Remembering Malcolm X by Tareq A. Ramadan

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, best known to the world as Malcolm X, was a social revolutionary, human rights leader, civil rights activist, cleric, and one of the most powerful voices in the fight for freedom, equality, and justice for African Americans in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925, but spent his formative years in Michigan, before finding his way to Boston and Harlem, where he became involved in a life of crime that ultimately landed him in prison.

After serving a lengthy sentence in Massachusetts, Malcolm, who was known as “Detroit Red” for his red hair and Michigan roots, adopted the teachings of the Nation of Islam in 1948 and returned to Michigan to live with his eldest brother Wilfred, in Inkster, during the summer of 1952. Not long after, Malcolm met the organization’s leader, Elijah Muhammad, officially joined the Nation of Islam and was formally given the name “Malcolm X” before being given a position at its Detroit Temple.  

Between 1952 and 1964, Malcolm devoted most of his time and energy preaching a message of Black nationalism and Black empowerment, alongside advocating the religious teachings of the Nation of Islam, while serving as its national spokesperson for several years.  Malcolm, a leader of the Black Muslim Movement, as it was often called, initially espoused a philosophy of racial separation, believing that the plight of African Americans could not be resolved in the racial climate that existed, and that real freedom for African Americans required social, economic, and political sovereignty.  

In March of 1964, Malcolm parted ways with the Nation of Islam due to a growing internal rift between him and its leadership. He then went on to perform the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, which had a profound spiritual and psychological impact on him, while also visiting several Arab, African, and Muslim-majority countries. Malcolm then returned to the United States with a new religious identity, and seeing Islam as an instrument for overcoming racism, adopted a philosophy geared towards a more universalist and transnational message of solidarity and brotherhood in the struggle against oppression. He then went onto establish two new organizations including Muslim Mosque, Inc., and the Organization for Afro-American Unity. Malcolm, tragically, was assassinated while giving a speech at the Audobon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965, at the age of 39.

Malcolm X quotes

“It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That’s the only thing that can save this country.”

“You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”

“If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

"Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression."

“True Islam taught me that it takes all of the religious, political, economic, psychological, and racial ingredients, or characteristics, to make the Human Family and the Human Society complete."

A Poem written by Tareq A. Ramadan commemorating the passing of Malcolm X

Brother Malcolm! 

Turbulence and tears had already made reservations before you took your last stand.

Hardly subdued by the lingering anticipation of death,

as if your intuition and your legacy were on trial.

Humanity lost all credibility that day and the winter sun set in anguish. 

and still, the mourning lingers, incessant, expedited,

and magnified by the dysfunction of a world wrought with antipathy.

Where the just remain unjustifiably estranged from institutions whose moral duties were to seek truth. Yet, the truth remains latent in its articulation.

With each ensuing decade, though, your voice continues to resonate, reaching new generations, yet speaking to the same sentiments.

History remembers your potent, patented prose, the extemporaneous poetry that flowed like a gasoline river lit ablaze,

with candor and fire that ignited the hearts and minds of their recipients.

But on this day, the spoken words would cease, leaving the speech of your soul for print.

On this day, your voice was drowned out, not by the typical roars of onlookers mesmerized by your wisdom and courage but by the sound of bullets evicted from their chambers.

On this day, you had greeted your constituents and enemies alike with words of peace,

Asalam Alaykum….

only to endure a deafening critique.

Then commotion morphed into unilateral war.

In a flash, Detroit Red spilled across the wooden stage,

attendees forcibly subjected to American History X,

racing to safety, escaping with the speed of a hundred falcons,

your body tended to by family, friends, and foes as metal rained upon the ballroom’s altar,

yelling out to you as you took your last breath.

Brother Malcolm!  

-by Tareq A. Ramadan

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About Tareq A. Ramadan

Tareq A. Ramadan, Ph.D. is a Detroit-based anthropologist, poet, writer, professor, and specialist in Arab, Middle Eastern, and Islamic Studies. 

He also is the project manager for the Malcolm X House Historical Preservation Project led by the Inkster-based non-profit organization Project We Hope, Dream, and Believe.

Tareq wrote and was awarded a $380,850 National Park Service African American Civil Rights grant for the non-profit to restore the former home of Malcolm X, landed the home on the National Register of Historic Places, and organized an archaeological project that resulted in excavations at the home. 

He hopes to complete a book on Malcolm X and is working to transform his former home into a museum in an effort to preserve his legacy.