A Few Humble Comments...

Submitted by Sheik Sharif Anael Bey (United States), Apr 29, 2003 at 15:41

Islam and Greetings, Mr. Pipes
RE:

"The Nation of Islam is not just the organization headed currently by Louis Farrakhan but a complex body of institutions that since 1913 have gone by many names (Moorish Science Temple of America, Allah's Temple of Islam, Five Percenters, etc.) and featured a number of outsized personalities (Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali)."

The organizations spoken of above, while all originating from one source in Newark NJ in 1913 (Noble Drew Ali), they are in fact distinct organizations with differing aims and opinions. Prophet Noble Drew Ali's efforts culminated in the name Moorish Science Temple of America, July 20, 1928. The Allah Temple of Islam came out of a rebellion within one of the largest congregations of the MSTA in the movement; Temple #4 and #25 in Detroit MI. It is this organization that is properly the percussor to the NOI.

"The historic role of this institution is to create a substantial body of African-American converts to Islam (at present, they number about one million)."

This alone is not the goal of the MSTA. As reported in the October 17 (1940) issue of the "New Yorker" magazine, the ultimate goal of the movement is to repatriate the (then) 20 million negroes, and to return to them their original national identity and religion, devoid of the 1400-year old Arabism and Arab propaganda attached to what the Arab nations received from Mohammed.

"With the passage of time, the odd, folkloristic, and distinctly non-Islamic qualities of the NoI are fading. I predict that Farrakhan is its last leader with a national presence and that the organization is destined to disappear or to merge with real Islam."

While I don't speak for the NOI, nor am I an advocate for that organization, exception is taken in the use of the phrase "real Islam." The Arab orthodox practice of the Faith of Mohammed is only 1400 years old, and yet these same Arabs claim (rightfully) that Jesus was a righteous Moslem. Yet Jesus did not face the East to pray, nor did he pray 5 times a day. Neither did Abraham the Chaldean, and yet he is considered Moslem by Moslems as well. We draw a distinction between the pure faith and the practice of that faith by a particular nation. By saying that the Arab expression of the faith is the ONLY expression capable under the name Islam, then in essence you are repeating what the Meccan rulers said to Bilal when he was captured; that the only God Bilal could claim was the one of his slavemasters.

But this is not a theological discussion; my apologies.

Peace

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".