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1st Supreme Leader | |
| Predecessor | none |
| Successor | incumbent |
| Born | March 19, 1940 Greenville, SC |
| Profession | Prophet |
Jibril Zahur, Supreme Leader of the Muslim Nation[]
Jibril Zahur (aka Jibril Z), born John Louis Burns, March 19, 1940, to Elizabeth Burns, 18. His father remains unknown, though rumors abound. Many sources link Ms. Burns to one or two traveling evangelists among the African-American Baptists of South Carolina.
Growing up without a father, but hearing the rumors of who might have been his father, young Louis Burns drifted into adulthood. He had come to distrust religion, but found that he was a natural born orator. Having dropped out of school at age 14, he only returned to school at age 22 in order to learn to speak eloquently. He was a quick study, though, and received his B.A. in public speaking and rhetoric in 1968. The popularity of African-American preachers in politics made him rethink his ties to religion. In 1970, he entered seminary to pursue the Christian ministry, choosing his mother's AME affiliation as his own.
On Sunday, April 15, 1973, Zahur, then known Louis Burns, reported having a vision of the angel Gabriel telling him that the answers he was seeking were found only in the Qur'an. He took the name Jibril Zahur ("Gabriel, the Shining One") from that day on. As a new convert to Islam, he soon learned that he was born on the prophet Muhammed's birthday (on the Muslim calendar) and that the day of his vision was also on the prophet's birthday. By the end of 1973, Zahir was celebrating Romadan in Mecca. He would remain in Saudi Arabia until June of the following year, seeking solitude as he studied the Qur'an.
Over the course of the next two years, he began to travel the roads of the deep south on his 1971 Red Wing motorcycle. Everywhere he went, he encouraged crowds of young African-Americans about the virtues of following Allah. He convinced many to follow him in his travels. On July 4, 1976, while the USA was celebrating its 200th birthday, Zahir called on his followers to declare their independence from the "nanny state" that had kept them from achieving their goals. Sounding more like a libertarian than a democrat, he upset the likes of Jesse Jackson and the mainstream civil rights movement.
By September 26, 1983, he had set up a quiet commune that was out of the public eye. In carefully remaining in the black markets -- both of legal products and illegal ones -- his band of about 250 lived unobtrusively outside of Iva, Anderson County, SC. Their radios were blaring that night, as they were every night but Thursdays (in observance of the holy day which started at sundown), when they heard the announcement and directives concerning nuclear attack. Before the bombs exploded over Augusta and Columbia, Zahur and his whole group were on their way towards Anderson, the nearest town that would probably provide shelter from the coming maelstrom.
Having fought the combined forces of the self-proclaimed Confederate States of America and the larger forces of the Republic of Piedmont to a standstill in 1987, Zahur now abides by the Hartwell Accord. Sporadic violence in Clemson, RoP, though, have been blamed on insurgents loyal to Zahur. The Zahur administration, though, disavows any prior knowledge of any of those attacks. Sources in Pendleton, on the Anderson border, report that the blame has been put on the government in Toccoa, CSA.
Zahur is reported to be in poor health, but as of December 31, 2009, he lives with his present wife and the children of his three previous wives (rumors persist that they are simultaneous) in the presidential mansion in Anderson.