Encyclopedia of Islam

African Americans, Islam among

  

17  J

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Pakistani Muslims moved to the United States, 

many members of the Ahmadiyya movement, who 

served to reassert its identity as an international 

Muslim fellowship (while at the same time deal-

ing with its rejection by other Pakistani Muslims 

as a heretical movement).

The death of Elijah Muhammad led to fights 

over succession. While his son assumed leader-

ship over the largest segment of the membership, 

a variety of smaller schismatic groups appeared. 

Their claim to being the true successor to Elijah 

Muhammad was strengthened when Warith Deen 

Muhammad (b. 1933) began to move the Nation 

of Islam toward Sunni Islam. That move had 

begun with one of the nation’s most prominent 

leaders, m

alcolm

 X (1925–65), who had gone on 

the 

haJJ

 and discovered how different the nation’s 

doctrines were. His advocacy of a move to ortho-

doxy was among several factors that led to his 

assassination. In leading the Nation of Islam to 

orthodoxy, W. D. Muhammad changed the name 

of the nation several times and in the process lost 

his most capable lieutenant, l

oUis

 F

arrakhan

 (b. 

1933), who moved to reconstitute the Nation of 

Islam as it was in the early 1970s. The movement 

led by W. D. Muhammad eventually disbanded 

as it completely aligned with the larger orthodox 

community.

By the end of the 20th century, approximately 

30 percent of all the mosques in the United States 

were serving a predominantly African-American 

constituency. The number of mosques indicated 

the inroads made into the black community, long 

dominated by Baptist, Methodist, and Pente-

costal Christian churches. It has gained an even 

greater level of acceptance from the conversion 

of some outstanding American athletes, such as 

m

Uhammad

  a

li

 (b. 1942) and Karem Abdul-Jab-

bar (b. 1947), who adopted Muslim names as 

their careers soared. There are an estimated 4 to 

6 million African-American Muslims in America. 

Most attend mainstream Islamic mosques, though 

a significant minority adheres to the Ahmadiyya 

movement, the several schisms from the Nation 

of Islam (the largest led by Farrakhan), and other 

smaller sectarian groups.

See also 

slavery

; s

Unnism

.

J. Gordon Melton