Nadim Ali – Malcolm X African Americans & The Journey To Islam
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AI: Transcript ©
Indeed, all praise belongs to Allah, the most
high. We thank him, and we seek his
aid, and we seek his forgiveness,
And we seek refuge with him from the
evil of ourselves and from our bad actions,
whoever Allah guides.
And there's no one who can mislead him
and whoever Allah cause us to go astray,
there's no one to guide him.
I bear witness that there is no deity
except the law who is unique and without
partners. And I bear witness that Mohammed is
his worshiper and his messenger. May the peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him and
his family and his companions and those who
follow them with good intentions until the day
of judgment.
Oh, you who believe fear Allah as he
should be feared and don't die except as
Muslims. Again, oh, you who believe
fear Allah as he should be feared and
don't die except as Muslims.
And all mankind, be careful of your duty
to your who created you from a single
soul and from it created its mate, and
from the 2 of them spread forth many
men and women.
Be careful of your duty to Allah whom
you demand your mutual rights and be careful
of your duty to wounds that bore you.
Indeed,
Allah is our Akib over you.
Oh, you who believe, fear Allah and always
speak the truth, he will cause your deeds
to be beneficial and he will forgive for
you your sins and whoever obeys Allah and
his messenger, then he has truly achieved a
tremendous accomplishment.
And indeed, the best speech is the book
of Allah. And the best guidance is the
guidance of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam in the
most evil of all affairs,
a newly invented matters which has no precedence
in Islam. And indeed, all of the innovations
are astray, and each astray is in the
hellfire. And, oh Allah, save us from it.
Oh Allah, accept our Dua.
Allah says,
from among you there should be a party
who invite to good and enjoin what is
wrong and forgive forbid enjoying what is right
and forbid the wrong.
And and and these, it is those who
are
to be successful.
Again,
and among you,
there should be a party who invite to
good and enjoying what is right and forbid
the wrong. And these, it is that shall
be successful.
And when we look at, again, this particular
ayat, again, you're talking about 1400 years ago
this ayat was revealed.
And
we're
in
the Gregorian 21st century.
Is that I had still relevant?
Is that I had still something that we
need to
to be looking towards, being of those who
enjoying what is good and forbid what is
wrong?
And one of the things that, you know,
I've been reflecting on, like, specifically this week
because,
you know, this weekend, there'll be
a celebration
on El Hajj Malik El Shabaz,
Rahim Allah, Malcolm X. And, you know, many
people who
are not yet Muslim, you know, they they
honor him. And and so we have to
look at ways that, you know, we can,
basically not only honor him and honor his
legacy,
but recognize that his legacy
was one of Islam of and it was
similar to,
the many people who are African descendant, descendants
from slaves
journey from slavery to Islam.
You know, that's that's if you look at
his life, it was it was similar
to what we all went through. You know,
the whole struggle that he went through, the
the the, you know, we again been trying
to get back for the for those of
us who are descendants of the enslaved people
for 100 of years. You know, again, Islam
was just one of the many cultural practices
among the enslaved people
when when our ancestors arrived in the men
in this in this country. You know, even
in my own family,
trace it back to the 1700.
And so for many of you, you have
to go back and and look at what
was going on. And then the and when
you look at the tribes that my family
on both my mother's and father's side came
from, these tribes were majority Muslim. You know,
so many, you know, Muslims were amongst the
enslaved
amongst the enslaved, the the captives. And so
some of them even continued to practice Islam
in captivity.
And there's a book, by Sylvain Diop, the
Senegalese scholars called African Muslims Among American Slaves.
And some of the names that we hear,
Omar Ibn Said,
Abdul Rahman, Bilali Mohammed.
And so the document and there are many,
many more, many, many more. And so we
have to basically,
you know, reflect on
the fact that, you know, there are some
scholars who say that we are the answer
to
the
people who the Muslims who were enslaved,
you know, during that time. They were making
do with it, you know, that the people
that come behind them will be Muslim.
And so we have to recognize that, the
our reversion to Islam is not an accident.
Everything was already written. The law says that
the pen has been lifted. The pen has
been lifted and ink is dry. So so
we have to recognize that, you know, if
we are Muslim,
are we gonna practice
Islam as a religion, or are we gonna
practice Islam as a deen?
If we're practicing Islam as a religion, yeah,
we just, you know, go to the tomb
of, you know, go to pass Ramadan
and come to the mosque sometime.
But if we're practicing
Islam as a deen, it is a complete
way of life, in your personal life, in
your professional life.
When people are around you and when you're
alone, the Islam will be there. You know,
we have to basically start to internalize. It
goes to our bone marrow.
You know? And it and it takes time.
Specifically, for those brothers and sisters who are
just coming to Islam, don't do the microwave
thing.
Take your time. Learn your religion.
Learn the aspects of it. Learn the basics,
the fundamentals. And then once you have that
fundamentals, it's just like when you're building a
building, you you put the the foundation in
first, and then you put the building on
top of the foundation. But if you have
a weak foundation,
then that building will crumble. So we wanna
build strong foundation, learn the basics of salat.
You know, learn the the the the the
Sierra of the prophet, peace be upon him,
and his companions and and the and the
struggles that they went through. Because if you
look at the lifestyle
of the the people
during the prophet's time and before the prophet's
ascension,
you can look at how rough their life
was. They were some of the roughest people
on the planet at that time. You know,
crooks and you know, murderers and everything, bearing
the children alive, all of that. Even some
of their prophet's closest companions.
But Allah took those people
and made them of the people who enjoyed
the right and did the wrong.
If he could do that to those people,
he can do that to us.
Because,
again, because of the the scars and of
slavery, what's the, the scholar,
George de Groot talks about,
the the the the the post slave syndrome.
You know, we have, you know, basically increased
incarceration.
We have,
attraction to criminality,
addictions, and all of that and and dysfunctional
familial
types of of of arrangements. And so, you
know and and again, the prophet peace of
honor was an orphan.
And so if, again,
Allah can raise
those people,
he can raise us
because you can see what's going on in
this overall society. We talked last week about
the importance of getting involved
in the political structures. And, again, you know,
in it in the I had a brother
talk with a brother, and he mentioned that,
you know, he got the impression I was
just saying that voting is the only way.
No. I vote, and I go protest too.
You know? And if push come to shove,
we'll do what we have to do because
what does the law say? Fighting is prescribed
for you even though you may dislike it,
feel that you may like the thing which
is which which which is which is bad
for you and dislike the thing which is
good for you.
You know, so we basically struggle
in in in in a way in which
the the opposition presents us. And so right
now, would they say that politics
is basically,
you know, basically a war without using weaponry.
And then war is politics with weaponry.
And so we have to basically have an
understanding. We contemporize our deem that we don't
live in this bubble.
Again, if we're gonna be here, we have
to be here.
You know, again,
you know, we come a long way after
slavery. There were many families that continued to
practice Islam. There are people who written books,
and you can look online about families who
continue to practice Islam. And then even people
who knew that they didn't
accept
the way of life, the religion that was,
given to them by the the the former
slaveholders.
You know, they they became unchurched.
They believed in the creator,
but they became unchurched or unmasked.
You know? And then what happened,
there were groups that that came about
that attracted these people.
And we look at some of the groups,
some of their earlier groups, the Morris Science
Temple. And then out after that, the Nation
of Islam, and then even the Ahmadiyya movement
was very prevalent in the African American community.
And again, as a former jazz announcer, there
were a lot of jazz musicians
who became,
a is Muslim through Ahmadiyyaism.
And then they would
basically spread,
that in the in the African American community.
And so we have to do the research
as to, you know, how did we get
here? Doctor Sherman Jackson, he calls the he
uses the term heterodoxical Muslim *.
Heterodoxical
Muslim *. And it's again, heterodoxy
is just, you know, the fact that you're
taking portions of an orthodox religion, of an
original religion,
and and and using it.
You know, you take a little bit of
bean pie, you take a little bit of
of couscous, you take a little bit of,
collard greens, and you create something new.
So we have to recognize that we've come
a long way, but yet we still have
a long way to go.
And, again, these groups, their role was to
try to revive,
Islam amongst the African Americans. And, again
because the overall society what did they say?
You know, that you're less than. You're less
than. You're nothing.
You know, you begin you you your origins
were slavery.
And then when we start reading books like
before Columbus and and all of that and
and start listening to, different groups that, you
know, culturally that gave us certain a sense
of purpose.
You know?
And when you look at the the other
groups, they they gave
African Americans a sense of purpose. Messages like
do for self,
creating a a black nation and all of
that. And then we can't forget, the Universal
* Improvement Association. Mark it's founded by Marcus
Garvey.
You know? And if you look at because
if you look at if you read the
book, the autobiography of Malcolm x,
you know, his father was a part of
the the the UNIA.
You know? And and then the other groups
were inspired by the UNIA. And one of
the things that we forget about that one
of the major mentors
of Marcus Garvey was a by a man
by the name of Dus Muhammad
Ali. He was a Sudanese Egyptian
Muslim.
And he basically because if you look at
what was the saying in, in the UNIA?
One God, one destiny. He didn't say 3
gods, 3 destinies. One God, one destiny. You
know, so there was aspects of Islam even
there. So, again, these groups,
they formed in the early part of 20th
century. They set the stage for a person
like El Hajimelek Shabazz. When he learned the
truth, you know, he came to Islam.
And in this year, he would have been
99, Insha'Allah.
And he was been he was been stilled
amongst us.
99 years old. I have an aunt who's
97 years old. I have a student in
the in the Tai Chi class. He's 90
years old. So theoretically, he could have still
been here, but, you know, law didn't see
it that way.
And so
we are the bridge generation. We have to
research
and carry the message.
First of all, learn the message and then
carry the message to the next generation.
You know? So these are some of the
things that we have to look at. Just
wanted to bring this message
today. You know? Again, they'll be honoring him
this week, but we have to, again,
be walking
El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, you know, that
we are the manifestations
of his legacy.
Because he's still, again, giving Dawah from the
grave through his speech speeches,
you know, and his book.
It's a former of Sadaka Jadia. And again,
Sadaka Jadia is an act, which again continues
to
basically,
whatever you do is is ongoing
benefits, You
know, ongoing benefits.
And so we have to ask ourselves,
what are we gonna leave behind? What is
our legacy gonna be?
What are the people what would the people
be saying about us?
You know, we have to
do the work.
We we are in a time of political
upheaval, and we can't be sleep at the
wheel, brothers and sisters.
Young folks
you know, I was listening to, Imam Zayed,
earlier today, and he was just talking about
how the young people and and then he
compared it with how when you look at
Ali,
and many of the people during the prophet,
they were real young people. And they they
they basically made a lot of noise in
that society.
They upset the whole society. These were people
worshiping, you know, 360 idols. And then and
then this man come and say, no. It's
just 1.
Tawhid.
Just 1.
These were young people.
And they made noise to the point that
they changed the society to the point that
we are still here today.
This is what we have to look at.
Are we gonna practice a religion or are
we gonna practice a deen?
Are you gonna be a companion of the
left or you're gonna be a companion of
the right?
What will be said about you? What
are you sending forth? Because there'll be a
lot of things waiting for you on the
other side of the barrier between life and
death.
As I continue to remind you, this is
just the middle womb.
True life
begins when we pass this barrier.
That's when true life truly begins.
We have to be of those to enjoin
the
the the good and forbid the wrong in
all things.
So if we in business, we need to
enjoin the right and forbid the wrong. If
we're in politics, we enjoin the right and
forbid the wrong. You know, with our families,
we enjoin the right and forbid the wrong.
And the prophet, peace be upon him, said,
the best of you are those who are
best to their families, and I'm the best
of you because I'm the best to my
family.
So you starts with yourself.
And we talk about in spirituality. It says
that healthy spirituality is when you have that
healthy relationship with yourself,
others, and your concept of of God.
That's the triad of spirituality
and
rohanayat.
And that's, you know, you you you you're
filling it up as opposed to, you know,
you're filled up with spirit as opposed to
just being a walking skeleton, a walking dead.
We have to be of those to
facilitate the change in this society, but we
can't change the society if we don't change
ourselves. If we still hooked on the dunya
and all of its trappings,
then we're gonna work to maintain it.
But if we
see the dunya for what it is, we're
gonna seek to change it. If I've said
anything that's inconsistent with what Allah has given
us and the prophet, peace be upon him,
has real modeled for us, not role model,
but real model for us. I take full
responsibility
for that. And if I've said anything in
which you have gained some new insight, as
always, all praise belongs to Allah.
The prophet
said the best
of what a man leaves behind are 3.
A righteous child who supplicates for him,
ongoing charity,
the reward of which reaches him,
and knowledge that is active upon after him.
A righteous child, ongoing charity and knowledge.
And so
he simplified it.
What is your relationship with your children?
How much charity are you giving?
What are you doing where
a mosque can be constructed? Or what are
you doing so that a school can be
constructed? What are you doing so that a
hospital or health center can be constructed? Or,
you know, something that people will benefit
after we're long gone.
What knowledge are you leading? Even if it's
just a a poem
or a book or several books so that
people can benefit from it. As I said,
Al Hajj Malik Al Shabazz. This is I
can't count the the people who have came
to me and said I became Muslim after
reading the autobiography of Malcolm x.
He gets a reward for that. He gets
a reward for that
by giving the dua because he showed the
struggle.
Again,
he worked to get to a point of
clarity,
and he started to understand the true purpose
of life. And he wasn't afraid of death.
You know, again, the law gifted him with
a a keen
intellect, and he was able to discern truth
from falsehood, so he's able to grow.
And so we have to study him
to really get to know us for the
most part.
Because, again,
you know, Spike Lee did a little
movie,
but we have to study him from the
perspective of of Islam
because he was afraid
to make the movie,
in the way it should have been made
showing the the the how Islam influenced
him because he wasn't a Muslim.
And so those of you who have that
aspiration to make movies
and and and and write books and and
write plays,
tell it
from from our perspective,
because you give the dawah.
You give the dawah.
Again, he was the embodiment of
one who internalized
the final message of the prophet Muhammad, peace
be upon him.
Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, on his
last high, she gave a sermon and take
a portion of
it. And
you're talking about 1400 years ago.
He was still he was talking about racism.
So
if his message wasn't a superior message, then
this message wouldn't be relevant. He said all
mankind is from Adam and Eve.
An Arab has no superiority over the non
Arab. A non Arab has no superiority
over an Arab. Also, a white has no
superiority
over the black, nor a black has any
superiority
over a white except by piety or taqwa.
And good action.
Learn that every Muslim is a brother to
every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one
brotherhood.
Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which
belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it is
it was given freely and willingly.
Do not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember,
one day you will appear before Allah and
answer your deeds.
So beware, do not stray from the path
of righteousness after I'm gone. Oh, people, no
prophet or apostle will come after me and
no new faith will be born.
Reason well therefore, oh, people, and understand words
which I convey to you. I leave behind
me 2 things, the Quran and my example,
the sooner. And if you follow these, you
will never go astray. And all those who
listen to me shall pass on my words
to others, and those others again.
And may the last ones understand my words
better than those who listen to me directly.
Be my witness, oh Allah, I have conveyed
your message to your people. This was his
last message in the public forum.
And so,
again, find that. It's, you know, it's available
online. Look at the whole sermon
and the wisdom,
the hikmah in that sermon.
And
the prophet, peace be upon him, again didn't
bring a religion. He brought a deen.
He wanted people to change their way of
life. And again, if if if you're engaging
in behaviors that's inconsistent with Islam,
work to change it. You know, what I
do as a counselor, I help people to
facilitate that change. And I know change doesn't
occur overnight.
Even when people stop smoking cigarettes or stop
using drugs, it takes a year for your
brain to believe you.
It takes a year.
That's That's the the the most relapses occur
within that 1st year, but you have to
start somewhere. And that's in the and and
and when I was living in Saudi Arabia,
the the the addicts over there, they had
the saying. It was in Arabic, and they
had it over here.
One day at a time.
And then you look at what the prophet,
peace be upon him, said. He said to
live each day as if it's gonna be
your last.
So if we are
engaging in behaviors that's inconsistent with this deen,
work to get rid of them.
Because it's easy to find out what you're
supposed to do and what you're supposed to
be doing, what you're supposed to be doing
and what you're not supposed to be doing.
So, again, I've conveyed the message.
Our lord take us not to task if
we forget or fall into error. Our lord
lay not on us a burden such as
you did lay on those who have gone
before us. Our lord, lay not on us
a burden which we do not have the
power to bear and overlook our faults and
forgive us and have mercy on us. You
are our protector and grant us a victory
over the disbelieving people.