The One Hundred and Fourty-Four Thousand (Part 3)

They had the name of their Father, not the beast's name (slavemasters), which was of no value. His name and works are to be destroyed from the earth. The beast's name was not a name of God or His attributes, but this the so-called Negroes don't know, but I am telling you now. All Muslims' names have a beautiful meaning and 99 of them are divine attributes. Remember my people Jones, Johnson, Smith, Hog, Bird, Fish, Bear, Woods and such names as Roundtree will not be accepted by your God and mine (Allah).

To make up that square (144,000), to be truthful with you, God has said to me that, He will not accept any white people in His Kingdom. The mark, according to the Holy Quran that will be in their foreheads will be from prostrating. The Muslims prostrate in their prayers on rough floors or rugs, which produces a mark on the forehead. Some of my followers have such sign now produced by the five prayers a day obligation. The righteous is always marked by his righteousness, as the wicked is marked by his or her wicked acts. They are actually marked by nature and are recognized by both parties.

The 144,000 were not afraid of the beast, as God is on their side and they put their trust in Him alone.

The LAMB'S (the Messenger) only weapon was the TRUTH (the sword that proceedeth out of his mouth) and it stands true that truth alone is sufficient to destroy FALSEHOOD, as light destroys darkness. The ninth verse of the same chapter (Rev. 14) warns us against worshipping the beast, his image or to receive his mark on our head or in our hand, and the small shall drink of the wrath of God poured without mixture and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and the LAMB (Apostle).

The so-called Negroes have great love for their slavemasters, their church, religion, color and works. This love must be lost or cast away to become one of the 144, 000. You, who believe literally in the physical resurrection of the dead, must remember the Book here teaches that the first righteous to be saved (the 144,000) is redeemed from among men (Rev. 14:4), not out of the grave. It is a sin that you are so blinded that you cannot see, nor will you accept plain TRUTH. Surely, there is a resurrection of the dead. It is one of the principles of Islam, but not the physically dead in the graveyards. It is the mentally dead, the ignorant, whom the devil's falsehood has killed, to the knowledge of truth, the DIVINE TRUTH which must be preached to them to awaken them into the knowledge of Him again. You and I Know that it can't refer to a physically dead person, because that one won't and can't rise again. What is left to rise from a body that has gone back to the earth, or up in smoke, or eaten by some wild beast or fish of the sea? People who died before the flood and after? Even Adam? They have nothing to rise from. Remember the old Testament (the Torah) doesn't teach of a resurrection of the dead, according to Job (chapter 7:9), "he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more." He must be right as we haven't seen one come up yet from the grave that was really dead. Surely, if it had meant a physical death God would have taught it to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and all of the ancient prophets would have had a knowledge of it, even Job, but not so.

Write in and join on to the 144,000. Islam is your right religion, hurry, join your own before it is too late.

Reprinted from the Pittsburgh Courier. November 3, 1956

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad