Alhamdulillah am me with the’s name the merciful benefactor the merciful Redeemer all praise is due to Allah the God and evolver the cherisher and sustainer of all the systems of knowledge the merciful benefactor the merciful Redeemer the soul judge on the day of religion we worship you only and we turn
To you only begging assistance guide us on the straight way the way of those on whom you bestow blessing not those who incur wrath nor those who go astray amen asalamu alaykum dear family with Allah’s name the merciful benefactor the merciful Redeemer I openly bear witness
That there is but one God the one and only creator of the heavens and earth the Lord of all systems of knowledge whom we properly call Allah I accept all of Allah’s prophets and believe that Prophet Muhammad is a Mercy to Mankind and the Seal of prophethood again asalam
Alaykum uh this topic I know nothing about and it’s interesting because I recently had the the surprise honor of meeting our presenter Imam Mendy uh at an in-person Gathering um which came as a really great surprise because I’ve been communicating with him for a year in
Gambia so uh but he is now in the United States uh living for a period of time uh but it was just you cannot imagine how I felt meeting him um as I said after speaking with him uh in Gambia for so long trying to uh uh confirm his presentation today so we’re
On it uh welcome to the family of study alislam dear Imam uh take yourself off mute and please uh begin peace be upon you all and the compassionate love of Allah and His blessings uh it’s really an honor to be here masah Auntie fitra and sister Mara
And the whole study Al Islam family uh it’s it’s been a long time coming we’ve been planning this since the beginning of 2023 alhamdulillah and uh my regards and my respect and my love to all of the imams that are present uh Imam Yu it was
It’s good to see you again I just saw you about two months ago alhamdulillah when we came through DC uh with a group of about 30 40 new Muslims alhamdulillah and that was a real honor and you know Auntie fitra has been saying that she doesn’t know anything about this topic
But I assure you you do you are a part of this this you are living this you are part of this River uh that I’m calling us to become more aware of and more intentional about and to flow with their there is a river uh of black
Muslim uh Heritage that goes back not just decades but hundreds of years uh thousands of years and you’re a part of it it’s it flows in you the river is outside of you but the river is also it’s in your veins it flows in your in your blood vessels and that goes for
Each and every one of you I first heard about study al-islam through our dear auntie our sister many of you she was a friend sister zarena alamine and you know may Allah have mercy on her soul amen and uh she is was the first person to tell me about
The great work uh that study al-islam has been doing in the community and so it’s it’s very um it’s very meaningful that that that I come here before you on this particular day so with that inshallah T I will share my screen Uh the title of this presentation is there is a river and it’s interesting uh black Muslims from habasha to Harlem there is a river from black Muslims from black Muslims from habasha to Harlem uh my dear brother and friend Dr Bilal Rudolph wear was uh recently
On uh study of Islam he was one of your guests and I’m going to be touching on some of the same material that that he touched on but but building on that the river that you see behind you is the Niagara River it’s the river that flows into the famous Niagara
Falls that’s one of the seven wonders of the world and the niag AG river is significant for us as a people as as black people as African-Americans as Muslims because for many of our formerly enslaved ancestors or we should rather say for many of our emancipated and liberated ancestors it
Was the last stop before freedom for those who were on their way to Canada to become fully free people and so the river that I’m referring to in this particular presentation is the river of of spiritual Heritage it’s the river of Scholastic and intellectual Legacy it’s the river of
Culture and we’ll be talking about this in a bit more detail it’s the river of our particular worldview and what what it means for us and why it’s important for us to build culture and traditions and institutions that preserve our particular world viw and our particular social and cultural stamp
As Muslims of African descent let’s look at the Quran first and for foremost in the Quran in the 49th Surah the Surah of the private Chambers Allah subhah wa ta’ala says and I’ll read the English just for the sake of time uh Allah subhah wa taala says verily we have created you
From a single male and female and made you into Nations and tribes so that that you may know one another in the Arabic Allah says these two words and when you look at the books of commentary of Quran when you look at what our imams have said about these
Words they refer to Nations that share common ancestry they refer to tribes that share a common ancestor and so in this Ayah Allah’s telling us he has established the Social Dynamic that we understand to be Nations not nations in the sense of a nation state a country with imaginary B
Boundaries but a nation of people that share common Heritage uh or common values and common principles and then Allah reminds us that the best of you that he made us these nations and tribes so that we know one another we get to understand one another not to fight not for separation
We are one human family we are one human family and the best of us is not based on Ancestry it’s not based on color or socio economic status but the best of us is based on something that is unseen which is the piety the god Consciousness the tawa that is in the
Hearts The Best of You are those who are have the most tawa the those are the best of you in the sight of Allah in the next slide I want us to look at what prophet Muhammad sallallahu alhi wasallam has said about ancestry he said learn from your
Ancestry learn from your ancestry that which will enable you to honor to preserve this uh a number of of shades of meaning brothers and sisters learn from your lineage that which will connect you that which will enable you to honor and preserve your family your heritage your kinship ties
Specifically the ties of the womb and this particular uh Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam it has very important implications uh when it comes to the the spiritual work of honoring our family ties but also it’s very important when it comes to uh the science of inheritance when a
Muslim dies we should we hope that they leave a will that directs their heirs to divide their wealth their estate whatever they have left whether they have a $5 left or $5 million left but to divide that wealth according to Allah’s guidance in the Quran so here we have an Ayah from the
From the Quran and we have a Hadith from Prophet muhammmad sallallahu alaihi wasallam God bless him and Grant him peace that establish the benefits the the importance and a command uh to to know our ancestry uh this next slide we’re going to look at what some of our great
Scholars have said the the man sitting in the middle uh is one of the greatest Muslim Scholars of the 20th century who I had the blessing to meet when I was that in that picture I’m 20 years old that that picture is uh that was
1995 1995 I was 20 years old I was in Nigeria Northern Nigeria and uh to the uh the other man sitting on the p in the in the picture is this is the is the grandson is uh one of the the grandsons of this scholar uh the name of the
Scholar is Sheik wazir juned IB Muhammad alkari and I mentioned him because of this quote uh he said during an acceptance speech that he gave in the 1970s knowledge is C certainly Universal and Timeless but it has a social and cultural stamp it also has a purpose and a commitment to a
Particular world view it therefore cannot be neutral this quote has is pregnant with meaning because he’s telling us knowledge in its Essence is neither of the East nor the west but that knowledge comes through a human vessel and that knowledge comes through a human Channel and that human channel
That Imam that sheh that she that scholar that mother that father that grandmother that grandfather that Elder that Uncle that Auntie whoever that that community that transmits that knowledge they have a Social and cultural stand and as black Muslims as black americ American Muslims we have a unique
Social and cultural stamp as a as a as a as a nation as an African people right but then also we here who were brought some of us willingly some of us unwillingly some of us came willingly and some of us were brought unwillingly some of us came to
The the Wilderness of North America free a few hundred years before the European Atlantic slave trade and many of us were brought in Chains against our will but even then there’s stories there’s a story about a man I’m going to mention to you in a few moments you’ll
See an an image of him Imam makandal who the oral tradition of Haiti the country of Haiti when you go to Haiti they will tell you that mandal who came to Haiti in the uh 16th century that he allowed himself to be captured when he was in West Africa in
Order to bring freedom and Liberation to the people here in the west and so that was also going on the quote goes on was shik was Jun says it also has a purpose and a commitment to a particular worldview it therefore cannot be neutral right so we have a particular
Worldview the question we should be asking ourselves the qu what what what we should be making sure that our curricula our syllabi our masjids our mosks our Islamic schools our after school programs weekend schools are transmitting to our children is our particular social and cultural stamp not those of others of other
Ethnicities even though they’re even Muslims not the world view of Arab Muslims or Pakistani Muslims and specifically regarding our tradition as africanamerican Muslims not even essentially or uh primarily the worldview of our brothers and sisters from Sagal or from Nigeria or from Ethiopia we have within the African Muslim worldview a unique
Lens that our unique history as a people in the western hemisphere has given us and I was blessed to to meet was Jade like I said in 1995 he passed away in 1996 uh and and he was a great man he was a judge he was a a judge he was a prime
Minister he was a scholar he was a spiritual guy he was a linguist he was a historian he was a poet he is an author of many many many books and uh he’s written a lot about this particular subject because of how important it is
For the success of a people for the S resilience of any culture in any civilization he quotes in one of his books a poem from a scholar from timbak 2 this scholar wrote hundreds of years ago this is going back four 500 years he said whoever does not inform his children of
His grandparents has destroyed his child now grandparents is not to be taken literally what’s meant here grandparents is a metaphor for your ancestors whoever does not inform his children of his ancestors he or she has destroyed his child marred his descendants and injured his offspring the day he dies because that knowledge
Will leave with you the Africans have a we have a we have a proverb we have a proverb in Africa when an elder dies it’s like a library has been lost when an elder passes away it’s like losing a library whoever does not make use of his ancestry has mled his reason
Whoever is unconcerned with his lineage has lost his mind whoever neglects his origin his stupidity has become critical he wasn’t he wasn’t biting his tongue he wasn’t holding back whoever is unaware of his ancestry his incompetence has become immense whoever is ignorant of his roots his intellect
Has vanished and whoever does not know his place of origin his honor has collapsed I think my my first teacher Sheik Muhammad Sharif who established the sanor Institute of Islamic African studies International for uh bringing these quotes to my attention when I was a new Muslim early on James
Baldwin James alwin what does he say that one of the greatest writers and of of of not just of of the English language know from whence you came if you know whence you came there’s absolutely no limitations to where you can go if you know the Legacy the history the language
The philosophies the religions of your ancestors you now have a road map of success you know what your potential and your possibilities can be and you are able to stand on their shoulders of your four mothers and four fathers and so it’s absolutely imperative my brothers and sisters in
Our m in our Mass our mosques in our schools in our homes we have posters we have books we have art we have music we have poetry we have song that’s constantly reminding us of where we come from and what we achieved and where we made
Mistakes so that we can learn from those and not repeat them again this is a map of what in the classical Muslim world was called bilad Sudan the land of black people and it stretched if you can see my my mouse here it stretched all the way from Eastern Africa
Across the continent to what’s called sambia today from the from the east coast to the West CO coast and before colonization before the British and the French and the Portuguese and the Spanish uh you know and the Dutch came and started to carve up the continent for their polit their own
Economic and political benefit this was one unified polity with different tribes different nations as we said but a common worldview a common social cultural stamp that exists to this day even though the people now in these places have different passports you had there was a common Muslim culture and we brought that with
Us to the United States we brought that with us to the Caribbean we brought that with us to South America in the top right corner you see a picture of akatan and Nefertiti and and King Tut right who’s known as King Tut and the hymns of
Akatan if you’ve ever read and I’m going to be putting out you know I’m going to share things that I need I hope you’re writing writing this down I hope you’re taking notes so the hymns of akatan you should look that up the hymns of a I’m
Going to type it in the in the chat the hymns of ainat if and he was a pharaoh of Egypt and and pharaoh of course is a title a pharaoh is not really a bad person the word f means a ruler that’s what the Egyptians called their kings their Emperors their Queens even
And he was very unique because he taught the Oneness of God he taught monotheism and when you read his hymns you would think he’s a musl musl and there have been Scholars there have been academics that have posited that there is evidence sufficient evidence that that he was a
Muslim and this is going way back and this is extremely important because we have to trace the river of Islam among black people among African people even before Prophet Muhammad Sall alai wasallam God bless him and Grant him peace because Islam didn’t start with Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him
Right we all know this Islam began with the first human being the first human beings Prophet Adam and grandmother Eve peace and blessings be upon them and then below him is a picture of the great the most you know Dr belal where always says the Forbes Magazine
Contacts him every year and asks him the same question is Mana Musa still the richest person who’s ever lived and Dr where does the calculations and you know see you know who’s you know who who who um has made the cut possibly and he says to this day absolutely there’s no
Contest Mansa Kanan Musa richest human being in history his Hajj to e to to his Hajj where he took over a thousand people with him there went to Mecca and Medina and came back to show his Devotion to Allah it it is epic and it was chronicled by
Historians and there even dances did you know brothers and sisters that the people of Mali even have dances that they perform to this day to tell the story of the Hajj of Mansa Musa and he’s holding in this picture a nugget of gold and I want you to see this picture
Because that is how the world looked at black people at us before the European slave trade before the maafa the great catastrophe the picture next to him and and his brother I’ll just say one other thing about man Musa I can’t spend too much time on these because there’s a
Lot of information I want to share with you his brother Abu Bakr is reported to have taken an expedition on two occasions and sailed towards the west and some historians believe that he made it to what we know as the Americans today before Columbus made here they knew the world wasn’t
Flat they knew that you could navigate around the world and again these were black Muslims from the Empire of Mali right which again there’s this incredible uh uh knowledge that’s still preserved in the hundreds of thousands of manuscripts written in Arabic from the Empire of Mali the Empire of GH the Empire of
Sonai the empire of sokoto darur and takur and so many others next to him the picture next to him is the picture of the Bahan anti-slavery rebellion of 1835 that my own family is connected with that’s why I have the last name Mendes did you know that outside of
Africa the largest population of black people is in Brazil and in fact I’m I’m I’m planning to go to Brazil next year inshallah in September to do more research and to share with people the Islamic African Heritage that’s in Brazil there are Parts there’s a part of Brazil called
Bahia if you go there you think you’re in Africa and the Muslims the euroba and the haa Muslims of Bahia Brazil they United to overthrow and to take off the system of slavery that the cruel demonic system of slavery that they were in the next picture is the picture of
Imam mandal who is known as the black Messiah I have a an article that I’ve written on Sappo Square for sapo square called makandal black Messiah first Imam of the new world he was as I mentioned before he was someone that that they the tradition says allowed himself to be
Captured he was fluent in Arabic this was in the 1700s he allowed himself to be captured and brought to what became the island of Haiti he knew multiple languages he mastered French better than the French slave owners he was a musician he was an artist and he was a
Masterful leader and he led the maroon communities in Haiti and he began the Haitian revolution the first phase of the Haitian revolution which gave birth to the only government in the history of the world in the history of the world to be have been established by forli slaved
People the only one and we don’t hear about this in our history classes this is the only anti-slavery Uprising that was successful and Haiti has been suffering and has been uh uh uh the you know France and the United States have been um have been making ha pay for this with
Reparations and other measures as retribution for daring to defeat their armies he they defeated the army of Napoleon bonapart and above it is a a picture of africanamerican Muslim women and again this this I want you to see that this these e ancient Egypt these are Muslim women some in the Nation of
Islam some Sunni these are people that are united by a par a common worldview and a common social cultural stamp if you dig enough in the history in the in the manuscripts if you dig enough within you you find this beautiful River of flowing through all of
Us the next thing we want to talk about is the original message to the black man and woman right many of you are familiar with the book by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad message to the black man before his message to the black man Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam sent
A message to the black man and on the left of the screen this here is an actual copy of the letter that he sent during his lifetime peace and blessings be upon him to the king of Ethiopia to the Emperor of Ethiopia which was a superpower of the time there were four
Superpowers Ethiopia or what that’s that was also called that was called abisinia or habasha there was uh Persia there was Byzantine Rome and China those were the superpowers during the time of prophet Muhammad s alaihi wasallam and abisinia Ethiopia greater Ethiopia was the only was the only superpower that
Embraced Islam whose leader embraced Islam and many not just anashi and the the the leader of of Ethiopia that time the prophet Muhammad sallu alaihi wasallam loved and sent this a beautiful letter to his name wasb you should know his namej I’m going to write it in the chat IB
Abjar I’m sorry the auto correct changed the spelling there you go and he was known for his wisdom and his piety and the letter we’re going to read the translation of the letter that Prophet Muhammad Sall alaihi wasallam sent to him but this letter really again it’s
Prophet Muhammad’s message to all of us not just to as as you’ll see and it gave birth to this great city of har Ethiopia right that when you enter it you see this sign city of Peace Ethiopia is known for its peaceful coexistence of Christians and Jews and
Muslims going back to ancient times this city of har brothers and sisters is a city that’s built based on the Quran it has five gates around it for the five pillars of Islam there are 114 mids 114 mosques in the city of har for the each mosque represents one Surah of the 114
Chapters of the Quran and on and on and on if you go to Har it’s as if you’re walking in a city that is a living Quran and this is something that is critical and integral to our world view black Muslims are people of embodiment we’re people who aren’t just interested
In reciting and reading and learning that’s outside of us we believe in embodying knowledge so we wear it if you read Dr Bilal we’s book walking Quran he goes into depth into to this this particular aspect of our culture and this sister here is she’s making coffee
Allah blessed the there’s a there’s an oral tradition uh in Ethiopia that that Coffee started in Ethiopia those of you who can’t make that make go through your day without one or two cups of coffee that’s part of our tradition right and in Ethiopia only the women only women
Are allowed to roast coffee and to brew coffee right it’s a and it’s a very sacred thing they they actually burn frankincense when they make the coffee they uh say prayers and they make Dua and you know they go to from house to house in The Villages and the towns it’s
An event it’s very sacred this is the letter of prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam written to anashi Rewritten by my teacher Sheik Muhammad Sharif who’s not just a historian and a scholar but also a calligrapher and a martial artist among many things so this is in the handwriting
This one in color that you see here superimposed on top of the manuscript the original manuscript is written by an African-American Muslim scholar who came out of the Nation of Islam he was in the fruit of Islam when he was a young man right and he made the
Transition with IM Muhammad and then he went on to study in Sudan and and and and now he uh is one of the ambassadors and inheritors of the legacy of the great Muslim scholar manbo may Allah have mercy upon all of them so this is the letter that Prophet
Muhammad s Ali wasallam sent I hope you all have seen this before we call this the original message to the black man because this is what the prophet sent in the name of Allah the beneficent the merciful from Muhammad the messenger of Allah to the great neas of abisinia
Peace be upon he who follows the guidance as to what follows verily for you I praise Allah the one whom there is no deity except him the soul King the holy the source of peace the protector and the guardian these are the from the beautiful names of Allah I bear witness
That Jesus the son of Mary is a spirit belonging to Allah and his word which he cast into the chaste and excellent Virgin Mary she thus became pregnant by means of his spirit and his inspiration with Jesus in the same manner that he created Adam with his hand verily I
Invite you to Allah the one who has no partner and to Friendship continuity and government in obedience to him the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam was did not call the Ethiopians and by extension black people because the Arabs saw Ethiopia the habasha abin is representing black Africa this is very clear in the books
Of Arab Muslim geographers and historians we and the I call you to Friendship continu is the word in Arabic and government in obedience to him I invite you to follow me and to have absolute certainty with what I have come with verily I’m the messenger of Allah and I invite you and
Your government forces to Allah the mighty and the Majestic it wasn’t it was it was to anashi theas and to his forces and to his people thus I have delivered the message and given you counsel therefore accept my counsel peace be upon he who follows the guidance and an when he read this
Letter you know what he did he didn’t do what KRA of Persia did of Persia you know what he did he ripped up the letter of the Prophet Sall alaihi wasallam and killed the Ambassador and when the prophet sallallah alhi wasall heard of it he said may Allah rip his kingdom to shreds
As he ripped my letter to shreds and in a few years Persia fell to the Romans right you don’t mess with a prophet but what did as what did the negers do when he read this letter he took it brothers and sisters he got down off of his throne he
Walked onto the floor of his court he took the letter and kissed it and then he put it over his eyes and he called for one of his courtiers to bring a beautiful box they brought the box he folded the letter he perfumed it look at the
Veneration and the esteem he showing a letter from the last prophet sent to humanity and then he closed the box and he told everyone present as long as we take care of this letter as long as we preserve this letter our kingdom will be protected by God
So this love for Prophet Muhammad sallu alaihi wasallam this respect for the messenger of Allah again is something that is key to the spirituality of black people of black Muslims in the next slide we look at this Hadith from Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam piece and blessings be upon him
Who said the leaders of black people are four lman the Ethiopian and this is a manuscript depicting lukman that Surah lman is named after he was known as lukman the sage L man the wise The neas Who we’ve been talking about bil and who we all know about and this Ayah
That weal that we started with the Ayah that the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah those with the most tawa the most consciousness of God that Ayah that Allah’s created you uh uh from a single male female major to Nations and tribes that Ayah was revealed when
Prophet Muhammad sallah alaihi wasallam had ordered Bel to call the Adan on top of the Kaa on the day of the liberation of Mecca that’s when that Ayah was revealed in Surah 49 Ayah 13 and there was some non-muslim Arabs who were saying couldn’t Muhammad find anyone better than this black crow to
Call the and other disparaging remarks and then Allah sent that Ayah as if to say our Scholars say this is not me saying it this is what Muslim Scholars have said Allah’s telling these these Arabs you think you’re better than Bilal Bilal is better than you not
Because of the color of his skin but because of the consciousness of God that is in his heart and then Prophet Muhammad got bless him and Grant him peace he recited these a this Ayah and informed them of what Gabriel Angel Gabriel had had had he he he he you know informed Prophet
Muhammad sallu alaihi wasall of their s conversations insulting s when he was calling the and then they knew that there was no way he could have known that unless he had some spiritual some Divine uh means and so they they also became Muslim the ones who have been insulting Bel they became
Muslim I want to talk about our time is just about up I’m going to go through this very quickly very quickly I’m not even going to go through all of these architecture in the top right I’m sorry the top left these are Sudanese pyramids most of the pyramids are in Sudan not in
Egypt this is the sanor mosque in timbuk look at the similarity and then down here in the far in the bottom left is the First African Baptist Church in Savannah Georgia that had that with the red doors when if you have a red door in Savannah Georgia that meant
That you own you a black person who owned your property and I can tell you so many stories about this church it was built by Muslims and if you ever go to Savannah Georgia ask for look up day clean tours day clean clean towards brother Jamal T
He didn’t ask me to do this he’s a Muslim brother he’s like a cross between uh Dr Ivan vanera and uh you know Sinbad or Dave Chappelle he’s he’s he’s he’s a he’s a incredible scholar and he’s hilarious hilarious right but he will show you all of the different Muslim artifacts in
This church and it was also used on the Underground Railroad this I’m in Houston right now this is the mash the old Mas building of mash Al Islam where Imam Faruk was in Houston Texas on Belford and then next to it is the new building that Imam Ali built
Based off of the S Masjid so this architectural design of the using the pyramid shape is something that we have kept as a people quickly I don’t have time to go through this Hadith but this is a Hadith about entertainment and music uh in the time of the Prophet Sall alaihi wasallam I’m
Just going to quickly show these are pictures of our musical Heritage the JBE drum the the Kora that sister Sona jabate Pharaoh Sanders John col train the JBE was used to call people to come hear the Quran and the scholars would have people play the Quran interpreting using the cadences of suras
Of the Quran are you are you all following me they would play the same rhythms of suras for the people and then weeks later they would start to recite those suras and the scholars would have them translated into the local languages and so the people were now hearing and
Arabic and in their traditional language what they’ve been listening to interpreted musically when I listen to John C Train’s Love Supreme for me that’s a commentary on alhamdulillah John col train became Muslim and Allah Love Supreme was supposed to originally have been Allah Supreme and the late Pharaoh Sanders who
Just passed you know Allah have mercy upon he was a another of these Jazz musicians who are Muslim who use their music to transmit Islam this is on poetry we don’t have time for this but this is a great these are two great books three great books
Andana capona Sheik am Dua a peacemaker for our time capona was a poet on her deathbed she gave advice to her daughter on how to be a woman how to be a mother how to be a wife in Swahili and that poem is recorded it is amazing
One woman’s Jihad is a book about Nana who was the daughter of IMO and then I was going to talk about rights of Passage we’re going to share that for another for part two maybe in we’re going to talk about rights of Passage and we have a tradition of how to bring
Men and boys into adulthood that goes back all the way to ancient Egypt in the book roots not the movie the first 5070 pages is all about the rights of Pastor the fruit of Islam the Muslim girls training these were all ways of bringing boys and girls
Into manhood because if we don’t they will go to gangs they will go to the military they will go to frats fraternities and sororities to to be initiated into manhood and Womanhood and in the bottom this this is a clip screenshot of an interview I do
With one of my teachers Imam f j about his rights of Passage in Gambia that is still living it’s a living tradition and so in conclusion uh brothers and sisters a few books that I highly recommend black pilgrimage to Islam by Robert Dannon he speaks about the the
This River of Islam particularly in the United States so he mentions people from you know F Muhammad honorable Elijah Muhammad to Mother Clara Muhammad Haj akam IM D Fel uh s Khadijah Fel uh he talks about many of the different movements the DAR Islam movement and uh the the
The march of Islam and Muslims sham jab and Malcolm exj Malik shabaz and you know shik Isam Jabra and his family in Newark New Jersey and you know it’s a very very diverse history the next book is uh the book I help to translate on the history of black people
In early Islam the next book is by Silva dof who used to work at the shamberg center in Harlem Servants of Allah African Muslims enslaving the Americas IM Illuminating the Blackness on blacks and African Muslims in Brazil by Habib akand women of the nation by Dr Jamila
Kareim Muslim cool by Dr suad Abdul Kabir about race religion and hip hop in the United States these are all all incredible references for seeing our history our culture and its beautiful tapestry and this is the book that aunti fitra that you had asked me about this
Is where I got the title from Vincent Harding who was a legend who was a Doan of black history uh and he talks about our struggle for Freedom as a river and as Muslims we are part of that struggle we are are we we sail on that River and
I had the pleasure of meeting his wife when I was in Atlanta a few years ago who’s still carrying on his work and we’ll talk about all these people another time inshallah uh I will end with this I am planning a trip to Sagal and Gambia I’m taking a tour uh we
If you are available we would love to have you join us for a 10-day tour of sagon and Gambia and uh my wife and I also sponsor this lovely organize this lovely family Retreat every year the black Muslim family Retreat the last one was August 4th uh and inshallah next
Year will be in July so if you’re interested feel free to contact me it’s for the whole family every age it’s something for everybody alhamdulillah so thank you again forgive me for going over a bit but I I’m going to pass it back to auntie fitra thank you thank you thank you so
Wow um I I don’t even know where to begin there’s questions um I’m G to apologize to those who uh I am going to extend this uh uh to to answer some of these questions uh if you uh can stay on but before we go any further I saw saw
Because many of the people uh that are with us today um many came through the Nation of Islam I did um and so first of all I want to thank you for the references that you have made to the Nation of Islam uh because many of
Scholars uh uh they are beginning uh to recognize uh the vision and um and the and the guidance the Divine guidance that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad had I mean um and and and that’s okay I mean you know I don’t you know I’mma forgive them for not recognizing it when we did
Um but they are doing it today and and I want to commend you on that um and appreciate uh the fact that you you do recognize uh that that was a pathway that many many many in America came came uh to be here today uh studying the Quran and following the leadership of
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him uh I saw you had Imam Muhammad on there because many of the people on this uh platform today uh do did transition from the Nation of Islam uh uh or the continuity of from the Nation of Islam to under the teaching of uh Imam
Muhammad who led us to prophet Muhammad so I I do want you to kind of comment on Iman Muhammad because I know that you love him and I want the people on this platform to know you love and respect him yes thank you very much uh Auntie
Fitra you know when I first I I embraced Islam in 1993 and about 3 months later I went to morehous I went to morehous college and while I was at Morehouse one of the masjids I used to frequent was the Atlanta Masjid of al-islam yes when Imam pan alamin was the Imam there
And and that’s the main way I was introduced to Imam War Muhammad through Imam pan through shik ibraim Pasha and the other imams Imam Basim here in Houston and IM Yahya and and and and Imam wor Muhammad uh you know he was very instrumental and absolutely crucial for us making this
Connection between the the mental resurrection that and the economic resurrection that the honor Elijah Muhammad was able to with God’s help and as you said and and I and I agree with you with Allah’s guidance was able to Galvanize I’m not saying he was perfect
I’m not even going to get into all of that none of us are perfect none of us are perfect but Allah used him and use the thousands tens of thousands of men and women and children around him to make Islam a household name in the United States and to unite our people
And so I think it’s a I think we have to conect conect the dots that’s why I name this there is a river we must connect the dots CU if we reject that aspect of our Legacy we reject an aspect of what made us who we are and IM Muhammad used
To say he used to say study the Quran study the life of prophet Muhammad God bless him and Grant in peace study what produce me and study the rise and fall of Nations and so I think I I I do agree with you I think the more uh we mature as an umah
The more we’ll start to appreciate the path Allah created for us because there’s so much there’s so much value and and tremendous uh benefit in it and the steps that it took to take us from enslavement or the the the the the influence of enslavement uh to where we
Are today I mean and those steps uh I’m I have to say also included WD farad he was a part of that pathway for us to be where we are let let’s go on so please speak on the belief of some Muslims that believe that music and pictures in your
Home is Haram I mean I went to Sudan and they and they danc and and music was so so I saw you had the Hadith on music if you can let me let me bring that up real quick I I would appreciate that for those me about that okay back
Here someone else texted me about that okay here it is yeah this is related on the authority of our mother Aisha yes I’ll be pleased with her who reported that during the days of mina this is Hajj Abu Bakr may Allah be pleased with him came to her while there
Were two enslaved women with her they were beating drums and the prophet May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him was covering himself with his garment while he was lying down Abu Bakr rebuked the two women but the prophet uncovered his face and said oh Abu Bakr leave them leave
Them alone for these are the days of eat these are the days of festivities those were the days of mina Aisha added I was being screened by the prophet meaning covered from other from other men seeing her they were at the mosque while I was watching the Ethiopians performing in the mosque what
Were they doing the E the Ethiopians were not so some Scholars sadly and mistakenly they translate this word that I translate as performing as playing because the word is the Hadith is but it doesn’t mean they were playing the Ethiopians were when you look at the different versions of this Hadith the other
Rat you’ll see that they had their Shields they had swords they were not playing around these Ethiopians were doing a marshal dance they were doing a war dance in the mosque of prophet Muhammad sallahu alhi wasallam with music accompanying them and they were saying in their language in their native
Language Muhammad is a righteous servant of God among other Praises of prophet Muhammad s alaihi wasallam right and so then Omar rebuked them first it was Abu Bakr then said Omar comes and rebukes the Ethiopians but the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said leave them he told Omar leave them alone oh and
That was the name of this particular tribe of Ethiopians Banu means the children the children of arida or the tribe of arida play or meaning perform it is safe like don’t worry and this Hadith is in bukari and Muslim and it’s one of many a Hadith about about the
Permissibility of Music brothers and sisters and there’s a I’m going to share a link with you inshallah um I’m GNA leave this up just for a I’m gonna does everyone have this can I go did you take a picture with your phones okay I’m gonna share a link with
You yeah go ahead Auntie F uh this recording everyone knows but I’m I’m letting you know that this recording will be in the newsletter for a week and then it will be archived on the study al-islam website so people will be able to review this again and
Um again and again so that’s not a problem I I want to ask while you’re doing that I want to go to the next question I notice that Mendo left hand is missing did this occur during slavery yes uh yeah Imam mandal uh was uh initially enslaved on a
Plantation and while he was working on in the in slavery in Haiti was was more brutal it was more cruel than slavery was in North America and many of us know this when you study how they took human beings and broke them down the breaking down began in the
Islands in the Caribbean right and and it was it was hell that’s how they describe slavery in Haiti and what became the Dominican Republic the island of Hispanola it was hell and so he was working uh and his hand got caught in one of the machines and he lost his
Hand yeah so that’s why when he’s depicted by artists he’s often depicted with a hand missing and uh I see on here and and I certainly I’ll support a th% uh we have not done a good job of of uh I see from Amir as one of the board
Members here uh in Washington DC someone I work very closely with um we haven’t done a good job of passing down this history The Honorable Elijah Muhammad opened that up to us um you know you know in telling us about kings and queens and I mean things that we had
Never even heard of and because you know for us and Iman Muhammad you know he talks about we are new people uh because of our transition from Africa to America and that enslaved uh uh experience that we had it makes us a new people so you you you you
Commented on that and I just I I want the uh the listeners on here uh to know that one of the reasons that I invited you uh is because of your respect uh for the history uh that many on this platform have gone through and so
Because I don’t invite people on here to insult us um and and you have opened up a a doorway for us uh to want to know more and learn more about our Legacy that extends uh beyond our enslaved experience um so on your trip uh to
Gambia you need if you could send me a flyer or something that I can post in the newsletter for those who may want to go with you I have a trip in October to Ghana uh I’m taking a trip uh a group to Ghana in October of 2024 but I want to
Ask you about uh your um your research in Brazil so if there are those who may want to be a part of that research to learn uh is that a possibility that we could discuss that with you and absolutely okay yes absolutely I would love to take
A small group uh okay me not more than 20 people how how long are you planning to stay we’re planning to I’m planning to stay for one week okay for one week and I’m I’m posting um I’m post I just posted a link okay incredible article on music in Islam
Uh by brother desam brookens who is a a a novelist he’s a he’s a uh musician uh and he’s a he’s a poet spoken word poet and I highly recommend reading it it’s titled music Islam uh it’s uh wind string instruments in Fear of a Black
Planet uh those of you that are hip-hop heads you know about the Fear of a Black Planet from Public Enemy and then there’s a link here to the tour of Sagal and Gambia that I’m doing with Bayon Islamic graduate school that’s a 10day tour we’re planning the Brazil uh tour
Uh to be in next September for one week okay inall okay so um but I still need to get this information in order this we will have this discussion so uh you know I need to invite you back um I would be honored alhamdulillah I mean you can see there’s
Like 211 people and you know and some of them have double have families and there uh uh groups that have written me that they have study groups that are on here and so uh we have to set some time up uh for you to come back and do some
Consecutive Sunday talks so that we don’t so we can continue the continuity uh in these um in this history which is extremely important uh important to us you know Imam again I want to say about the honorable Elijah Muhammad uh may he be in the highest
Place in Paradise you know he kept us from being colonized and we didn’t understand that at the time but it prepared us for Imam Muhammad to tell us to be free thinkers to think for ourself because if if if if the colonizers would have it we wouldn’t be listening to any
Any music although we know music music is a part of those drums when you hear them are Spirit it it it rises us to an occasion that we just that is is is unexplainable absolutely and and the thing about music well one of the things there’s so many things we could we could
Just give a we could have a whole presentation just on music but one of the most profound things I’ve learned about music is that music reminds us of the time when it reminds our soul of the time when we were Spirits with Allah that that is something that we
Need to speak more about this is what again this is I’m not making this up this is what Muslim Scholars have written about but it’s been I I don’t want to say it’s been kept from us I’ll just say it hasn’t been brought to for
Until until now uh I see a question in the chat about rights of Passage it’s something I’m very passionate about uh anyone who’s involved in it who wants to work on it you mentioned Imam Talib you know earlier uh you know when we were texting each other I know that they have
A wonderful rights of Passage program we need rights of Passage programs because if you don’t initiate young people into adulthood they will do it themselves yeah and for young men if you don’t take boys on on a journey if the men of the community again the men and usually
Writes a passage was not done by a father for a son it was done by the men of the community if you do not take of boys on journeys of powerlessness my son’s waving at me on on journeys of powerlessness they will always abuse their power circumcision rights if you watch
That video I I’ll post that in the link as well the video I did with uh Imam F I’ll post it for you it’s on YouTube on writes of Passage the men of the community the Elders of the community they would take the boys out for two weeks for a month for two
Months teach them not just how to survive they taught them how to survive in the wild how to swim how to wrestle self-defense but they also taught them how to be a father how to be a husband how to respect their Elders when I was in
Gambia I asked one of my friends what is the main teaching you got when you in writes a passage and he told me to be respectful and respectable to respect God to respect creatures your God’s creation to respect your elders to respect the young to respect your brothers and he said to respect
Yourself this is this is just a little bit of I mean I can’t even go into but what what all the things I share the video uh and and your comments again I I I have to say this because I have a lot of pioneers on here and many times
They’ve they have felt uh marginalized by the by the general uh Muslim population and they have lived Allah subhana wa ta’ala has uh allowed them to live long enough to see that the honorable Muhammad who cre AED a right to passage uh through uh the classes that he established uh for the brothers
Uh and they were taught by men and the classes that he established for women uh and that were taught by women and just so that the uh listeners know because we got a lot of Imam TBS around we’re talking about Imam Talib in Harlem he has a great uh program for rights of
Passage for young men and so anyone who knows him should feel free to call him and discuss the program that they have uh he is uh uh in Harlem New York I think he’s in Harlem I’m not sure but he he is Def Harlem yes he’s in Harlem yes
If I could just say something about the Auntie for all the Pioneers that are listening that are watching know that we need you yes absolutely still need you we need you to teach us we need to hear your stories we should be listening to you instead of watching Netflix and Hulu
And you know all these streaming we that’s what we used to do we used to sit at the feet of our elders and listen to the history listen to the lessons that they learned we we need you still and we need your blessing we need you to pass the Baton
When you’re ready and when you feel comfortable we need your support still to this day and and if and and I want to ask your forgiveness anytime that you felt marginalized or ignored or that your experience that your knowledge your wisdom uh was not valued then know that that I apologize
For that for whatever that is worth on behalf of all the brothers and sisters that have not seen and heard you but this is a new time it is of young brothers and sisters like myself as Auntie F said have woken up and we see the importance of your
Struggle your sacrifice of your legacy and we want to give you your flowers while you and us are still alive am me that’s a blessing i my intention is to invite uh sister zarena elamine out of Detroit uh she has uh been doing amazing work of preserving our history and she
Has a book uh that’s titled 50 black Muslim Elders share stories of faith and community life and so I am asking I’m waiting for her to come back she’s out of the country she’s in Japan and I’m waiting for her to come back and then I am also going to invite another sister
Uh two sisters actually uh from Washington DC Carol mman and Monica uh to talk about a book that they published and sister saisa please don’t let me forget sister saisa but they published a book here on the on the on some of the history of Washington DC and it takes
You back to as early as they could find pictures and stories up to the present day time so I am I I I am working on that but yes uh so it’s 11:13 um and uh so I will inshallah uh uh have you back if if time
Will allow you and uh I just want to thank you I see uh that you have a there’s a lot of uh uh uh learned people uh and I consider them Scholars uh on here uh that are listening to you uh I see Clyde who Clyde elamine from Chicago
I have great dis uh great respect for and he his comment was you know that the the enslavers did not allow us to beat the drums uh because of that reconnection between the sound of the drums in our spirit um and amongst other things I see we have Dr am on here uh
And she’s saying when are you g to be back so if there are no questions are there any questions before we let our Imam go um if not I and it’s this has been an amazing presentation and and I’m so grateful for it everyone is saying great presentation I think everybody is
Overwhelmed right now so uh why don’t we give you um the uh last comments and then we’ll uh askam Omar who is one of our Pioneers uh to close us in prayer uh I will would the the last comments I I want to leave you with is
Simply for those of you that are our elders are pioneers uh know that there’s there are hundreds thousands of brothers and sisters who are waiting to hear from you to write your stories down to go through your photo albums so we can uh put together these these oral histories and and and
Written histories uh we need you to teach us everything that you’ve experienced that you’re able to transmit and convey to those that are my age who are in who are middle age in their 40s and 50s I want to say that it’s time for us to work together we may have different
Methodologies different understandings different perspectives we need Unity we need political economic we need cultural Unity we need operational unity and for those that are younger than me those that are in their 30s and their 20s and if you’re a a teenager watching this I want you to I want you to find your
Local africanamerican mid plug in be of service learn as much as you can uh from the the the men and the women that are there serve the community and be an asset go to Africa go to the Caribbean go to South America go to go to East Georgia you’ll travel
Go to Louisiana go to Africa Alabama little Africa there’s so much work for us to do there’s so much work for us to do on on on every front so let’s let’s work together there’s a lot of efforts that are that are going on around the
Country and uh we need everyone to have their hands up and their heads about making Dua at night for success thank you Auntie fitra for inviting me as a guest and and uh thank you all for listening uh you I I don’t I don’t take your time and
Attention for granted may Allah bless you and your families and and uh Allah supports uh Allah tells us in the Quran uh in Surah uh 17 Ayah 23 and 24 he says your lord has decreed do not worship any but him be good to your parents and should both
Or any one of them attain old age with you do not say to them even fee neither chide them but speak to them with respect and be humble and tender to them and say Lord show Mercy to them and we know that in the African tradition that our parents are tribe it is
Everyone uh that uh uh lives together and any one of the mothers or any one of the fathers could be apparent to us so uh Allah tells us and warns us in the Quran of how we should behave before we go there is salahudin uh I’m gonna let you ask the
Last question and then we’re going to close in prayer salahi you you know salahudin I know him very it’s one of my uncles I know him very well Salah ask your question and make sure it’s a question and not a comment I don’t want to cut you off take yourself off and mute
Salahudin okay I don’t know what’s going on with him I didn’t have a question uh I just I probably hit that accidentally but I just wanted to commend you sister sister uh mother uh for the program and getting our getting our guest she Muhammad men who have known for years
This was a a program that will help to set in motion uh some events that are going to manifest a new level a new gear a new shift in our direction towards unity and Liberation amen okay Imam Omar are you there Imam Omar is is one of our
Pioneers and he’s one of our older imams Imam Omar he’s there sister fitra but take yourself off of mute Imam Omar and close us in prayer Imam Omar I think he’s trying to do his audio from a different device so I’m not sure that that’s going to work for us okay Imam Omar
Oh take yourself off of mute okay he’s trying look at that beautiful gray hair he has oh my God yeah it looks like he’s trying to do it from her phone I don’t knowes if you can close us in prayer we’re going to close Imam Omar we’re going to go I hate that
May Allah bless IM Omar may Allah preserve him and his family may Allah give him every good every ease with the name of Allah the most beneficent the most merciful all praise and thanks belong to Allah the Lord of all systems of knowledge the most beneficent the most
Merciful Master of the day of judgment you alone do we serve you alone do we ask for help guide us to the straight path the path of those you have favored not those those upon whom is wrath nor those who have gone astray oh Allah we ask that you send blessings
Upon our leader Muhammad and upon the family of our leader Muhammad as you have blessed our leader Abraham and the family of our leader Abraham indeed you are praiseworthy and glorious oh Allah we thank you for this session we thank you for the brothers and the sisters in
Faith and human ity that shared these minutes with us we thank you for the knowledge and the wisdom the questions and the answers and we thank you for what we have heard and what we have seen oh Allah we ask your help we ask for Success from you in realizing all of the
Noble intentions that have been made all of the goals that have been made in our life times we ask for complete and total Liberation spiritual economic and cultural for our people and for all oppressed people in our lifetimes oh Allah we ask that you make us among those whom you love
And that you keep us in the company of Those whom you love oh Allah we ask that you reconcile our hearts we pray for our brothers and sisters who are suffering in Gaza in Palestine we pray for reconciliation for peace and for justice Ya Allah oh Allah we ask that you
Fulfill all of our needs those we know about and those we do not know about we pray for the study alislam team for Auntie fitra and sister Marsha and their families and the families of all of those who contribute their time and their money and their talent uh to
Disseminate uh this knowledge Allah oh Allah we pray for our country we pray for our fellow creatures we ask oh Allah that you have mercy upon them and that you give goodness and guidance to all of the children of Adam peace and blessings be upon Him Allah A mean and for those who are asking about the newsletter we have to include Naima Muhammad who makees sure that that newsletter gets out every week go to study Al islam.com uh and make sure you subscribe so that the information uh that you heard today and all of the
Trips that our dear brother is going to be planning that we can go I’m looking to go to Brazil inshallah on this study group I’m telling you that right now but anyway so until next week inshallah uh again I do want to thank the study al-islam team Mara and Naima uh announ
Sammy who is a part of it I I could not do this without them so I’m forever grateful to them may Allah continue to bless you and and keep you safe and we’ll see you next week asalamu allaikum
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