| Book Review | The Michigan Historical Review, 33.2

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| Book Review | The Michigan Historical Review, 33.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Reviews

Edward E. Curtis IV. Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960–1975. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. Pp. 256. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Cloth, $49.95; paper, $19.95.
Edward E. Curtis IV provides us with a fresh, new perspective on the Nation of Islam (NOI) by adopting a religious-studies approach that focuses specifically on religious ritual, ethics, doctrine, and narrative. I must admit, however, that my first thought was: Not another book on the NOI! I had reason for concern since about ten or more books (by university presses) have dealt with one or another of the following aspects of the NOI in the past fifteen years: Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, the NOI's relationship to Christianity, the NOI as a millenarian movement, and the role of black women in the NOI.	1
There are several distinctive features of Curtis's book. First, he emphasizes that the NOI is both religious and Islamic, thereby challenging earlier studies of the movement that argued that the group was a political organization masquerading as religion. Insisting on the Islamic nature of the NOI no doubt will cause consternation among Muslims and interpreters who have variously argued that the NOI is heretical, racist, and idiosyncratic. Curtis supports his argument about the Islamic nature of the NOI by showing that it combined various elements of Afro-Eurasian Islamic traditions, especially Sunni doctrines, with African American religious traditions to create a distinctive form of Islamic practice.	. . .

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