America's black Muslims close a rift

Indeed, the strident black nationalist rhetoric of Farrakhan - and the media attention it garnered over the years - reinforced one key misunderstanding: the view that the Nation of Islam represents most black Muslims in America.

The group rose to prominence during the civil rights era of the 1960s as a black separatist movement that labeled other religions as oppressors and whites as "blue-eyed devils." But leader Elijah Mohammed died in 1975. His immediate leadership heir, son W. D. Mohammed, abandoned such notions as blasphemy to true Islam, and embraced orthodox interpretations of the Koran, which encourages the universal acceptance of races and genders.

The vast majority of African-American Muslims (now about 2.5 million) followed him into a new organization known as The Muslim Society of America. Only a small percentage - perhaps 30,000 to 70,000 members by most accounts - remain in the Nation of Islam under Farrakhan.

But because of Farrakhan's persuasive charisma and ability to attract controversy and press, the image of African American Muslims as militant separatists persists to this day.

"For many Americans, the Nation of Islam still is the face of Islam in America, and so they associate Muslims with the harmful and even demonic rhetoric espoused by Rev. Farrakhan," says Anthony Pinn, professor of religion at Macalester College. The confusion persists, say Pinn and others, because Farrakhan often reaches out to society at large and to blacks of other faiths, as during his "Million Man March" on Washington in 1997.

To many African-American Muslims, who disagree with Farrakhan and feel unfairly tarred with his views in the public eye, the leader's recent evolution is encouraging.

In recent years, experts say, Farrakhan has lowered the tone of his separatist and black nationalist rhetoric. He has embraced other races, appointed women in high positions, and played down doctrinal differences that were points of division between his followers and those of W.D. Mohammed..

"It is very clear to me that Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam are very serious in embracing the love and peace message of Islam and putting harsh rhetoric behind," says W. D. Mohammed in a Monitor interview. Recounting a meeting between himself, Farrakhan, and Christian minister Robert Schuller in December, he says Farrakhan openly repented of confusing the picture of Muslims before the US public, and vowed to discontinue his message of black nationalism.

"The old rhetoric [of Farrakhan] is changing," says Dr. Maher Hathout of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. "We will see if his behavior changes as well."

Page: 1 | 2