The Stokes case further elevated Malcolm into a national political figure. He began thinking of himself as a leader, a grassroots organizer, and a voice for the masses. He spoke less and less about Muhammad’s religious teachings and more about politics and current events. Most importantly, the murder made him reconsider the Nation’s role in the larger struggle. Calling for wider racial unity that transcended religion and ideology, he urged blacks to “come together against the common enemy.”13
The events in Los Angeles deepened Malcolm’s internal conflict within the Nation. When Muhammad heard that Malcolm had called for greater cooperation with civil rights groups, he demanded that his minister return home. “Brother, stay where I put you because [the civil rights organizations] have no place to go,” he said. Muhammad did not want him leading demonstrations, agitating authorities, or arousing greater attention from the FBI. The risk was too great. Malcolm was the Nation’s most prized asset, and Muhammad could not afford for him to go to jail or get himself killed. The Supreme Minister instructed him to “play dead on everything.” That was an order.14
Malcolm seethed. He felt like a tiger on a leash, reduced to nothing more than an empty roar. His critics complained that he sure talked a good game, but he never did anything. In Harlem, people saw him standing across the street from picketers, distancing himself from demonstrations. Sometimes he showed up at civil rights meetings, slouching in the back of the room with his hat pulled low.15
Elijah’s passive response to the assault on the Los Angeles mosque was an embarrassment. For years, he had been telling his followers that if they were attacked, they must be willing to sacrifice their lives in the name of Allah. Every mosque had captains, lieutenants, and soldiers in the Fruit, preparing for the Battle of Armageddon. Now Muhammad ordered retreat just as the battle was about to begin. “The Messenger,” Malcolm bitterly complained to his assistant ministers, “should have done more. People in the civil rights movement have been brutalized, and we haven’t done anything to help them. Now we have our own brothers killed and maimed, and we still haven’t done anything.”16
FBI agents listening in on Muhammad’s phone calls learned that he had become alarmed about his young minister’s restlessness. He worried that there was no one who could “control Malcolm,” not even the Messenger himself. During a phone call Elijah warned Malcolm, just before he hung up, “I hope Allah will keep you wise.”17
ON APRIL 26, 1962, the FBI’s Chicago office sent a report to J. Edgar Hoover offering valuable information that could be “used to discredit Elijah Muhammad with his followers.” Informants divulged that Muhammad had engaged in extramarital affairs with women who belonged to the Nation. Of those, at least seven mistresses, most of them former secretaries, claimed that the Messenger had fathered their children.18
Muhammad’s harem was the worst-kept secret inside the Nation. Over the past year, the FBI had collected sensitive information about his affairs. Agents noted that Muhammad had strict rules about adultery, forbidding married men from “taking up time with other sisters.” A Muslim man accused of fornicating outside his marriage risked facing not only a trial before the Fruit but also complete banishment from the Nation. Brothers were supposed to respect Muslim women, glorify them, and guard their purity with their lives.19
Although Muhammad claimed that Muslim women should be elevated on pedestals, they were also instructed to show absolute obedience to their husbands. Women were segregated from men during rallies and taught domestic skills in comprehensive courses, where they learned about cooking, sewing, and raising children. They were prohibited from wearing cosmetics, short skirts, or pants. Nor did women conduct religious services, organize meetings, or make decisions about the family. If a woman questioned her male partner in any way, she could receive a hard slap across the face.20
In some cases, Muhammad made his lovers endure farcical trials, charging them with immorality for bearing children out of wedlock and violating the Nation’s moral code. In other instances, he lavished his mistresses with gifts using money donated from the Nation’s followers. He promised some of his young paramours that they would raise a family together. But most often those promises went unfulfilled, and bitter women threatened to expose his lies. Some even showed up at his Chicago doorstep, ringing the bell and leaving their babies on the stoop.21