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

by Louis E. Lomax

But, Islam was the religion of the black people who lived before Adam was made, as far back as 66 trillion years ago when the earth and the moon were together and formed one and the same planet ... and which at that time was called “moon” instead of earth.

According to the word of Allah to me, one of our wise black scientists was upset over the dialect the people were speaking, and he wanted to change the language and make all of the people speak the same dialect. He became angry because he could not get the others to go along with him, and when he saw that he could not accomplish what he wanted, he drilled a huge shaft into this planet for about four or five thousand miles deep, and filling that hole with high explosives he set it off, with the intention of destroying all civilization. He thought he would get rid of us.

That part of the planet which we call “moon” today was blasted 12,000 miles from its original pocket that it had been rotating in at the time of the explosion, and this part that we call “earth” today dropped 36,000 miles from that pocket and found another pocket and started rotating again ... (it all happened in the twinkling of an eye) ... and that part (moon) that was blasted away dropped all of its water upon this part (earth), and this is why three-fourths of the earth’s surface today is covered by water, and also why there is no life on the moon.

We are the people who devised that great destruction of our planet. That part (moon) that you see up there in the sky shining at night was once joined with this part (earth) that we now five on. Before the explosion the entire planet was then called “moon.” (Not really by the word “moon” that we use today, but by a word in Arabic that means practically the same thing.) We will have another great destruction, and we will provide that one too. We ourselves (the black nation) are a people who can never be destroyed. There never was a time when we (the black nation) didn’t exist. We don’t have any birth record of the black nation. We have no beginning and we have no ending. So don’t talk about getting rid of the Black Man, because you cannot do it.

Again I say, we are happy to be in Atlanta today, the capital of Georgia ... my birth state. I was born in this state, and grew up in this state. I was a grown man, married and the father of children even before I left this state. So don’t try and make me acquainted with Georgia. I am already acquainted with Georgia.

This great city of Atlanta with its five colleges, institutions of learning, is one of America’s most important cities, and is even the gateway to the South. We thank the city for permitting us to enter it, and the courtesy of the police department, and the mayor of this great city, and the governor of the state. We are happy to be called one of your own state-borned sons.

My beloved people, I am one of your brothers; I am not a foreigner, but I have a Divine Message from the Lord of the Worlds that sounds foreign to you because you have not heard it before.

I want you to know that we so-called Negroes are the people who have been on this planet for trillions of years. I say so-called Negro because you are not a Negro. You are members of the Asiatic Nation, from the Tribe of Shabazz. There is no such thing as a race of Negroes. This is a false name given you during slavery by your slave master, who, after robbing you completely of your knowledge of your homeland, your parents, and your culture, called you “Negro” or Nigger because that word means something that is “NEUTER” or “NEUTRAL.” Therefore you are now a little group of people on this earth who stand out because you have become neutralized by ignorance of yourself and your own kind, and of your enemy. You are “neutral” ... not united with yourselves, among yourselves, nor are you united with your own people of your own world.

Since ignorance of self and hatred of self makes you reluctant to unite with your own kind, and despite your love and worship of your slave master he will not let you unite with him ... thus you are in the middle, standing alone, neutralized by your own lack of knowledge, unacceptable to either friend or foe ... NEGROES!!!

This is why you are called NEGRO. The slave master gave you this name because he understood the meaning of it, although Webster has cunningly kept you away from the true meaning of it by saying it refers to black people ... and especially the black African who has no education or independence.