This week marked the 60th anniversary of the death of El-Hajj Malik el-Shabbaz, more popularly known as Malcolm X.

Malcolm was a prominent civil rights leader, activist, and speaker who became a key figure in the fight for Black empowerment in the United States. Born Malcolm Little, he experienced racism and hardship from a young age, which shaped his views on justice and self-determination. After a troubled youth and imprisonment, he joined the Nation of Islam, rising to prominence as a powerful advocate for Black nationalism and self-defense. Over time, his views evolved, and after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he embraced a more inclusive vision of racial unity.

Malcolm X’s relationship with Islam was central to his personal and political transformation. While in prison, he converted to the Nation of Islam (NOI), adopting its teachings on Black empowerment and self-discipline. As a leading minister, he became a powerful voice for the NOI, advocating for racial separation and self-defense. However, after leaving the group in 1964, he embarked on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he experienced a more inclusive form of Islam. This journey led him to embrace mainstream Islam and a vision of racial unity. His faith remained a guiding force until his assassination in 1965, shaping his commitment to justice and human rights. Malcolm’s legacy endures as a symbol of resilience, transformation, and the ongoing struggle for equality.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X which was released shortly after his death has had a profound impact on readers worldwide, offering a powerful account of his journey from adversity to activism. It has inspired generations by highlighting themes of racial injustice, self-education, and personal transformation. The book remains a crucial text in discussions on civil rights, Black identity, and the ongoing fight for social justice.

As we commemorate his passing, we reflect on his powerful advocacy for self-determination, his eloquent speeches that challenged systemic oppression, and his evolution as a leader who sought unity and understanding. His legacy continues to inspire movements for racial justice worldwide, reminding us of the importance of courage, education, and the pursuit of truth. In honoring Malcolm X, we reaffirm our commitment to the principles he championed and strive to build a world where dignity and freedom prevail for all.

Malcolm and Art

Malcolm X influenced art and music in many ways, including hip-hop, opera, and the Black Arts movement. In hip-hop, Malcolm X’s speeches have been sampled and remixed in hip-hop songs. His image has been featured on album covers, such as Daily Operation by Gang Starr. Hip-hop has embraced Malcolm X’s persona and philosophies more than any other art form.

Opera and comics were created about Malcolm’s life. Below are artwork from Muhammad Hamza’s Intifada Street series.

Malcolm X – American Dream? – Mohammad Hamza
Malcolm X Pray But Don’t Be Preyed Upon – Mohammad Hamza
Malcolm X Resistance – Mohammad Hamza

Support Muslim Prisoners During Ramadan

IHRC is supporting Muslim prisoners in the UK by supplying them with Ramadan packs to assist them to make the most of the holy month. We see it as our duty to support them in their isolation and help them gain the benefits of Ramadan.

This years pack will include the following items:
• Tasbih/prayer beads
• Sweets • Ramadan/Eid card with a message of support
• Will include a book Each pack costs approximately £20 and this is a Zakat eligible project.

Click below if you would like to donate.

DONATE

THROWBACK: Black Star, Crescent Moon: an Evening with Sohail Daulatzai

12 years ago, IHRC hosted an author evening with Sohail Daulatzai who discussed his book ‘Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom beyond America’. Click below for the recording of the event.

Sohail Daulatzai is an associate professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies and the Program in African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine. He is co-editor of ‘Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic’ and author of ‘Fifty Years of The Battle of Algiers: Past as Prologue‘.

Below are books available at IHRC Bookshop:

The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. – Peniel Joseph

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are the two most iconic figures of the Civil Rights movement. To most Americans, Malcolm and Martin represent contrasting political ideals — self-defense vs. non-violence, anger vs. pacifism, separatism vs. integration, the sword vs. the shield. The Civil Rights movement itself has suffered the same fate: while non-violent direct action is remembered today as an unalloyed good and an unassailable part of our democracy, the movement’s combative militancy has been either vilified or erased outright.

In The Sword and the Shield, acclaimed historian Peniel Joseph offers a dual biography of Malcolm and Martin and a more nuanced narrative that pushes us to completely reconsider these two leaders as well as the era they came to define.

The Sword and the Shield reimagines Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. not as antagonists, but as two political revolutionaries who confronted the same problem from different perspectives. Examining their political lives next to one another provides a more complicated, but ultimately more satisfying, understanding of these men and the times they shaped. Despite markedly different family histories, religious affiliations, and class backgrounds, Malcolm and Martin found common ground on a wide range of issues. Each inspired the other to engage political views that he had rejected in the past. Malcolm’s push to connect pan-Africanism to an international human rights agenda mirrored the multiculturalism that Martin eloquently articulated at the March on Washington.

Similarly, the anti-war activism and anti-poverty campaigns of Martin’s final years unleashed a stinging critique of racism, militarism, and materialism that echoed Malcolm’s impassioned anti-colonialism. In short, King was more revolutionary, and Malcolm more pragmatic, than we’ve been told. This will stand as the definitive dual history of these two lives for years to come.

Other publications regarding Malcolm X include:
Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X – Randy Roberts & Johnny Smith

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X – Les Payne, Tamara Payne

When the Word is Given…: A Report on Elijah Muhammed, Malcolm X and the Black Muslim World

Malcolm X For Beginners – Bernard Aquina Doctor

Centering Black Narrative: Black Muslim Nobles Among the Early Pious Muslims – Ahmad Mubarak & Dawud Walid

Blackness is a term which has been understood differently based upon time and geography. The authors of this book explore how the term was understood by Arabs during the era surrounding the first three generations of Muslims and how such context can better inform understanding who from among them would today be considered Black Muslims in the West.

This is very important in light of the effects of colonialism and scientific racism theories such as eugenics etc., have forced the idea of species level taxonomies which are in reality social constructs upon the psyche of laymen across the globe. By examining texts of antiquity and centering them in the modern discourse, it is hoped that the nuance and breadth of the human experience can be appreciated.

Moving beyond providing generic descriptive terminology, they elucidate in detail particulars based upon semantics of the Arabic language. Authors then give biographical information on a series of early Muslims from African and Arab lineage who would be considered Black in the post-modern era.

James Baldwin: Living in Fire (Revolutionary Lives) – Bill V. Mullen

In the first major biography of Baldwin in more than a decade, Bill V. Mullen celebrates the personal and political life of the great African-American writer who changed the face of Western politics and culture. As a lifelong anti-imperialist, black queer advocate, and feminist, Baldwin (1924-1987) was a passionate chronicler of the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, the U.S. war against Vietnam, Palestinian liberation struggle, and the rise of LGBTQ rights.

Mullen explores how Baldwin’s life and work channel the long history of African-American freedom struggles, and explains how Baldwin both predicted and has become a symbol of the global Black Lives Matter movement.

The African Caliphate – Ibrahim Suleiman

This scholarly work focuses on the establishment in 1809, in what is today Northern Nigeria, of the celebrated Sokoto caliphate, which may well have been the last complete re-establishment, anywhere in the world, of Islam in its entirety, comprising all its many and varied dimensions. As well as giving the biography of the Shehu and a comprehensive account of the history of his movement, the book also provides an in-depth examination of his teaching and literary works.

These factors are all inextricably interwoven since, in a way scarcely equalled by any other historical figure, the Shehu’s writings sprang directly out of the exigencies and requirements of his immediate situation and were what drove his movement forward and gave it its momentum. As will be seen, his sole inspiration and source of guidance in every instance were the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger to such a point that he even died at exactly the same age. It is also astonishing how relevant the Shehu’s teachings are, in spite of the clear difference in both time and environment, to the situation of so many Muslims in the world today and the solution to many of the problems currently besetting Islam are clearly indicated within its pages.

The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History – David F. Walker, Marcus Kwame Anderson (Authors)

Founded in Oakland, California, in 1966, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was a radical political organization that stood in defiant contrast to the mainstream civil rights movement. This gripping illustrated history explores the impact and significance of the Panthers, from their social, educational, and healthcare programs that were designed to uplift the Black community to their battle against police brutality through citizen patrols and frequent clashes with the FBI, which targeted the Party from its outset.

Using dramatic comic book-style retellings and illustrated profiles of key figures, The Black Panther Party captures the major events, people, and actions of the party, as well as their cultural and political influence and enduring legacy.