In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful
2007 / 1428 AH
Dear Reader,
The Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan was invited to London in January 1986 by the Hackney Black Peoples Association, represented by Lester Lewis. Preparations were made for the Minister to speak at the Royal Albert Hall, including bookings and advertising. On 16th January 1986, shortly before his planned address, the then UK Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, imposed an Exclusion Order on him entering the UK. This took place amid a period of media controversy, namely in the US, regarding the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s public speeches.
The Honourable Minister Farrakhan flew into London on Friday 7th February 1986, on his way to Nigeria - in the midst of much UK media controversy. He was detained at Heathrow Airport, interviewed and subsequently escorted to obtain his connecting flight at Gatwick Airport.
Home Secretary Douglas Hurd’s grounds for the Exclusion Order were that the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s presence was “not conducive to the public good” and that his public statements in the US “give reasonable cause to believe that, if he came to the United Kingdom, he would be likely to cause racial disharmony and possibly commit offences of inciting racial hatred.” Also cited was the belief that his presence would be a threat to “public order”. We, the Nation of Islam in the UK, know these given reasons to be totally without foundation.
After 15 years of legal, moral and political arguments, the Nation of Islam elevated the debate by initiating a campaign, Lift the Ban on Farrakhan, in 2000. From this ensued a legal challenge against the British Government at the High Court in London, July 2001. A legal team was assembled that would effectively present the case of the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan based on the facts. The people of the UK witnessed Truth prevail in the British Judiciary whereby a landmark ruling was given on July 31st 2001 – the Ban was lifted! No other organisation or individual had successfully challenged the UK Government in this realm and succeeded.
Two months later, on October 1st 2001, the very same day that the presiding Judge, Mr Justice Turner, published his reasons for quashing the Ban, the Government announced that it would file for leave to appeal the decision. Several months of legal deliberations resulted in a ruling overturning the decision made by Mr Justice Turner - the Ban was regrettably re-imposed. The three presiding Judges of the Appeal Court headed by Master of the Rolls, Lord Philips, supported Secretary David’s Blunkett’s judgement. Lord Philips stated that the Ban “did not involve a disproportionate interference with freedom of expression" and that the Home Secretary possesses a “wide margin of discretion” and is able to make a more informed decision than a court in the matter. It was also inserted by the Judges that the “events of September 11 had intervened” since the first ruling overturning the Ban. The given reasons made no reference to the previous arguments put forward by the Government concerning the words and character of the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Why? Why not continue the argument? Is it because it is impossible to maintain a case upheld by “media misrepresentation” and propaganda in the face of overwhelming evidence? We believe that the UK public has the right to ask and have answered such questions.
Despite the second ruling, the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan continues his work both here and in his mainstay of the United States as well as in numerous other countries around the world. He enjoys a support base in the UK that spans the religious and political spectrum. His record of inspiring and directing the human being towards the elevation of his or her consciousness, solidifying marital and family relationships and improving lifestyle remains, today, unparalleled. For over 50 years the Minister has dedicated himself to a programme of self-discipline and self-determination. For an equal amount of time he has worked tirelessly to impart the benefits of his message to communities across the US and most recently in the past 12 years in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.
Indeed, it is without question that the “public good” is central to the agenda of the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan, a man providing deep insight and honest brokering in matters ranging from Darfur in the Sudan, the climate in the Middle East, mediation between the so-called gangs on the streets of the US and also the alarming events being mirrored here in the UK among our Black youth. Members of the Nation of Islam have provided “peace talks” between the gangs in Los Angeles and other areas of the US – the result being a harmony that has been the envy of those using traditional methods of youth “control”. The Honourable Minister Farrakhan’s work extends into prison and prisoner reform, addressing the Hip-Hop community and encouraging dialogue between rap artists and their various “camps”. He has been foremost in reaching out to community and religious figureheads with respect to how they can be more effective in solving the economic and social problems within the Black and Latino communities.
In 1995 the Honourable Minister Farrakhan called for one million Black men to convene in Washington D.C. and publicly atone for their evil acts perpetrated against each other, their families and God, by whatever name they used for the Creator. He asked them to dedicate themselves to improving their neighbourhoods and solidifying their relationships with their children and children’s mothers. The call was for one million but over 1.8 million men heeded it. This was and is the largest ever gathering of black people in recorded history with neither arrest nor unrest. The march was attended by a wide range of Black men, young and senior, Muslim, Christian, Hebrew and otherwise.
Following the March of 1995, the message of Atonement was taken to international audiences through three World Friendship Tours. The tours spanned from January 1996 to February 1998 and took the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan to over 20 countries in Africa including Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, Niger, Egypt, Liberia, the Democratic Rep. of the Congo and South Africa. Other countries visited include Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel, Palestine, China, Malaysia, Singapore, the former Soviet Union, nations in the South Pacific, the Caribbean and South America. He has also addressed audiences in St. Kitts and Jamaica, the respective native countries of his mother and father.
In 2000 the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan convened the Million Family March in Washington D.C. putting forward a National agenda asking for members from across the religious and racial spectrum of the human family to prioritise marriage and family life. Quote:
“The importance of family and its preservation is the duty of all legitimate governments and systems. Anything that disrupts family or is against the general welfare of the family is therefore against the aim and purpose of God and creation for He made all of creation to serve the man, the woman, the family.”
Excerpt of a statement from the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan, January 4th 2000
Five years later in 2005 was born the Millions More Movement. This was a call by the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan to people of many political and religious hues to concentrate their economic, mental and spiritual efforts towards establishing nine ministries to serve the needs of the masses of poor and disenfranchised people.
The aforementioned events and numerous other works initiated by the Honourable Minister Farrakhan have catapulted worldwide social issues into the minds of the Black community and the world. As a result Black people have involved themselves more in the presidential election processes and looked more critically at the local, national and international events that have historically impacted on their lives.
The Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s work spans 52 years in the Nation of Islam. He has walked with and lived in the periods of significant luminaries such as his teacher, the Honourable Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Kwame Ture, the Panther Movement and during the Civil Rights Movement in general. In recent years his outreach has taken on an international dimension imparting and receiving counsel from notable figures such as the former President of Ghana, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings and a host of dignitaries from Muslim, Christian and Jewish faith backgrounds. He is also a dedicated husband and father. His character is one that can and is being a great resource to the troubled communities within the UK. We believe that his presence in the UK will be nothing but a boon to all truth-seeking and peace-loving people. If the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s character fits that which the UK media and Government describes it to be then, we reiterate what we said at the High Court – let the people of the United Kingdom have an opportunity to see him, hear him and indeed make their judgement about him.
Delegations from the Nation of Islam plus supporters and family members, for the past 20 years, have travelled annually to the US to see and hear the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan. They are witness bearers to the support base that he has and can testify to the great changes in their own lives from adhering to the guidance emanating this illuminated person. In the mid 1990’s the Nation of Islam established three full-time schools in the UK, educating children between the ages if 2½ and 11 years of age. To date the Nation of Islam continues it educational and community programmes within the inner cities of London and in other areas of the UK.
With this said, it is not just for the personal benefit of the membership of the Nation of Islam in the UK that we desire the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s presence here. It is indeed on behalf of all men and women, mothers and fathers, children and the British public, whom we know will benefit immeasurably from his company. Prime Minister Tony Blair recently commented on the wave of knife and gun atrocities visiting our community and called on Black people to lead the fight against it. We are truly desirous of doing this through inviting the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan to the UK. We know him to be best qualified to explain the causes and prescribe the solutions to these acts and to an array of social ills in our community such as drug abuse, unemployment and teenage pregnancy. This year has also seen a concerted effort by the Government to recognise the evil of the African Slave Trade and to pay tribute to one William Wilberforce for his involvement in its "Abolition". It is clear today that the ancestors of those enslaved are suffering from bondage to serious social evils. It is however ironic that homage is paid to those that have passed and can do nothing towards the suffering of the living - but those who are living and able provide a "healing balm" are barred.
We are imploring readers of this letter to support the Nation of Islam in our quest to have the person of the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan in the United Kingdom. It would be a great victory for all who truly desire freedom, justice and equality in respect of our ancestors and on behalf of our living and the children yet to be born.
What can you do? We are asking that you write letters towards newspapers, MPs and those in spheres of life that have the eyes and ears of the public. We desire that an accelerated campaign develop, that can orientate into a national campaign to lift the Ban on the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Please start by signing the Lift the Ban on Farrakhan <petition>. We acknowledge that many may have signed their name during the previous campaign of 2000-2001, but again your support is much appreciated.
Student Minister Hilary Muhammad
UK Representative of the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan
For and on behalf of the Nation of Islam and Supporters of the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan
