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 Yakoob, also applies to the mainstream (traditional) Islamic view of the Biblical Jacob. See Islamic view of Jacob for information on the latter.
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According to the Nation of Islam (NOI), Yakub (also spelled Yacub or Yakob), was a scientist responsible for creating the white race — a race of devils, in their view. Yakub created white people by a process of grafting the "black " to a "white" from the original black population of the world. According to the Autobiography of Malcolm X, all the races except the black race were by-products of Yakub's work. However the "black race" included Asians. "Whites" were defined as Europeans and Jews. 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.
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[edit] Story
Yakub is said to have been born in Mecca, at a time when 30% of the people were "dissatisfied". At the age of six he discovered the law of attraction and repulsion by playing with magnets made of steel.[2] This insight led to his plan to create a new people. He "saw an unlike human being, made to attract others, who could, with the knowledge of tricks and lies, rule the original black man."[2] By the age of 18 he had exhausted all knowledge in the universities of Mecca. He then discovered that the "original black man" contained both a "black germ" and a "brown germ". With 59,999 followers he went to Patmos where he bred out the black, and created a brown race after 200 years, killing all dark babies. Finally, after 600 years the white race was created.
According to NOI doctrine, Yakub's 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.[3][4][5]
The doctrine of Yakub was first proclaimed by Wallace Fard Muhammad and was later developed by his successor Elijah Muhammad.
[edit] Yakub and Jacob
The name Yakub is a variant of the Semitic name Jacob, which appears in European language versions of the Bible. The Roman transliteration of the Hebrew original is Ya’akov. Fard Muhammad's Yakub has some parallels to the Biblical Jacob's role as the father of the tribes of Israel. The idea that Jews were an "artificial race" created by interbreeding and dependent on "tricks and lies" already existed in anti-Semitic theories of the time.[6] The claim that descendents of Yakob were artificial included Jews as part of the wider "white" race.[7] In speeches by Malcolm X Yakub is identified completely with Jacob. Referring to the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel, Malcolm X states that Elijah Muhammad told him that "Jacob was Yacub, and the angel that Jacob wrestled with wasn't god, it was the government of the day". This was because Yakub was seeking funds for his expedition to Patmos, "so when it says Jacob wrestled with an angel, 'angel' is only used as a symbol to hide the one he was really wrestling with". However, Malcolm X also states that John of Patmos was also Yakub, and that the Book of Revelation refers to his deeds: "John was Yacub. John was out there getting ready to make a new race, he said, for the word of the lord".[8]
[edit] Later developments
In recent times, the doctrine of Yakub has been rationalized within the NOI as an allegory for the evolution of whites from the original dark-skinned human populations of Africa and as a parable warning of the dangers of eugenics. Yakub's 600-year experiment is seen as storytelling, similar to the way some modern Abrahamic religions view the Bible's account of God creating Eve from Adam's rib. In his autobiography (written by Alex Haley), Malcolm X notes that, in his travels in the Middle East, many Muslims reacted with shock upon hearing about the doctrine of Yakub.
The African American author and playwright Amiri Baraka wrote a play titled A Black Mass based on the story of Yakub.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ Elijah Muhammad, Message to the Blackman in America (summarized here) and Yakub: The Father of Mankind. See also, Dorothy Blake Fardan, Yakub and the Origins of White Supremacy, Lushena Books, 2001
- ^ a b Michael Angelo Gomez, Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p.311
- ^ Abraham/Mr. Yakub, NOI.com
- ^ Messanger Mohammed Mr. Yacub MAKING OF DEVIL
- ^ Raelist Admissiom from ALLAH Messager
- ^ Linda L. Clark, Social Darwinism in France, University of Alabama Press, 1984, p.150
- ^ Colin Kidd, The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600-2000, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 268.
- ^ Malcolm X, Benjamin Karim, The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches by Malcolm X, Arcade Publishing, 1989, PP. 53-4
- ^ Biography of Baraka
