the state of blackamerican islam conference

From Marc Manley's The Manrilla Blog: The State of Blackamerican Islam

It’s amazing that it’s already November. This year has just flown by. So last night had me in gracious company, photographing the first day of MANA’s conference here in Philadelphia: The State of Blackamerican Islam. Such keynote speakers included Dr. Aminah McCloud, professor Amir al-Islam, and of course, the esteemed Dr. Sherman ‘Abd al-Hakim’ Jackson. For more info in the event, see MANA’s web site. Here’s short photo gallery of some images from last night.

Enjoy

traditional islam for the hip-hop generation

Southern California InFocus: Traditional Islam for the hip-hop generation by Zaid Shakur talks about some of the positive things going on in and around the San Diego urban Muslim community.

from anti-muslim to anti-black

Here is a link to Tariq Nelson's piece Anti-Muslim bigots are also (often) racist which recently appeared at Muslimmatters.org. It shouldn't be surprising but it is worth being said.

rawdah: a gathering of traditional knowledge

just passing the word along:

The Sankore Institute and the Logan Islamic Community Center are happy to announce that we will be holding our 5th annual Rawdah Deen Intensive in San Diego, California on March 7th, 8th and 9th of 2008.

This year theme will be "The reality of spiritual excellence (Ihsan)". Our teachers for this years Rawdah will be Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad ibn Yahya Al-Husaini An-Ninowi, Imam Zaid Shakir and Ustadh Muhammad Abd'l Haqq Mendes.

The text that we will be going over are Al-Muqasid of Imam Nawawi (The section on Tasawwuf), Al-Hikam of Ibn Att'Illah and the Shukr Ihsan of Shaykh Abdullahi Dan Fodio.

We pray that you all will be able to attend and benefit from this deen intensive. Please come visit our website:

http://www.therawdah.org

Register early because space is very limited.

Amir Tariq Al Fudi

San Diego

black, but comely

Al-Ahram: Black, but comely by Gamal Nkrumah eulogizes the black Arab singer Tarfa Abdel-Kheir Adam, or Itab (her stage name).

two more blogs to plug

After taking a little more time to dive back into the blogosphere (i.e. after checking out The Manrilla Blog) I "discovered" two blogs I wanted to give a shout-out to over here. The first is Black American Muslim Political Scientists authored by Charles Hassan Ali. I would especially want to point to the article I Am Not Alone which candidly looks at some of the racial issues touched on in/by african & caribbean muslim marriage event.

The second blog is On Faith: Sherman Jackson where Prof. Jackson himself (the author of Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection) shares his own personal thoughts on a number of religious questions.

nur az zaman

I wouldn't necessarily insist on all the theological claims below, but I'm glad to support the discussion of such an important Muslim scholar. The following is from Yusuf Yearwood:

Nur az Zaman

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nurazaman/

This yahoo group is dedicated to An-Nur a Zaman (the Light of the age) Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio and the true flag bearers of the Shehu's minhaj (methodology) The Jama'ah of Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio in America. It is mentioned by the great wali (friend) of Allah Shaykh Mukhtar al Kunti "The perfected friends of Allah in this age are three. One is an Arab who resides beyond Syria. His light is the light of La illaha ill Allah. The other is a Fulani in the land of the blacks, Uthman Dan Fodio. His light is the light of the seal of the Messenger of Allah, which was on his left shoulder. As for the last one his light is the light of the heart of the Messenger of Allah" Based on this and many other statments, there is consensus that the great mujadid (renewer) of the 12th Islamic century was Shaykh Uthman dan Fodio.

The Jama'ah of Shehu Uthman dan Fodio in America is directly connected to the broader community of Shehu Uthman through our Sultan, Al Haj AbuBakr ibn Muhammad At-Tahiru (residing in Mayurno, Sudan)the 16th caliph and direct descendent of Shehu Uthman dan Fodio. We are dedicated to reviving the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (sawws) by following the traditions of those great scholars who came before us and by adhering to the minhaj (methodology) of Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio and his community until the advent of Al-Mahdi(Peace be upon him).

This yahoo group is open to all Muslims.

how to recover from the addiction to white supremacy

The original "12 steps" were developed by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous as a method to address alcoholism, but in time the steps were adapted to deal with other forms of addiction or substance abuse. Some authors have even suggested that the 12-step program can be generalized and followed, even by "non-addicts", as a path to greater wholeness, peace and a more spiritual life. (There are definitely some similarities which could be drawn between some of the 12-steps and certain elements of the sufi path).

More recently, Marvin X, a Muslim activist and writer who has been featured frequently on Planet Grenada (and is also on my blog roll) has adapted the 12 step approach to deal with a different sort of problem in: How To Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy: A Pan African 12 Step Model which, without ignoring or dismissing the economic and political aspects of white supremacy, starts to address some of the deeply embedded psychological factors as well. The link goes to a long excerpt on Marvin X's blog, so if you want the detailed explanation of all the steps I guess you are going to have to buy his book. But the section he chose to share is definitely thought-provoking.

For some previous Grenada posts on the psychological impact of racism on its victims check out:
go back to mexico?
recalling frantz fanon
post traumatic slave syndrome

And for some more Marvin X check out:
more marvin x

a fatwa on pan-arab racism

A Fatwa on Pan-Arab Racism
by Muslim and former Black Panther, Dhoruba Bin-Wahad

In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

As-Salaamu-alaikum,

Peace and Greetings to All.

I bear witness that there is no Illah but Allah, I bear witness that Muahammad ibn Abdullah is the Prophet of Allah.

We Muslims of African ancestry face difficult decisions. We stare the grim consequences of our multifaceted heritage in the face of; consequences of the long nightmare of enslavement by Europeans; preceded by an epoch of mercantile slavery and war at the hands of Arabs. Embedded in the fiber of our folk memory are dim recollections, like historical cultural DNA, of the successive waves of conquests - ancient and not so ancient that swept through North Africa - Hittites of antiquity, the Romans, Greeks, Arabs, and ultimately Northern Germanic clans of Western European origin, each left their legacy and impact upon Africa and our ancestors, and hence upon us.

We are today the sum total of what we were yesterday. That sum represents both failure and success, triumph and defeat, the sacred and the profane. Sometimes it seems as though we “can't win of losing.” Ask yourself, what became of our Moorish glory and hegemony over a third of Europe? Of what significance today are the trade routes and commerce of Songhay, or Dahomey, and the Niger Delta states to the political and moral bankruptcy of today's African nation-states? What have we truly learned? In what relevancy lie the appreciation of “Maroon” culture by declaring it a “national heritage” while depreciating the revolutionary impulse for freedom the burned in the hearts of Africans who became Maroons? Enslaved by a system of dehumanizing trade and commerce against their will, they revolted, organized resistance, and built a self-containing culture to keep their independence. Of what relevance are they today? Yes even our victories are subject to the vicissitudes of Time...“By the token of time [humans] are at lost”. Indeed we often are, but it is our consciousness, our intellect, our God given quality of “insight” or the human gift of abstract thought, that qualify us as Earth's vice-regent and therefore capable of learning from the past, overcoming the present, and plan our own salvation. As Muslims we are never done telling ourselves that we were molded in the best of images, We, Muslims are Guardians, not destroyers of life. Part of Creation – not above it. Nonetheless, we, like all living things are created beings. And as such we were created in different communities, of different colors, not as a basis for hatred, animosity, or war, but to appreciate the infinite variety of human possibility – to love each possibility in its own right.

But the age in which we now find ourselves will forever be shaped and judged by our actions and responses to the legacy history has imposed upon us all. There are events unfolding within western civilization and cultures of the East that are of the utmost importance to our physical survival, and the reemergence of a genuinely liberating Islam and progressive Ummah. These events have not only a history, they also are major struggles in which our freedom and salvation are at stake. These events represent for the benefactors of racism, exploitation, injustice, avarice, and elitism serious challenges as well. And we need be mindful of the monopoly on violence the benefactors of injustice, racism, and exploitation have, and their proven disposition to use legal and extralegal violence to hold on to power and privileges.

click here to read entire "fatwa"
click here for more from/about Dhoruba Bin Wahad

african islam and islam in africa: encounters between sufis and islamists

book review by Korwa G Adar, Journal of Third World Studies, Fall 2001 of African Islam and Islam in Africa: Encounters Between Sufis and Islamists Rosander, Eva Evers and David Westerlund, (eds.). Athens, OH.: Ohio University Press, 1997 358 pp.

This interdisciplinary book deals with an important subject, Sufism and Islamism in Africa. Specifically, it examines the relationship between Sufism, that is, African Islam and Islamism or Islam in Africa. It is a collection of Twelve Chapters by experts who have examined various aspects of the subject. Most of the scholarly works which have been done on the subject have focussed mainly on critical Islamist views on Western-centred ideas and life. The book focuses on the "intra-Muslim relationship between Sufis and Islamists" as its main point of departure. Apart from using Islamization as a mediator between tradition and modernity, sharia (Islamic law), jahiliyya (ignorance about Islam), tahara (purity), and baraka (blessing), among others, are treated in the book as some of the central levels of conceptualization.

In the Introduction Eva Evers Rosander details concepts such as Sufism, Islamism, and Ismaization of tradition and modernity. Rosander argues that Sufi orders or brotherhood have had great political and religious impact in Africa over the centuries. Apart from benefiting from the British colonial rule in Tanganyika the author states that the Sufi orders gained considerable political influence in the 18th and 19th centuries while at the same time collaborated with the French colonialists in North and West Africa at the expense of the nonMuslims.

In his Chapter John Huwick argues that for many centuries there has been intense interaction between Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Arabo-Islamic world. These include travel by African Muslim scholars to the Arabo-Islamic world, the inflow of visitors to the Sub-Saharan Africa, the formation of pan-African Islamic organizations and networks as well as membership in international Islamic associations are some of the contributing factors to the linkage between Muslims in Africa and those in other parts of the world. Huwick states that because of the continued contacts with the Arabo-Muslim world SubSaharan Africa is increasingly being integrated into the Muslim world at the expense of the West.

The "eternal dichotomy" between Sufistic, rural and popular religious practices and the learned, urban and elitistic Islam in the Maghrib region of North Africa constitute the main focus of George Joffe's Chapter. He states that irrespective of the fact that the two Islamic orientations do not intermingle they form part of a dynamic complementary and dialectical social process. Joffe argues that this has been the long standing tradition in the Maghrib religious culture. He emphasizes that Islamic radicalism has a negative impact in popular forms of Islam, comparing it to what prevailed in the area during the colonial period. Joffe found out that the impact of Islamic radicalism in the societies in the Maghrib region varied from country to country. In Tunisia, for example, the Hizb Nahda, the Harakat al-Islami (or the 15-21 Movement as it is also known) and the Hizb al-Tahri-ral-Islami which had influence in the 1970s and 1980s had virtually been eliminated. Similarly, the al-Adl wa'l-Ahsan and al-Shabiba al-Islamiyya committed to the violent overthrow of the monarchy in Morocco have either been successfully repressed or co-opted into the government. However, the Algerian case differs in that the Islamic radicalism, notably led by the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS), the Groupe Islamique Arme (GIA) and the Armee Islamique du Salut (AJS), have destabilised the country for a number of years.

Abdullahi A. An-Na'im's chapter focuses on Islam and human rights in the Sahelian region in Africa. The author puts into proper theoretical perspective the relationship between Islamic religious and customary practices and international law norms. He finds some correlation between Islam and cultures of the Sahelian peoples. He stresses that cultural diversity which prevails in societies need not be a hindrance to the growth and legitimacy of international law, particularly in relation to human rights. He argues that such a view is in conformity with what is prevailing in a number of countries in Sahel except Sudan. The author argues that the Sudanese leadership does not recognize human rights because they equate human rights regime with Western values and norms. The author states that Islamization which is taking place in the Sahel region is not unique in that it is similar to what prevailed in the 18th and the 19th centuries, with jihad playing important role. An-Na'im, however, points out that Islamic views of human rights are different from international human rights norms in that non-Muslims and women are seen to be unequal and inferior.

The controversial and contentious issue of translation of the Quran into other languages is the theme which is examined by Justo Lacunza-Balda. In West Africa the arabisants have a strong view that Quran was originally given by God in Arabic and as such cannot be distorted by way of translations. They condemn the practice where, for example, the Mouride women in Senegal sing religious songs in Wolof, their founder's language. The same negative views about the translation of the Quran prevails in Nigeria. The author argues that the main disagreement about the authenticity of the translation of the Quran in East Africa is mainly due to the existing translations which were done by a Christian and others by a member of the Ahmadiyya movement, regarded as non-Muslim. However, the author states that Muslim translators are the advocates of the need for the translations of the Quran in Swahili, the lingua franca in the region.

colonizing islam: the black-white divide

From the blog In Search of Jannah:
Colonizing Islam: the Black-White Divide which suggests (with a number of caveats) that at least in the UK Muslim community the Salafi/Sufi split seems to have racial and class components.

desi nationalism, hanafi purists and the ouster of an american-muslim pioneer

From Umar Lee's blog: Desi Nationalism, Hanafi Purists and the Ouster of an American-Muslim Pioneer
for a sad account of cultural/madhabi chauvanism in the Muslim community.

N.Y. State Jail To Hire Muslim Chaplain

Decision follows furor over pastor who distributed anti-Islamic cartoons
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:10 p.m. ET May 9, 2007

NEW CITY, N.Y. - The county jail where a Christian minister handed out anti-Islamic cartoons announced it will hire an imam for its Muslim inmates.

The Rockland County Jail also said it will provide religiously appropriate food.

Rockland Undersheriff Thomas Guthrie said Tuesday that the imam will work one day a week, joining the jail’s priest and rabbi.

The Christian chaplain, the Rev. Teresa Darden Clapp, was suspended with pay last month after inmates complained she was passing out anti-Islam booklets.

In the cartoon panel stories, a tract titled “Men of Peace?” said Islamic fundamentalists who commit terrorist acts are not “bad Muslims” but “very good Muslims” who act in accordance with their religion. Another tract, titled “Allah Has No Son,” said Allah is not God, Muhammad was no prophet, and the Quran is not the word of God. Both stories end with people being convinced Islam is false. In one, a Muslim converts to Christianity.

Local Muslims have called for Clapp’s dismissal, and the county requested an independent investigation.

Clapp has not commented public about the controversy and has not responded to messages seeking comment.

© 2007 The Associated Press. URL: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18572667/

Relate article here and here.

More Thoughts On the Exclucivity of Whiteness

While researching a paper for class I came across some interesting notes about "whiteness" from one of the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. From the gist of Franklin's rhetoric, I found myself easily able to substitute and of the other European races for "Muslim", "Arab", "Paki", or even, "Mexican".

Immigrant Islam - Door To "Whiteness" Closed?

I have written a short article on my blog concerning the similar issues that many immigrant Muslims are facing now compared to what Blackamericans have faced in times past. The short essay is a reflection on a town hall meeting I attended here in Philadelphia, hosted by WHYY. Initially, the talk was supposed to revolve around divides within the religious world but of course quickly boiled down to, "Why can't Muslims 'just get along' ". Here's the article.

africa's muslim democracies

Here is a pop quiz for all the fans of international relations: On which continent are the most majority-Muslim population electoral democracies located? The first answer to everyone’s mind is often Asia. This is natural since Islam and Asia are intimately linked in most minds. It would seem that everyone knows about Turkey. Insightful observers also know about Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia as well. Europe has one: Albania. Iraq and Afghanistan are too tentative to be called real democracies. The answer is Africa with six electoral democracies in Senegal, Mali, Niger, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Djibouti.

For the rest of the article see Black Electorate: Africa's Muslim Democracies by Benjamin Bouchet

Black Vote vs Islamic Justice

In light of the recent New York Times article, the 2008 election will present some interesting questions for Blackamerican Muslims. Clearly, there are candidates who support the domestic interests of the black community more than others.

Nevertheless, as Muslims, they will also be faced with candidates, both Republican and Democrat who are unflinching in their biased support for the Israeli Zionist (Apartheid-like) regime and hell-bent on sending more troops (many of them black and/or Muslim) into Afghanistan, and perhaps most disturbingly of all, attacking Iran (actions that morally conscious Muslims do not support).

There are alternative candidates who support more "just" positions, yet they have little chance of winning in a two-party system. Should Muslims, particularly Blackamerican Muslims, choose the "lesser of two evils?"

upon the ashes of babylon

Here is an entire talk entitled Upon the Ashes of Babylon from a powerful Muslim spoken word artist, Amir Sulaiman. The event was part of Islam Awareness Week 2006 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB, Canada. Amir's words manifest a quiet confidence which I find compelling. He has a way of framing issues which is really cathartic and healthy... it reminds me of how I felt when I read Malcolm's speeches for the first time.

Upon the Ashes of Babylon
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Past Grenada posts on Amir

how kareem abdul-jabbar embraced islam

I've been meaning to post something about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's path to Islam for a while and was especially interested in trying to better understand Hamas Abdul Khaalis and the so- called Hanafi Madhab group which in 1977 used shotguns and machetes to take control of several DC buildings. (Apparently in 1973, members of the Nation of Islam killed some of Abdul Khaalis' family and somehow this was a way to get revenge.) I still don't have a good sense of what that group was like, but I did find the following which does give a decent sense of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's path to Islam.

From Noorullah Online: How Kareem Abdul-Jabbar embraced Islam
December 22nd, 2006

Acknowledged by many players as the greatest basketball player of all time, voted six times the National Basketball Association’s most valuable player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is also one of the most visible Muslims in the American public arena. The 7’ 2” native upper Harlem, born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., starred for UCLA before entering the National Basketball Association with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1969. Alcindor later went to the Los Angeles Lakers. He was so dominant in college basketball that "dunking,”at which he excelled, was formally banned from the intercollegiate sport.

As a result, Lew Alcindor developed the shot for which he is personally the most famous — the "skyhook" — which has been called the shot that changed basketball, and with the help of which he was to score more than thirty eight thousand points in regular-season NBA play. When Milwaukee won the NBA title in 1970-71, Alcindor, who was by then Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was the acclaimed king of basketball.

Lew Alcindor first learned his Islam from Hammas Abdul Khaalis, a former jazz drummer …. According to his own testimony, he had been raised to take authority seriously, whether that of nuns, teachers, or coaches, and in that spirit he followed the teachings of Abdul Khaalis closely. It was by him that Alcindor was given the name Abdul Kareem, then changed to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, literally "the noble one, servant of the Almighty.” Soon, however, he determined to augment Abdul Khaalis’s teachings with his own study of the Quran, for which he undertook to learn basic Arabic. In 1973 he travelled to Libya and Saudi Arabia to get a better grasp of the language and to learn about Islam in some of its "home" contexts.

Abdul-Jabbar was not interested in making the kind of public statement about his Islam that he felt Muhammad Ali had in his opposition to the Vietnam War, wishing simply to identify himself quietly as an African American who was also a Muslim. He stated clearly that his name Alcindor was a slave name, literally that of the slave-dealer who had taken his family away from West Africa to Dominica to Trinidad, from where they were brought to America.

[…] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar affirms his identity as a Sunni Muslim. He professes a strong belief in what he calls the Supreme Being and is clear in his understanding that Muhammad is his prophet and the Quran is the final revelation…

….For his part, Kareem accepts his responsibility to live as good an Islamic life as possible, recognising that Islam is able to meet the requirements of being a professional athlete in America.

Excerpts from His Book, Kareem

The following are excerpts from the second book he wrote about his basketball career, Kareem, published in 19901, telling his reasons for being drawn toward Islam:

[Growing up in America,] I eventually found that…emotionally, spiritually, I could not afford to be a racist. As I got older, I gradually got past believing that black was either the best or the worst. It just was. The black man who had the most profound influence on me was Malcolm X. I had read "Muhammad Speaks", the Black Muslim newspaper, but even in the early sixties, their brand of racism was unacceptable to me. It held the identical hostility as white racism, and for all my anger and resent meant, I understood that rage can do very little to change anything. It’s just a continual negative spiral that feeds on itself, and who needs that?

…Malcolm X was different. He’d made a trip to Mecca, and realized that Islam embraced people of all color. He was assassinated in 1965, and though I didn’t know much about him then, his death hit hard because I knew he was talking about black pride, about self-help and lifting ourselves up. And I liked his attitude of non-subservience.

…Malcolm X’s autobiography came out in 1966, when I was a freshman at UCLA, and I read it right before my nineteenth birthday. It made a bigger impression on me than any book I had ever read, turning me around totally. I started to look at things differently, instead of accepting the mainstream viewpoint.

…[Malcolm] opened the door for real cooperation between the races, not just the superficial, paternalistic thing. He was talking about real people doing real things, black pride and Islam. I just grabbed on to it. And I have never looked back.

Interview with TalkAsia2

SG: Before Kareem Abdul-Jabbar there was Lew Alcindor. Now Lew Alcindor was what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born as, he has since converted to Islam. Something that he says was a very deeply spiritual decision. Tell me a little bit about your own personal journey, from Lew Alcindor to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Is there still some of Lew Alcindor in you today?

KA: Well you know that was who I started my life out as, I’m still my parent’s child, I’m still…my cousins are still the same, I’m still me though. But I made a choice. (SG: Do you feel different? Is it a different feeling when you take on a different name, a different persona?) I really don’t think…I think it has more to do with evolution — I evolved into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I don’t have any regrets about who I was but this is who I am now.

SG: And a spiritual journey, how important was that?

KA: Well as a spiritual journey, I don’t think I would have been able to be as successful as I was as an athlete if it were not for Islam. It gave me a moral anchor, it enabled me to not be materialistic, it enabled me to see more what was important in the world. And all of that was reinforced by people, very important people to me: Coach John Wooden, my parents, all reinforced those values. And it enabled me to live my life a certain way and not get distracted.

SG: When you embraced Islam, was it difficult for other people to come to terms with that? Did that create a distance between you and others?

KA: For the most part it was. I didn’t try to make it hard on people; I did not have a chip on my shoulder. I just wanted people understand I was Muslim, and that’s what I felt was the best thing for me. If they could accept that I could accept them. I didn’t…it wasn’t like if you’re going to become my friend you have to become Muslim also. No, that was not it. I respect people’s choices just as I hope they respect my choices.

SG: What happens to a person when they take on another name, another persona if you like? How much did you change?

KA: For me it made me more tolerant because I had to learn to understand differences. You know I was different, people didn’t oftentimes understand exactly where I was coming from; certainly after 9/11 I’ve had to like explain myself and…

SG: Was there a backlash against people like yourself? Did you feel that at all?

KA: I didn’t feel like necessarily a backlash, but I certainly felt that a number of people might have questioned my loyalty, or questioned where I was at, but I continue to be a patriotic American…

SG: For a lot of black Americans, converting to Islam was an intensely political decision as well. Was it the same for you?

KA: That was not part of my journey. My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a spiritual statement. What I learned about the Bible and the Qur’an made me see that the Qur’an was the next revelation from the Supreme Being - and I chose to interpret that and follow that. I don’t think it had anything to do with trying to pigeon hole anyone, and deny them the ability to practice as they saw fit. The Quran tells us that Jews, Christians, and Muslims: Muslims are supposed to treat all of them the same way because we all believe in the same prophets and heaven and hell would be the same for all of us. And that’s what it’s supposed to be about.

SG: And it’s been very influential in your writing as well.

KA: Yes it has. Racial equality and just what I experienced growing up in America as a kid really affected me to experience the Civil Rights Movement, and see people risking their lives, being beaten, being attacked by dogs, being fire hosed down streets, and they still took a non-violent and very brave approach to confronting bigotry. It was remarkable and it certainly affected me in a very profound way.

the ghettoest terror plot in history

Alt.Muslim: The Ghettoest Terror Plot in History is the story of a case similar to the Seas of David plot from a while back in Miami.