Did Malcolm X truly leave Islam?
Posted on: November 5, 2011 - 1:47am
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Did Malcolm X truly leave Islam?
We all probably know who Malcolm X is.
The guy was a prominent figure in history and a prominent Muslim. Shortly before he died he had left the Nation of Islam. There are stories that say he left NOI but not Islam itself, but there have been stories the guy left Islam all together. I've seen a few arguments saying that Malcolm had left Islam entirely and was likely to had become a strong figure in atheism (if he truly left it all) but it's usually countered that he left Nation of Islam and not Islam itself
can anyone confirm or help clear this story out?
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malcolm x, elijah muhammad, and the noi have always been huge interests of mine.
having read malcolm x's autobiography (twice), a great many of his speeches, as well as a considerable amount of material on elijah muhammad and the noi (including a recent book arguing, from a sunni perspective, that e.m. could properly be called a muslim, albeit a misguided one), i have to say nothing i've read of his own words or mainstream scholarship seems to bear it out. i mean, one of the last things he did before his assassination was to found a sunni mosque in harlem (muslim mosque, inc.).
i've never seen any arguments, credible or otherwise, saying he had left islam altogether. perhaps you could post them?
i mean, malcolm x was not a rational thinker, in terms of religion, politics, or history, so i have no reason to think he was moving toward a well thought-out decision for atheism.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson