sufi rapper: the spiritual journey of abd al malik

In the middle of... Sufi Rapper The Spiritual Journey of Abd al Malik about a French-born African Muslim who follows a spiritual path.


Here is an excerpt

the sunni beard

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the war before - safiya bukhari

I've blogged about Safiya Bukhari before (see: black cats who became muslim and imprisoned intellectuals) and have been curious to find out more about her for a while so I'm especially excited to add The War Before to my reading list.

islam on the rise in brazilian favelas

why they want to do us harm

This essay is the unedited version of a response Imam Zaid wrote to a question posed by Helen Thomas to the White House press corps, “Why do they want to do us harm?” Thomas never got an answer so “In These Times” posed the question to several respondents. The edited version along with other responses can be viewed at:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5712/why_do_they_want_to_do_us_harm_part_one/

To a large extent, “they” are simply a microcosmic mirror image of the extremist violence perpetrated by a hegemonic state dominated by elites that have reserved the right to use high-tech military machinery to systematically decimate countries, rip apart their social fabrics and directly or indirectly kill hundreds of thousands of people as has happened in Iraq.

In that country, “they” might be the relative of someone who died of typhoid or diarrhea from drinking sewage-contaminated water because “we” thought it a noble stratagem of war to destroy Iraq’s sanitation system during the 1991 Desert Storm operation. “they” might be someone whose home was blown away during the “Shock and Awe” campaign that inaugurated the current war in March, 2003. Maybe “they” never recovered from the shock and have been transformed by insensitive bombs into insensitive killers. Maybe “they” were brutalized and humiliated at Abu Ghraib. Maybe “they” know of Abeer Hamza al-Janabi, the 14 year-old Iraqi girl who was gang raped by a company of American soldiers, who proceeded to murder her and her entire family, including her 6-year old sister, Hadeel, and then burn their bodies to hide the evidence of their heinous crime.

Perhaps “they” are from Afghanistan, and want to do us harm for the reasons mentioned above. Maybe the callousness “they” display towards life is a reflection of the callousness we displayed when we built the “Jihad” movement to repel the Soviet invaders of that land during the 1980s, and after accomplishing that mission walked away leaving the country to endure almost a decade of murderous anarchy that culminated in the rise of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Perhaps the alienation “they” display is a pathetic parody of the Mujahideen “we” created.

Maybe “they” are not from Iraq or Afghanistan. Maybe “they” are rotting in a slum in Casablanca or Cairo, or festering in a classroom in Lagos or Lahore and have seen gruesome images generated by the wars we are prosecuting in Muslim lands. Perhaps “their” anger is combined with the angst generated by globalized economic forces “they” cannot understand. In some cases, those same forces may have rendered irrelevant their lives and their religion, the two sources of meaning in the world “they” thought “they” had inherited from “their” forefathers. Under such circumstances, “they” are easy prey to skilled recruiters who promise “them” both meaning and a free pass to Paradise by encouraging “them” to mindlessly strike out at what “they” are led to believe is the source of “their” misery.

Finally, “they” may be ignorant of both the deeper currents of world affairs and the deeper meanings of “their” religion. “they” probably have no idea of just how inconsequential spectacular violence is to the advancement of their cause. “they” probably have never stopped to reflect on how that violence is used by neo-fascist pundits and politicians to advance a climate of fear and misunderstanding that makes it more likely that even ordinarily well-meaning Americans will support policies that will lead to more bombing, maiming and murdering of Muslims –and eventually others- all around the globe. For this small minority, “their” obsession with Islam as a political ideology probably renders “them” totally oblivious to the religious message of Islam as an historical world religion that advances the sanctity of life, especially the life of innocent, noncombatant peoples, the refinement of the spirit and patient, dignified, principled resistance when confronted with the savage vagaries of “their” fellow humans.

malcolm x assassin granted parole after 40 years

Alternet: Malcolm X Assassin Granted Parole After 40 Years

Actually, Thomas Hagan has been spending large chunks of time outside of prison on work release for a while now isn't the most interesting part of the story. What is most surprising to me is that he apparently converted to Islam.

my name is not khan

Dear Concerned Muslim American Community Member:

As Salaamu Alaykum. In February of this year, a new Bollywood film, My Name is Khan, opened in U.S. theaters. Although it is claimed that the film promotes tolerance and understanding, My Name is Khan presents our diverse and dynamic American Muslim community through a "Good Muslim/Bad Muslim" lens that does an injustice to our community and reproduces racist stereotypes about African Americans. For a cogent review of the film, please read Su'ad Abdul Khabeer’s article “Khan Breaks New Stereotypes (but Reinforces Old Ones)” featured on Altmuslim.com.

Despite the problematic depictions of Muslims and non-Muslim African Americans in My Name is Khan, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has decided to honor this film by awarding it the prestigious Voices of Courage & Conscience Media Award at the 19th Annual MPAC Foundation Media Awards on May 1, 2010. This is particularly alarming because of MPAC Foundation’s stated goal of honoring media and artists committed to positive portrayals of Islam and Muslims, promoting diversity and social justice issues, and inspiring action. Yet, it is precisely because of the trust many Muslim Americans have placed in MPAC that we cannot let this kind of dehumanization and historical erasure go unchallenged.

Yesterday, April 14th 2010, a letter was sent to MPAC's Executive Director, Staff, and Board of Directors by a collective of concerned American Muslims to express disappointment with their choice and urged the MPAC Foundation Board to rescind the award. Please see the attached letter to review the detailed critique of the film, the reasonable demand made of MPAC, and the list of Original Signatories. MPAC’s leadership has stated its willingness to seriously consider the letter’s contents and the support it garners. If you would like to add your name to the list of Signatories, please email your name and organization (or location) to MyNameIsNOTKhan2010@gmail.com. We will periodically update MPAC with the extended list of new signatories.

We have been informed that the MPAC Foundation Board will be convening within a couple of days to make a formal decision on their response to the film critique and the reasonable demands, which we believe to be both morally and ethically correct. Leading up to the Board decision, we invite like-minded individuals to contact the MPAC Los Angeles Office to express their concerns with MPAC Foundation's decision to honor My Name is Khan and for them to reconsider their actions. You can contact MPAC by calling (213) 383-3443 during business hours (PST), or email the MPAC Communications Director at Communications@mpac.org. Our expectation is that the force of our collective voices will empower MPAC to make the choice that reflects their broader organizational goals and legacy––to rescind the Award. Insha’Allah, this will also present an opportunity for some much needed consciousness-raising around issues of race, class, media and civic engagement in the Muslim American community.

FiamanAllah y Pa’lante,

Su’ad Abdul Khabeer
Princeton University

Arshad I. Ali, Ph.D.
Lecturer
UCLA Graduate School of Education

Jihad Saleh Williams, MPA
Congressional Muslim Staffers Association

African American Muslims and Their Social Purgatory

Please check out the provocative post over at The Manrilla Blog!!

http://www.manrilla.net/blog/2009/11/26/african-american-muslims-and-their-social-purgatory/

Ramadan Mubarak

Just want to wish every a blessed month! May Allah accept all your fasting!

ma'a salaamah.

recently on the manrilla blog

recently on The Manrilla Blog:

My Blind Date With The Federal Bureau of Investigations

and

Bebop, Islam and the Promise of a Dignified Existence in Jim Crow America

warrior's love

where to turn to when returning to spirituality

In Where To Turn To When Returning To Spirituality by Marc at The Manrilla Blog sparks off a pretty rich discussion on Blackamericans and traditional Islamic spirituality (i.e. Sufism).

as the new islamic year begins in nigeria...

Daily Trust: As the new Islamic year begins by AbdulFattah Olajide

georgia judge jails muslim woman over head scarf

By DIONNE WALKER – Dec 17, 2008

ATLANTA (AP) — A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated.

A judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts.

Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said after they arrested her Tuesday.

Kelley Jackson, a spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, said state law doesn't permit or prohibit head scarfs.

"It's at the discretion of the judge and the sheriffs and is up to the security officers in the court house to enforce their decision," she said.

Valentine, who recently moved to Georgia from New Haven, Conn., said the incident reminded her of stories she'd heard of the civil rights-era South.

"I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights," she said Wednesday from her home. She said she was unexpectedly released after the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia.

The group cited a report that the same judge removed a woman and her 14-year-old daughter from the courtroom last week because they were wearing Muslim head scarves.

Jail officials declined to say why she was freed and municipal Court Judge Keith Rollins said that "it would not be appropriate" for him to comment on the case.

Last year, a judge in Valdosta in southern Georgia barred a Muslim woman from entering a courtroom because she would not remove her head scarf. There have been similar cases in other states, including Michigan, where a Muslim woman in Detroit filed a federal lawsuit in February 2007 after a judge dismissed her small-claims court case when she refused to remove a head and face veil.

Valentine's husband, Omar Hall, said his wife was accompanying her nephew to a traffic citation hearing when officials stopped her at the metal detector and told her she would not be allowed in the courtroom with the head scarf, known as a hijab.

Hall said Valentine, an insurance underwriter, told the bailiff that she had been in courtrooms before with the scarf on and that removing it would be a religious violation. When she turned to leave and uttered an expletive, Hall said a bailiff handcuffed her and took her before the judge.

Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.

busta rhymes apologizes for "arab money"

Mujahideen Ryder: Busta Rhymes apologizes for Arab Money song after Iraqi Rapper, Narcicyst, responds

deen tight: islam & hip-hop

two posts from seeking ilm

I don't know if anyone on the Seeking Ilm website is or identifies as Blackamerican but I still think that some of their posts still might interest readers of this blog:

Slavery in Islam: Fatwa by Sheikh Hatem Mohammad Al-Haj Aly and Az-Zanji: Muslim Ibn Khalid The Faqih of Mecca & Imam Ash-Shafi’i

dhoruba on obama

Assata Radio: Dhoruba Bin-Wahad On Obama’s ascendency to the U.S. presidency

black iraqis in basra face discrimination

Morning Edition, December 3, 2008 · The election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency was celebrated with special fervor by Iraqis of African descent in the southern port city of Basra.

Although they have lived in Iraq for more than 1,000 years, the black Basrawis say they are still discriminated against because of the color of their skin, and they see Obama as a role model. Long relegated to menial jobs or work as musicians and dancers, some of them have recently formed a group to advance their civil rights.

NPR: Full Story

brass crescent awards 2008

An unsolicited "plug" from Marqas at The Manrilla Blog:

Having just come off attending the 2nd Annual MANA Conference here in Philadelphia, it came as a pleasant surprise that the Manrilla Blog has been put in the running for Best Design in the 2008 Brass Crescent Awards, a joint project of altmuslim.com. The awards are meant to honor blogs that represent the best in Muslim blogging, with yours truly up for, “…[a] blog that has the most aesthetically pleasing site design, appealing to the eye, evoking Islamic themes, and/or facilitating debate and discussion.” My thanks to those who felt this blog worthy of nomination. Feel free to cast your vote here.