The Clipboard: What's Islam got to do with it?

From an article¹:

But several African-American religious groups, including the Nation of Islam, preach that the black man is God. The claims that the sniper is God, and the use of the phrase ''Word is Bond'' in a letter left for police near the shooting in Ashland, Va., on Oct. 19, prompted some speculation that the killer belonged to a small splinter group of the Nation of Islam called the Nations of the Gods and Earths, or the Five Percenters.

Members of the Five Percenters, which split from the Nation of Islam in the 1960s, said they have members in Seattle but not Muhammad. Their followers never take that surname. Daoud Majestic, a Five Percenter in Pennsylvania, said that when Muhammad became a black Muslim 17 years ago, the Nation of Islam often used ''Word is Bond'' and advocated that the black man is God. The Nation has since toned down its rhetoric, Majestic said, but some older members still use it. ''It's very possible that he still used that kind of terminology,'' he said. (link)

This is an excellent article exploring sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad's religious beliefs and personal motivations.

---

Complete text of the article, No role for Islam seen in killings, by Chris Gaither and Eli Sanders

Coming after the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and as the nation appears headed toward war with Iraq, the string of sniper killings that caused the capital region to cower for nearly a month prompted many to question whether they were the work of Islamic terrorists.

But the piecemeal approach that John Allen Muhammad took to religion suggests that his fractured personality, more than his spiritual beliefs, led to the terrifying violence that killed at least 10 people.

Muhammad, 41, one of two men charged with the killing spree in suburban Washington, D.C., is a black Muslim whose sniper bullets allegedly gunned down blacks and whites alike. He is a Nation of Islam follower whose wife wore a traditional headdress and veil, but he favored mechanics' overalls with ''John'' emblazoned on the bib. Raised a Baptist, he reportedly sought credibility with police through phone calls to Catholic priests and boasted to authorities, ''I am God,'' violating the central tenet of traditional Islam.

''The fact that he shot black people shows that the Nation of Islam had nothing to do with it,'' said Raqib Muied, who founded the Nation's Seattle mosque in 1963 and has since defected to another black Muslim group called the Muslim American Society. ''They tell me Timothy McVeigh was a Christian, but it was never mentioned when he was arrested. I think people just want to make some connection between this violent act and terrorism and Muslims.''

Muhammad's former attorney, John Mills, said he hoped that Muhammad's anguish over losing a legal fight with his former wife, Mildred Denise Williams, over control of his three children did not drive him to kill. ''That would be a tragic way to respond to this, an unproductive way to respond to this,'' he said.

The suspect's complex religious background is filled with idiosyncracies.

Growing up in Baton Rouge, La., far from this hardscrabble industrial city 30 miles south of Seattle, Muhammad spent his Sundays in Bible study at the Greater King David Baptist Church. But in 1985, around his 25th birthday, he converted to Islam shortly after splitting from his first wife and joining the Army. He kept his given name, John Allen Williams, until a year ago, when he took the last name Muhammad, an adopted surname popular among followers of the Nation of Islam. The group, composed largely of black Americans and led by the contentious Minister Louis Farrakhan, considers itself a part of the Islamic religion, but traditional Muslims have dismissed the group as straying from Islam - as different as ''Catholic and Jehovah's Witness,'' Mike Hammoud, a Tacoma city research technologist, said before Friday afternoon prayers at the Islamic Center.

Muhammad and his second wife, Mildred Williams, who later took the last name of Muhammad, maintained close ties to the Nation of Islam in Tacoma and Seattle, according to court filings in their divorce and custody battle. The two studied under Minister Milford Robinson at Mosque #67 in the Center City district of Seattle. The mosque has since been replaced by the Samarya Center yoga studio, and Seattle police report that the local Nation of Islam has kept a low profile in recent years.

Mildred Williams kept the books for an unidentified local mosque and served as secretary in an Islamic study group, according to an affidavit by the couple's friend, Anthony Muhammad. ''From 1992 until 1999, John and Mildred and the children had a model family picture,'' said their friend, who runs the Fish House Cafe, a fish-and-chips shack here where copies of the Nation of Islam's newspaper, The Final Call, are stacked against the wall and men with Farrakhan pins on their lapels drop in to shake hands and chat. In his restaurant, Muhammad declined to comment on his friend's arrest or history in the Nation of Islam, saying, ''I am just so stressed right now.''

Farrakhan acknowledged yesterday that Muhammad is a member of the Nation. But Farrakhan said the man would be ousted from the Chicago-based group if he is convicted in the series of shootings.

''He has not formally been kicked out of the Nation of Islam, but certainly if he's found guilty of something like this, he would not be considered at all a member,'' Farrakhan said.

Farrakhan held a news conference in response to speculation that Muhammad provided security at the ''Million Man March'' in Washington. Farrakhan, who organized the march, said Muhammad, 41, did not provide security.

Some neighbors have reported that Muhammad had recently begun attending a mosque that is not affiliated with the Nation of Islam, though members of the Islamic Center of Tacoma, this city's largest traditional Muslim mosque, said he had not worshiped there.

If Muhammad did begin studying traditional Islam, its teachings failed to stick. The first of ''five pillars'' of the Muslim faith is, ''There is no god but God.'' Yet in notes left for police and phone calls with both Catholic priests and law enforcement officials, the killer reportedly claimed ''I am God.'' While police hunted the sniper amid fears that the shootings could be terrorist acts related to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, commentators said that the use of tarot cards and the ''I am God'' claims ruled out traditional Muslims.

''It's our belief that Allah is the God,'' Hammoud said. ''Someone who would refer to himself as such in a note, it's a sin. You're violating all beliefs.''

But several African-American religious groups, including the Nation of Islam, preach that the black man is God. The claims that the sniper is God, and the use of the phrase ''Word is Bond'' in a letter left for police near the shooting in Ashland, Va., on Oct. 19, prompted some speculation that the killer belonged to a small splinter group of the Nation of Islam called the Nations of the Gods and Earths, or the Five Percenters.

Members of the Five Percenters, which split from the Nation of Islam in the 1960s, said they have members in Seattle but not Muhammad. Their followers never take that surname. Daoud Majestic, a Five Percenter in Pennsylvania, said that when Muhammad became a black Muslim 17 years ago, the Nation of Islam often used ''Word is Bond'' and advocated that the black man is God. The Nation has since toned down its rhetoric, Majestic said, but some older members still use it. ''It's very possible that he still used that kind of terminology,'' he said.

But another Five Percenter said that the phrase ''Word is Bond'' is commonly used in hip-hop music.

Another element of Muhammad's medley of religious influences showed in the final week of the reign of fear, when the snipers reportedly reached out to Catholic priests in Ashland, Va., where that city's victim was felled, and in Bellingham, Wash., where Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, had recently lived in the Lighthouse Mission, a homeless shelter.

Shortly before 5 p.m. on Oct. 18, Janene Jensen, pastoral secretary of the Catholic Church of the Assumption in Bellingham, received a mysterious call from the man she now believes is Muhammad. ''Is Father there?'' he asked. When she replied no, he demanded to know why, muttered something, then slammed down the phone.

The Rev. Jay DeFolco, who missed the call because he was at a funeral that evening, was startled when he saw Muhammad's face in the newspapers the following week. He recognized Muhammad from the free meals offered at the church each Sunday, often frequented by Lighthouse Mission members. ''He was one who was midlife, healthy, strong, capable, tall, so he stood out,'' DeFolco said.

Chilled by his encounter with the accused murderer of 10 people, DeFolco regrets missing that call. ''I wish I could have been here,'' he said. ''Maybe we could have saved another life.''

reference=http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/300/nation/No_role_for_Islam_seen_in_killings%2B.shtml