Islam in the African diaspora

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For centuries, Islam has spread through the African diaspora. While many in the diaspora adhere to more traditional forms of the religion such as Shia and Sunni Islam, there are a number of Islamic organizations that are unique to the African diaspora.

[edit] Islamic heritage in Africa

See also: Islam in Africa

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Africans have been a part of Islam since the days of Muhammad himself. A number of Africans were among his first converts including the first muezzin, Bilal ibn Ribah who was Ethiopian.^[1]

In 615 the first Muslims came to Africa as refugees from persecution in Mecca. The Christian king of Abyssinia refused to return them to Mecca after being impressed by their respect for Jesus and the Virgin Mary.^[2]

By 732 all of North Africa was a part of the Islamic empire.^[3] Islam remained the dominant religion in North Africa through the colonial period.^[4]

[edit] Black Muslims

The term Black Muslim is widely credited to C. Eric Lincoln's 1961 book, The Black Muslims In America, which analyzed the growing influence of the Nation of Islam in the United States of America. The phrase is often used in the United States to denote members of Louis Farrakhan's separatist Black nationalist movement, the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam never appreciated being labeled "Black Muslims" and years afterward publicly denounced the title but as Malcolm X (the head preacher of the New York mosque) stated, "the name stuck." Today, the vast majority of Muslims in the African Diaspora are not members of the Nation of Islam. Rather, they follow local religious leaders who may or may not be Black, such as Siraj Wahaj, and worship at their local mosques.

[edit] United States

In the United States, African slaves were often forced to abandon their traditional religions and convert to Christianity. While first-generation slaves were often able to retain their Muslim identity, their descendants were not. In the decades after emancipation, Islam reemerged in the form of highly visible and sometimes controversial movements in the African American community. The first of these noteworthy movements was the Moorish Science Temple of America, founded by Noble Drew Ali. Ali had a profound influence on Wallace Fard, who later founded the black nationalist Nation of Islam in 1930. Elijah Muhammad became head of the organization in 1934. Like Malcolm X, who left the Nation of Islam in 1964, many African American Muslims now follow traditional Islam.^[5]

[edit] Black nationalist movements

See also: Black nationalism

[edit] Nation of Islam

See also: Nation of Islam

A Nation of Islam member sells copies of the Final Call newspaper and what looks like assorted oils and perfumes.

The Nation of Islam was organized in 1930 by Wallace Fard. Fard drew inspiration for NOI doctrines from those of Noble Drew Ali'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". Fard also taught a separatist and nationalist ideology. In 1934, Elijah Muhammad became the leader of the NOI. Muhammad deified Wallace 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 Wallace Fard. The NOI was renamed and reorganized as a Sunni organization by Warith Deen Muhammad in 1975. But Louis Farrakhan reestablished the organization under the original Fardian doctrines. Today the group has a wide influence in the black community. The Million Man March in 1995 remains the largest organized march in the history of Washington, D. C.. The group sponsors cultural and academic education, economic independence, and personal and social responsibility. The Nation of Islam has received a great deal of criticism for its anti-Caucasian, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic teachings.^[6] It is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.^[7] The publication of The Black Muslims In America by C. Eric Lincoln in 1961 and the prominence of the organization's leaders have led to the popular assumption that all or most black Muslims are members of the Nation of Islam. As of 2002, the Nation of Islam had 30,000 to 70,000 members, out of 2.5 million African American Muslims.^[8]

[edit] Nation of Gods and Earths

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The Nation of Gods and Earths, commonly known as the Five-Percent Nation, the Five-Percent Nation of Islam, or the Five Percenters was founded in Harlem in 1964 by Clarence 13X, known to his young disciples as Allah (the Arabic term for God) or the Father. The Nation of Gods and Earths angered religious and political leaders, who viewed the group as an offshoot of the Nation of Islam (NOI), which was already viewed by traditional Muslims as heretical. This came with the Nation having stated its predicted coming and its goal of seeking freedom, justice, and equality from economic, political, social, educational, and religious injustices in the United States and the world over.

[edit] Mainstream Muslim movements

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After the death of his father, Warith Deen Muhammad broke away from the nationalist teachings of the Nation of Islam.

[edit] List of notable Muslims in the African diaspora

Name	Nationality	Occupation	Affiliation
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar[9]	United States	professional basketball player, NBA	Sunni Islam
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf[10]	United States	professional basketball player	unknown
Akon[11]	United States	R&B singer	Sunni Islam
Muhammad Ali[12]	United States	professional boxer	Sunni Islam
Bilal ibn Ribah[1]	Arabia	muezzin	Sahaba
Busta Rhymes[13]	United States	rapper	The Nation of Gods and Earths
André Carson[14]	United States	member of the United States House of Representatives	unknown
Dave Chappelle[15]	United States	comedian	Sunni Islam
Keith Ellison[16]	United States	member of the United States House of Representatives	Sunni Islam
Chris Eubank[17]	United Kingdom	professional boxer	unknown
Louis Farrakhan[18]	United States	current leader of the Nation of Islam	Nation of Islam
Lupe Fiasco[19]	United States	rapper	Sunni Islam
Ice Cube[20]	United States	rapper, actor	Sunni Islam
Jermaine Jackson[21]	United States	musician	Sunni Islam
Sherman Jackson[22]	United States	scholar	Sunni Islam
Malcolm X[23]	United States	minister, civil rights activist, founder of Muslim Mosque, Inc.	Sunni Islam
Lee Boyd Malvo[24]	United States	serial killer	unknown
Warith Deen Mohammed[25]	United States	leader of the American Society of Muslims	Sunni Islam
Elijah Muhammad[26]	United States	co-founder of the Nation of Islam	Nation of Islam
John Allen Muhammad[24]	United States	serial killer	unknown
Nas[27]	United States	rapper	The Nation of Gods and Earths
Shaquille O'Neal[28]	United States	professional basketball player, NBA	unknown
Zaid Shakir[29]	United States	scholar associated with the Zaytuna Institute	Sunni Islam
Mike Tyson[30]	United States	professional boxer	unknown
Siraj Wahaj[31]	United States	preacher	Sunni Islam
Wu-Tang Clan[32]	United States	hip hop musical group	The Nation of Gods and Earths

[edit] References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2007)

[edit] See also

• Islam in the United States
• Latino Muslims
• Lists of Muslims
• Jews and Judaism in the African diaspora

[edit] External links

• An Oral History of Islam in Pittsburgh
• Black Youth Empowerment