Wallace Fard Muhammad - Wallace Dodd Ford

Wallace Dodd Ford

A World War I draft registration card for Wallace Dodd Ford, from 1917, indicated he was living in Los Angeles, California, unmarried, as a restaurant owner, and reported that he was born in Shinka, Afghanistan on February 26, 1893. He was described as being of medium height and build with brown eyes and black hair. As of 1920, he was still living in Los Angeles, as 26 year-old Wallie D. Ford, with his 25 year-old wife, Hazel. In the 1920 United States Census he reported his race as white, his occupation as a proprietor of a restaurant, and gave his place of birth as New Zealand. He provided no known place of birth for his parents, nor his date of immigration. In 1926, Ford was arrested and imprisoned for attempting to sell drugs to an undercover police officer, serving three years in San Quentin State Prison. After he was released in 1929, he disappeared from the public record until "Wallace Fard" was arrested in 1932. He was identified as Wallace Dodd Ford on the basis of photographs and matching fingerprints.

The Nation of Islam rejects this identification of Wallace Dodd Ford as Wallace Fard Muhammad, interpreting it as part of a smear campaign. They also say that he was born in 1877 (which would put him in his 50s when photographed), and that he came from Mecca. Elijah Muhammad, Fard Muhammad's student and successor as Nation of Islam leader, wrote in his 1965 book Message to the Blackman in America:

Allah (God) came to us from the Holy City Mecca, Arabia, in 1930. He used the name Wallace D. Fard, often signing it W. D. Fard. In the third year (1933), He signed His name W. F. Muhammad, which stands for Wallace Fard Muhammad. He came alone. 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 civilizations of some of the planets other than earth.

Elijah Muhammad also challenged the Hearst press, which had publicized the story, and offered US$100,000 to anyone who could prove W. F. Muhammad was an alias of Wallace Dodd Ford. Soon enough Ford's former alleged common-law wife, Hazel Ford, stepped forward with what she claimed was proof that W. F. Muhammad (alias Wallace D. Fard) and Wallace D. Ford were indeed the same person. She also claimed to have a child fathered by Ford. These accusations were never considered credible, so the money was never placed in escrow and Ford was never paid the money.

While the question of W. F. Muhammad's identity is controversial, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, does accept that Fard was imprisoned, but only after the events of 1932. He insists that this was because W.F. Muhammad's preaching threatened the racial status quo, and not because of any criminal acts.