Savannah’s Thought Journal

Summer Readings

  • The Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements by: Edward E. Curtis, whole book
  • African American Religion: A Very Short Introduction by: Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Chapter “On Islam”
  • The Promise of Patriarchy, Women and the Nation of Islam by: Ula Yvette Taylor, Chapters 5,7, and 10

 

“The Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements” ~ Chapter 28

Other Texts:

  • Message to the Blackman in America

Questions:

  • The phrase “the white man”, when did this phrase become commonly used?
  • Why is the “K” common in African –> Afrikan or Yacub –>Yakub (Yacub also sounds like Jacob lol)?

Terms to Learn –

~Christian Messiah

~Islamic Mahdi

Notes

Elements already present in Black culture making NOI beliefs easy to accept:

  • Eternal salvation being a heavy focus as their oppression did not grant them the full extent of life
  • Appeals to Black Americans being from chosen people and that their true history was hidden (Black Americans true religion is islam and their true language is Arabic)
  • Messiah like figures are important

 

  • Elijah Muhammad (EM) became a target of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI almost immediately
  • The FBI successfully arrested him for draft dodging, and his wife led the NOI til he was released(connection to the Taylor Patriarchy reading)
  • EM worked w/ NOI to expose U.S. imperialism during Cold War when their image was land of the free
  • His organization was not overtly political, he believed “African American religion: a very short introduction” (pg.4)
  • He did not advocate violence, only self-defense and NOI often used the American legal system to advocate for his followers to practice Islam in jail under religious liberty laws
  • Main Summary Point: The NOI did not pose a direct threat to the U.S. imperialist power structure as Elijah Muhammed directed his followers not to act politically (this could be why they were never dissolved/ and I’m having a hard time viewing the NOI as apolitical when they use the legal system and their existence and beliefs are highly political; is there a difference between something being political inherently vs being politicized
  • Like in the case of hair, everyone has it, but the texture, color, and length communicate things politically for many
  • Was he a Japanese Ally, as perceived by the U.S. government?
  • In contrast, Malcolm X was more political and wanted to pose an actual threat to the U.S. GOV, this is part of the reason for his split
  • Mal X was also involved in Afro- Asian solidarity globally (I do know of his friendship with Yuri Kochiyama)

  • “As a result of his fiery rhetoric and his

    intellectual creativity, Malcolm O became a media fascination, especially after

    Mike Wallace of C9R News featured him as part of a 1959 television special

    on the movement entitled The Hate that Hate Produced. Like other liberals,

    including the Rev. Dr King, Mike Wallace explained the popularity of the ;O,

    as the product of poor race relations or what sociologist of religion C. Eric

    Lincoln would analyze in The Black Muslims in America (1961) as a form of psy-

    chological and social compensation and the expression of black resentment

    (Lincoln 1961).” (Curtis, 661)

  • Again the NOI specifies that it isn’t religious but encourages black men to refuse the draft, which is a very political stance against U.S. Imperialism
  • The author still asserts that the NOI is a religious organization, and that it’s political figures like Mal X + Muhammed Ali over shadow this religious character, Curtis also states that having an understanding of how the religion influenced politics can explain why it was such a mass movement
  • NOI beliefs largely served as empowerment to a disenfranchised people with not much to prove their worth
  • The NOI has a very AA vibe, like this language of “follow the self-improvement program”
  • The discipline of one black body relates to the fate of the entire race

NOI Elements

  1. Knowledge of where Black people came from that was suppressed by the White man
  2. NOI felt their religion was more rational and scientifically grounded than chritianity which isn’t 100% true
  3. Belief that God is not “some spook in space” but a human being
  4. Heaven and Hell are states of mind, not physical places (many metaphysical beliefs of the 19th century share this belief)
  5. NOI members had to memorize many texts, one called Actual Facts is astronomical and cosmological theories
  6. Myth of Yacub/Yakub