Malcolm X and Islam - Essay Example

Upon leaving prison, he went to Detroit where he dedicated himself to Islam, engaging in the sect’s daily activities and receiving instructions from Elijah Muhammad himself. Malcolm’s commitment helped build the organization and made him an international figure.  “He was interviewed on major television programs and by magazines and spoke across the country at various universities and other forums.  His power was in his words, which so vividly described the plight of blacks and incriminated whites” (ibid.).  The racism of the Nation of Islam prevented Malcolm from accepting any help from whites as sincere and capable.  Therefore, Malcolm X kept on preaching for 12 years that “the white man was the devil and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was God’s Messenger (ibid.).  Although unfortunate—but important— “most images of Malcolm today focus on this period of his life, although the transformation he was about to undergo would give him a completely different, and more important, message for the American people” (ibid.).  Due to internal jealousy and the discovery of Elijah Muhammad’s sexual immorality, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam on March 12, 1964. During his reflections before his leaving, Malcolm X met Dr. Mahmoud Youssef Shawarbi who, upon parting said something very significant to

MALCOLM X                                                                                                                     3

Malcolm X (as well as to this student); namely, “No man has believed perfectly until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself” (ibid.).

            Malcolm X – an Islamic Perspective has organized all events of any consequence in Malcolm X’s life in chronological order, taking the reader through his 12 years of preaching while with the Nation of Islam to his pilgrimage of Mecca where he began to reappraise the white man and to conclude that “America needs to understand Islam because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem” (ibid.). Consequently, Malcolm saw a new vision for America and began writing letters to his loyal assistants asking to have them duplicated and sent to the press.  They contained the message of the “Oneness of man under one God” (ibid.).  Malcolm said that he now knew that generalizations against white people are as wrong as generalizations against blacks.  This new universalistic view was, however, too dangerous to last.  El-Hajj Malik knew that he was the target of many groups, but was not afraid to say what he had to say.  Then, on February 21, 1965, while preparing to speak at a New York hotel, he was shot by three black men.  It is said that the Nation of Islam had something to do with it, the FBI has also been suggested as an accomplice.  Thomas Hagan, 69, the only man who confessed to his role in the assassination and who had been on a work-release program since March 1992, was officially paroled on April 26, 2010 (CNN Justice).

            The BBC announcement of Malcolm X’s assassination uses fairly strong language in labeling him as a controversial black leader who called for a blacks-only state.  Only a week before his assassination, Malcolm X’s home was firebombed.  This reader finds the writing of Malcolm X – An Islamic Perspective lets the reader get to know Malcolm X and, as a result, to better understand what led to this man of history’s assassination.