Malcolm X Quotes
America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, even eaten with people who in America would have been considered 'white,' but the 'white' attitude had been removed from their minds by the religion of Islam.
X, Malcolm, and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Grove Press, 1965, p. 340.
Fiji is a nation which at the time was beset with ethnic strife and tension. In addition to the religious tension there were Indian immigrants who tended to be economically more successful than the indigenous Fijians. There was an English tradition from the days of being a British Colony and the traditional tribal leaders and chiefs were being disenfranchised by modern democratic structures. The military was not under the control of the civilian government and coups pitted some ethnic groups against others.
His protest was focused on Middle East policies which he believed did not value the lives of Muslims as highly as Christians and Jews. The irony of this protest is that United States policy claims to value all life equally as do virtually all industrialized democracies. Omeish however is unusual among world Islamic leaders and politicians in that he values Christian and Jewish life as much as Muslim. Most, typically value Muslims almost exclusively and many advocate the killing of Christians and Jews.
The major religions differ when it comes to conversion. Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and some Christian Religions do not aggressively seek converts but will accept converts who come themselves. Other Christian religions and Islam aggressively try and convert others and see it as their religious duty to do so.
This was a remarkable public statement for its time. No other political leader of an Islamic country would dare claim that people have a right to be atheists. Very few would even suggest that people should be free to choose their own religion.
“Africa” then meant Northern Africa or what we today call the Middle East. Even in the 4th century it was a hotbed of internecine religious strife. He was not the first to try and cope with the religious strife of Palestine and the rest of the Middle East, and he was certainly not the last.
France, like the other European nations had suffered through the bloodbaths and civil and other wars including the Protestant Reformation, the Holocaust and others. They. like the Untied States chose a separation of church and state—a secular government to combat the inner and intrareligious bloodbaths that have historically killed millions.
Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement. He is best known for his time spent as a vocal spokesman for the Nation of Islam.
