# Has There Ever Been Scholarly Research On W.T. Fard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803 "2003-05-08T01:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/1 "2003-05-08T01:18:20Z")
While searching the Web today, I noticed that, while there were a lot of sites that refered to W.T. Fard (founder of the Nation of Islam), none of them seemed to be well-informed as to who this person was. Moreover, the information presented tended to follow the bias of the author towards the NOI. Has anyone ever done serious research into this man? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/2 "2003-05-08T02:12:09Z")
any chance you mean W. **D**. Fard? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/3 "2003-05-08T02:35:35Z")
He is indeed a man of mystery, having just sorta disappeared. I have read that some believe his ethnicity might have been some Pacific Islander, but who knows. . . ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/4 "2003-05-08T03:34:33Z")
Thank you, it is W.D. Fard I was thinking about (moderator, change the T to a D, please). For some reason, I dismissed it as being W.D., possibly because of a later leader of NOI used the same initials. Any answers? As I said before, nothing I’ve found on the Web seems to be well-informed). BTW, Earl, to show how contradictory the matter available is, I’ve seen his name in a dozen or so different ways (W.D. Fard, in my mind, was safest as an approach), his birthyear and birthplace ranging, and his ethnicity as Pacific Islander, African, European, Arabic, or mixed-ethnicity. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/5 "2003-05-08T03:46:00Z")
Here’s some info I found a while back. It’s not much, and I can’t vouch either for the bias/impartiality of the site, or the accuracy of the info. [http://answering-islam.org/NoI/noi1.html](http://answering-islam.org/NoI/noi1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/6 "2003-05-08T03:55:02Z")
1. I already found it, and 2. Some of the opening comments on it suggest that this was produced by evangelist (sic, if I mispelt it) Christians. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/7 "2003-05-08T04:50:30Z")
If you have the patience, you can read the 816 pages of government documents about him released under the Freedom of Info Act. See [http://foia.fbi.gov/alpha.htm](http://foia.fbi.gov/alpha.htm) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/8 "2003-05-08T06:10:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Earl Snake-Hips Tucker \* > \*\*Here’s some info I found a while back. It’s not much, and I can’t vouch either for the bias/impartiality of the site, or the accuracy of the info. > > [http://answering-islam.org/NoI/noi1.html](http://answering-islam.org/NoI/noi1.html) \*\* The site is indeed an Xian missionary site with the project of telling the world about the errors of Islam. That obviously contains a certain… bias. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/9 "2003-05-08T10:55:34Z")
In the book _The Judas Factor_, about the plot to assassinate Malcolm X, investigative journalist Karl Evanzz turned up documents saying that Fard was from New Zealand and his ancestry was half English and half Maori. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/10 "2003-05-08T11:01:28Z")
Reading through the link just now, it appears the FBI files support the New Zealand connexion and that the fellow returned to Australia. While this sort of thing should be taken with a grain of salt – that is the quality of the information and the connexions drawn – I personally would not bet against it being true. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/11 "2003-05-08T13:01:53Z")
Clegg’s biography of Elijah Muhammad has it that Wali Dodd Fard (his original name) was half English and half Bengali. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/12 "2003-05-08T13:04:09Z")
Whoops, got the wrong author; I meant Evanzz. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/13 "2003-05-08T20:47:56Z")
Evanzz changed his mind? In _The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcom X_ (1992), he says Maori. In _Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad_ (1999), he says Bengali. I haven’t read the latter book. Does he explain in it what evidence he found to change his mind after he wrote the former book? ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/14 "2003-05-08T23:26:45Z")
According to some of the information I’ve found on the Web, Jomo, it appears that Ms. Fard thought that he was from New Zealand (and, therefore, Maori), while Muhammad thought that he was Bengali. That doesn’t really answer the question, but it’s still interesting to know. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-scholarly-research-on-w-t-fard/173803/15 "2003-05-08T23:48:55Z")
Didn’t anyone except **Collounsbury** read the thread to which I linked. Original documents on his parents, their apparent origins, etc?