Black Pilgrimage to Islam

This book offers a comprehensive ethnographic study of African-American Muslims. Drawing on hundreds of interviews conducted over a period of several years Dannin provides an unprecedented look inside the fascinating and little understood world of black Muslims. He discovers that the well-known and cult-like Nation of Islam represents only a small part of the picture. Many more African-Americans are drawn to Islamic orthodoxy with its strict adherence to the Qur''an. Dannin takes us to the First Cleveland Mosque the oldest continuing Muslim institution in America on to a permament Muslim village in Buffalo and then inside New York''s maximum-security prisons to hear testimony of the powerful attraction of Islam for individuals in desperate situations. He looks at the aftermath of the assassination of Malcolm X and the ongoing warfare between the Nation of Islam and orthodox Muslims. Accessibly written filled with gripping first-hand testimony and featuring superb illustrations by photographer Jolie Stahl this book will be the best available guide to the beliefs and culture of African-American Muslims.