Review by Booklist Review
Ask most people to name a major American hostage crisis, and they will likely mention the Iranian embassy takeover of 1979 or one of several mid-century airline hijackings. Nearly forgotten is the takeover of three significant Washington, DC, locations in 1977 by the African American Hanafi Muslim movement. Led by founder Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, the attackers threatened 150 hostages at the Washington Islamic Center, the B'nai B'rith headquarters, and the District Building, including future mayor Marion Barry. In crackling prose, journalist Mufti delves into Khaalis' connections to Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam and the root conflict between the NOI's Black Muslim theology and the more normative, Sunni-based Islam eventually espoused by Khaalis, Malcolm X, and Muhammad's son, Wallace. The struggle pitted Black American Islam against that of Middle Eastern immigrants. Mufti deftly weaves America's cynical Middle East policy, the star quality of Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the tortured production of a biopic about the prophet Muhammad into this real-life thriller, extending praise for the police officers, politicians, journalists, Muslim scholars, and ambassadors who worked tirelessly to resolve the crisis peacefully.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this gripping, meticulously researched history, journalist Mufti (The Faithful Scribe) recounts the March 1977 siege of three buildings in Washington, D.C., by Hamaas Abdul Khaalis and his Sunni Muslim group, the Hanafis. Khaalis, a jazz drummer and a former leader of the Nation of Islam, orchestrated the attack, in which 12 heavily armed Hanafi members took nearly 150 hostages and, among other demands, threatened to start beheading people if the New York City premiere of a film about the life of the Prophet Muhammad wasn't canceled. Mufti vividly captures the 39-hour crisis and the delicate in-person negotiations between Khaalis and ambassadors to the U.S. from Iran, Pakistan, and Egypt that resulted in the hostages' release. Also explored are Khaalis's bitter feud with the Nation of Islam's leader, Elijah Muhammad, whose followers massacred seven of Khaalis's family members and disciples in 1973; the "geopolitical drama" caused by Moustapha Akkad's ambitious movie, Mohammad: Messenger of God, which was bankrolled by Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi; violent tensions between Israel and its Middle East neighbors; and NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's loyal, deep-pocketed support of the Hanifis. Expertly drawn from FBI files, wiretap transcripts, and interviews, this captivating history fascinates. Agent: Larry Weissman, Larry Weissman Literary. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Mufti (journalism, Univ. of Richmond; The Faithful Scribe) skillfully explains what led to the 1977 attack and three-building hostage situation that shut down Washington, DC, for days. Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, leader of the Hanafi movement and former Nation of Islam member, was tried and convicted of engineering the takeovers to demand that the movie The Message--about the prophet Muhammad, possibly the most expensive and elaborate film many have never heard of--be destroyed. He also wanted those who had assassinated Malcolm X, along with the men convicted of the gruesome murders of several members of his family (including children and grandchildren) in 1973, be turned over to his group. He believed the Nation of Islam sent his family's murderers and that the judge had ignored that. The life story of Khaalis, born Ernest Timothy McGhee in 1921 in Gary, IN, gives insight into intradenominational differences in Islam in 20th century America. The story behind The Message is also fascinating. The hostage siege is narrated in nail-biting detail from accounts of negotiators and hostages. VERDICT Those interested in fundamentalism, Islam in the United States, Middle East politics, and film will especially appreciate this book.--Laurie Unger Skinner
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The story of a hostage takeover that shocked the country. On March 9, 1977, nearly 150 people were taken hostage at B'nai B'rith headquarters in Washington, D.C., "the largest and oldest Jewish service organization in America," and two other sites, an attack orchestrated by Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, the Sunni leader of the Hanafi movement. Mining thousands of documents from FBI files and Department of Justice records, trial transcripts, and interviews with five of the hostage takers and more than a dozen hostages, journalist Mufti fashions a tense, often grisly account of the events leading up to the two-day standoff and the arrests, trial, and aftermath of "the largest hostage taking in American history and the first such attack by Muslims on American soil." Born Ernest Timothy McGee in 1922, Khaalis changed his name when he joined the Nation of Islam. After serving as a close aide to the organization's leader, Elijah Muhammad, Khaalis derided the Nation as a corrupt "self-serving family oligarchy." Aligning himself with a new spiritual master, he formed a rival group, which attracted support from basketball star Lew Alcindor, whom Khaalis renamed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Mufti recounts violent conflicts and fractured leadership both within and among American Muslim groups. In 1973, the Nation's wrath against Khaalis led to the gory massacre of seven members of his family, including children. Even after some perpetrators were convicted, Khaalis felt "spurned by American justice." One of his hostage demands was that the men who killed his family be brought to him for justice. Another was that the release of a biopic about the life of Muhammad be stopped and the film reels destroyed. Although Khaalis' anger, desire for revenge, religious convictions, and psychological demons fueled the siege, Mufti places the event in the larger context of America's involvement in the tumultuous history of the Middle East, South Asia, and northern Africa. A brisk, engrossing work of investigative journalism. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
