What's crucial about it? The Nation of Islam is openly hostile to the United States, its leaders openly advocate violence, and they've become an undeniable force in America's urban-black culture.
How do Jose Padilla and John Walker Lyndh's non-membership in this particular anti-U.S. cult make the NOI any less of a threat? Islam preys upon the alienated and the dispossessed. The NOI does the same thing, and they're working with the most alienated and dispossessed minority group in America (thanks to the modern Democrat party and the black "leadership"). That makes them a very real threat worthy of discussion.