Why I love being a M.G.T. in The Nation of Islam

By Kenya Muhammad | Brother Jesse Blog

America, despite all it’s popularity and appeal, has yet to live up to its promise of “liberty and justice for all.” In fact, I could go so far as to say the American Dream has not been experienced fully by anyone other than white American men, those who the dream were created for, anyway. Muslims, people of color, the poor and women have all been in a constant battle for equal rights since Americas birth and though some change has been made, all have yet to be treated fairly under the law. There has been no one more distant from receiving true freedom, justice and equality in this country than black women. That is, before the coming of Master Fard Muhammad, the long-awaited Messiah, to put us back on top of civilization. Reason 1 of 1 million reasons why I LOVE being a M.G.T.!

Muslim Girls Training and General Civilization Class (M.G.T.). This was the name given to the training of women and girls in North America. As M.G.T., we are trained and given 7 units that we learn to master as the basis for our work as mother’s, wives and most importantly women of God:

How to keep house
How to rear our children
How to take care of our husbands
How to sew
How to cook
How to act at home
How to act abroad

Now, now, now… please don’t let your eyes roll to the back of your head as your super-woman cape blows in the wind and proclaim that “this is outdated and there’s more to being a woman than cooking, cleaning and taking care of some man.” Let me say this: I can understand how as women we wouldn’t want to be reduced to what can be portrayed as just physically maintaining other people as the measure of our value. We have been mistreated for so long that when God comes with a criteria we are still weary because it may seem to run parallel with the misogynistic views we have been so accustomed to defending ourselves against.

However, if we are honest with ourselves, we would admit that it’s not us having those skills that is the problem, it’s us being reduced to tools by men and undervalued as if we are only good for servitude. If we are honest with ourselves, we would admit that all of those skills would absolutely be beneficial to us as individuals and us as a community and society.

Our units as M.G.T. are coupled with knowledge that allows us to become not only good homemakers and women that our children, husbands and community can be proud of, but that which expands our mind into accepting our nature as powerful life vessels through which ALL life comes. The work that Master Fard Muhammad, then the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and now the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is doing with the black woman is reacquainting us with our rightful place as being a Co-Creator with God.

So as M.G.T., we learn not only recipes and skills, but we learn the science of food and how it can be used as a cure for all of our ills. As MGT we not only learn how to take care of our men physically and emotionally and how to be a help-meet to him, but we learn the Divine purpose of marriage and how women were first the help-meet of the Creator when He created the entire universe. If that’s not empowering, I don’t know what is!

As a 21 year old young woman growing up in Chicago, I have found nothing more beneficial for me to learn than that which I get from my M.G.T. class. I am learning to be so well-rounded that I feel equipped to go into any situation and be able to represent myself in an upright manner. I no longer fear being single or by myself because I am learning to make God sufficient for all of my needs. I no longer fear having to wear clothes that I don’t feel comfortable in because I am being taught how to sew so that I can make them for myself. I no longer fear the time coming when there will be no food left in the grocery stores and famine will set in because I am being taught how to make and can my own food to preserve it for times to come. I no longer fear being raped or taken advantage of because I am being taught self-defense and how to fight with those who desire to fight with me.

I promise I’m not one to brag, but this MGT life is lit!! I thank God for caring about us enough to give us a class that we can go to as a safe haven, a training ground and a party on a Saturday morning where I can learn to be more pleasing to Him. I also thank The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad for dedicating his life to the cause of Freedom, Justice and Equality that does not exclude the due Justice deserved to black women. Additionally, I thank The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for proving his love for us in his teaching, training and defense of us on a daily basis.

(Kenya Muhammad is a member of the Nation of Islam in Chicago, and a student at Saint Xavier University studying communications.)