Book Review
Contrition: Clear Waters for Troubled Souls
By Omar Zaid, MD
Gingko, 2025. Pages. $35.99 (paperback), $9.99 (e-book)
By Dr. John Andrew Morrow
Omar Zaid’s Contrition: Clear Waters for Troubled Souls provides insight into individual and institutional corruption in the Nation of Islam. The life and death of Malcolm X serve as the axis around which arguments revolve. It is the author’s solemn desire to ensure that “the name of Malcolm X be honorably remembered” (xiii).
Omar Zaid argues that “Malcolm was murdered for disclosing artifice at NOI’s helm” (vii). In his words, “infidelity’s betrayal of trust was at the core of why the right honorable Malcom-X was murdered” (vii). In his view,
Fard & Poole Ltd. were but a cog in the fraternal wheels of pied piping conmen who’ve been piping globally for quite some time. You know the type; they marshal walking dead-folks into noisome parades for profit. Taken together they comprise The Man of Sin or Mystery of Iniquity spoken of in scripture (2. Thess.1-7). Brother Malcolm faithfully, effectively, fearlessly, and serially indicted them all. This is why he was killed. NOI may have driven that bus, but they didn’t own it. (viii)
Omar Zaid claims that “Louis Farrakhan was a 32nd degree Prince Hall Freemason” (xv). He asserts that “the Babylonian Talmud … governs all such lodges” (xv). He describes the Nation of Islam as a “racist cult” (xv). He contends that the Nation of Islam knowingly misguided its followers “as did the Qarmatian Al Hajja Al Tsaqafi” (xvi). He accuses the Nation of Islam of presenting “inner-city negroes with volumes of outrageous nonsense, claiming all was verified truth” (xvi).
“After visiting Mecca,” writes Omar Zaid, “Malcolm realized the scam” (xvi). “Because he exposed the organized corruption of this ‘gang,’” writes the author, “Malcolm was murdered” (xvi). “Without exception,” he asserts, Malcolm’s children “claimed Louis Farrakhan was the mastermind” (xvi). The author proposes that,
1. That NOI leaders remain in collusion with Deep State redactors; noting that FBI, sundry secret services, police, and immigration agencies still refuse to cooperate fully with historians and other researchers regarding NOI records.
2. In addition to surviving an extremely suspect genesis, NOI leaders bequeathed a syncretic mass of befuddling cosmology and theology mired in capital crimes.
3. NOI founders were Dark Personalities whose wolfish sadomasochism consumed the substance and lives of unprotected sheep. (2)
For Omar Zaid, “Brother Malcom exclusively ate NOI rations until he noticed grave contradistinctions learned by experience” (3). He asserts that Warith Mohammad “heroically whitewashed his father’s legacy of lies with universal principle” (3).
According to Omar Zaid, the “NOI’s foundational worldview planks were cut from Nizari-Ismaili forests where Mani and Nimrud once hunted the souls of men” (4). He describes early NOI leaders as “racketeers” (11). For Omar Zaid, “Poole… exploited his Negroes” (14). In addition, he claims that “Fard and Poole Ltd. … were practitioners of libidinous male chauvinism” (26).
As for the origins of the Nation of Islam, Omar Zaid links some of their teachings and practices to the Ahmadiyya (27). He writes of “Mr. Poole’s mission on behalf of Fard’s Ahmadiyya cult” (115). He stresses that Malcolm X was murdered for exposing “the adultery of his mentor” (30).
Omar Zaid asserts that “Prince Hall… tenets played a significant role in NOI’s genesis and pedagogy” (33). He also points out that “Substantial evidence also links NOI founders to the corrupt Theosophy of Madams Blavatsky and Besant” (34). He describes them as “repositories of guile stem from debased Zoroastrians, Ismailis, Nizaris, and Manichaeans, all hailing from the same magi lands that bred Kurdish and Talmud-loving Rabbins, crypto and not” (34). According to Omar Zaid,
NOI’s hoary speculations elevated negritude with the same finesse Persian magi used to birth messianic Christian pretense—not to mention the Mahdi delusion of Alawite, Qadiani, cum Ahmadiyyah genesis; the latter being the most likely vessel for NOI accretions. (35)
When it comes to the ideological origins of the Nation of Islam, Omar Zaid summarizes his beliefs as follows:
i. We … believe that Elijah Poole was an ex-Qadiani (an indigenous sheikh) from the Mufti Muhammad Sadiq era (1920-1923). There were many of these.
ii Elijah Poole mixed Ahmadiyya views with Alawite Shia beliefs and invented the Nation of Islam after Wallace Fard left in 1933.
iii. Furthermore, we believe that Eiljah Poole began lying about who Wallace Fard was and also lied about him being Maulana Muhammad Abdullah (a Lahori-Ahmadi).
iv. Finally, we see all FBI reports on Wallace Fard as lies and concocted paperwork.
However, I must mention that my research work is incomplete since we don’t have copies of the “Al-Bayan” Arabic newspaper or the archives of the Final Call newspaper. (35-36)
Omar Zaid, a retired medical doctor, claims that “Elijah Poole ticks most of the … boxes” when it comes to having a Dark Personality, including collusion, sadism, lack of sexual boundaries, tyranny, subjugation of victims, and egotism, as well as blaming and attacking victims who expose them (43-44, 119). He argues that.
NOI’s artifice thus plagues its own fabricated cultural identity template as a living parody; its double jeopardy gains trivial pleasures at the cost of moral, spiritual, and fully informed emotional developments. Legatees assist the farce by misusing the term “honorable,” which compounds their misplacement of faith, hope, and trust in proven infidels. (49)
According to the author, “Fard & Poole Ltd.’s politically correct institution carried the Malthusian burden by supersizing racial tension under chauvinist auspice” (55). He claims that Khadijah, the wife of Muhammad, was a follower of the Arian church which was expecting Muhammad’s arrival thanks to the Gospel of Barnabas (57).
Omar Zaid claims that “Like the Vatican, Fard taught his Negroes that allegiance lay elsewhere, and that they were not bound to defend any American homeland” (59). He argues that “NOI founders went further and conditioned their disciples to proudly carry the White Man’s Burden as an act of cultural magic” (69). He contends that “Fard & Poole Ltd. …religiously conned thousands of inner-city helots” (70). In addition, he argues that Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X “persuaded impoverished inner-city negroes to worship yet another Isma’ili god-man avatar (Fard)” (72).
Omar Zaid argues that W.D. Fard’s teachings were “brimming with occult Shi’ism” (75). He speaks of “the ‘sudden occultation’ of Fard, who miraculously began speaking on the phone to Mohammad Ali and other credulous marks, shortly after Fard’s arrest for ritual murder in 1934” (75). In his view, “this is pure gypsy Shi’ism on the march” (75). He argues that,
Although NOI’s revision of history supports Al Shariati’s Alawite Shi’ism, it likely went undisclosed to Blue Lodged acolytes who called Mr. Poole, “Supreme Leader,” which is the Iranian term. And take note: Master Fard is scheduled to return as Mahdi. This is the shadow of Ur. Poole believed Farad (Fard) was the Christian Messiah and Islam’s Mahdi, but went even further … declaring that Farad was “God in the flesh”, and that he, Elijah Poole of Georgia, was the Messenger of God. (74)
According to Omar Zaid, “NOI’s platform planks were hewn from ancient mystery religions, most notably, vulgar fertility rites…; timbers that were initially hinduized then sumerized, babylonialized, egyptized, hellenized, romanized, anglicized, and, in NOI’s case, Niggertized” (82). He claims that the Nation of Islam’s “re-education initiations follow rites and protocols designed for Speculative Lodges, all of which are corrupt. This includes Prince Hall, Moorish, or any permutations post-1717 AD in particular” (91).
Omar Zaid holds no punches and bashes Elijah Poole like a professional boxer. He writes the following regarding Elijah Muhammad:
He impregnated several teenaged girls assigned as personal “secretaries” during NOI’s early and very busy expansion spawned by brother Malcolm’s golden wit. To save face once their bellies grew, Poole had three of them publicly humiliated and banished, along with the children, much in a fashion worthy of Plymouth Rock Puritans. The self-centered cruelty of such a heart runs deep, but the blind credulity of apologist accomplices (magog) runs even deeper, which is why compounded ignoramuses seeking to escape divine accountability submit to such cunning cads. Pride runs them straight into that abyss. So, beware. They are dangerous. (92)
“Marriage,” writes Omar Zaid, is a “sanctified vessel” for divine light. In his view, “Elijah Poole’s multiple violations of this sanctity are anathema to honor” (97, 118). He asserts that “Bumpy Johnson stands in better stead with Allah than does Mr. Poole” (120). According to the author,
Many call Poole “honorable” but withhold the honorific from Malcolm-X; a fact that caught my attention and encouraged this forensic examination all the more. Apologists refuse to discuss Mr. Poole’s promiscuity and the cruelty he directed towards the women and children he abused. Like devotee masochists described herein, or like Jesuit-educated Catholics, his pitiful acolytes feel obligated to defend him and divorce infidelity from the supposed greatness of his deeds. Their bias signifies three things: idolatry; criminal collusion; and denial of scripture’s warning against adultery. (133)
Omar Zaid notes that “the coming of the Mahdi and the return of Jesus as messianic avatars are not mentioned in Al’Qur’an yet play a major role in Muslim eschatology (77). He views this as “traditional misguidance” (77). The author condemns folks who “persuade Muslims to kiss the Kaaba’s black-stoned Vulva of al’ Lat”” (27). He also calls into question the authenticity of hadith collections. In his words,
Fazlur Rahman convincingly reveals that many hadith, even among those considered reliable, are corrupted by a political bias that attempted to create a middle Islam with the so-called ‘orthodox’ (Sunni) perspective in ascendency. As such, the entire field of hadith research and subsequent application should be re-evaluated in light of his observation. (35)
Omar Zaid presents a fierce defense of “heterosexual monogamy” in which he denounces polygyny and LGBT sexual orientations (30, 103, 113-114). He argues that “Quranic passages that supposedly permit four wives or Mohammad’s polyamory do no such thing” (133). According to Omar Zaid,
As God-incarnate and messiah, Fard and his messenger would have known all the above, and that reality was designed as an interactive system of mutual exchange, all of which hold specific consequences. The tally so far: Louis Farrakhan has twenty-two children, and Elijah Poole, twenty-five from nine different women we know of. If that makes you envious, you automatically disqualify for the rahim grace under discussion. (134)
Omar Zaid argues that,
Fard’s litter has thus far escaped notice because his history has been carefully expunged. According to Dr Fanusie, Fard continued to secretly instruct Mr. Poole after quietly returning to America from temporary occultation in Fiji (see Appen‐ dices: Investigators). Brother Warith did an excellent job with his whitewash and has been likened to Billy Graham for bringing American Negroes a better shade of Islam. Kudos. Nonetheless, I suspect his careful watch over NOI’s collapse is comparable to burning the libraries of Constantinople and Alexandria. (134)
Omar Zaid posits that W.D. Fard was Muhammad Abdullah, the Ahmadi cleric from California who had formerly worked in Fiji. He argues that,
Digging deeper into mystery religion initiations that misled Alexander, with the help of faithful scholars we find that the doctrinal inventiveness of NOI’s “morally corrupt founder” was part of a carefully planned infiltration that distinctly led folks away from the Vitruvian model. Mr. Fard was likely a devotee of the Ahmadiyya Cult, whose founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was famous for inculcating salacious behavior, even incest. (135)
Omar Zaid brutally bashes all those who covered up Elijah Muhammad extra-marital relations. In his words,
NOI’s well-disciplined acolytes couched the greed and lust of Fard & Poole Ltd. with masterful apologetics while nursing a group identity crisis. Stupefied, they looked past Poole’s violation of several wombs whose fruit should be honored as a source of renewed hope. Where is honor or sacrality in this? They cut several curious corners with feeble natterings that waxed as ritual murder. Then, thinking they did G-d worthy service, NOI lowlifes covered his crimes like furtive Jews for decades, an odd but nevertheless common form of spiritual blindness. I ask, “where was the wifely restraint that should have halted the recidivism of these hoodlums?” Where was the commonsense auntie with a rolling pin ready to strike the wayward head? Among all those sister robed saints I saw no yin balancer in view, except for Wakanda screenings. Shameful. (135)
Omar Zaid describes Elijah Poole as a sultan of swag and booty who suffered from arrested development (141, 142). He claims that “The society built by NOI’s god-man and false messiah is a temple of sadomasochism” (143). He argues that the “NOI preserved and elaborated myths of misguidance taught by Speculative Freemasons under the sway of B’nai B’rith Kabbalists and capitalists whose platforms were constructed by Harut & Marut” (143).
“Although NOI founders did much good for their immediate communities,” reasons Omar Zaid, “they also planted epigenetic seeds of grim calamity” (112). He postulates that “Mr. Poole’s infidelities and metaphysical misdirection thus became a heritable epigenetic flux of corrupt fractals that, to this day, continues to saturate legatees with fantasies that flow downstream like holocaust lies” (112).
Omar Zaid’s book includes nine appendices, one of which opposes polygyny (161-165). Another provides a profile of psychopaths who suffer from Dark Personalities (169-170). And yet another explains how Islam was subverted by “old Jewish infiltrators and their successors, the ‘Muslim Clergy’ and ‘Sufis’” (174). The last one deals with “the treachery of the Zionist Hierarchy” (185-187).
Omar Zaid’s Contrition: Clear Waters for Troubled Souls is analytical and argumentative; integrative and interdisciplinary; didactic and moralistic; passionate and polemical; as well as spiritual and reflective. Rather than a detached analysis, it aims to engage readers on intellectual and ethical levels. Justified or not, depending on one’s perspective, its attacks against W.D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, and the Nation of Islam are downright dangerous. Accusing a living person, or an organization like the NOI, of having orchestrated an assassination, without providing definitive proof, is grounds for a lawsuit. The author’s attacks against so-called Islamic orthodoxy and heterodoxy are probably even more perilous than any threat posed by the NOI. Omar Zaid’s defense of Malcolm X, however, is dignified. Few have done so more forcefully.
As far as the field of Fardology goes, Omar Zaid’s contributions are clear. He shares some important insights into the ideological origins of W.D. Fard’s teachings, including the Ahmadiyya and the theologically extreme Shiites, such as the Nizari Ismailis and the Alawites. Instead of a direct connection, he concludes, as Michael Muhammad Knight, Bilal Muhammad, and others have done, that many of those esoteric beliefs seem to have reached W.D. Fard via the intermediary of the Theosophical Society. Some of his views, however, have no current standing and have been superseded by scholarship that surfaced after the author wrote his work; case in point, the studies completed by Michael Muhammad Knight, Bilal Muhammad, and me. Rather than seek reconciliation with the Nation of Islam or attempt to draw it into the sphere of so-called orthodox Islam, Omar Zaid is staunchly rejectionist. He has drawn clear lines in the sand. He stands firmly on the side of Malcolm X, the martyr, while excoriating and excommunicating the Black Muslim movement that he holds responsible for his murder.
Dr. John Andrew Morrow 