Oral History Interview with Abdul Rasheed Abdullah, March 10, 2018

In this interview, Abdul Rasheed Abdullah discusses his childhood in Brooklyn and Queens, his exposure to the Five Percent Nation as an adolescent, and his embrace of the Nation of Islam while serving an eighteen-month prison sentence. He speaks about his participation in the Nation of Islam-affiliated Muhammad Mosque No. 7B in the Corona neighborhood of Queens and Muhammad Mosque No. 7C in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn; his reaction to Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975; and his subsequent exploration of Masjid At-Taqwa in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Yasin Masjid in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. He expands on studying Sufism in Sudan and teaching as a licensed Sufi shaikh after his return to New York. He also talks at length about his wife's religious convictions and support; his father's embrace of Islam; and his friendship with Imam Siraj Wahhaj (interviewed for this collection on February 19, 2018). Interview conducted by Zaheer Ali.