A grand celebration of life was conducted on November 25 at Chicago’s Mosque Maryam for Brother Joshua Nasir Farrakhan, the 64-year-old son of Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Minister Louis Farrakhan and his wife Khadijah, who joined the ancestors on November 18 after “suffering a massive heart attack after being taken to the hospital for chest pains,” revealed a report on finalcall.com. A host of friends, relatives, and NOI members attended the janazah (funeral) service.
“Josh, Joshi, Joshua was loved by so many,” said Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, national assistant to Minister Farrakhan, at the service. “Do you know why? It is because his heart was good. If his heart was dark, he couldn’t be loved by so many.”
He recalled Joshua helping his father resurrect the NOI in 1977, two years after its previous leader, Elijah Muhammad, passed.
“[Joshua] made invaluable contributions to the Nation. He was there before [many] of us!” Muhammad recalled.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 25, 1959, Joshua attended Chicago’s Kenwood Academy High School and Muhammad University of Islam. He married Elijah’s daughter, Marie, in 1978, resulting in six children.
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“Nothing really prepares us for death,” Muhammad said, “but faith and belief in Allah gives us the spirit to handle a loss of a loved one. Each of us are on this Earth on borrowed time. What are we doing with our time?”
He added that Joshua was “a kind and generous man” who struggled with “internal and external forces,” but “all of us stand in need of God’s mercy and his forgiveness.”
He then urged those in attendance not to judge others.
The janazah prayer was recited in Arabic by NOI Student National Imam Sultan Muhammad.
Immediately after the service, a caravan of vehicles trekked 62 miles to Pine Grove Cemetery in New Buffalo, Michigan. When the casket was lowered into the ground, Joshua’s father graced it with some soil.
Brother Joshua Nasir Farrakhan is survived by his parents; eight siblings; eight sons: Joshua Jr. (Anne), Elijah, Louis (Kristy), Fard, Muhammad, Amey, Khalifah, and Sharrieff; his youngest daughter, Olivia Bender; and a host of grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and many other relatives. He was preceded in death by his daughter Melia and brother Louis Farrakhan Jr.