pissedoffnobody;6902608 said:
X-Clan's Xodus album was about the idea of Brooklyn as the new Mecca in line with NOGE faith.
Emphatic Nosign. Harlem is Mecca and Brooklyn is Medina. X Clan's album was all over the place. Case in point, look at the album cover;
If you look at the album cover at the center is an Egyptian symbol called Udjat or The Sound Eye of Horus. It looks kinda like an eye with an eyebrow over it. To the immediate right of the Udjat you'll plainly see the Universal Flag that was designed by Universal Shamgaud of the Nation of God's and Earths.
Under ordinary circumstances a Universal Flag would indicate that they are members of the Nation of God's and Earths. But there's other symbols on the album as well. There's an Egyptian Ahnk which symbolizes Eternal Life, there's a six pointed Hebrew flag which symbolized Judaism. Does that mean X Clan is Jewish? There's a Nation of Islam Flag, does that make them FOI? There's a Masonic symbol, does that make them Masons? You get my point? X Clan just took a bunch of esoteric symbols, mixed them up and made an album.
If you study The Supreme Wisdom Lessons, which are the unequivocal, undisputable, undeniable primary source for the Nation of Islam, there's not one word on X Clan's Xodus album that can be found in the lessons. X Clan belonged to a movement called Blackwatch, not the Nation of God's and Earths. In contrast, Rakim, Lakim Shabazz, King Sun, Poor Righteous Teachers, Brand Nubian, Digable Planets and Wu Tang have entire phrases from their lyrics that come directly from the lessons verbatim. For example, King Sun has a song called "Universal Flag" which is based on the 55th degree in the 120.
You say,
"Now, you're reading a Malcolm X biography for your faith? Not a book of faith, but a biography? You realise Malcolm X is not the founder and in fact his own apprentice doubted his philosophy to the degree he adapted the NOI teachings into the NOGE ideals of black women and men as the first Gods of the Earth. So, those waters have got muddier over time."
Strawman argument. I never said I'm, "reading a Malcolm X biography for my faith". I said that "if you want to know what the Nation of Islam teaches you should read a first edition of The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley." I stand by that statement. Alex Haley was an established writer at the time and he and Malcolm sat down in late night sessions and Malcolm told his life story over a series of months. Its not a"biography" as you say. It's an
Autobiography meaning its all coming directly out of Malcolm's mouth. At the time they started the book Malcolm was the National Spokesperson for the Nation of Islam but through the course of putting the book together Malcolm left the Nation of Islam, made a Hajj to Mecca and started his own movement. The book was published in 1966, one year after Malcolm's death.
The Nation of Islam is a fraternal order with a paramilitary structure, so Malcolm, being a minister, was privy to information that wasn't available to the general public. In his autobiography he explains how the Fruit of Islam and Muslim Girls Training (F.O.I. and M.G.T.) was structured, what the rules were, what they believed, how the Nation of Islam came into existence, the history of the early years before he became a member, how he became a member and the state of the Nation of Islam when he first joined and how it grew over the 12 years while he was a minister. Most importantly he explained how he went from city to city "fishing" for new converts and then opening new temples. Malcolm was to the Nation of Islam what Paul was to the religion of Christianity, he went from city to city spreading the message and organized temples and as soon as those temples were able to sustain themselves he'd go to another city and start another temple.
You go on to say,
"The NOI was formed in Detroit, a predominantly black area at the time, by a man who has since been revealed to have been of Afghan origin, WF Muhammad. His son Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan and Clarence 13X have all appropriated and spun the material over the decades as the agenda has shifted."
The Nation of Islam was founded on July 4, 1930. The exact date, the address of the first temple, the names of the founders, Elijah Muhammad's birthplace, the first meeting of ALLAH in the person of Master Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad, how Elijah Muhammad was appointed Supreme Minister, all of that information is known. What you have stated in the above paragraph is schizophrenic nonsense. It appears as though you've done a quick google search and can't tell what's right and/or where to look but you wanted to reply anyway so you cut and pasted and hoped nobody would notice that it doesn't make any sense.
The foundation of the Nation of Islam are teachings that have names. Each lesson has a name. When I was coming up you started off with the Student Enrollment 1-10 and after you were able to recite that from memory you'd move on to the next lesson. All in all there's 122 questions and answers (5%ers call em 'degrees') although two of them are repeated twice (The square mileage of the planet earth, how much is land and how much is water). When you subtract the two lessons that are repeated there are 120 degrees. When you're able to recite all 120 degrees from memory you are said to "have 120". There's 120 degrees of Knowledge, 120 degrees of Wisdom and 120 degrees of Understanding which makes 360 degrees of knowledge, wisdom and understanding; a cipher of 360 degrees. The cipher can represent Man, Women and Child, Sun Moon and Star or Zig-Zag-Zig, the path traveled by The Lost Found Tribe of Shabazz.
Lastly, you say, "
You seem to be assuming you have to be 5% and practicing to know anything about the NOI/NOGE faith which is ridiculous. All you need is to be able to read, have some spare time and the inclination to read the material.
Well, the problem with that is that YOU don't know WHAT to read. You don't know which books are official and which books are nonsense. There's a lot of websites out there that are similar to X Clan's album, they use the terminology because they think it sounds good but if you really study the lessons authored by Master Fard Muhammad and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, not Wikipedia but the actual teachings, the official teachings, the lessons that Malcolm X studied from, the lessons that Clarence 13X taught, the lessons that Minister Farrakhan gives out at the local Nation of Islam Mosques, you'll clearly see that most of what you see and read about the Nation of Islam online is false.
The primary sources for the Nation of Islam are as follows;
1. The Supreme Wisdom Lessons - This is what Master Fard Muhammad left when he mysteriously disappeared.
2. Message to the Black Man and/or any book authored by Elijah Muhammmad. There's an organization called The Messenger Elijah Muhammad Propagation Society (M.E.M.P.S.). They transcribe Elijah Muhammad's speeches and reprint them into books. Anything published by them is official.
3. The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley - This book changed my life when I read it in high school. I just recently copped a first edition which is a little different from the version I read in high school.
4. Black Muslims in America (first edition) by C. Eric Lincoln. This book was published in 1961. It's told from a secular point of view. Its a good companion to Message to the Blackman which is more like scripture. Later editions of this book don't read like the first edition because the statistics and political climate are different.
Edit
5. Study Guide #19 A&B Who is God? - Minister Farrakhan authored it in 1997.
