A year after delivering what the Nation of Islam deemed its ailing leader’s final public address, Minister Louis Farrakhan has regained control of the movement and his place in its spotlight. Months before delivering the 2007 Saviours’ Day speech in Detro
Experts quickly predicted an inevitable fracturing of Nation of Islam leadership without Farrakhan, the organization’s best-known leader and charismatic speaker.
But on Sunday, a healthy-looking Farrakhan returned for another Saviours’ Day, delivering a twohour speech to 20,000 people in Chicago, detailing his hopes for the presidential election and outlining the religion’s tone going forward.
Indeed, during the past year, Farrakhan has quietly reassumed full responsibility for the Nation, top assisting Minister Ishmael Muhammad confirmed to The Associated Press. While recuperating, Farrakhan has opted to hold intimate lectures at the organization’s Mosque Maryam on the city’s South Side and build momentum with speeches at smaller venues.
But it seemed Sunday he may not maintain the low profile. "Many of you have not heard much from me this year, outside of the Nation," he said during his first major public address in a year. "I wanted, by the grace of God, to put the Nation on the best road possible to make us true and better servants of our people. That internal work is still going on.
But I cannot stay on the inside when so much work needs to be done on the outside." Farrakhan told followers his weight was up to a robust 192 pounds, from a low of 158 pounds in late 2006 when he was extremely ill. "Cancer is not present," he said. "Because if it were, I wouldn’t be gaining weight." Muhammad said Farrakhan passed daily leadership duties to an executive board for only a few months and the 74-year-old has since taken back the organization’s reins.
"God has spared his life and kept him here," said Muhammad, an assisting minister at Mosque Maryam and widely believed to be Farrakhan’s eventual successor. "He has work to do and complete." In May, Farrakhan delivered a message of unity at St. Sabina Catholic Church. In October, he addressed a crowd of about 5,000 in a commemoration of the 12th anniversary of the Million Man March.
He has since produced a series of lectures for youth with titles like "Black Youth in Peril."
“Many of you have not heard much from me this year, outside of the Nation. I wanted, by the grace of God to put the Nation on the best road possible to make us true and better servants of our people.” Min. Louis Farrakhan
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