ellison: the best hope

Minnesotans have the opportunity to send a real progressive visionary to Congress from the Fifth District. Keith Ellison, a two-term state representative from north Minneapolis, would also be the first person of color to represent Minnesota in Congress. The Fifth District primary will be a referendum on the war, single payer health care and whether the whitest large city in America, Minneapolis, can elect a Black Muslim to Congress. (see story here)

See also:
will minnesota send the first muslim to congress?
keith ellison and the nation

abdul-samad: a man under fire

Des Moines Register: Ako Abdul-Samad is in a fight against becoming a political outcast. And it's a fight the Des Moines school board member, human rights advocate and legislative candidate vows he'll win.
see story here

whitney, osama and kola boof

This isn't exactly what I wanted to create the blog for but...

According to scribe Kola Boof, the Sudanese poet and novelist whose new book "Diary of a Lost Girl" details the inner circle of Bin Laden as one of his girlfriends.

Boof says bin Laden obsessed on singer Whitney Houston. "He said he had a paramount desire for Houston and although he claimed music was evil, he spoke of someday spending vast amounts of money to go to America and try to arrange a meeting." Boof added he couldn't stop talking about Whitney.

Boof also alleged that Bin Laden thought about having Whitney's husband Bobby Brown “rubbed out.”

Boof also revealed Bin Laden to be a complete racist. He couldn’t tolerate black people, according to the Sudanese writer.

from chocolate

Also see:
Blacknews: An interview with Kola Boof
An unofficial Kola Boof site

Beasts of No Nation

A book review of Beasts of No Nation.

Author: Uzodinma Iweala

Reviewer: Aaminah Hernandez

Beasts of No Nation is a small by powerful first novel by a new African voice that I hope we will hear more from. The novel is written from the perspective of a very young boy, Agu, who is forced into the rebel army during the war in his country. The country is unspecified, but it could be any. Agu's exact age is unspecified, but he is only recently enrolled in school, so a reasonable guess would be 5-9 years of age. The voice is unique and engaging. Each word of the fictional novel is non-fiction truth in the lives of many, and the writing pulls you in so that you forget this particular version is from the imagination of Iweala.

Can You Have An Argument Without Hating the Prophet?

This may should ridiculous but one of the challanges facing indigenous, Blackamerican Muslims is validating themselves. I'm writing this because of conversations I've had with other indigenous Muslims and how they are treated as second class citizens. In a recent post I wrote on the phenomenon of how some people view the Qur'an and it being revealed in Arabic. This lead to a dicussion that ultimately left me being charged as a racist and casting aspersions against the Prophet. So read for yourself. Here's the post, the first comment and my response.

you know you are at a ghetto muslim wedding if...

From Umar Lee's blog: You know you are at a Ghetto Muslim wedding if...

radical african-american muslims

new at Grenada: radical african-american muslims on an apparent growth in radicalism among the U.S. Black Muslim community.

A Prince Among Slaves

By way of Writeous Sister

A Prince Among Slaves

from Islamica Magazine

An African prince falls from the heights of a sophisticated and educated society into the depths of slavery and ignorance in Mississippi. Abdul Rahman’s willpower to remain a faithful servant to God overcomes the obstacles of being a slave in antebellum America, and reminds the world of the long-forgotten first Muslims in North America.

recently on grenada...

Recently on Grenada, I've had two entries on two very different African-American Muslim scholars: The first one is on Amina Wadud and her book Quran and Woman. The second is on Imam Zaid Shakir's recent piece Islam: Religion or Ideology?

the seven habbits of highly effective communities

2006 Rawdah
AUGUST 4, 5, and 6
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective
Communities:
How We Can Break the Vicious Cycle of Broken Communities,
Broken Families, and Broken People in Order to Unify and Strengthen Our Communities
The Text:
Risaalah lil-Amraad Shaafiyah Fiha Nasihah lil-Aghraad Kaafiyah
by
The Great West African Scholar, Statesman, and Nation Builder
Amiru’l-Mu’mineen Muhammad Bello ibn al-Mujaddid Shaykh Uthman ibn Fodiyo
(Allah Have Mercy On Him)

The Teachers:
Ustadh Adil Woods
Ustadha Latifa Ali
Imam Ibrahim Bilal
Ustadh Muhammad Abdul-Haqq
And Others…

The Venue:
The Philadelphia Masjid
4700 Wyalusing Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Find out more -> http://www.rawdah.org/