The Well-Made Woman

By Ebonye X | Last updated: Jun 3, 2013 - 2:44:15 PM

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies” Proverbs 31:10.

Master Fard Muhammad made himself known July 4, 1930. He came in the form of a well-made man. Collins English Dictionary defines well-made (adjective) as “made to good or high standard;” “skillfully constructed.” Since coming into the knowledge of the teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as taught by Master Fard Muhammad, I found myself meditating on these powerful attributes and I said to myself that I too want to be well-made.

I thought about how powerful we as Black women would be if we attained our fullest potential.

I also became agitated thinking about how the enemy has led our women and girls to believe that we are less than, but that is a well-designed farce!

For centuries, our minds have been bombarded with false subliminal as well as blatant programming about Black women and through social and media engineering, reflections of our true nature have been stifled. This is perception management at work and this strategy dates back as long as the enemy has been on the planet. It is a strategy designed to inhibit a true knowledge of self. Willie Lynch used it when he taught the slave-masters to divide our women into classes, color, build and skill in order to achieve maximum productivity. This destroyed our confidence and self-esteem. Napoleon Bonaparte used this weapon of warfare when he blew off the nose of the Great Sphinx of Giza to conceal the essence of blackness and power in ancient Kemet (Egypt).

In the early twentieth century, the enemy perpetuated this effort through media, minstrel shows and character stereotypes such as Sapphire, portraying us as berating and boisterous women. The enemy used his feminist movement to further cause the decay of our splendor, persuading our women to adopt free sexuality and the “I don’t need a man” philosophy, giving us a false since of independence, thus causing a familial divide and leaving the Black man to believe he did not have a place or purpose in the household. As a result, we now have a thriving culture of lesbianism, broken families, and latchkey children.

Black women and girls today have limited knowledge of self. Most of our women have never heard the true history and triumphs of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was a strong Black woman and mother, or Maat, the ancient Kemetic female figure who is depicted as a woman charged with restoring balance and justice to the universe, or Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, Black women who were warriors, wives, mothers, and Christian martyrs (203 C.E.). Sumayyah bint Khayyat (615 C.E.), a woman, is known in Islamic tradition to be the first woman murdered for her faith of Islam, and there are Mother Tynnetta Muhammad and Mother Kadijah Farrakhan—strong, wise, women in the cause for Freedom, Justice, and Equality and the Nation of Islam. The list could go on and on. Instead, our representation has devolved into the video vixen, baby momma, stud, jump-off, and angry Black woman. Most alarming is we believe these are the makings of a real woman, but all praise is due to Allah that our breasts have been expanded to receive a proper knowledge of self thanks to the teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Allah (God) skillfully created himself through patience and time to form himself from an atom into a living breathing Supreme Being. After Allah created himself, he created his second self (woman) and through the womb-of-man, he created a well-made man—a further extension of himself. Over the course of time, through rebelliousness and the craftiness of the enemy, we have lost the connection with our true self. Master Fard Muhammad, through his example, came to show us that we have the ability to reunite with that self. We must not rely on false imagery to mold and shape us. This is a trick of the enemy. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad stated, “A nation can rise no higher than its woman.” This is actual fact. Our survival depends on our ability to be the great women that we were created to be.

As it took time for Allah (God) to create himself, so it will be with us becoming our natural selves. We are the standard bearer. We must strive to become not just women, but well-made women … Psalms 31 describes such women as good wives, hard workers, virtuous, and of noble character. Otherwise, we will dig our graves and seal our fate as an extinct family, community, and nation. We will be known as the greatest human beings on the planet earth that never rose to their greatest potential.

(This article was written by Sister Ebonye X. She resides in Indianapolis and holds an M.A. in Urban Ministry.)

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