Make all Men and Boys Join the FOI - Henry Muhammad

You can feel it in the first few minutes: this isn’t a surface-level talk about uniforms or labels. We sit down with Student Minister Henry Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque 7C in Brooklyn to get into what FOI training is really meant to build, and why disciplined self-mastery is framed as a community safety strategy, not just a personal upgrade. From the Nation of Islam’s language of “make all men and boys join the FOI” to the deeper meaning of being compelled by truth, we keep coming back to one theme: you can’t protect a community you can’t first govern within yourself.

We dig into the mindset many of us learned in the street, the constant readiness for disrespect, and how dehumanizing language can reveal a hidden form of self-hatred. Henry breaks down how practice over time study, prayer, fasting, charity, clean living, and the right environment can erase that reflex and replace it with family-minded thinking: my brother as my other self. He also shares how that discipline shows up in real life, including decades of prison chaplain work and the daily effort of meeting people where they are without writing them off.

Then we go outward: Mosque 7C’s location in East New York, community outreach tours across Brooklyn, the role of The Final Call newspaper, and why youth culture, social media, and hip hop influence are battlegrounds for the future. We also cover why FOI avoids carrying weapons, why the bow tie became a recognizable symbol, and what the FOI uniform patches represent around freedom, justice, and equality. If you care about Black community development, faith-based violence prevention, and practical discipline that changes behavior, this one will stay with you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Diet culture, you've met your scientific match.
Debunking wellness trends, fitness fads, and diet culture with science.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:15

All right. What's going on, everybody out there? It's Ron Brown LMT, the People's Fitness Professional, aka Soul Brother Number One Reporting for Duty. Thank you to everybody that's come out to watch us this evening. Uh, we don't have anyone in the chat yet. Uh, you know, sometimes people come on late or they expect it at seven o'clock. We're a little we're a little behind time, so they'll start falling in soon, soon, soon. Oh, someone's in the chat right now. Peace to whoever's in the chat right now. We got brother Henry Muhammad, who was on the show before with uh uh brother Mikey Fever. But now I have the pleasure to host the show with the brother on today. How you how are you, brother? Asalam Aleiko, salam beloved.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

I'm good by God's grace and permission, man. Thank you a lot much. How are you, beloved? I'm good, I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

But as you as as I said earlier, I'm a little tired. Yes, sir. So uh uh um my my daughter uh she just purchased a new car and she's been driving me crazy about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Oh man, yes, sir. Yes, sir. I can only imagine, brother, because as a father, we always thinking about protection and safety. So at that, you know, the anxiety and everything that comes with that, you know. Yeah, so sure. Yeah, pray that everything goes well.

Who Henry Muhammad Serves

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Now, uh, we're gonna go straight into it. Well, before we go into it, I I didn't, I don't know. Uh, I wasn't there on the last podcast. So I basically want to get a idea where you're from. I mean, I know you're from Brooklyn. Yes, sir. What Mosk is it uh uh from what I see is Moss 7C.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yes, sir. I'm um okay, I'm brother student minister Henry Mohammed. I am the student minister to the Honorable Mr. Lewis Farrakhan, uh representing out of Muhammad Moss 7C. I officiate over the Moss Affairs for 7C, which is really dealing with all of Brooklyn, New York. Um, I am you know native of Brooklyn, brother, you know, born and raised basically in Brooklyn. Um at the same time, been in the nation for over 30 years, registered FOI.

Why Men Join The FOI

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Ah, that's peace. That's peace right there. All right, so uh registered FOI in the in in the nation for 30 years. Um, so let's go into it. You know, the title is make all men and boys join the four.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Yes, sir. Okay, all right. That's a good title.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

That's a good title, yes, sir. So why do you think all men all boys should join, all men and boys should join the four?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Well, you know, when you think about it, brother, it says make all men and boys join the FOI. There's another part to that, and train them up fast and make them brave soldiers for Islam, willing to give their life at a moment's notice. Um the the FOI is the fruit of Islam. It's a military name given to the training of the men who belong to Islam in North America. And when we start dealing with military, we're talking about discipline, but we're implying tactics and maneuvers. And so, in order for our people to have that kind of vanguard in the community, there it will become through the FOI because the training that the FOI will receive is that kind of training that's the re-education and retraining for the black man in America after going through what we've been through for the past 400 and almost 71 years now under white supremacy, colonization, and oppression.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Okay.

What MGT GCC Trains Women For

unknown 3:46

All right.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

So now MGT in relation to our people and why they could use the training MGT?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Well, MGT is a class that is um coming out of our lessons of supreme wisdom, um, which many of those that's coming out, you know, those that have knowledge itself, many of them know some of these lessons. But in Allah's power Muslim lesson number one, question and answer number 14. The question is asked, what is the meaning of MGT and GCC? So just dealing with that acronym of MGT GCC, that stands for Muslim Girls Training and General Civilization class. And there are training units that are given to our women in Islam that is based out of that class. And those training units is dealing with um, you know, how to take care of your husband, how to rear your children, sewing, cooking, how to act at home and abroad. Um, so these kind of training units, some would look at and may think on the surface, well, I already know how to do all of that. But it's not just that class on the surface, it's a lot that has to do with doing it in the name of God, and there's things that's underneath those training units that prepare our women as well as the men to a certain degree spiritually for the work that has to be done in our community.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Okay, that's speaking. So, as far as um FOI training, right? Yes, sir. What does it entail if you can uh you know, you don't have to take necessarily a deep dive, but maybe uh I I've experienced FOI class myself.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

And me personally, I love it. Yes, sir, so do I.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

You know, FOI training, brother. I mean, it's really manhood training, you know, but manhood training that graduates us into being our natural self and and of living according to our nature of self, which is God. And God is the nature of God Himself causes you and I to have to master ourselves, you know, and that's what starts qualifying yourself and myself as being God. And when we say God, we're dealing with it in the simple terms of force and power. So to have force and power over self in the name of the creator is what FOI is at the root of the FOI training. And so when we start talking about force and power, we're talking about being able to use the knowledge, which is very key. The knowledge of God, the knowledge of self, the knowledge of the devil, the time and what must be done. And in using that knowledge to be able to master ourselves and overcome the impediments that have been in our life based off of our time that we've been here in America without the proper knowledge of self-guard, devil, the time and what must be done. So it starts with us dealing with that knowledge of self. Because when we accept that knowledge and we we start striving to live according to that knowledge, then we're taking on a new way of thinking, we're taking on a new mind. So in the in the Christianity, they would have in the Bible where I think it's in Philippians where it says, let this mind be in you, the same that is in Christ Jesus. Well, the Christians know and look at Christ Jesus as being God. In Islam, we're talking about Allah. You know, we're talking about the Makdi. So if we want that mind of God, then who's going to introduce us to that mind? In the FOI training, you get introduced to the mind of God, which is a kinship to your mind that has been lost for so long. So there's a lot that comes along with it. I'll say one more thing with that is concerned. My first um uh year in the FOI was so, you know, everything was new, and it was everything was, of course, exhilarating because I'm being inspired and intrigued by a knowledge that I didn't have before. But one of the key things that I remember early on in the training, and you know, many of us, and I ain't gonna say all of us because I don't want to like sound like I'm putting a blanket over everybody that everybody's the same. But I grew up in Brooklyn and I'm in Nostan Avenue, you know, Best Eye, do a die, Crown Heights, Brownsville. So there's a certain institution of the streets that all of us were affected by, and then there's another level of of um of ignorance that we were playing into and didn't even realize we were playing into it to some degree.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

So can you can you expound on that?

Street Code And Hidden Self-Hatred

SPEAKER_01 8:27

That's where I'm that's what I'm getting ready to go. Okay, so the level of self-hatred that I experienced that I didn't even know was self-hatred, you know, until I heard some things from the honorable minister Louis Farrakhan. Um and of course, after reading message to the black man, I still was in kind of denial. But me identifying with the self-hatred came from this level. If I'm looking at you, brother Ron, and I'm calling you Ron, I'm not even using the word brother. So just to put brother in front of the name of Ron is identifying you as family. My brother is my other self. But if you and I have any kind of disagreement or uh in in dialogue or conflict, and it raises up my emotions to a certain degree, in that moment, if in my mind I'm not calling you brother Ron, out my mouth I'm saying brother Ron, but in my mind I'm saying this nigga. Now that's self-hatred, brother. See, because a nigga is nothing. A nigga is nothing. It comes from that word negra in in Spanish, which means something dead. So it's for me to start looking at you as a nigga, then I'm looking at you that you don't really mean nothing to me. And you can get it at any time. You know what I mean? And you're looking at me that way. Now, where's that really coming from? That's something that I have inside of myself. But I'm looking at a black man that has a nose like my nose, lips like my lips. So I'm really looking at myself and what I don't like about myself that just came out from another another brother who is my other self. When I started understanding that, then it had to get to the point of like, look, man, I gotta get rid of this self-hatred, I gotta get rid of this language that I'm using in my mind when I look at another black man. And some of us we know and we can identify there was a code of the streets that if a if a brother stare you in your eyes, you can't you gotta keep that stare going. Whoever dropped these stare first is soft, you know. You know what I mean? So all these things, and if it's the eyes of the mirror to the soul, I don't want you to pierce my my my my my armor to see what's in my soul. So, what you looking at, money? So, all that is tied into self-hatred. Because if I know that I'm God and I know the nature of the black man is God, then when I'm looking at the black man, I'm looking at God. So I want to appeal to the God in that brother, the God in my sister, and through the FOI class and the training of the FOI class and the teachings of the honorable large Muhammad coming through the guidance of Minister Faraka, I started learning that more and more. Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Now, these I would call psychological defects, if you want to say, if for lack of better terms, yes sir. Um, I grew up with that too. Like you're looking at somebody and then they looking back, and then you turn around, what's up? Right, type of thing. Yes, sir. At this age, I don't even live in a hood anymore, but it's still in my head, it still affected my interactions with people, okay, right? Because it's that because what comes with the look is a whole other psychology with mentality, mentality, right? So you do you feel that that mentality? Well, you've been with the nation for 30 years, right? Yes, sir. So would you say that mentality is totally wiped out of your head?

Environment Diet Prayer And Prison Work

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Oh, yes, sir. Yes, sir. And and the thing is, just as you mentioned it, brother Ron, the other side of that is environment and social environment, um, uh uh, personal environment, home environment. What comes along with that? Living according to the principles of Islam. So when it comes down to prayer, when it comes down to charity, when it comes down to making certain sacrifices, when it comes down to fasting, when it comes down to my diet, so my physical diet as well as my spiritual diet has to connect because the brain stem is connected to my dietary tract. So I gotta be making sure. So then my environment in terms of who I associate with, it has to be brothers and sisters of like minds. Now, does that mean that I look down on everyone else in society? Hell no. I know I got a duty and responsibility by those of my brothers and sisters that may not have the knowledge itself and is going in the wrong direction. And that's when it comes down to, as we know from the teachings in the nation, what is the duty of a civilized person to teach the uncivilized who are savage? You know, so I have a duty and responsibility. If I don't stay active in that, it's just like me not working out. If I don't keep up with my push-ups and my dips and my sit-ups and whatnot, then that muscle is going to go do what? It's gonna start getting limp. It's because it's not getting no activity.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

So the activity that comes with the knowledge that's in my brain has to come with some action that's in my life. Otherwise, I can't really say I'm alive if my activity is not matching up with the knowledge. And so to get past that, and I'll say this also I'm not saying it just to be saying it, you know, but for those who may be listening, it's a practice that over time, those different kinds of thoughts had to be eradicated. But I know the ingredients of what the dosages of what I've been taking on a daily basis when it comes down to my thinking, my study, my actions, fasting, prayer, and whatnot, it comes to a point where you have to get to the point where you start lying. God don't lie. And so, Brother Henry, you don't lie. No, I don't lie. I try not to lie. So I'm not gonna purposely tell a lie, put it that way. But I'm only saying that these things came over time with me striving to submit my will to do the will of God. And so the last thing I'll say with that is the practice became even more challenged as I started through the ministry of the of the uh Maz. At a certain point, I started working in the prisons as a chaplain. So for 20 years, the past 20 years, I've been a state chaplain in five of the major maximum prisons in New York State. So now I'm dealing with brothers that came from the same kind of environment I came out of. And I'm not looking at them as niggas. And I'm not looking at them based off of their record and the life bid you got behind them. And I'm gelling with them and treating them the way I would want to be treated, just as I would deal with an average FOI out on the street or a brother on the street. And the the feedback was always love. You know what I mean? Knowing that I'm looking at brothers that on a daily basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, they fighting for survival. You know, so yeah, brother, it is just as you say, the mentality, the psychological part of it, but staying, you know, in the mix of the study and staying in the mix of the environment of people of like minds is very important with that because my brother is my other self. You know, my sister is my that's my sister, and I gotta look at her as my sister. I gotta look at her her daughter as my niece, her son as my nephew. And as we are moving like that and growing in the mosque like that, then we take that kind of atmosphere that we carry with us right into the street and everyone that we come across.

Mosque 7C Location And Outreach

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Which would this is a good segue into my next question. So, you know, moss number 7c is located exactly where that's the first question. The second question is how do you handle community outreach in the area? And is it is it uh uh uh has it been a um successful?

[Ad] Diet culture, you've met your scientific match.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yes, sir. Okay, so my 7C is located at 202 Pennsylvania Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Um, that's in the 11207 zip code, that's East New York. Well, our backyard is Brownsville. So, you know, East New York is known for murder, but Brownsville is known for gunplay. The honorable Mess Lewis Firecon and the Honorable Laj Mohammed said we go where our people are in the worst condition and we start building where Islam is concerned. So we're in the right area. Now, it's not easy trying to do the work that we have to do, but when it comes down to dealing with um community outreach and getting to our people, we strive to do the best that we can where that is concerned. Since we've been over there, we've made a lot of allies, a lot of connections. And so there's a whole system that comes along with this because it's it's an organized body of brothers and sisters. You know, there's a structure to the nation of Islam, and that's that's one of the reasons why the nation has been so successful. Yes, it is successful, you know, in comparison to how we look at success, you know, but the um the success of the nation and what we're doing in Brooklyn, right now, we have embarked on a tour where we're going into um striving to go into each area of Brooklyn with a message on how we must make our community a decent and safe place to live. We was just over in Restoration Plaza on April 19th, you know, with that message and a little number of people. So, in other words, we brought the mosque meeting into that area. You know, as it said, you know, if the mountain won't come to Muhammad, Mohammed goes must go to the mountain. So we're going and we went to Beth for Stuyvesant. Next month we'll be in Crown Heights. Then inshallah, we'll be in Brownsville or Bushwick or back in East New York on the other side of East New York. But the thing is, one of the things that we have in our structure is that everybody has their role to play. So there is the community liaison for the Moz who heads up the protocol department. And that person be is the one that keeps the connections with the different dignitaries and principals of schools and this, that, and the other. That on on behalf of the Moz make sure that I'm getting connected with them, and then we develop these relationships and we come into different areas and do things. But it would not be able to happen if it wasn't for the FOI, who's going out in the highways and the byways of the streets on a daily basis and a weekly basis with the final call newspaper and making sure we're getting to our peoples in the highways and the byways and getting into our people that's behind those closed doors in the different apartment buildings and project um um and projects where our people are concerned. So, yes, that's this is an ongoing thing. So that's why when I yeah, as you heard me mention earlier, which I know you're familiar with the language, FOR, fruit of Islam, the military training of the men that belong to Islam in North America. Military implies tactics and maneuvers. When we start talking about tactics and maneuvers, there are maneuvers to be made in going behind enemy lines and seeking to take control. The enemy lines is not the enemy lines of the white man, it's the enemy lines behind the mind of the ignorance of our people and bringing them this knowledge so that they can start taking more control of themselves. Okay. You know, so yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

So now with the with this climate, right? Uh social, I'll say the shook social climate nowadays in in the black community, the way it is, especially in the young generation, where uh right now it's all about a lot of gun violence and uh TikTok videos and uh you know, designer drugs, designer clothing, having money, all this stuff, right? And it's not like when I was growing up, I had the Wu-Tang, because you know, all that stuff, you know, music is music is huge, right? So like I had the Wu Tang, you know, that had the you know, the five percent teachers in it, you know, and we had Grand Newbian, we had Ice Cube, uh, you know, you know, you know, there was a lot of five percent in Nation of Islam influence the music back then, right? Yeah, influenced me to do what I'm doing right now, right? Or help or help influence, right? Yes, sir. So, so but now the kids they don't have that. So, with the climate as it is now, how do you see anything change? Do you see a uh a good future ahead, you know, or or no? Like, are you getting a lot of new recruits, if you will, or new yeah, followers and beliefs?

Hip Hop Ties And Public Smears

SPEAKER_01 21:35

You know, it's it's in terms of then just on the latter part first, new recruits. You know, the nation of Islam and Muhammad Maas is not meant to, as the minister teaches us, to become a mass movement. The mosque can be a revolving door, you see, because in all actuality, you know, the um the mosque may not be for everybody, but the teachings of the most honorable Laj Muhammad is for every black man, woman in America. So there'll be people that will come in, they'll get the teachings, but they can't hold fast to the kind of discipline that it takes to stay in the structure of the mosque. That's all right to a certain degree, as long as that seed of that teaching is in you and you're striving to live by that teaching because then you become people like you. You see how the seeds of brand newbian and Wu Tang got you to doing what you're doing. But at the same time, you're still striving to hold fast to the teaching. So we understand that in terms of dealing with it, and in terms of dealing with um uh the the the moss and the recruitment. So people come in, they they're in for a while, some stay as long as I stay, and even longer, some go, some may fall out and come back in because they're going through their vicissitudes of life. But when we start dealing with um looking at the future or looking at our youth today and what we see, it's all dependent on what lenses we're looking from, on the mentality. Because as I look at the youth today, you know, in all of the negativity and everything that we see, I see soldiers. I see soldiers that's ready to take over. All they need is the guidance, you know, all they need is the guidance, you know, and we know, just as you mentioned, brother, when you look at our own history of coming up and coming through those eras of Wu-Tang, coming through those eras of Brand Nubian, coming through those eras of KRS1, public enemy, and so forth, those were seeds that was being put in us while we was on the street wowing. We just wasn't wowing as far as the way it is today, because the enemy uh that was against our eyes wasn't making things more accessible to us at that time as it is now. You couldn't get a gun as quick as you would now, right in that time. You would get one, but it was not, everybody wasn't holding like that. You know what I mean? And so, and the ones that was holding, there was a so a certain different thing about them because they wasn't gonna brag about it. You know what I mean? So we when we look at when we look at um at that time and look at now, there's really nothing new under the sun. But in terms of when I say looking at it from a certain mentality or what lens, mental lens we're looking at it from, we can also see that there's been an enemy outside of it all that's been trying to keep control of what we do. And we notice, like, you know, depending on where we're at now, different levels of age, it seems, or just put it this way, every time another level of knowledge came among us, this enemy found a way to bring in a more potent drug, a more potent drink of liquor, a more potent this, that, and the other. Now we know if we look at things from that time of the 90s coming in, those record labels and what uh owners and whatnot started changing the rap scene because they seen what the influence it was having on us in a military way, in a revolutionary way, and they brought in the gangster rap and started promoting that more, and even promoting the way the rap would come across. And when it came around to calling our women bees and hoes and this, that, and the other more often. When we were coming up under Wu-Tang and all that, yeah, the language was there to a certain degree, but we're growing up and we're we're being more concerned about our dress, our gift of gap with the knowledge, and how many women we can pull. Right. You know, and that was about rap. It wasn't about lying and fronting and getting online to find and find a female to get with. No, you had that you had to be game tight with what was coming out of your mouth. You know what I mean? And so those kind of things. So when you start thinking about how it has shifted, we're looking at social engineering taking place because the enemy is watching and seeing, like, look, as youth, the youth of the future. And when you got youth that's moving in a way, whereas they're doing these negative things, such as um these kind of um um, I forgot exactly the term they use for it, but it's like these teen outbreaks, you know, where a bunch of teens just come together and they pick a location where they're gonna meet up at, and they just go and wild out in that location. That's organized, and it's being organized through social media. And even though on the surface of it is negative, but an enemy looking at that would say, if they get the right type of knowledge, that's gonna be an organized army. So we gotta be able to hit that now with negative news and so forth to make sure that their own people are looking at them in a negative way. So that way, when we come down on them and start locking up 30 or 40 of them, nobody from the family is gonna cry out any injustice. Gotcha. Yeah, we're in a hell of a time right now, for sure. You know, and and and I'll say this too, brother. You and I both know when we think back to you know, um, going 20 years back, 30 years back, 20 between 20 and 30 years back, because they say that um a new generation is every 30 years. So if we go 30 years back, the generation before this one, brother, it wasn't you weren't finding babies getting shot, brother. You were not hearing about babies getting shot, you were not hearing about little children getting shot. Now that's big because even though we had our wild days, that wasn't happening. But now that goes back to there's more guns on the street. So let's look at it from this aspect, bruh. We don't manufacture any weapons, and people say that a lot. But the the bottom of society is only a reflection of the top. The biggest um uh uh uh uh um budget that's allotted in America is the military budget. America spends trillions of dollars on weapons for what to kill. So, what do you think the bottom of society is gonna be a reflection of? What's on the top? I like that, you see, so so that mindset of trying to blame them, not saying that we're blaming the youth, but when we start looking at our youth, what is it a reflection of? You know, and it can go deeper than that, of course, in terms of dealing with what we're dealing with in the home, but I'm just dealing with that weaponry and all that, brother. There's a lot we we we could spend a whole hour segment just talking about that, but we ain't got that kind of time, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Indeed. So now being at uh uh a minister Farrakhan has always been uh in the nation of Islam, has always been so close to hip-hop and the hip-hop community always had so much respect for Minister Lewis Farrakhan and the nation of Islam with this new era. Has that been maintained with the new era? Because now we got like if we just speaking specifically rappers from New York, you know. Do you brothers and sisters have a connection to the rappers in New York from uh Maz C7 and and all the other Moz. Yes, sir.

Why The FOI Was Established

SPEAKER_01 29:32

We do, but what is what has happened is the infiltration to cause us to be uh to cause a gap to be between the members of the nation of Islam and the rap community. That infiltration did cause some stagnation for a period of time. I don't know if you recall, um, but maybe about just before COVID. We're talking in between that time of 2015 and 2019. Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam was connecting to a lot of the different rappers, Jada Kiss and all of them. And then you was finding the minister taking pictures with them and everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And the minister was telling them right after they would take a picture together, brother. Now, now that you've taken that picture with me, and that's gonna be out in the public, you need to start straightening up whatever you're doing, because they're gonna come after you. And literally, like the next day, these brothers were getting arrested. You know, getting arrested. So it's just showing you how that the enemy does not want that connection because he knows what that kind of what that type of connection does. But the the the seed was already planted, and those brothers, that seed got to germinate, those brothers doing whatever they're doing. So I'm saying that to say then the onslaught came along with, you know, painting the minister as this big anti-Semite and this, that, and the other. And then anybody that would be associated or in in camera shot of the minister that who's on a celebrity status or a national status, I don't want to call no names, but then you would find them being questioned, you know, all the way up to President Obama when he was running for office. They put them under the firecon litmus set. This is to scare our people. But the rappers of today, they're not afraid of that. They're not afraid of that. However, at the same time, there's some compromise that ends up going on as people are, for lack of a better term, going after that money and those contracts. And so this in the in the um in the Holy Quran, it says, you know, the the devil uh uh umpts you with poverty, you know, tries to make put fear in you based off of poverty. But at the same time, he also wants to tempt us with sport and play. Sport and play is not always about basketball, it can be entertainment. And you then and most of the rappers have an innocent um, what you call it, motive for why they're putting out the rap that they're putting out. But then the record label owner will be like, no, it gotta be a little bit more raunchy here, there, and the other, you know, in order for you to make the money that you want to make to keep a certain climate in the public. But most of the rappers that we run into, that's not really the way they want to be. That's just the entertainment to be able to get what they gotta get, you know. So we try to the best of our ability to make sure that we keep that word in their mind, you know, and some of them respond to it, some others don't. But then when you find out how they're living their life privately, they're trying to be more civil in their personal life than what they're putting out there in entertainment.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Okay, okay. Now, um, I want to go into the next one. Um, what is the FOI and why was it established? You said what is the FOI, right, and why is it why was it established? Or you kind of I think you went over what the FOI is already. So let's just go into why was it established?

No Weapons Truth As Protection

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Well, once again, it's that military training, you know, for the men who belong to Islam in North America. There is no way that we are gonna be able to come out of this condition and be organized and not have an army, brother. If you ain't got no army, brother, you ain't got no army. You know, and so the master father Muhammad, the teacher, teacher of the most honorable Elijah Muhammad, whom we know as the as the great Makti, he set all this up, you know, and when we look at people, um, which we would call like our diamond and gold mines in America, you know, the Michael Jacksons of the world and so forth, and you know, may God be pleased with him, and the Bill Cosby's of the world, and those of the entertainment field who had been able to open up businesses and clothing lines and all that, and then all of a sudden you see that they end up having a merging going on and they no longer have that clothing line like Fubu and Fat Farm and this, that, and the other. Well, we already know that the enemy is greedy for money, and this is a capitalist society. And once they see you getting to a certain level where everybody's buying, even though they don't, you they may not like the people that are buying, they want that money. If you got billions of dollars coming in for your clothing line and this, that, and the other, and you rapping and you doing this and you doing type of things, they're gonna come to you with an offer, you know, on on an intellectual level, financial level. And if you refuse that offer, then they're gonna come at you another way. And they'll want they'll be ready to smear you in the magazines and newspapers and all that. But if you got an army behind you, they ain't gonna just come to you any kind of way when they know there's an army that's backing you, you see? And so business is warfare. But there's the when we say business is warfare, it's not always about on the physical level, but security is prevention. So there has to be an army of brothers and sisters that's gonna be willing to protect the black community by coming out and giving them the knowledge that's needed and the guidance that goes along with it to encourage others to be a part of that community that's gonna make sure that we live in peace. So there's no need for us to be in America, in any state in America, and we can see that there's a little Italy, there's a there's a Polish town, there's a Chinatown, there's a there's a little Korea, but there but when you come to the black community, it's not ours. You know, we live there, but other people are running the stores to give us the goods and services that we could be producing for ourselves. You know, when you when uh you go into Chinatown, when Chinatown closed down and all them stores closed, as a black man, you don't belong in Chinatown as far as they're concerned, because you don't live here. This is for us. And even though there's a mayor of the city, there's also a mayor of Chinatown. So when the with with the with an army of soldiers for God that's about the revolution of freedom, justice, and equality and liberation for our people coming together to get us to organize and take control of our dollars, take control of our lives, our households, our marriages, and any kind of discrepancies we have, we work it out among ourselves, through our own clergy, through our own churches and mosques and whatnot. When you got it like that, the police can roll through the community. You ain't gonna have no problems over here because we got this. You might as well just keep on rolling. And if there is a problem, you're gonna have to speak to those who are really in charge of the community. We'll respect you. But four is a part of making that happen, and there's other groups that's like that, that's of that mentality that may not be called FOI. And let me say this: a lot of people will look at the FOI and think that we're separate from other members of the nation of Islam. Every black man that joins the nation becomes an FOI.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Right. I learned I learned that I learned that recently.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Every black woman becomes an MGT, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Right, yes, indeed. So um now I want to go into why don't the FOI carry weapons but trained in martialists, yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Bow Tie Uniform Symbols And Colors

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Well, the honorable, um, the most honorable Lodge Muhammad, you know, um made it a rule for us not to carry weapons. Islam is about peace, and so um when we when we start dealing where peace is concerned and knowing the mentality that we're coming out of from being victims of this society to have a weapon in the hand of a black man that don't love himself. Soon as some disagreement starts, next thing you know, we're gonna be reaching for that weapon on each other. And so as we grow in our knowledge and our power, we start realizing that, you know, the weapon is not really needed in order for us to establish peace. You know, and there'll be those that will disagree with it, but we're talking about being men and women of God. We don't need no weapon, our truth is a weapon. The knowledge we have is a weapon. Now, when it comes down to defending ourselves, of course, we're gonna train. We're gonna train in the martial arts, we're gonna train in boxing, we're gonna strive to keep ourselves in the proper condition. But the more you and I start living about by what we're saying out of our mouth of positive words and actions, then it creates an atmosphere from within and an atmosphere that we carry without. So when we are carrying that atmosphere, we can walk into some of the most dangerous places and we're still gonna have peace. That don't mean we don't stay alert. But there's no need for us to carry no weapons because who are we gonna use it on? Who are we gonna use it on? We're about getting our people up. So we're gonna use the weapons on our people? No. And then what we find now as some of us before coming into the nation did carry weapons, you realize that that weapon was just an extension of the power that you thought you had. Because a brother pull out a gun on a group of brothers, everybody stands still and they'll do whatever he says to do. So then you start thinking that you got control and power because you got this gun. But what kind of control and power can you manifest without the gun? You know, by using mind and intellect, you know, and for me as an example, you know, before um joining the mosque, I smoked cigarettes for 12 years. I tried to quit a number of times. But when I started coming into the knowledge of self and being able to identify that I have to take control of myself and not let anything outside of myself control me, then the power of my brain with this knowledge and my mind became my weapon to be able to defend against keeping a cigarette in my hand, keeping reefer in my mouth, drinking um beer or drinking liquor or doing ill-mannered things that I knew better, but all of a sudden have become a victim to it because of my own weakness of thinking and lack of discipline. You know, the most powerful weapon we got is our brain.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Right, right. Now I want to move on to uh this uh question here. Uh, what's the science behind the bow tie and why the FOI wears them? Now, uh, yeah, let's go into that.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Very simple. The bow tie is our brand. You know, it's our brand. When you see uh you see that bow tie, you automatically start thinking he must be in the nation, you know. But on another note, you know, during the time of the uh 1930s, when the savior, Master Father Muhammad, made himself known among us, the bow tie stuck out among uh uh uh as a distinguishing people of high science and knowledge. Now, the bow tie is all of that. It distinguishes, it makes us stand out as this is part of our brand, but it's also showing when you see a brother in a suit and bow tie or in the FOI uniform and bow tie, that's our dress code. Like when you would go, if we were to go to um a Muslim country, you know, let's just say Bangladesh or Pakistan, or if you see Muslims from different countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and every one of them have a different dress code that identifies with the culture of their Islam. Well, it's both suit and bow tie identifies with the culture of our Islam in North America. All right.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Now, um, what's the origin of the FOI uniform and the symbols on the jacket?

SPEAKER_01 42:14

That that um FOI uniform was designed by the most honorable Elijah Muhammad, you know, and it was for the FOI and the symbols that are on it, the star and crescent that's on our shoulders is is is signifying that the black man is is um made to wear the weight of the shoulders on his, I mean weight of the of the of the uh world on his shoulders. The sun, moon, and stars. The sun, moon, and stars is our flag, you know, which represents freedom, justice, and equality. So when we look up, uh when you look up at the sun, the sun covers over 76 quintillion miles of the universe. And that sun has the power to be able to move nine planets at the same rate of speed. But that that sun was created by the originator, and we are people of the originator, we come from the originator, our origin is with the originator. So when we claim, when we reclaim ourselves, we're reclaiming God, so everything that belongs to God belongs to us. So that's that moon represents equality, you know, because the moon equalizes the waters of the earth in the absence of the sun. If you go out to the to the beach right now and stand on the shore of the beach at the boardwalk, and you'll see as the as it's dark outside, the water of the waves is going out and coming in. What's pulling it? It's the moon that's pulling it. Because the moon was once part of the earth and it's lost the water of its earth. But that doesn't mean the sun is not pulling it because when the sun is is showing as we are in the shadow of the earth, when the sun is up, it's it's pulling on the waters of the earth. So there's a lot that goes with that power of sun, moon, and stars, and the stars represent justice. So the stars, sun, moon, and stars of the patches that's on our shoulders of the FOI is representing freedom, justice, and equality. On our lapel, where it says WFM, that's them for Wallace Fad Muhammad, you know, because we're standing in the in the stead of or standing in representation of Master Fad Muhammad, God in person. And so anytime we're wearing that uniform, we want to represent the savior. And the savior was not a liar, the savior was came to save that which was lost. So we work as savior. So whether we're in the uniform or not, at a certain point in time, as you grow more and more into it, you start living that life of a savior. You start living that life of a little messenger. You start living that life of the son of man. And when the man that we're talking about is the man of God.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

Now, uh, the different colors of the uniform.

unknown 44:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

What I've learned is uh they're there are different colors. What are the main colors of the uniforms?

SPEAKER_01 44:59

Well, the main colors is starting out with the brown uniform. I mean, the blue uniform, navy blue, that's the standard one, and then the brown uniform. And then these colors also go with the different seasons of the weather and the changes of the weather. So the blue and the um the blue and the brown are the main standard ones. Then as we are in the warm weather like we're in now, we wear our beige uniform, you know, and then as the summertime comes around, we'll be wearing a white uniform, you know.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Oh, there's a white one.

SPEAKER_01 45:30

Yeah, brother. There's a white one, beloved. Yes, sir. You know, so yeah, you know, so all of the the colors that was being utilized in uniform when the honorable large Muhammad was among us, the minister as as that chief disciple of the most honorable is striving to make and bring back everything the way it was when the most honorable Laj Muhammad was among us. So the uniforms are a part of that. But yeah, there's a white one coming out, and there's a green one, green and gold.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

Yeah, so a green one.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

Yes, yes, sir. I like that. I like that one. There's also a burgundy one, and there's a black one, yes.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Okay, so what is that? What is that? Seven?

SPEAKER_01 46:14

Uh, I think so. Yeah, blue, black, brown, beige, white, green, burgundy. Yes, about seven, yes, sir.

unknown 46:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

Now, uh, thank thank you, Royal Jews. If this knowledge resonates, hit the like button. Uh, yeah, be sure to hit the like button, share, uh, subscribe when you come in, all that stuff, notification bell, etc. etc.

SPEAKER_01 46:39

Now, um, okay, so I wanted to ask, brother, is it possible that you could make sure that we're um LinkedIn with you um through Mohammed Ma7C YouTube channel? Uh, there is a way possible we can we subscribe to you, so I just wanted to, you know, let's know.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. Let's there's a way to there's a we can talk about that, uh you know, after the show. So, yes, sir. Yes, sir. And uh it's it's a way, but we can build on that.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

But um, this is a question right here from I wouldn't say from one of the Moorish brothers, um uh uh Islam to my Moorish family out there, peace to the gods and earth out there. Yes, peace. Uh uh, one of the Moorish brothers. Before I get to that question, brother, let's go to this one. Uh, why did the messenger make all men and boys join the FOI and not say make all girls and women joy join the MGT? Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:44

Well, I can't um say speak from the mindset of the most honorable Elijah Muhammad. So let me make that clear. But when we're talking about men and boys, we know that the weight of the world is on the shoulders of the black man. If the black man don't get up, if the man don't get up, ain't nothing else gonna happen, brother. The Holy Quran teaches us, and the Bible says it in a certain way, you know, the the woman was created by God for the man. So there's a neck, there's a natural part of attraction between both, but that woman is the woman of God, God's gift to a man. And when you read in the Bible about it, as it pertains to Adam and Eve, you find, as the minister has taught us, that man is not blessed with a woman until he starts putting the work in that God has him to do on the earth. So when it comes down to it, the black man has been crushed by white society through us being kidnapped and made slaves. Once that took place, that was a war against the black family. So two things can't occupy the same space at the same time. You know, if the white man is gonna rule, he's gonna make sure the black man is down. And when when when you conquer the black man or you conquer any man of any society, the prize in that war is the man's woman. And so then those who win that war get to go in and out of that man's woman. So the black man got to stand up to take back control of himself, his household, and bring his woman back. You see? And so that's why all men and boys have to join the FOI, because for that woman to be able to move freely throughout the society based off of God's way and God's knowledge and or civilized, a civilized way and a civilized knowledge, then in order for her to move throughout that society, she gotta be a protect, have a protector. So the black man has to make sure everything is secure first before she goes out there and does what she has to do. When you play chess, the only one that has the freedom to move all around the chessboard is the queen because the king is sitting in a fixed position making sure she's all right.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

Ah, that's peace. Now, uh the last question, and I'm gonna go to the chat. Uh the honorable Elijah Muhammad said, make all men and boys join the FOI. What do you think he meant by make them join? I think you addressed that earlier. Yes, sir.

Audience Questions Fez And Mahdi

SPEAKER_01 50:39

So one of the things I'll just add to that when you look up and deal with the word make, it means you have to be compelled, you know. Someone has to be compelled to do the right thing, you know. When someone is compelled to do it, it's just as we're taught in the nation of Islam. You know, there's no that the Quran says there's no compulsion in Islam, the right way is made distinct. So it's in terms of making, it's a matter of the compulsion is based off of knowing the truth and striving to live by the principles of the truth. Once I know the truth and I know right from wrong, then I have an obligation to live that way. You see? So when you come in, you you you you you give knowledge to a brother or a sister and you make it plain, meaning that you're not just dropping the knowledge, you're giving an example and making sure that they understand it. And if they say they understand and they're willing to um to live by it, then they're compelled to do the right thing. So, in that way, is a one one way of being sure, making sure you're making them. So it's not like to the point we're gonna just grab people up, you know, just thinking in layman terms and say, we're gonna force you to come into the moss. No, no, it's it's much, much different than that. It's being an example in the community and talking to our people. And that's where that final call comes in handy. Because the final call is like that silk garment that is being used to start that conversation piece with the brother or the sister. You know what I mean? And once they once that dialogue happens and they take that paper in their hand, if they read that paper, that paper's gonna be able to give them knowledge that I may have never had enough time to talk to them about. But we can't trivialize the power of God in each and every individual because all of us have uh the nature of God in us. When I may look at the teaching one way and get a lot up out of it, and then brother Ron, you may look at the same thing I'm looking at and say, yo, you know what I got out of that? It made me think of this, and then we start building on that. So the word of God is what really is that compelling part that will make us start leaning more for toward the truth because the truth starts freeing our mindset up, you know, and so indeed, yes, indeed.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

So now um um beautifully put on every question there. You knocked that out of the park. So now let's go to the to the uh chat. This is a great question, I think. Uh uh, who's this? Ela Morel, Morel 2573. Why did they stop wearing the Moorish Fez? Why did the Nation of Islam stop wearing the Moorish Fez?

SPEAKER_01 53:25

Um, you know, in terms of dealing with the Fez itself, I since I've been in the nation and I came into the ranks in 1990, it hasn't been a common thing where all of the members of the mosque were wearing the Fez with the tassel on it. You know, so the only one that I've really ever seen with that Fez, and it was only in pictures, it was the most honorable Elijah Muhammad. Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:55

That's the only time I saw it. Yeah, you're right about that.

SPEAKER_01 54:00

Because I don't recall any other pictures with anyone else wearing the every time we looked at the savious days when Muhammad Ali and all of them was around, they wasn't wearing no Fez with no Townshal on it. They were wearing either the FOI hat with the uh saying FOI on the top, or they wore the Fez that had the blue hat that had the um star and crescent on it. And that and that was distinguishing the ones that has that have the um the hat with the uniform and it just has the star and crescent on the hat, those are people who are in the ministry in the nations. And then the ones that have the hat and they just say foi on it, those are all military soldiers in the ranks.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

Gotcha. Now, uh for the last question, uh this brother says uh uh brother David, uh 24. Uh I don't know how you're writing there, but I'll just call you David. Uh uh I'm Shia Muslim. My question is: does the brother know the correlation between the NOI and Shia Islam?

How To Visit And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_01 55:05

No. Outside of dealing with us living by the principles of Islam and the key part, to my understanding, of those who are of Shia Islam and the Nation of Islam, the very key part that I know we identify with is we are waiting on the MACD. I don't hear too many people outside of Shia Islam and the Nation of Islam who talk about the MACD.

SPEAKER_00 55:34

Gotcha, got you. Uh, that was the last question, brother. Uh, if you want to let people know how to find you, you could break it down now, explain more, you know, and then uh uh, you know, take it away.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

So I thank you first and foremost, um brother Ron and all of your staff that works with you on NYP Talk Show for even giving us this platform to be able to um dialogue into dialogue and discussion together on the teachings and other things that's going on in our community. Um, Mohammed Moss 7C is located at 202 Pennsylvania Avenue. That's in East New York, Brooklyn. We're right on Pennsylvania between Glenmore and Pickin Avenues. Um we have our Moss meeting every Sunday. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. You come on and be with us. We also have meetings right now, this evening at 7.30. We teach 7.30 every Wednesday evening. And then on Fridays, we're there at 7:30, and we're having our study group meetings where we're dealing with the subject matter of um self-improvement, the basis for community development. Right now, we're also doing tours throughout the community. And as I said earlier, we were in Bethesda Iverson um at the Restoration Plaza two weeks ago, and our our subject matter as a clarion call from the Honorable Man Sir Lewis Farrakhan is we must make our communities a decent and safe place to live. Pretty soon, coming in the month of May, we'll be giving um advertisement of our next location where we'll be bringing the mosque into that community. We will be in Crown Heights if it be the will of Allah. And so look forward to that coming up around May 17th. We'll start putting the flyers and advertisement out. We'll make sure that you know, brother Ron, so you could possibly advertise it on your show because we want to get to the Crown Heights community as well. But um, outside of that, you can go to noibrooklyn.org. That's our website, noibrooklyn.org.org, and you can get in contact with us.

SPEAKER_00 57:35

All right, all right. NOIBROoklyn.org.org. All right, that's peace, brother. Thank you for coming out this evening. I really appreciate you. Yes, sir. Glad to have you back. We'll love to have you back again.

SPEAKER_01 57:48

Yes, sir, brother. Well, you know, I'll I'll be I'll love to be back. And please give my brother Mike Fever the greetings of Osala for me as well, brother. You know, he took your place last time I was on the show. Just want to give him a shout, let him know I enjoyed talking with him, just as I enjoyed it with you, brother.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

Thank you for coming out. Asalam Aleikum, peace to everybody in the chat, and we are out of here. Peace. Peace, friends.