One Black Allah: The Middle East in the Cultural Politics of African American Liberation, 1955-1970

McAlister, Melani

doi:10.1353/aq.1999.0042

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…During the last 30 years of Elijah Muhammad’s leadership of the NOI, the organization forged political relationships with the leaders of a number of Muslim countries (McAlister 1999, p. 632). As the minister of the NOI’s Harlem mosque, Malcolm X established contact with many Arab and African leaders at the United Nations and, in December of 1957, he organized a conference on colonial and neocolonial issues that was attended by representatives from the Egyptian, Sudanese, Ghanaian, Iraqi, and Moroccan governments (pp.…”

Section: The Nation’s Foreign Relations Under Elijah Muhammadmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…African and Arab dignitaries allied themselves with the Nation of Islam not because of a shared religious faith, but rather a common enemy: Western imperialism. African and Arab nations had been victimized by a long colonial history, and in the 1950s and 60s important African American leaders, such as Malcolm X, began to conceive the plight of Black Americans as “internal colonization” (McAlister 1999, p. 644). Malcolm placed the struggle for African‐American civil rights in the context of the Third World independence movement, and therefore members of the NOI viewed the quest for Arab Nationalism as analogous to their own fight for Black Nationalism (Aidi 2002, p. 38; McAlister 1999, p. 632).…”

Section: The Nation’s Foreign Relations Under Elijah Muhammadmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…African and Arab nations had been victimized by a long colonial history, and in the 1950s and 60s important African American leaders, such as Malcolm X, began to conceive the plight of Black Americans as “internal colonization” (McAlister 1999, p. 644). Malcolm placed the struggle for African‐American civil rights in the context of the Third World independence movement, and therefore members of the NOI viewed the quest for Arab Nationalism as analogous to their own fight for Black Nationalism (Aidi 2002, p. 38; McAlister 1999, p. 632). Gamal Abdel Nasser, in particular, was viewed as an anti‐colonial hero for his unwavering defiance during the Suez Crisis of 1956, in which the Egyptian President stood up to a tripartite invasion from Britain, France and Israel (McAlister 1999, p. 632).…”

Section: The Nation’s Foreign Relations Under Elijah Muhammadmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But despite its remarkable differences from the international Muslim community, the NOI has often enjoyed a warm relationship with prominent political figures in the Islamic World (Ansari 1981, pp. 172–173; McAlister 1999, p. 627). The truth is that those alliances between the NOI and the international ummah (Islamic community) can be attributed to shared political goals, commonly held anti‐Western and anti‐colonial rhetoric, and perceived cultural and ethnic ties (McAlister 1999, pp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…172–173; McAlister 1999, p. 627). The truth is that those alliances between the NOI and the international ummah (Islamic community) can be attributed to shared political goals, commonly held anti‐Western and anti‐colonial rhetoric, and perceived cultural and ethnic ties (McAlister 1999, pp. 627–635).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Nation of Islam and the Muslim World: Theologically Divorced and Politically United

Fishman

Soage

2013

Religion Compass

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The Nation of Islam (NOI) is an African American religious movement that originated in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1930s based on a rather heterodox form of the Muslim religion. Founded by the enigmatic Wallace D. Fard and taken over by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad upon Fard’s disappearance in 1934, the NOI came to exert important economic, political, and cultural influence in the African American community with its program of economic independence and charismatic high profile members such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. Advocating the complete separation of Black people from the White race of “blue‐eyed devils”, the NOI was a lightning rod for controversy. With Elijah Muhammad’s death in 1975, leadership of the organization passed into the hands of Warith Deen Mohammed, who dropped the name “Nation of Islam” and radically reorganized the group along quasi‐Sunni Islamic lines. However, in 1977, long time NOI member Minister Louis Farrakhan reestablished the Nation of Islam according to Elijah Muhammad’s doctrine, and subsequently propelled it back into America’s national consciousness with his controversial involvement in Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign and the 1995 Million Man March in Washington D.C. Although the NOI has done much to popularize Islam in the U.S., the Nation’s religious beliefs bear little resemblance to traditional Islamic theology. While the Nation shares a common vocabulary with Muslims around the world, the NOI’s teachings concerning God, cosmology, Prophet Muhammad and the afterlife can be deemed heterodox, or even heretical, by Islamic standards. But despite its vast ideological differences from the international Muslim community, the NOI has come to be seen like a partner, even an ally, by many in the Arab and Muslim worlds. This paper explores the NOI’s trajectory and ideology, together with the reasons behind that apparent paradox, and shows it to be built on common interest rather than a common faith.

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Section: The Nation’s Foreign Relations Under Elijah Muhammadmentioning

confidence: 99%