American caliph : the true story of a Muslim mystic, a Hollywood epic, and the 1977 siege of Washington, DC

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Mufti, Shahan, 1981-

Physical Description:

viii, 367 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Summary:

"The riveting true story of America's first homegrown Muslim terror attack, the 1977 Hanafi siege of Washington, D.C"--

Subject Term:

Terrorism -- Washington (D.C.) -- History -- 20th century.

Muslims -- United States -- Biography.

Mystics

Khilafat movement

Hanafites -- Washington (DC)

Publication Info:

New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.

Subject:

Terrorism -- Washington (D.C.) -- History -- 20th century.

Muslims -- United States -- Biography.

Mystics

Khilafat movement

Hanafites -- Washington (DC)

Khaalis, Hamaas Abdul, 1921-2003

McGhee, Ernest Timothy, 1921-2003

Acts of terrorism

Attacks, Terrorist

Global terrorism

International terrorism

Political terrorism

Terror attacks

Terrorist acts

Terrorist attacks

World terrorism

Muslims in the United States

Hanafis

SAILS ISBN:

9780374208585

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Taunton Public Library	362.8893 M891A	2ND FLOOR STACKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fairhaven-Millicent	362.8 MUF 2022	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mansfield Public Library	362.88 MUFT	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Pembroke Public Library	362.8893 MUF	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Seekonk Public Library	362.88 MUFTI	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wareham Free Library	362.88 MUF 2022	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown

One of Publishers Weekly' s Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 | A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

The riveting true story of America's first homegrown Muslim terror attack, the 1977 Hanafi siege of Washington, DC.

On March 9, 1977, Washington, DC, came under attack. Seven men stormed the headquarters of B'nai B'rith International, quickly taking control of the venerable Jewish organization's building and holding more than a hundred employees hostage inside. A little over an hour later, three more men entered the Islamic Center of Washington, the country's biggest and most important mosque, and took hostages there. Two others subsequently penetrated the municipal government's District Building, a few hundred yards from the White House. When the gunmen there opened fire, a reporter was killed, and city councilor Marion Barry, later to become the mayor of Washington, DC, was shot in the chest. The deadly standoff brought downtown Washington to a standstill.

The attackers belonged to the Hanafi movement, an African American Muslim group based in DC. Their leader was a former jazz drummer named Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, who had risen through the ranks of the Nation of Islam before feuding with the organization's mercurial chief, Elijah Muhammad, and becoming Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's spiritual authority. Like Malcolm X, Khaalis paid a price for his apostasy: in 1973, seven of his family members and followers were killed by Nation supporters in one of the District's most notorious murders. As Khaalis and the hostage takers took control of their DC targets four years later, they vowed to begin killing their hostages unless their demands were met: the federal government must turn over the killers of Khaalis's family, the boxer Muhammad Ali, and Elijah's son Wallace so that they could face true justice. They also demanded that the American premiere of Mohammad: Messenger of God --a Hollywood epic about the life of the prophet Muhammad financed and supported by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddhafi--be canceled and the film destroyed. Shahan Mufti's American Caliph gives the first full account of the largest-ever hostage taking on American soil and of the tormented man who masterminded it. Informed by extensive archival research and hundreds of declassified FBI files, American Caliph tracks the battle for control of American Islam, the international politics of religion and oil, and the hour-to-hour drama of a city facing a homegrown terror assault. The result is a riveting true-crime story that sheds new light on the disarray of the 1970s and its ongoing reverberations.

Reviews (4)

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.)

Kirkus 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.

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.

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

Prologue	p. 3
Part I
1 Psychological Warfare	p. 13
2 Black is Green	p. 19
3 No. 7	p. 24
4 The Sheik	p. 30
5 Homegrown	p. 38
6 Sailor's Club	p. 45
7 World League	p. 52
8 Jihad Productions	p. 60
9 Day of Doom	p. 65
10 Sports Rescue	p. 71
11 Subjective Camera	p. 79
12 Look and See	p. 84
13 Seed of the Hypocrite	p. 94
14 Asylum	p. 101
15 Top Rank	p. 109
16 Stool Pigeon	p. 113
17 Pilgrimage	p. 119
18 Revenge of Allah	p. 125
19 Progress Report	p. 129
20 Compass	p. 133
21 Only Four	p. 138
Part II
22 Holy Land	p. 145
23 Guns Out	p. 149
24 Golden Voice	p. 154
25 Anti-Defamation	p. 159
26 Egyptian Mission	p. 165
27 Projection Room	p. 171
28 Spyglass	p. 175
29 Federal Triangle	p. 181
30 One and Only	p. 188
31 Jurisdiction	p. 195
32 Hog-Tied	p. 203
33 Spooks	p. 210
34 Cease and Desist	p. 215
35 Big Surprise	p. 220
36 Panorama	p. 225
37 True Picture	p. 231
38 Brothers in Islam	p. 236
39 Chain of Command	p. 242
40 Table Spread	p. 247
41 Fair Justice	p. 254
Part III
42 Things Go Boom	p. 265
43 Faith and Country	p. 274
44 Big Man	p. 280
45 Inheritor of the Faith	p. 286
46 American Muslim	p. 290
47 Homefront	p. 300
Epilogue	p. 309
A Note on Sources	p. 319
Notes	p. 327
Acknowledgments	p. 349
Index	p. 353

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