Farrakhan Illness Casts Doubt On Nation Of Islam

Ailing and in seclusion at his Michigan home, Minister Louis Farrakhan recently ceded leadership to an executive board while he recovers, saying the movement must prove that it "is more than the charisma, eloquence and personality" of one person. But some of those who have watched the Nation Of Islam evolve over decades believe that the organization — known as much for the dark suits and bow ties of its followers as for its doctrine of black supremacy — will falter without a dynamic figure like the minister in charge. "When Farrakhan dies, my prediction is the movement will split," said Lawrence Mamiya, a Vassar College professor and an expert on black American religion. "I don't think this movement can be governed by a board. It runs off the charismatic energy of one person."

Minister Louis Farrakhan has firsthand experience with a messy transition at the top. He had to rebuild the Nation of Islam in the late 1970s, after W.D. Mohammed, the son of the late Nation leader Elijah Muhammad, broke away and moved his followers toward mainstream Islam. While the Nation Of Islam has obviously survived, no one can say how successful the revival has been. A longtime target of federal surveillance, the movement is highly secretive and suspicious of outsiders. Even researchers who follow the group closely do not know for sure how many members or mosques it has, how much money it takes in or whether it is shrinking or growing. Yet Mr. Farrakhan's popularity among many blacks is clear. The hundreds of thousands of black men he drew to the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C. are only one example. He is popular with hip-hop artists, who praise the Nation Of Islam in their music, and a trusted mediator in gang conflict. This support is baffling to many outsiders, who remember Min. Farrakhan only for his most provocative comments, including calling Judaism a "gutter religion" and saying Adolf Hitler was "wickedly great." "The Nation of Islam has always been a symbolically important organization as a cultural symbol of defiance against the American state," said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University. "At the Million Man March, most of those people were not members of the Nation of Islam. They were supporters of Farrakhan and his brand of critique of American politics."

Min. Farrakhan has haltingly tried to move the Nation Of Islam toward traditional Islam, which considers the American movement heretical because of its view of Elijah Muhammad as a prophet — among other novel teachings. Orthodox Islam teaches that there has been no prophet after Muhammad in the seventh century. He has also played down some of the group's more controversial beliefs. The Nation of Islam teaches that whites are descended from the devil and that blacks are the chosen people of Allah. Mamiya said leaders no longer preach that message, although it is still taught in some mosques. Analysts agree that the movement continues to see its greatest growth in American prisons. Many members are offenders, ex-offenders or relatives of convicts.

Two men could possibly succeed Min. Farrakhan: Ishmael Muhammad, a son of Elijah Muhammad, who is assistant minister at Mosque Maryam; or Akbar Muhammad, a long-shot candidate who is based in Ghana. Ishmael Muhammad did not respond to a message left at the mosque. To many, the movement may seem like an anachronism — more suited to a time when segregation was the law and any opportunities blacks had they had to create for themselves. But observers say the Nation Of Islam will have an appeal as long as racism and poverty plague the community.

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