"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. [editor's note: there seems to be one race missing here.] If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."

Farrakhan compared Obama to the religion's founder, Fard Muhammad, who also had a white mother and black father.

"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us," he told the crowd of mostly followers dressed in Nation of Islam attire including long white suits and matching head scarfs for women and navy-colored uniforms with caps for men. "A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."