Abstract
The Nation of Islam is America’s oldest Black Nationalist faith community. The community found notoriety in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a result of intense media scrutiny and the talents of high-profile members, including Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Louis Farrakhan. The NOI has been led by Minister Louis Farrakhan since the late 1970s. However, the faith community has effectively been led by his subordinate Ishmael Muhammad and a council of ministers. Ishmael currently serves as the NOI’s national spokesperson. As such, he is charged with both overseeing the faith community’s national operations and ministry. Ishmael operates unofficially as Minister Louis Farrakhan’s successor. This paper considers Ishmael’s ascent within the NOI and assesses the challenges he has faced in his role as head of the NOI’s executive council. Ishmael has in many ways inherited a faith community divided along theological lines. Divisions over the community’s theology and practices are evidenced in the tensions that exist within the Deen Intensive Academy’s and the Council on American Islamic Relations work with the NOI. Ishmael has yet to be officially endorsed by Minister Farrakhan as a successor and the longevity of his career in the community depends greatly on the willingness of more capable ministers to endorse his work. This paper considers the tensions that exist within the NOI’s ministry and assesses Ishmael’s work within the faith community’s council. It also explores the NOI’s connections to more mainstream Sunni Muslim organizations and examines its place within the African American ummah.
Presenters
Dawn Marie GibsonSenior Lecturer, History, Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam, Black Nationalism, Sunni Islam
