Black Spirituality Religion : African-American Muslims Confront Leadership Void...

[Aqil]

Imam W.D. Mohammed's Resignation Raises Questions About Movement's Future

Once again a change is afoot for African-American Muslims. There is a central question facing the American Society of Muslims, with an estimated 1.2 million members, as well as another 100,000 African-American Muslims in the rival Nation of Islam, led by Minister Louis Farrakhan. Will cultural and communal ties alone define their religious experience, or will the practices of Sunni Islam, still so new to them, be the primary bond as they are for many Muslims across the Islamic world?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0309140233sep14,1,4497730.story

 

[Aqil]

From the article:

"The modern-day turn toward the Islamic practices preached by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th Century began for Black Muslims in 1913. A migrant from North Carolina, Timothy Drew, changed his name to Noble Drew Ali and established the Moorish Science Temple movement in Newark, NJ. As more temples were built, the link between Islam and Black nationalism was born, and the temples were later transformed into mosques.

Despite the change in architecture, the portrayal of Islam remained steeped in race-based issues. Silk merchant W.D. Fard created the Nation of Islam in 1930, appearing on the streets of Detroit and calling himself a "prophet from the holy city of Mecca." For decades, his separatist vision dominated African-American notions of Islam. Today, while most African-American Muslims practice an Islam closer to traditional Sunni doctrine, they continue to blend their own homegrown culture with the precepts of the faith..."