The 2nd Annual Imam El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Conference, celebrating the 100th Birthday Anniversary of Imam El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, will be held at the Muslim American Cultural Center, 1513 Jefferson Street, Nashville, TN 37208. The events run Friday May 16 th, from 1:00 – 5:30 p.m. & Saturday, May 17 th, from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. There is no cost and this open to the general public. You are invited to come and participate; please observe modest dress.
Imam El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was one of the key figures in the Black struggle for freedom and equality in the mid – 20 th Century. Known widely and most commonly as Malcolm X, he was a leader and outspoken proponent of global African liberation.
“Land is the basis of freedom, justice and equality,” he was known to say. “Of all of our studies, history is best qualified to reward all research.”
On February 3, 1965, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC, invited Imam El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz to speak at Tuskegee Institute, an 1890 Land – Grant HBCU in Alabama. On February 4, 1965 he traveled to Selma, Alabama and spoke in Brown Chapel A.M.E Church as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, known as SCLC, was building the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Campaign. Imam El-Hajj Malik articulated concepts and themes from his two of this classic speeches “Message to the Grassroots” and “Ballot or the Bullet.”
His mission in Alabama was to convince the Civil Rights Establishment to elevate the domestic Civil Rights Movement debate to the international venue of Human Rights. Unfortunately, Dr. King was in jail for engaging in voting rights demonstrations. However, he succeeded in meeting with Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Andrew Young and John Lewis to discuss this objective.
On May 16-17, 2025, this historic inter-faith dialogue and human rights objective occasion will be revisited. This 2nd Annual Imam El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Conference conference, co-hosted by the Great Debate Academy LLC, Great Debate Honor Society, Save TSU Community Coalition and Muslim American Cultural Center, will be a celebration of the 100th Birthday Anniversary of Imam El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, born May 19, 1925 (- May 19, 2025). The conference theme is “Building Beloved Community: Interfaith Dialogue & Nonsectarian Coalitions.”
On Friday, May 16, 2025 the conference opens with Jummah Prayer Service, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., where Dr. Awad Binhazim, Meharry Medical College will give the khutbah (sermon). His topic shall be “African Muslims in America before Columbus and during Slavery.” The official conference greetings will be delivered by State Senator Charlane Oliver (D), 19th District, and State Representative Vincent Dixie (D), 58th District. The Muslim American Cultural Center will host a New Masjid Fundraiser from 2:30-5:30 p.m.
On Saturday May 17, Doors open at 9:00 a.m, and a Reception & Continental Breakfast follows from 9:30 – 10:00 a.m. The Opening Ceremony starts at 10:00 a.m. with a Qur’anic Recitation from Sura Rum (Romans) 30: 20-23. Official conference greetings will be delivered by State Representative Harold Moses Love (D), 54th District, and Metro Nashville Council Lady – at – Large Zulfat Suara (D).
The Prologue will be a biographical sketch of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz given by Dr. Amiri Al-Hadid, Great Debate Academy LLC. Dramatist Darryl Van Leer will do a dramatic interpretation of Imam El-Hajj Malik’s classic speeches “Message to the Grassroots” and “Ballot or Bullet” and his classic “Epistle from Mecca.” The biography and dramatic interpretations are intended to capture and express the “letter and spirit” of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz’s life and legacy. A Catered Lunch for all attendees runs from 12:00 Noon – 12:45 p.m., followed at 1:00 p.m. by the Zuhr Salat (noon prayer).
Saturday afternoon features two exciting panel discussions. Panel I (1:30-2:30 p.m.) is “History of Islam & Muslims in Nashville, Tennessee, 1960-present” and will be moderated by Imam Todd McKenney, Muslim American Cultural Center; with Panelists Sister Julia Naaba, “African American Muslims in Nashville: Early History”; Imam Ali Aqeel, “Muslim American Cultural Center, Jefferson Street”; Sister Sabina Mohyuddin (AMAC), “Islamic Center of Nashville, 12th Avenue South & Sweetbriar” and Sheikh Yasser Arafat, Peace Ambassadors USA, Harlin Drive.
Panel II (2:35 – 4:00 p.m) is a Christians & Muslims Dialogue: “Building Beloved Community with Inter-Faith Dialogue & Nonsectarian Coalitions” and will be moderated by Dr. Lewis V. Baldwin, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar and Lecturer; with Panelists Ms. Jamila H. Hutchinson, President Great Debate Honor Society; Pastor Kelli X, Great Debate Honor Society; Pastor Barry Barlow, Save TSU Community Coalition; and Mr. Ryan White, CEO Rawper4mance. The day’s activities conclude with the Asr Salat (afternoon prayer) from 4:30 – 5:00 p.m.
This historic conference is a spiritual, cultural and political experience that you don’t want to miss. As Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny; in an inescapable network of mutuality. What effects one group directly, effects all groups indirectly.”
If you want to advertise in the Program, your ad should be camera ready. The costs and sizes are as follows: Full Page $200, Half Page $100 & Quarter Page/Business Card $50. Contact Email: Dr. Amiri Yasin Al-Hadid, Great Debate Academy LLC greatdebateuniverse@gmail.com
