Malcolm X: Remembering A Famous But Controversial Muslim
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
19 May 2023
“If you have no critics, you'll likely have no
success.”
“Stumbling is not falling.”
“There is no better teacher than adversity.
Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own
lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.”
“The future belongs to those who prepare for it
today.”
“You can't separate peace from freedom, because
no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”
Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who
was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the
Nation of Islam until 1964,
Malcolm X was 39 when he was gunned down
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Malcolm
X, an American Non-White Who Later Embraced Islam
Today, May
19, is the Birth Anniversary of Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj
Malik el-Shabaaz). Despite his controversial stand and views (diametrically
opposite to those of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.), there's no denying the fact
that he remains one of the foremost non-white figures in modern Islam whose
life and charisma influenced the great pugilist Cassius Clay, later Muhammad
Ali, or yet another boxer Mike Tyson, who also converted to Islam.
While
reading his autobiography, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (French-language
edition), I stumbled upon a pithy, profound and prophetic quote by him, "The
media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the
innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they
control the minds of the masses.”
What
Malcolm X stated more than six decades ago is true in the context of current
Indian media.
A
fabricated and exaggerated narrative on Muslims is being dished out by the
print as well as visual media day in and day out. A particular community is
being demonised and the gullible masses, unable to discern on their own, are
under the impression that whatever (negative) is being said about Muslims is
true and unerring.
In recent
times, the conventional print and visual media has degenerated into social
media, which's the most diabolical form of media.
There's a
rather recent term in modern journalism, ' agenda-based news' (ABN) which is a
blatant violation of journalistic ethos and ethics. Two recent news items can
be cited: Padlocking graves in Pakistan to protect the bodies of the deceased
females from 'rapists' and a few Muslim youth trying to offer a green Chaadar
to Trimbakeshwar Temple of Mahadeva in Nasik, Maharashtra. Media has projected
it in a very casual and twisted manner, giving an impression that Muslim
miscreants tried to defile the temple.
Unscrupulous
media folks didn't try to ascertain the facts that this has been a tradition
for more than 100 years. Muslims have been offering chadar to this temple which
underlines the composite culture of India.
What
happened in the US during the Civil Rights Movement and how the black leaders
were wrongly projected by the US media, the same is happening in India when the
media is simply contributing to creating a Hindu India and decimating a whole
community on the basis of its faith. This is pathetic and at variance with
truth and integrity. But in these adulterated times, who cares for truth,
values, integrity and honesty? Alas, every word has become a has been. It must
be mentioned that it was the media in the US that continued to vilify Malcolm X
even after his assassination on February 21, 1965.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/malcolm-x-controversial-american-muslim-/d/129809
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