The End of an Era?

With Farrakhan Ill, the Nation of Islam Prepares for Change

Nearly 30 years after Louis Farrakhan seized control of the Nation of Islam, the organization is preparing for a change at the top. The controversial minister is battling what he has described as a "life-threatening" illness -- painful swelling of the prostate that has left him more than 30 pounds underweight, dehydrated, anemic and unwilling to eat.

Farrakhan, 73, recently relinquished his duties and turned control over to an executive panel of trusted lieutenants, exhorting them to move the Nation of Islam forward and prove that it is more than the charisma and influence of one man.

"The minister has good days. He has bad days," said Ishmael Muhammad, who leads the organization's flagship Mosque Maryam in Chicago and sits on the executive board. "The doctors are meeting to talk about what steps they can take to help him . . . so that he does not have to suffer through the pain he's constantly in."

Muhammad said the board runs the Nation of Islam's day-to-day responsibilities. It includes Abdul-Alim Muhammad, Farrakhan's medical adviser; Leonard Muhammad, the chief of staff; and Mustafa Farrakhan, one of the leader's sons.

Although they are considered equals, each board member is poised to take over the organization if Louis Farrakhan fails to fully recover.

Power struggles are nothing new within the deeply insular Nation of Islam. After leader Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, Farrakhan split with Wallace D. Mohammed, the son who replaced him, and started his own following.

Wallace Mohammed angered some members by renouncing his father's unorthodox teachings and seeking to convert the Nation to orthodox Sunni Islam. But Farrakhan, a former calypso singer, followed Elijah Muhammad's doctrine almost to the letter, mesmerizing black audiences with messages of social liberation and empowerment that culminated with the Million Man March in 1995, one of the largest African American gatherings in history.

"Minister Farrakhan has been one of the strongest voices in our community in terms of his critique against racism in the black community, and that voice has been important," said Ronald Walters, a University of Maryland professor of political science who teaches a course in black leadership.

But Farrakhan failed to follow through on his promises to unify black men, create jobs and make black communities self-sufficient, Walters said.

"It didn't go anywhere," he said. "He didn't lend himself to implementation. He went off into the desert, and we couldn't get the implementation and administration started."

A change in leadership could allow the Nation to move away from a controversial mythology. Followers are taught that the group's founder, Wallace Fard, was an incarnation of God and that a scientist named Yacub created white people, notions that are dismissed by orthodox Muslims.

Eight years ago, as he fought prostate cancer, Farrakhan softened his tone and sought to burnish an image that had been improving since the Million Man March. He said reports that he had called Judaism a "gutter religion" misquoted him, and he said he did not mean to offend.