Hundreds of mourners gathered Friday at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California in Oakland for a traditional Islamic funeral service for 28-year-old Malcolm Shabazz, the grandson of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, eight days after Shabazz was beaten to death in Mexico over a $1,200 bar tab.
“Traditional Islamic prayers will be offered over his remains,” Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem said before the service, which drew more than 200 people
A private burial service, led by Abdur-Rashid, is planned by Tuesday at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y., where his grandparents are buried. A memorial service is being planned for sometime next week in New York City.
“Malcolm Shabazz was very popular among the young people of his generation,” Abdur-Rashid told The Journal News.
The service, which lasted more than two hours, featured plenty of prayer, songs, spoken word and tears. Many among the procession of speakers said while they initially connected with Shabazz because of his famous grandfather, they learned to appreciate a man they called “Young Malcolm” as a leader in his own right.
“If I could put into one word how I feel about Malcolm, it would be, ‘inspiration,'” Hussein Mekki, 32, told fellow mourners. “Hopefully that will continue, and he can inspire us for the rest of our lives.”
Abdel Malik Ali, 55, a community activist from Oakland, said “Young Malcolm” appeared ready to fuse the history of Malcolm X along with his own experiences he described as “Generation Next.”
Read more: USA today
