Khadijah Farrakhan, 'First Lady' of Nation of Islam, dies aged 90

Khadijah Farrakhan, 'First Lady' of Nation of Islam, dies aged 90 Submitted by MEE staff on Mon, 06/29/2026 - 20:08 Known as 'Mother Khadijah', she devoted more than seven decades to shaping one of the most prominent religious and political movements in US Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, with his wife, Khadijah, in Baltimore, Maryland, on 23 November 1996 (John Mathew Smith/Wikimedia Commons) Off The Nation of Islam has bid farewell to Khadijah Farrakhan, the beloved wife of its longtime head, Louis Farrakhan, who passed away on 27 June, aged 90. Endearingly known as “Mother Khadijah” by Nation of Islam followers, she devoted more than seven decades to shaping one of the most prominent religious and political movements in the US, built on Black self-reliance. “The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan with deep sadness yet with profound gratitude to Allah informs you that his beloved wife of 72 years, the First Lady of the Nation of Islam, Mother Khadijah has returned to Allah (may Allah be pleased),” a statement published by the Shura Executive Council said. The heart of the Nation of Islam has been Mosque Maryam on Chicago's South Side, where the Farrakhan family have lived. Born Betsy Ross, she married Louis Eugene Walcott on 12 September 1953, in Boston. She converted to Islam in 1955, the year her husband joined the movement under the influence of Malcolm X. The couple raised nine children. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Khadijah was a commanding woman, historic in her own right. In 1997, two years after the Million Man March in Washington, DC, she spoke at the Million Woman March in Philadelphia: “A nation can rise no higher than its women,” she told the crowd. “We focus on women but cannot lose sight that we must rise as a family - men, women and children.” 'Knowledge of God and of themselves' The Nation of Islam was born in 1930, when a travelling salesman, Wallace D Fard Muhammad, started preaching in the Black neighbourhoods of Detroit. His mission was to "teach the downtrodden and defenseless Black people a thorough knowledge of God and of themselves". He unified elements of Islam with an ethic of economic self-determination and the shedding of enslaved names and practices. After repeated arrests and death threats by the Detroit police for his teachings, Fard disappeared, and his disciple, Elijah Muhammad, took the helm and moved the organisation to Chicago. From Malcolm X to Mamdani: The quest for justice cannot be killed Read More » Under the stewardship of Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam evolved from a modest storefront congregation into a steady network of autonomous schools, newspapers, farms, and businesses. This independent Black economy was forged from a conviction: Black prosperity must be seized, not requested from the US. The message took flight through Malcolm X, whose arrival in 1952 helped the membership mushroom to about 300,000 within a decade. Muhammad Ali’s 1964 conversion brought the movement international attention. After Elijah's passing in 1975, his son Wallace steered the organisation towards Sunni Islam, casting aside its Black nationalist infrastructure. Louis refused this and, in 1977, broke away to build the Nation once more in Chicago and revive its economic programmes. It was this reconstituted Nation, defiant and disciplined, that Khadija nurtured. Khadijah will lie in state on Wednesday and Thursday at Mosque Maryam at The Nation of Islam National Center in Chicago, Illinois, from 10:00 am through 8:00 pm. The funeral service will be held on Friday at Mosque Maryam at 11:00 am. US Muslims News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0