Black History Month Special – Africans and Islam

Bismillah Ar Rahman AR Rahim hamdulillahi Rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa salam ala Salle our Lima architeam Nabina Muhammad, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa barik wa sallam. Our prayers are due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be constantly showered upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad, the master of the first and the last, and upon his family, his companions and all those who call to his way to the Day of Judgment. To those in the viewing audience, my brothers and sisters Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Alhamdulillah this is a great opportunity for us to reflect on something to do with Islam and the world. And in particular, we are in Black History

Month, and this month in February, has been designated as a type of anti racism,

self esteem building,

clearing up falsities. This is a very important time. And we know from history that in 1926

kata Woodson and some of the historians Afro American historians felt that there have been so many omissions where people of African descent who were brought into the Western world were actually taken out of history. And we use the term black meaning people of color of African descent. The reality that Woodson cottagey, Woodson and people like him found was that there are over 10 million people who were forcibly transported from the shores of Africa into the Americas, meaning South America, Central America and North America, they were transported into this part of the world, as political prisoners and chattel slaves. And it was upon their backs, that the very infrastructure of

the Western countries in the Americas were built. This is something that is completely omitted from history. And when historians who are focusing on African people actually go through the omissions into the reality, some of the people actually lose their mind.

But the concept of African Black History Month is to right the wrongs, it is to bring back more of the reality of the presence of all the peoples in the Americas. And that missing section of black people here in the West. And he originally started in the middle of February, calling a black history week. It was then adopted by the United States government in 1976. Finally, and by the Canadian government in 1995. And the concept itself is that liberation and freedom is both physical and mental. The physical liberation is the freedom from slavery, the abolition,

the declaration of emancipation Emancipation Proclamation in the United States. This is really the physical liberation, but the full liberation comes mentally. And that is that the slavery of the mind, we as some people consider themselves to be superior, because of the history and their past, and other people consider themselves to be inferior. And this has an impact on relationships. And it has reached a very critical point now in the 21st century. Although this whole movement started in the 20th century, we can see now in the 21st century, that racism, white supremacy is actually getting worse than it was in the 20th century. And so this type of reflection is needed more than at

any other time.

The question I might say, Well, why will Muslim Muslims involved in this, because Islam is a religion of all peoples is religion, not just of Africa, and it is in Arabian peninsula. The reality of Islam is that it was given to people of all nations that all tribes, prophets were sent to China, Africa, India, the Americas, all parts of the world. Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him was the seal of the prophets and in his life, we find that he was very much concerned about the Brotherhood of Islam. He was very much concerned with even racism, acts of racism, acts of prejudice and bias, the code and itself with the revealing of Sorrell

Look, man, who was a Nubian man from Africa, a wise man. There's a whole chapter dedicated to an African men. And this, in a sense, is a reminder to people, that Islam is not the religion of the light skinned over the dark skin of the Arab over the non Arab, but it is the religion of all people. So therefore, if we reflect With this in mind, we see that Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him was concerned, and was involved with African people, right from his the inception of his life. And that is the fact that a man of Baraka, may Allah be pleased with her, who was the Abyssinian dry nurse of the Prophet peace be upon him. And when his mother Amina, passed

away,

she was given the responsibility to become, in a sense, not only his nurse, but his stepmother. And the Prophet peace be upon him used to refer to her as Omi. And you see her relationship. And she even says that, from that point, when I'm in a passed away, I never left him. So she was always with him, either physically or spiritually. This is an African woman. And this is not just as a servant or as a slave, because later on in the in the meccan period,

she was freed.

And she became part of his household. And she stayed as one of the trusted and respected companions all the way through his life and even after his death, she was given a great respect. We also find that when she married Zaid or the last one, that our son, Osama Ebony's aid, you may Allah be pleased with him was a great companion. And he is for all intents and purposes, an African looking person, you know that the whole expression of African Arab, light skinned, dark skinned white, and black. These are terminologies that are different at different points in time, when you actually go into the lease and out of the Arab dictionaries, you find that the US far

the the the yellow, or the lighter skinned people were actually the Europeans. The panorama is really more people of the North, the Persians and Russians and people like this. So the way Arabs are described in the early texts is brown and black. And normally, Muslim writers do not go into the details of race like that, because not necessary to us, however, because racism, because the complexion of your skin has become so fundamental. in society, we have this apartheid thinking, and that is where the lighter you are, is, the higher you are in society, the more beautiful people feel that you are, and the darker you are, is actually the low UI in many parts of the world. So

therefore, again, it's crucial to break the mental chains. Although Islam liberates people, although slavery was basically being wiped out, in the time of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. The Prophet freed, you know, the slaves, all the companions freed them, there is no documented evidence of slave raiding in the time of the companions. The concept was basically being phased out. But Islam is one thing and Muslims are another thing. And so people entering into Islam, from the other nations brought in their own biases, they brought in their concepts and so as it wasn't the time of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Racism had to be dealt with. And of course people know about

saya de Bilbao rhodiola one, the great companion, and normally you know, if you say were there black people with the Prophet, people will say, blah, but the average person does not know that Bilal had a brother. His name was Khalid Eben rubba radula one and he actually had a system of Fira bit rubber or the Lackawanna. The average person doesn't know this. The average person also doesn't know that amongst the high ranking readers of the court and maybe in the top five was Salim Mohler, Eben Abu Deva are the law one and he was described as a dark skinned African men and you can continue with the companions the July beep, you can continue on even in Medina period. Say that Mohammed bin

muslimah radilla one who is considered to be the night of the Prophet peace be upon him because his horsemanship and because of his courage,

He was a black man who was living in Medina. So literally, the concept of blackness and Africanist is something that was literally part of the companions, right from the beginning. And when the Quraysh used to describe

the companions of the Prophet peace be upon him in Mecca, they would generally say, the slaves, the lower class people. So fundamentally, if you look at the Prophet peace be upon him and those who were with him.

It was an anti oppression, anti racism type of movement, in that the majority of the companions were people of lower class. They were also people slaves. And, of course, slavery was not just African slavery in the Arabian Peninsula at that time, because the great companions, like salamander and fantasy radilla one who was from Persia, he was a slave parts of his life. So hey, by Rumi, the Iraqi man who looked like a European, he was also a slave, although we have blond hair and blue eyes, so slavery was not based upon color, it was based upon the the the oppression, it was based upon the fact that people were subjugated. And, however,

there were certain features, because of the power of the Romans and the Persians. And because of people's own bias, that were looked down upon certain features that were considered to be,

you know, good features Chambal on earth that the Arabs described, you know, the hawk knows, you know, you know, type of thing as being like a beautiful thing. Although it is not, you know, in many cultures of the world.

The key issue now is that the early companions in Mecca, are basically brown skin.

dark skinned people, with some Arabs who may have been lighter skin, but they are really a type of colored group. And these terminologies we don't normally use. But in this month, Black History Month, we are trying to open up the box to take out your missions, what actually happened on the ground.

One of the key movements in the meccan period, this is the fifth year after the Prophet would was at the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. When his companions were being oppressed and killed and tortured. He told them, go to Alabama,

go to Ethiopia. In it, there is a king who does not oppress and does not allow oppression. It is a land of truth. He allowed to sit.

He said, this is a truthful land. Go there until you're different difficulties have been relieved. So the Shah had here the witness is that before Islam went north to Syria, before it went to Iraq,

before it went to Yemen before it went to Pakistan before it went to Indonesia. It went to Africa. And this is something that people have to come to grips with that the early generation were an oppressed group of people fighting against slavery, fighting against bias and tribalism, and racism. And they took refuge with African people across the Red Sea.

When they reached across the Red Sea of sama, and Natasha readalong one who was the Ethiopian or the Abyssinian ruler of the aksumite Empire.

He not only accepted the Muslims but he embraced Islam. And Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was reported to have prayed salata janaza little tube, and this is the funeral prayer for the absent person when the new joshy had died, and the Prophet was informed. And so

early Muslims seeking refuge was an African King. Again, this is the prophet of Islam. This is a Christian King, unity. These are press people in Mecca. These are African people, and when they hear the court and when the Ethiopians hear the court and they say, the joshy is reported to upset that really this is nothing different between us and he shed tears when he heard the message of Allah subhanaw taala in the Arabic language. And so, what is not known by people about this period there in a publisher is that when the final digital was called, and that is the migration from Mecca to Medina to yathrib. When that was finally called

After 13 years in Mecca, over 32 abyssinians migrated along with the companions, who had taken refuge there in alhaja, in Ethiopia, and so that early community, in Medina and this is a very interesting concept. That early community in Medina was basically made up of Hijazi Arabs, that is Arabs from Mecca, and Medina, also college and African people who have embraced Islam and Ethiopians abyssinians, who had come across. So think about this early generation now. It is basically an oppressed group of people, mostly a brown skin and black skin, and their level of character. their level of implementation of Islam is so high that Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him,

says in many ways, Pharaoh NASS colony to Medina, your Luna home to Medina, your Luna, the best generation is my generation, then the one that follows it, and then the one that follows it.

And so, if we can now take out the omissions in our mind, cognitive dissonance, this is when the mind flashes on another image, like the way the Christians flash on Jesus Christ, on easily Islam as being a European person, right cognitive dissonance, this this concept of a light skinned Arab and a dark skinned African. This is not the reality of early Islam. And in this month, we need to make this clear, so that people begin to understand that

Africa and Islam have always been

intricately connected. We also find that when Islam spreads, that people of North Africa, the people of West Africa, and then eventually up the Nile and Sudan,

Somalia, East Africa, they embrace Islam in large numbers. And we find that there are many great scholars of Islam. There are luminaries, there are male and female, pious people, we find that Islam integrates itself into African culture. Because again, when we talk about Islam, we're talking about monotheism. We're talking about good character, we're talking about unity, we're talking about tight families. And so that is something that existed in Africa, as it did in other parts of the world. When I traveled in Africa, I found that this is the only continent where every single language has a way of saying, one God.

So the concept of tawheed, was actually already on the African continent. And what the message of Islam did was to, to enhance it. And to connect it with people of tawheed, of oneness, who are in North Africa, who are later in Al Andalus, Spain, who are in Middle East, who are in far Asia. It connected African Muslims to the rest of the world. And we find that in West Africa, there are great individuals, Islam spreads across the desert. And again, it's mainly taken by merchants. It's not conquering armies that go across. And even in the case of the Marathi tune almoravids in the 11th century, the actual reports, written in Arabic by the early people show that the Marathi tune came

into West Africa. And this is a great North African movement. They came into West Africa, and they spread Islam. And they literally came into the empire of Ghana, you know, and the king stayed in place, and they spread it right across. So Islam was spread by merchants and people who are calling to the good and forbidding evil. Some interesting names. There is in the Mali Empire. There is the great Abu Bakar Mansa Abu Bakar, who is the Emir of Mali who goes into the Atlantic Ocean with 2000 ships. Mali was a great empire and had the largest gold reserve in the world at the time. There was also Mansa Musa,

who was considered to be the richest man who ever lived on earth. And if you go online, you will see Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire. There is also a skier Mohammed touray, of the Songhai Empire. There is shackled man den folio

Sokoto caliphate. There is Haji Omar tall. There are so many great scholars and leaders and who lead hundreds and 1000s of people

in Islamic entities throughout West Africa, and it goes right across Central Africa, to Sudan, East Africa, you will find the roll. So what I'm saying is, is that when we in the Americas, when we find that one third of the slaves and political prisoners were taken to the west, were Muslims. And we find amongst the African slaves, scholars, we find people who are resisting slavery, we find leaders male and female, we find the concept of tawheed oneness of God, unity of humanity, we find to harder, purity, we find calling to the good forbidding evil. This is part of the legacy that was given by the first generation, which is basically made up of brown skin, black skin, people who are

oppressed, who were enslaved. And the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said, Pharaoh nurse cottony to Medina, you Luna home to Medina, your Luna home, the best people is in my generation, then the one that follows and then the one that follows, this is a different concept. We are taking off the lid of our mental slavery and opening up the reality of Islam, opening up the reality of Africa, opening up the reality that this is the message for all people and African people have enjoyed it, and will enjoy it inshallah, to the day to the Day of Resurrection. I leave you with these thoughts. And I asked a lot to have mercy on me and you are salam wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh