ABSTRACT

New Perspectives on the Nation of Islam contributes to the ongoing dialogue about the nature and influence of the Nation of Islam (NOI), bringing fresh insights to areas that have previously been overlooked in the scholarship of Elijah Muhammad’s NOI, the Imam W.D. Mohammed community and Louis Farrakhan’s Resurrected NOI. Bringing together contributions that explore the formation, practices, and influence of the NOI, this volume problematizes the history of the movement, its theology, and relationships with other religious movements. Contributors offer a range of diverse perspectives, making connections between the ideology of the NOI and gender, dietary restrictions and foodways, the internationalization of the movement, and the civil rights movement. This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of current scholarship on the Nation of Islam, and will be relevant to scholars of American religion and history, Islamic studies, and African American Studies.

chapter 1|6 pages

Introduction

part I|126 pages

Gender, Society, and Global Connections

chapter 2|22 pages

“A Superb Sales Force … The Men of Muhammad”

The Nation of Islam, Black Masculinity, and Selling Muhammad Speaks in the Black Power Era

chapter 4|22 pages

The Crescent Moon and the Carceral State

The Nation of Islam and the Legal Battle for the Right to Assemble

chapter 5|27 pages

Eat to Live

Culinary Nationalism and Black Capitalism in Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam

chapter 6|23 pages

Was It a Nine Days Wonder?

A Note on the Proselytisation Efforts of the Nation of Islam in Ghana, c. 1980s–2010

part II|118 pages

Propaganda and Theology

chapter 8|19 pages

Propaganda in the Early NOI

chapter 9|20 pages

“The Secret … of Who the Devil Is”

Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam, and Theological Phenomenology 1

chapter 10|16 pages

Elijah Muhammad’s Christologies

The “Historical” Jesus and the Contemporary Christ

chapter 11|28 pages

Black Muslims, White Jesus

Removing Racial Images of God with CRAID and W. D. Muhammad

chapter 12|18 pages

Clearing the Planet

Dianetics Auditing and the Eschatology of the Nation of Islam