Under the tutelage of Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X underwent a remarkable metamorphosis, shedding his former life of petty criminality and reinventing himself as a mesmerizing orator, a fearless crusader for black liberation. With an almost Messianic fervor, he immersed himself in the theology of the Nation of Islam, a curious blend of black nationalism, Afrocentrism, and esoteric teachings about the origins of the white race as a race of "devils" created by an evil scientist named Yakub.