A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 2 Muslim Minorities
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A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 2 Muslim Minorities Editorial Board Jørgen S. Nielsen (University of Copenhagen) Aminah McCloud (DePaul University, Chicago) Jörn Thielmann (Erlangen University) volume 25 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/mumi A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 2 The African American Islamic Renaissance, 1920–1975 By Patrick D. Bowen leiden | boston Cover illustration: “Sheik Daouod with Arab Moslem and two Negro Moslems”, from page 49, pm Weekly, January 18, 1942. Photo taken by Alexander Alland. Collection of The New-York Historical Society, image #93915d. Used with the permission of Alexander Alland, Jr. The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015026091 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1570-7571 isbn 978-90-04-35314-5 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-35437-1 (e-book) Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. To my grandparents ∵ Contents Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x Introduction 1 part 1 The Years 1619–1919 1 African American Religion and Folk Culture before 1920 19 part 2 The Years 1920–1945 2 A Universal Transformation 81 3 Allah across America 112 4 Noble Drew Ali 159 5 The Moorish Science Temple of America 199 6 W.D. Fard 240 7 The Nation of Islam 277 8 Smaller Sects and Independent Mystics 326 9 Early Sunnis 369 viii contents part 3 The Years 1945–1975 10 A Nation Reborn 419 11 Non-noi Muslims in the Postwar Period 453 12 New Transformations 488 13 A Nation Divided, a Nation Changed 518 14 A Cultural Revolution 547 15 Islamic Organizations in the Post-Malcolm World 591 Conclusion 644 Bibliography 647 Index 704 Acknowledgements This book is the culmination of eight years of research, and any project that takes that long is bound to owe many debts. Thanks are due, first, to the many wonderful people I encountered at the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology, where I did my graduate studies. I would especially like to men- tion Ginni Ishimatsu, Liyakat Takim (now at McMaster), Tink Tinker, Carl Raschke, Michelle Kyner and du’s Interlibrary Loan Department, du’s Acquisi- tions Department, Antony Alumkal, Nader Hashemi, and Andrea Stanton. This project was also greatly helped by the other scholars, researchers, and insti- tutions that, over these several years, freely shared with me their thoughts and many rare documents. Key among these individuals were Muhammed Al-Ahari and Sharif Anael-Bey of ali’s men, both of whom have helped other scholars in the past, but still proved extremely patient and enthusiastic as I bombarded them with questions and requests. I would also like to mention Bob Dannin, Karl Evanzz, Fathie Ali Abdat, and Sally Howell, the last of whom connected me with the Bentley Historical Library,which in 2014 provided me with its Research Grant so I could visit Ann Arbor to examine the library’s incredible collection of materials concerning Islam in America. Thanks are also due to all the other researchers, librarians, and American Muslims who let me bother them with emails and phone calls. Know that, even if we did not talk a great deal, your help was sill invaluable. Special thanks are due as well to Nienke Brienen-Moolenaar at Brill, without whose belief in and patience with this three-volume project I would have never been able to pursue it. Finally, I of course need to mention all my friends and family, as they pro- vided me with an amazing amount of support and encouragement as I con- tinued down this seemingly never-ending path. So, many thanks are due to my wife, Michelle; my parents, John and Lorraine; Grandma Mary; David; all my aunts, uncles, and cousins; Keith; the Quintanas; w.w. and friends; the c-krs; and, particularly in the last few years, Nate Miscall, whose willingness to listen to and provide feedback on my writing and my many theories turned out to be essential for me finishing this book. Abbreviations aaa Afro-American Association aac Ansaaru Allah Community aair African American Islamic Renaissance aauaa Addeynu Allahe-Universal Arabic Association ad nip African Descendants Nationalist Independence Partition Party ame African Methodist Episcopal Church amp ali’s men papers amwsa African Moslem Welfare Society of America aoi Academy of Islam apr Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis and Misraim bam Black Arts Movement bhl Bentley Historical Library bla Black Liberation Army blf Black Liberation Front bpp Black Panther Party bval Blackman’s Volunteer Army of Liberation cointelpro Counterintelligence Program core Congress of Racial Equality dar Dar-ul-Islam doam Development of Our am doo Development of Our Own epm Eastern Pacific Movement fbi Federal Bureau of Investigation fia Federation of Islamic Associations of the United States and Canada foi Fruit of Islam fpcc Fair Play for Cuba Committee goal Group on Advanced Leadership hctius A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States ima Islamic Mission of America imb International Muslim Brotherhood imjc Imam Mohamad Jawad Chirri ims International Moslem Society ipna Islamic Party of North America irm Islamic Revivalist Movement kkk Ku Klux Klan mbusa Moslem Brotherhood of the United States of America mdnmna Moorish Science Temple, the Divine and National Movement of North America, Inc. abbreviations xi mgt-gcc Muslim Girls’ Training-General Civilization Class mib Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood miic Moroccan Inter-Religious and International Conference mmi Muslim Mosque, Inc. mmirm wrhs Masjid al-Mumin/Islamic Revivalist MovementWestern Reserve His- torical Society mnic Moorish National Islamic Center moa Moslems of America mpsrc Miscellaneous Publications from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture msa Muslim Students’ Association of the United States and Canada msta Moorish Science Temple of America mstiam Moorish Science Temple of i am muof Moroccan United Organization Federation mwl Muslim World League naacp National Association for the Advancement of Colored People nepcoc National Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Observance Com- mittee noi Nation of Islam oaau Organization of Afro-American Unity oma Onward Movement of America oom Oriental Order of the Magi pme Peace Movement of Ethiopia pmew Pacific Movement of the Eastern World ram Revolutionary Action Movement rna Republic of New Afrika sab Sharif Anael-Bey sncc Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee swp Socialist Workers Party uanm Universal African Nationalist Movement udhr Universal Declaration of Human Rights uis Universal Islamic Society uisa Uniting Islamic Society of America ums United Moslem Society unia Universal Negro Improvement Association wmc World Muslim Council wpa Works Progress Administration ymma Young Men’s Moslem Association Introduction Starting around 1920, certain strands of African American folk culture were blended with orthodox Islamic knowledge, black nationalism, and various forms of esotericism to create a powerful and complex wave of Islamic move- ments. Over the next fifty-five years, literally hundreds of thousands of African Americans became aware of and interested in the notion that Islam may have been their ‘original’ religion; tens of thousands went beyond mere interest and embraced Islam outright; and hundreds of black Muslim leaders, writers, and artists took it upon themselves to develop, articulate, and shape the meaning of Islam for the broader African American community. The diversity and abun- dance of these Islamic currents was so great that the present book refers to the period between 1920 and 1975 as the era of the African American Islamic Renaissance (aair). What distinguishes this volume from previous studies of black Muslims is its in-depth discussions of lesser-known roots, manifestations, and influences of African American Islam. Some of the most popular explanations for the attractiveness of Islam in the black community either focus on the charisma of prominent Muslim figures or look at what are typically framed as the ‘political’ motivations of the converts.1 Although both factors undoubtedly contributed to the development of African American Islam, they hardly tell the whole story. In fact, for two decades now, scholars who have recognized the inadequacies of such theories have expressed a vague awareness that the early black Mus- lim leaders were also drawing on a deep cultural reservoir that resonated with their followers.2 Nevertheless, so far this has not led to a nuanced appreciation of the multitude of specific African American cultural and religious traditions 1 Since the 1960s countless writers have attributed the Nation of Islam’s expansion to Mal- colm x, and it is now almost considered common knowledge that does not need to be rigor- ously defended. The political explanation was popularized by C. Eric Lincoln in his seminal study The Black Muslims in America, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdsmans; Trenton: Africa World Press, [1961] 1994). 2 For example, see the respective books of Richard Brent Turner, Robert Dannin, Dennis Walker, Michael Gomez, and Sherman Jackson: Islam in the African American Experience, 2nd ed.