| The Nation of Islam's shift to Islam resulted in the creation of the World Community of Al-Islam in the West (WCIW) and the propagation of the religion on a scale unwitnessed in American history. The Bilalian News was essential to the WCIW's efforts to spread Islam. However, like the movement itself, the transition of the Bilalian News into an instrument for the propagation of Islam was fraught with structural and ideological difficulties that required a concerted effort from Imam W. D. Muhammad and his followers to bring about a change in its direction.;At the direction of Imam W. D. Muhammad, the Nation of Islam went through several ideological and structural changes that brought it into alignment with Sunni Islam. These changes divorced the Bilalian News from its moorings in Black Nationalism, and provided an atmosphere for the newspaper to function as the essential component of the WCIW's propagation efforts. Consistently, the circulation and distribution drives of ordinary members assisted Bilalian News' efforts at becoming a tool for Islamic propagation through its numerous articles discussing Islamic views on family life, marriage, dress and diet. Imam Muhammad and his followers were mutually responsible for helping to institutionalize the newspaper as a method of da'wah. |
