Farrakhan

OFFICIALS AT Howard University Hospital are being irritatingly circumspect about the condition of probably the most famous patient their institution will ever have: Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan."

'TC Hanging up the telephone, stifling an ironic smile, Arthur J. Magida searches for a little patch of calm in his Northwest Baltimore home."That was NBC calling," he says."

Washington. -- It did not grab as much attention as the peace signing between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization did earlier in the week, but to black Americans it was no less momentous.In a quest for what Jesse Jackson cautiously called ''operational unity,'' some of the nation's top black political and civil-rights leaders, including the NAACP's Ben Chavis and the Congressional Black Caucus' Kweisi Mfume, embraced Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan as a full partner in efforts to improve the lives of African-Americans.

From a modest, two-story bungalow in the Chicago suburb of Calumet City, Warith Deen Mohammed runs a ministry that has touched hundreds of thousands of Muslims.Although he is considered the spiritual leader of most black Americans and others who follow Orthodox Islam, his name is not widely known. And although he is the son of Elijah Muhammad, one of the founders of the Nation of Islam, he rejected his father's teachings and turned his back on the money and power that was bequeathed him.His followers say that he is a sincere, humble and deeply religious man who converted thousands of former Nation of Islam members to Orthodox Islam.

In a two-hour speech that ranged from the origins of man to O. J. Simpson, Louis Farrakhan led 9,000 black men in a pledge at the Baltimore Arena last night never to disrespect black women or to shed one another's blood.The Nation of Islam leader repeatedly brought the crowd to its feet with darkly conspiratorial claims that black men "are being set up for slaughter," attacks on the "wicked hypocrites" of white-dominated corporate America, and gentle urgings to black men to love themselves as God's creation.

Less than 24 hours after being ousted as executive director of the NAACP, the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. convened the second session of a black leadership summit yesterday that included few of the national figures who attended the first gathering in June.Dr. Chavis forged ahead with the meeting without the prestige and money afforded by his former post with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. And it showed.The conference is being held in a meeting room of West Baltimore's Bethel A.M.E.

Dear Minister Farrakhan:At long last, you have responded to " The Sun" series on slavery in Sudan. You didn't respond directly to a request by me and my colleague Gil Lewthwaite for an interview, but some response is better than none at all.In the July 23 edition of the Nation of Islam newspaper, " The Final Call, " writer Askia Muhammad chided us for using your name in the series."

A local radio station's refusal to air advertisements for an upcoming speech by Louis T. Farrakhan has sparked criticism from a Muslim minister who says the station is trying to squelch Mr. Farrakhan's message.Minister Jamil Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 6 on Garrison Boulevard said yesterday that WERQ-FM rejected three requests to air ads for Mr. Farrakhan's planned April 11 speech at the Fifth Regiment Armory."Is this Baltimore 1892 or 1992?" Mr. Muhammad asked. "How can they run ads for malt liquor but not Minister Farrakhan?

Boston -- Louis Farrakhan, the Islamic minister who angered many women when he barred them from attending a speech here last winter, returned on Wednesday night and delivered a speech that only women could attend.Mr. Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, faces sexual discrimination complaints filed with a state agency because women were kept from the city-owned theater where he delivered the speech on March 10.He told a thousand women packed into a stifling church on Wednesday night that the complaints against him were just another attempt by critics to silence his message.

The Nerves of Stone Award for 1997 should go to one Stanley Halpern of Boca Raton, Fla. Halpern is 70, retired, a former political activist who, he says, opposed the Vietnam War long before it was popular to do so.Halpern is also Jewish and spends much of his time these days talking to Jewish organizations. His topic: Jews have an imperative to start a dialogue with Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam who, among other things, stands accused of being the country's foremost Jew-baiter.