The Nation of Islam [Understanding the ‘Black Muslims’] – Steven Tsoukalas
by Christy

There have been several works completed on the Nation of Islam… Some concentrate on its current and prolific leader, Louis Farrakhan, others concentrate on the social agenda and Black Nationalistic roots that the movement was born out of. This particular volume is a nice balance between outlining the time of unrest and historical landscape of the post-war, extremely racist time of the 1930’s and an honest portrayal of the movements most popluar orators: W.D. Fard Muhammed, Louis Farrakhan, and Malcolm X.

What is appealing about this book, to me, is the lack of hostility in which the material is presented. I feel that this book has been presented in an extremely objective manner with only one chapter (the last) devoted to providing a biblical response to the Nation of Islam. Tsoukalas is a “white man”, however his manuscript has been carefully reviewed by Carl Ellis and Jerry Bruckner (well known black apologists). I only mention this because it seems that whenever a work is authored by a caucasian, there is a tendency to dismiss it as not being credible. I hope that people will give this book a chance.

Chapter one, entitled Sociological and Religious Soil includes an opening paragraph that is honest in its portrayal of the birth of the NOI:

The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a product of the times. The movement, which began in 1930, did not appear within a vacuum. Several cultural, anthropological, and theological influences from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries spawned it. Consequently, the movement cannot be understood without mention of slavery and the attitude it birthed among certain black people or without a study of a few key black leaders who promoted black nationalism and who preceded the rise of the NOI.