What Is The Difference Between Islam And Malcolm X

The latter half of the 20th century was a time of rapid progress for the civil rights movement in America. Leadership of this movement was unorganized and those pursuing racial equality would not always rally behind the same person, and there were even separate organizations such as the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. The most common comparison between civil rights leaders is between Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who advocated nonviolence and passive resistance and was Christian, and Malcolm X, who is often thought of as the face of radical and violent civil rights activism and is associated with Islam. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written by Alex Haley who spoke with Malcolm while writing the autobiography, sheds light on

It seems that until his joining with the Nation of Islam, he was unchurched, nonreligious, or fully atheist. In prison, he was hostile towards religion, landing him the nickname of “Satan”. He was receptive to the Nation of Islam when his brother introduced him to it. I found this strange and figured he had only been receptive due to other teachings of the NOI, such as the belief that white people are devils and by nature evil. However, one month after his break from the NOI, in April of 1964, Malcolm X made the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj, that all Muslims are required to make at least once in their lives. This is strong evidence that Malcolm was religious by the end of his association with NOI and had found meaning in mainstream

I have personally witnessed the change a rebirth or adoption of a religion and its moral code can make in someone’s life. Perhaps this is the case with Malcolm. Maybe he joined the Nation of Islam for political reasons, but he clearly had converted to Islam in his heart between 1948 (when Malcolm Little joined the nation of Islam, soon before he changed his last name to ‘X’) and 1964, when he left the NOI but still made the Hajj and joined Sunni Islam. It’s possible that Malcolm X found comfort in the belief in Allah, purpose in the moral and dietary code of the Koran, and a sense of identity and belonging in the Muslim global community. It is for this reason that I believe that Malcolm X is genuinely religious. If he only joined the Nation of Islam for political reasons, he would have abandoned Islam in general after his break with the Nation (which was also driven chiefly by political reasons), but instead he joined with mainstream Sunni Islam and continued practicing. In fact, Malcolm’s political views were seemingly softened by Sunni Islam and particularly the concept of global Islamic brotherhood, regardless of race. He begins arguing for racial equality and tolerance, as opposed to the violent idea of equality he had believed in before this point, in which blacks and whites could not coexist peacefully in the same country. He leaves the NOI partly for not being