It was small story in a local newspaper called the Daily Herald out of Everett, Washington, but it spread quickly around the internet, thanks to that startling claim.

The paper's February 2009 investigation declared that so-called "prison Islam" was the fastest-growing religious group in U.S. correctional facilities.

Some of those worshippers claim affiliation with the Nation of Islam (NOR), a black separatist movement that was launched and promoted by two convicts, Elijah Mohammed and his protégé Malcolm X. Strictly speaking, however, NOR has little in common with orthodox Islam; it is more accurately described as a political pseudo-religion, held up to African-Americans as an alternative to "pacifist" "Eurocentric" Christianity.   SOURCE ARTICLE

A group of politically radical but not fundamentalist Muslims has set up a new movement, the Nation of Islam, to help Russia overcome its current economic and moral crisis by promoting internationalism, the protection of Gastarbeiters, and the inclusion of Russia’s more than 20 million Muslims in the country's political life.

Last Sunday, delegates from 42 cities and towns in Bashkortostan met in Ufa in response to an appeal by two politically radical figures, Geidar Dzhemal, the leader of the Islamic Committee of Russia, and Ayrat Dil’mukhametov, a leader of the Bashkir opposition, to establish a new Nation of Islam movement.   SOURCE ARTICLE

A former top deputy to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan tells Newsmax that Barack Obama's ties to the black nationalist movement in Chicago run deep, and that for many years the two men have had "an open line between them" to discuss policy and strategy, either directly or through intermediaries.

"Remember that for years, if you were a politician in Chicago, you had to have some type of relationship with Louis Farrakhan. You had to. If you didn't, you would be ostracized out of black Chicago," said Dr. Vibert White Jr., who spent most of his adult life as a member and ultimately top officer of the Nation of Islam.

White broke with the group in 1995 and is now a professor of African-American history at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

The Nation of Islam has planned a rare open-to-the public event at its Chicago-based headquarters in what the Minister Louis Farrakhan says is a "new beginning" for the movement.

Hundreds of religious leaders from different faiths are invited to Sunday's event, which is a rededication of the Nation of Islam's historic Mosque Maryam on the city's South Side.   FULL ARTICLE LINK