Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan says Jesus will save him from death

Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of Nation of Islam, has stated in a video recording on Tuesday that Jesus will save him when he passes through the "portal of death," despite his organization's teaching that there is only "One God whose proper Name is Allah."

"I thank God for guiding me for 40 years absent my teacher (Elijah Muhammad). So my next journey will have to answer the question. I'm gonna say it," Farrakhan stated in the video recording.

"I know. I'm not guessing that my Jesus is alive. I know that my redeemer liveth and because he lives I know that I, too, will pass through the portal of death yet death will not afflict me," he added.

The 84-year-old Farrakhan made the declaration on the same day he was shown visiting Bishop Larry Trotter, the longtime pastor of Chicago's Sweet Holy Spirit Church, who was hospitalized with a "serious illness" last Wednesday following a trip to Israel.

According to The Christian Post, Nation of Islam blends teachings from the Quran and "the Scriptures of all the Prophets of God." The organization claims that it believes in the "truth of the Bible," but it also contends that the Bible has been "tampered with" and reinterprets Scripture to avoid "falsehoods."

The group believes that Allah "appeared in the person of master W. Fard Muhammad," whom they consider to be the long-awaited "Messiah" of the Christians and the "Mahdi of the Muslims."

Farrakhan has drawn controversy in recent years for his sermons that appear to justify violence. In 2014, following the grand jury decisions in the cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, he delivered a racially charged sermon at Morgan State University, a black college in Baltimore, that a "law for retaliation" exists in Islam justifies violence. He reportedly said in his sermon that peaceful protests are only in the interest of "white folks."

In 2015, the nation of Islam leader delivered a speech at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Miami, claiming that the Quran teaches that retaliation is a "prescription from God."

Farrakhan was forced to give control of the Nation of Islam to an executive committee in August 2006 due to his health problems. Radiation seeds were implanted in Farrakhan to fight prostate cancer a decade earlier, causing some damage to his nearby organs.

A 2007 report from the New York Times has estimated that the Nation of Islam has about 50,000 adherents, many of whom were prisoners attracted to the religion's emphasis on black identity and fighting racism.