Malcolm X’s Letter to Elijah Muhammad

I found this interesting letter from Malcolm X to Elijah Muhammad dated March 11, 1964. It was only about a month before he performed his pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca. In it, he explains that he did not leave the Nation of Islam of his own free will, but rather because a certain ‘Captian Joseph’ and his followers were conspiring to defame Malcolm out of envy that he was so dear to Mr. Muhammad. Much like how some of the followers of W.D. Fard sought to kill Elijah Muhammad for being so dear to Fard and was designated as his ‘Messenger’, a number of Elijah Muhammad’s followers were doing the very same thing to Malcolm. They wanted to be as dear to Mr. Muhammad as Malcolm was. Not being able to bear the thought that Elijah Muhammad believed he had suddenly left the NOI for no apparent reason, he set out to write this letter in order to clarify to his teacher his true situation which certain elements within the organization were preventing him from having knowledge of. Then about a month later, as I said, Malcolm went on pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca where he ‘discovered’ the difference between ‘global Islam’ and the Nation of Islam.

On that note, it is a myth that Malcolm did not know the difference between the teachings of ‘orthodox’ Islam and the Nation of Islam. He had already traveled to Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, and Ghana as early as 1959 and was probably aware of the way Muslims believed there in comparison to what the Nation of Islam taught. He had already known that ‘orthodox’ Islam taught many different ideas than the NOI, but stayed with the organization all the same. He accepted ‘true Islam’ only after realizing there was no way to get back into the organization’s grace. His own sister Ella had left the NOI to follow ‘orthodox’ Islam before Malcolm made his pilgrimage. It was in fact from her donation that he was able to make the hajj. That doesn’t mean his conversion was insincere or that it had no value on his life as a man and human being, but the truth of the matter must take precedence over a narrative that sounds cool.