The Nation of Islam (NOI) was begun in 1930 by Wallace Dodd Fard in the black ghettoes of Detroit. Fard appeared to be of Arab descent; he taught followers that the true religion of blacks was Islam, and presented himself as a prophet of Allah. In the theology of the NOI, the original man on earth was the Asiatic black man; and Fard was part of a biblical prophecy that God would come into the sinful flesh and redeem his people. Elijah Muhammad took over the organization four years later, anointing himself its leader after Fard vanished.