The controversial Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan has hailed Barack Obama as a God-given leader with extraordinary vision, but warned of the racial animosity stirred up by his victory in the presidential election.

Delivering a sermon at the Mosque Maryam in Chicago on Sunday, Mr Farrakhan added that Mr Obama will be able to make positive changes only with help from “God and people of goodwill,” and he urged followers of the Chicago-based black nationalist movement to do their part.

“President-elect Obama has energized all segments of the depressed, downtrodden, rejected and despised,” Mr Farrakhan said in a 90-minute speech. “Now it is up to us to take the new energy that he has given us ... and channel that energy into making ourselves better.”

Dressed in intricately decorated red and gold robes and a matching fez, the once-ailing 75-year-old leader spoke to more than 1,000 followers in an address called “America's New Beginning: President-elect Barack Obama.”

Mr Farrakhan, who said the president-elect draws an “oneness of spirit” from all people, admitted he stayed quiet about his support for Mr Obama during the past few months out of fear his words would harm the Illinois senator's bid for the White House.

In February, Mr Farrakhan praised Mr Obama, calling him “the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better” at a Saviours' Day event in Chicago.

But Mr Obama quickly distanced himself from the controversial Minister, denouncing Mr Farrakhan’s support during a presidential debate with then-Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mr Obama said he objected to Mr Farrakhan's past statements about Judaism, which many have considered anti-Semitic.

The leader of the black Islamic movement is reported to have once called Judaism a “gutter religion”.

On Sunday, Mr Farrakhan said Mr Obama faced unfair scrutiny for his associations with the Rev Jeremiah Wright, the president-elect’s former pastor, who was shown making fiery statements about the US government in widely circulated video clips.

Mr Obama was also criticized because of the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Chicago priest who mocked Clinton at Rev Wright and Mr Obama's former church, Trinity United Church of Christ.

“For nine months, I kept quiet because I saw that the good words that I spoke about this beautiful young man at our Saviours' Day convention and the way they were misused,” Mr Farrakhan said of Mr Obama. “I decided it would be better for me to just be quiet rather than be drawn into the controversy that was swirling around his pastor, Father Pfleger, and others.”

Mr Farrakhan then added with a smile: “I feel freer today to say the things that are in my heart.”

He said the country remained "divided and polarized," and pointed to evidence of racial tensions in the wake of Obama's historic election victory earlier this week.

"Many of the voters that voted for Senator McCain were older Americans, and most reside below the Mason-Dixon line where racial attitudes and traditions die hard," he told the congregation.

The Mason-Dixon line is regarded as the boundary between free and slave states before the Civil War.

Mr Farrakhan thanked black leaders including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, for laying the foundation for Obama's victory.

The Nation of Islam has espoused black nationalism and self-reliance since it was founded in the 1930s, but has reached out more lately to other groups, including immigrants.

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