Drawn to a Global Community

[zainah_islam]

The passage from Malcolm X’s autobiography shows that Malcolm was first introduced to Islam by his brother. His brother told him to stop eating pork and stop smoking cigarettes. He began with these two small adjustments, garnering attention from the other inmates. Malcolm writes that “One of the universal images of the Negro, in prison and out, was that he couldn’t do without pork. It made me feel good to see that my not eating it had especially startled the white
convicts.” I had never heard of this stereotype before, so it was interesting to read. Either way, his refusal of the pork set him apart in a way that he liked. His initial draw to Islam was because it gave him hope for a way out of prison. He thought that if he could be distinguished as different, he would be released. He learned of the Nation of Islam, which believed the white man to be the devil and the Black man to be the Original Man. The Nation of Islam says that the true identity and history of Black people have been deliberately kept from them, and they have been brainwashed into the life they live now. The philosophy appealed to many Black Americans in the 1950s and ’60s because it offered an explanation for their oppression and a mindset for empowerment. In the case of prison inmates, the fact that Elijah Mohammad would return letters to inmates who had written him was most likely also an attractive factor. For people who had been left behind and ignored by society, Mr. Mohammad was acknowledging them in a novel way. Subscribing to the ideology of the Nation of Islam made many Black Americans feel like they were connected to a broader Black community.

This draw to the greater Black community was also seen in the way the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community appealed to Black Jazz musicians. The Ahmadiyya Missionaries were an example of their transnational community and the “universal brotherhood” of Islam. Dizzy Gillespie says that converting to Islam was a way for Black musicians to disassociate themselves from the negative identity politics of being Black and associate themselves with a more protected class. It allowed them to claim an international Muslim identity and reject “colored inferiority.” Although it is understandable why this was a drawing factor for the conversion of Islam, we run into similar issues with the Black men who would dress up as Orientals. But one could also argue that even if the motive for conversion is not the best, the end result is the same.