Khadijah Farrakhan, longtime wife of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and the organization’s “First Lady,” has died at age 90. Multiple reports say the Nation of Islam announced her death in a statement that opened with a verse from the Quran and described her as having “returned to Allah.” The statement presented her as a loving wife and mother and a devoted follower of Elijah Muhammad, whose leadership predated Louis Farrakhan’s. No cause of death is provided in the available accounts, and funeral arrangements have not been announced.
The reports also describe her long association with the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan and Louis Farrakhan married in 1953 and converted to Islam in 1955 after Louis was introduced to the Nation of Islam’s teachings. She remained with him as he rose within the organization and became First Lady in the early 1980s when he assumed leadership. One report adds that she addressed the Million Women March in 1997. The couple had nine children, with eight reported to survive her.
