“The Devil & Elijah Muhammad”

Play review of The Devil & Elijah Muhammad

The Hadley Players ended
their fall season with “The Devil & Elijah Muhammad,” a tale that took the
spectator into the latter years of Elijah’s Muhammad’s reign over the Nation of
Islam. 

According to the play written
by Yusef Salaam and directed by Ward Nixon, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad began realizing
the need to change some of his teachings in the latter years of his life.  Particularly, the teaching that all white
people were devils.  This philosophy became
more and more difficult to uphold particularly when some of his own members were
the product of miscegenation.  Ivan Goris
played the role of Washington X, the Chief Editor of Muhammad Speaks.  Washington X was very concerned that his
beloved mother (a white woman), was being depicted as a “devil” according to
the teachings of the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad, whose early
witnessing of the lynching of black men by white men solidified his belief
whites were devils.

 While initially, Elijah
Muhammad stood strong in his positions and policies, others chipped away at his
resolve little by little.  After being
given a million dollar donation by the Arabs to help the Nation continue its
varied industries, etc., a Saudi official of the King Faoruk Bank, Ali Abdulah
(Jared Reinmuth), challenged Muhammad’s interpretation of the Qu’ran stating to
him ‘all men are the same.’  The negative political implications resulting
in the ‘white devil’ teaching was also brought to the Minister’s attention by
Rev. Lillian Jones (Valerie Tekosky), whose political aspirations prompted her
to ask Muhammad for his endorsement. Both Ali Abdulah and Rev. Jones were soundly
rebuked by Muhammad who was adamant about his own interpretation of the Qu’ran
and his right to run his organization as he saw fit, irrespective of million
dollar contributions and political approval.

 During his early years, Mr.
Muhammad’s birth name was Elijah Poole. 
During that time, Elijah knew poverty, hardship, and racism.  His family’s finances caused Elijah to quit
school after third grade in order to help his family sharecrop.  It was during those times in Sandersville,
and then Macon, Georgia, wherein Poole was witness to the abject cruelty of
white people toward people of color. 

 America’s racial situation
continued even after Elijah and his family moved to Detroit, then Chicago.  In the 1930’s, lynching, race riots and other
forms of terrorism against Blacks and other peoples of color, continued
unabated with the justice system skewed in favor of the white race.  The Black race was in need of a savior.  That savior made his appearance in the form
of Master W. Fard Muhammad who set Black communities afire with his proselytizing
and message.  A message which told
African Americans to cast off their slave names and take on religious tenet
that professed a belief in one God, Allah. 
According to a statement Allah made contained within the Qu’ran  Allah
would choose for his own the rejected and the despised
. And, who more so
than Black people, have been so severely oppressed, rejected and despised.  Fard’s teachings stated it was the Black
people that God truly supported. Elijah Poole gravitated to this message and
eventually became a friend and student of Master Fard who in time made Poole
a trusted minister within the Nation of Islam. 
At first, Fard gave Poole the name Karriem and later Muhummad, the
Supreme Minister.

 Ralph McCain adeptly played
the role of Mr. Muhammad, giving a personable and scholarly demeanor to the
character.  However, it seemed that there
was internal strife and discontent within the ranks of the Nation of Islam, causing
in some cases, an opportunity for  CIA
infiltration and espionage.  Further,
even one of their beloved national spokespersons began to reject some of the
Nation’s teachings after going to Mecca where he saw all the colors of man
praying together.  Malcolm X could no
longer support the idea that all whites were devils nor could he accept
Elijah’s  rumored dalliances with
women.  So, in 1964, Malcolm X separated
from the Nation of Islam and formed his own organization.  This caused a rift between Elijah and Malcolm
X which the play suggests in time healed.

 Period costumes by June
Terry, lighting and sound by Derrick Minter and stage management by Joyce Pena
painted an accurate picture of the era in which events took place.

 The convincing performance by
Mr. McCain presents to the viewer a human side of the great leader, especially
in a scene with his wife Clara Muhammad, played by Joan Valentina, where Elijah’s
playful and loving side is revealed.  It
seemed Elijah was a man plagued by illness, death threats, suspicion and
pressure to change.  He struggles to
overcome his own demons and the betrayal of those he loves and trusts.  One betrayal manifests via his trusted bodyguard
and personal secretary, Samuel X, played with great fervor by Albert
Eggleston.  Eggleston plays a devious and
sly instigator who whispers unfounded allegations into the ear of Mr. Muhammad
in order to plant seeds of distrust in Muhammad’s mind toward some of his
faithful members.   Using the strategy of ‘divide and conquer,’
Samuel X deftly causes dissension within the ranks pitting the security captain
portrayed by Tomike Ogugua against Sister Maryum (Cookie Winborn), Muhummad’s
office secretary, whom the captain suspects of stealing despite her
protestations to the contrary.  By the
time the true culprit is discovered much harm has been done.

 The play depicts the measure
of a man.  Faced with the realization the
only constant in life is change, one’s ability to change in the face of change,
becomes the true definer.  Therein lie
the quandary within the production of “The Devil and Elijah Muhammad.”

 The Hadley Players upcoming
season presents “Arye” by Louise Mike, February 28-March 11, 2012 and “This Way
Forward” by Gertrude Jeannette, May 22 – June 3, 2012.

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