8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I've followed this book for almost 20 years now, July 17, 2009
As-Salaam-Alaikum (Peace be upon you!)!
I need to say, at the outset of this interview, that I am completely lost concerning just what the reviewer(of How to Eat to Live Book 2, although my "review" is useful for both Book 1 and 2), Ms. Henderson was reviewing. She remarks about this book How to Eat to Live(her remarks are as to How to Eat to Live, book 2, but again, I'll repeat this review for book one, as what I'm saying wholly applies to both books) , which is about diet and nutrition, noting that she could not help but notice the "racial overtones." No, offense, but she is obviously very ignorant (not being ugly, but I'm saying it in the literal definition, meaning uneducated, without knowledge, uninformed, has not cracked too many good history books, and knows little or anything about the Black History, Slavery, or the time in which the books wisdom was being written.)
This is a book by The Hon. Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, up until 1975. (Minister Farrakhan is now, as he was in 1975 and before that, The National Representative of The Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam.) Now, The Hon. Elijah Muhammad, who was taught by Master Fard Muhammad, said "The White Man is the devil." This is a known statement that he made, and taught. Ah, hmmm, why would someone, writing a book review, expect, if they knew that statement up front, if they had ever read the Autobiography of Malcolm X, ever watched news stories on topic, read a newspaper on topic, ever read an internet news story, blog, misquote from a person who completely hated the Nation of Islam and who was totally biased against, or a statement from a follower...WHAT PERSON WOULD THEN, KNOWING THIS INFORMATION AND SETTING OUT TO CONDUCT A REVIEW OF THE BOOK-EXPECT "ONE LOVE"? Say what?
I'm sorry, I have to really chuckle on that one. Now, rather than intact the horrifically misinformed reviewer, Ms. Henderson, any further-by noting that the advocates and practitioners of slavery, racial segregation, lynching, Jim Crow, were not practicing "One Love"... noting that the Hon. Elijah Muhammad was and is revered and held in the highest esteem in the Rastafarian Community, (which of course includes the Late Great Bob Marley..."-I will know issue a brief apologia, to any white person or other person, who could potentially read this book, and become offended. (an Apologia, of course is NOT an apology)
The Hon. Elijah Muhammad was taught by a man named Master Fard Muhammad, and said Allah came in His person. Meaning this man, Master Fard Muhammad, was the Khalifah (the one who rules by the express purpose and will of the Creator of heavens and earth who never begets nor is he begotten, the Eternal Spirit-Allah.). Now, this man, Master Fard Muhammad, was the product of a White Mother, and a Black Father.
He came to North America, a product of the two races that he might do justice to Black People, and every other race in between Black and White, AS WELL AS DO JUSTICE BY WHITE PEOPLE.
He taught, Master Fard Muhammad, that The Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) was a White man, whose ethnicity was that of an Arab, and that this White man was one of the most righteous human beings who ever lived or who ever would live. (one of in the sense, that All the Prophets were among the most righteous human beings who ever have lived.) Of course, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, also taught and wrote these things, in articles in the 1930's( Final Call to Islam), 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's.
His commentary against White Supremacy-and that is the commentary's context, was and is designed to caste a looking glass through which to force Europeans to look through, to question the veracity of their actions towards non-whites, the motivations and the mind set that allowed the genocidal actions in North America, South America, Africa, Australia, and in Europe (Protestants versus Catholics, The English and their oppression and genocidal actions against the Scots and the Irish, etc.)-really across the world. Those actions and campaigns were carried on generation after generation. It became natural to continue these things, and for a White person to go against the dominant society, they were therefore doing something unnatural, or against the natural order, thus the saying "by Nature the White man is the devil"-this what was meant.
Some will say, hmm, Malcolm X went to Mecca in 1964, and came to true Islam, saw Whites who were Muslims, etc. It is beyond the intent and scope of this review-and I'm about to get into the review in one moment-to delve into all these topics, but suffice it to say, Min. Malcolm X, knew their were white Muslims back in the Early 1950's-for he was with Elijah Muhammad when Mr. Muhammad received these guests from Turkey and other European countries. Moreover, Min. Malcolm X traveled to Saudi Arabia and to the so-called Middle East in 1959 as an emissary of The Nation of Islam-and most certainly saw White people who were Muslims and most certainly encountered Whites who were not judging him by his color but by his character.
I say all these things not to say that a person has to believe The Hon. Elijah Muhammad met with God in person, that the language he used was or was not racist...I'm laying a backdrop as a foundation to say that it was NEVER about color-it was and is about the mind set. This is why he(Mr. Muhammad) eventually began to talk about "devils coming in every color."
The book talks about how White America-and lets be real-there were no Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Arabs, Indians or other races controlling and running the corporations that owned farms and produced food in the 1930's-1960's (not as a driving force of the dominant market)-destroys healthy foods and over-commercials the holiday and Christmas, and cattle, and fowl. How animals were mistreated and improperly fed, caged, given steroids, not free grazing, not free roaming, not grass fed (in terms of cows, sheep, etc.). The book speaks about the pollution of the land-the atmosphere, the waters, and how what used to be healthy food from the ground is now filled with poisons, mercury-how the so-called natural (organic food) is itself coming from the ground being washed from rain with pollutants, nourished in soil with pollutants-at least to the extent that if you compared the soil and rainwater in 1600 or 1850 CE, it would be far different than in 1939, 1958, or 2009. How the oxygen in the atmosphere is depleted from what it used to be in content. How we should eat-not what commercials are saying-white bread and white sugar -but brown sugar and wheat/barley/whole oat bread-that has more nutrients.
How White owned corporations were less concerned about doing what God said to do in the Bible or Tanankh, but more so worried about the almighty dollar-and just didn't care about the customer's health as much as getting the foods out quickly. How the milk we drink isn't real milk (whereas, organic raw milk from grass fed cows is cleaner and better and closer to the real thing(the real thing, as it was before all the pollutants-is gone). And The Hon. Elijah Muhammad attacks this over-commercialization laying it squarely on the doorstep of White America.
Now, he gives credit to the Orthodox Jews who try to keep to what Allah(God) revealed to them-and says how Muslims and people following the book's guidelines can and should eat their (the Orthodox Jews) food.
I'm just giving all this as a foundational statement to explain the language's context, that one could find offensive. Why? Because it is my earnest desire that every human being, whether they accept Islam or not, whether they are Black or White-learns to do what this book says-for almost 20 years, I've been doing what the book says-"Eat one meal, every day, with no snacking in between...no juices or drinks, other than water or maybe coffee (which does NOT have the same digestive effect on the body as food). That is it. To not eat pork, or any beans other than the small pink or white navy beans.
The book -and modern science -keeping in mind this teaching has been around since 1930-agrees..."lower caloric intake increases life." Moreover, it takes the body 24 hours, from the time the food is eaten, to process that food, to digest it, break it down, assimilate it through the blood stream as nutrients. More importantly-it also -the body, is constantly trying to eliminate the impurities that are in our foods-for you can't have pure food in an atmosphere that is not pure. These impurities are like poison-but not too intensive to kill in one dose, but its over time. So we see cancers of the digestive, intestinal, stomach, bowels and colon increasing.
Mr. Muhammad taught that to eat 5 and 6 times a day- is like water dripping on stone or steel. You wouldn't think it would eat its way through-but over time, it does...so is our digestive system. Over time, we are killing ourselves, but NEVER giving the body the appropriate rest time-so that after all the digestion and processing, the waste matter can be processed efficiently out of our system. Instead, we are loading food on top of food...buckling the stomach. Thus, the notion, which I bear witness to, is that by taking longer periods between meals-at least 24 hours, the body is best able to deal with what we've eaten, break it down, process it, etc-without being hampered with-while still trying to handle the last meal-having more food lumped on top of that-so the process doesn't ever complete.
I've experienced eating one meal a day-and felt wonderful, can go to the gym-and I worked to this over time-and work out 2 or 3 hours, running and do strenuous activity, eat my dinner afterwards, and be just great.
I've experienced even longer...as the book instructs,...
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