Group
An American movement founded in the 1930s whose beliefs, including that a man was God in person, are not accepted by mainstream Muslims.
What it means
Wallace D. Fard Muhammad began teaching in Detroit in 1930, and Elijah Muhammad (1897–1975) led the movement from 1934 until his death. Its teachings on race and on Fard’s divinity differ from Islam, which holds that God is one and that Muhammad was the last prophet. Malcolm X left it in 1964, made the pilgrimage, and spoke of seeing Muslims of every colour praying together.
What the sources say
In 1975 Elijah Muhammad’s son, Warith Deen Mohammed, led most followers into mainstream Sunni Islam. Louis Farrakhan revived the Nation in 1978. The Five Percent Nation was founded in Harlem in 1964 by Clarence 13X, who had been a Nation member, and it has its own teachings.