Elijah Muhammad

In the months before his death, Elijah Muhammad transferred four Chicago houses to family members who also held positions in the Nation of Islam, without filing gift tax returns. The Tax Court subsequently found the transfers to be gifts made in contemplation of death, and the federal appeals court upheld the gift and estate tax assessments.

State of the evidence

Documented

Under Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam taught a racial cosmology in which Black people were the original humans and white people a subsequently created race, described as demonic and destined to dominate Black people for a defined period. The organisation simultaneously advocated political, economic and social separation of the races.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Following Malcolm X's break with the Nation of Islam, tensions escalated into public and private threats. Malcolm was assassinated in February 1965; Nation of Islam members were implicated in the murder, although historical convictions were subsequently reassessed and exonerations granted. Elijah Muhammad always denied responsibility.

Malcolm X learned and then confirmed that Elijah Muhammad had had relationships with several young secretaries and fathered children with them, although the Nation of Islam imposed strict sexual morality rules on members. The discovery contributed decisively to the break between the two men.

State of the evidence

Corroborated

Attribution

Personally implicated

After Malcolm X described John F. Kennedy's assassination as 'chickens coming home to roost' despite instructions to remain silent, Elijah Muhammad prohibited him from preaching or speaking to the press for 90 days. In January 1964, he also removed him as national representative and from Temple No. 7, before Malcolm's definitive break with the organisation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

As part of his separatist strategy, Elijah Muhammad authorised contacts between the Nation of Islam and Ku Klux Klan representatives to examine, among other matters, land acquisition and racial separation. In 1962, American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell was invited to speak at the Nation of Islam's Saviours' Day convention.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Elijah Muhammad instructed his followers not to receive the polio vaccine, establishing a lasting tradition of vaccine distrust within the Nation of Islam.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

During the Second World War, Elijah Muhammad was prosecuted in connection with his appeals to Nation of Islam members not to participate in the war effort and his own refusal to comply with conscription obligations. He served approximately four years in the federal system for violating the Selective Service Act.

Attribution

Accused