Mr. Green’s adherence is prone to improve scrutiny on the group, as investigators attempt to decide whether or not his beliefs performed a task on Friday’s assault. The relationship between violence and the Nation of Islam has been debated because it began about 90 years in the past, particularly as outsiders and insiders have disagreed over its teachings.
“From the earliest times in Nation history, people have been taking these texts and saying, this is about killing white people,” stated Michael Muhammad Knight, an assistant professor of faith and cultural research on the University of Central Florida, who makes a speciality of American Islam.
“The Nation has a very strong anti-violence discourse that goes all the way back to the beginning,” he stated. “Consistently, if you look at the Nation, you don’t see the body count that white supremacist organizations have.”
In his Facebook posts, Mr. Green generally used apocalyptic language, suggesting he believed in an imminent end-of-world battle. He referenced the “mother wheel,” which in Nation teachings is a spaceship that can descend on America in an apocalyptic battle, Mr. Knight defined.
In his remaining Facebook submit on March 21, Mr. Green wrote a couple of “divine warning,” that these had been the “last days of our world as we know it.”
Court data in Indiana, the place he briefly lived, present Mr. Green had utilized in December to legally change his identify to Noah Zaeem Muhammad. But when he didn’t present up for a listening to within the remaining days of March, the continuing was dismissed.
By then, he was again in Virginia, dwelling along with his brother. Just days later, he would drive to the Capitol.
Elizabeth Dias, Ben Decker and Robyn Sidersky contributed reporting. Jack Begg contributed analysis.
