Black Religion In The Autobiography Of Malcolm X By Alex Haley

Black religion appears as a form of protest where God is above the power of the oppressors, and God helps the black community overcome injustice. In The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley, religion appears as a portrayal as a way to unify the black community and create a sense of Black Nationalism. Through the portrayals of Black Christianity, the Nation of Islam, and Orthodox Islam in Malcolm’s life, we can see how religion unifies Black Americans by giving them a sense of self-pride and belonging.
Black Religion for Malcolm X appears throughout the entirety of his life starting in his childhood right up until his death. At the beginning, Malcolm X, “had very little respect for most people who represented religion” (5). At …show more content…
Black Christianity as well as other black religions gave the black community a sense of pride. When Malcolm’s father would give sermons, he would refer to, “that little black train is a-comin’ … an’ you better all get your business right!” (5). The black train steamed full ahead, and would not stop at nothing to get the rights they deserved that the white people withheld from the black community. Black Christianity gave the black community a God to believe in, “their souls and bodies devoted to singing and praying” (5). People’s devotion to God made it so that the injustice around them did not matter; because, God will make everything right when it comes time to go to heaven. In Black Christianity, the community would just let God do the work for them, knowing that since they had remained faithful they would get to go to Heaven. The black community believed that white people would go to Hell for all the crimes they had committed against the black community. People would be at peace, knowing at death they would be able to go to Heaven and have a better life then they had on Earth. The colour of a person’s skin does not matter in Heaven, and that gave the black community a sense of comfort in their skin, knowing that they could get into Heaven despite being black. Earl Little appeared as a fan of Marcus Garvey; Garveyism was the belief that the black man would never make it in America and …show more content…
After the Nation of Islam, Orthodox Islam functions as a different experience for Malcolm X in the sense of how encompassing it was, “in the plane were white, black, brown, red, yellow people … All honoring the same God Allah, all in turn giving equal honor to each other” (330). Orthodox Islam allows the black community to take pride in themselves in a religion that does not care what skin colour a person is. All that matters in Orthodox Islam is that you follow the five pillars to the best of your abilities, and that is what makes someone a Muslim. The Black Religions that the black community previously joined had dominantly one colour or the other, now in Orthodox Islam there appears many different nationalities that skin colour does not matter. Orthodox Islam gave the black community a place to belong, where they can feel pride in the colour of their skin. The Muslim world does not have problems with colour except where, “that area of the Muslim world has been influenced by the West” (342). Malcolm X adopted Orthodox Islam and wanted to start preaching about the importance of unity. The problem in the West is that everyone sees things through a lens of colour, when that lens should not exist. Orthodox Islam allows for the lens of colour to slowly be gotten rid of and by this it allows the black community to take pride in their skin