Yakub
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article covers the figure in the theology of the black nationalist organization Nation of Islam. The name, also spelled Yaqub or Yakob, also applies to the mainstream Islamic view of the Biblical Jacob. See Yaqub and Jacob for information on the latter.
According to the Nation of Islam (NOI), Yakub (also spelled Yacub or Yakob), was an evil scientist responsible for creating the white race — a race of devils, in their view. Yakub created white people by a process of "grafting" from the original black population of the world. It took 600 years for Yakub and his successors to fully whiten his creations. This was achieved under a despotic regime on the island of Patmos.[1] The reasons for Yakub's actions are unclear. According to NOI doctrine, his progeny were destined to rule for 6,000 years before the original black peoples of the world regained dominance, a process that began in 1914.
The doctrine of Yakub was first proclaimed by Wallace Fard Muhammad and was later developed by his successor Elijah Muhammad.
The name Yakub is a variant of the Semitic name referred to in European language versions of the Bible as Jacob or in modern Jewish communities as Ya’akov. Fard Muhammad appears to have adapted the Biblical Jacob's role as the father of the tribes of Israel to reposition him as the originator of white people as a whole (including Jews).
In recent times, the so-called doctrine of Yakub has been rationalized within the NOI as an allegory for the evolution of whites from the original black-skinned human populations of Africa, and as a parable warning of the dangers of eugenics. Yakub's 600-year experiment is seen as colorful storytelling, little different from the Bible's account of God creating Eve from Adam's rib, or the creation of heaven and earth in six days. In his autobiography (written with Alex Haley), El-Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) notes that, in his travels in the Middle East, many Muslims reacted with shock upon their discovery of the doctrine of Yakub.
The African American Playwright Amiri Baraka wrote a play titled A Black Mass based on the mythology of Yakub.[2]
| Nation of Islam |
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| Famous Leaders: Wallace Fard Muhammad · Elijah Muhammad · Malcolm X · Warith Deen Muhammad · Louis Farrakhan
History and Theology: History of the Nation of Islam · Beliefs and theology of the Nation of Islam · Nation of Islam and anti-Semitism · Yakub · Million Man March · Faradian Islam · Savior's Day Publications: Message to the Blackman in America · How To Eat To Live · Muhammad Speaks · The Final Call Subsidiaries and Offshoots: Fruit of Islam · The Nation of Gods and Earths |
[edit] References
- ^ Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Blackman in America (summarised here) and Yakub: The Father of Mankind. See also, Dorothy Blake Fardan, Yakub and the Origins of White Supremacy, Lushena Books, 2001
- ^ Biography of Baraka
