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The Fruit of Islam (FOI) is the security and disciplinary wing of the Nation of Islam (NOI).^[1] It has also been described as its paramilitary wing.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] The Fruit of Islam wear distinctive blue, brown, or white uniforms and caps and have units at all NOI temples. Louis Farrakhan, as head of the Nation of Islam, is commander-in-chief of the Fruit of Islam, and his son, Mustapha Farrakhan Sr., is second in command as the Supreme Captain. The women's counterpart to the Fruit of Islam is Muslim Girls Training (MGT).

The Fruit of Islam draws its membership from male members in Nation of Islam mosques. All men registered in the Nation of Islam as members are by default a part of the FOI. All Nation of Islam mosques have a branch of the FOI headed by a local captain who is appointed by the local minister. While NOI does not release membership figures, estimates made in 2007 for total membership in the NOI range from 30,000 to 50,000.^[5]

History

The Fruit of Islam is one of the original institutions of the NOI, created by its founder W. D. Fard in 1933, shortly before his final disappearance. The men, mostly young, active members, were considered the "fruit" of the new nation.^[6] At the time the FOI was created to help defend the members of the NOI and all others. It existed until the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975. When Warith Deen Muhammad took control of the NOI he disbanded the FOI. The organization was then reorganized by Louis Farrakhan when he reestablished the NOI.^[7]

NOI security agency

In 1988, the NOI created a separate security agency using members of the FOI. The agency received contracts primarily to patrol and staff public housing complexes in tough urban areas like Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles and received at least $20 million in the 1990s for security work. NOI Security had notable successes in Washington, D.C., projects particularly, but had difficulty in others and faced opposition by some members of the United States Congress and the Anti-Defamation League, among others. It also faced scrutiny from federal agencies for racial and gender preference in hiring and from the Internal Revenue Service for failure to withhold taxes from employees.^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

Mission statement

The FOI says its mission is to "teach civilization, and teach what they know to those who do not know". An NOI website urging men to enroll in the FOI describes members as "brave fighter[s] for Allah" engaged in "a unique war for the very heart and soul of a people". The site explains, "The responsibility of the F.O.I. is that of a head of house: protection, provision, and maintenance of the Nation of Islam (all Original People). The F.O.I. are militant in the sense that our operations are done as a unit".^[12]

References

^ ^a ^b Lincoln, Charles Eric (1994). The Black Muslims in America (Third ed.). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 201–202. ISBN 978-0-8028-0703-8. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
^ Callahan, Sharon Henderson (2013). Religious Leadership. SAGE. p. 636. ISBN 978-1-4129-9908-3. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ Jones-Brown, Delores D.; Frazier, Beverly D.; Brooks, Marvie (2014). African Americans and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-313-35717-6. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ Jones-Brown, Delores D.; Frazier, Beverly D.; Brooks, Marvie (2014). African Americans and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-313-35717-6. Retrieved 23 July 2020. From the start, the NOI was tightly organized, a fact most clearly seen in its creation of the elite "Fruit of Islam," a group envisioned by Fard as a paramilitary wing to defend the NOI against police attacks.
^ Lawrence A. Mamiya, Article on Louis Farrakhan in Encyclopædia Britannica 2007: also quotes at the high end of 50,000 in the NY Times on February 26, 2007
^ Gardell, Mattias, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad, Duke University Press, 1996, p.55
^ Charles Eric Lincoln, The Black Muslims in America, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994
^ U.S. News & World Report, "Propagandists or Saviors?", September 4, 1994
^ Mattias Gardell, In the Name of Elijah Muhammad, Duke University Press, 1996
^ N.Y. Times, "As Farrakhan Groups Land Jobs From Government, Debate Grows", March 4, 1994
^ Ralph B. Taylor, Breaking Away from Broken Windows, Westview Press, 2001
^ "Join the Army of God: Join the F.O.I." Archived from the original on 2012-09-07. Retrieved 2008-03-31.