The nation of islam is well known for its anti-Semitic rhetoric. What is little known, or at least little acknowledged, however, is that the Nation of Islam and Judaism possess a number of striking similarities. Although some of these parallels may be attributed to the influence of Christianity and traditional Islam on the Nation's development, or even to direct or indirect contact with Jewish traditions, themselves, others must be traced to the fertile religious imagination of the movement's prophet and former leader, Elijah Muhammad.