 Discharged from the U.S. Army on grounds of mental instability, he worked as a jazz drummer in New York City before converting to Islam and changing his name to Hamaas Khaalis.He became prominent in the ministries and school of the Nation of Islam and was appointed its national secretary in the early 1950s.Khaalis split with the Nation of Islam in 1958 to found a rival Islamic organisation, the Hanafi Movement.