As the month of February is observed as Black History Month, which recognizes the plight, journey and accomplishments of Black people in America, there is another constant reality that is always present at the close of this month. “Saviours’ Day,” the crowing event of Black History Month, culminates around the closing date of the month. There are 28 days in the shortest month of the year, and every Feb. 26 we honor the birth of the teacher of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the founder of the Lost Found Nation of Islam in the West.
Master W. Fard Muhammad, born Feb. 26, 1877, in the holy city of Mecca, Arabia, arrived in America in the early 1930s. On July 4, 1930, the day of America’s independence celebration, he announced that he had traveled from the east to the west in search of of a lost nation of people, who were of Asiatic descent. His special mission was to to find the Lost Nation of People, teach them their heritage and reunite them with their family. Fard Muhammad began teaching his people in an area in Detroit known as “Black Bottom.”
In 1931, Fard Muhammad began teaching this “great truth of salvation,” and for more than three years, he taught and named more than 25,000 people. During this period, he specially prepared and trained Elijah Muhammad about the universal knowledge and wisdom of the Nation of Islam. Elijah Muhammad was the one to recognize his true identity. He recognized him as “Our Saviour” who had come in fulfillment of the prophesies of the scriptures of the Quran and Bible. Our annual Saviours’ Day celebration was established to commemorate his birth.
This year’s Saviours’ Day celebration, which normally takes place in Chicago, the city of our national headquarters, or in Detroit, will be observed in more than 140 cities throughout America, the Caribbean, Central and South America, parts of Europe and Africa. Minister Louis Farrakhan, the national representative of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, will deliver his address this year live via webcast from Christ Universal Temple in Chicago, titled, “The Intensifying, Universal Cry for Justice,” Sunday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. CST and 3 p.m. EST.
Muhammad Mosque No. 7 in New York City will be observing this address in five different locations in Harlem, Brooklyn, Mount Vernon, Long Island and Englewood, N.J. We begin this great weekend Friday, Feb. 20 with the congregational prayer of the Muslims, Jumu’ah prayer, at Mosque No. 7 in Harlem at 1 p.m. At 2:30 p.m., we will show the documentary “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building.
After that will be what we consider the crown event of the evening: an exhaustive panel discussion on “Black Lives Matter, Black Youth in Peril.” Invited panelists include Assemblyman Charles Barron, Nayaba Arinde, Bob Law, Iesha Sekou, Akil Rose, Angela Bronner, attorney Alton Maddox, Dennis Speed, Abdoulaye Diallo and more.
Saturday, Feb. 21 begins with workshop registration at 8 a.m., a plenary session at 9 a.m. and a host of workshops at the Harlem State Office Building from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. All workshops will represent the inclusiveness of the Nation of Islam with other presenters, Noel Leader of 100 Blacks in law Enforcement, John McQueen of the Family Renaissance Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and great youth panel discussions and solutions. There will be a bazaar and marketplace, and we crown the evening with dinner and entertainment. Visit www.MuhammadMosqueNo7.org for all registration, workshops, schedule of all events and general information.
On behalf of Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, we look forward to having one of our greatest Saviours’ Day weekends in our 85th anniversary of the Nation of Islam’s existence in America and receiving this great message regarding “The Intensifying, Universal Cry for Justice,” Sunday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. EST. All of our doors open at 2 p.m. Go to www.MuhammadMosqueNo7.org for all venues and information.
Abdul Hafeez Muhammad serves as the New York representative for Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam and the minister of Muhammad Mosque No. 7 in Harlem.