Editing Malcolm X (section)

=== Beliefs of the Nation of Islam ===
{{further|Beliefs and theology of the Nation of Islam}}

{{quote box|width=23em|The white liberal differs from the white {{shy|con|serv|a|tive}} only in one way: the liberal is more {{shy|deceit|}}ful than the conservative.|salign=right|source=—Malcolm&nbsp;X<ref name="liberal">{{cite web |last1=X |first1=Malcolm |title=God's Judgement of White America |url=http://www.malcolm-x.org/speeches/spc_120463.htm |website=www.malcolm-x.org |access-date=April 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408134144/http://www.malcolm-x.org/speeches/spc_120463.htm |archive-date=April 8, 2016 }}</ref>}}

While he was a member of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm&nbsp;X taught its beliefs, and his statements often began with the phrase "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that{{nbsp}}..."<ref name="Lomax80-81">{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|pp=80–81}}.</ref> It is virtually impossible now to discern whether Malcolm&nbsp;X's personal beliefs at the time diverged from the teachings of the Nation of Islam.<ref>{{harvnb|Terrill|2004|p=184}}.</ref>{{efn-ua|{{"'}}I'll be honest with you,' Malcolm&nbsp;X said to me. 'Everybody is talking about differences between the Messenger and me. It is absolutely impossible for us to differ.{{'"}}<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=91}}.</ref> }} After he left the Nation in 1964, he compared himself to a ventriloquist's dummy who could only say what Elijah Muhammad told him to say.<ref name="Lomax80-81" />{{efn-ua|On a radio program in December 1964, Malcolm&nbsp;X said "all of my former statements were prefaced by 'the Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches thus and so.' They weren't my statements, they were his statements, and I was repeating them."<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Perry|1989|p=104}}.</ref> }}

Malcolm&nbsp;X taught that Black people were the original people of the world,<ref name="Lomax55" /> and that Whites were a race of devils who were created by an evil scientist named [[Yakub (Nation of Islam)|Yakub]].<ref name="Perry115" /> The Nation of Islam believed that Black people were superior to White people and that the demise of the White race was imminent.<ref name="Lomax57" /> When questioned concerning his statements that White people were devils, Malcolm&nbsp;X said: "history proves the White man is a devil."<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=67}}.</ref> "Anybody who rapes, and plunders, and enslaves, and steals, and drops hell bombs on people&nbsp;... anybody who does these things is nothing but a devil," he said.<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=171}}.</ref>

Malcolm&nbsp;X said that Islam was the "true religion of Black mankind" and that Christianity was "the White man's religion" that had been imposed upon African Americans by their slave-masters.{{sfn|Lomax|1963|pp=24, 137–138}} He said that the Nation of Islam followed Islam as it was practiced around the world, but the Nation's teachings varied from those of other Muslims because they were adapted to the "uniquely pitiful" condition of Black people in the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|1991|p=119}}.</ref> He taught that [[Wallace Fard Muhammad]], the founder of the Nation, was God incarnate,<ref>{{harvnb|DeCaro|1996|pp=166–167}}.</ref> and that Elijah Muhammad was his Messenger, or [[Prophet]].{{efn-ua|Malcolm&nbsp;X told Lewis Lomax that "The Messenger is the Prophet of Allah."<ref>{{harvnb|Lomax|1963|p=80}}.</ref> On another occasion, he said, "We never refer to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as a prophet."<ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Perry|1989|p=46}}.</ref> }}

While the [[civil rights movement]] fought against [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], Malcolm&nbsp;X advocated the complete [[Black separatism|separation]] of Blacks from Whites.<ref name="Perry115" /><ref name="Lomax57" /> The Nation of Islam proposed the establishment of a separate country for African Americans in the southern<ref name="Lomax149-152" /> or southwestern United States<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1961|p=95}}.</ref> as an interim measure until African Americans could return to Africa.<ref name="Supremacy78" /> Malcolm&nbsp;X suggested the United States government owed [[Reparations for slavery|reparations]] to Black people for the unpaid labor of their [[Slavery in the United States|ancestors]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln|1961|p=96}}.</ref> He also rejected the civil rights movement's strategy of [[nonviolence]], advocating instead that Black people should defend themselves.<ref name="Lomax 173-174" />