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Wallace Fard Muhammad, also known as Wallace D. Fard or Master Fard Muhammad (; reportedly born February 26, c. 1877 – disappeared c. 1934), was the founder of the Nation of Islam. He arrived in Detroit in 1930 with an ambiguous background and several aliases, and proselytized idiosyncratic Islamic teachings to the city's black population. In 1934, he disappeared from public record, and Elijah Muhammad succeeded him as leader of the Nation of Islam. Fard in Detroit (1930–34) Fard first appeared in Detroit in 1930; his followers cite July 4, 1930, as the date of his arrival. Acting as a door-to-door salesman, Fard spread his religious teachings throughout Detroit, and within three years grew the movement to a reported 25,000 members in Detroit, Chicago, and other cities. Clothing peddler Fard began by selling Oriental silks door-to-door in Detroit's black section. Fard visited the homes of black families who had recently migrated to Detroit from the rural South. Fard told black residents that his silks were the same kind that their ancestors in Mecca used and claimed to be a traveler from that land. When offered food, Fard reportedly ate what was provided but would advise residents to avoid certain foods, promising health benefits would follow. At his suggestion, he came back to teach the residents, along with guests. Bible study leader at house churches In the early stage of his ministry, Fard used the Bible as his textbook, since it was the only religious book with which the majority of his audience were familiar. Bowen similarly argues that in the early Nation of Islam, "ministers regularly referenced passages from the Bible to prove their claims". Fard's successor Elijah Muhammad would later claim Fard "knew the Bible better than any of the Christian-bred Negroes". Lomax wrote that Fard was "well-versed" in the Bible, used it as a textbook and taught in the style of a Southern Baptist preacher. Beynon writes that "With growing prestige over a constantly increasing group, [Fard] became bolder in his denunciation of white people and began to attack the teachings of the Bible in such a way as to shock his hearers and bring them to an emotional crisis." Fard taught a form of black exceptionalism and self-pride to poor Southern blacks during the Great Northward Migration at a time when old ideas of scientific racism were prevalent. He advocated that community members establish and own their own businesses, eat healthy, raise families, and refrain from drugs and alcohol. In 1938, sociologist Erdmann Doane Beynon published in the American Journal of Sociology a firsthand account of several interviews he conducted with followers of Fard in Michigan. From those interviews, Beynon wrote that Fard lived and taught in Detroit from 1930 to 1934. Giver of new names Fard taught his followers to reject surnames inherited from white slaveowners. As part of their initiation into the group, Fard bestowed new Muslim names upon his converts. He taught that this practice restored their original and true identities, while also revealing the lies that cloaked the origins of the so-called Asiatic Blackman. Such names included Muhammad, Ali, Karriem, and Fardan. Scholars note that new names had previously been given by Noble Drew Ali of the Moorish Science Temple of America, who assigned surnames El and Bey; the term "slave name" was used by the MSTA. After Fard's death, Elijah Muhammad continued this practice within the Nation of Islam and added the letter X, symbolizing the unknown, instead of a name. Both during and after his life, some charged that Fard was a conman who used mystery and charisma to swindle poor blacks, selling them new Muslim names and stirring up racial animosity by copying selected elements of other Muslim religious sects and ideologies that fit his racial supremacist narrative. Leader of the Allah Temple of Islam Beynon's interviewees told him that reports of Fard's message spread throughout the black community. Attendance at the house meetings grew until the listeners were divided into groups and taught in shifts. Finally, the community contributed money and rented a hall to serve as a temple where meetings were conducted. The Quran was soon introduced as the most authoritative of all texts for the study of the faith. Fard prepared texts that served as authoritative manuals of the faith and were memorized verbatim by his followers. According to Beynon, Fard's followers grew to approximately eight thousand, and "[w]ithin three years the prophet not only began the movement but organized it so well that he himself was able to recede into the background, appearing almost never to his followers during the final months of his residence in Detroit." During this time, Clara Poole, later renamed Clara Muhammad, waa introduced to W.D. Fard and his teachings through her in-laws. His teachings gave Poole hope and presented her life with new possibilities and new memories. After one of Fard's services, during which he asked if someone knew Elijah Poole, Clara, introduced him and his teachings to her husband, Elijah Poole, who later became Elijah Muhammad. His guidance and teachings eventually changed and reformed Elijah Poole into a responsible and ideal husband, who would later become the face and leader of the Nation Of Islam. From interviews with approximately two hundred families who followed Fard, Beynon concluded:Although the prophet lived in Detroit from July 4, 1930 until June 30, 1934, virtually nothing is known about him, save that he 'came from the East' and that he 'called' the Negroes of North America to enter the Nation of Islam. His very name is uncertain. He was known usually as Mr. Wali Farrad or Mr. W. D. Fard, though he used also the following names: Professor Ford, Mr. Farrad Mohammed, Mr. F. Mohammed Ali. One of the few survivors who heard his first addresses states that he himself said: 'My name is W. D. Fard and I came from the Holy City of Mecca. More about myself I will not tell you yet, for the time has not yet come. I am your brother. You have not yet seen me in my royal robes.' Legends soon sprang up about this mysterious personality. In 1933, he began signing his name "W. F. Muhammad", which stood for Wallace Fard Muhammad, and used it on several lessons written in 1933 and 1934. Ideology Beynon described the substance of Fard's teaching as follows:The black men in North America are not Negroes, but members of the lost tribe of Shabazz, stolen by traders from the Holy City of Mecca 379 years ago. The prophet came to America to find and to bring back to life his long lost brethren, from whom the Caucasians had taken away their language, their nation and their religion. Here in America they were living other than themselves. They must learn that they are the original people, noblest of the nations of the earth. The Caucasians are the colored people, since they have lost their original color. The original people must regain their religi.... Discover the David G Dodd popular books. Find the top 100 most popular David G Dodd books.