Was W.D. Fard, the founder of the twentieth century Nation of Islam, a Turkish immigrant to the United States? Researchers like Edward C. Curtis, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Richard Foxe, and even the late Akbar Muhammad (the son of Elijah Muhammad) have suggested that he was. This, however, seems statistically unlikely, as there were probably only a few thousand ethnic Turks that permanently immigrated to the United States between 1899 and 1924.[1] Still, in W.D. Fard’s past life as a tamale vender, he apparently went by the moniker “Fred the Turk” according to newspapers in 1908-1909 in Eugene, Oregon.[2] Alternatively, he was known as “Fred the Greek” in this period.[3]
People have hypothesized that Fard was Meccan, Syrian, Indian, Afghan, New Zealander, white, black, and many other nationalities, but without a smoking gun. Akbar Muhammad claimed to have seen W.D. Fard’s Arabic handwriting in his father’s home; much later in his life, after he learned Arabic, he said that the handwriting looked like it was in an “Ottoman” style.[4] But outside of a couple NOI membership cards with names written in Arabic script, we do not have any extant Arabic documents written by W.D. Fard. We also cannot make definite conclusions about Fard’s origins based on a distant memory of a document resembling a certain style of writing.
Scholars have noted that the official NOI flag (which the movement calls the “national”) appears to be a modified Turkish flag.[5] Indeed, they are both red, with a white star and crescent, but the NOI star and crescent are reversed. Some may say that this similarity is just a coincidence. The national holds some importance to the Nation, as W.D. Fard originally drew it on the Temple chalkboard, comparing it to the American flag.[6] There is an alternative NOI flag with the English letters “F”, “J”, “E”, and “I” in the four corners.
The letters stood for “Freedom”, “Justice”, “Equality”, and “Islam”.[7] In NOI lore, the red represents the Sun; and the meaning of the flag is that black people are the rightful owners of the Sun, Moon, and stars. According to Supreme Minister John Muhammad, Fard would even wear a red Turkish fez with this flag with the letters printed on it.[8]
It seems to have evaded scholars that the NOI flag with the letters is based on the flag of the Young Turks Revolution:
On the top left, in Arabic script, it says ḥurrīya (freedom). On the top right, it says ʿadāla (justice). On the bottom left, it says musāwa (equality). On the bottom right, it says ikhūwwa (brotherhood). To the middle right, it says ittiḥād (unity). This flag was used in 1908,[9] while the NOI flag was used sometime between 1930 and 1934.
The only differences between the Young Turk Revolution flag and the NOI flag are: (1) like the star and crescent, the placings of the words have been reversed, and (2) instead of “brotherhood” and “unity”, W.D. Fard placed the “I” for “Islam”. Black brotherhood and unity are still prominent features of W.D. Fard’s teachings, but perhaps he wanted to emphasize Islam’s role in achieving this. Otherwise, the similarities between the two flags are far too close to be a coincidence.
The similarities between the Nation of Islam and the Young Turks are more than superficial. Both movements emphasized nationalism, reform, and independence. Both movements modernized their Islam while maintaining its identity and heritage. Both movements opposed European imperialism.
In 1959, a New Chicago Crusader article claimed that Fard was “a Turkish-born Nazi agent [who] worked for Hitler in World War II” based on an FBI dossier[10] – but again, this claim is hitherto unverifiable. The early NOI was known to be pro-Japan, because Japan was seen as a champion of the darker races. However, in the time when W.D. Fard was active, Atatürk was ruling Turkey, and his regime pursued a policy of non-alignment – Turkey was neither an ally of Germany nor Japan. The Young Turks and the Ottoman Empire were indeed allied with Germany in World War I, but they had no significant relationship with Japan.
Despite this interesting find, we cannot conclude therewith that W.D. Fard was a Turkish immigrant. Fard, evidently, was a resourceful man who drew from the Quran, the Bible, the Jehovah’s Witnesses,[11] the Theosophical Society,[12] and books of science, history, and encyclopedias available to him.[13] Any further influences found in his teachings may be just that. But it was not strange at that time for Muslims to have some sentiment toward the Ottoman Empire, even in the West (see Abdullah Quilliam’s Ottoman-aligned movement in late nineteenth century England). “Turk” was also somewhat synonymous with Muslim. Either way, we now know that there was a political movement that inspired W.D. Fard in some way, even if only in his creation of a flag for his Nation.
Pictured: Detroit police raid on the University of Islam, Detroit Free Press, April 17, 1934
[1] John Andrew Morrow, Finding W.D. Fard, pp. 9-10.
[2] Ibid, pp. 243, 283-284.
[3] Ibid, pp. 283-284.
[4] Ibid, pp. 10.
[5] Ernest Allen Jr., “Religious heterodoxy and nationalist tradition: The continuing evolution of the Nation of Islam”, The Black Scholar, vol. 26, no. 3-4, pp. 2-34.
[6] Bilal Muhammad, “The War of Armageddon: The NOI, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Imperial Japan”, https://bliis.org/essay/the-war-of-armageddon-the-noi-jehovahs-witnesses-and-imperial-japan/
[7] SUPREME MINISTER JOHN MUHAMMAD, “SUPREME MINISTER JOHN MUHAMMAD DEMONSTRATING THE FEZ”, YouTube, 9:00-10:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuykA2Xgrg4
[8] Ibid, 5:00-8:00.
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks#/media/File:Flag_of_the_Young_Turk_Revolution.svg
[10] John Andrew Morrow, Finding W.D. Fard, pp. 3.
[11] Bilal Muhammad, “The War of Armageddon: The NOI, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Imperial Japan”, https://bliis.org/essay/the-war-of-armageddon-the-noi-jehovahs-witnesses-and-imperial-japan/
[12] Michael Muhammad Knight, The Supreme Wisdom Lessons: A Scripture of American Islam, pp. 30-40.
[13] Bilal Muhammad, “The Origin of W.D. Fard’s ‘Actual Facts’”, https://bliis.org/essay/the-origin-of-w-d-fards-actual-facts/
