In 1973, James, a tall young man from West Baltimore, enrolled at Morgan State University. He was the first in his family to attend college. The world was changing around him, civil rights protests still echoed, Malcolm X’s speeches circulated on cassette tapes, and the call for Black pride was reshaping identity for his generation.
James grew up in a Christian household. He sang in the choir as a boy, but by college, he was searching for something deeper. It was in a sociology class that he first heard a fellow student mention Islam, not the Nation of Islam he had seen in headlines, but Islam as a global faith, practiced by millions from Africa to Asia.
Curious, he accepted an invitation to attend a Friday prayer held in a classroom on campus. The scene was simple: a handful of students, men and women, standing shoulder to shoulder, reciting words in Arabic he did not understand. Yet something struck him, the sense of peace that filled the room.
Afterward, one student offered him a copy of the Qur’an. That night, James opened it. The first verse he read was:
“This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guidance for those who are mindful of God.” (Qur’an 2:2)
He read late into the night. The words were unfamiliar yet familiar, like a truth he had always sensed but never named.
Weeks later, James embraced Islam. He chose the name Hamza, though his friends still called him James. For him, Islam was not a rejection of his past, but a fulfillment of it, a way of connecting to his African heritage and to a global community of believers.
Hamza’s conversion was not without struggle. His parents were hurt and confused, and some friends distanced themselves. But he found strength in the small Muslim student group at Morgan State. They prayed together, studied the Qur’an, and spoke about justice, not only overseas, but in their own neighborhoods.
In time, Hamza became a bridge. He helped connect African American Muslims in Baltimore with immigrant students at Maryland universities. For him, Islam was not just a personal choice, but a way of building unity across lines that had once divided people.
His story is one of many from that era, when African American students in Maryland discovered Islam in classrooms, and campus prayer circles. Their journeys remind us that Islam’s story in Maryland is not only about immigrants bringing their faith, but it is also about young Black men and women reclaiming a faith that spoke to their dignity, justice, and belonging.