By Salim Mohamed Badat
Malcolm X remains one of the most dynamic and incisive figures of the 20th century, a man whose life was a continual journey of growth, courage, and unflinching pursuit of truth. As a fierce advocate against white supremacy during his time with the Nation of Islam (NOI), and later as a global Muslim after his pilgrimage to Makkah, Malcolm’s evolution reflected an unyielding commitment to justice, wherever it led him.
The Nation of Islam and the Battle Against White Supremacy.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, Malcolm X rose to prominence as the national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Under the mentorship of Elijah Muhammad, he preached a radical message of black self-sufficiency, pride, and separation from what he described as the "white devil" , a society built on exploitation, racism, and oppression.
For Malcolm, the Nation offered a framework that directly challenged the submissive narratives of the time. He forcefully exposed the brutality of systemic racism, calling out not only the violent segregation of the South but also the polite, hypocritical racism of the North.
His rhetoric was uncompromising: "You don't have a revolution in which you love your enemy. You don't have a revolution in which you are begging the system of exploitation to integrate you into it."
Malcolm’s brilliance was not just in his fiery words, but in his sharp diagnosis: he identified that white supremacy was not merely a Southern issue but a foundational characteristic of Western civilization itself, hidden beneath veneers of civility and false liberalism.
The Pilgrimage to Makkah and a New Vision.
In 1964, after splitting from the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X embarked on the Hajj, the sacred pilgrimage to Makkah. It was here that Malcolm’s worldview underwent its most profound transformation.
Surrounded by Muslims of every race and nationality "blonde-haired, blue-eyed men I could call my brothers", Malcolm saw firsthand a living example of a universal brotherhood that transcended race. He wrote in a letter from Makkah:
"America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color."
His experience shattered the racial absolutism he had once preached. Malcolm realized that the problem was not the color of the oppressor’s skin, but the spiritual sickness of arrogance, greed, and injustice, a sickness Islam directly challenged through its call to unity under God and equality among all peoples.
After returning to America, Malcolm X founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) to connect the black struggle in America to global anti colonial movements.
His Islam was no longer black nationalism cloaked in religious terms, it was true orthodox Islam, embracing all races under one Creator.
Malcolm began articulating a bold new vision: Islam, he believed, was not just the answer for the black man, but for all of America’s spiritual and moral decay. He said: "Only Islam has the solution for the problems confronting the black man in America."
And further: " believe that it is only through Islam that the white man can be cured of the disease that he inherited from his forefathers, the disease that has led him to act in this unhuman way toward people of darker skins."
Malcolm saw Islam as a remedy to end the race problem not by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor, but by replacing false constructs of racial superiority with the transcendent brotherhood of faith.
A Seer of Western Hypocrisy.
Even as he adopted a broader view of humanity, Malcolm’s sharp eye for Western hypocrisy never dulled. He warned that the liberalism of the West was often a mask for continued domination: "If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."
He understood that much of the so called progressiveness in the West was cosmetic, designed to pacify dissent rather than dismantle injustice. Malcolm’s critique cut through the fog of political theater and exposed the underlying realities, realities many are still reluctant to confront today.
In one of his last interviews, Malcolm reflected: "They practice the worst form of hypocrisy: a democracy that is nothing but disguised hypocrisy. They don’t practice what they preach."
Taken Too Soon: The Islamic Civil Rights Movement That Could Have Been.
Tragically, Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, just as he was beginning to articulate this broader, global vision. His death robbed the civil rights movement of a potential transformation: a shift from a purely secular, integrationist struggle into a spiritual revolution rooted in Islam’s call for justice, dignity, and unity under God.
Had he lived, Malcolm X could have redirected the civil rights movement into an Islamic civil rights movement, one that challenged not just the political and economic systems of racism, but their underlying spiritual rot. He envisioned an America where race was rendered irrelevant by a shared submission to a higher moral authority, transcending man made hierarchies.
His pilgrimage had taught him that true brotherhood was possible, but it required more than legislation; it required a moral and spiritual reformation. Malcolm was ready to lead that transformation. His voice was silenced too early, but his message remains timeless.
Malcolm X’s life was not a neat arc but a powerful storm, one that challenged falsehoods wherever he found them. His courage to seek the truth even at the cost of comfort or security remains a shining example. In a world still grappling with the ghosts of empire, systemic racism, and moral hypocrisy, Malcolm’s legacy is not a relic of the past, it is a guide for the future.
Salim Mohamed Badat
Writer exploring the intersection of faith, politics and justice
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