Malcolm X (original) (raw)
Related papers
Malcolm X: Nationalism to Islam
"His Muslim name was Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Several commentators have described Malcolm Little, later Malcolm X as one of the most influential black American Muslim community leaders. The “X” in his name stands for his unknown, African name. His ancestors were brought into America to work as slaves. Many useful lessons can be drawn from his colourful, if short life, cut down in his prime by an assassin’s bullets."
Malcolm X and Christianity, NUS M.A Thesis, 2008
National University of Singapore Thesis Submission for Masters of Arts, Research, 2009
American families, the Littles suffered from the twin forces of the 1930s Great Depression and pervasive white racism. Following the mysterious death of their father, Earl Little, at the hands of a local white supremacist group and the institutionalization of their mother, Louise Little, in a mental hospital, the Littles' siblings were distributed to foster homes by the state's social welfare agencies. After graduating from various reform schools and foster homes, the gangly teenaged Malcolm balanced his time between working as a waiter on railroad companies and hustling on the streets of Roxbury and Harlem. When Malcolm's hustling activities landed him in prison in 1946, he converted to the Nation of Islam, (NOI or the Nation), a unique religious group that bestowed a divine black identity within an unorthodox Islamic framework for its believers. As a new convert, Malcolm shed his slave name "Little" and embraced the powerful surname of "X" that symbolized the unknown. Upon his release in 1952, Malcolm X became the Nation's most successful evangelical minister as he indefatigably scoured America's cities for converts. His fortunes changed in March 1964 when he was acrimoniously forced out of the NOI. In Malcolm's independent phase, he converted to Sunni Islam following a successful pilgrimage to Mecca, established his own movements, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) and the Muslim Mosque Incorporated (MMI), and flirted with various ideologies such as Sunni Islam, Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and socialism. Before Malcolm could forge a coherent ideology and strategy for the
Malcolm X and Blackamerican Islamic Liberation Theology
Islamic Horizons, 2021
Theologically speaking, human rights emerge from God’s creative act of humanity from a single soul (Adam) and appointing humanity as Earth’s vicegerent. Any subsequent denial of a person’s dignity and right of existence therefore implies the denial of God and Its sovereignty over creation. Malcolm asserts that Islam, through the rites of hajj and other practices, contains convincing evidence for the possibility of spiritual reformation and is an authentic method through which Blackamericans and all other peoples can reconstitute their dignity. In other words, Black lives matter because all lives matter, and vice versa. What stands in the way of this process is the repressive, idolatrous and destructive nature of White supremacy. Malcolm argues that this attitude enables the social denigration of anyone who doesn’t fit the established profile of a worthy human being and, by extension, citizen. It both facilitates political oppression and marginalizes anyone who doesn’t conform to the system’s ideals. His analysis effectively institutes the concept of “systemic racism.”
Malcolm X: The personification of a true revolutionary Muslim
The Compass, 2020
From the vantage point of radical potentiality of revolutionaries who emerged in the last two centuries, the position of Malcolm X stands out unique. Precipitating the idea of Social Justice, revolutionaries put forwarded ideas and action plans in different manners across the globe, with the goal of liberation and emancipation from oppression of their living hegemonic societies and structures. Malcolm X is exceptional for his distinctive transcending position of projecting Islam as true potential for liberation, among the binary oppositions all revolutionaries had made in his time.
This study examines Malcolm X and Nation of Islam in relation to the socio-historical context out of which they were emerged. Focusing on the development of the Black Muslim Theology disseminated by Elijah Muhammad, this work looks in to the social and religious factors that were instrumental in the growth of this theology. The Nation of Islam occupies a central position in the history of African-American Islam, if its popularity and influence among Black Americans is anything to be considered. The movement was successful in reshaping the culture and lives of Black Americans in the twentieth century. This study further examines the reasons for the attraction of Black Americans to Islam. Malcolm X is not only among the most significant leaders in the history of Nation of Islam, but also in the whole history of Islam in America. Malcolm X’s encounter with Sunni Islam in the later years of his life and his intellectual legacy are of high significance to racial and religious issues. As such, both Malcolm and Elijah had faced difficulties in dealing with their particularistic interpretation of Islam and the traditional Sunni Islam. This study focuses on this conflict, how it affected Malcolm X in particular and how he resolved it. This study makes use of primary and secondary sources in conducting this work. Works written on African-American Islamic history and Nation of Islam are analysed to comprehend the context that characterized the social, economic, political and religious aspects of the early twentieth century Black America. Primary sources including books, articles, speeches and interviews of both Elijah and Malcolm are analysed along with a number of scholarly works written on the subject that belong to the category of secondary sources. In doing so this researcher makes use of various qualitative methods of research in specific parts of this work as required.
Malcolm X-Inspired Transformations among Muslims in the US and the UK
2020
The Spectrum of Mediation of Malcolm X In the course of my study of how Muslim performing artists in the US and the UK relate art and religion,1 it came to the fore that a significant number of artists have been influenced by the (political theology of ) Muslim human rights activist Malcolm X (1925–1965), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, mediated in more or less indirect ways .2 Ranging from popular culture to social and religious authorities, these ways include the determined, multiple recorded speeches of Malcolm X on the Internet, his compelling autobiography as phrased by Alex Haley (1921–1992), the persuasive Malcolm X (1992) movie by Spike Lee, the powerful hip-hop music that samples Malcolm X’s confrontational allegations, and the Malcolm X resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s .3 In the case of African American artists and those with Caribbean backgrounds, influences may have derived from
Malcolm X's Afro Arab Political Imaginary
We welcome a guest post today from Alex Lubin, author of Geographies of Liberation: The Making of an Afro-Arab Political Imaginary. In the book, Lubin reveals the vital connections between African American political thought and the people and nations of the Middle East. Spanning the 1850s through the present, and set against a backdrop of major political and cultural shifts around the world, the book demonstrates how international geopolitics, including the ascendance of liberal internationalism, established the conditions within which blacks imagined their freedom and, conversely, the ways in which various Middle Eastern groups have understood and used the African American freedom struggle to shape their own political movements. Today, on the 49th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, Lubin explores Malcolm's travels to the Arab world and the development of his international political imaginary. ### On April 3, 1964, in Cleveland, Ohio, Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X delivered his iconic speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet" in which, among other things, he marked his transition from the Black nationalist politics of the Nation of Islam to an internationalist Black freedom movement that recognized Blacks' common interests in fighting racism and imperialism globally. Key to this transition was Malcolm's redefinition of the relationship of faith to politics, as well as of Blacks to the United States.
Malcolm X is one of the most iconoclastic persons in the African American political and intellectual traditions. The challenge in performing the research for this thesis, was to find a way to examine the life of Malcolm X that is different from the scholarly work published to date. I contemplated on what might be the most impactful Islamic concept that has influenced American dominant culture during the past twenty years. The critical lens I chose to utilize is the Islamic cultural practice of Jihad. The attraction for me was juxtaposing various concepts of Jihad, which is most closely aligned with the manifestations of Malcolm's faith as a Muslim. By using Jihad as my critical lens for analyzing his life and speeches I hope to present an even greater appreciation for Malcolm X as a person of deep faith. The forms of Jihad I will apply for contextual analysis are Jihad bin Nafs {Jihad of the Heart}, Jihad bil Lisan {Jihad of the Tongue}, and Jihad bin Yad {Jihad of Action}. Having read the Autobiography several times at different stages during my academic career I thought I had gained a good understanding of Malcolm X's life. However, reading his published documents,