Homegrown Islam in the USA

Bauer: Homegrown Islam in the USA Homegrown Islam in the USA problem stems from the fact that the US government does By Bruce L. Bauer not include religious back- ground questions in its census counts, thus leaving the ques- Muslims in America are an tion of the Muslim population ethnically diverse group, coming in the USA to less than accu- from more than sixty nations and rate estimates. Many claim representing very different racial, that there are between 6 and 7 linguistic, tribal, educational, million Muslims in the United and cultural backgrounds. States, while others are just as Yvonne Haddad groups them insistent that there are only into three categories: immi- about two million (Boehlert grants, converts, and sojourners 2001, 4). It is beyond the scope (Conser, 218-219). This article of this article to deal with this will focus on those who have issue. Regardless of the num- converted to Islam in America, ber, it is a given that the Mus- with particular attention to the lim population in the USA is brand of homegrown Islam that growing rapidly, that there are has developed among African more than 1,209 mosques, and Americans. that African Americans consti- There is a growing contro- tute 25-30 percent of all Mus- versy over how many Muslims lims in the United States there are in the USA, with (Sheler and Betzold 2001, 50). widely different numbers Over the past ninety years claimed by various groups. The converts to Islam in North Bruce L. Bauer is America have largely come from Chair of the Mis- among African Americans. Ini- sion Department at tially Blacks joined a racist, the Seventh-day separatist movement that could Adventist Theologi- cal Seminary at be labeled quasi-Islamic at Andrews Univer- best, but most of those con- sity. He and his verts have now moved to a wife spent 23 much more orthodox Islamic years in Asia. position that encourages par- Published by Digital Commons @ Andrews University, 2005 1 40 Journal of Adventist Mission Studies Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, Vol. 1 [2005], No. 1, Art. 5 ticipation in the nation and Qur’an to memory in order to calls for brotherhood among all keep their faith alive and pass it races. While small splinter on to others (Waugh, 218). How- groups still mirror the early ever, the combined forces of in- stages of the separatist Black stitutional slavery were too much Muslims, the large majority has and, in the end, Protestant moved into mainstream Islam. Christianity largely became the In this article I will briefly religion of the African Americans. sketch the development and The second attempt by Islam growth of Islam among African to make inroads among African Americans, then I will offer four Americans was carried out in brief suggestions on how the 1913 by Nobel Drew, a Black Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) “prophet” from North Carolina Church should begin to relate who established a “Moorish Sci- to the growth of Islam in the ence Temple” in Newark, New African American communities Jersey. His followers were en- of North America. couraged to be known no longer Christianity was the religion of the White man and Islam was the religion for Blacks. Islam and African Americans as “Negroes” or “African” but as The relationship between Is- “Moorish-Americans.” To Drew, lam and African Americans goes Islam was the religion of the back to the arrival of African Moors, the Black conquerors slaves on the North American from Africa who once ruled much continent in the late seventeenth of Europe. He taught that Chris- century. Slavery, in its dehu- tianity was the religion of the manizing forms, separated fami- White man and that Islam was lies, split up slaves from the the religion for Blacks. Drew’s same cultural and linguistic movement spread to Pittsburgh, backgrounds and also did ev- Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, erything possible to destroy the and to a number of cities in the Islamic religious heritage held South. Temples were established by some of the slaves (Waugh and during Drew’s lifetime mem- 1983, 218). bership grew to around 30,000 Arabic speaking slaves were (Woodberry 1989, 139). brought to the United States as Drew’s movement utilized early as 1717 (Haney 1992, 8). the Qur’an, Muslim names, fez- Accounts persist of Muslim zes, and repudiated certain slaves who committed the entire fundamental Christian beliefs, https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/jams/vol1/iss1/5 2 1/2005 41 Bauer: Homegrown Islam in the USA but it was not Islam. Drew’s that Whites were devils, and that message was a mixture of Black the only hope for Blacks was to- nationalism, Christian revival- tal separation from Whites and ism, and Islamic teachings. the development of self-reliance. What it did accomplish in North Farrad began to call his move- America was to create a wide- ment the Nation of Islam. His spread awareness of Islam in first temple was built in Detroit the Black community (Waugh, to care for the 8,000 followers he 221). was able to recruit in that city between 1930 and 1933 (Marsh Nation of Islam 1984, 53). Because of the rapid Sometime during the sum- growth, he gathered a group of mer of 1930, a peddler, Wali men and began to train them as Farrad, appeared in the Black ministers. Among that group was ghetto of Detroit. He gained en- Elijah Poole, the son of a Baptist trance to homes selling arti- minister and very knowledgeable facts and silks, which he in the Bible. Since Farrad used claimed were like those Black Bible passages to introduce his people wore in their homeland new religion, Poole’s biblical across the sea. He claimed to knowledge fitted his strategy. It have come from Mecca on a was not long before Poole became mission of redemption to re- Farrad’s protégé and right-hand store the Black underclass. He man. Poole’s name was changed taught that Blacks were all of to Elijah Muhammad and he be- Muslim heritage, that Black de- came the Chief Minister of the basement was the result of cen- Nation of Islam. After Farrad’s dis- turies of separation from the appearance, Elijah Muhammad knowledge of Allah and that he, was elected the head of the Nation Wali Farrad, had been sent to of Islam. wake up the Black Nation to Elijah Muhammad built the their full potential in a world Nation into a strong movement temporarily dominated by with steady growth. In 1955 “blue-eyed devils” (Lincoln there were fifteen temples in the 1973, 12-14). United States. By 1960 there Farrad initially used the Bible were fifty-five temples in twenty- as his textbook since it was the two states (Woodberry 1989, 140). only religious book his followers During Elijah Muhammad’s lead- knew, but he stressed that he ership the Nation of Islam re- was the only one able to inter- mained exclusively a Black or- pret the language of Scripture. ganization that appealed to Meanwhile, he slowly began to young (80% of new recruits were introduce people to the Qur’an, between 17 and 35), disadvan- always emphasizing a message taged, African American males that Christianity was a tool in the with a previous Christian back- hands of White slave masters, ground (Lincoln 1973, 22-28). Published by Digital Commons @ Andrews University, 2005 3 42 Journal of Adventist Mission Studies Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, Vol. 1 [2005], No. 1, Art. 5 The Nation of Islam strongly for those of his followers who emphasized moral living and lacked these basic necessities. ethical conduct for its members He was also able to engender who were integrated into a car- pride in his followers as they re- ing brotherhood that provided alized, for the first time in their them with a sense of belonging, lives, that they shared ownership support, and sustenance against in successful business ventures a hostile world. They were to re- and that they were largely inde- frain from eating pork and corn pendent. bread (slave diet), and eat only Elijah Muhammad’s teach- fresh meat of chicken, lamb, ings were strange and have al- beef, and fish from either Mus- ways created barriers that kept lim or Kosher Jewish shops. To- his followers within the Nation bacco and alcohol were abso- of Islam from being accepted by lutely forbidden. Members were the larger community of ortho- to observe strict sexual morality. dox Islam. Elijah Muhammad A woman was not to be alone taught that Allah was a man, with any man except her hus- specifically, Wali Farrad. He also Farrad taught that the only hope for Blacks was total separation from Whites. band. Her dress was not to be taught that the universe was cre- provocative, nor should she use ated and owned by Blacks, and cosmetics. Marriage outside the that the White race was created faith was discouraged and un- 6,000 years ago through some converted spouses were pres- crude engineering by a mad sci- sured to join the group. Divorce entist named Yakub, an exile was discouraged but permitted from Mecca. According to Elijah under certain conditions. Mem- Muhammad’s theory, Yakub cre- bers were required to contribute ated the White race of devils to one tenth of their earnings for the get revenge on those who had support of the group (Woodberry exiled him and his followers to 1989, 140). the Island of Patmos. After Elijah Muhammad used do- Yakub’s death this newly created nations to purchase farms, store- White race returned to Arabia, fronts, bakeries, apartment began to get into trouble, was ex- buildings, and schools in order iled to Europe, and then walled to provide an economic base for in to keep the Whites from his growing organization.

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