his own sons as being guilty of the same acts of immorality that he judged Reginald and so many
others for.
But at that time, all of the doubt and confusion in my mind was removed. All of the influence that
my brother had wielded over me was broken. From that day on, as far as I am concerned,
everything that my brother Reginald has done is wrong.
But Reginald kept visiting me. When he had been a Muslim, he had been immaculate in his attire.
But now, he wore things like a T-shirt, shabby-looking trousers, and sneakers. I could see him on
the way down. When he spoke, I heard him coldly. But I would listen. He was my blood brother.
Gradually, I saw the chastisement of Allah-what Christians would call "the curse"-come upon
Reginald. Elijah Muhammad said that Allah was chastising Reginald-and that anyone who
challenged Elijah Muhammad would be chastened by Allah. In Islam we were taught that as long
as one didn't know the truth, he lived in darkness. But once the truth was accepted, and
recognized, he lived in light, and whoever would then go against it would be punished by Allah.
Mr. Muhammad taught that the five-pointed star stands for justice, and also for the five senses of
man. We were taught that Allah executes justice by working upon the five senses of those who
rebel against His Messenger, or against His truth. We were taught that this was Allah's way of
letting Muslims know His sufficiency to defend His Messenger against any and all opposition, as
long as the Messenger himself didn't deviate from the path of truth. We were taught that Allah
turned the minds of any defectors into a turmoil. I thought truly that it was Allah doing this to my
brother.
One letter, I think from my brother Philbert, told me that Reginald was with them in Detroit. I heard
no more about Reginald until one day, weeks later, Ella visited me; she told me that Reginald was
at her home in Roxbury, sleeping. Ella said she had heard a knock, she had gone to the door, and
there was Reginald, looking terrible. Ella said she had asked, "Where did you come from?" And
Reginald had told her he came from Detroit. She said she asked him, "How did you get here?"
And he had told her, "I walked."
I believed he had walked. I believed in Elijah Muhammad, and he had convinced us that Allah's
chastisement upon Reginald's mind had taken away Reginald's ability to gauge distance and
time. There is a dimension of time with which we are not familiar here in the West. Elijah
Muhammad said that under Allah's chastisement, the five senses of a man can be so deranged
by thosewhose mental powers are greater than his that in five minutes his hair can turn snow
white. Or he will walk nine hundred miles as he might walk five blocks.
In prison, since I had become a Muslim, I had grown a beard. When Reginald visited me, he
nervously moved about in his chair; he told me that each hair on my beard was a snake.
Everywhere, he saw snakes.
He next began to believe that he was the "Messenger of Allah." Reginald went around in the
streets of Roxbury, Ella reported to me, telling people that he had some divine power. He
graduated from this to saying that he was Allah.
He finally began saying he was greater than Allah.
Authorities picked up Reginald, and he was put into an institution. They couldn't find what was
wrong. They had no way to understand Allah's chastisement. Reginald was released. Then he
was picked up again, and was put into another institution.
Reginald is in an institution now. I know where, but I won't say. I would not want to cause him any
more trouble than he has already had.
I believe, today, that it was written, it was meant, for Reginald to be used for one purpose only: as