Nation of Islam

{{Nation of Islam}}

{{Nation of Islam}}

The '''Nation of Islam''' ('''NOI''') is a religious organization founded in the United States by [[Wallace Fard Muhammad]] in 1930. The NOI is centralized and hierarchical. It is committed to [[black nationalism]] and focuses on the [[Black Africa|black]] [[African diaspora]], especially on [[African Americans]]. While describing itself as Islamic and using Islamic terminology, its religious tenets differ substantially from orthodox [[Islamic schools and branches#African-American movements|Islamic traditions]]. [[Religious studies|Scholars of religion]] characterize it as a [[new religious movement]].

The '''Nation of Islam''' ('''NOI''') is a religious organization founded in the United States by [[Wallace Fard Muhammad]] in [[Detroit]] in 1930. The NOI is centralized and hierarchical. It is committed to [[black nationalism]] and focuses on the [[Black Africa|black]] [[African diaspora]], especially on [[African Americans]]. While describing itself as Islamic and using Islamic terminology, its religious tenets differ substantially from orthodox [[Islamic schools and branches#African-American movements|Islamic traditions]]. [[Religious studies|Scholars of religion]] characterize it as a [[new religious movement]].

The Nation teaches that there has been a succession of mortal gods, each a black man named [[Allah]], of whom Fard Muhammad is the latest. It claims that the first Allah created the earliest humans, the dark-skinned Original Asiatic Race, whose members possessed inner divinity and from whom all [[Person of color|people of color]] descend. It maintains that a scientist named [[Yakub (Nation of Islam)|Yakub]] then created the white race, a group that lacked inner divinity and whose intrinsic violence led them to overthrow the Original Asiatic Race and achieve global dominance. Setting itself against the white-dominated society of the United States, the NOI campaigns for the creation of an independent African American nation-state and calls for African Americans to be economically self-sufficient and [[Black separatism|separatist]]. A [[Millenarianism|millenarian]] tradition, it maintains that Fard Muhammad will soon return aboard a spaceship to wipe out the white-dominated order and establish a [[utopia]]. Members worship in buildings, varyingly called [[temple]]s or [[mosque]]s. Practitioners are expected to live disciplined lives, adhering to strict dress codes, specific dietary requirements, and patriarchal gender roles.

The Nation teaches that there has been a succession of mortal gods, each a black man named [[Allah]], of whom Fard Muhammad is the latest. It claims that the first Allah created the earliest humans, the dark-skinned Original Asiatic Race, whose members possessed inner divinity and from whom all [[Person of color|people of color]] descend. It maintains that a scientist named [[Yakub (Nation of Islam)|Yakub]] then created the white race, a group that lacked inner divinity and whose intrinsic violence led them to overthrow the Original Asiatic Race and achieve global dominance. Setting itself against the white-dominated society of the United States, the NOI campaigns for the creation of an independent African American nation-state and calls for African Americans to be economically self-sufficient and [[Black separatism|separatist]]. A [[Millenarianism|millenarian]] tradition, it maintains that Fard Muhammad will soon return aboard a spaceship to wipe out the white-dominated order and establish a [[utopia]]. Members worship in buildings, varyingly called [[temple]]s or [[mosque]]s. Practitioners are expected to live disciplined lives, adhering to strict dress codes, specific dietary requirements, and patriarchal gender roles.