The Legacy of the Nation of Islam: African American Muslim Identity and Religious Community Formation

Dear Colleagues,

The Nation of Islam (NOI) stands as one of the most influential African American religious movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Since its founding in the early 1930s, the NOI has developed distinctive teachings, rituals, and institutional structures that have profoundly shaped African American understandings of Islam, spirituality, and community. While deeply rooted in a specific socio-historical context, the NOI has also reinterpreted Islam in ways that speak directly to the needs of African Americans navigating racial oppression and the search for dignity, belonging, and divine purpose.

For this Special Issue, we invite contributions that critically engage with the religious and theological legacy of the Nation of Islam, past and present. We seek to foreground the NOI’s interpretations of Islamic belief and practice, the religious identities that it nurtured, and the communities that it sustained. In particular, we are interested in studies that situate the NOI within the broader history of Islam in America while also considering how it shaped and continues to shape African American Muslim religious life.

For this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Theological innovations and reinterpretations of Islam within the NOI;
• The role of scripture, prophecy, and eschatology in NOI teachings;
• Religious leadership, authority, and charisma: Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and others;
• Conversion, ritual, and the lived religious experience of NOI members;
• Tensions and continuities between NOI theology and Sunni/Shi‘i Islamic traditions;
• The NOI’s influence on the development of African American Muslim spirituality and identity;
• The religious dimensions of community formation, discipline, and moral teaching in the NOI;
• Transitions and transformations: from the NOI to the communities led by Warith Deen Mohammed and beyond;
• The continuing resonance of NOI religious thought in contemporary African American Muslim contexts.

We welcome submissions from across history, religious studies, Islamic studies, theology, and related disciplines. While we recognize the relevance of political, sociological, and cultural analyses, proposals should ultimately link these perspectives back to the religious and theological core of the Nation of Islam and its legacy.

We especially encourage submissions that highlight underexplored narratives, employ innovative methodologies, or bring community-based perspectives into conversation with academic research. Proposals from emerging scholars and voices outside of academia are welcome.

We hope that this Special Issue will achieve the following aims:

• Advance scholarship by generating fresh perspectives on the intersections of religion, race, and identity in African American and Muslim contexts;
• Preserve and amplify community narratives that highlight lived experiences often marginalized in dominant accounts of American religious history;
• Encourage interdisciplinary dialogue between historians, sociologists, theologians, cultural critics, and practitioners;
• Build bridges between academic inquiry and community engagement, ensuring that research contributes to broader understandings of African American Muslim identity and resilience;
• Shape future scholarship and pedagogy by providing material for an edited volume, Special Issue, or digital archive that documents and analyzes the NOI’s legacy.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 150-200 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send these to the Guest Editor, Dr. Francesco Tamburini (francesco.tamburini@unipi.it), or to the Special Issue Editor of Religions, Ms. Joyce Xi (joyce.xi@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Francesco Tamburini
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• nation of Islam
• African American Muslims
• black religious movements
• Islam in America
• African American history
• transnational Islam
• black Islam