Elijah Muhammad

Born

October 7, 1897

Died

February 25, 1975 (aged 77)

Known as

Muslim minister, politician, religious leader

Elijah Muhammad was an American religious leader who led the Nation of Islam from 1933 until his death in 1975. Under his leadership, the Nation of Islam grew from a small Detroit-based movement into a nationwide organization with tens of thousands of members in the United States during the civil rights movement. He promoted black nationalism and a distinctive theology which taught that white people were a race of "devils" created by an evil black meccan scientist named Yakub, and that there were multiple gods, each a black man named Allah whom he was the messenger of.

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