Religion & Spirituality

Farrakhan remembers Min. Ava Muhammad

By DALEEL JABIR MUHAMMAD

Special to the AmNews

Min. Louis Farrakhan, national representative of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and the Lost Found Nation of Islam in the West, held a special janazah service (funeral) at their national headquarters in Chicago at their sacred Mosque Maryam this past Saturday, August 3, in honor of his top student, Min. Dr. Ava Muhammad.

Min. Ava Muhammad was a long sought after public speaker, educator, lawyer, minister and the national spokesperson of the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. She accepted Islam in Harlem in 1981 under then Min. Karriem Muhammad (aka The General) of Muhammad Mosque No.7. She became a staunch defender of Min. Farrakhan throughout the country and the world. The minister counted her as one of his best ministers.

“She’s a star of God,” stated Minister Farrakhan. “Stars don’t die. Their light goes out but the light of the star travels through time and space even though the star is billions of light years away when it died, but it’s reaching us now.” He went on to describe her work and the significance of her work as it relates spiritually and metaphorically to the light of a star, “Min. Ava is a star, her life was extinguished in death but down to the ages, people are going to read what she wrote and listen to the words that she spoke,” the minister eloquently equated.

“My mom’s prayer, sacrifice, her life and her death was all for Allah,” said Sister Cherelle Muhammad, daughter of Min. Ava and Brother Darius Muhammad holding back her tears. “She worked hard on her book ‘Naturally Beautiful,’ to ensure that women and girls would have a reminder of how naturally beautiful they are.” “She would counsel people on their personal and marriage issues and leave them in high spirits.” “My mom was fully invested in her Nation, she willingly gave her time, her talents, her mind, her spirit and her very being to the Nation of Islam,” Sister Cherelle added.

A letter of condolences was read by the national assistant to the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan, Min. Ishmael Muhammad from the mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, who noted, “I was very impressed to learn about Min. Dr. Muhammad’s life working as an attorney serving as a legal adviser to the Nation of Islam and as the national spokesperson for Min. Louis Farrakhan. Serving as a member of the Nation of Islam executive council, making history as the first Muslim woman in modern history to hold a position of authority over a Mosque anywhere in the world. Her work as a much sought after national speaker and her love for her family, friends and community.

“Min. Ava’s love for Allah in the person of Master Fard Muhammad, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan was tireless and immense. “Ava loved purely,” Min. Farrakhan reflected. “She was a special woman. She fed from a word and she was faithful to that word. And because she was faithful to that word, she was faithful to what that word came to us to do. To resurrect us from a dead level,” exuberantly stated by Min. Farrakhan.

Sister Ava’s janazah was replete with salutes, from the audience who travelled far and near, along with the full honor guards in uniform who stood around her coffin, which represented the spiritual and military honors given to members of the Nation of Islam.

Min. Ava Muhammad was a known author of several books, including “Real Love.” She was a mentor, a teacher, and a radio host.

Sister Ava Muhammad leaves behind two daughters, Sasha and Cherelle, and her husband of 33 years, Brother Darius Muhammad.

Initial pathologist results show that her body was clean. She wasn’t in failing health, she didn’t suffer a stroke or heart attack. Results from the full autopsy are pending.

(Photo courtesy of NOI Facebook)

Esther Cooper Jackson, a phenomenal editor and freedom fighter

By HERB BOYD

Special to the AmNews

“‘Freedomways’ has no special interests to serve save those already clearly stated—no political, organizational or institutional ties. Those who commit themselves to its support become patrons of a publication and an editorial policy designed to provide an open forum for the free expression of ideas.” This is but a paragraph from the first editorial of “Freedomways” in the spring of 1961, and while it is signed by the editors, the real moving finger having writ probably belonged to Esther Cooper Jackson, a co-founder of the journal.

For most of her adult life Jackson was on the ramparts for justice and human rights, and during her 25 years or so as editor of “Freedomways,” she received and refined articles submitted by such distinguished writers as James Baldwin, Paul Robeson, Alice Walker, W.E.B. Du Bois, Lorraine Hansberry, and countless others. She joined the ancestors—many of whom she shepherded to print—on August 23, 2022, two days after her 105th birthday in Arlington, Va.

There’s a picture in the “Freedomways Reader”––which she edited––of her with Du Bois at the Southern Youth Negro Congress (SYNC) in 1946. She welcomed Du Bois to the podium where he delivered one of his most famous speeches “Behold the Land,” in Columbia, South Carolina. Her youthful presence as the

See ESTHER COOPER on page 33