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Why did Malcolm X take the name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz?
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Malcolm X
Prominent figure in the Nation of Islam Malcolm X, 1965.
Malcolm X adopted the name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz in 1964 following his departure from the Nation of Islam and his subsequent hajj—the traditional Islamic pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.12
The name reflects his transition to Sunni Islam and his renunciation of the Nation of Islam's separatist doctrines. In Islamic tradition, the title el-Hajj (or hajji) is honorifically added to the name of a person who has successfully completed the pilgrimage to Mecca. By adopting this name, he signaled his embrace of orthodox Islam and his commitment to a broader, more inclusive vision of human rights that moved beyond the racial ideologies he had previously articulated.1234