05 Sep Short Stories of American Converts to Islam – Abdul Hai Thomas

  Abdul Hai Thomas - Jacksonville, Florida   In July 1991 and November 1992 I begged my mother to take me to see ‘Boyz n the Hood’ and ‘Malcolm X’. Although hesitant to let a 9-10 year old watch violent movies, she agreed to take me as long she “covered [my] eyes during the bad parts”. However, I wasn’t interested in the violence or the bad parts, I was intrigued by the cultural and societal implications of the stories. After watching those two movies, four scenes left indelible impressions on me: 1) Furious Styles taking Tre and Ricky to Compton and telling them about gentrification 2) Ricky being killed by gang violence 3) Malcolm X struggling to fall to his knees in submission 4) Malcolm X’s pilgrimage to Mecca In connecting these scenes, even as a young child, I knew that Islam was the remedy. In that theater in Dayton, Ohio, November 1992, Allah Almighty chose me. I turned to my mother and told her I was going...