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By Root 1712 0

drive in Temple No. 2. Recruitment efforts were ongoing, and during the mid-1950s the Nation of Islam seems to have looked closely at the model of Islamic proselytizing practiced by the controversial Ahmadi Muslims. Despite the Ahmadis’ refusal to consider the Prophet Muhammad the Seal of the Prophets, which deeply disturbed nearly all orthodox Muslims, and at a time when the Pakistani government was moving to designate the sect a non-Muslim religious group, emigrant Ahmadis had successfully formed political coalitions and working relationships with Sunni Muslims in the United States and frequently worshipped side by side with them. By the late 1950s a significant number of African-American Ahmadis had joined the Nation, partially due to its explicitly black identification. In doing so, they introduced a more orthodox interpretation of classical Islam, as well as a long-standing commitment to the international Islamic community. No matter how sectarian and heretical the NOIʹs theological tenets, Elijah Muhammad always insisted that his ministers present his creed as part of a global community of Muslims. These factors helped shape Malcolm’s version of da’wa, and his pastoral duties. This was the main reason why, in the early 1960s, Malcolm would so vigorously criticize the phrase “Black Muslims” to describe the Nation of Islam.

As the Nation grew, it began to interact with traditional or orthodox Muslims in different ways. And despite the Nation’s adherence to the theologically bizarre tenets of Yacub’s History, the fundamental spiritual terrain that defined Islam’s contours had a direct and inescapable pull on the NOI’s evolution. Within orthodox Islam, there are two great divisions: the Sunni, who represent the overwhelming majority of Muslims, and the Shi’a, a group who believe that Ali, the Prophet’s nephew and son-in-law, and his descendants were the sole successors to Muhammad. For Sunnis, ordained clergy do not exist. The leader of the observance of salat, or prayer service, may be anyone knowledgeable. This leader, the imam, strives to be “a pattern for the rest to follow, so as to preserve the required precision and order of the service.” In Islam, the imam may also be a prominent theologian or legal scholar. The Shi’a, by contrast, perceive their imams as divinely inspired. Two main branches of the Shi’a, the Isma’ilis and Imanis, define their imams by hereditary descent and believe that their leaders possess a god-given understanding of Islam, first represented by Ali. The imams possess the powers of the “cycle of prophecy” (nubuwwa) and, as one Islamic scholar puts it, “they serve as intercessors between humans and God.”

Over centuries, Islamic political thought evolved in two strikingly different directions. For most Sunnis, the foundation of all religious teachings is the sharia, the law, which in turn is grounded in haqiqat, a literal interpretation of the Qurʹan. For the Shi’as, spiritual knowledge is esoteric, hidden, secret. The Shi’a Muslim approaches the Qurʹan not for the construction of laws but for knowledge that reveals truth. Because Shi’as frequently functioned as persecuted minorities in predominantly Sunni societies, they withdrew from politics and civil society. The Shi’as view most political leaders as illegitimate, and except in states like Iran in which they control the government, they generally have not participated in politics.

Although the Lost-Found Nation of Islam can hardly be considered orthodox, it shares striking parallels with Shi’ism. Both view their faiths from the vantage point of persecuted minorities; both are convinced that all civil authorities and politics are corrupt; both espouse what in Arabic is called hikmat’ At-tadrij, the gradual communication of religious knowledge and truth over time. When Elijah Muhammad elevated Wallace D. Fard to the status of Allah, Muhammad immediately became the sect’s sole conduit with God. Muhammad also acquired the authoritative power of prophecy and, as in the case of Shi’a Muslims, an infallibility that could not be challenged. Also