Muslim Girls Training

Muslim Girls Training & General Civilization Class (MGT & GCC) is the all-female training program of the Nation of Islam. It is often considered to be the counterpart for girls and women to the Fruit of Islam.

History

The Muslim Girls Training & General Civilization Class is one of the institutions established in 1933 by Wallace Fard Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam.^[1] He also established the University of Islam schools and the Fruit of Islam in that year before vanishing in 1934.^[2] The classes were developed to teach domestic duties like cooking and nutrition, sewing, cleaning, housekeeping, child-rearing, religious instruction and the role of women in Muslim life and even personal hygiene and self-defense. Classes are generally held at least once a week. ^[3]

An example of their class song is as follows:

We're the M.G.T and the G.C.C.,

Muslim Girls in Training we are striving to be!

We're determined to gain respect,

Rear our children, make them the best.

Caring for our homes and our families, too,

We, the M.G.T., are appealing to you.

Let us rise and make nations see

Righteous women in unity!

E-E-E-Elijah Muhammad!

Oh, Elijah, Elijah's Class! Oh, Elijah, Elijah's Class!

We are taught to bathe and pray five times a day.

Following Elijah to our Saviour, we say,

Thanks to Allah, Al-Hamdulillah!

For our Leader and Messenger!

E-E-E-Elijah Muhammad!

Oh, Elijah, Elijah's Class! Oh, Elijah, Elijah's Class!

E-E-E-Elijah Muhammad!

Oh, Elijah, Elijah's Class! Oh, Elijah, Elijah's Class!^[4]

References

1. Claude Andrew Clegg II, An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad, St. Martin's Griffin, 1998, page 29
2. Arna Wendell Bontemps and Jack Conroy, Anyplace But Here, University of Missouri Press (2nd ed.), 1997, pages 219-222
3. Edward E. Curtis, Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960-1975, University of North Carolina Press 2006, page 146
4. "prayer card". Retrieved 2013-05-15.