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Baldwin’s Father
The leader of the Nation of Islam, a religious black separatist group. Although Baldwin disagrees with Elijah’s belief that all whites are “devils” and that the future of the world includes only black people, he understands the impulse and logic driving Elijah’s beliefs. He is even impressed by Elijah’s ability to bring black people together and to, in a sense, save them from the horrors and traps of abject poverty and oppression. Baldwin, though sympathetic to Elijah’s outlook, is unable to see eye-to-eye with the Nation of Islam because of its commitment to religion and its general “us versus them” perspective. Still, he depicts Elijah as a kind, intelligent man with a face that indicates pain and reminds Baldwin of his father.
Elijah Muhammad Quotes in The Fire Next Time
The The Fire Next Time quotes below are all either spoken by Elijah Muhammad or refer to Elijah Muhammad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Down At The Cross Quotes
It is only “the so-called American Negro” who remains trapped, disinherited, and despised, in a nation that has kept him in bondage for nearly four hundred years and is still unable to recognize him as a human being. And the Black Muslims, along with many people who are not Muslims, no longer wish for a recognition so grudging and (should it ever be achieved) so tardy. Again, it cannot be denied that this point of view is abundantly justified by American Negro history. It is galling indeed to have stood so long, hat in hand, waiting for Americans to grow up enough to realize that you do not threaten them.
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Baldwin scrutinizes in this passage Elijah Muhammad’s belief that no set of people can earn respect if they don’t own the land they live on. Drawing yet again on the historical position of African-Americans, Baldwin agrees that it is certainly the case that black people in America represent a rare group of people who, despite having lived somewhere so long, can claim so little as their own. It is important to recognize that Baldwin is yet again allowing himself to consider a doctrine that goes against his beliefs, for he is not a member of the Nation of Islam. Nonetheless, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut venia
It was very strange to stand with Elijah for those few moments, facing those vivid, violent, so problematical streets. I felt very close to him, and really wished to be able to love and honor him as a witness, an ally, and a father. I felt that I knew something of his pain and his fury, and, yes, even his beauty. Yet precisely because of the reality and the nature of those streets—because of what he conceived as his responsibility and what I took to be mine—we would always be strangers, and possibly, one day, enemies.
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Having deflected—however politely—Elijah’s attempts to convince him of the Nation of Islam’s core tenets, Baldwin finds himself for several strange moments surveying the troubled streets of South Chicago with Elijah before leaving the mansion. The fact that he feels close to this man and that he wants to “honor him as a witness, an ally, and a father” speaks to the extent to which Baldwin registers authority and its influence on him—to be sure, he is incredibly attuned to power dynamics. Baldwin’s desire to be close to Elijah also illustrates the fact that the two men share many of the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis
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Elijah Muhammad Character Timeline in The Fire Next Time
The timeline below shows where the character Elijah Muhammad appears in The Fire Next Time. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Down At The Cross
...group: the Nation of Islam. He writes that he had heard much about its leader, Elijah Muhammad, but had never paid the movement very much attention because he found its message...
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...whose end is near. According to their doctrine, this information had been passed down to Elijah Muhammad by Allah, who told him that white power would end in ten to fifteen...
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...thinking. After all, he remarks, the theology was not new, nor was the sentiment. Nonetheless, Elijah somehow succeeded in bringing people together in a way that the Christian church was unable...
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Arriving at Elijah Muhammad’s mansion—which doubled as the movement’s headquarters—Baldwin felt nervous. He was late, he was unsure...
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...him with respect, which he read as an indication that they expected something from him. Elijah was not in the room, and when he finally appeared, Baldwin noted the joy that...
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The dinner was filled with talk about power and about the “white devils.” Elijah told Baldwin that the reason Baldwin didn’t think all white people were devils was because...
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While having dinner with Elijah and his disciples, Baldwin found himself telling Elijah that he gave up religion for a...
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At one point, Elijah made the claim that no set of people were ever fully respected without having possessed...
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Leaving Elijah’s mansion, Baldwin felt as though he had failed some sort of test. Standing outside with...
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