Have you ever thought about the Nation of Islam? With “Islam” in the title, you’d think the org would be of some interest to the Muslim Connect tribe. In the past I’ve thought very little about it. A message from a high school friend last week however, prompted a brief, but deep dive into this quasi-Muslim religion. Here’s the upshot:
- It’s not Islam. At the risk of being offensive (and wrong!), NOI is Islamic in the way that Mormons are Christians; some similar beliefs alongside irreconcilable differences. NOI can be understood as a religious-political movement designed to confirm and demonstrate African American capacity, beauty and legitimacy.
- Its origin story and the life of its founder are bonkers! Wallace Fard Muhammad founded NOI in Detroit, Michigan in 1930. His backstory up to 1930 and his disappearance in 1934 would be a terrific act one of a compelling movie.
- NOI’s second leader, Elijah Muhammad took them from a few hundred members to a reported 500,000 at the time of his death in 1975.
- Plot Twist: At Elijah Muhammad’s death, his seventh son, Warith Deen Mohammed, took over. A bit of a rebel, Warith had been excommunicated from NOI five times! After assuming the helm, he led most of the NOI members in conversion to mainstream Sunni Islam!
- Louis Farrakhan revived the NOI in 1978 and today it numbers up to 50,000 members, but influences many more.
On the plus side, NOI promotes discipline, health and conservative sexual morals. It also advocates for Black identity in ways that are good and soundly beyond my comprehension. Sadly, NOI holds to mainstream Islamic teaching that Jesus is not God and the Bible is corrupted.
Should God bless you or me with a budding friendship with someone in NOI, I think we’d do well to remember they’re a person before they’re “someone in NOI,” and further, let’s talk like we normally would about how great Jesus is. He is, as he always has been, the key piece in the puzzle.