Being both black and Islamic, the main subject of this study represents a combined opposition to "Americanity", i.e., the civil religion of the United States. The rise of the Nation of Islam (NOI) during the Great Depression is studied in the context of African American social history, the legacy of black nationalism and the hidden Islamic presence in North America. The efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to neutralize the NOI are exposed by utilizing previously not released FBI files. This section also includes a discussion of the murder of Malcolm X, one of the most renowned spokespersons for the NOI. The main section of this thesis deals with the NOI after the death of Elijah Muhammad, the Last Messenger of God, in 1975. Among the contenders for the position as his Successor, Louis Farrakhan emerged as the most distinguished voice for the radical black Islamic community. Farrakhan is frequently portrayed as a demagogue, a bigot, an inverted racist and a leading anti-Semite. Despite the NOI 1 s much publicized positions on a wide range of important issues, qualitative research is rare. Based on field research, taped interviews and lectures, this study aims to present a balanced account of the NOI by piercing through the mist of media distortions. The religious ideology of the NOI is presented in detail, including its more esoteric aspects. NOI relations to and conflicts with mainstream Islam, the black Church, the Jewish community and white far-right nationalism are also examined. The relationship between black Islam and the urban culture of black American youth, in particular the Hip Hop movement and black gangs, is taken up. Despite being extremely apocalyptic in orientation, the NOI offers practical solutions to a number of severe problems presently faced by the African American community. In the final analysis, the author suggests that the NOI can be understood as a project of auto-civilizing with a strategy akin to that of the European labor movement of the late 19th and early 20th century.