http://www.gulfnews.com/world/U.S.A/10107389.html
Published: 27/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE) Farrakhan flays a divided world at war AP Detroit: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stressed religious unity in what was expected to be his last major speech, saying the world is at war because Christians, Muslims and people of other faiths are divided. The 73-year-old leader of the Chicago-based black Muslim group told the tens of thousands at Detroit's Ford Field on Sunday that Jesus and the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) would embrace each other with love if they were on the stage behind him. "Our lips are full of praise, but our hearts are far removed from the prophets we all claim," he said. "That's why the world is in the shape that it's in." The fiery orator spoke for the first time since ceding leadership of the movement last year because of illness. The speech at the home of the National Football League's Detroit Lions capped the Nation of Islam's three-day convention in the city where it was founded in 1930. "My time is up," Farrakhan said in describing his exit from the leadership stage. Time of great conflict The leader of 1995's Million Man March, which was organised to encourage black men to improve their families and communities, said he is leaving at a time of great conflict in the world, citing the war in Iraq. He said he believes God is angry with leaders who are putting politics and greed above serving their fellow man. He said President George W. Bush should be impeached or at least censured for his "wicked policies", and urged young people to avoid joining a military that will have them "leave one way and come back another". The downtown venue was not filled to capacity, but seats on the field and in the lower levels were packed. There were empty seats in the upper levels of the stadium. Anita Baker performed two songs before Farrakhan took the stage and speakers from various religious and ethnic groups welcomed him. Among those on the stage behind him were US Congressman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat; Russell Simmons, hip-hop pioneer and entrepreneur; and Joe Shirley Jr., Navajo Nation president. Self-improvement Nation founder Wallace D. Fard attracted black Americans on the margins of society with a message of self-improvement and separation from whites, who he said were inherently evil because of their enslavement of blacks. The Nation of Islam, which promotes black empowerment and nationalism, was rebuilt by Farrakhan in the late 1970s after W.D. Mohammad, the son of leader Elijah Mohammad, moved his followers towards mainstream Islam. Farrakhan became notorious for calling Judaism a "gutter religion" and suggesting crack cocaine might have been a CIA plot to enslave blacks. He met with foreign leaders at odds with the United States - Muammar Gaddafi, Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussain - prompting the State Department in 1996 to accuse him of "cavorting with dictators [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
