Date of Graduation
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
Committee Chair
Robert Maxon
Abstract
This study intends to examine the efforts of the Nation of Islam, via its founder the "Messenger," Elijah Muhammad, in syncretizing Islamic tenets with black nationalist thought to further the religio-political agenda of the organization. Strongly influenced by Marcus Garvey's "Back to Africa" movement, the Nation of Islam coupled Garvey's political nationalism with the nationalist "Islamism" of the Moorish Science Temple movement to form its own immutable religio-political platform. The religion of Islam not only gave the black Moslems a firm religious identity, but it also represented a medium by which black Moslems could express their own originality and creativity as socio-religious thinkers in a predominately white Christian America. Their religious identity combined with the aged and well ripened ideology known as black nationalism, gave the organization the political personality needed to demand what they believed was rightfully theirs: the right to have a home-state and consequently, the right for black Americans to govern themselves. Through the use of these eclectic religio-political concepts and ideologies, the Nation of Islam became an active participant in the mental, psycho-social, and economic liberation of many poverty stricken and disillusioned lowerclass urban blacks.
Recommended Citation
Rahim-Barakzoy, Sultana, ""Islam is the blackman's religion": Syncretizing Islam with black nationalist thought to fulfill the religio-political agenda of the Nation of Islam." (2005). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 10906.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10906