Black History Month: focusing on Malcolm X

Many schools will be discussing Black History Month over the next few weeks, and if your kids go to any school (versus being homeschooled), social studies classes and library book displays will no doubt be focused on this.

Although Black History Month is primarily about African-American history, Muslim parents can still use this opportunity to discuss themes relating to Africa including the following:

-Africa in Islamic history (see this article)
- A focus on African countries with a Muslim history and/or a Muslim majority like Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Chad, etc
-Great African Muslims, starting from Umm Ayman and Bilal ibn Rabah to Mansa Musa and Malcolm X, among others
- A discussion of racism is a must. Frankly, while things are getting better, there is still plenty of racism in the Muslim community and it has to stop. It is absolutely contrary to Islam and no good Muslim can justify this despicable behavior.
- Discuss ayah 49:13. Find a good Tafseer of this.

Malcolm X

Last month, Martin Luther King Jr. was the focus, as his birthday is celebrated or commemorated as a tribute to his hard work and sacrifices for civil rights.

Malcolm X, on the other hand, rarely receives much recognition. As the most prominent Muslim of the civil rights movement, focus on him this month. Read books, watch a documentary (I would avoid Spike Lee's movie, since there are scenes in there not fit for viewing), and listen to a couple of his speeches online at YouTube.

Emphasize to your kids the following about this great African-American Muslim:

1. Malcolm X faced tremendous hardship and challenges in life. Before he was 10 years old, he lost his parents (his father was assumed to be killed, his mother was sent to an insane asylum), experienced painful racism and witnessed his being house burned down by racists.

2. These hardships though, made him a stronger person. Although he did get in trouble with the law and was subsequently sent to jail, he changed for the better there.

3. After he joined the group the Nation of Islam while in prison, he stopped doing many of the bad things he was involved in before entering prison.

4. The Nation of Islam is NOT Islam. It is a cult (define this word). Although some of the things it teaches are from Islam (e.g. no pork, alcohol, drugs, sex outside of marriage), it has many ideas in it which contradict our faith. The biggest among these is their belief that God came down in the form of a man named Fard Muhammad and named Elijah Muhammad his prophet. The Nation of Islam's view that white man is the devil is also absolutely contrary to our belief as Muslims.

5. The Nation of Islam offered Malcolm X and other African-American men at this time a sense of dignity and pride which was denied them by the American government and society of the 1950's and '60s. You can briefly discuss lynchings, unfathomable discrimination, segregation, "colored" sections of buses and water fountains.

6. Malcolm X eventually left the Nation for Islam. Discuss in detail his Hajj and his letter from Mecca, where he shared how Islam and his Hajj experience changed his worldviews about God and the equality of all human beings.

7. Overall lesson: Malcolm X is an example of how a person can embrace God, the Truth, and become a great human being despite a negative personal history. Many of the Companions of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, were like that as well.


Books about Malcolm X:

For younger children:

Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly by Water Dean Myers: nicely illustrated and gives a good introduction to the leader without being overly explicit about his pre-prison crimes.

For teenagers:

Malcom X: By Any Means Necessary by Water Dean Myers: not very well-written but does provide a more detailed description of the man. The last chapter offers a good synopsis of his life and the changes he went through in his short 39 years.