Malcolm learns of Elijah’s adulterous affairs from Elijah’s son. He has fathered several children with his secretaries. He also learns that Fard never considered himself Allah. That was Elijah’s invention, so that he could call himself Allah’s Messenger.

In a rare example of compromise, Malcolm drops adultery from the list of unpardonable sins. His brother Wilfred confirms what Malcolm learned about Elijah. Wilfred also says that the FBI has been spreading the information. He hadn’t brought it to Malcolm because he thought Malcolm would have gone straight to Elijah, which Malcolm agrees with.

After John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Malcolm publicly says it is an instance of “chickens coming home to roost.” This disobeys Elijah’s command that no NOI ministers comment on the assassination. Malcolm is silenced in the pages of official NOI papers, and he formally leaves the organization.

Malcolm—and followers who left the Nation with him—form two new organizations: Muslim Mosque, Inc (MMI), and Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAUU). He makes the pilgrimage to Mecca and has an epiphany when he sees white Muslims with blue eyes. The orthodox Muslims make no distinction between those with lighter or darker skin. Malcolm changes his ideas to reflect that white people are not inherently evil but enabled to act in evil ways by the American systems of government and capitalism.