From the Nation of Islam to the Mahdi: One Man’s 71-Year Search for Truth

Born and raised in the U.S., 71-year-old Hussain Lateef Kareem has spent a lifetime chasing truth. Coming from a Christian household with family ties to the Nation of Islam, his journey through faith has been anything but linear. From navigating different Islamic sects to questioning everything along the way, his story is a raw and powerful testament to the search for God. We had the honor of sitting down with him to unpack his experiences—because if anyone knows what it means to wrestle with belief, it’s Hussain.

The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light has members from many different backgrounds. In our last feature interview, we spoke with Maria Covey, a transgender woman who is a member of this movement. Through her journey, we gained a deeper understanding of the struggles faced by the LGBTQ community in faith.

Now, in this feature interview, we turn to Hussain Lateef Kareem. Through his eyes, we can begin to understand the struggles of a Black Muslim in the U.S. during the ‘70s and ‘80s, a time when the Nation of Islam was shaping the identity of many African Americans. His story is one of faith, identity, and the constant search for meaning in a world that often forced him to choose between them.

We also get to see religion through the eyes of a man who witnessed Iran before and after the revolution—a man who lived through the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, two pivotal figures for both Christians and Muslims. For 71 years, he has been searching for the Mahdi and the truth. And now, after a lifetime of questions, he says he has finally found them.

This is a powerful testimony from a man whose life experience is as intense as his search for faith.

What was your religious background?

My mom raised me to be a Jehovah’s Witness. My father was non-denominational. He once said something so important—may God bless his soul. When I questioned him about God and religion, he said, “Hold up, son. When it comes to God and religion, you do your own research.”

I was about 10 years old, and it floored me.

I would get up in the morning and go to my friend’s Baptist church, or I’d go to a Catholic church and try to learn. I’d say, “Mom, what’s the difference? They both have the same Bible.” I did my own research. That kept me open-minded and searching.

How did you become a Muslim?

I was 19 when I decided to look into Islam… Believe it or not, what happened was, I was out of high school and living with some roommates. A teacher named Abdullah would come by and introduce my roommates to the Quran. My friends would be reading the Quran, and I would be reading the Bible. They said, “Do you want to read with us?” I said, “I’ll finish the Bible first, then I’ll get to the Quran.”

After I finished reading it, we were going to visit him. We tried to call him up, but then we got notified of something shocking… that he had just been martyred. We said, “What? What do you mean he’s dead?” They said there was a ‘communalism conflict.’ We looked it up, and it said it was when Hindus and Muslims fight. I said to myself, In America?

We knew something fishy had happened. He was converting people to Islam, and America in the ‘70s was very intolerant. We went down there to investigate what was happening. On the way back, my roommate said, “You love Jesus, right? They killed him for his beliefs. Isn’t this a lot like Jesus?” And I realized, yes, it is like that. It was a sign. I made up my mind at that point that I would look into Islam.

Which challenges did you face becoming a Muslim?

Not too many Black Americans were courageous enough to go down that path. So for me, even considering it felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. You had to be familiar with the terminology. At the time, the question was: "Are you a Black Muslim or Orthodox?"

Orthodox meant traditional Islam—following the Sunni or Shia school of thought. Or you were a Black Muslim—an Americanized version of Islam, a sectarian offshoot. That meant you were from the Nation of Islam. If you simply said, "I’m a Muslim," people would assume you were with the Nation of Islam. You had to clarify: "No, I’m an Orthodox Muslim."

Black Muslims weren’t known for reading the Quran but for reinterpreting the Bible. They used Muslim phrases like "Allahu Akbar" and "Alhamdulillah," and common greetings like "Assalamu Alaikum," but it was all very surface-level—not the essence.

Being Orthodox meant you were devoted to going to Mecca for Hajj, knowing the pillars of faith, and understanding the history of Prophet Mohammed. Black Muslims had essentially taken Elijah Mohammed and superimposed him as Prophet Mohammed. It was confusing unless you knew more. Nowadays, there is very little dialogue about Elijah Mohammed, but in the early ‘70s, it was a major phenomenon.

Elijah himself was influenced by the Ahmadiyya movement. Ghulam Ahmed was facing pushback in the Middle East, Pakistan, and other traditional Muslim countries. The Ahmadiyya had a lot to do with spreading "dawah" in the U.S. and took an interest in Elijah Mohammed. They inspired him to begin the Nation of Islam. As Islam became more mainstream, the understanding of what it meant to be a Muslim started changing.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a nationally known basketball player. He aligned himself with an Orthodox Muslim group in Washington, and soon, people started questioning him—asking if he hated Jews and throwing other prejudiced questions his way. As a professional athlete, he had to navigate that scrutiny. Jamal Wilkes, Muhammad Ali—these were Black Muslims who were coming onto the scene and spreading the message of Islam. It was becoming a trend in America, especially among indigenous Black people.

The Islamic Party of North America was deeply connected internationally, especially to the Islamic renaissance movement happening in the Middle East and Indo-Pakistan. When I relocated to Washington, D.C., I would attend their speeches and cookouts, where they were actively trying to influence the direction of Islam.

At this point, I realized there was a problem. We were talking about a religion that had once spread to every corner of the world, yet here we were, trying to "revitalize" Islam. There was a serious issue with Islamic leadership worldwide.I asked myself: "If Islam is so great, what happened? This is a phenomenal religion with great tenets—so why did it collapse? What went wrong?"

How did you go from being a Sunni to a Shia Muslim?

During the Iranian Revolution, I was in Houston. I was 21 years old. Before 1979, Dr. Ibrahim Yazdi would hold gatherings in Houston, where he spoke about dethroning the Shah of Iran. A movement was gaining momentum with Khomeini, and they supported him. Another person I met with was Dr. Shariati, a well-known writer and activist at the time. When the Iranian Revolution took place, Yazdi became the U.S. ambassador to Iran.

We knew these guys. We knew their children. In these gatherings, they taught us about the Ahlulbayt, their sayings, and who Mohammed and the Family of Mohammed were. That’s when I was introduced to Shia Islam.

That’s when I realized that Muslims had lost their stature in terms of power and control because they went against the teachings of the family of Prophet Mohammed.

My introduction to Islam was a revolutionary one, and it completely changed my worldview. Sunni groups would tell me they had the solution, but it didn’t involve Imam Mahdi. There was no understanding that the Mahdi would come. Iran, on the other hand, would say, "This revolution we’re leading will bring back Imam Mahdi. Overthrow the Shah, make room for the Imam." They would constantly mention "Mahdi, Mahdi, Mahdi."

And then, suddenly, at some point, it all seemed to go off track. There was a shift when Khamenei came into power, and it changed everything. For me, as an American, that’s when I truly learned about Shia Islam. I had close relationships with some of the scholars, but as I said, once Khamenei took control, there was a complete shift. They began to de-emphasize the teachings of the Ahlulbayt and started trying to appease the Sunnis. Everything for Shia Muslims and clergy became extremely political.

When did you look into Imam Mahdi and his appearance? Did you find the answer in mainstream Twelver Shia Islam?

Eventually, I reached a point where I said, "If there is an Imam Mahdi… if we’re living in his age, then that’s the most important thing. We need to focus on that. We need to be more exact about what he wants from us. We have to recognize him."

I was listening to Imran Hossein and material from Shia clergy. They would talk about him, but his advent, his coming, and his signs were all very unclear. I would think, "Wait, why doesn’t anyone know?" As a Christian, I had been frustrated because their whole religion was based on, "We will just wait for Jesus’ coming." Now, the Shia Muslims were saying to me, "We believe in Imam Mahdi, but we’re just going to wait."

I kept thinking, "There has to be some opportunity to meet him, to see him. He must be around somewhere, especially with all these wars and political conflicts happening." That’s when I started questioning the authority of the Shia clergy. Were these Shia leaders actually talking to him? Was he guiding them, steering them in the right direction? I told myself, "I sure hope so." In the back of my mind, I was hoping that was the case. But then, I started seeing things I just couldn’t accept. I remember when a young woman in Iran was killed for showing a bit of her hair. I went to my friends and said, "What is this? We know police brutality in America—how can this happen in Iran? We can't treat our people like this. It's going too far." Things like that really planted seeds of doubt.

And I knew… "No compulsion in religion" (Surah Al-Baqara: 256).

Where was the real application of that in the Muslim world? Looking at these religious zealots, it was clear they didn’t believe in that. They believed they could become authority figures and do whatever they wanted. These were the questions that made me doubt the Islamic religion. I loved Khomeini. I thought he was doing what he had to do. I mean, he appeared to be a peaceful man. He was kicked out of countries for what he stood for. The people supported him. But the minute he took over, we saw no mercy from the clergy—hanging people, executing them. It was shocking how the clergy became the enforcement arm of a supposed theocratic state. And we never saw them say, "Hey, Imam Mahdi, we got your state ready. You take over from here." That’s where my journey took a turn.

I had relatives in the Nation of Islam. I knew nationalistic movements like Jamaat-e-Islami in the Indo-Pak world. I never let those ideas poison my heart. Hanbali, Shafi’i, Maliki—no universal Sharia. So many different kinds of Islam. There was no opportunity to establish a universal standard for all Muslims. Nobody had the answer.

How did you come across the Call of the Riser Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq?

For the last couple of years, I was focusing on the signs of Imam Mahdi. I was comparing various groups and their interpretations of these signs, trying to understand their meaning. When the Palestine conflict happened, I bowed my head in prayer and said, "O Allah, this moment is too great to ignore. This has to be a sign. These world events are too huge for Imam Mahdi not to be involved."

As I continued my research, I told myself, He must be out there. There had to be someone who knew something about Imam Mahdi’s arrival. I kept waiting for Shia scholars to address this, but they never said anything beyond what they had always said—"When he comes, this will happen," or "When he arrives, that will happen." Nothing new.

The scholars were trying to predict the future. Imran Hossein was too. But their predictions were never accurate. One day, I was talking to a young Muslim brother about the Shia faith and Imam Mahdi. He said, "Oh yeah, there’s this guy who calls himself the Mahdi. He’s crazy." I said, "Oh yeah? Why don’t you send me his video?" He sent me videos from the School of Divine Mysteries.

I watched them. I saw the title: The Mahdi Has Appeared? Oh my God. This was very, very interesting. I thought, “Wow, the topics he’s discussing”… He claimed to know the Bible better than anyone, the Torah better than anyone, and the Quran better than anyone. I remember watching one of his lectures with Tiffany about aspects of the Bible. I had always considered myself an astute Bible researcher, but he brought up things that made me think, “Wow, that’s deep. Okay… he knows the Book better than me!” Topics in the Bible can be very confusing, but he broke them down with context. I knew Imam Mahdi was coming for the whole world—so why wouldn’t he know the whole world and unify the Abrahamic faiths?

When you began understanding the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, what convinced you that this is the true path to God?

When Aba Al-Sadiq taught us about the Seven Covenants, I said, "That is so profound! That’s the clearest way to explain the journey of Adam and his children on Earth, and our human spiritual progression."

It also explained why Muslims had deviated so much. The Sixth Covenant was simply no longer the preferred covenant, and Allah had to bring us the Seventh. Aba Al-Sadiq’s teachings were so profound, evident, and overwhelming as a philosophy.

When Aba Al-Sadiq discussed the corruption of the Quran… it completely blew my mind. I said, "Okay, this makes so much sense." The narrative that the Quran has not changed? I mean, we all know better. I researched this, and Shia scholars like Toosi and Mufid used to debate the completeness of the Quran in their day and age. So this idea that the Quran is not complete… for the Shias, this is nothing new! So why don’t they believe it? Well, the political ulema want to win over their Sunni brothers, so they said,”Let’s de-emphasize our own teachings.” Now, they don’t say it’s incomplete.

Aba Al-Sadiq was an eye-opener. Allah guided him to me—through people with a negative opinion. But I knew enough to recognize that the prophecies state the world would be full of confusion. And in this age of confusion, what’s the tool of the youth? TV, media, the internet—all used to confuse and distract people. To me, it was brilliant. “Imam Mahdi is on the internet? This is brilliant!”

How did Scholars of Islam respond to you when you asked them about the Call of Aba Al-Sadiq?

When you talk about the will of Prophet Mohammed, that’s the topic nobody wants to touch. They would go back and forth, but the minute I brought up the will, they would stop talking. I said, "Okay, I see what’s going on here… you’re guilty!"

Race and Identity are themes that affected your worldview of religion. How did coming to this Call affect that for you?

Racism and Islam… Malik El-Shabbaz once said he knew no religion that could solve the issue of racism other than Islam. So, many Muslims who converted to Islam, Black Muslims, always took that to heart, that Islam is the solution.

Recently, digging into history, we see that Arabs were, in fact, sometimes the most racist towards black people. There are a lot of ahadith quoted from Prophet Mohammed (PBUH & His Family) saying if your leader is black, and is more pious than you, you follow him.

Profound statements. He brought up the issue because racism was a problem in his time.

He sent his messengers to Ethiopia. I know Aba Al-Sadiq will reveal more. There are topics I can’t wait to hear more about.

I listened to Brother Hussein Lateef. At moments, he would laugh out loud, remembering the twists and turns of his journey. At other times, his voice would lower in awe and reverence as he spoke about the Imam he had found.

Brother Hussein’s story is a lesson in patience and perseverance—refusing to listen to the voices of chaos around us, the ones that pull us into the status quo, insisting we comply with the masses. Instead, he practiced faith and trust in God and, in doing so, found the man he knew he had been searching for all along.

We appreciate him sharing this inspiring account with us. We thank him and his wife, Valerie, for their dedication to this Call and their unwavering faith in the Imam we all stand by—the Riser, Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq.