Sheep, to separate them from their enemies, and restore them to their own people. Master Fard
taught that Prophecy referred to this Finder and Savior of the Lost Sheep as The Son of Man, or
God in Person, or The Lifegiver, The Redeemer, or The Messiah, who would come as lightning
from the East and appear in the West.
He was the One to whom the Jews referred as The Messiah, the Christians as The Christ, and
the Muslims as The Mahdi.
I would sit, galvanized, hearing what I then accepted from Mr. Muhammad's own mouth as being
the true history of our religion, the true religion for the black man. Mr. Muhammad told me that
one evening he had a revelation that Master W. D. Fard represented the fulfillment of the
prophecy.
"I asked Him," said Mr. Muhammad, "'Who are you, and what is your real name?' And He said, 'I
am The One the world has been looking for to come for the past two thousand years.'
"I said to Him again," said Mr. Muhammad, "'What is your true name?' And then He said, 'My
name is Mahdi. I came to guide you into the right path.'"
Mr. Elijah Muhammad says that he sat listening with an open heart and an open mind-the way I
was sitting listening to Mr. Muhammad. And Mr. Muhammad said he never doubted any word that
the "Savior" taught him.
Starting to organize, Master W. D. Fard set up a class for training ministers to carry the teachings
to America's black people. In giving names to these first ministers, Master Fard named Elijah
Poole "Elijah Karriem."
Next, Master W. D. Fard established in 1931 in Detroit a University of Islam. It had adult classes
which taught, among other things, mathematics, to help the poor Negroes quit being duped and
deceived by the "tricknology" of "the blue-eyed devil white man."
Starting a school in the rough meant that it lacked qualified teachers, but a start had to be made
somewhere. Mr. Elijah Karriem removed his own children from Detroit public schools, to start a
nucleus of children in the University of Islam.
Mr. Muhammad told me that his older children's lack of formal education reflected their sacrifice
to form the backbone for today's Universities of Islam in Detroit and Chicago which have betterqualified
faculties.
Master W. D. Fard selected Elijah Karriem to be the Supreme Minister, over all other ministers,
and among all of those others sprang up a bitter jealousy. All of them had better education than
Elijah Karriem, and also they were more articulate than he was. They raged, even in his
presence, "Why should we bow down to someone who appears less qualified?"
But Mr. Elijah Karriem was then in some way re-named "Elijah Muhammad," who as the Supreme
Minister began to receive from Master W. D. Fard for the next three and a half years private
teachings, during which time he says he "heard things never revealed to others."
During this period, Mr. Elijah Muhammad and Master W. D. Fard went to Chicago and established
Temple Number Two. They also established in Milwaukee the beginnings of a Temple Number
Three.
In 1934, Master W. D. Fard disappeared, without a trace.
Elijah Muhammad says that attempts were made upon his life, because the other ministers'
jealousy had reached such a pitch. He says that these "hypocrites" forced him to flee to Chicago.
Temple Number Two became his headquarters until the "hypocrites" pursued him there, forcing
him to flee again. In Washington, D. C., he began Temple Number Four. Also while there, in the
Congressional Library, he studied books which he says Master W. D. Fard had told him contained
different pieces of the truth that devil white man had recorded, but which were not in books
generally available to the public.
Saying that he was still pursued by the "hypocrites," Mr. Muhammad fled from city to city, never
staying long in any. Whenever able, now and then, he slipped home to see his wife and his eight
young children, who were fed by other poor Muslims who shared what little they had. Even Mr.
Muhammad's original Chicago followers wouldn't know he was at home, for he says the
"hypocrites" made serious efforts to kill him.