I was brought up in a large family of eight children and we were fortunate to have both parents in the household. I am the fourth child and was the youngest of the family in 1968 when my father joined The Nation of Islam and embraced the teachings and leadership of Elijah Muhammad.

My father did not have a religious background. Although he grew up in church he never accepted Christ and the teachings of the Bible. The 60’s had been a volatile era in this country and the black revolution was in full force. The teachings of Elijah Muhammad were music to most black men ears and my father happened to be one of them. He found a religious-based group that he could identify with and more importantly that could identify with him being black in America. It promoted self-righteousness, self- awareness and self-confidence, while at the same time teaching that the white man was the “blue eye devil”.

My mother and us kids did not join until 1969. She initially thought that being a Muslim was not for her because of their strict rules of not eating pork, not worshipping at the Mosque as a family and other life changing expectation she was not willing to agree to. Like my father, my mother had never accepted Christ either. After observing my father in his changed life she soon joined.

I soon went to kindergarten at Muhammad University of Islam, which was at the time located on 54th & Greenwood before moving to 72nd & Stony Island. In keeping with the concept of men and women worshipping separately was also how we attended school. Boys went in the morning and the girls went in the afternoon. There were many things that I experienced, witnessed and was taught being a child of Islam that it is still apart of me to this day. In school we learned things that most public school children were not introduced to; from learning the circumference of Mount Everest to praying and writing in Arabic. We were also taught that Allah is God and Muhammad is His Messenger, which we affectionately revered to Elijah Muhammad as “The Messenger”. Farad Muhammad the founder of the Black Muslims was worshipped as a prophet of Allah.

At home my father was a loving father but he was a strict disciplinarian. We had to get up every morning at 5:00 and pray as a family. By this time there were four more children added to our family and anyone who could walk had to get up and pray. We also ate our meals together as a family, which in retrospect is a very good basis for family values today. Christmas was not something to be celebrated and Jesus was not a name to be mentioned or discussed. We had to salute the Muslim flag when we walked into a room and my brother and father had to sell their share of bean pies and the Muslim’s newspaper, Muhammad Speaks.

Elijah Muhammad taught us that our sir names we carried were our slave names given to us by our slave masters and therefore everyone was to drop their last names and assume an X. Some of us could apply for special X’s (that’s an X with a number in front of it). My father was known by his given name followed by 6X while my mother was 2X. We children were just X. We soon however changed our entire names first and last and that is the name I go by today.

I often think about my life back then and how structured and discipline we were and how we did things as a family. These things I believe contribute to my family’s closeness today.

In 1995 I began my personal search for God. Islam was not for me but I still referred to God as Allah. I was invited to a church and I really enjoyed the service and the message. However I couldn’t get beyond the fact Christians worshipped Jesus. I wanted to find a church that didn’t mentioned Jesus’ name. Needless to say my thought process was all screwed up and I needed to be de-programmed fast. I walked around with no urgency to get saved because I thought I was a good person at heart and did good deeds and treated others with respect.

In October 1998, I went to church that I had been attending for a year, and the message that the pastor was teaching was what I felt was for me personally and when they opened the doors of the church, the devil told me not to move and that just going to church was enough and I didn’t have to join. But the Holy Spirit came for me and He got me up and walked with me and I gave my hand to the minister and gave my life to Christ.

During my baptism, I truly felt anew when I came out of the water. I felt light, like a ton of weight was lifted from my shoulders. Clean, because every sin I was big enough to do was washed away and I was starting a brand new life. Special, because my name is written in heaven. Loved because He sent his Son down to this earth to die for me and the Son was obedient until the end and grateful that He opened my eyes when he did and removed all the works of Satan from my life and gave me the power in Christ Jesus.

This is my testimony. I can’t speak for anyone else, I can only share what He has done for me and for me He saved my life.

©Black Apologetics Ministry 2001-2003
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