“When notified of this status, he declared that he would refuse to serve in the U.S. Army and publicly considered himself a conscientious objector. Ali stated that ‘War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur’an. I’m not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger [ Elijah Muhammad ]. We don’t take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers.’”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_v._United_States
On May 8, 1942, Elijah Muhammad was arrested for failure to register for the draft during World War II....returned to Chicago... Muhammad was arrested there, charged with eight counts of sedition for instructing his followers not to register for the draft or serve in the armed forces. Found guilty, Elijah Muhammad served four years, from 1942 to 1946, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan....
Muhammad preached his own version of Islam to his followers in the Nation. According to him, blacks were known as the ‘original’ human being, with ‘evil’ whites being an offshoot race that would go on to oppress black people for 6,000 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_Muhammad
You know, I was opposed to what he did. He surely would have had some cushy assignment. But he did what his conscience dictated, and he paid a much greater price than any other conscientious objector. I respect him for that. I wonder what you would do if Obama ordered an invasion of Israel or England, and you were drafted.
ML/NJ