Malcolm in the Desert: Wisdom from the Spiritual Transformation of Malcolm X

This illuminating study from Shabazz (Growing up X), the daughter of Malcolm X, mines her father’s 1964 pilgrimage to Mecca for a template for spiritual transformation, or awakening to the “truth of who were are.” Shabazz breaks her father’s pilgrimage into steps, from his initial alienation from the Nation of Islam and crisis of faith, through his “surrender,” or leaving behind of “cherished arguments with reality,” to his “liberating grief” over the traumatic losses of a spiritual community and a previously “unshakable” theological framework. Later steps on the path to spiritual transformation involved recognizing that one is part of an interdependent whole, a realization that aided Malcolm X’s abandonment of the Nation’s separatist philosophy and his reimagining of the struggle for Black self-determination on a global scale. Such an understanding of oneness is key for today’s activists, Shabazz explains, because “sensing the oneness of all life on this precious earth, [and] knowing how to honor [it]... is essential to understanding which actions are—and are not—ultimately directed in the service of liberation.” Bolstered by valuable insights into her father’s philosophy, Shabazz’s account offers a refreshing counterpoint to more self-focused spiritual transformation narratives. The result is a unique reconsideration of the legacy of a key figure in Black liberation. (May)