El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz – Malcolm X

Introduction

Malcolm X was an African American revolutionary born in Nebraska, U.S. on May 19, 1925, i.e. the peak time for racial discrimination in the U.S. Since early childhood, his life was filled with unbearable incidents as a result of racial discrimination. This was not confined to having difficult schooling and getting bullied by white neighbors. We must keep in mind that the timeframe we are talking about is the worst time for discrimination based on race. His father was killed for the reason of being black and having influence. This disturbed Malcolm to such an extent that he later on became the most influential person in the fight against racism.

His views were different from that of Martin Luther King Jr. He often criticized him for his approach, calling him a ‘modern-day Uncle Tom’ while also acknowledging him as a fellow leader of his people. All this made sense; as Malcolm had witnessed atrocities in his life, he needed to make an impact rather than persist on a ‘sound good’ approach. He believed that non-violence from their side was not a means to achieve equality and that an African American did not need to surrender his self-defense against white violence. He had a level of urgency, wanting radical and effective changes.

Malcolm was born by the name Malcolm Little, but he changed his name to Malcolm X, where the ‘X’ symbolizes the unknown African ancestral surname. Later on, he became El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz after performing Hajj. However, he continued to use the public name Malcolm X, as he considered his religious notions to be personal to him and his ideology for the liberation of African Americans from racism to be public. He believed that Malcolm X symbolized the latter.

He became a member of the Nation of Islam (NOI), which was led by Elijah Muhammad. Initially, it all seemed to be going well,l and he continued to be a spokesman for the NOI till 1964. But during the 60’s he became aware that NOI had nothing to do with real Islam. Being a free thinker, he noticed the vices of Elijah Muhammad and soon left the group. He subsequently embraced Sunni Islam after completing the Hajj to Makkah.

This Hajj was an influential phase of his life. Being continuously marginalized due to his skin color, it was very new to him to see the pilgrimage completely free from such notions. Pilgrims consisted of every race from all around the world. The whites and the blacks performed every ritual together, and the racial difference was never something one was conscious of. The Quran and Islam never considered any difference based on color.

After this transformational phase, he was now a real Muslim, a true believer. His changed name ‘El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz’ meant “The Pilgrim Malcolm the Patriarch”. On returning to America, he was completely out of NOI in terms of association and ideology. He often criticized Elijah Muhammad and tried to bring forth his real face to the public. This was followed by several life threats. But as a real Muslim, he didn’t fear death and was adamant about the cause.

During this phase, Muhammad Ali was a member of NOI and was still unaware of the vices of Elijah Muhammad and NOI. Malcolm and he were great friends, but after Malcolm chose to leave NOI and publically criticize Elijah Muhammad, he unfriended him. Muhammad Ali even criticized Malcolm X for this, but later on, after Malcolm’s death, Ali regretted it after knowing for himself the true Islam, the vices of Elijah Muhammad, and the false Islam preached by NOI.

Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965, and the reason is still unknown. Being critical of the government, the violence from the whites, and the vices of NOI and Elijah Muhammad, he had a big pool of enemies.

Early Life

Malcolm was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a local leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) while his mother served as a secretary and branch reporter, sending news of local UNIA activities to newspaper named Negro World. The Ku Klux Klan, a notorious white Christian extremist group, frequently threatened them, stating that UNIA was spreading trouble. This led to a couple of relocations, like in 1926 to Milwaukee and later to Lansing, Michigan. Here, another white extremist group named the Black Legion made their life miserable. This group led to burning down Malcolm’s home in 1929.

Unending tragedies

As Six, Malcolm lost his father to a so-called streetcar accident, but it was certainly an act of the Black Legion. Malcolm’s father had influence and Whites didn’t have an appetite for that. This was followed by financial issues and policy refusals, claiming Malcolm’s father had committed suicide.

Malcolm’s mother faced a nervous breakdown and got admitted to a mental hospital named Lalamazo State Hospital. The children were separated and sent to foster homes. After 24 years, Malcolm and his siblings were able to release her.

Malcolm attended West Junior High School in Lansing but didn’t complete his education. Though an excellent student in junior school, his faith in education dropped when a white teacher told him that his aspiration of practicing law while being black was futile. So, he left without graduating, believing that no amount of talent could make the white world have a place for him.

Following this, he did a number of jobs and, in between, indulged in a number of common crimes like thefts, which eventually led him to an arrest. This phase of his life was led by a frustration due to a number of unpleasant circumstances.

While in prison, he got introduced to NOI (Nation of Islam)

Becoming a member of the Nation of Islam

John Bembry brought the habit of reading into Malcolm X. Malcolm was influenced by John, describing him as the first person he had seen who demanded total respect with words.

Malcolm’s brother Reginald brought the teachings of the Nation of Islam to him. Later, in 1948, Malcolm wrote to Elijah Muhammad, leader of NOI, about his acceptance of membership to NOI.

He was now a member of a community that believed in black supremacy over whites. This notion was initially difficult to accept, but on visualizing all the encounters with whites, he resonated with the NOI’s ideology of whites being devils.

In 1950, he wrote a letter to President Harry S. Truman, expressing opposition to the Korean War and declaring himself as a communist. On this point FBI opened a file on Malcolm. This was the initial point of a developing boldness inside him. From this year, he started signing his name Malcolm X. Where X symbolized his true African family name that he could never know.

“For me, my ‘X’ replaced the white slavemaster name of ‘Little’ which some blue-eyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears.”

Becoming a Prominent member of NOI

After the parole in 1952, Malcolm met Elijah Muhammad, and in 1953 became assistant minister of the Nation’s Temple Number One in Detroit. He later established various fronts for the NOI, which led to a vast expansion.

Now, the FBI started to surveil him again, but this time, focusing on his ascent in the Nation of Islam. Because of him, hundreds of African Americans were joining NOI every month.

Malcolm had an impressive physical personality, and his speaking skills were unmatched. His personality was perfect for a leader and a representative. Taking care of one’s appearance is as important as one’s speech. The words gain weight and become much more powerful.

During this time, he met Betty Sanders, who later joined NOI and became Betty X. Both of them married and had six daughters.

Hinton Johnson incident

Hilton Johnson was a member of NOI. On April 26 in 1957, he and two other passersby saw police officers beating an African American mecylessly. Johnson tried to intervene, but the officers didn’t listen, turned to him, and started to beat him. He suffered brain contusions and subdural hemorrhaging. All four African Americans got arrested.

When Malcolm heard this, he went to the police station with a small group. Initially he was denied meeting Johnson, stating no NOI member was arrested. But the crowd grew to 500. Pressurised by this, the officers let him meet Johnson. Seeing the physical pain and damage he was enduring, he insisted that the officers arrange medical attention for him. Which was followed by the officers. On returning Johnson back to the station, almost 4000 people had gathered outside. Malcolm and an attorney were successful in getting bail for the two NOI members, however, Johnson was not available before his formal hearing.

Malcolm sensed that nothing more could be achieved at that time. He went out and gave a hand signal to the crowd. In a matter of time, all dispersed.

One police officer told the New York Amsterdam News that “No one man should have that much power”. Now the New York police started to keep Malcolm under surveillance.

A grand jury declined to charge the officers who beat Johnson. Malcolm sent an angry telegram to the police commissioner. This was followed by the police department’s assigning an undercover officer to infiltrate NOI.

This incident was the transition from a normal African American who had faced so much due to white racists to a leader fighting for his people. The transition had happened much earlier, however, this incident made it public.

Increasing prominence

In the late 50s, Malcolm had gained the media’s attention. His comments on issues and events were widely reported. He was featured in a New York City television broadcast about the NOI.

In 1960, he was invited to the UN General Assembly, to the official functions of several African nations. He met many prominent leaders of African nations, namely, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea, and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia. Fidel Castro, a Cuban revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba at that time, also attended the function. Castro was greatly impressed by Malcolm X and invited him to visit Cuba.

While with the Nation

The teachings of NOI were based on black supremacy. Also, the ideas of NOi were different from the mainstream Civil Rights Movement, which had an important goal of securing voting rights for African Americans. But NOI forbade its members from participating in voting and other political processes. With this approach, the NAACP and other Civil Rights organizations denounced them as irresponsible extremists whose views did not represent the common interests of African Americans

NOI and Malcolm X were equally critical of the Civil Rights movement, considering it useless. They did not believe racial integration was a solution.

For the 1963 March on Washington, he commented by saying

“I dont know why so many black people were excited about a demonstration run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years abd who didn’t like us when he was alive”

The Civil Rights movements were fighting against racial segregation, but Malcolm X advocated complete separation of African Americans from Whites. He believed that African Americans should return to Africa and, till then, a separate country for Black people in America should be established.

We never favoured non-violence, claiming self-defence a thing “by any means necessary”. Many of the African Americans tired of hearing freedom, justice, equality, and respect had more resonance to Malcolm’s ideology rather than the Civil Rights movements.

Malcolm was regarded as the second most influential leader in NOI after Elijah Muhammad. He is highly credited with increasing the group’s membership from 1200 in the 1950s to 100000 in the 1960s. He also inspired Muhammad Ali to join NOI. Soon, they became close friends.

Reconsidering the association with NOI

Malcolm served as a mentor and confidant to Elijah Muhammad’s son Wallace D. Muhammad. The son told Malcolm about his father’s unorthodox approach to Islam. Many factors led Malcolm to investigate.

Lack of NOIs response to LAPD violence

In late 1961, there were several violent events between NOI and the police of South Central LA. Numerous NOI members were arrested and later released, but this led to the development of tensions. After this incident, two LAPD officers beat several NOI members outside a Temple. In response, a large number of NOI members emerged from the Temple.

Intimidated by this, more than 70 backup officers arrived and raided the Temple, and started to randomly beat the members. Seven NOI members were shot, including William X Rogers, who got paralysed for life, and Ronald Stokes, a Korean War veteran, who was shot dead while surrendering with his hands behind his back.

Many Muslims were accused of charges and arrested, but no charge was laid against a single police man. In addition, Stokes’s killing was ruled as justified. Watching all this can make a man think of taking matters into his own hands. Malcolm was furious and wanted pure justice.

Malcolm X sought Elijah’s approval which was denied. Followed by this, he was blocked for various opinions.

Vices of Elijah

Elijah was rumored to have had extramarital affairs with young members of NOI secretaries. This accusation was a serious violation of the Nation’s teachings. Malcolm was initially reluctant to believe this but reconsidered it when Wallace, Elijah’s son, and the girls made the accusations. Muhammad, in 1963, confirmed the rumors.

Over a series of national TV interviews between 1964-65, Malcolm X provides testimony of his investigations and confirmed by Elijah himself, convicted him of multiple child rapes. In this series, he also revealed an assassination attempt made on him, through a discovered explosive under his car and multiple death threats.

Malcolm had become a media favourite, and many NOI members believed him as a threat to Elijah’s leadership. All this made Elijah envious of him.

Departure

On 8th March 1964, Malcolm officially announced his break from NOI. He was motivated to start an organisation of Blak nationalists to heighten the political consciousness of African Americans. He also expressed his desire to work with other civil rights leaders, saying he was prevented from doing this by Elijah when in NOI.

After Leaving NOI

After leaving, Malcolm formed the MMI (Muslim Misque Inc) and OAAU (Organisation of Afro-American Unity). Some weeks later, many Sunni Muslims advised him to learn about their faith. Following this, Malcolm embraced Islam.

When Malcolm left NOI, he tried to convince Muhammad Ali to do the same and join Sunni Islam instead. In response, Muhammad Ali broke his ties with Malcolm. Muhammad Ali later described this as one of his greatest regrets of life.

Embracing Sunni Islam

Pilgrimage to Mecca

In April 1964, Malcolm went for the Hajj. Where King Faisal had designated him as a state guest. He was so influenced by the experience of Hajj as he saw men and women of all colors, from blue eyed whites to black skinned Africans, all praying together as a brotherhood. This was a transformative phase of his life.

“In my thirty-nine years on earth, the Holy City of Mecca had been the first time I had ever stood before the Creator of All and felt like a complete human being”

This also taught him that brotherhood and unity was possible between the black and whites in America, and his vision of sepratism was entirely replaced by a hope of brotherhood.

Malcolm X’s Letter From Mecca (April 20, 1964)

Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as practiced by people of all colors and races here in this Ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.

I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca. I have made my seven circuits around the Ka’ba, led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad. I drank water from the well of Zem Zem. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. Al-Safa and Al-Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat. There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black skin Africans. But we were all participating in the same rituals, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had lead me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white. America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem.

Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have considered ‘white’— but the ‘white’ attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.

You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experiences and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth. During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed, (or on the same rug)—while praying to the same God—with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the same words and in the actions and in the deeds of the ‘white’ Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.

We were truly all the same (brothers)—because their belief in one God had removed the ‘white’ from their minds, the ‘white’ from their behavior, and the ‘white’ from their attitude. I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man—and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their differences in color. With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called ‘Christian’ white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster—the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.

Each hour here in the Holy Land enables me to have greater spiritual insights into what is happening in America between black and white. The American Negro never can be blamed for his racial animosities—he is only reacting to four hundred years of conscious racism of the American whites. But as racism leads America up the suicide path, I do believe, from the experience that I have had with them, that the whites of the younger generation, in the colleges and universities, will see the handwriting on the wall and many of them will turn to the spiritual path of truth—the only way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably must lead to.

Never have I been so highly honored. Never have I been made to feel more humble and unworthy. Who would believe the blessings that have been heaped upon an American Negro? A few nights ago, a man who would be called in America a ‘white’ man, a United Nations diplomat, an ambassador, a companion of kings, gave me his hotel suite, his bed. By this man, His Excellency Prince Faisal who rules this Holy Land, was made aware of my presence here in Jedda. The very next morning, Prince Faisal’s son, in person, informed me that by the will and decree of his esteemed father, I was to be a State Guest. The deputy Chief of Protocol himself took me before the Hajj Court. His Holiness Sheikh Muhammad Harkon himself okayed my visit to Mecca. His Holiness gave me two books on Islam, with his personal seal and autograph, and he told me that he prayed that I would be a successful preacher of Islam in America. A car, a driver, and a guide, have been placed at my disposal, making it possible for me to travel about this Holy Land almost at will. The government provides air conditioned quarters and servants in each city that I visit. Never would I have even thought of dreaming that I would ever be a recipient of such honors—honors that in America would be bestowed upon a King—not a Negro. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds.

Sincerely, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)

Malcolm X about Palestine

In 1964, Malcolm visited Cairo, where he met with the members of the Palestinian Liberation Front. Before this, Malcolm had visited the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza. He witnesses the atrocities of the Zionists. After these meetings and experiences, he wrote an essay named ‘Zionist Logic”, which was published in the Egyptian Gazette. Back in the United States, Malcolm continued to speak for the issue of Palestine.

Death Threats and intimidation from NOI

Back in America, throughout 1964, Malcolm’s conflict with NOI intensified. He received several threats repeatedly. Direct and Indirect orders for a leader to kill Malcolm were also included in the threats. Some magazines related to NOI also depicted Malcolm X’s bouncing, severed head.

Assassination

On February 19, 1965, Malcolm told interviewer Gordon Parks that NOI was repeatedly trying to kill him. On February 21, he was preparing to address OAAU in Manhatten’s Audubon Ballroom when someone from the croud yelled “Nigger! Get you hand outta my pocket!” With this, a man charged and shot Malcolm in the chest, and two other men followed with firing semi-automatic handguns. At 3:30 pm, Malcolm was declared dead. Autopsy revealed 21 gunshot wounds in his body.

The three men were taken into account, and one of them, named Talmadge Hayer, confessed but refused to identify the other two. and instead named other members of NOI, but it didn’t result in the reopening of the case. The two men were Butler, who was paroled in 1985 and became head of one of NOI’s temples, and the other was Johnson, who changed his name to Khalil Islam, reverted to Sunni Islam. Even Hayer later on reverted to Sunni Islam and was paroled in 2010. Many reviews found FBI and NYPD withheld key evidence during the trial. Hayer later on showed deep regret for being responsible for Malcolm’s death. There are various witnesses for deliberate negligence by the police guarding the event, and all this points out that this attack was not from a single enemy of Malcolm X.

Ending with a quote that sums up the character of Malcolm X –

“If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary.”

Malcolm X