Tribe of Shabazz
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According to the Nation of Islam the Tribe of Shabazz was an ancient Black nation that migrated into central Africa, led by a scientist named Shabazz. The concept is found primarily in the writings of Wallace Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad. According to the Autobiography of Malcolm X, all the races except the black race were by-products of the Tribe of Shabazz.
Story
According to the Nation of Islam, the Tribe of Shabazz was the only survivor of thirteen tribes which lived on earth 66 trillion years ago. After a rogue scientist blew up the planet, splitting off the moon, the other tribes perished. The Tribe of Shabazz relocated to "the rich Nile valley of Egypt and the present seat of the Holy City, Mecca, Arabia".[1]
They were a technologically advanced society, but one faction was led by Shabazz himself into previously unoccupied areas of central Africa because he wanted them to be hardened. There they evolved Negroid features. Malcolm X in a 1962 speech stated that,
- He wanted the people to undergo a form of life that would make them tough and hard, and the other scientists wouldn't agree with him. So this scientist named Shabazz took his family and wandered down into the jungles of Africa. Prior to that time no one lived in the jungles. Our people were soft; they were black but they were soft and delicate, fine. They had straight hair. Right here on this Earth you find some of them look like that today. They are black as night, but their hair is like silk, and originally all our people had that kind of hair. But this scientist took his family down into the jungles of Africa, and living in the open, living a jungle life, eating all kinds of food had an effect on the appearance of our people. Actually living in the rough climate, our hair became stiff, like it is now.[2]
A scientist named Yakub was a member of the Meccan branch of the tribe and, according to Fard, was the creator of the white race. The Tribe of Shabazz is said to have reached its peak in the year 4084 BC.
Name
The name may be related to the Arabic words šaʻb, "a people", and ʻazz, "to be mighty or glorious". There is also a similar Persian name, Shahbâz, meaning "royal falcon". Indicating "royalty and nobility", the name is popular with Indian and Pakistani Muslims.
Malcolm X used the surname Shabazz from 1949 because he believed himself to be a descendant of the tribe.[1] Members of his family have also used the name, which has also been adopted by other persons.