Ammar Alshukry – The Importance of Black History

			In Al Hamdulillah Muhammad who wants to know who and so
		

			when our od below him and surely unforeseen our miss a tiara Marina Mejia de la la la
		

			la la la la la la la la la la la sharika was shadow under Mohammed Abu hora solo Sophia human silica
de la bella risotto Adela man Osama rakumargin Mahajan way La
		

			Ilaha salatu salam RA, Rebel de la la kulula zojirushi kita will carry me bada ooh Billahi min ash
shaytani r Rajim Mia Ayala Dena mana taco la haka, toccata,
		

			Mouton. Illa. And to Muslim moon. Allah says in the Quran, oh you who believe fear Allah as he
deserves to be feared and do not die except in a state of Islam.
		

			And Allah says Xia yohanna suta hora, Bakula de Hala Kakuma enough Singh wahida wahala caminho jaha
Wasserman who Marija Lanka 01 Isa de la la da de la una de Waal or hub in the LA con la cumbre Kiba
theva. Allah says, oh, mankind, all mankind fear your Lord who created you from a single soul and
produced from that soul its mate, and made from their combination many men and women. So fear your
Lord whom you ask each other by and by the ties of kinship Verily, Allah is Ever watchful over you.
And Allah says, Yeah, are you ready? No. mana taco la kulu Ponce de de la cama cama de la cama de
Nova Kumamoto, a la hora Sula, who oppose and alima Allah says, Oh, you who believe. If you're a lot
		

			and say that which is upright say that which is correct, he will correct for you your deeds, and
forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys a line His messenger that he is indeed victorious.
		

			As for what follows. I wanted to begin this whole by mentioning a man by the name of au Sulayman dlo
Rahim Allah tala, also known as job Ben Solomon, and he was a famous Muslim who is a victim of the
transatlantic slave trade. He was the descendant of imams in Gambia.
		

			And he had gone to sell some cattle. And in the process, he was captured by a Mandingo tribe. And he
was sold into slavery onto a boat
		

			that was destined to Maryland, in the United States of America.
		

			And so him being an EMR himself,
		

			when he reached Maryland, and he was sold to a tobacco plantation owner.
		

			His life had took very unusual courses. It's very strange. He was sold, and the physical labor that
he was supposed to do. He couldn't do it. He wasn't fit for it.
		

			And one day while he was praying,
		

			one of the children made fun of him and ridiculed him. And so he decided to flee.
		

			And when he fled, you can imagine what would happen to a slave who was recaptured, and he was
recaptured.
		

			But all they did was put him in prison.
		

			None of the beading and the torture. None of that happened to you, Rahim Allah.
		

			He was in prison. And there he met a lawyer or British lawyer who was impressed. He was so educated,
he was so refined. He was so pious, this man. And he was impressed by the fact that he could read
and write in Arabic. He was an Imam, after all, that he could speak Arabic that he was fluent in
this language. And so he purchased him. And he took him with him to Britain.
		

			And a you even today, man, while in Britain became the talk of the town. People were so impressed
with his eloquence, they were suppressed with the English that he had learned already. They were
impressed by the fact that he could translate Arabic texts. And in fact, he wrote the foreword on
several times in Britain from memory.
		

			In the 1700s, he was included into a gentleman Society of intellectual thinkers in Britain. And he
was one of the few people who would eventually return home to Gambia from the slave trade.
		

			I wanted to begin sharing this story because a you have been sued a man
		

			his his picture is famous, by the way, there's a famous portrait that was drawn of him. And when he
was in Britain, and they had drawn his portrait, just think about that what slave has his portrait
drawn? Like he's some sort of dignified person in the community. But that was him. And when he the
the portrait was being
		

			drawn of him, he insisted on the painter, he said, You have to draw me don't draw me in these
British clothes that I'm wearing, you have to draw me in my traditional West African garb.
		

			And the painter said to him, Well, how am I supposed to draw you in that when I've never seen it, I
don't know what it looks like you're not wearing it. And so I began to describe to him what his
guard was. And so when you see the painting the picture, the picture is actually on the screens.
When you leave. It's a famous picture, you will see a man who is so dignified, and yet, he's wearing
clothes that he described, but he was insistent on it, because of his dignity. And that dignity
captured the imagination of Western abolitionists, who used him as an argument and as a proof that
the black man has a moral character that makes them deserving of equal rights of any white man in
		

			society.
		

			I wanted to talk today about history,
		

			for a number of reasons. One, we're in Black History Month, and it's important, but I wanted to
begin by talking about general history. I know talking of history is old fashioned. Literally, for
many people. It's not exciting. But there are a number of things I want to share three things, why
it's important for us to know history. Number one,
		

			with history, you uncover the sunan of Allah.
		

			With history, you understand the laws of Allah as he has established on this earth. You recognize
the patterns with which a lot as he deals with people and deals with individuals and deals with
communities and deals with nations. And so you have a head start over everyone else. When you study
how allies again, has deals with past nations a lot. So just says forehead young Verona Illa. Soon
attend a wedding for Anthony Davis una de la junta de la when Anthony Davis una De La Hoya. Allah
says do they expect the way of the former peoples do they expect anything except the way of the form
of people you will not find in the way of a lot any change, and you will never find in the way of a
		

			lot any alteration. The second reason is because through history, you are inspired, and you learn
resolve, when you see what the human spirit has the capacity to overcome, when you see the trials
that people faced before you, when you see the darkness that was met by generations before you
people who are no different than you and I then you see the capacity of the human spirit. It gives
you inspiration and it gives you resolve and that is the reason why Allah azza wa jal mentions that
he revealed the stories of the prophets. He says wakulla nakasu, a common
		

			man who said b2b,
		

			Allah says, and we narrate to you the stories of the prophets, to grant your heart resolve, when you
see how the prophets, the trials that they met, and you see that the opposite is truly for them. And
you see that they were successful, even if it was not in this life, that they were successful by
holding on to their, my buddy, that they were successful by holding on to their, their virtues and
and their beliefs until death. You see, and you are inspired by their stories, and a lot. So it
doesn't just tell us the importance of these stories. But a lot as we get makes a third of his final
revelation stories for us to reflect upon
		

			a third of the Orion his stories for us to learn about for us to draw parallels and to analyze and
to be inspired by
		

			the third point
		

			of the importance of history is it gives you access to your identity.
		

			It lets you know on whose shoulders you're standing, it gives you the ability to be proud. I met a
young man who was at the time he was probably around 2425. And he was getting his PhD in African
Studies. And I asked him, Why are you getting your PhD in this particular topic? And he said, when I
was in high school, he was ethnically Somali. And he said when I was in high school and everybody on
the news, it was all talking about these Somali pirates. So he said one of the kids in my class, he
said to me, what are so Molly's ever produced for mankind?
		

			What have your people ever done?
		

			That was positive to mankind? And he said the question was very hurtful. But what was more hurtful
was that I didn't have an answer for him.
		

			And so there are many of us who grow up like that. We don't have access to our history. And so if
anyone were to simply ask us that question in our schools, our high schools, our elementary schools,
our colleges, even and they asked us and they say, Well, what have you Muslims ever produced for
mankind? What have your community Europe is that particular country? What have you guys done? How
many of our children will actually be able to answer confidently and so this man was so inspired by
that by not knowing that he made that the course of his study to the doctoral level
		

			That's the importance of, of studying history that it
		

			that we communicate these things to our children, you know, the children of the Sahaba. They said,
Our fathers used to teach us side they've never passed and his son and his grandchildren, they said,
Our fathers used to teach us malvazija Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam they used to teach us, the seal
of the Prophet sallallahu send them. And they used to say, Hi, the shuttle fuku wa salam alaikum.
This is, Your Honor. And this is your pride. And this is the pride of your forefathers. So don't
squander it, don't lose it. And so one of the greatest gifts that we can give to our children is the
gift of simply telling them who you are. And this is who your father is, and this is who your mother
		

			is. And this is who your great grandfather is. And this is the town that we're from. I know
sometimes it doesn't seem like they're listening, but they're absorbing, and days become weeks and
weeks become months and months become yours. And yours become an identity that is structured and
confident and secure. I say what you have heard and ask a lot of forgiveness for myself and for you
uphold a massive maximal stackable idea.
		

			hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah.
		

			As for in particular, African American History, or black history, why is it important a person can
say, Well, why do we have to devote a whole devote to this topic?
		

			Why this particular grouping, and
		

			in particular number one, is because
		

			the African American community,
		

			their history is our history.
		

			When you read that one fifth, and these are modest estimates, that one fifth of the slaves were
brought over to the United States were Muslim,
		

			they were most of the one fifth, you're talking about a community that built this country, over 400
years with their blood, sweat, and tears. And so I embrace my brothers and sisters and their
ancestry, which is part of my history. Just as I embrace thought of them in the eye, from Western
Africa, and I say that's part of my history, or the mermaids and they were part of my history, or
that biases, and they were part of my history, or donathan Robertson, and they were part of my
history, or unnoticed. And that was part of my history. Why because I am parts of an oma and we are
all made of different parts and different lens, then similarly. So our brothers and sisters from
		

			West Africa, whose story included them being shackled and placed on ships, and traversing an ocean,
and building a nation that would now be the superpower of this earth, when we recognize that this is
part of our legacy as well, that our roots become deeper in this land. And it becomes much harder
for people to say that our presence here is unwelcomed. Our presence here is a legitimate becomes a
lot harder for you to say that when you recognize the story of the Muslims in this land, it goes way
beyond the 70s and the 60s and the 50s. But the second point, and the importance of understanding
the history, black history, is to appreciate and to give credit where credit is due. Now, it is not
		

			a coincidence that the immigrant community that the majority of us came in the 60s and the 70s and
the 80s and the 90s. Well, what was the trigger? America was there before? Why is it that the
earliest Muslim communities that are talking about immigrant communities are people from Syria and
Lebanon? Why is that? What's the correlation? Well, the correlation is that after the 50s and 60s,
when the civil rights struggle happens, and America's public consciousness towards colored people
change within the United States and beyond it, then America consciously began to open the doors to
people to immigrate from the colored world. And so Muslims came from Africa, and Muslims came from
		

			Southeast Asia and Muslims came from the subcontinent.
		

			And so it is a direct result of the civil rights struggle that our brothers and sisters who are
still many of them, Mashallah still alive hamdulillah. But it is a direct result of their citizens
and their protests and them having dogs unleashed, and that meant being attacked by fire hoses, and
police. All of that is a direct result of us being able to come and live in this country and
security and peace. And so that is a credit that we owe as immigrant Muslims, to our African
American brothers and sisters. And the last point that I want to mention
		

			why it is important to understand the African American History black history in this country is to
build bridges of empathy and understanding cooperation with one of the largest minorities
		

			In this country, I remember a brother once. He was confused
		

			when he had a brother approach him for Southern thought he was a person who was in charge of
charity.
		

			And he said, I don't understand why this brothers asking me for charity. This country is their
country, the brother who was asking was African American. So this brother is an immigrant. He's
like, I don't understand, why can he pick himself up by the bootstraps?
		

			But when you look at somebody, if someone were to say that about the Muslim world, if someone were
to say, Hey, why are you guys all in such turmoil? Look at the entire Muslim world. It's all civil
war and disaster and destruction and corruption.
		

			There's such turmoil in your lands, we left your lands 50 6070 years ago?
		

			Well, you would say to them, well, colonization, we were colonized for 200 years. Plus, that's not
an injury that you can just walk off
		

			requires serious physical rehab. It requires psychological rehab, it's going to take us a lot of
time.
		

			And so if you recognize that with regards to the effects of colonization in the Muslim world, and
what do you think about a community that is still suffering from the ramifications of being enslaved
for 400 years?
		

			Doesn't that make you more willing to empathize and you see that a community that is suffering from
the PTSD of slavery, it's not going to be resolved in one generation or two generations, or in
certain in even three. And so we as a community should, should empathize with that should understand
that and should outreach to that, to recognize that many of our brothers and sisters in humanity are
coming from generations before where their ancestors were Muslim. We said one in five of the slaves
who came over here, so many of them actually have answers to you that is Muslim. There is history
there that is Islamic. And so when we outreach to them, we communicate these things to them, I want
		

			to share with you.
		

			I want to share with you a a song that is sung in churches. But I want you to just hear what the
words are.
		

			And I really believe that this must have been written by a Muslim as they were trying to hold on to
their Islam. They said, let us break bread together on our knees. Let us break bread together on our
knees when I fall on my knees on my face to the rising sun. My Lord have mercy on me. When I fall on
my knees on my face to the rising sun, my lord have mercy on me. person is describing a lot. They're
		

			falling on their knees on their face. And so we have a vast community in this country that already
has a Muslim history. They have the roots there, but they are the have nots, and they're the
disenfranchised. And they're the weak, and they're the undesirables
		

			we may not want to approach them.
		

			But they are also the ones who are most likely to follow the message of the prophets. Because those
are the ones that disenfranchised and the poor and the weak and the subjugated and the oppressed.
Those are the ones who follow the prophets in every day and age as heraclius told Sophia and say
hello hi.
		

			We have a lot as we get a grant us the ability and the wisdom to outreach to our brothers and
sisters. May Allah grant us a strong Islamic identity for ourselves and for our children. May Allah
as it benefit us through our history. May Allah as a good right for us a glue a glorious future
future. We ask a lot as we did for paradise and will bring us closer to actions and speech we seek a
loss refuge from the Hellfire and what will bring us close to it of actions of speech or law as a
purify for us our tongues in our hearts and our actions. A lot mananas local General malerkotla
Balian according Mohammed when it really became in a narrow makabe according Muhammad, Allah mattina
		

			fusina taqwa Zaki hunter Edelman's aka Antonio hom Allah, Allah Maximilian Amica Shetty cannot truly
be he been in Albania. My sciatic. I'm in LA it came out to be Luna v genetic. Amelia Kini moto
amasau eva dunya Allah who may be a smart you know, side, you know what, you know, other than
Katana, which is who it is. I mean, what's your thought on it? when certain Allahumma da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da da Kabbalah Amina
		

			Amina when are in a narrow sirona watch ella ginetta here da da da da da da me. Mama come out of
Danny so de la la Canal Danny so de la hamama come out of band or solo la se dinner Mohammed aku
Mila zoological