He arrived in Detroit in 1930 with an ambiguous background and several aliases and proselytized syncretic Islamic teachings to the city's black population.

[8] Fard's teachings in turn influenced many, including Malcolm X, Clarence 13X, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, and indirectly, basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Scholar John Andrew Morrow describes Fard as a "racial and ethnic chameleon", noting "Farad lived in one of the most vicious, racist societies in the world: America.

In 1908, papers in Eugene, Oregon announced that Turkish tamale vendor Fred Walldad had acquired a small house on wheels to use as a food cart.

[15] By 1912, Fard was again selling tamales, this time in Salem, Oregon; newspapers reported on vendor Fred Dadd, a naturalized American originally from New Zealand, attending his first baseball game.

[21] On April 20, 1914, Dodd married Pearl Allen, a white-passing member of the Klamath people, in Multnomah County, Oregon.

[5][30][better source needed] The Nation of Islam contests the claim that Wallace Fard Muhammad and Wallie Dodd Ford were the same person.

Patrick D. Bowen writes that in the early Nation of Islam, "ministers regularly referenced passages from the Bible to prove their claims".

[42] Beynon writes that "With growing prestige over a constantly increasing group, [Fard] became bolder in his denunciation of white people and began to attack the teachings of the Bible in such a way as to shock his audience and bring them to an emotional crisis.

[44] In 1938, sociologist Erdmann Doane Beynon published in the American Journal of Sociology a firsthand account of several interviews he conducted with followers of Fard in Michigan.

[55] His guidance and teachings eventually changed and reformed Elijah Poole into a responsible and ideal husband, who would later become the face and leader of the Nation Of Islam.

From interviews with approximately two hundred families who followed Fard, Beynon concluded:Although the prophet lived in Detroit from July 4, 1930 until June 30, 1934, virtually nothing is known about him, save that he 'came from the East' and that he 'called' the Negroes of North America to enter the Nation of Islam.

[61] Fard and Ugan Ali, who acknowledged leadership of the Allah Temple of Islam but vehemently denied any teaching of human sacrifice, were examined by psychiatrist David Clark, who recommended they be committed for further observation.

[62] On November 25, Harris was arraigned on charges of first-degree murder; he pleaded guilty, but his bizarre courtroom behavior convinced witnesses of his insanity.

On March 27, the Detroit Free Press proclaimed that the "voodoo cult" had been revived, and the city initiated legal action against the school.

Though he was a naturalized citizen, he may have been forced to accept voluntary deportment; In 1932, the Escanaba Daily Press reported that he had been awaiting an immigration hearing.

[70] After he had departed Detroit, Fard visited Hazel Barton, the mother of his child, in Los Angeles; she recalled him only eating one meal per day as part of his new lifestyle.

Beynon described the substance of Fard's teaching as follows:The black men in North America are not Negroes, but members of the lost tribe of Shabazz, stolen by traders from the Holy City of Mecca 379 years ago.

The prophet came to America to find and to bring back to life his long lost brethren, from whom the Caucasians had taken away their language, their nation and their religion.

[56] In Elijah Muhammad's 1965 book Message to the Blackman in America, which is a compilation of articles written for newspapers throughout the early part of his ministry, Muhammad summarized what Fard taught him as follows:He began teaching us the knowledge of ourselves, of God and the devil, of the measurement of the earth, of other planets, and of the civilization of some of the planets other than earth.

[79] Fard was influenced by the Jehovah's Witness movement, Freemansonry (especially the Shriners), Marcus Garvey, Moorish Science, and of course Islam.

[84] Fard encouraged students to read James Henry Breasted’s Conquest of Civilization, Hendrick van Loon’s The Story of Mankind and books on Freemansonry.

[88] With regard to Elijah Muhammad, Beynon's article stated: "From among the larger group of Muslims there has sprung recently an even more militant branch than the Nation of Islam itself.

[72] A declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) memorandum dated May 16, 1957, states: "From a review of instant file it does not appear that there has been a concerted effort to locate and fully identify W. D. Fard.

"[92] The FBI took note of the article written by Erdmann Doane Beynon, and it conducted a search for Fard using various aliases including the name "Ford".

[5] On August 15, 1959, the FBI sent a story to the Chicago New Crusader newspaper, stating that Fard was a "Turkish-born Nazi agent who worked for Hitler in World War II".

[100][better source needed] A February 19, 1963, FBI memorandum states: "In connection with efforts to disrupt and curb growth of the NOI, extensive research has been conducted into various files maintained by this office.

"[101] Five months later, in July 1963, the FBI told the Los Angeles Evening Herald-Examiner that Fard was actually Wallace Dodd Ford.

At the convention's keynote address, Farrakhan announced his attempt to restore the Nation of Islam under Elijah Muhammad's teachings.

We know that he, a man born February 26, 1877, is not the originator of the Heavens and Earth... Fard Muhammad developed a methodology, strange as it seems, unorthodox as it seems, even poisonous as it may seem, yet it was a prescription that started bringing balance to the system, and that we would evolve from a Nationalist Black-thinking people into the universal message of Islam.