When the Word is Given... / A Report on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and the Black Muslim World

by Louis E. Lomax

I am more than honored by your presence here this afternoon and your sincere welcome to me and to my followers here in this great city of Atlanta.

I thank Allah for Minister Jeremiah, my faithful minister here whose tireless efforts in Atlanta and throughout the South have made this great gathering here today possible. The work that Minister Jeremiah has been doing here in the South has pleased Allah, and it has pleased me too.

Year after year I receive letters from many converts here in Atlanta, and I know that the Word of Allah is spreading rapidly among our people here in the South because of the ever increasing volume of your letters to me.

And, my beloved people, I want you to know that those of you here in Atlanta and in other parts of the South who accept Islam, which is the true religion of Almighty God, are not alone. Not only do you have a fast-growing number of brothers and sisters in all of the Northern cities, but you have 725 million more brothers and sisters in the World of Islam.

I am also thankful to my followers who have traveled here to Atlanta to be with me today from my various temples throughout America, and especially the caravan of young Muslims who motored over 2,000 miles all the way from Los Angeles, California, to be here on this grand occasion.

My followers are with me wherever I go, and it is wonderful to have such sincere people who will follow you all around the country like this because it shows unity, and it also shows there is no religion that can produce unity like the unity produced by Islam. Yes, today the Muslims are in all the major cities of America, and if you look around in the smaller cities you will find us there also. Just walk around saying, “As-Salaam-Alaikum,” and pretty soon someone will reply, “Wa-Alaikum-Salaam.”

Beloved brothers and sisters, again I must thank Allah for permitting me to be in your presence here in Atlanta this afternoon. I am thankful also to the Atlanta Police Department for the courtesies they have shown us here in this city, and I want everyone to know we are a people who are grateful to anyone who is nice to us, and peaceful toward us. We are a people of peace. We are seeking to spread brotherly love among the so-called Negroes for it is they who have been deprived of brotherly love. We (Muslims) have come through the same trials and tribulations as they have, and now we want them to see and share the brotherhood that Islam has given us.

Islam is not a new religion. Islam is not a religion that has been organized by the white man. Islam is the religion of God Himself, and Islam is the religion of all the prophets of God, from Adam to Muhammad (the last). Islam was the religion of Moses, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus. Islam will be the last of the three great religions (Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam) that now dominate the earth.

Islam must be the last of these three great religions because God Himself is the Author of Islam, and Islam is to bring peace and contentment after this war and trouble-making world which you now know has been destroyed ... and you can see that this trouble-making world is already on its way out.

Islam has not made great progress for the past 6,000 years because this is the religion that God Himself would spread in the “last days.” If Islam had been forced upon all the people of the earth during the past 6,000 years there would not have been any “World of Christianity,” there would not have been any “World of Buddhism” ... and there would never have been anything like the “Caucasian World.” Islam would have prevented their progress. God Himself has held Islam “in check” to give these other “worlds” free reign during the past 6,000 years.