Fate, Freewill, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X Essay

Fate, Freewill, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X, as a character in his Autobiography, believed that fate and prophecy guided his life. When he was sent to jail for ten years, he believed that his incarceration was part of his predetermination to find Allah in the Nation of Islam; it didnt ever dawn on him that he was solely responsible for his time in prison. Malcolm viewed his indefinite suspension from the Nation as a prophecy he was destined to fulfill, not as an act of jealousy and underhandedness by his fellow Black Muslims. His own violent death was not a surprise to him, for he always had chosen to believe that he would die at the hands of another and that it would be his fate. He did not believe his†¦show more content†¦However, he always believed that a supernatural power, specifically Allah, had planned for him to be caught breaking the law because the coincidental circumstances that led to his imprisonment (and the repercussions of his imprisonment) were too much for Malcolm to accept as chance al one. However much he would like to believe otherwise, it was his own decisions combined with the decisions of others and pure chance that resulted in the years Malcolm X spent in penitentiary. Malcolm X chose to believe that his removal from the Nation of Islam, a decision by a man whom Malcolm believed to be a prophet of Allah, was part of his destiny more than a result of his actions. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, a man who claimed to be a prophet to Allah (God to those of Islamic faith), had told Malcolm X early in their relationship that they would one day be separated from each other. Malcolm accepted this as prophecy, but one might notice that Elijah was in a position to make this prophecy come true. It did not take Allah to sever Malcolms ties with the Nation of Islam. Elijah could tell that Malcolm would one day rise to a power greater than his, and Elijah provided a means to both add to his public image and have another prophecy become truth. Malcolm chose to believe Elijahs prophecies. Malcolm fooled himself into the simplistic, irresponsible notion of fate. It had always occurred to Malcolm that he would die violently at the hands of an enemy.