Faradian Islam

Faradian Islam is an inaccurate term to describe diverse schools of African metaphysical thought native to American soil since at least the end of the 19th century. These ideas include African Orthodoxy, Moorish Science, Supreme Wisdom and the 120. Whoever coined this term Faradian Islam derives it from the pronunciation of Fard which is fuh-RAHD, founder of the Nation of Islam.

Origin and Controversy

Some believe that Faradian Islam is not a proper term to describe the philosophies of either the Nation of Gods and Earths or the Nation of Islam. These organizations are the younger offshoots of older organizations of previous generations such the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL); and the Moorish Science Temple of America (MST of A), whose primary focus was not Islam at all but that of African nationalism. All of these groups considered themselves as nations, separate and distinct from the USA; hence the misnomer Black Nationalism.

The UNIA-ACL, led by Marcus Garvey, served in the capacity as a Pan-African government in exile and within this structure was the African Orthodox Church (AOC), which advocated for a return to an authentic form of African religious practice and God worship. Thus the AOC was the official church of the UNIA-ACL, which represented the major organization of the African world from the 1920's through about 1940.

The Moorish Science Temple of America was established as a jural society in 1913, but membership grew after imprisonment and subsequent exile of Marcus Garvey and breakdown of the UNIA-ACL. The founder of the M.S.T. of A, Noble Drew Ali, was actually a member of the UNIA and given the title of Prince by Garvey. Moors consider their nationality as Moorish-American and their religion as Islamism, something distinct from Islam. The main objective of the M.S.T. of A. is to uplift fallen humanity ( so-called Negroes) and to teach them of their divine nationality as Moors. And both Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad were members of the Moorish Science Temple of America prior to the establishment of the Nation of Islam.

Shortly after Noble Drew Ali died, the Moorish Science Temple went through a sort of breakdown similiar to the UNIA under Garvey. It was then around 1930 that the story of the founding of the Nation of Islam comes into African American folklore. Many adherents of Moorish Science believe in reincarnation; it was even suggested at one time or another that Fard Muhammad was a reincarnation of Noble Drew Ali, but one would have to consult with Moors and members of the NOI to verify such claims. From the NOI, individuals such as Clarence 13X, Malcolm X, Farrakhan, and Khalid Abdul Muhammad, who would branch out from the Nation of Islam to organize with different groups to still engage in their political work, labeled sometimes as Black Nationalism.

Both the NOI and the MST of A give credit to Garvey and the UNIA as being their predecessor. Many members of the Nation of Islam have Moorish surnames, not just Muhammad; some even use their divine name of Allah as their surname. Again, this spirituality has nothing to do with Islam, but with Islamism, a prescribed method of authentic African religious practice and God worship, consistent with the African Orthodox Church. Even Malcolm X's holy name after his conversion to traditional Islam is Moorish: El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. And the last organization he worked with was the OAAU, with the aim of establishing a black nation for the 22 million descendants of African slaves in the United States, as well a taking the US government to trial at the UN, among other things.

Clarence 13X left the Nation of Islam and established the Nation of Gods and Earths to teach young people who were not necessarily members of the NOI of their Divine Nationality. The 5% are members of their own respective Nation, distinct from the Nation of Islam. According to its teachings, Islam is Mathematics, the Blackman [sic] is God Allah, and the Blackwoman [sic] is Earth. They even have parliaments. Any Five Percenter will share aspects of their culture to one with an open ear and a sincere quest for enlightenment.

In retrospect, what is mislabeled as Faradian Islam is actually a part of the ideology and practice of Pan-Africanism in America, and some of these philosophical systems predate religion and goes back to the cultural practices of ancient Africa. One of the questions is, how did such old systems of thought appear is such a present time?