Elijah Muhammad

by Berg, Herbert

• ISBN13: 9781851688036
• ISBN10: 185168803X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-10-15
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Summary

Almost four decades after his death Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) remains by far the most influential African American Muslim. Leader of the Nation of Islam movement for over thirty years and a mentor to Malcolm X, Muhammad was responsible for introducing hundreds of thousands of African Americans to Islam. In this fascinating biography Herbert Berg assesses the impact of Muhammad’s unique and intriguing perspective on Islam, and seeks to understand why he formulated it. Careful to consider Muhammad’s career within the context of the significant racial tensions of his time, this volume investigates a figure whose formulation of Islam, however divisive, forced Muslims and scholars alike to evaluate their often normative definitions of this religious tradition.

Author Biography

Herbert Berg trained at the University of Toronto's Centre for the Study of Religion. He is currently a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and is the Director of the International Studies program.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Main Persons and Technical Terms

Chronology

INTRODUCTION



1 ISLAM AND AFRICAN AMERICANS

African American Muslim slaves and African American religion

Ahmadis and the Moorish Science Temple

Wali Fard Muhammad

Wallace D. Ford

Detroit’s Allah



2 ELIJAH POOLE

Racism in the South

Racism in the North

The Nation of Islam

3 THE APOSTLE OF ALLAH

A decade of persecution, preaching and prison

Two decades of success

A decade of decline

4 BLACK ISLAM

The rise and fall of the white race

The five principles of Islam

Allah and Allahs

Black angels and white devils

Black prophets

Glorious, poisonous, and future books

The Last Day and the Fall of America

The five pillars of Islam

Shahada

Salat

Sawm

Zakat

Hajj

Dietary regulations

5 WHAT MUSLIMS BELIEVE AND WHAT MUSLIMS WANT

Do for self: economic self-sufficiency

A land of our own: separation, not integration

Protect your women!

Be yourself! Black pride



6 THE TEXTUAL SOURCES OF ISLAM

The Sira

The Sunna

The Qur’an

7 OTHER MUSLIMS

Hypocrites

American Muslim opposition

“Copper-colored” brothers

White Muslims

Islamic trajectories

Warith Deen Mohammed

Louis Farrakhan

CONCLUSION: THE LEGACIES

Further Reading

Bibliography

Index