmo, and he is a small time bootlegger of rumored Greek-Turkish-Pontian descent who fakes his death upon suspecting that his wife is having an affair and that he is not the father to their daughter.
Having convinced everyone that he is dead, he assumes the Fard identity, apparently out of a desire to reaffirm his Turkish roots.
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