Throughout the time that it has been active, the Nation of Islam has been a movement that has oscillated between being separatist and being inclusive.  It has also varied between being primarily political and being primarily religious.  In order to better understand the changing motives and values of the organization, it is important to know the history of the Nation of Islam.

The Nation of Islam was founded in 1930 by Wallace D. Fard, who spread his religious beliefs to black migrants from the south while selling silks door-to-door in a black ghetto in Detroit.  He wrote two manuals for the movement, The Secret Ritual of Nation of Islam and Teaching for the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in a Mathematical Way.  When Fard was expelled from Detroit by civic authorities, there were disputes over leadership.  These ended with Elijah Muhammed moving the headquarters of the Nation of Islam to Chicago and becoming the new leader.  He established the doctrine that Fard was “Allah” (God) incarnate and he (Muhammed) was the messenger of Allah.  The doctrine of the Nation of Islam included a belief that the white man is the devil.  They were created by a black mad scientist who rebelled against Allah by creating the white race who were then allowed to dominate the world.  According to this doctrine, there would be a battle between blacks (forces of good) and whites (forces of evil) in the near future (around 1975) in which blacks would emerge victorious and would reestablish their dominion of the earth.  Under Muhammed, the Nation of Islam proposed the following solution for the problems of blacks: to gain economic independence from whites and to regain a sense of identity.  They encouraged hard work, frugality and self-improvement, and also forbade drinking alcohol, eating pork, smoking, doing drugs, and gambling. 

Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam while in prison for theft.  During the period that he was a member (1952-1965), the Nation of Islam experienced the greatest growth and influence.  However, after disagreements between Malcolm X and Muhammed on certain political and moral issues, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam.  After a pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) he realized that people of many different colors could be united by their belief in one God and converted to orthodox Islam.  He was assassinated a year later.  A decade later, Muhammed died of natural causes and he appointed one of his sons, Wallace Deen Muhammed, as the leader (supreme minister) of Islam.  He made drastic changes in the doctrine of the Nation of Islam, making it much more similar to orthodox Islam; he announced that whites were not considered the devil and were allowed to join the movement.  He also changed the name to the American Muslim Mission and made it more of a religious community than a political organization.  In response to this, Louis Farrakhan and other members who objected to Wallace’s changes split away and reestablished the original Nation of Islam, which followed the separatist doctrine that Muhammed had taught.  He became notorious for his anti-Semitic comments and was also very involved in Jesse Jackson’s campaign for the Democratic candidate for presidency.  Eventually, Farrakhan moved the Nation of Islam closer toward orthodox Islam while still retaining certain parts of Elijah Muhammed’s original doctrine.

The Nation of Islam Online, 2001.
This is the official website for the Nation of Islam and is definitely geared towards members of organization.   It includes a brief history of the Nation of Islam, and biographical sketch of Elijah Muhammed and Louis Farrakhan.  However, all of these are rather biased in that they are full of praise for the organization and its leaders, but do not mention any of their shortcomings.  I found it peculiar that they barely mention anything about Malcolm X, despite his prominent role in the Nation of Islam.  This absence is possibly because of claims that they are responsible for his death.  The site also includes a list of demands from the Nation of Islam titled “What the Muslims Want,” a description of their three-year economic savings plan, and a list of statements from various members of the Nation of Islam.

The Nation of Islam, 2001.
This web site includes an article from Cornerstone magazine that gives a more detailed, accurate, and impartial description of the history and beliefs of the Nation of Islam.  It describes Malcolm X’s role in the Nation of Islam and explains the reasons that he left the group.  The article also explains the differences between the Nation of Islam and Islam; an analogy is made to the differences between Christianity and Mormonism, in that the vocabulary is the same but the former (in both comparisons) violates certain basic tenets and beliefs of the latter. The article also gives many suggestions as to why the Nation of Islam is so attractive to blacks.  However the rest of the web site is biased toward Christianity and gives reasons that people convert from Islam to Christianity.

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