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a” ‘ : wo. oy a? carloads of guards remained stationed outside the house until it was necessary, for them to escort him to the arena. Upon arriving at the arena, Muhammad ° walked from the car, into the arena, and all the way up to the rostrum between two lines of approximately 750 FOI members standing shoulder to shoulder. The same precautions were taken when Muhammad left the arena. During his stay in Washington, special food was prepared by NOI members to avoid any possibility of Muhammad's being poisoned. C. Discipline and Trials of Members . Individuals associated with Elijah Muhammad for aconsiderable | period have advised that although Muhammad appears to be a mild-mannered | person, it is obvious that he is capable of dominating and impressing his ' followers. This ability is shown by the strict discipline maintained over cult members. | As mentioned earlier in this study, the military-type organizational . setup extends throughout all phases of NOJ activities. Individual temple ministers, with the assistance of the temple FOI captains, exert control over the members of their own temples. The only higher authorities in the organization are Elijah Muhammad and National FOI Captain Raymond Shar rieff. To maintain this strict control, the various ministers, or FO! captains, bold trials” to expel or discipline members for a variety of reaso oe ~ -41-