Islam in America: Black Islam

The emergence of slaves from Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth century brought Islam to the shores of America. The suppression of religion and livelihood inevitably influenced not only slaves understanding of Islam, but also their racial identity. Overtime black Muslims reacted to their racially stigmatized society and formed a ‘black supremacy’ movement called ‘black Islam.’ The effects of racism diminished orthodox Islam and used Islam as a means to favor one’s ethnic bias. During the slave movement there was even a “sense among many blacks that their slave master were using Christianity’s teaching of turning the other cheek as an excuse to oppress them and beat them in the name of Christianity” (Tsoukalas 2001: 2). The religious effect of slavery was the assumption that Christianity was for the white slave owner and Islam represents the black slave. During the nineteenth and twentieth century African Americans came to accept Islam as it offered liberation while Christianity represented suppression by white people. The leading organization of black Islam became known as the Nation of Islam which would eventually change not only Islam in America but also the African American community. Today rappers and rap groups such as Public Enemy and Ice Cube and “numerous African-American college and university student publications actively promote many of the beliefs and ideas held by the Nation of Islam” (Martin 2003: 450).

In order to understand the Nation of Islam one must understand how the nineteenth-century cultural, political and religious soil produced the early twentieth-century Black Nationalist activists. Two of those activists were Marcus Garvey and Noble Drew Ali. Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association represents the political forerunner to the NOI while Noble Drew Ali’s Moorish Science Temple represented the religious foundation of the NOI. Marcus Garvey emphasized Black Factories Corporation and black business; however he became known for insistence for blacks to go “back to Africa culturally while developing a nation within a nation in the United States” (Tsoukalas 2001: 8). On the other hand Noble Drew Ali represented the religious foundation of the NOI. He believed the ancient Moabites are the divine Asiatic nation all blacks are Asiatics, they are the original inhabitants of the earth and the progenitors of all nonwhite nations. Therefore Ali believed Jesus was black and the white man is evil and will be completely destroyed on the Day of Judgment. Ali also believed he was Jesus Christ and the prophet Muhammad reincarnated (Tsoukalas 2001: 13). These two men would greatly influence the NOI.

After Noble Drew Ali’s death W.D. Fard fashioned the NOI and personally taught Elijah Muhammad who later become Fard’s predecessor. The NOI came to believe that Fard was the messenger sent by God to continue the work of the two previous men. Fard eventually claimed to be the reincarnate Noble Drew Ali. The teachings of Fard were not Islamic but shaped by the social and religious environment. The religious teachings of Fard have been denied by orthodox Muslims. For instance, Fard taught that Joseph was hopeless of marrying Marry which made him impregnate her with Jesus. Louis A DeCaro Jr. notes that Fard’s anti-incarnational theology not only violates Christianity but also violates Islam (Decaro 1998: 15). These heretical claims by Christian and Muslim standards would continue to plague the NOI for years to come. Possibly the most heretical claim was by Elijah Muhammad when he claimed that Wallace Fard was “Allah in person,” God to the NOI (Tsoukalas 2001: 13).

Under Fard’s leadership the membership of NOI was a dismal eight thousand however it would soon change under the new leadership of Elijah Muhammad, as the movement went national. With the help of Elijah’s close friend Malcolm X “members grew to perhaps 300,000” (Martin 2003: 451). After Muhammad’s death another charismatic leader Louis Abdul Farrakhan took over NOI and the members continued to grow. The Honorable Farrakhan is still leading the NOI under his anti Jew and white racist beliefs. He is not afraid to use the Christian scriptures to back up his beliefs, but nevertheless demanding his ties to Islam.

The Nation of Islam is considered by most Muslims as a heretical religion. Still the NOI remains a considerable voice among Muslims in America. Followers of the NOI are active in prisons and university campuses where they announce their Islamic ideologies but more importantly their anti white beliefs. The movement of ‘black Islam’ or the NOI can be understood as an adaptationist movement. The original black Muslims adapted to their environment, mostly under force. The NOI adapted their racist beliefs to their understanding of Islam. The NOI understood as Islamic must be understood in the context of culture and history.