This book is an interview of Elijah Muhammad explaining his initial encounter with his teacher, Master Fard Muhammad and how his messengership came about. The subjects discussed are Master Fard Muhammad's whereabouts, the races and what makes a devil and satan. He answers questions dealing the concept of divine and how ideas are perfected. More basic subjects include Malcolm X, Noble Drew Ali, C. Eric Lincoln, Udom, and a comprehensive range of information.
This book provides a fascinating, unparalleled look at the Nation of Islam, including its history, the complexity of its views towards orthodox Muslims, women, and other minorities, and the trajectory of the group after the 1995 Million Man March. The release of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's extensive archive of surveillance files, interviews, and firsthand accounts has made it possible to reveal the truth behind the myths and misperceptions about the Nation of Islam. This comprehensive resource catalogues the times, places, and people that shaped the philosophies from its formative years through to its present incarnation. The definitive source on the subject, A History of The Nation of Islam: Race, Islam, and the Quest for Freedom draws on over a dozen interviews, along with archival and rarely-used sources. The book departs from the usual "Malcolm X-centric" treatment of the subject, and instead examines the early leadership of Fard Muhammad, challenges conventional views on Malcolm X, and explores the present day internal politics of the movement post Louis Farrakhan's retirement.
A personal, richly detailed study of the Nation of Islam under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan traces the development of the organization from 1977 to the present day, separating the group's rhetoric from its real objectives and condemning its exploitation of poor and working-class African Americans.
The patriarchal structure of the Nation of Islam (NOI) promised black women the prospect of finding a provider and a protector among the organization's men, who were fiercely committed to these masculine roles. Black women's experience in the NOI, however, has largely remained on the periphery of scholarship. Here, Ula Taylor documents their struggle to escape the devaluation of black womanhood while also clinging to the empowering promises of patriarchy. Taylor shows how, despite being relegated to a lifestyle that did not encourage working outside of the home, NOI women found freedom in being able to bypass the degrading experiences connected to labor performed largely by working-class black women and in raising and educating their children in racially affirming environments. Telling the stories of women like Clara Poole (wife of Elijah Muhammad) and Burnsteen Sharrieff (secretary to W. D. Fard, founder of the Allah Temple of Islam), Taylor offers a compelling narrative that explains how their decision to join a homegrown, male-controlled Islamic movement was a complicated act of self-preservation and self-love in Jim Crow America.
Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam came to America's attention in the 1960s and 1970s as a radical separatist African American social and political group. But the movement was also a religious one. Edward E. Curtis IV offers the first comprehensive examination of the rituals, ethics, theologies, and religious narratives of the Nation of Islam, showing how the movement combined elements of Afro-Eurasian Islamic traditions with African American traditions to create a new form of Islamic faith. Considering everything from bean pies to religious cartoons, clothing styles to prayer rituals, Curtis explains how the practice of Islam in the movement included the disciplining and purifying of the black body, the reorientation of African American historical consciousness toward the Muslim world, an engagement with both mainstream Islamic texts and the prophecies of Elijah Muhammad, and the development of a holistic approach to political, religious, and social liberation. Curtis's analysis pushes beyond essentialist ideas about what it means to be Muslim and offers a view of the importance of local processes in identity formation and the appropriation of Islamic traditions.
New Perspectives on the Nation of Islam contributes to the ongoing dialogue about the nature and influence of the Nation of Islam (NOI), bringing fresh insights to areas that have previously been overlooked in the scholarship of Elijah Muhammad’s NOI, the Imam W.D. Mohammed community and Louis Farrakhan’s Resurrected NOI. Bringing together contributions that explore the formation, practices, and influence of the NOI, this volume problematizes the history of the movement, its theology, and relationships with other religious movements. Contributors offer a range of diverse perspectives, making connections between the ideology of the NOI and gender, dietary restrictions and foodways, the internationalization of the movement, and the civil rights movement. This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of current scholarship on the Nation of Islam, and will be relevant to scholars of American religion and history, Islamic studies, and African American Studies.
With vocal public figures such as Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam often appears to be a male-centric religious movement, and over 60 years of scholarship have perpetuated that notion. Yet, women have been pivotal in the NOI's development, playing a major role in creating the public image that made it appealing and captivating. Women of the Nation draws on oral histories and interviews with approximately 100 women across several cities to provide an overview of women's historical contributions and their varied experiences of the NOI, including both its continuing community under Farrakhan and its offshoot into Sunni Islam under Imam W.D. Mohammed. The authors examine how women have interpreted and navigated the NOI's gender ideologies and practices, illuminating the experiences of African-American, Latina, and Native American women within the NOI and their changing roles within this patriarchal movement. The book argues that the Nation of Islam experience for women has been characterized by an expression of Islam sensitive to American cultural messages about race and gender, but also by gender and race ideals in the Islamic tradition. It offers the first exhaustive study of womenOCOs experiences in both the NOI and the W.D. Mohammed community."
This title addresses the creation of God, the New World, and what's referred to as the "metaphysical" side of Elijah Muhammad's teaching. It eloquently delves into the subject of form and spirit in the simplest terms. The relationship of Jesus, Joseph and Mary is given a critical analysis as it relates to blacks in America.
This book provides a fascinating, unparalleled look at the Nation of Islam, including its history, the complexity of its views towards orthodox Muslims, women, and other minorities, and the trajectory of the group after the 1995 Million Man March. The release of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's extensive archive of surveillance files, interviews, and firsthand accounts has made it possible to reveal the truth behind the myths and misperceptions about the Nation of Islam. This comprehensive resource catalogues the times, places, and people that shaped the philosophies from its formative years through to its present incarnation. The definitive source on the subject, A History of The Nation of Islam: Race, Islam, and the Quest for Freedom draws on over a dozen interviews, along with archival and rarely-used sources. The book departs from the usual "Malcolm X-centric" treatment of the subject, and instead examines the early leadership of Fard Muhammad, challenges conventional views on Malcolm X, and explores the present day internal politics of the movement post Louis Farrakhan's retirement.
The Nation of Islam promises African Americans a new identity and purpose. But can it deliver? In this intriguing study Steven Tsoukalas helps us understand the struggle, history, and theology behind black nationalism, so that we may respond with compassion and truth.
