Tynnetta Muhammad (10 May 1941 – 16 February 2015) was a scientist, writer, researcher, scholar, and spiritual leader of the Nation of Islam. In the 1960s, she wrote articles and columns for the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...

(NOI) newsletter ''

Muhammad Speaks ''Muhammad Speaks'' was one of the most widely read newspapers ever produced by an African-American organization. It was the official newspaper of the Nation of Islam from 1960 to 1975, founded by a group of Elijah Muhammad's ministers, includi ...

''. She was wife of

Elijah Muhammad Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Robert Poole; October 7, 1897 – February 25, 1975) was an African American religious leader, black separatist, and self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah, who led the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1934 until his de ...

, and mother of four of his children. After

Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, black supremacist, anti-white and antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and former singer who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI, h ...

revived the NOI, she wrote the weekly column of NOI theology and numerology, ''Unveiling the Number 19'', in ''

The Final Call ''The Final Call'' () is a newspaper published in Chicago. It was founded in 1979 by Minister Louis Farrakhan and serves as the official newspaper of the Nation of Islam. The magazine acts as the group's tool to spread their agenda, goals and ...

''. She was regularly referred to as "Mother Tynnetta Muhammad" in the movement; she is considered one of the "Mothers of the Faithful."

Early life and education

Born Tynnetta Alethea Nelson, she grew up in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. After her conversion to the NOI in 1958, she worked as a secretary for Elijah Muhammad. Under the name Tynnetta Deanar she wrote for the ''Women in Islam'' column in ''

''. In some publications her first name is spelled "Tynetta".

Family

She gave birth to four of his children; Madeeah,

Ishmael Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...

, Rasul, and Ahmad.

Ideology

In ''Muhammad Speaks''

In the 1960s, Tynnetta wrote regularly in ''

'' on women's issues, condemning the so-called immodest dress of the era. She concentrated on the subjects of proper deportment, dress and behavior of a female Muslim. She emphasized modest attire and cautioned "the Black Woman" to put away "the short western style of dress and social habits."Edward E. Curtis, ''Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960-1975'', University of North Carolina Press, 2006, p.110 She also stated that "the white woman" apparently "does not feel the sense of modesty in the strict manner of her darker associates". In addition to her women's column she wrote articles quoting Biblical and Quranic passages to affirm Muhammad's prophetic status. She defended black separatism on the grounds that "as all bona fide divine spokesmen of the past, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is carrying out the divine work of separating our people from the nation and people responsible for our captivity."

In ''The Final Call''

After departure of Elijah Muhammad in 1975, Tynnetta rejected the reforms of his son

Warith Deen Muhammad Warith Deen Mohammed (born Wallace D. Muhammad; October 30, 1933 – September 9, 2008), also known as W. Deen Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Muhammad and Imam Warith Deen, was an African-American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revival ...

and sided with Louis Farrakhan's faction, becoming one of his earliest supporters. She praised Farrakhan as a great visionary and as the modern equivalent of

John of Patmos John of Patmos (also called John the Revelator, John the Divine, John the Theologian) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Book of Revelation. The text of Revelation states that John was on Patmos, a Greek island where, according ...

. In her writings in the 1980s and 1990s, she became increasingly preoccupied with The Wheel sightings and a supposed forthcoming apocalypse, predicted by Elijah Muhammad, in which a " Mother Plane" from space would destroy the white race. She predicted this event using numerological analyses based on the sacred number 19, an idea derived from

Rashad Khalifa Rashad Khalifa ( ar, رشاد خليفة; November 19, 1935 – January 31, 1990) was an Egyptian-American biochemist, closely associated with the United Submitters International (USI), an organization which promotes the practice and study of Qu ...

.Finley, Stephen, "From Mistress to Mother: The Religious Life and Transformation of Tynetta Muhammad in the Nation of Islam" in Monica A. Coleman (ed) ''Ain't I a Womanist, Too?: Third-Wave Womanist Religious Thought'', Fortress Press, 24 Apr 2013 She stated that the

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

was seen after the 1986 bombing of Tripoli. She also argued that the

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster On January 28, 1986, the broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39a.m. Eastern Time Zone, EST (1 ...

in the same year was divine punishment delivered on the USA, because "the aim and purpose of America's Space Program beginning in the 1960s with the landing on the Moon in 1969, was to prepare for war against the Great Mother Ship and its companion wheels harnessing an entire New Civilization and an Advanced Technology that is not of this world." Her predictions were most fully communicated in her ''magnum opus'' entitled ''The Comer by Night'' in 1986, in which she asserts that Elijah Muhammad is still alive, living in a "space craft". By the early 1990s she was arguing that it would be "the final decade" before the apocalypse, which would occur in 2001. The

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, came to be viewed by some as confirmation of her predictions, with Muhammed herself claiming the destruction of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

was accompanied by UFO manifestations. Tynnetta Muhammad continued to support Farrakhan's vision for the Nation of Islam until her death on 16 February 2015.Mother Tynnetta Muhammad - A heartfelt and fitting tribute to a perfect example
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad, Tynnetta 1941 births 2015 deaths 20th-century apocalypticists 21st-century apocalypticists Elijah Muhammad family Writers from Detroit African-American women Female Islamic religious leaders