In Honor of our Queen

Happy Birthday Misshaki Muhammad. The Honorable Silis Muhammad talking about his wife's history.

But today, I wish to recognize her unique history, and I'd like for you to recognize it.
She was in the Nation of Islam, long before I heard of Islam, and long before many of you heard of Islam. She came into the Nation of Islam when she was about… Or she was around Islam when she was about 15 years old. I think she wrote her letter when she was about 16 years old. You see, she was the daughter-in-law of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, peace be upon him. She was married to his youngest son, Akbar Muhammad. So, she has been around for quite some time. I said she was 66 years old. I said it with a bit of passion, and you can see that smile on my face. I marvel at the 66-year-old woman. She didn't take it that way.
Messenger Elijah Muhammad, the Last Messenger of Allah, sent her and her husband, Akbar, to the Middle East. I don't know how old she was then. I suppose she was nearing 20, or, if not in fact 20. Having come into, or around the Nation of Islam from 15 to 20 something. She was married, I should say twice, to Akbar. She married him in secrecy, and she married him publicly. They lived in Chicago for a short period and then relocated to New York. I have seen the apartment that they lived in, and she was a very close friend of Malcolm X. The late Malcolm X, many of you have heard of him. She was somewhat of a counselor for Malcolm X. She has a history of her own, independent of me.
Eventually, the Messenger, Messenger Elijah Muhammad, made some contact with Gamal Abdul Nasser, the President, of Egypt, and sent her, Harriet Muhammad, and Akbar Muhammad to Cairo, Egypt. I should say, that before she left for Cairo, Egypt, Malcolm X saw the furniture and the apartment that she had. And, I would suspect that, if the apartment she had, looked like our house now, no wonder Malcolm wanted to buy all the furniture, thinking that he was buying the house. Malcolm brought, all of her furniture, to put in his house. But, I doubt seriously, whether his house looks like her house. She is quite an interior decorator. I mean, she has transformed the house, such that I don't even recognize it. I mean the house that I live in now. She's transformed it, for Savior's Day. An interior decorator. She went to law school and became a lawyer, but I think she missed her calling.
She was an exchange or a cultural attaché, that's the correct way to pronounce it, a cultural attaché in Cairo, Egypt. And I'd venture, that she made contact with quite some orthodox Muslims. It is through her, and her contacts in Cairo, Egypt, that I have dropped a seed that I wish to return to Cairo, Egypt, or someplace in Egypt, if you can get me an acquaintance, an audience, with the President. So, that scene has been planted already in Cairo, Egypt. It was implanted in Cairo, Egypt, as a result of her contact.
Just this morning, or yesterday morning, my brother, Supreme Captain Wali Bahar, and I, were discussing her venture in Cairo, Egypt. He is more of a scientist, than am I. He ventured that Elijah Muhammad, peace be upon him, purposely sent her to Cairo, Egypt, to study the orthodox Muslims, and he went on and on, and then some of what he said, I could not by, as I had no evidence of it. But, Harriet Muhammad, on this morning, said that the men in Cairo, Egypt, when she was there, I think she was there around 1960 or 61 or 62. What year was that? (Speaking to his wife), 61 to 63, and she talked about men, men walking around holding each other's hands. It was that kind of love, that kind of bond. That kind of closeness between men, and no one dare call the men, homosexuals. They were not homosexuals. They just had that kind of closeness. Wali Bahar and I were talking about our closeness, and she made mentioned, that the men in Egypt, had that kind of closeness, that we share.
Over the years, over 44 years now, I have been married to her. She has told me many things, about orthodox Islam. It is reasonable to state that she, unlike Akbar, Warith D. Muhammad, and Minister Louis Farrakhan; never did reject, the teachings, of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. She has always been here. From the time that she started coming around Muslims, she has never deviated.
In 1963, she divorced. It appeared that Akbar was wrapped up in Orthodox Islam, and sought an Orthodox wife, and Harriet wanted to return to the States, to be in the embrace of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. She left Akbar, to return to Akbar’s father. Her father-in-law. That's kind of unusual, isn't it? To be married to a man, and divorced him, but yet, you're still in love with his father. How many of you are like that, to divorce a man, your husband, but you still love and believe and follow his father? Usually, when you divorce a man, you would divorce the whole family. I know, that when I divorced my first wife, I divorced the whole family. I didn't want anything to do with none of them. I suppose many of you, are the same way. It's kind of unusual to divorce a man and yet cling to the father. The father must have been someone special. He must have had, some special information, especially to her.
She yet followed the Messenger of Allah, the Last Messenger. And, she said to him, "I wish not to live in Chicago any longer, around these people who know me and Akbar. His family, his brothers, and sisters, I don't feel comfortable around Chicago any longer.” "May I moved to" – listen to that, "May I?”, “May I?”, "Can I do?", Would you do that? Cannot, May, to an ex-father-in-law? "May I move to LA?" "Can I go to LA?", And the Messenger sent her to LA. Lucky for her. You don't mind a little humor?
She was writing for Muhammad Speaks newspaper, and the Messenger gave her a salary, to write an article for Muhammad Speaks. And she did relocate to LA. In LA, I was one of the avant-garde, and Wali Bahar was one of the avant-garde. Avant-garde means "a what's happening brother." I drove a white Cadillac, in 1960, and Wali drove a Jaguar. And I was chosen by the Captain and by the Minister, to be her chauffeur. Am I boring you? I didn't have any particular fetish, for a woman at that time. At that time, I was suffering from a broken marriage myself. My wife had run away, because she did not want to accept Islam, and I was single. I wasn't quite divorced, but I was single, with three kids. John Shabazz and Edward 2X were our supervisors. They assigned me to chauffeur her around. Not to court her, just to chauffeur her around. The person who was trying to court her was Wali Bahar, and three or four, other gentlemen.
I was just a chauffeur, and I must have chauffeured her for about two or three weeks or so, and one day I took her to Disneyland, and nothing was romantic about it. I just took her to Disneyland. We went up in a tree house, up some steps, about 20 or so steps, and on the way down, I decided to walk in front and not behind her. I walked in front, just in case she fell, I could catch her. Lo and behold, she did trip and fell right into my arms, and I felt her. I thought, what is this? I got all of my arms quickly. It kind of upset me, upset my mind. She has her history. I began to think about that, how she felt in my arms. I was not a little woman's man; I was a big woman's man. I liked them heavy. She was skin and bones. I had never held a woman so small. I think she weighed about 90 pounds.
I just got out of the dog house, so I'm going to tip lightly. And I thought of that. I thought all about that for about three or four weeks, how she felt in my arms. I was called again to take her, out to Knoxberry Farms. I took her out to Knoxberry Farms, and I wanted to talk with her, but now I'm feeling romantically towards her, but all of these brothers, running around trying to talk with her and talk to her, and I said to myself, I can't talk to her. And when she would get out of the car, she was so polite. She will pull her little dress, and back out of the car. Most women, kick their leg out of the car so you can see. She was extremely modest. I thought, what kind of woman is this? I tried to catch her eye when I started feeling romantic towards her. I tried to make eye contact, but she would not make eye contact with me. I thought what is this?...
I got back just in time, for the affair we were having, to turn out. When I got there, she was talking to one of these brothers, I don't know if it was Fletcher, Ernest, Wali, or who, but she was talking to one of them. I walked up to her, and said, "Excuse me, brother," “Come here Harriet, I want to talk to you." And this is the first time, I expressed my feelings, now I don't know whether it was that night, but I asked her, what are you doing in June, in fact June 21? She said, "I don't know, I don't plan that far in advance." It must have been in December 1963. "Why do you ask? she says. "Because, on the 21st of June, you are going to be my wife." I had a made-up mind. On the 21st June, we were married.
Since the Second Resurrection, I have talked about it with her, and, with her and some others, from time to time, and she has always reminded me, that she is the first believer in the Second Resurrection. It's just almost like it. It's not said in anger, but it's said quickly. She's very quick to defend her position. I would say that Taji Ali of LA…, "No, I am the first believer," she would say, and she is. She was a believer in man, before I was a believer in man. As I told you Friday night, I didn't know what to do. I was somewhat at a loss since no God had come to tell me, that I was something special, and give me a big stick. She said to me, “As a man, will you return to Chicago and challenge Wallace?" Those words came out of her mouth. As a man, I had to go.
If I were to choose a wife, to pick a wife, to pick a female to be my companion, I couldn't pick a better woman. There is no better woman to help me to do this work. She's the most perfect woman I know. She knows about contemporary Islam, she knows about Orthodox Islam, and she speaks Arabic. She is more than a dear friend to Wallace. She’s in Wallace, Imam Warith Wallace Muhammad, she's in his heart. They were little children together. They double-dated. They know each other. She's in Farrakhan's heart. She can go to Farrakhan’s camp, and be welcomed. Go to Wallace's camp, and be welcomed. Go to Egypt, anywhere where they speak Arabic, and be welcomed. And, she is an attorney, and she's a lead attorney in charge of GABWA, in charge of Gate City, she has introduced me to GABWA, (Georgia Association All Black Women Attorneys). I couldn't pick a better woman to help me do this work. And I might add, she's also feminine. I mean, when she pulls off those clothes, she's kind of cute. Little bowed legs. Got a little junk, in her trunk. No fried eggs. At 66, still active.
She comes from wealth. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was wealthy. When he sent them over to Egypt, they were sent with big money. She had servants, one to take care of her door, one to take care of her car, one to cook, one to wash the floor, and one to wash her clothes. She's accustomed to having servants, and here I am trying to make her my servant. "Get me coffee," “Put some juice in it," see how dumb I am? This is an example, of a man not recognizing the value of his woman. Let me introduce you, to someone whom you do not know.

When the time came for the little boy to travel to Switzerland, she was right there before me. I'm saying, that traveling to Cairo, Egypt, or to Switzerland, Geneva, I am not the first to go. Ida Hakim is not the first to go. The first person to go is Harriet Muhammad. Some 15 years ago, she was out there. I don't want to list all those places and take time away from what I wish to talk with you about, but you can check this history, and see that she was out there. It would be some two or three years later, that I would go out to Geneva, Switzerland.

Contributed by Hasan Salaam