Nation of Islam

The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a syncretic new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad on July 4, 1930. The Nation of Islam's stated goals are to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African Americans in the United States and all of humanity. Its critics accuse it of being black supremacist and antisemitic, and NOI is tracked as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center

Its official newspaper is The Final Call. The Nation of Islam does not publish its membership numbers; in 2007, the core membership was estimated between 20,000 and 50,000, but their following was believed to be larger.^{[according to whom?]} Most of the members are in the United States, but there are small communities in other countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago.^{[citation needed]}

After Fard disappeared in June 1934, the Nation of Islam was led by Elijah Muhammad, who established places of worship (called Temples or Mosques), a school named Muhammad University of Islam, businesses, farms and real estate holdings in the United States and abroad. There were a number of splits and splinter groups during Elijah Muhammad's leadership, most notably the departure of senior leader Malcolm X to become Sunni Muslim. After Elijah Muhammad's death, his son Warith Deen Mohammed changed the name of the organization to "World Community of Islam in the West" (and twice more after that).^{[citation needed]}

In 1977, Louis Farrakhan rejected Warith Deen Mohammed's leadership and re-established the Nation of Islam on the original model. He took over the Nation of Islam's headquarter Temple, Mosque Maryam (Mosque #2), which is located in Chicago, Illinois. Since 2010, under Farrakhan, members have been strongly encouraged to study Dianetics, and the Nation claims it has trained 1055 Auditors.

There has been speculation over the years about who will succeed Farrakhan as the national leader of the NOI. Most recently,^[when?] Farrakhan's selection of Assistant Minister Ishmael Muhammad to deliver the 2013 Holy Day of Atonement key note address in his place may shed some light on that question. In December 2013, Farrakhan said in Indianapolis that he had been absent from the event because he had suffered a heart attack.

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