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Islam and Black America: the Religious Life of Malcolm X Adil Ahmed 1 Published online: 13 August 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract The religious life of Malcolm X is a vital chapter in the history of Islam and a challenge to both anti-Black racism and Sunni hegemony. Malcolm’s biographers have often separated his religion from his politics and his faith from his fight. This essay reads Malcolm’s autobiography, alongside his many speeches, interviews, correspondences, and FBI files, in light of his Islam, contending that his faith anchored his dedication to his kin, guiding his struggle for Black liberation. Keywords Islam . Malcolm X . Black Americans . Race . Racism . Islamophobia . Black

Religion . Black Nationalism . Black Muslims . American History . Islam in America

Introduction: the Problem of ‘Conversion’ One of the key, largely unexplored features of Malcolm X’s public speaking and Autobiography, is Malcolm’s representation of the phenomenon of ‘conversion’ to Islam. Curiously, while the Autobiography is replete with references to Muslim ‘converts’ and Islamic ‘conversions,’ Malcolm never once uses ‘convert’ or ‘conversion’ to describe his own coming into Islam (X and Haley 1965). As a religious story, the Autobiography represents Malcolm’s self-interpretation of his faith, as spelled out in the context of his changing religio-political philosophy, organizational loyalty, and ground-level strategy (DeCaro Jr. 1996). Although it was ultimately delimited by Alex Haley, who edited and published it after Malcolm’s death, the Autobiography nonetheless honours the multivalence of Malcolm’s faith. The Autobiography animates more than one authorial impulse. While it manifestly preserves Malcolm’s original intention to relay the story of his spiritual transformation, as a way of edifying the world about the saviour, Elijah Muhammad, the Autobiography also attests to Malcolm’s disillusionment with Elijah Muhammad and his departure from the Nation * Adil Ahmed [email protected]

1

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Journal of African American Studies (2020) 24:456–481

457

of Islam (NOI), as well as his further discoveries in Islam. At the same time, the Autobiography features at least one authorial voice that runs through and connects the many layers and movements of Malcolm’s religious story. This is the voice of Malcolm’s interpretation of his relationship with the One God, Allah. In his autobiographical description of the events leading up to when he ‘found’ Islam in prison—the moment Louis A. DeCaro Jr. calls the ‘First Conversion’ (DeCaro Jr. 1996)—Malcolm frames his pre-Islamic life as ‘mentally dead,’ but as nonetheless under the protection and guidance of Allah (X and Haley 1965, 85). According to the Autobiography, it is Allah who kept the adolescent Malcolm from becoming too fond of boxing, Allah who brought Malcolm back to Boston and his older sister Ella (thus preventing him from becoming a ‘brainwashed’ Black Christian), and