Naima B. Robert – The {VIRTUAL} Salon Black Lives Matter Intersections of Race and Religion for Black Muslims Pt 2
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The speakers emphasize the importance of acknowledging and embracing black culture, educating men on their religion, and addressing racism through programming and events. They also acknowledge the need for groups to address racism and promote diversity and diversity through programming and events. The speakers shift in racism and emphasize the importance of educating individuals about their actions and history, while acknowledging the shift in behavior. They also acknowledge the need for groups to address racism and promote diversity and diversity through programming and events.
AI: Summary ©
For
those of you who are on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, if you want
to use hashtag the virtual Cylon, and hashtag race and religion and
you can tag me in all we post, but just just to touch on one thing
before I go to Rama next because she hasn't had a chance to speak
in Sharla and sister Amina,
but the fact that, you know, I think, talking about people of
color within the Muslim space.
I think a lot of Muslims, of course, there's been the whole
people of color line, okay, where basically, the idea is that, you
know, POC people have aligned, aligned, you know, that their
goals are aligned, right. So we don't have to say black, we don't
have to say, brown, we can just say people of color and put them
all in there. And I think maybe a lot of Muslims feel like, well,
we're oppressed to like as Muslims, we're stigmatized, we're
oppressed, we're discriminated against, we have laws against us,
right.
And I feel that there's a lack of understanding about the fact that
everyone is privileged in their own space, right.
Everybody enjoys a level of privilege, right? And I'm going to
go from, you know, for example, we talked somebody mentioned
colorism. And so in certain spaces, lighter skinned black
people are privileged, right? I'm gonna put my hand up and say that
I have Nickleby privilege because in certain spaces, I am more
palatable to the community because I wear the niqab. I'm also
racially ambiguous. So people don't necessarily know that I'm
black. So I'm very aware of my privilege in that sense, somebody
who's educated no matter their race, they've got a sense of
privilege in certain areas, and within the Muslim community, we
have Muslim men who enjoy Muslim male privilege. And then we have
the dominant Muslim cultures, if it's an Arab community, that's our
privilege. If it's a desi community, is this a privilege? If
it's good, you're artists, you know, good writers are on top
right? If you're in a Somali community, you've got Somali
privilege, right? So then not I think that I really wanted to kind
of segue into the conversations that have been taking place within
the Muslim community, because there has been what I've seen,
like a sense of almost outrage, that black Muslims dare align
themselves with other black people who are not Muslim, right? And
then turn around and point to the community and say, y'all got it
too. Y'all racist too, you know, and I think I really would like us
to talk about that because I want to know how you feel about these
all these conferences, right. And these people jumping on lives and
everybody's like, you know, now it's like the thing so tell me
like, what your thoughts are, you know, on this issue, so inshallah
I'm gonna I got his hand up, but I've got to give Rama has space.
I'm sorry, Rama, if I jumped all over that. I apologize. I just
wanted to jump in. Sorry. But now I've got lots of hands up. So this
is great. I'm coming to you. Okay, because I can I can, I don't have
that raise hands. So thank you for getting to meet so I wanted to
touch upon a few things that I've heard that really
like pull me in in certain different areas. And I think it's
important to acknowledge that we feel differently at different
times due to things that are being brought up. So I really resonated
with when Munna said, I, you feel really exhausted, you feel really
tired. And some of us have really shoved some of these feelings deep
down so deep that for now, now that everyone wants you to talk
about it, it's kind of unpacking a trauma that you weren't ready for,
I didn't get ready for this trauma. So getting all this
attention. For me, I felt the same way is I'm having to relive
experiences that I've experienced that I've kind of stuffed down so
deep in my soul that I wasn't ready to unpack, and now having to
unpack it in front of people and kind of displaying my trauma,
people have invited me in certain spaces that have not been safe.
And what I mean by that is that these spaces have not included me
before. And I have to be really mindful in the spaces that I walk
in. Because I don't want people to just kind of relish on my trauma,
just come display your trauma so that people can get shocked in awe
and be I don't know moved to move to do something and that's really
not what I am about and that's not It's not safe to do that. So be
mindful of that. Other things that have been brought up and the fact
that you know have said said you know it we should be acting. The
what I want to say about that is that and often spaces where I'm
in, especially now I'm oftentimes on it.
We'll say 99% of the time in certain areas, I'm the only black
Muslim hijabi woman. So I don't always have the luxury of not
speaking up, because there are in justices and microaggressions that
are happening to me on a daily basis. But then again, I do
experience exhaustion because I do I have to make that decision. Is
it worth me educating this person is there is there going to be a
change because of me saying something, I am in a position
where I do work where I provide essential services and
income support for the most vulnerable communities in in, in
my province. And I've noticed that me being black me being coming
from humble beginnings and being an immigrant, I identify with the
struggles that they're receiving, and I go above and beyond to
provide a service for them, knowing the knowledge that I have.
So I might not know, I might know that they're not able to qualify
for this benefit. But I know of other programs, where as my white
counterparts are not doing that they're answering questions, yes
or no? And that is it. Because they can't identify with that
struggle. They don't know when this mother of seven calls and
says, I need help benefit. Can you help me with this? And I know that
all she needs to do is get that extra documentation, I'm able to
do that, because I sympathize with that, you know, just knowing where
I'm coming from. So when Wilkie says that there is no
discrimination, note that acknowledging the discrimination
and the systematic racism in Canada, it is alive, it is well,
it is prominent. You know, just a week ago, our prime minister was
asked about that. And there is there was this iconic 21 minutes
of 21 seconds of silence on his part, just because he knows his
his own history of black faces where he was called out on that.
And he knows that there is a lot of issues in Canada that are
happening. I've lived through a lot of traumatic experiences as an
immigrant. But I want to really also point out with beautifully
said is that I am an African woman that came here as a product of
immigration, I never want to equate my experiences and my
struggles to those that have been brought here unrooted from their
countries, and that have been struggling for many years before I
even got here where I was flourishing in my country before
the war happened. So it's important to acknowledge that, and
it's important for me to always know that there. Yes, I've
suffered because of this. But I we chose to come here like we fled a
war. But we really chose to come here. And I really want that to be
acknowledged. And I'm we're having conversation in our own community,
because as Somalis, some people, some people don't even identify
themselves as being black. They don't even align themselves with
the cause. Because we've been told when we were younger, that that's
not our history, just because we didn't go through slavery, that
it's not our history. So unfortunately, due to mis
education.
Some of the kids don't even identify themselves as being black
and I really want to change that narrative.
This panel, I just want to before I go to brother Boyd, I just want
to just thank you for for that. You know, we've got so lots of
comments. Mashallah. Just check the comments if you get a chance,
because I think, you know, as I said, privilege, right? So even in
this situation, where as black people, there is systematic
racism, systemic racism, anti blackness, an immigrant is
privileged in the sense that we came from a country we know where
we came from, we know our father's names, we know our languages, we
know our cultures. And that, I think, personally, I just feel
that there is just no comparison. And the kind of things that we
will struggle with will be so different. So I just want to thank
you for for acknowledging that. And the coaches as well. They've
also said, just I can offer and for seeing us, you know, because I
think that's really, really important. Anyway, brother Bala
grabbed the mic.
Yeah, exactly. Went ahead. And I think the sister brought up very
few very good points. And I think specifically from an East African
background, my family comes from Ethiopia. I'm Oromo ethnically,
which is an ethnic group in Ethiopia.
But I mean, when I grew up in Canada,
I didn't have any connection with Africa, right? I was born in
Canada.
I never really associated myself as as Ethiopian as whatever I was
black. I mean, that was the first thing that I was told. I didn't
even get a chance really to decide what am identity was people just
told me I was black. You know, when I was in school, they used to
teach me about Kwanzaa. And I was like, What's Kwanzaa? Right. But
then that was
So that was kind of black culture that was kind of imposed on us.
And in many ways I think being black in North America, it's it's
people make us a homogenous group. We all have our experiences just
for whatever reason, get clumped together.
But my experience is like, you know, in relation to this whole
conflict around police brutality and everything that's happening in
the US right now. My earliest experiences really being black as
is dealing with police and the constant harassment I used to get
my first time getting pulled over by the police, I was probably
like, maybe 11 or 12 years old, I was riding my bike. And I got
swarmed by three or four police officers who asked me for
identification. And mind you I'm like 12 years old, I don't have
identification that I did, I had a like a library card or and you
have like a blockbuster card. Back in the day, if you were what a
blockbuster card is.
And from that point onwards, my entire life being scared to death
of police to this day, I'm scared to death, I have this crazy issue
with authority figures, where I just automatically get very
aggressive because I just assume something's gonna go bad. And
that's been, you know, the vast majority of my experiences for my
entire adult life and it's my experience specifically than you
know, becoming more in tune in my faith and becoming, you know,
quote unquote, a practicing Muslim is, is I haven't really seen a
major change, like I'm very frustrated to be honest with the
experience and with the response from the Muslim community. Because
I see this as all very tokenistic, I don't really appreciate many
people's you know, their hashtags their their their black screen
pictures, whatever they're doing, because where were they you know,
before this incident where were they this entire time we've been
telling them like you guys are occupying these Islamic spaces in
such a way that you are making us feel unwelcome How many times have
our scholars been rejected for their Islamic knowledge that our
you know where we come from is not even seen as valid when you have a
black Muslim or a person of knowledge who stands up and is is
ready to lead the salah How many times have I seen personally
uncle's who will kind of push him away and bring somebody else to
the forefront right? For now you everyone to get all inspired and
excited to me is like so disingenuous that it just feels it
feels so cliche, and it just feels so cheesy that I don't even buy
it.
And I know that it's now politically acceptable. This is a
very politically acceptable form of resistance. When everybody has
already gone to the streets when everybody's looting, it's okay for
you now to post BLM. It's okay. It's your there's no repercussions
for you. Right?
It's in fact, I would say it's almost mandatory at this point,
like, mandatory otherwise you're getting canceled. Yeah, right.
Like I have like Nike and Jordan and you know, fast food
restaurants are sending me Black Lives Matter thing. I'm like,
Alright, if they're involved, you must have something to say. I had
a Wallahi and I'm taking a lot of time, but I just want to say this,
I have a masjid that I live close by. And I kid you not. I feel so
unwelcome in that space. Every time I go there. I just I've been
going there for years. Nobody says I don't want to come to me, I walk
in. And it's just you know, it's a bunch of people that I won't say
their race or whatever. But that's just the reality. Like I walk in,
they sent me an email saying we stand with black people, I say
really Masha Allah duck Mala fan, and I've never seen
an iota of positivity towards people outside their ethnic group.
So to me again, this experience has been quite frustrating seeing
the lack of response in the past and all of a sudden this plethora
of response it to me it feels like many Muslims are, are rolling with
that that same kind of brown guilt, right? Like you they just
feel like they've maybe done something wrong in the past, this
is a good way of making amends. But I don't really buy it, and I'm
still frustrated by it. And it is very frustrating. And it's also
very exhausting to the point where like, I don't I don't know, that's
just my kind of personal experience. No, 100% I hear I hear
you on that. And somebody just said in the comments Nora said
it's interesting how some how ease somehow some Africans don't
identify as black, but the white supremacist does not discriminate.
They see all the same. So it's best to unite and no, I definitely
feel you on that brother guna because I think most of us have
had you know, well, I'd like to say well meaning Muslim
organizations reaching out and mashallah some some people are
jumping on the panels and everything but a sister was
chasing down. She had a long list of you know, like all the leading
lights should I say of the the black Muslim intelligencia
scholars, the people who could do Dawa creatives etc. He had a long
list of them, and they were trying to reach some people to come for
this conference. They wanted to put on a black Muslim conference
where they were going to talk about slavery they want to talk
about you know, the Islamic view on racism and a long list it was
very comprehensive. And she she reached out to me because she
couldn't find anyone to say Yes, right. So these are the like, you
know, the Z Chuck and Kim quick like
And almost everybody on there, right? And I said to her, when is
this conference? And she said it's next week?
I said, Oh, right. Okay. So everyone on your list is one of
two things overbooked or exhausted, because we're right in
the middle of this right now. Okay. So my advice to you is if
you're sincere, put it on in the summer,
have a week of activities or whatever, in the summer, right? So
you cannot look like all of these crazy people, these influencers
and these celebrities and whatever, who are basically just
saying, yes, yes, yes. Black lives matter to us, too. Yes, yes, yes.
We, you know, we're on the right side of history. And I said, if
you're sincere, don't do it now. Leave people to do their thing to
sort what they need to sort out and do it in the summer. I don't
know whether that was the right advice. But I said to that, if
you're doing it next week, I'm not available. Because it's just it
just feels like let's rustle something up. This is a long term
issue. Anyway, I'm gonna be quiet. And Michael Melissa hasn't spoken.
So Brother Michael, you want to take the take the floor?
Inshallah? Yes, I've been.
I don't know, if you can all hear me, we can hear you just fine.
Really been benefiting a lot, just by listening. And I just wanted to
touch on something that has come up in this conversation, but we
haven't had chance to actually focus on it. And it was something
we had hoped to discuss. And that is really Muslim responses to,
to resistance against racism, particularly in the form of Black
Lives Matter. And, and I think, because I only have about a few
minutes before I go, so I just like to say that when I think
whenever I've asked this question, I'm always directing people to the
Quran itself. And I'm trying to remind them that
the the messages that we find for movement that black lives matter
are what Islam has always been about right from its inception.
Now, if you read the Quran, you'll find that the one of the most
important verses, which really codifies Islamic response to
issues like this is Walaker, the carabiner, Bunny, Adam, we own it,
by Adam, all human beings. And he doesn't make any distinction
between whether they are Muslims, whether they are black, or ora,
Children of Adam in general, and that they all own it, my God. So
racism in itself undermines this fundamental principle of the
Quran. So if you really claim to be a Muslim, then you should be
responding to this message by supporting those who are fighting
against anti black racism. And then,
when you're doing so you also have to remind yourself that there
isn't such a thing as an Islamic response to oppression or Islamic
response to white supremacy, because white supremacy doesn't
discriminate on the basis of religion. And why do I say this?
Because when you read the Hadith of the Prophet, one of the most
famous Hadith that people often cite, but often they don't look
closely at the wedding of this hadith, at least in some versions
of it, where the prophet says it taboo doubt and Mutlu that, beware
of the dua of the oppressed. Right? And it goes on to say what
incarna Kathira even know, the oppressed, maybe this believes in
another version in kind of algebra, even though they may be
seen us for in our lives or by in her obeying Allah He hijab and
because there isn't any barrier between that prayer and God, God
answers directly. So this, I think, is one of the most
important principles in how we respond to, to oppression, I
think, to remind ourselves that the fact that a movement may be
dominated by people who are not Muslims, doesn't necessarily mean
that it is not Islamic. It really is, it is doing exactly, at least
for the Muslims who are part of the Black Lives Matter. They are
really continuing with the Sunnah of the Prophet, the son of
standing up against oppression, and of course, challenging anti
black racism in particular. And I think a lot of people have already
touched on a number of things here. Really, another question
really is about whether one can be black and Muslim at the same time.
I think we all know it's really not a relevant question. Because
right from its beginning, Islam was already a religion that cannot
be separated from from being black or being African the first Hegira
was was in Africa. So Muslims were already in Ethiopia before they
were in Medina. And there were a lot of children who were born in
Medina and today
profiting self when these habits came from, from lots of people,
children were born in inhibition in Abyssinia. And when they came
back to the Prophet after the Hegira, they were speaking only if
European dialects and in one of the interactions, I think Amma to
been highlighted, she says that this prophet spoke to me, in the
Ethiopian dialect, which means the Prophet understood this, it's not
surprising that the Prophet would understand these languages because
he was brought up by a black woman. And he was surrounded by,
by black people. And so this has been the, the really the history
of Islam right from the beginning, that you cannot separate it from,
from black people. Even the tools that we often use to weaponize
these tools against black Muslims, we try to quote, or we try to
engage in some kind of resistance or fear, the tools of tacit
themselves were could not exist without the contribution of black
scholars, and one of the most important schools of Tafseer, or
the earliest movement of Tathra, the Macomb School of Tafseer,
which was made up mostly of the students of Ibn Abbas, it was it
was really it was,
it was a, it originated with five scholars, five scholars were
regarded as the pioneers of this particular school of Tafseer. And
four of them were black Africans, and one of them was a pleasure.
And all of them were my family, it went on the margins of society.
And we wouldn't have Buhari or Abu Hanifa, or Ahmed been humbled
without these black scholars, and without, even, for example, and so
this is part of the forgotten memory, or people the memory that
people will choose to forget, because they want to advance
racist positions and resist the narratives. And even when you look
at those, I'll conclude with these few points. I don't want to take
too much of your time. I think I'm simply talking about this. But
this hasn't been addressed in terms of how we respond to racist
Muslims who try to silence black resistance against oppression
because they themselves are beneficiaries of the status quo.
So I think what Black Muslims are doing and challenge white
supremacy is exactly what the prophet would have done. And it
is, even when they work side by side with movements like Black
Lives Matter because the Prophet the Quran, when you read the
Quran, you read Hadith, you'll see that there is no distinction
whatsoever being made between the oppressed Muslim and the
oppressed, non Muslim, the DUA is answered even when they are non
Muslims, even when they are sinners. And then also you see
that when you
scholars like even Josie as a UT and others address these issues,
the question we're talking about now or not, you haven't addressed
by any Muslim scholars the issue of anti blackness in Muslim
communities as existed right from the time of the of the prophet and
the prophet tried to fight against it. But it survived, of course,
like a disease that it is the disease of Eman. Rather, it is a
virus that infects people's demand. And scholars that one of
the earliest scholars being on jarhead, who wrote a book against
this, and many others wrote after him, then even Josie wrote a book
about it, and he went on to talk about his students of Hadith.
Those who study Hadith knows that there's a principle in the
analysis of Hadith. One of the ways of identifying if a hadith
has been fabricated, is when that hadith is attacking black people,
that became a principal in the study of Hadith because there were
so many a hadith being produced by racist Muslims, trying to
discredit the contribution that Muslims have had made.
In the development and the spread of Islam is any of the ninth
century you already had people producing dodgy traditions and
trying to attribute them to the prophet The Prophet said this
about black women, the Prophet said this about black people. And
when God comes and say all these traditions, you don't even bother,
you don't even have to bother looking at the chain of
transmission, we just throw them in the dustbin, because they
cannot be attributed to the Prophet. So that became a
principle in this type of Hadith. It's one of the principles that
you look at when you're studying when you're verifying Hadith. So,
so the history of Islam itself, whether it is whether it is
Hadith, whether it is tafsir could not exist without black scholars,
anyone who has done Islamic Studies know that if they really
studied properly, and we wouldn't have any of the scholars we admire
today
Sheffy in all of them, and I will just conclude by saying even while
doing that people like to quote so much. People like to quote the
electrical bill have done a lot in other subject but he wrote
in his abdomen, that the branches of what we rather the tool that we
now use, one of the tools we use in understanding the Quran or
Hadith that is the tools to do with what we call the language in
general, with Bulava and grammar could not exist without the
contribution of Angela head. And his student on mobile and even
Tabor, among the four who are listed as the founders of what we
now take for granted is the tools you need in this type of he in the
study of Tafseer in this type of hurry, so really Muslim Black
Muslims today, and I think they simply stand in a long line of
Muslims who have come before them. And when they respond to racism,
they again doing what Samir did when she stood up to the crush,
and also what all the other Sahabas we know of did in it
doesn't just belong to so many others. First, blood has become
some kind of mascot for racist Muslims. So so there were so many
other Sahabas who did that. And of course, we tagged the aliens, and
it carried on up to a time
and that's all I have to say on this matter. Oh, thank you, Zack
allow Hayden. Yeah, as some some people would say like, the facts
and other The chat is really active. Please do how take a
moment to check the chat to paella so much of our own history that we
don't know. Or that we've had, you know, we've had rewritten Okay, so
I'm gonna go with Muhammad. And then the coaches and then Imani in
sha Allah, go ahead, Brother Mohammed.
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a few examples. I'm talking about
how
Asian and Arab Muslims in the community who are
the pioneers of driving the sort of anti black racism that Muslims
now i are experienced. And it may sound harsh, but this is not only
is it the experience of myself, and even as someone who benefits
from you know, the elements of colorism and being a light skinned
Somali, living in the UK, even even in that light, I'm still I'm
still too black for them. I'm still experiencing those direct
forms of racism. And if I look at the platform that we created Black
Muslim in Britain, that we created in 2016. And then finally launched
in 2017. I get regular emails, direct messages on my personal
social media accounts, or the black and Muslim in Britain pages,
where people are saying black and Muslim in Britain is dividing the
ummah. If you identify as black, you're dis uniting the ummah. And
I'm saying, we have these events like blackout, Eid, and blackout
if stars and all these kinds of events, those only those
programming only came about due to the experience of black Muslims
experienced racism in those communities. When I'm when I have
the recent study in the UK, and it's been out for like three
months, and no Muslim organization has picked it up. That assist from
Black Muslim forum did a report that covered the cases of 100 self
identified Black Muslims. And the results came out as 53% of Black
Muslims felt that they did not belong to their local community
64% and felt that they did not belong to the Muslim community.
And 84% felt that they had no engagement or no relationship with
the university's Islamic society. And 36% experienced anti black
discriminatory colorism within their families 79% of face anti
black discrimination in the wider community. And when we hear these
numbers that's resonated through pupils stories, whether it's an
America or the UK, and if it's not.
And I think the European, the European tweeted about it. And it
was really it was funny as well as very, very sadly true that the
only Muslims in the diaspora who are asked, are you black or
Muslim? First is black Muslims. No one asks Asian Muslims, are you
Asian first? Are you are you Indian? First of all, are you
muslim? First, no one asked Arabs. Are you Saudi first, or are you a
Muslim first, and that's solely because of the color of your skin?
And I think from the point of like, exhaustion and education, I
think this is kind of where I was going with. I'm specifically
talking to non Black Muslim, so other people of color.
In terms of we've been doing work for a long time on racism. We've
been doing it for a long time. We've done a lot of education. I'm
a young activist, I'm only 29 But I've been active in my community
for the last 11 years. And 11 years is nothing compared to my
old days in the community who've been active
In cases of countering anti racism and they're exhausted, and I'm 10
years in and I've done, I can't keep receiving messages privately,
where people are saying that we are this uniting the Ummah, is
absurd, this kind of like colorblind idea of Islam. Islam
was never colorblind. The Prophet sallallaahu Salam in his final
sermon, recognize that there is no difference between the Arab and
non Arab, there is no, there is no difference between the white and
the black. You know, we've Islam has always recognized color as a
unifying factor. It's never been a divisive factor. So for when I say
I want to organize an online video series, where we shared a
dialogue, of the experiences of being black and Muslim in Britain,
that's all it is, we are sharing that experience with the wider
world, we're sharing that experience with a wider community.
So to be told that those kinds of projects and platforms are this
uniting the Ummah, and not recognizing that that's only been
caused by those oppressors within the Muslim communities, the
gatekeepers in the UK, with Muslim communities predominantly of the
South Asian background, and other cases in America, I don't know
what the numbers are there. You know, we, there's only so much we
can do. Like we can, we can, we can give you resources, but at the
same time, you know, I think that's gonna have to turn into
some sort of consultancy, or how to overcome
how to overcome the racism that exists in your community. Because
it's not a new point, we raise this point constantly.
And you know, what, we won't stop, so I'm not that negative. And we
will continue to give our, you know, understanding and knowledge
of our own experiences, but you have to put in work in yourself.
You can't just come around in black history, and hit me up with
an email.
When
we want to do poetry night, or we want to have older black Muslims,
I'm like, Cool, make sure you do another program for black muscles
outside of black history. You know, and I'm just hoping I'm
hopeful that maybe we can change. But in its current state, and its
current climate, and the work that already exists in the UK, in
particular, and anti blackness, that wider Muslim community, the
gatekeepers have a lot of work to do to do. And we have receipts, we
have reduced receipts for days and our experiences, and we can pull
that up as much as we can. Well, people have to realize that they
need to make changes within themselves. This is commanded in
our religion, this change comes from yourself as well. Sorry, I've
been rambling, I'm gonna stop because there's amazing voices I
would like to hear as well. So no, no, just like Alafaya. And so
thank you so much for that. And, you know, to your point, at the
end of the day where there is, you know, there were there are
privileged dominant cultures or majorities, there's always going
to be underprivileged. Yeah, the ones who are and as I said, in one
of my lives, if you look at the Black Muslim situation, and you
parallel it with Muslims who have disabilities, that intersection of
being Muslim and having a disability, right, means that as a
Muslim, you have certain priorities, but also as somebody
who is disabled and a minority in your faith community, you have
another set of priorities and the thing is that we see this as well
as sisters. We've got a lot of sisters on this panel, masha
Allah, in fact, somebody on Facebook when they saw the poster,
that was her comment, so many women Masha Allah, and y'all know
what I'm talking about. But the point is that, you know, again,
this gives me hope, because I know that five years ago, 10 years ago,
there were no sisters speaking at all, let alone avatars on a
poster, right? There were no human avatars on a poster. They weren't
on the marquee, they were not on the program. And that's changed.
And the number of spaces that are either women lead, or have invited
and welcomed women to speak, that has definitely been a shift in the
community. And may Allah make it only for hired. Similarly, you're
seeing people, some people being more more aware of a male only
panel or a Pakistani only panel of Asian only panel. You know, I
think we've kind of gone a bit further when it comes to gender
than we have with race. But I think that this this moment in sha
Allah will mean that people become aware of their privilege and aware
of the fact that hold on, we're not necessarily being as
representative of the true community, as we think we are.
Because like you said, you know, a lot of this, I think a lot of this
thing about being black. I think it comes from Muslims thinking
that black culture is not Islamic or is not Muslim, not realizing
that Somalis are black, functionally. You know, Ethiopians
are black Nigerians black Gunny.
No black Tanzanians, Kenyans, and these are Muslim cultures from way
back from hundreds of years ago, right? So because you didn't know
that actually Islam in Africa is almost is as old as almost as old
as the deen itself if we go back to, you know, the first Hedra,
right as brother Michael said, so that kind of is a disconnect
almost. It's like Arab you know, Islam is for Arabs and Asians. And
that's what I thought when I first found out about Islam I thought
this this this religion is for Arabs and Asians, you know, it's
not for black people. It's not for Africans, not knowing that, you
know, the majority of Sahara and, and
maybe half Sub Saharan Africa has had an Islamic tradition going
way, way, way, way back. SubhanAllah. So anyway, I don't
want to talk too much in Charlottesville. But just like
love hate on for your point, I think it's super, super relevant.
I'm gonna go to Amina next then we've got the coaches that Imani
then Guna, please remember your order, guys, because I can't
remember it. Okay, so I mean, go ahead this
fishy.
There's a quote that
43 years old, I'm living by, you know, it's to go where you're
celebrated and not tell and not tolerated. So for me, I'm doing
things like this, like, I'm like, we usually are tired, I don't want
to be used as a token, you're not going to use me as a pawn. And
you're into make to be a self serving to make you feel better to
make yourself sleep better at night to make your mesh and look
like they're doing the work. So for me, I would rather use my my
energy in spaces like this, I would rather not use my energy and
my creativity, to write books like Beshear and the amazing being paid
to put on please, with organizations who see us and they
want to amplify our voices. You know, so for me, and I think that
for all of us, I think that we're at least for me, I can only speak
for myself that I I'm I'm over trying to be accept me or love me
like that's not
my history as a Muslim, you know, as being 40 years old, 343 year
Muslim, is that to do for myself to celebrate your community, and
to love those into into into
surround yourself with love. So that way your Eman is not, is not
weakened. Because there's a little chip that that takes a part of you
when you go someplace. And it's happened to me recently, like two
days ago, I was in the supermarket and I said I'm like I'm like even
though I had a mask when I was waving. And as soon as she saw my
face in my hand, she went rolled eyes and looked away. And I didn't
know where I just was happy to see another Muslim. So for me that it
agitates that hurt, it agitates that pain. And I would rather to
use that my energy to be in spaces like this to be celebrated and not
tolerated. And I will not be used as a pawn or, you know, or, you
know, in your, in your to make yourself feel feel good. So for
me, I create things that are going to be accepted by people who are
already woke, you know, I do things that are are going to be
receptive, like the company that I just started hot and Muslim is,
you know, it's Islamic based, you know, branding, like, T shirts,
and wall art and mugs. And those are things that
you know, you know, make dua and go for it sit. So we see that we
like, Oh, I know what that means. And you don't have to, you know,
explain it to someone, you know. So there's a mug that I have with
says, I am the I Am the acid to the doer of my ancestor do off my
ancestors.
Is that, you know, what does that really mean? Because it was it was
a, you know, the silhouette of Africa. And I was like, you know,
I don't have to talk. I explained it to her. But it was like those
who got it, get it, you know? And so that's where I am presently is
that I'm going to use, you know, insha Allah, I'm going to serve my
Creator, I'm going to learn my religion. I'm going to surround
myself with love. And I won't allow my Eman to be weakened
because of ignorance and
in their own personal issues. Like that's your issue. Don't put that
on me. Like, your your faith is not strong. That's your problem,
you know, so. So for me, listen, when I even said we're going to
have a talk boom, I'm there. But your Masjid has been historically
gaslighted your community is historical.
You know, no, no, no, I won't, I will speak. No, don't ask me. I
will give you information to read, you know, from organizations like
Muslim are Muslims against anti racism, you know, coalition So,
but for me that's not what I'm gonna use my energy to do
inshallah and I'll end with that. May Allah preserve your energy and
always just increase your energy and Baraka me, girl, you know, we
go way back.
Allah who's next? Who did I say next? Was it Imani? Or was it the
coaches?
Which is what the coaches? Thank you for that just like Hello, fade
on. Here you go.
Oh,
it is so crazy. Because everything. The speakers have been
saying, like some point I'm like, yes, yes. And I'm like, and that
part and that part? Because, yeah, I get being tired. You know, you
know, we don't have to explain ourselves to anybody, like we
don't have to play out, we fail. We don't have to explain these
things we don't. But for some reason we see like we're obligated
to, or we're obligated to educate. Were out there the same
information that we do. I mean, the thing is, yes, we can point
them somewhere. But like Amina said, the energy or energy can be
best used on something else. Between 12 Children, we have to
raising
that that's where the energy goes, where if you're doing it right
there is going to inshallah spread out everywhere else. So the thing
is that you but our our community is, is different from other
communities that I've seen traveling where, like we said, at
the beginning, Jim Crow north, what is called where
our black magic, you know, it's like, it's one where you see the
black people. And then the other ones not so much. So, you know,
and when I actually lived on that side of town, and frequently that
matched it on that before all the other ones kind of
came to be
it Yeah, it was the part of seeing see me like I don't belong,
because of because of the Color My Skin. It's really difficult when
you tell when you have a child that's going to a Muslim school,
that when they are not when they're treated a certain way is
different if they're going to a different type of school. And it's
not. They're not Muslim, because they Oh, they're not must use that
excuse whether or not Yeah, yeah, but when are in a Muslim school,
and they're being treated the same way by people that either look
like them or, or share Allah Allah? And what do you say, then?
You know, what do you do? You can't say, well, they're not
Muslim. You know, suddenly, next week, next week, we are going to
be discussing that issue in Sharla in length, because I think it's a
whole topic in itself, about raising black children in today's
world, so I hope inshallah you will be able to come for that. But
it's a whole big is a huge issue that that particular one, school
and school and the Islamic school and the experience of black
children in the Islamic school is Yeah, it's
so that's a that's a whole different beast there. And then my
bonus baby, she did a talk yesterday, and she was talking
about the talk that she was that she was called to do. And when we
think of we're gonna say where he's where he's like, okay, or you
just calling me to speak on these things. Because you know, now this
is a noun and also not what you know, now it's like, Hey, this is
what's going on. This is what's the media? Who's our token black
guy, you know, who was our token was the one on the on the Rolodex,
right? That was the thing and she said one of her friends, let's,
let's be careful who we call our friends, when you're looking at
something and say, you know, I was watching something on slavery. And
I thought of you wait, okay, hold up. What does that supposed to
mean? You know, so it's certain things where it's definitely time
to call it out and say, okay, sometimes people are just
ignorant. You know, it means you just don't know. But sometimes,
we're just stupid. And when it comes down to you can't fix
stupid. But the thing is, is that you call it call it what it is,
first, you know, you call it what it is, so they can see what it's
because sometimes they don't see I get that understand that. But just
like I said, That's not my, you know, I my energy can be used more
else, but I always wanted to get you to I'm gonna hold the mirror
up to your face. You know, and I think that's what I'm seeing the
shift. And especially when it comes to even the race and Muslim
dynamic, where it's like, Hey, this is what it's looking like
because the way our city is set up is very, very racist is very, very
segregated.
And I remember
I want to say the black mesh, it had events of what was going on,
as far as like police brutality and different stuff like that and
invited different different members from other massages around
to your part of it
sat at the same table with a number of things like, oh my gosh,
I did not know, it was like this, you know, because we're seeing so
much stuff, but the media has given us narrative. And it's like,
oh, my gosh, I know this person. I know, this person is not like
them, you know, that's kind of their thing. Oh, you're not like
them? What, what is that? Suppose and that's another thing that the,
the racist comments that you don't realize is actually a racist
comment. So you know, you have to say, Okay, what does that mean?
But then you find out, it's like, Oh, okay. Now the narrative is,
you know, the media is creating this, you know, and we are
allowing this by not getting to know one another, by keeping it
separate by keeping it segregated, and things like that, or to say,
you know, what, I remember saying, I saw something where it showed
that they say Muslims are racist, or some of the bomb missiles being
racist. And I didn't like the title, because I said
that stating that there's not black Muslims. You know, when the
person talked about it and talked about what, you know, what
happened to George, George Floyd, would you have? Are you talking
about Black Lives Matter and different things now? Or would you
have allow him to marry your daughter or anything like that?
I'm like, Okay, well, you're talking about a black Muslim
thing, because I've heard you show black muscles will say, you know,
what, you know, that won't be an issue. So when you're stating
Muslims as a whole, they're black Muslims here, and that doesn't
mean that part of the nation, you know, and that was the thing that
I had to learn before I converted to Islam that Oh, okay. You know,
the Nation of Islam and Islam are two totally different things, when
they sit, and it actually black Muslims, who are, you know,
practice Islam. So totally different thing, but it is that
education, but just as, as much as I wanted to be educated on it, and
I worked on being educated people have to want to be educated people
have to want to know what it is. And they want to have to sincerely
want to help, and sincerely want to be a part of it, and sincerely
want to say, You know what, this is not, I'm not okay, this is not
my fight to be in the forefront of, so I'm going to sell that, but
you let me know what you need me to do in order to support you. But
I need, I need to step back and let people let you do your part,
to help you do your part. So people know that this is about
you, and about what you're going through. And I was like what you
were saying I am aware he was like, well, but we have you know,
do you have problems too? were discriminated to Yeah, okay, we
understand that. But right now, this is what we're talking about.
And when I say somebody says something about they did, somebody
did an article say all buildings matter, but all buildings matter.
And they got a lot of backlash for it. And they were so sorry. And
this and that, whatever it was, okay, so don't say that. Because
we understand that, you know, you don't want to destroy things and
everything like that, but don't put certain things in the way of
the world message. Nobody is saying when they say black lives
matter, then I say only black lives matter. We're saying that
black lives matter. So pay attention, black lives matter. So
make sure that you are in there be inclusive, you're not being
excluded. For right now, the term of privilege and the host of their
hundreds of years step back. Because right now,
yeah. And I think this to, to your point, the very, for me, the very
fact that that phrase Black Lives Matter is even a thing to say is
indicative of the whole problem, you know, and even the fact that P
there is pushback against that kind of statement shows really
kind of the it's indicative of the state of affairs and the fact
that, you know, people are, you know, getting their children to
wear T shirts saying, you know, don't shoot me, you know, stop
killing us and things like that, that for me is just you know,
profoundly shocking, but I want to go to the money and then we're
gonna and then we're gonna Sharla and I just
I just want to thank everybody who WoW has been here this whole time.
Our wonderful panelists are amazing, you know, guys who are
just here listening, you know, just soaking up the energy of
everybody I just asked a lot to bless every one of you and to
allow us you know, to to feel that that's the Kenai insha Allah and
to be part of the change that we want to see. So all of you who are
here, please, I just want to know, I want you to know, I appreciate
you being here and being such an amazing, you know, space. And to
all the panelists as well who've been here I think almost two hours
now Masha, Allah does Akela Fado go
head taken away, man.
I just wanted to speak to assimilation. And I think when a
lot of non Black Muslims come to the United States, they weigh
their options. Where am I going to be? Where do I? Who do I see as
being most accepted? Who do I see as being most celebrated? Who do I
see? That's in the least trouble and that's white people, and they
want to find that adjacency to whiteness, as opposed to allying
themselves with blackness because blackness is always oppressed
blackness is always terrorized blackness is always the bottom
rung of every society no matter what culture you go to around the
world, every culture has some derogatory term for black or black
miss. And so therefore non Black Muslims will come to the United
States of America. And they can ask them like someone like me,
who's four generations deep of Islam.
You know, what your name, you know, what your name means? Or are
you muslim, even though you're fully fully covered it
or as Amina has has stated, you know, and I will assert the fact
that my first overt and when I say over it, I don't mean in terms of
like sis socio economics or the education system or things that
are obviously blatant to keep systems against and oppress black
people. But my first
like, acts of overt anti blackness and racism was in the masjid. I
met that in the masjid, to give the lambs and somebody acts like
they never heard you, for somebody to roll their eyes as though you
don't have to write to be in law's house, for someone to literally be
standing in prayer. And when you stand next to them, they move.
These are things that I encountered at a very young age,
before I even experience my first anti blackness or racism from a
white person. These things happen in the masjid. So for me, when I
equate racism and anti blackness, I typically draw that back to my
experiences that I had in what it is that we would call in a loss
house. And unfortunately, like I said, a lot of people want to
align align themselves with brightness. I don't follow a lot
of non Black Muslim women for that particular purpose. I feel like a
lot of people have come to the point in their Islam, especially
with social media, where they're, they costume, their hijab, they
make these hijab lines, they make all of this money, that all of a
sudden you see them and two, two years old, I'm no longer wearing
hijab, I remember and let me firstly, state, hijab is a
personal thing. And I do not just any sister who feels like they
need to remove their Kumar and get themselves together spiritually.
So let me let me put that disclaimer out there, I have been
there. But when you costume your hijab, and you make money off of
people, and you use it, I'm a hijab at this, I'm a hijab, me
that and then you openly state which I have seen multiple times
that I have done this because it is easier for me to blend in and I
don't want to have to deal with the things that come with that. I
cannot costume my hijab as a black Muslim women. i My job is
literally a generational revolutionary act of my identity.
My grandparents, Yahia and Sakina had to go to court in the United
States of America to fight to keep their names because they did not
understand how to black American people had names like Yasha,
Beshear and Sakina beshear. They had to fight to keep their
identity. So when I put a hijab Kimora on or put this quote on my
neck, it is a revolutionary act of my identity. So when I see non
Black Muslim sisters feeling like oh, well, I can just blend in. I
don't see sisterhood in that I don't see Islam in that I don't
see Ummah and that you're telling me that you're no longer aligning
yourself with me as the oppressed. You're telling me that you know of
our line with me as your sister, you're no longer telling me that
you're willing to do this, this thing that can stand up to
represent us all I'm making a point that when I go to anywhere
in the world, I remember I was going to Paris directly after the
quote unquote, terrorist attacks. And people were telling me Sister,
do not don't wear your hijab down, wear it like a turban, whatever
the case may be. And I remember going there and as soon as I got
off the train, I took the train from the UK and I saw Muslim
sisters from China with their hijab them and I said How dare
anybody? How dare anybody run away from this Deen when there are so
many people around the world who need them to stand in their Deen
to stand in this faith to stand in these principles that Allah has
given us. People all also forget when they come to the United
States. 70% and anybody can research it, you can Google it 70%
of the black African people that were forcefully brought on
overhear from the transatlantic slave trade identified as Muslims.
If you go into African American History Museum in Washington, DC,
they have vicar beads from the transatlantic slave trade and from
African slave enslaved people, they have quarter ends that date,
all the way back to the transatlantic slave trade, I wrote
an article about black African people who, in order to keep their
identity, fasted during slavery, they would give their food to
others that were also enslaved, who did not who were not Muslim,
or who were not fasting, but they would take the food so that the,
the slave masters would not know that they were fasting, because
they didn't obviously want them to know that they were keeping their
Islamic identity, but they would give it to somebody else. These
are the things that generationally that I have had to continue,
continue to fight for my father, my mother, my grandparents. And so
when I see people posture themselves, as though they are
somehow better, or they think that if they speak Arabic, I'm not
going to understand, and then I respond to them. And then they're
surprised. Like, wait, you knew what I was talking about? Because
I was talking mess about you. And you wasn't supposed to know.
So now I have to try to find a way to rectify it like, oh, no, no,
no, sir. I did not. I did not mean that I did not mean that. And a
lot of people too. And let's put it out there, especially in the
United States of America. Sorry, I keep talking about the US. I know
we got our British folks to hear shout out to y'all shout out to
the our Canadians. Um, but a lot of people didn't even recognize
that they were of a different ethnicity or racial group, or even
recognize their Islam until 911 happened. It was like, wait, I'm
not white, in our census forms. And on our like applications in
where it says white, when you check the box, it says white, it
literally had in parentheses, Middle East.
I think it had Asian or some type of Asian or whatever. And people
legitimately thought there were white Syrians thought that they
were white.
Egyptians still think that they're white, but thought that they were
white. And so when 911 happened, and people were getting their
hijab snatched, something that black Muslim women have happened,
have had to deal with our whole lives, then all of a sudden, it
became like, what, when people named my mood, were saying, No,
call me Mike. Instead, I am still going by emailing my father still
going by Muhammad, we are still identifying who it is that we are.
Because no matter what we do to assimilate, we are still black.
And that's the thing that I feel like, goes unscathed. And in this
community, it gets brushed under the rug in this community. I know.
And I know, I know, I can only speak to British people because I
have family in South Hall in London, East African, my sister in
law is Somali. And so I know this happens in Britain as well. I know
this happens in the UK as well. And I know that a lot of non Black
Muslim people got their money and got their riches off the back of
black African people. And still will turn around and turn their
nose up at them. So I just I just want to state that assimilation is
one of the biggest problems that we have in the non Black Muslim
community.
Are you saying that it's that proximity to whiteness, that
ability almost to pass, I guess it's like a, like a Muslim version
of passing for white and having access because of your features?
And because of your skin that you could be just ethnically
ambiguous? The exotic look, I guess you have access to that,
right? Absolutely. And if I feel that I have some adjacent seats to
that, and people won't necessarily view me as bad as black or people
of color, because people of color is a trend let's let's let's be
clear, people to say I'm a person of color is now a trend, as
opposed to an actual identity that people believe. I don't know, when
people started calling themselves brown in the United States of
America, but I just started hearing that maybe like two or
three years ago, that's very new. So people really had this
adjacency as much to whiteness as possible, because that is the
positivity Oh, we have to go to Harvard and Yale, we have to be
the doctors and the lawyers and the things that are seen by white
dominant society as success. And so if I aligned myself with that I
am successful, leaving everything that Allah has told us create
success, and one of those main things is siding with the
oppressed, fighting for the oppressed, standing up for the
oppressed.
Upon a lot of big facts, big facts big facts, okay? Buena Okay, can I
give it to my brother Abdullah Hey guys, please can you hold when and
when necessary, blah, blah hasn't spoken yet. This will take them
like
first of all, I like to say
Thank you very much for inviting me. And there's been some of you,
I know you some of the work you're doing. It's been amazing. I've
been for the new some of you, you're new, especially some of the
brothers and sisters in the States.
Basically, I just really want to echo a couple of things that have
been mentioned by obeyed and Markel and Mona and Amanda. But
before I do that, I'm not gonna hide from the fact that I'm the
first person in this whole panel. And
oh, no, I'm gonna sum up what what happens is in the community is a
lot of times when people find out that my mom's Jamaican or my dad's
English, like, Oh, I thought he was an Algerian or Moroccan. And
they come out with that type of statement. But people that know me
that grew up with me primary school and stuff like that. They
know, for example, I was raised by a strong Jamaican woman, and this
is my background.
To me, that's not relevant. I think what I want to it's not
relevant with regards to today and why I say that, because when Imani
mentioned, this, I can't read, that really, really, really
touched, touched me a lot. And the reason why I said I think it was
him, I didn't know it was more than that mentioned, excuse me.
She mentioned I can't read. That's how she opened her what she was
speaking about. And that factoring for two reasons. We're at the end,
we're in a pandemic. And this pandemic, how it kills you is that
you can't breathe, it slows down your breathing. And we know people
that have died, I personally was involved in burning a young boy
that died in the UK, as a result of this pandemic. And our dua goes
out to everyone that's lost somebody as a result of COVID. The
problem is now there's data that's come out to show it's more
prevalent in the ethnic community. So now you started started to
wonder Hold on a minute, why is that? Is this a result of
discrimination or so this is one thing, the second thing is the
statement of, you know, George Floyd, there was I can't read that
I can't read, I can't read. And that's that, that's become kind of
like the slogan of what's, you know, what this movements are
about the injustice. And secondly, the accountability. You know, so
this, you know, the statement, again, my condolences go out to
the family, and the relatives, because they've watched that
video, they have to repeatedly see that video. And that is very
difficult thing to do, you know, to see, to see your son or to see
your brother or to see you die, not die, get murdered, basically,
by the people that are charged with protecting and uphold the
injustice, to be the murderers and killers, that's a difficult thing
to do, someone could honestly go to them first. You know, first and
foremost, what I want to touch on, and I'm going to try to be quick
tonight, as a lot of it's been like two hours and stuff is first
of all obeyed, which is you know, your young boy, my mom, may Allah
preserve him and give him you know, success in his studies and
stuff. So in sociology, he spoke about changing, I'm with him, I
believe that this is, this is going to lead to a change. And
that's already starting to happen. I think, today in the news, they
said that they're going to ban chokeholds in America, in the
police in their precinct where this happened. So those guys,
there's definitely there's going to be transformation and change.
And that's possible because of two things. Because discrimination is
not something which is in your biology is something which is a
social structure, basically. So as long as it's something which is a
behavior, then it can be changed, like now post COVID, everyone has
to change the way they behave. Inshallah, I'm hoping and there's
a lot of positive indicators indication towards it that post,
you know, after these contests died down, they're gonna die,
they're not gonna last forever, there are going to be policy
changes, which is going to have an impact of some sort.
But, and I'm saying this, but
with regards to discrimination, racism, these things, this is a
force of evil that's existed since as I think it was a man you
mentioned discrimination. From the beginning of time, we're talking
about a police, a police he discriminated and he wouldn't
follow the orders, he will have full authority based upon
discrimination. When he said that no hate on me. No, I'm better than
him. i He considered himself superior. And that's the arrogance
and the pride the massive discrimination was speaking about.
So with regards to the change, even though be changed, there's
always going to have to be a group of people. And this is from our
teachings in Islam. Behavior, there's always going to the
heaviest thing on scale, these longer term is your behavior. And
if somebody doesn't distinguish or discriminate between people based
upon gender, or color or race, so everyone knows that that's not
something which is new information. This is about your
taqwa your level of consciousness, your closeness to Allah subhanaw
taala your actions your Ibadah there's no there's no
discrimination in Islam. That's not something which I think is a
question, but I think what the point is
Is that the education and the people that are going to stand up
against discrimination or other or racism, or long doing stuff like
that, that has that that has to always happen? Our Prophet
Muhammad saw this, I'm gonna lead the way in that. There's many
countless examples. I'm, I've got qualities, but I don't want to,
you know, take more time.
And there always has to be agreeable people are going to be
doing that. And I think the I think the transformation that
we've seen as a result of the this incident, specifically the Floyd
murder, is that there's this shift, which has been, there's
been a, there's been a call and a campaign for the shift for a long
time, but everyone's ignored it, which is a move away from saying,
Oh, hold on a minute, I'm not racist, to an innocent of racism
myself as an individual to actually combat in racism and
standing up against racism. So becoming, for example, an anti
racist, I hate to say I'm racist, not I'm anti racist, I'm against
racism. And I think this is a bit of a shift that that, you know,
is, you know, it took the tragedy of a murder public murder of a
police officer for this to happen. Potential I'm, I'm hopeful that
this is the shift the positive shift that you're going to see
with regard to
I think, and another point, which I think I want to just echo,
because there's nothing for me to add, there's so much positive, and
so much learning that's come out of this bottom point, I want to
echo and, you know, he really made a lot of valuable contributions
is, Michael, who's obviously a professor is a scholar.
You know, there's this, there's a lot of statements that Imams don't
speak up, and Imams need to address racism, and and as, you
know, pointing fingers and blaming and blaming, and I think as a
Muslim community, as well as a black Muslim community.
It's counterproductive. What I mean is that people do things in
different ways. Okay, that your mommy does something in one way or
the author she does he or she does something in another way. The
first reason is eventing. But just because at that particular time,
he doesn't say the right thing doesn't necessitate, for example,
that he's not doing anything. This is, I think, a misconception.
What Michael highlighted is that the scholarship and Islam and
transmission of Hadith and the transmission of the Arabic
language and the transmission of the sin of Quran, it came through
black scholars, black Imams, imams that were either freed slaves,
their social status got got elevated through knowledge and
education. And I think this is something which needs to be
highlighted. A lot of times the verses always quoted about
diversity and Islam. The verses that are we create the best Allah
mentioned, I'm just gonna mention the English. We created it for
male and females, and made you nations and tribes. So that you
may know one another very the most, the best of you is the one
that has the most top what is 100 diversity in the lack of
discrimination in Islam, and that is that this team, in fact, is
actually tough on knowledge behavior. I think what's commonly
known is the reasons why this first one was revealed, as baboon
uzun, and as some of the reasons and if you look at the reasons,
you're going to find that it's the messenger of allah sallallahu
sallam, in an incident where there was discrimination based upon
someone's level of poverty, or because of their race and this
discrimination, we live in a situation of marriage, we're in a
situation of appointing a given a person of color, a black person,
whether it's for law or other than him in a position which the nobles
at that time for holding a minute, why is it him and not one of us
type of thing? The point is, the point is, is that discrimination
is there. But it's not genetic. It's not DNA is social. And it
changes for the transformation, that of enjoying the good and
forbidding evil, as we all know, as Muslims reverse that, you know,
that arise from your nation or group of people, that they enjoy
the good and they forbid the evil. This is essential for the
establishment of justice, and to remove injustice, and this is what
Islam is about. It's about establishing justice and
accountability. And this is inshallah I think one of the, you
know, like I already mentioned, one of there's going to be a
change, and I think that change is going to move away from being
people. It's not acceptable. Just say, I'm not racist, but I've got
black friends, how can I be racist? No, you have to be anti
racist, you have to be overtly against racism, because it exists
in this in your sphere and your friendships in your site, even if
you yourself may not claim to be racist. I think I think the
funniest thing that came out of it, and I'll close with this is
not one of the Donald Trump's advisors saying He's the least
racist
So in the world,
Donald Trump, so I mean, so this is this is the type of situation I
think we have to, you know, the transformation that may come. I
mean, shall I hope? I've been trying to speak well, maybe I
didn't get in at the right time. So that's it really just a
colossal failure. Thank you so much. I imagine and I'm sorry, I
didn't see your hand going up. And yeah, then I mashallah one of the
audience members actually messaged me privately. And I think one of
the one we want to speak for a while so. So there's him and also
Aubade has been wanting to speak for a while as well. But just
before we go to buena, and then Mona and then for beta wants to
speak just what you said about racism, not being genetic. I think
that's, although it sounds obvious. I do think that there is
some kind of programming that we have that, you know, people have
whoever are like predisposed to look down on black people. And you
know, this whole thing that somebody else was mentioning, I
think it was a you, Habib, about, you know this, it's now like a
construct that black is always at the bottom.
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