African-American Muslims

African-American Muslims, also colloquially known as Black Muslims, are an African American religious minority. They represent one of the larger minority Muslim populations of the United States as there isn't an ethnic group that makes up the majority of American Muslims.[1] They are represented in Sunni and Shia denominations as well as smaller sects, such as the Nation of Islam. The history of African American Muslims is related to African-American history, in general, and goes back to the Revolutionary and Antebellum Eras.[2]

African-American Muslims
Total population
660,000 - 825,000 (est.)
Regions with significant populations
United States
Languages
English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Swahili, Somali, Hausa, Afar, Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Serer, Susu, Fula, Kissi, Kpelle, Bambara, Nouchi, Gurma, Guinea-Bissau Creole, Temne, Krio, Limba, Tuareg languages, other African languages
Religion
Predominantly: Sunni Islam, Salaf (Sub-Sect of Sunni Islam)
Minority: Nation of Islam, Five-Percent Nation, Ahmadiyya, Moorish Science Temple of America, Shia Islam

History

Historically, an estimated 30% of slaves brought to the Americas from West/ Central Africa were Muslims.[3] They were overwhelmingly literate in contrast to many of the slave owners, and thus were given supervisory roles.[3] Most of these captives were forced into Christianity during the era of American slavery;[4] however, there are records of individuals such as Omar ibn Said living the rest of their lives as Muslims in the United States.[4][5] During the twentieth century, some African Americans converted to Islam, mainly through the influence of black nationalist groups that preached with distinctive Islamic practices including the Moorish Science Temple of America, founded in 1913,[6] and the Nation of Islam, founded in the 1930s, which attracted at least 20,000 people by 1963.[7][8] Prominent members included activist Malcolm X and boxer Muhammad Ali.[9] The Indian-originated Ahmadiyya Muslim movement also sought converts among African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s.[10]

Malcolm X is considered the first person to start the movement among African Americans towards mainstream Islam, after he left the Nation and made the pilgrimage to Mecca.[11] In 1975, Warith Deen Mohammed, the son of Elijah Muhammad took control of the Nation after his father's death and guided the majority of its members to orthodox Islam.[12] However, a few members rejected these changes, in particular Louis Farrakhan, who revived the Nation of Islam in 1978 based largely on the ideals of its founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad.[13]

Demographics

African-American Muslims constitute 20% of the total U.S. Muslim population.[14][15] The majority are orthodox Sunni Muslims; a substantial proportion of these identify under the community of W. Deen Mohammed.[16][17] The Nation of Islam led by Louis Farrakhan has a membership ranging from 20,000–50,000 members.[18]

Sects
Further information: Black Muslims and American Society of Muslims
Noble Drew Ali of the Moorish Science Temple of America.

During the first half of the 20th century, a small number of African Americans established groups based on Islamic and Gnostic teachings. The first of such groups created was the Moorish Science Temple of America, founded by Timothy Drew (Drew Ali) in 1913. Drew taught that black people were of Moorish origin but their Muslim identity was taken away through slavery and racial segregation, advocating the return to Islam of their Moorish ancestry.[19]

Sunni Islam
Main article: Sunni Islam

Sunni is a term derived from sunnah (سُنَّة /ˈsunna/, plural سُنَن sunan /ˈsunan/) meaning "habit", "usual practice", "custom", "tradition". The Muslim use of this term refers to the sayings and living habits of the prophet Muhammad. Its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah ("the people of the sunnah and the community") or ahl as-sunnah for short. In English, its adherents are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites and Ahlus Sunnah. Sunni Islam is sometimes referred to as "orthodox Islam". The Quran, together with hadith (especially those collected in Kutub al-Sittah) and binding juristic consensus form the basis of all traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam.[20] Sharia rulings are derived from these basic sources, in conjunction with analogical reasoning, consideration of public welfare and juristic discretion, using the principles of jurisprudence developed by the traditional legal schools.

Although many African Americans' ancestors were Muslims prior to being kidnapped to America, the period of brutal enslavement had done much to rob the cultural and religious identity of many. The story of Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, a Muslim prince from West Africa who was made a slave in the United States and freed 40 years later, is a testament to the survival of Muslim belief and practice among enslaved Africans in America.[21]

The conversion of Malik el-Shabazz (better known as Malcolm X) in 1964 is widely regarded as the turning point for the spread of orthodox Sunni Islam among Black American Muslims. Encouraged to learn about Sunni Islam after his departure from the Nation of Islam, he converted; others from the Nation of Islam soon followed. Warith Deen Mohammed rose to leadership of the Nation of Islam in 1975 following the death of his father Elijah Muhammad and began the groundbreaking, though sometimes controversial, process of leading Black Muslims out of the NOI and into Sunni Islam. As a result of his personal thinking and studies of the Quran, he became part of Ahlus Sunnah during a term in federal prison from 1961-1963 for refusing induction into the United States military.

Mohammed introduced many reforms and began an information campaign about Sunni Islam much as el-Shabazz had years earlier. He stated that Fard was not divine and that his father was not a prophet. All of the over 400 temples were converted into traditional Islamic mosques, and he introduced the Five Pillars of Islam to his followers. He rejected literal interpretations of his father's theology and Black-separatist views and on the basis of his intensive independent study of Islamic law, history, and theology, he accepted whites as fellow worshipers. However, he also encouraged African Americans to separate themselves from their pasts, in 1976 calling upon them to change their surnames which were often given to their ancestors by slave masters. He forged closer ties with mainstream Muslim communities, including Hispanic and Latino American Muslims. By 1978 he had succeeded in leading the majority of the original NOI to Sunni Islam which still stands as the largest mass conversion to Islam in the United States. In many urban areas of the United States today many Black Muslims in the Sunni tradition are known and recognized by the hijabs on women and kufi caps and long beards for men. These beards are grown as an adherence to the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad for men to let their beards grow. Commonly called Sunnah beards, and Sunni Beards, among Muslims and more recently known as Philly beards have also gained popularity among non Muslim men emulating Muslim style.

Moorish Science Temple of America
Main article: Moorish Science Temple of America

The Moorish Science Temple is an American organization founded in 1913 by Prophet Noble Drew Ali, whose name at birth was Timothy Drew. He claimed it was a sect of Islam but he also drew inspiration from Buddhism, Christianity, Gnosticism, and Taoism. Its significant divergences from mainstream Islam and strong African-American ethnic character[22] make its classification as an Islamic denomination a matter of debate among Muslims and scholars of religion.

Its primary tenet was the belief that they are the ancient Moabites who inhabited the Northwestern and Southwestern shores of Africa. The organization also believes that their descendants after being conquered in Spain are slaves who were captured and held in slavery from 1779–1865 by their slaveholders.[23]

Although often criticized as lacking scientific merit, adherents of the Moorish Science Temple of America believe that the Negroid Asiatic was the first human inhabitant of the Western Hemisphere. In their religious texts adherents refer to themselves as "Asiatics",[24] presumably referring to the non-Mongoloid Paleoamericans (see Luzia Woman). These adherents also call themselves "indigenous Moors", "American Moors" or "Moorish Americans" in contradistinction to "African Moors" or "African Americans".

Nation of Islam
Main article: Nation of Islam
Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam since 1981.

The Nation of Islam (NOI) was created in 1930 by Wallace Fard Muhammad. Fard drew inspiration for NOI doctrines from those of Timothy Drew's Moorish Science Temple of America. He provided three main principles which serve as the foundation of the NOI: "Allah is God, the white man is the devil and the so-called Negroes are the Asiatic Black People, the cream of the planet earth".[25]

In 1934 Elijah Muhammad became the leader of the NOI. He deified Fard, saying that he was an incarnation of God, and taught that he was a prophet who had been taught directly by God in the form of Fard.[26] Two of the most famous people to join the NOI were Malcolm X, who became the face of the NOI in the media, and Muhammad Ali, who, while initially rejected, was accepted into the group shortly after his first world heavyweight championship victory.[27] Both Malcolm X and Ali later became Sunni Muslims.

Malcolm X was one of the most influential leaders of the NOI and, in accordance with NOI doctrine, advocated the complete separation of blacks from whites.[28] He left the NOI after being silenced for 90 days (due to a controversial comment on the John F. Kennedy assassination), and proceeded to form Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity before his pilgrimage to Mecca and conversion to Sunni Islam. He is viewed as the first person to start the movement among African Americans towards Sunni Islam.

Muhammad died in 1975 and his son, Warith Deen Mohammed, became the leader of the Nation of Islam. He led the organization toward Sunni Islam and renamed it the World Community of Islam in the West the following year. Louis Farrakhan, who quit Warith Deen Mohammed's group, started an organization along the lines of Elijah Muhammad's teachings. Farrakhan renamed his organization the Nation of Islam in 1981, and has regained many properties associated with Elijah Muhammad, such as Mosque Maryam, its Chicago headquarters.

It was estimated that the Nation of Islam had at least 20,000 members in 2006.[29] However, today the group has a wide influence in the African American community. The first Million Man March took place in Washington, D.C. in 1995 and was followed later by another one in 2000 which was smaller in size but more inclusive, welcoming individuals other than just African American men.[30] The group sponsors cultural and academic education, economic independence, and personal and social responsibility.

Part of a series on:
Nation of Islam
Islam portal  Politics portal

The Nation of Islam has received a great deal of criticism for its anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-semitic teachings,[31] and is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[32]

Five-Percent Nation
Main article: Five-Percent Nation

The Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to the "Nation of Gods and Earths" (NGE/NOGE) or the "Five Percenters", is an American organization founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, by a former member of the Nation of Islam named Clarence 13X (born Clarence Edward Smith and later known as "Allah the Father"). Clarence 13X, a former student of Malcolm X, left the Nation of Islam after a theological dispute with the Nation's leaders over the nature and identity of God.[33] Specifically, Clarence 13X denied that the Nation's biracial founder Wallace Fard Muhammad was Allah and instead taught that the black man was himself God personified.[33]

Members of the group call themselves Allah's Five Percenters, which reflects the concept that ten percent of the people in the world know the truth of existence, and those elites and agents opt to keep eighty-five percent of the world in ignorance and under their controlling thumb; the remaining five percent are those who know the truth and are determined to enlighten the rest.[34]

United Nation of Islam
Main article: United Nation of Islam

The United Nation of Islam (UNOI) is a group based in Kansas City, Kansas. It was founded in 1978 by Royall Jenkins, who continues to be the leader of the group and styles himself "Royall, Allah in Person".

Conversion to orthodox Sunni Islam

After the death of Elijah Muhammad, he was succeeded by his son, Warith Deen Mohammed. Mohammed rejected many teachings of his father, such as the divinity of Fard Muhammad, and saw a white person as also a worshiper. As he took control of the organization, he quickly brought in new reforms.[35] He renamed it the World Community of al-Islam in the West; later it became the American Society of Muslims. It was estimated that there were 200,000 followers of W. D. Mohammed at the time.

W. D. Mohammed introduced teachings which were based on orthodox Sunni Islam.[36] He removed the chairs in the organization's temples, and replaced the entire "temple" concept with the traditional Muslim house of worship, the mosque, also teaching how to pray the salat, to observe the fasting of Ramadan, and to attend the pilgrimage to Mecca.[37]

A small number of Black Muslims however rejected these new reforms brought by Imam Mohammed. Louis Farrakhan who broke away from the organization, re-established the Nation of Islam under the original Fardian doctrines, and remains its leader.[38]

Ahmadiyya

Although at first the India-originated Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's efforts were broadly spread out over a large number of racial and ethnic groups, subsequent realization of the deep-seated racial tensions and discrimination in the US made Ahmadi missionaries focus their attention on mainly African Americans and the Muslim immigrant community. Ahmadis often became vocal proponents of the Civil Rights Movement. In recent times, many any Ahmadi Muslims fled countries like Pakistan as refugees due to persecution; this has brought a small second wave of Ahmadis to the United States.[39]

Salafi, Philadelphia's Germantown

"Salafi methodology means that Muslims teach and understand the holy texts, the Qur’an and the prophetic Sunnah by learning Arabic and trying to live as closely to the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (salalahu alahi wa salaam) as possible. The early Salafis (the first three generations) are referred to as the righteous companions of the Prophet Muhammad (salalahu alahi wa salaam). Of course, there are some state and federal laws where they must make exceptions, such as getting photos taken for identification purposes and basically obeying secular law. Most Salafis do not wish to participate in modern photography. It is considered haram, which means unlawful in Arabic."

Philadelphia has one of the largest concentrations of Muslims in the United States. Philadelphia's Germantown Salafi community is one of the most important, as their community is primarily African American and adherents to the Salafi methodology, according to the first three generations of Muslims. There has been an increase of authentic teachings of Islam in the United States over the past several decades to mitigate many misunderstandings, incorrect deviant sects and harmful, terrorist propagated teachings that are against traditional Islam as taught by the Prophet Muhammad (salalahu alahi wa salaam) and his righteous companions. The Germantown community has been one of the largest representatives of this effort. Teachings of correct Aqeedah (creed) and Minhaaj (methodology) according to the authentic prophetic traditions are their foundation.

The Germantown community has a very Muslim feel with Muslim stores of various sorts. Anything from halal meat shops, clothing, authentic book stores and various Muslim businesses line the commercial corridor. One of the defining representations of the community is seeing Salafi Muslim women dressed in full length black Abayas and Hijabs, Salafi Muslim men wearing the Kufi (style of Muslim hat) mandatory beards and white Thobes (usually white lining robes) with pants underneath and above the ankles as a signature style for the community.

Prison conversions to Islam
Main article: Conversion to Islam in U.S. prisons

Conversion to Islam is a practice which is common to African-Americans in prison. J. Michael Waller found that Muslim inmates comprise 17–20% of the prison population, or roughly 350,000 inmates in 2003. Waller states that these inmates mostly come into prison as non-Muslims. According to him, 80% of the prisoners who "find faith" while in prison convert to Islam.[40] These converted inmates are mostly African American, with a small but growing Hispanic minority. Waller also asserts that many converts are radicalized by outside Islamist groups linked to terrorism, but other experts suggest that when radicalization does occur it has little to no connection with these outside interests.[41][42][43]

Notable African-American Muslims

Politicians

Athletes

Entertainment

Religion
  • Warith Deen Muhammad

See also

General:

  • Religion in Black America

References
  1. "Demographic portrait of Muslim Americans". Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project. 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  2. Diouf, Sylviane (2014). Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in America. New York University Press. ISBN 978-1479847112.
  3. Stock, Robert (2013). Africa South of the Sahara: A Geographical Interpretation. The Guilford Press.
  4. "How the autobiography of a Muslim slave is challenging an American narrative". PBS NewsHour. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  5. Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson. Encyclopedia of religion in the South. Mercer University Press (2005), p. 394. ISBN 978-0-86554-758-2.
  6. Gomez, Michael A. (1994). "Muslims in Early America". The Journal of Southern History. 60 (4): 671–710. doi:10.2307/2211064. ISSN 0022-4642. JSTOR 2211064.
  7. Lomax (1979). When the Word Is Given. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-313-21002-0. Estimates of Black Muslim membership vary from a quarter of a million down to fifty thousand. Available evidence indicates that about one hundred thousand Negroes have joined the movement at one time or another, but few objective observers believe that the Black Muslims can muster more than twenty or twenty-five thousand active temple people.
  8. Clegg, Claude Andrew (1998). An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad. Macmillan. p. 115. ISBN 9780312181536. The common response of Malcolm X to questions about numbers—'Those who know aren't saying, and those who say don't know'—was typical of the attitude of the leadership.
  9. Jacob Neusner, World Religions in America: An Introduction, Westminster John Knox Press (2003), pp. 180–181. ISBN 978-0-664-22475-2.
  10. Turner, Richard Brent (2003). Islam in the African-American Experience. Indiana University Press.
  11. William W. Sales (1994). From Civil Rights to Black Liberation: Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. South End Press, p. 37. ISBN 978-0-89608-480-3.
  12. Uzra Zeya (1990-01) Islam in America: The Growing Presence of American Converts to Islam Washington Report on Middle East Reports. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  13. Dawn-Marie, Gibson (2016-06-15). The Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, and the men who follow him. New York. ISBN 9781137530844. OCLC 951809596.
  14. Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream (Technical report). Pew Research Center. May 22, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-05-24. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
  15. Mohamed, Besheer; Diamant, Jeff (January 17, 2019). "Black Muslims account for a fifth of all U.S. Muslims, and about half are converts to Islam". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2019-05-16.
  16. Sacirbey, Omar (September 11, 2001). "When Unity is Long Overdue". Beliefnet.com. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  17. Terry, Don (May 3, 1993). "Black Muslims Enter Islamic Mainstream". New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  18. "Farrakhan Set to Give Final Address at Nation of Islam's Birthplace". Fox News. December 6, 2011. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  19. Moorish Science Temple of America Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 13, 2009.
  20. Khuri, Fuad I. (1987). "The Ulama: A Comparative Study of Sunni and Shi'a Religious Officials". Middle Eastern Studies. 23 (3): 291–312. doi:10.1080/00263208708700708. ISSN 0026-3206. JSTOR 4283186.
  21. "Thomas H. Gallaudet, 1787-1851. A Statement with Regard to the Moorish Prince, Abduhl Rahhahman". docsouth.unc.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  22. "The Aging of the Moors". Chicago Reader. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  23. Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck (2000). Muslims on the Americanization Path?. Oxford University Press.
  24. The Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America Chapter XXV - "A Holy Covenant of the Asiatic Nation"
  25. Brooks, Roy L. (1996). Integration or Separation?: A Strategy for Racial Equality. Harvard University Press.
  26. Muhammad, Elijah (2008). The True History Of Master Fard Muhammad (Allah In Person). Secretarius MEMPS Publications.
  27. Jacob Neusner (2003). pp.180-181. ISBN 978-0-664-22475-2.
  28. Lomax, Louis E. (1963). When the Word Is Given: A Report on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and the Black Muslim World. Cleveland: World Publishing. pp. 149–152. OCLC 1071204.
  29. Omar Sacirbey (May 16, 2006) Muslims Look to Blacks for Civil Rights Guidance Archived March 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Pew Forum. Retrieved July 29, 2009.
  30. Farrakhan backs racial harmony BBC News (BBC). October 16, 2000. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
  31. Dodoo, Jan (May 29, 2001). "Nation of Islam". University of Virginia. Archived from the original on November 9, 2007.
  32. "Active U.S. Hate Groups in 2006". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on October 27, 2007. Retrieved October 29, 2007.
  33. "God, the Black Man and the Five Percenters". NPR. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
  34. Chandler, D.L. (June 28, 2012). "The Meaning Of The 5%: A Look At The Nation Of Gods And Earths". Hip-Hop Wired. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  35. John Esposito (September 10, 2008) W. D. Mohammed: A Witness for True Islam The Washington Post. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
  36. Richard Brent Turner (2003). Islam in the African-American experience. pp. 225-227. ISBN 978-0-253-21630-4.
  37. Nation of Islam leader dies at 74 NBC News. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
  38. Warith Deen Mohammed: Imam who preached a moderate form of Islam to black Americans The Independent. September 15, 2008. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  39. Islam in the African-American Experience - Page 262, Richard Brent Turner - 2003
  40. United State Senate, Committee on the Judiciary , Testimony of Dr. J. Michael Waller Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine October 12, 2003
  41. Federal Bureau of Investigation - Congressional Testimony Archived September 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  42. United State Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Testimony of Mr. Paul Rogers, President of the American Correctional Chaplains Association, October 12, 2003 Judiciary.senate.gov Archived August 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  43. "Special Report: A Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Selection of Muslim Religious Services Providers - Full Report" (PDF). Retrieved December 6, 2011.
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