Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam after he conflicted with the movement and its leader, Elijah Muhammad, and embarked on a personal and spiritual tour of the Middle East and West Africa in the early 60s. While in Mecca, and as he completed the hajj, he experienced something that could only be described as his second conversion (Payne, 2020). He uncovered an all-inclusive, genuine, and united Islam – an experience that changed his worldview. As a result, in both the public and in the letters he sent from Mecca, he declared that blonde and blue-eyed Muslims exist and, in turn, broke away from years of his own teachings (Payne, 2020). Malcolm’s new worldview accommodated mainstream Islam’s doctrines and gave him political flexibility, making it possible for him to get support from sincere white people.
In his time abroad, he focused on reinforcing his qualifications as an orthodox American Muslim, which sharply contrasted those of Elijah Muhammad and his teachers. Through letters, he condemned Elijah personally as a “religious faker,” most probably referring to the rumors that the leader had fathered children with his secretaries while demanding absolute morality from his followers (Payne, 2020). While Malcolm was in Egypt, he studied and spent time with Muslim scholars and was certified as qualified to teach and spread the word of Allah.
Malcolm then shifted his efforts from the Middle East to Africa and became more political than religious. He was working to rally a diplomatic charge of Africans against the United States, which he felt was an anti-black oppressor (Payne, 2020). He wanted to get at least one African state to charge the United States with human rights violations in the United Nations. He submitted the idea during the second meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Cairo, Egypt, in which emissaries from more than thirty states were in attendance (Payne, 2020). In spite of his lobbying, the OAU did not take a stronger stance as he was requesting. Instead, it approved a resolution concerned with the racial practices of the United States (Payne, 2020). Disappointed with the outcome, he wanted to talk personally to each leader once they returned to their countries as he felt the United States’ influence contributed to the outcome.
In his new philosophy, Malcolm changed his use of the mainstream media. Since he was building his mosque and organization, he wanted to get his message to the black people throughout the country (Payne, 2020). Therefore, he needed to change his obsession with opinions regarding white people and focus on how the media could get his message to them. The easiest way was to change the narrative that all white people were devils. He also saw capitalism as the real enemy and believed that a white person could not believe in one and not the other (Payne, 2020). As such, he stopped referring to himself as a black nationalist since there were other revolutionaries who were not black, especially in the African nations.
Malcolm’s final phase of life can be overly romanticized and misconstrued as gentle and more accommodating to the tastes of white people. In truth, he was just as fiery when he returned to the United States (Payne, 2020). Even though his worldview was taking a new turn, his criticism of liberalism continued strongly. He still stressed black people’s need for the right to self-defense but wanted to connect with non-violent civil rights organizations. In fact, it was at a secret meeting in the house of one civil rights leader that the idea of going to the United Nations was developed (Payne, 2020). However, Malcolm would never have the opportunity to fully evolve his new worldview, as he was shot and killed in 1965.
Reference
Payne, L. (2020). The dead are arising: The life of Malcolm X. Liveright.