Enlightened Islam

The life of Malcolm X, who developed himself from petty criminal to internationally respected human rights activist after converting to the unorthodox Nation of Islam and, finally, widely accepted Sunni Islam, reflects the process from darkness to light or "hell to heaven". The empowering Malcolm X narrative turns out to be a performative, sense making and bonding tool in the field of Muslim performing artists in the US and the UK. After 9/11, the sequence is a salient means to present a non-violent, socially active and enlightened Islam that fits the West to pro-musical as well as anti-musical views.