We thank you for inviting us here today to present our views on this topic: “The Negro’s Position in the Recent American Society.” But, to understand our views you must first know something about our religion, Islam.
The Creator of the Universe, whom many of you call God or Jehovah, is known to the Muslims by the name ALLAH. Since the Muslims believe all prophets came from that ONE GOD and therefore all taught one and the same religion, rightly called ISLAM, which means the complete submission and obedience to ALLAH.
One who practices this Divine Obedience is called a Muslim (commonly known, spelled, and referred to here in the West as Moslem).
There are over 600 million Muslims on this earth, predominantly in Africa and Asia, and we here in America under the Divine Guidance of Mr. Elijah Muhammad are an integral part of the vast World of Islam that stretches from the China Seas to the sunny shores of West Africa.
A unique situation faces the black man here in America because of his unique condition, thus his acceptance of Islam and into Islam affects him uniquely ... differently than all other converts to Islam.
Mr. Elijah Muhammad is our Divine Leader and Teacher here in America. He believes in and obeys God 100 per cent and is teaching and working among us to fulfill God’s Divine Purpose.
What is this purpose? God’s purpose today (just as it was in biblical days) is the complete SEPARATION of the so-called Negroes from their slave master ... as the bible says concerning today: “Let every man be under his own vine and fig tree.”
The best biblical example of this is the enslavement of the Hebrews in the land of Egypt under Pharaoh ... a free man and some slaves who were “strangers in a land not their own,” and how Jehovah chose Moses to SEPARATE them from their slave master.
Since the slave master today declares his “former” slaves are free, Mr. Muhammad says that for the betterment of our future and that of our former slave master God has declared we also must be SEPARATED.
To many of you here in this college auditorium, this sounds ridiculous; to some it even sounds insane. But 20 million black people here in America now number a nation in their own right. Do you believe a nation WITHIN another nation can be successful? Especially when they both have equal education?