What Scholars Miss About Hip-Hop and Islam

What is it about?

The review praises the book but argues it does not go deep enough into the esoteric and mystical roots of Black American Islam. Here's what it says is missing: 1. The Esoteric Sources of the Circle Seven Koran The Circle Seven Koran is the holy book of the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA), which heavily influenced later Black Muslim movements. Ackfeldt notes that this text comes from esoteric sources like: Rosicrucianism Theosophy Freemasonry Taoist texts like The Secret of the Golden Flower (which, as Gansinger notes in his other work, focuses on endocrine alchemy and spiritual energy) But Ackfeldt does not analyze these influences. He simply mentions them and moves on. 2. The Five Percent Nation as a Genuine Mystical System The Five Percent Nation is often treated as a subculture or a rhetorical posture. Gansinger argues it is actually a structured cosmology with deep roots in: Sufism (Islamic mysticism) Gnosticism (secret knowledge for salvation) Hermetic philosophy (esoteric traditions from antiquity) Neoplatonism (emanation of divine light) Pythagorean number mysticism (the Tetractys) Their teachings—like the Supreme Mathematics, Supreme Alphabet, and the statement "the Black man is God"—are not just slogans. They reflect serious metaphysical ideas about divine immanence (God being present within creation, not separate from it). 3. The Masonic Connection Gansinger points out that Ackfeldt misses a crucial link: Black American Freemasonry, specifically the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (also called the Black Shriners). This Masonic order provided a blueprint for early Black American Islam: Regalia Symbolism Rituals Organizational structure From the MSTA came later orders like the Noble Order of the Moorish Sufis (founded 1957). These genealogies continue through the Nation of Islam, the Five Percent Nation, and even the Nuwaubian Nation. 4. The Theology of Blackness as Divine The Five Percenters' core claim—"the Black man is God"—is treated by Ackfeldt as a political or cultural statement. Gansinger argues it deserves theological analysis. Across world traditions, blackness has often symbolized: Fertility Divinity Cosmic origins The unknowable source of creation Examples include: The Black Madonna in European Catholicism The black Osiris in ancient Egypt Blackened statues of Apollo, Jupiter, and Roman emperors Sacred black stones (the Ka'ba's al-hajar al-aswad, the temple of Aphrodite in Cyprus) In Sufism, there is al-nur al-aswad (the black light)—the primordial darkness before creation. In the Jewish mystical text the Zohar, there is botzina de-kardinuta (the lamp of darkness). These are not racist concepts. They are metaphysical ones: darkness as the source, the hidden, the fertile void from which all light emerges. Understanding this shifts the discussion from "subversive street rhetoric" to serious theology. The Central Critique "Ackfeldt brings us to the threshold of that deeper inquiry—without quite passing through." In other words: the book sets up the questions but stops short of answering them. It describes what Islamic symbols appear in hip-hop but not why those specific symbols (with their esoteric, mystical, and initiatory meanings) have such staying power.

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Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Hip-hop artists did not randomly pick Islamic symbols. They drew from a living esoteric tradition—Black American Freemasonry, the Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, the Five Percent Nation—that was already rich with mystical cosmology, initiatory rituals, and a theology of Black divinity. Ignoring that esoteric foundation means missing why these symbols have power and why they continue to appear in hip-hop decades later.

Perspectives