Word: islamize
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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That had to be taken seriously. Born in Indiana as Ernest McGee, Khaalis, 54, was discharged from the Army in World War II on grounds of mental instability. While working as a jazz drummer in New York City, he switched from Roman Catholicism to the Nation of Islam and rose to a trusted position before he broke with the Black Muslims in 1958. In the mid-1960s he formed his own group, the Hanafi. In 1968, he was arrested for trying to extort money from a bank, but charges were dismissed after he was found to be mentally disturbed...
...graven-image business-attracting pilgrims to the shrines of some 300 local gods. The tortures, exiles and triumphs of the Prophet's followers are accompanied by much pacifistic blather-at least in the version for infidels. The intent is to counteract the Western belief that Islam is a faith that comes bearing only a sword. Whatever one thinks of all this, it sure slows the picture down...
Last Book. "Our purpose is the revival and restoration of pure Islam," the pudgy, bearded Wallace declared to the throng at Chicago's gold-domed central mosque on Survival Day weekend. No longer is Fard to be considered divine, according to Wallace, for "God does not eat, he does not drink." Nor is Elijah Muhammad to be considered the "Messenger of God." Wallace's view: "The Prophet Mohammed is the seal of the prophets, and the Koran is the last book." The soft-spoken Wallace Muhammad, who had originally wanted to be an electronics technician, privately questioned Fard...
Besides returning to orthodox belief in Allah, Wallace Muhammad has abolished his father's separatism, which also ran counter to orthodox Islam. Elijah Muhammad had demanded a piece of the U.S. for a separate black nation, and taught that Allah would destroy the white devils and their civilization by the end of this century. Wallace Muhammad, who has opened membership in the sect to all races, told Survival Day worshipers, "We know there is no superiority in any color." He has also abolished the group's muscular police force, the "Fruit of Islam...
...even changed the group's name. Once the Nation of Islam, it now calls itself the World Community of Islam in the West, or the Bilalians, in honor of Bilal, Mohammed's first black follower. Ministers, now termed imams, are expected to instruct members in the Koran and the Bible. At "temples," renamed "mosques," the seats have been ripped out so that members can prostrate themselves during prayer. Wallace also stresses such traditional "pillars" of observance as the month-long fast of Ramadan, the five daily prayers while facing Mecca, and the Hajj (pilgrimage...