the adventures of pamalicious

Growing Up NOI

Starting this religion class made me think about my own upbringing in the Nation of Islam. I have read a couple of books by former members who grew up in the nation.  I find them funny because they speak about things that as a child growing up, you wouldn’t really be affected by to begin with, lol  - so the books have not been from a ‘child’s’ perspective but from the perspective the now adult child has adopted based on the parents current perception.

During my younger formative years, I grew up on the Southside of Atlanta, off of Cascade just like alot of blackfolks during that time.  What I remember the most was that I was not alone.  Everywhere we went there were Muslims etc.  I didn’t even know there was another kind of Muslim (as in traditional orthodox), all I saw were people that looked like me.  They would be on the corner selling newspapers, they would come over once a week and bring us fish, they would be in my living room alot, lol 

I traveled alot with my Father and some of my best times were when we would go to Paschal’s and he would talk ’shop’ and ‘religion’ with the other Brothers.  That was the spot!  Later on in life to know that King and Malcolm and Farrakhan and other great leaders of the Civil Rights and NOI Community broke bread there on the regular blew me away. 

We went to the Temple on Bankhead, which also housed the school. I started school at around 5 years old (since I didn’t even live in Atl till I turned five).  I remember vaguely getting fitted for my uniform.  Pantaloons, a tunic, a long sleeve white shirt and a headpiece. We had to go to buster browns to get my brown shoes.  I felt like I was so sharp. We learned everything everybody else learned in school except like say a Catholic School, we had Islamic Studies.  Within the religion there are ‘lessons’ that we must learn and know verbatim.  These lessons were:  English Lesson C1, The Student Enrollment, Lost and Found Muslim Number 1&2, General Orders and Actual Facts.  NOI Islam is based on Mathematics and so we learned alot about say the planets and there are boocoup rules and regulations.  Here’s an ACTUAL REPORT CARD from one of the Nation’s Schools.

Boys and Girls didn’t go to school together. My brother would go in the morning and I remember school started for me around 11:30 in the morning.  We would have to line up and march up the hill to the class, we were NOT to look at the boys, lol  However, I always saw my brother and stuck my tongue out.

Temple was like any other religious family gathering.  We would get up and get dressed, the women in white and the men in either dark blue or black and go.  The women sat on one side and the men on the other.  Only young young lap male babies were allowed to sit with the women, otherwise they went with their Daddies.  Only those of us in ‘official uniform’ were allowed to sit up front. Disbelievers etc. sat in the back.  Upon coming in you had to be searched.  I remember there were some S-H-A-R-P sistas.  I wanted to be like them soo bad.  That sea of white was/is beautiful.  Looking at my mom get dressed and put on her long skirt (while I was still in Pantaloons) and adjusting her headpiece for height (while mine was flat as a board) The sistas would try to make their headpieces sit tall as they hid their afros etc.  These were kinda like rites of passages for a young muslim girl and I was eager to be a part.

After ’meeting’ we would hurry to get in line for beanpie, beansoup and egg salad sandwiches made on fresh bread from the Muslim Bakery and with eggs from the Muslim Farm.  I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE those egg sandwiches. 

During homelife etc. we dressed like any other kid on the block.  I was never allowed to wear shorts or tank tops or miniskirts and things of the like, but I didn’t care, lol  We always spent time studying and in everyone’s home was a picture of the Messenger, a picture of the Saviour and the flag.  We also would post the Restrictive Rules of Islam.

Holidays for us consisted of Ramadan, EID, Saviours Day, and Thankgiving (lol).  During Ramadan we didn’t eat any land meat and fasted till the sun went down for the entire month of December.  EID was the feast we had on January 1st to break the fast of Ramadan and Saviours Day was Master Fard Muhammad’s Birthday and we celebrated that by giving gifts.  Well we got alot of gifs, hey we were kids, lol.  What I remember most was that I was never ostracized or made to feel different because of these holidays. One of my fondest memories was my BFF at the time had gotten a bike for Christmas.  My Bike was a guarantee for that following February and so she and her sister put their brand new bikes up until I came flying off my porch with mine’s in February (smile).

I have bits and pieces of memory about when The Honorable Elijah Muhammad passed. I remember my mother crying.  I remember my Father being gone alot.  I remember going to Saviours Day and looking at the big screen where the Honorable Elijah Muhammad used to be broadcast and seeing Wallace Dean announcing he was ‘taking over’.  I remember my Father sitting us down and letting us know that we wouldn’t be going to that Temple or School anymore because they were not going to ascribe to the same beliefs we did.  I also remember slowly the Farms, Schools, Fish and Egg Sandwiches slowly dried up in my community…..

Those that follow verbatim the teaching of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad are scarce across the country now, espeically in the South.  I can’t pick them out anymore. Alot of them are in my Mothers age group to begin with.  I get sad that my religion is taken as some kinda joke by alot of people.  Living in the Bible Belt of course fuels that, but in general the NOI, especially with the influx and expansion of Orthodox Islam has taken a hard hard hit.  As I grew and developed there were things in my own family that kinda drove me away from the Organizational Aspect of the Religion, but I claim it and consider myself Muslim (well ok Caun says I’m Gangsta Muslim at best).  I acknowledge that I’m to the left and when that day comes I’ll take my punishment like a woman.  I also acknowledge that I have failed as a parent/teacher when it comes to my daughter. She has the shell but no filling.  I’ll probably have to pay for that as well.  As I further mature, I am at peace about the way I relate to God and what He means in my life, and yes my upbringing had alot of positive things to do with that.