Nation Of Islam Leader Minister Louis Farrakhan Takes Four-Month Sabbatical For Health Reasons

Jet, April 5, 1999

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is recovering from prostate cancer treatment and a case of flu and will take a four-month sabbatical from leading his group, his personal physician said.

"The minister's life is not in imminent danger from any medical cause," Dr. Adbul Alim Muhammad told a news conference.

"This should serve notice to all of the vultures who are hovering over what they expect to be a dead carcass that you can go home," he said. "There is no death vigil. This is no death watch."

Farrakhan, 65, was first treated for prostate cancer in 1991. His most recent treatment, combined with two recent bouts of the flu, anemia and his hectic schedule, left him in need of a break, Muhammad said.

He said there was no sign of cancer in his body except in the prostate and a nearby sac. "Some of you have Black hair now-your hair will be silver before he leaves the scene," he said.

Farrakhan was not at the news conference. The Muslim group's leaders, citing security concerns, declined to disclose his location beyond saying that he is not hospitalized.

Concern about Farrakhan's health began after the Nation of Islam's newspaper, The Final Call, reported Farrakhan had fallen ill in early January with an undiagnosed condition. Farrakhan was quoted as saying the current illness, "took me down so fast, that it concerned me greatly because, though I'm nearing 66, I have never been sick like this in my life."

During a Feb. 28 speech in Chicago, Farrakhan said he lost 20 pounds and most of his muscle mass in less than two weeks and had "no appetite, night sweats, dealing with the aftereffects of radiation therapy (for prostate cancer) and other things," the newspaper reported in a March 10 update on its Web site.