AUDIO: Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan says Rizza Islam is accused of 'horrible charge'
This week we heard from multiple current and former Nation of Islam members who told us that on Wednesday they were called in for an all-hands ‘Believers’ Meeting’ at their local mosques in order to view a video address from leader Louis Farrakhan.
One person we talked to said it struck them as unusual that people were invited even if they were being disciplined and were not normally invited for events. “Everyone was called to come see the video regardless of what their status is, which is unusual.”
In the video, our witnesses tell us, Farrakhan said that a NOI “sister” had accused Rizza Islam of raping her.
We subsequently obtained an audio recording that was made by someone attending the video address, and you can hear Farrakhan’s words for yourself. Farrakhan says that “Brother Rizza” needs to raise his “moral standard,” and that the allegation by the sister is a “horrible charge.” But he also criticizes the unnamed woman for allowing Rizza into her house (they were reportedly engaged) and allowing him into her bed. But ultimately, Farrakhan says, Rizza must “answer to the law.”
We sent detailed requests for comment to the Nation of Islam’s media division, and to Rizza Islam’s criminal defense attorney, Jeremy McLymont. We’ll let you know if we hear back from either of them.
In 2015, we first reported that Hanan Islam and three of her children, including Ronnie “Rizza” Islam, had been charged with Medi-Cal fraud for sending the state insurance program fake reports of treatment from a jackleg Scientology “Narconon” rehab working out of the notorious World Literacy Crusade, a longtime Scientology front in Compton, California.
After Hanan’s death and two of her daughters pleading guilty, Rizza, 32, is the last Islam family member still facing charges in the Medi-Cal fraud scheme, now scheduled for trial on October 24 in Los Angeles.
In an August radio appearance, Rizza said the charges “didn’t apply” to him and were merely a smear. But he’s facing felony charges in a trial taking place on the ninth floor of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, where serious cases are handled. (And, coincidentally, his trial will be occurring right next door to the courtroom where Scientology celeb Danny Masterson’s criminal rape trial will be starting on October 11.)
While the fraud case slowly made its way through the court system, Rizza heavily promoted himself not only as a Nation of Islam member, but also as an anti-vaccination activist. His persistence resulted in his being named one of the country’s 12 worst promoters of anti-vaccination disinformation last year.
The Nation of Islam itself is the country’s largest black nationalism group, and one soaked in antisemitism and bigotry, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which maintains a lengthy description of the organization and its history at the ADL website. Rizza Islam himself also earns a description on the page:
Ronnie Steven “Rizza” Islam is an NOI and FOI member and a social media influencer. He promotes inflammatory content that regularly includes antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-vaccine rhetoric, in addition to a range of other conspiracy theories. Rizza Islam is also an author, publishing a book in 2019 titled “Message to the Millineals” [sic], which was inspired by former NOI leader Elijah Muhammad’s 1965 “Message to the Blackman in America.”
Since becoming an active NOI member in the mid-2010s, Rizza Islam has quickly gained prominence within the Nation and has become one of Farrakhan’s staunchest defenders. In 2021, Rizza Islam spoke at the NOI’s annual Saviours’ Day conference, promoting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. Farrakhan singled out Rizza Islam for praise at the event, telling the audience: “he’s excellent as a potential great minister of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.” He has also received praise from various celebrities over the years and appeared on the primetime ABC television show “Soul of a Nation” in 2021.
Before Rizza’s rise to prominence in the Nation of Islam, his family was also heavily involved in Scientology, and he’s an interesting figure in the relationship of the two groups. Scientology wooed Farrakhan for years, inviting him, for example, to the Hollywood Celebrity Centre in 2006. In 2010, Farrakhan began putting out a call requiring NOI members to begin classes in Dianetics. Leah Remini revealed to us that when she was still in the church, she was a key facilitator (and funder) of the two groups coming together around that time.
Hanan Islam and three of her children were charged for operating the fraud scheme out of a Scientology rehab from 2010 to 2013, but we found evidence suggesting that the operation went back much earlier. In recent years, Rizza has downplayed his involvement in Scientology, but there’s no doubt that the rehab clinic his mother was running out of the World Literacy Crusade offered Scientology services.
Rizza was charged in 2015, and a state investigator testified at a preliminary hearing that Rizza’s involvement was to help wrangle “ghost writers” who created bogus treatment diaries so the state health insurance program could be bilked. Losses to the Medi-Cal program totaled more than $4 million, the investigator testified.
Now, with only a few weeks to go before Rizza is on trial for that elaborate scheme, Farrakhan has chosen an interesting time to accuse Rizza of “immoral” behavior.
An eyewitness who viewed the video told us that Farrakhan’s words were part of a section in a two-hour address when he was dealing with punitive measures. “Brother Rizza” was just one of several people that Farrakhan was admonishing.
The witness told us that each of the people named in that segment were well known figures in the Nation of Islam, and there was no question that the “Brother Rizza” that Farrakhan was disciplining was Rizza Islam.
We asked our witness if he thought the rape accusation would result in a report to law enforcement. But he said the crime was an infraction in the NOI’s own legal system. “We are discouraged to take things to the US legal system,” he said.
We produced a transcript to go along with the audio recording we obtained. Let us know what you think about Farrakhan’s accusation, and what it might mean for Rizza.
[Hear Minister Farrakhan’s words here.]
We asked our witness to the video address what penalty such a “horrible charge” might carry, and he suggested that Rizza might be “denied access to the Mosque.”
Considering the way that Farrakhan couched the allegation — blaming the woman for creating the situation — that might be the extent of it.
But we also found in a recent video that Rizza himself has advocated for a stiffer penalty.
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I would fall asleep if I had to listen to his speechifying very long.
That being said…wow, just wow, “give a man the greetings with your eyes lowered”. It’s all a woman’s fault a man can’t control himself.
And even then, there is a huge difference between rape and making love. If Farrakhan doesn’t even understand that, no wonder he admonished the woman.
He praises Rizza as a good man. Rizza’s other legal problems looming, the rape charge is just icing on the felonious cake. I would like to hear the speech if Rizza is convicted in the October trial.
Nice catch anonymous contributor. Calypso Louie doesn't sound well. His speech is slow, but it is coherent. All I see is a lot of victim blaming and a nice slap down to Rizza. Maybe Rizza is being groomed to get thrown under the bus? That last line, 'you are going to have to answer to the law' says it all. I wonder what size tires buses have?