Islam Activist Dies

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/22/1997 at 12:00 AM EDT

One-time Nation of Islam official Khalid Abdul Muhammad, 53, who became known for hate-filled remarks about whites and Jews, has died, an associate of the Nation of Islam announced Friday. The one-time activist was detached from a life support system on Thursday night at a Georgia hospital, according to Toure Muhammad, a free-lance reporter for the Chicago-based Final Call, the newspaper of the Nation of Islam. "It is confirmed that Khalid Muhammad has passed," he told the Associated Press. Muhammad reportedly was named one of Louis Farrakhan's top lieutenants in the Nation of Islam in 1981 and for the past decade acted as Farrakhan's personal assistant.