I recently finished reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X - As Told to Alex Haley.
In Haley's epilogue, he writes the following:
“Malcolm X Died Broke”—that headline in Harlem’s Amsterdam News came as a shock to many in the community. Few had reflected that Malcolm X, upon becoming a Black Muslim minister, had signed an oath of poverty, so that for twelve years he never acquired anything in his own name. (Somewhere I have read that Malcolm X in his Black Muslim days received about $175 weekly to cover his living and other expenses exclusive of travel.) “He left his four daughters and pregnant wife with no insurance of any kind, no savings, and no income,” the Amsterdam News story said.
Although the rest of the book makes it clear that Malcolm X and his family were far from wealthy, this was the first time I recall reading about an actual oath to that effect. The book does include several relevant descriptions of borrowing money from family members to complete the Hajj, Haley was instructed to direct all funds from the writing of the book first to the Nation of Islam and later to Betty Shabazz, etc.
I have some questions:
• Was such an oath of poverty common among Black Muslim ministers of the time?
• Is there any significance to the period of twelve years?
• Was this something at all specific to Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam? In the autobiography, Elijah Muhammad is depicted as jealous and paranoid of Malcolm's popularity and ability to make headlines, so this oath seems like something he might have demanded, or at least approved of.
• What form would this oath have taken? Was there a written document that was signed, or was this perhaps some sort of ceremony at a mosque or NoI temple?
• Haley's description makes it seem that the nature of this oath was not widely known by the public. Is there any explanation why this was the case? Did Malcolm X's contemporaries or colleagues ever comment on this oath?
Thank you to all the passionate contributors on this wonderful subreddit!
Great questions! I'll try to answer each of them to the best of my ability.
To your first question, "signing an oath of poverty" was a fancy way of describing the way Ministers of the Nation of Islam such as Malcolm X made their money: Ministers were handpicked by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and paid weekly expenses. Their homes and money for basic necessities were given to them, along with anything else that they may have needed. For example, Malcolm requested and subsequently received a car from the Nation so he could easily travel between the Temples he was Minister of (which was D.C., Harlem, and Philadelphia at the time). Ministers were given expenses to cover travel, goods for their family, and other necessities which helped provide for the families of Ministers during their absences. Ministers were often rotated to other cities' Mosques to help grow membership, attend events, or cover for other ministers during any absences. Some Ministers, such as Malcolm X, Henry X Mims, and John Shabazz oversaw multiple Mosques at once, making themselves increasingly dependent on this "oath of poverty" and expenses from the National headquarters to cover costs of travel and family support. Thus expenses from the National HQ (Temple #2) a portion of local weekly charity given by members of each Temple went to their Minister and his family for financial support. Similarly to how certain Jesuits and Evangelical Priests take an oath of poverty in which they give up their right to a salary and to own their own home, Ministers of the Nation of Islam lived off of the expenses of the Nation of Islam alone; everything they had was provided to them and owned by the Nation of Islam.
The "twelve years" that you are referring to, or that Alex Haley is referring to, is the twelve-year period of Malcolm's life in which he first became an assistant Minister of Muhammad's Temple of Islam #1 in Detroit and began his financial dependency on the Nation of Islam to his death in 1965. Throughout this 12 year period, from his entry into the ministry to his assassination, he practically had no personal possessions that weren't officially owned by the Nation of Islam, such as his car & house.
Vows or oaths of poverty are not necessarily specific to the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. As mentioned previously, there are some Christian denominations whose pastors or priests still do this practice of being financially dependent on the Church and its congregation. I also wouldn't characterize Elijah Muhammad as jealous or paranoid of Malcolm X's popularity. Elijah Muhammad had a speech impediment, a hard to understand accent, and a crippling asthma which prevented him from speaking for long periods of time; he also wasn't very well spoken, having only a third-grade education. He had appointed Malcolm as his National spokesperson for the sheer reason that he knew of Malcolm's growing ability to draw a crowd with his speaking ability. Those that grew jealous were other Ministers and secretaries who had the ear of Elijah and were closest to him and the National headquarters in Chicago. Its likely, especially since some of them have been highly suspected to be undercover FBI agents such as Nat. Sec. John Ali, that criticism and disdain toward Malcolm was fed to the Messenger to sour the relations between him and his spokesman.
To my knowledge, it was a verbal vow of poverty and nothing that was signed or done ceremoniously. It appeared to be a vow that was given personally to the Messenger which basically affirmed that you would not seek any other forms of income or use your expenses to purchase any material possessions apart from necessities or small things such as gifts for his family. The vow/oath of poverty was not ceremonious nor a signed contract of any kind; it was simply a general understanding of the duties of a Minister and their instruction to not seek any forms of wealth outside of what is given to them through the Nation.
While specific details of his oath or vow of poverty may not have been known by the general public or members of the Nation of Islam, it was certainly known within the Nation that Malcolm's possessions were provided to him by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. It was known and expected that Ministers made their living by being ministers. Outside of the Nation, any specific details on Malcolm's financial situation were unknown, as was most information about how the Nation of Islam operated. Even today, the Nation of Islam reveals very little information about their finances, membership numbers, et cetera. The NOI characterizes themselves as a "Nation within a nation" and "behind enemy lines", being careful about what is revealed and what could potentially land in the hands of the U.S. Government was always a big factor. I know of at least one reporter had written about Malcolm's financial situation: Louis Lomax, who had helped catapult the Nation of Islam into nation-wide popularity after his and Mike Wallace's documentary on the NOI The Hate that Hate Produced was featured on national television, was one of the first reporters to interview Malcolm X and the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. In July 1963, he wrote:
The Black Muslims flatly refuse to discuss their organizational finances with anyone...
…The local ministers are allowed a certain portion of what they raise, but only top insiders know just how Mr. Muhammad makes this determination. The major leaders of the movement all seem to have taken a vow of poverty and live on expenses furnished by the movement itself. I know this is true of Malcolm X and I suspect it to be true of others.
Student Ministers, which is what NOI Ministers are called today, are not subjected to the same financial responsibility as their predecessors and frequently hold other jobs and positions throughout the country - such as lawyers, professors, authors, or lead chapters of other organizations such as the NAACP.
Hope I answered all of your questions! Always feel free to reply with any other questions regarding the Nation of Islam's history or anything related.