Omar Suleiman – Beyond Bilal – Black History In Islam
AI: Summary ©
The host discusses the importance of Islam in shaping society and bringing together people in West Africa, including its success in shaping culture and bringing together people through teaching. They stress the need for practical solutions and learning from black people in building experiences. The speaker also touches on the history and characteristics of the Islam culture in West Africa, including its success in shaping culture and bringing together people. They encourage people to make a positive difference for everyone by acknowledging and embracing diversity in their community.AI: Transcript ©
Now 100 allow thoughts on someone else so they love it. He also behaved woman Wila um did a lot of Grameen. We're honored to host our brother Mustafa breaks, who is the author of the book Beyond be that black history and a snob, which talks about the history of not just black companions, but actually the history or Black History Throughout up until, in fact, the president time here in the United States in Islam and the important relationship between those two worlds and Hamdulillah. He's been on a tour here, sponsored by Amana mutual funds, and we actually met Weaver's First, your first visit was TFP. Hamdulillah. So as soon as he got off the plane, I had a chance to meet him and we
had a chance to spend some time together. I'm not gonna say what type of food we ate. That's up to you if you want to share that might be blasphemous, but
we had some good food and hamdulillah Grameen and got a chance to really get to know chef Mustafa and,
and appreciate sort of his journey, which I'm sure he'll share a lot of that today. bitten and Atana and I'm glad that he has made Valley Ranch Islamic Center, a stop. My first question for you is Valley Ranch, Islamic center or epic?
You want to get me a job.
Before we started the interview
with Mila salatu salam ala Rasulillah Ali, he was a human who Allah. Before we started the interview, she said I'm going to ask you some very difficult questions. But I didn't put in how difficult
personally, it's a very very big honor for me to be here because from a distance as you can tell by my funny accent, I'm from the UK. And I've been watching videos that take place in this masjid for years. I'm the law my active follow up the YouTube page. I follow a lot of the hook was I follow all of the classes so to be here in real life and see the masjid is it means a lot to me as I have. It's touching my heart. So VRC alright.
That's why I'm taking this as a diplomatic answer to the question, but Zack, I love it and you're welcome here at him. Did he love him? The Sheikh Mustafa, before we get into the four we get into the book, I think a lot of people would want to know about you. So tell us about your journey
to Islam through Islam studying Islam. And what brought you to the point that you that you are at right now. Okay Hamdulillah. So, Jenny's always begin before we speak about ourselves. We speak about our ancestors because they're the reason that we are here today. And so I'm descended from my father is Nigerian and my mother is Gambian and Sierra Leonean, originally, but my mother was born in the UK in London and I was also born in the UK, in London. And ethnically, my father comes from an ethnic group called efic and able to ethnic groups in the south and the east of the country. And then my mother, ethnically, she's a Creole. And Wolof? Yeah.
So the Creole the Creole here is like a French Creole, the Creole that we have is English Creole, fortunately or fortunately. But they are descended from liberated Africans and African Americans who were enslaved in the Caribbean and in the North Americas and then they returned after the slave trade ended, select my grandmother's Gambian, but her surname is Roberts all our family like Williams Jones, etc. and But growing up in Gambia, which is mostly Wolof and Mandinka.
There's some mixture as well, like I do have some all of ancestry as well. But growing up, I grew up in the UK, but then I would always visit the Gambia. And so due to my family's background, they come from Christian majority tribes, but Gambia, if you know, is like 95% Muslim. So in England when I'm with my grandma with my mom, our family events will be going to church etc, going to different social events. And then when I come to Gambia, I hear the other as a child I was about six or seven and I hear the other and everywhere I see people making Salah in the street, and I see people putting pictures of like Messiah from the buses and in the in the shops and I hear the Quran being
played they have a tradition between the oven and the timer of the Quran acid. They always play family history citation in all of them as I read. So I start asking my grandmother questions like you know why, why is everybody like, what are they doing? And she's explaining to me the differences between Islam and Christianity which sparked my interest as a child. So my grandmother actually bought me my first Quran. And then she had Muslim cousins she had Muslim friends that she grew up with like her house was next door to a masjid which was I don't know if you know her Sunfire the Quran recital from Senegal. His family's Masjid which is like a seventh generation Masjid his great
great grandfather started it. It was next door to my grandmother's house. So they grew up together the faith family and my family.
I grew up together as I always say, husband's like my cousin. And so I was exposed to Islam through that. And then around the age of 13, I took shahada became Muslim. And yeah, I joined the Quran school, around 14 or 15, started studying the Quran around the age of 70 and started to study Arabic. When it was when I was 19. And I went to college, I decided to study Arabic and international relations as my first degree then I went into translation and all throughout that time, I kept traveling to Senegal and Mauritania and to Gambia and benefiting from the sheath there. And then when I finally finished my studies in the UK, I took the step to move to Egypt, where I've
been for the past three years studying
the law.
So Nigeria or the Gambia, and I'm just not I'm not going to do that too. I could give you a
beautiful mashallah journey. So Subhanallah I think that your story, in many ways is the story of a lot of black Americans, in fact, to begin their, their journey by actually
rediscovering the journey of their parents and their their grandparents and their ancestors. And I think that there's
often the sense of either betrayal, like why did I not know this? And why has this been taken away from me? Or a deep curiosity that leads them to the study of Islam and him didn't matter but I mean, and many times that ends in them embracing the religion of their ancestors the way that you did when did not have. So you became Muslim. You started to study you studied Arabic and Hamdulillah, doing translations studied the Quran, living right now. Or in Egypt, studying at Asana.
What was a moment?
That while you were studying the deen, you thought to yourself, How incredible is the history of black people in the history of Islam? Was there an aha moment for you when you were studying Islam, that you came across the story of companions, or the story of a civilization where that really really sparked something for you.
Um, the law, I would say, there's been many moments like that. And I tried to compile all of those moments in the book. And that's what essentially the book is, it's just a compilation of those moments where I feel as though for me, it began with questioning. Firstly, it began with watching the message and reading the set of Islam, and realizing that there was a relationship between the Prophet SAW Selim directly and Africa that we don't really see in a lot of other world religions coming from a Christian background.
Seeing that the Prophet sallallahu wasallam, his first Hijra that he initiates, even though he doesn't take part in that hijra, was to send a group of his companions to Africa, I felt that for me, that was extremely significant. And then also seeing the relationship that he had with certain African Sahaba, reading the stories and realizing that things were much more multicultural and much more diverse than we could have imagined. We tend to think of that time as a certain demographic and a certain type of people whereas the Prophet sallallahu Sallam had, beloved from Habash and he had Sabir Rumi, and he had, you know, he had all of these different companions coming in Salman, Al
Farsi, all of these different companions coming in from different parts of the world, which made it an international community, and then personally as a West African. For me, what touched me the most was seeing how Islam spread in West Africa. Because my question growing up in the UK and then associating Islam with Arabs and Asians and and going back to where I come from, and seeing that everyone in my country is Muslim. It always led me to question how did that happen? And why did that happen? And so in doing that research and discovering, you know, the scholars and the empires and the different things that we had in West Africa in terms of like, we've all heard of Mansa Musa, for
example, and the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire and their contributions to scholarship and their contributions to Islamic history. That was also something very touching for me. Yeah. So you watch the message and
the message. It was very interesting for me, I remember coming across
reading about Zaidan in Haiti for a while the a lot of times when I was like, that doesn't look like Zaid.
The way that he was portrayed in the movie, though, is a little deal outside I know himself, was black that his son of Simon was able to do a lot of time on home who was the first commander under a blanket of Sadiq, all the law and what the order of the profit slice on him was black. Was there as a hobby that when you came across, you know, and I remember reading about multiple fulsol habits and we did have other baby mom,
Josie Rahimullah to Anna as well.
arose by asleep at all these books, right? It's like, wow, this person also this person also this person also this person also, is there once a hobby that you were like I can't believe he to like, wow, like I never would have would have thought Yeah, so you mentioned and this is essentially the topic of chapter two of the book, because I talk about the fact that if we actually open the chapter talking about the fact that if we watch the message, we will have the image of the time of the Prophet salaallah alayhi salam, as all rosy cheeks pale skinned Sahaba with the one Bilal and one washi to change the demographic, when in reality, many of the Sahaba that were around the prophets
as long as you mentioned were described as being black as well as them. But the one I think that shocked me the most was when I was reading Rafa Shannon caption by Obama. So UT, and he talks about the Arabs who are the children of Ethiopian women. There's like a specific chapter on that. And within that he talks about no fail bin Abdullah, who, I'll tell you who he is, after one failed bin Abdullah is the cousin of the Prophet Sessoms grandfather. They're all from Korea. She was a noble man of courage. He was Ethiopian. And then he also had a son with an Ethiopian woman whose name was Al Khattab. So his son was three quarters Ethiopian, and that's the father of Satan.
So when I watched the message, and then I also saw the NBC series after I was like, Well, I probably didn't look the same way that x is. But Jaden, and in the undisclosed restaurant where we were.
You wish it was halal? By the way? Yeah, we're getting a little too. It just wasn't West African, let's delay because my cousin has a West African restaurant he has I should be promoting his business that's like, and he was there with us.
But you also pointed out which including the revised edition, Abdullah bin,
that was something that really, really shocked me as well, that was interesting. And then just to see the fact that
that to understand that the images that have been presented to us are so far removed from the actual historical descriptions of all of these companions around the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. And then questioning that, unfortunately, with the discrimination and the anti blackness that exists in certain sections of our society, prominent Sahaba and even prominent members of the family of the Prophet says, if they were to come within our communities and within our societies, would they be victims of the same discrimination and the same anti blackness? That's something very disturbing to think about. Subhanallah that question? So if just because a Muslim was named Majid, beloved,
doesn't mean that someone who looks like Donald THE LAW and are walking in would not encounter discrimination.
Someone might say, but aren't you reinforcing? Those constructs? Why talk about black Sahaba? By talking about blackness and Islam? Why, why do that? Why not just say Islam did away with all of it. And there is no value to talking about, you know, black Sahaba and talking about,
you know, black history in Islam, I would say, because Allah tells us in the Quran, which I'm not sure when we'll cover it later, that he made us into different tribes and nations in order for us to know each other and in order for us to be to understand each other. And Tarot was interesting, because it's not just a knowledge based knowledge, but it's a knowledge that's experiential. It's a knowledge that familiarity, so knowledge that comes through mixing through understanding. And so I feel as though that's very important. And then in another verse in the Quran, Allah tells us that there are differences in the colors of the animals in the colors of the plants, and also in human
beings. So all of these differences come from Allah subhanaw taala. And for us to say, I mean, I feel as though it's not honest for us to say, Islam has got away with all of these problems, because Islam has in terms of the teachings, but are those teachings being applied? And that's the question, the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. And I always reflect on this in his final 100, whether when he gave his final address to the Ummah, he highlights two very important issues that at that time were issues, but we seem to be struggling more with today than we were struggling with in the time of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, he highlights that there is no excellence over black over white, or Arab
over non Arab Illa with Taqwa. And then he asks us to also look at how we treat women. Those are the two main issues that we see in the final sermon of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. And those are still issues that within a lot of our communities we struggle with. So it's not honest for us to say, okay, Islam, and I feel like that's a way of taking away from talking about the issue because the only way we can deal with the issue is to have discussions and have practical solutions to these problems rather than pretending that because Bill was black, everything is fine. And we don't need to talk about it was exactly my fair and I think
it's it's profound.
Even arena like given a Josie Rahim olanta. Anna, who is, you know, an author who probably wrote more than any scholar in Islamic history. No person wrote more than Josie Rahim Allah Tada and a scholar like an enormously wealthy Rahim Allah would have found this to be an important topic. And it speaks to the idea right of celebrating the richness of those cultures and how Islam, polished them even further and made them even more beautiful and was beautified through it because these are all at the end of the day. Blessings from Allah subhanaw taala. And so it's not to suggest the superiority of one group over the other it's to it's to suggest the blessings of Allah subhanaw
taala and the qualities that through Islam further shines and further gave to the entire world. So what has Islam in Africa given to the entire world? Subhan Allah Islam in Africa, Mashallah. Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, if we think about history, Islam was Africa, was the first home for Islam and Islam first found a home in Africa before it found a home anywhere else because when the Prophet sallallaahu Salam was being persecuted in Medina, and before Madina Munawwara was in Makkah, sorry, and before Madina Munawwara was established, the prophet sighs LM sent, his daughter sent, his cousin sent the early group of believers to find refuge under the King, who does not wrong
anybody in his kingdom, Nigeria, she. And so the story I believe, starts there. And the fact that the first home for the dean and the first welcoming community for the Dean was in Africa. And then we see the African contribution in the life of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam, we see him being raised by a man who he used to refer to as me. And he used to say, hear me bad on me. She's my mother after my mother. We see him with all of the Sahaba mentioned in chapter two of the work and internal rubbish and elsewhere. And then when Islam comes into Africa and North Africa and West Africa, one of the most profound things for me is that it produces Allah ma, and no words of Allah
and scholars who have contributed amazing things when it comes to love of the Prophet salaallah alayhi salam and detailing the spirit of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam and poetry poetic way in West Africa, specifically, poetry is a big expression of how people study their deen and how people
spread the knowledge of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And I feel like that's a very important thing. And there have been many scholars that have come out of West Africa that yet to be known and discovered scholars like shirtless man, dan Fodio, and his brother Abdullah and for the scholars like Sherrod Brown, yes, in Senegal, and Sheikh Mohammed bomba in Senegal, scholars like Sheikh Mohammed Baba in Mali, and all of these amazing people, the richest man who have ever lived Mansa Musa as well, who's the king of the Mali Empire, all of these amazing figures have contributed things to Islamic history that I do highlight in the book
that I feel need to also be rediscovered. Because whenever we talk about Islamic empires, whenever we talk about Islamic contributions to knowledge, we always seem to forget certain areas of the world as they're not included in the mainstream narrative. So for example, at the same time that Alaska is at its peak, and zaytuna is at its peak, and Halloween is at its peak. There's also a university in the heart of West Africa called the sanctuary university that's at its peak producing scholars, and has the largest library in Africa after the Library of Alexandria. And the manuscripts are still there today. And for us, as West Africans as well, Islam was revolutionary in the fact
that when foreign religions and foreign nations came and took over Africa, they're enforcing their religion and their culture, wiped away the traditions and the cultures of the previous people or watered them down. Whereas when Islam came into West Africa, what I find interesting is that
Islam strengthen the traditional cultures. So we see, for example, a lot of the texts that are preserved in Mali, books written not only in classical first, Arabic, but then at Jimmy, which is a system used to write traditional West African languages using the Arabic script. So today in Nigeria, in Ghana, and Senegal and Gambia, the people who understand and speak our native languages the best are people who attend schools that are Islamic schools, or mattresses, or traditional schools, because in studying traditional Islamic texts, they have to pay each word with a word in their traditional language, which is something we don't get in the European education system. So for
example, on my father's side, none of my cousins can speak our native language. But when I go to Senegal, and I sit with the shoe, etc, they read and write in Arabic in Wolof in a deeper level of all of the Akkad even understand that's been lost to you know, my generation. So all of these things I feel
contributions to of Africa to Islam and then also contributions of Islam to Africa.
Allah bless you.
I think that one of the questions that some people would have is
how do you how do you bring life to a culture that may be entirely foreign, the Islamic part of it and the non Islamic part of it to the entire ummah? What's the value? Beyond obviously getting past the appreciation of multiple black companions of the Prophet size on black history in Islam? What's the truth value to Muslims of African descent, and Muslims that are not of African descent to really appreciate and understand and absorb this history?
I feel as though if I understand your question correctly,
let me know if my answer is right or if my answer is wrong, Sharla. But I feel as though it just offers a different perspective for us to understand our tradition, and for us to understand the gifts that we've been left behind, which are the Quran and the Sunnah. So for example, I was speaking the other day with a good friend of mine, about tuffa seer, and we have a tradition in West Africa in Ramadan. After Asad every day, the scholars will give tafsir in local languages, but their perspectives in some of the West African diversity that I've heard that I haven't heard anywhere else. So for example, and I gave an example, the Prophet sallallahu wasallam on Ezra and Mirage,
Leila, Celestron Mirage, he is taken through the seven heavens and he meets different prophets on each level of the seven heavens. If you look at the prophets that he meets chronologically, the order doesn't make sense. And even in terms of rank, the order doesn't make sense because for example, he would meet Musa before he meets heroin. And heroin is not mineral asmita Russell Musa So Musa is one of the five major prophets heroin is his brother. Some argue that he wasn't even a Rasul, he was a Navy, etc. Oh, you see Adam on the first level, and then you see Satan is a nice add on the next level, etc. In one of the Tafseer sessions, I was listening to Chef Ibrahim yes was
explaining and they were explaining that he explained that each, the Prophet sallallahu Sallam went on Israel and Mirage at a time in his life. That was the most one after the most difficult period of his life. It was after his wife had passed away, his uncle had passed away, he found himself in a very, very difficult position. And so Allah gave him the Sol Mirage to give him glad tidings of what is about to come. Because Allah tells us in the Quran, Oxalic Amin, and by rowsley, Manasa Bibi, for adequate, he'll tell you the stories of the previous prophets in order to strengthen your heart. That was the message that he gave to the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. He said so and he was
explaining that I've seen he said, So the first level he sees Adam, because Adam left had to leave his home and find himself in a new place. Were in that new place. That was where I like establishing was the Khalifa. He said he left Jana which was his home, and then he came to earth the same way the Prophet sallallahu wasallam was about to leave Makkah and go to Medina. He said then, at the next level, he sees Satan ISA and say tonight yeah, here, we can say now insensate and I hear we're opposed by people. And so the Prophet says, when he reaches Madina, Munawwara he's going to face a new level of opposition specifically from Bani Israel with the same people who oppose the previous
prophets before him, Satan i Hand Satan ASA. He said then on the next level, he sees Satana Yusuf alayhi salam, am I correct say Nisa, and he see Satan I use of because Satan I use of
was betrayed by his brothers. He wasn't protected by his brothers. He was put in the difficult situation and sent out of his country because of his brothers. And when he returns and he has authorities and he's reunited with his brothers, He forgives them the same way the Prophet sallallahu wasallam after leaving Mecca, and after facing opposition in Medina, he will return and be reunited with the Quraysh in Raqqa. And he'll forgive them. And we see that in the in the fertile Miko when he says the exact same thing that you said to his brothers. So then on the next level, we see him with
Satan or Idris, with the Satan or Idris is the first innovator right with a pen. He's the first prophet to write with a pin. And after the Prophet says, establishes His authority, he starts to write to all of the different kings in the world inviting them to Islam. Then the next level we see
in some of them, I think is Musa he says after so he sees Musa because Musa when they were wandering in the desert, they had to fight or they had to go to battle with the most powerful tribes at that time. And it's after the Prophet says and takes over Makkah, then he has to go into the
Fighting the Roman Empire and other places, he said, and then he sees Satan and Harun. We can say it in a hurry was the book of his people. The chef said, Satan or Musa was more Jalil. He was more rigorous, he was more rough. And so the people couldn't
interact with him in the same way they could with his younger brother, say, didn't know how to say no. So it was Joanne said, My husband was German, he was open and he was friendly. And so he became beloved by his nation. The same way the Prophet SAW Selim became loved by Jazeera in the final days of his life, because he united all the tribes he bought priests. And then in the final level, he sees Satan, Ibrahim, and he sees Satan Abraham because Satan or Ibrahim, as we know, is the one who reestablished the house of Allah. He reestablish the Kaaba, and the monastic that we follow in going on Hajj and going on O'Meara are all to do with the story of Satan or Ibrahim and to do with his
wife say that to Niger and Satana, Israel, he said, And so before he returns to Allah, after the seventh level, he sees Ibrahim leaning against Rachel Mahmoud, which is a representation of the Kaaba, meaning the final stage of his life as he will finally achieve his goal of going on hydro chief is headed to the water and then he returns to Allah. He said Sol Sol Mirage was a story preparing the Prophet sallallahu Sallam for all of the different stages in his life to come. So he could take strength from the Stories of the Prophets that came before him. That's something I heard in this tafsir in West Africa, that I'm sure it's enriching to a lot of us. We can see that story in
a different perspective. And that's something that I haven't read in a lot of the other books, which is why one of the Mauritanian she who came to Senegal for the Tafseer of the chef he said, welcome that Jack coming home. So Alan, welcome. Kaija, home and commercial web will Marfil could pick to attend TV via via ticket be hit up here? How many questions have come to us from you? And how many answers have come to you from us? He said you bring us what's in this book and what's in that book. And then you close the books and bring us what we haven't seen in any of the books and if you know Mauritanians, you know that they've read and memorize all of the books. So
did I answer the question correctly? I don't know. But it was good.
I forgot the question. Wasn't good, answered 100. And I think that's one of the element mentioned something profound. That the difference between also the the pride racial pride that would be apparent and celebrating our diversity is that a racial pride elevates a person above the other creation of Allah to where they compete with the Creator. Whereas diversity we celebrate the different creation of Allah which is a means of glorifying Allah subhanaw taala and likewise, when it comes to ideas and anything that is elevated beyond the Quran, and the Sunnah as manifold, it's rejected, whether it comes from Africa or whether it comes from Asia or whether it comes from the
Americas anything that is elevated as culture, whatever it is above the Quran and the Sunnah smartphone, but the experiences of people interacting with the Sunnah with a pure heart and with those evolving realities gives us the most enriching to moolah and to the contemplation and these reflections that are so beneficial to all of us. I wanted to move on to another thing, but Subhanallah you brought up sickle Brahim. And we had this conversation about solidarity.
I think it's a very profound missing piece of history. When we talk about the solidarity of African Muslims with Palestine Subhanallah it's actually a rich, understudied aspect of and as we're seeing now, you know, Israel normalizing its relationships being welcomed into Gulf countries today in Bahrain, UAE and African countries as well being forced under economic restrictions to normalize shapes. The Brahim was olam Ibrahim was actually one of the scholars who was writing to the world and expressing solidarity with Palestine in a profound way. Can you talk about that? Because you mentioned discovering some of that literature? Yes, I'm Allah. Not only was he writing these things,
but he was actively traveling to Philistine to show his solidarity. But the story is interesting because the story begins. So I was reading the an interesting fact before I even start, I met the Mufti of Palestine, the current Mufti of Philistine, but I met him in Senegal. And he had come to visit to show solidarity with the community of Shia Iranians in Senegal, because of all of the work that he saw their grandfather do for the Palestinian cause. And all of the letters that he wrote to the different presidents and all of the different things that he did. So I met him there in Senegal, and we had a we had a brief conversation on the law and it was random for me to be in West Africa
and meet him there. But he had traveled all the way from Philistine for a special ceremony.
because they had named the day they have an annual festival but they had named a specific day after Palestine. And they were showing solidarity with Palestine and raising awareness for the plight of the Palestinian cause in West Africa, but it rains story with Palestine starts in 1937 when he goes on Hajj and he meets Hajj, Amin al Husseini, who becomes the Mufti of Palestine after that, but at that time they meet each other, they have a meeting. And they talk about the fact that there are plans by the world powers and colonization and all of the things that are happening not only in the Arab world, but in Africa, because the same people that were colonizing and devising the Middle East
were the same people that were doing it in West Africa. And the same people that were being affected were all Muslims who shared the same religion. And so it shows you the unifying power of Islam that this figure leaves
liberal I think he was in Lebanon at the time he came for hajj, he meets an Iranian from Senegal for Hajj, and they make a pact with each other, that they're going to support each other in helping each of their countries attain freedom. And this is a 1937. Then in the 40s, and the 50s. We see things develop. And Arrhenius is invited by Hajj, Amin Husseini to join the Muslim World Congress, which is headed in Karachi, Pakistan. So he travels to Jerusalem and I have a picture of him in front of Betamax this with hedge Omean and with his wife and with his Son, and then he travels to Pakistan as well. But what's interesting is in the 50s and 60s, if you read a lot of Shah Rahim Yes, his poetry,
he talks a lot and he makes a lot of talk tawassul and he makes dua for the Palestinians. So he visits Palestine and he talks about going to Hebron and making the era of Satan or Ebrahimian, Helene and making car and then he's praying to Allah that Allah supports the people and frees them from the oppression that they're suffering. He writes letters I've seen here, he writes letters to Gamal Abdel Nasser, he writes letters to the president of the Arab League, he writes letters to all of the leaders of the Arab world and he is mashallah a scholar that's not afraid to speak to people of authority, and give them advice in a way that will rectify their affairs without any fear of any
punishment. So one day he writes this one letter. So he said to the president of the Arab League, he said, You should be ashamed at the countries that you have authority over, and the fact that you're allowing what is happening to the Palestinian people to happen. He said, Because if it was us, in West Africa, we would never have allowed this to happen. And he's constantly in all of his drama. He was making the Alpha Palestine. And he even has a guesthouse that he builds because he receives many guests. And so his house and then he has a guest house, and his guest house, he names it Philistine.
So there's all of these and there's a book written by one of his grandsons, go down, share his culture, baba, baba Canyon. The book is in Arabic, but I'm working on translating it into English in sha Allah, and the book is good, shall Abraham Yes, well puts please settle Ishmael Highlander.
The story of eternal love the relationship between him because this shows the unity between us the fact that when people are being oppressed, as the Prophet says, Adam said, the OMA should be like one body, that if you feel pain, in one part of it, the whole body should feel pain. And so for him being West African, he had no ethnic ties with the people in Palestine, he had no he had no ties with them in terms of ALLATRA to team, but he had a lot to do, and he had no physical ties with them, but he had a spiritual connection with them, because of the fact that they were Muslim, because of the fact that that was the whole of Satan, that Abraham and all of the NBR that we know,
because of the fact that that was the place of Israel and Mirage, and because of all of the love that we should have for the land, and for those figures, a land that the that Allah says in the Quran that He has blessed, then hamdulillah through that he raised awareness in West Africa. And then he also raised awareness within the Middle East, which I think was was a beautiful thing. Allah bless you Duncan lawfare and Rahim Allah may Allah subhanaw taala liberate all of the oppressed peoples in Africa and Philistine wherever they are? Including here alone? I mean
56 years, I believe from this day, actually, Allah Allah.
Yeah, I think 56 years from this day. The House of Malcolm X was firebombed and Hajj Malik el Shabazz, Rahim, Allah Tada faced an assassination attempt. He actually had just gotten back from the UK. And Malcolm was becoming an international symbol of lembert liberation. He was the most famous black American in Africa, more famous, far more famous than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Anyone else at the time, became a spokesperson sat in Egypt, in the seat of a prime minister, as he spoke about the liberation of black people
When American connected to the liberation of Africa, went to visit Palestine, and 1964 wrote an essay on Zionism spoke about the liberation of the Palestinian people. A man who just symbolizes this commitment to truth, and 56 years ago faces an assassination attempt to be actually assassinated on February 21 Rahim Allah may Allah grant him shahada love me. I mean, what does Malcolm mean to you? And how did that inspire your journey to Islam? In this book, your continued connection? Has his significance grown as you have studied this topic? Yeah, and your heart welcome, Mashallah. Welcome means a lot to me personally, just because his book was one of the first books I
read when I was interested in Islam. And I read it after watching the movies. I know a lot of people watch the movie. A lot of people read the book, and then they watch the movie. I watched the movie, and then I read the book. But what touched me personally was that the book The Autobiography of Malcolm X was written by Alex Haley. And Alex Haley was also the author of roots. And I read both books around the same time, and the answered questions that I had being descended from liberated Africans who returned to Africa and settled in Gambia. And so Alex Haley traced his ancestry back to Gambia to an enslaved Mandinka warrior kente. As I feel like even the choice of Allah's choice of
using Alex Haley to talk about the story of Malcolm X and to write it down is significant because kindy comes from the Gambia, as I mentioned, he comes from a village called jufa. And if you read roots,
Alex Haley has traced his lineage all the way back to this man, he's a Mandinka warrior from the same tribe as Mansa Musa, the same ethnic group. But what's interesting is within the first chapter, he talks about the lineage of contiguity. And he mentioned that Kunta Kinte his grandfather was an alum. He was a scholar who traveled from Mauritania into the ghetto, and settled and he belonged to the content tribe, and the content tribe, trace their ancestry to aucuba naffaa and ferry al qurayshi.
So, and that's common knowledge, like I have a good friend, Elijah kindy, we have a project together, we build masajid and things in the Gambia. And he's from the same family as Kentuckians. So he tells me like, yeah, my grandpa told me this, we have, you know, must have 100 year old was house in our house, and we have all of these relics. But look at that, that Alex Haley can trace his ancestry back to the Quraysh. So
So Ababa Nafi. For those who don't know, he's a Sahaba of the Prophet says that I'm sure you can cover him in your first see sha Allah. And he was one of the first I have to enter Africa. And he established a city called Kira one, which became a center of knowledge. And he's the ancestor of Fatima and farrier, who started who established the Caribbean University, the oldest university in the world, and is the ancestor of Kentucky they and Alex Haley too, so they are cousins. So and then he is the one that writes the autobiography of Malcolm X, which inspires, I would say, millions of people to enter Islam. They were entered Islam through that book, doctor, which were who I know,
entered Islam through reading that book, and many others were influenced. And so I feel for me, Malcolm X represents that link and that connection, and he doesn't represent for me just an individual, but he represents an experience. He represents the fact that an ancestor like Kentucky into for example, or many of the hundreds of enslaved West African Muslims, who came to this country, made do as for their descendants, to be Muslim, as they tried to fight to preserve their Deen, I told this story in another interview, but there was one slave, one enslaved man who was found with a prayer that he had kept on him. And when they opened it, and they read it, and they
translated it was over Jana, Muslim, Maynila, Coleman Zuri, Athena, mutton, Muslim and laka from Surah Baqarah, the prayer of Satan or Ibrahim, that his descendants should be upon Tao heat. So then when we see people like Malcolm X, when we see people like Muhammad Ali, when we see all of these figures, returning to Islam, it shows the connection between all of these things. So for me, Malcolm X doesn't just represent himself as an individual, but he represents this
centuries old legacy of Islam in this country, as he's a result of not just his own personal efforts, but he's the result of the dryers of hundreds of 1000s of enslaved I West African Muslims and free West African Muslims, who were here on this continent making dua and then they manifest into what we saw today.
Because and his his and to go back to what we mentioned earlier about the benefit. He's benefited not just black Muslims, he's benefited everyone. He's popular. He's as popular in Iran as he is in West Africa as he is anywhere else. And so yeah, it's a beautiful story. And it's a miraculous story.
Subhanallah that's, that's a humbling sentiment to think about,
you know, a pious woman in chains, making your app on some plantation that has now been completely removed from the earth. And Allah subhanaw taala, perhaps answering that drought through Malcolm X. That's a powerful, powerful, powerful thought. And Allah knows best. There's actually someone I'm not sure if you've connected. in Raleigh, North Carolina, tells the story of Malcolm
I want to know if you know this.
He's He's He's, the message over there is built literally right next to a slave, former slave plantation. And there's a graveyard, one of the oldest graveyards of enslaved Africans in the country. And this, this elderly sister tells the story of Malcolm sitting on the balcony, drinking his coffee and just staring at it,
just hours on end, and then not saying anything except standing up and smiling at her after hours of just sitting there and meditation saying they're awfully quiet.
Subhanallah, but connecting to that legacy, and Allah knows best. Of course, we can't say that definitively. But it could indeed be that the diets of those people
resulted, of course, collectively, in what we see today. And I think the experience for
you know, someone growing up in the UK is very different from a black American growing up with, you know, the proximity of Malcolm and Muhammad Ali, right. The UK is very different. So your encounter with Islam is primarily obviously in the UK. Yeah. But it's interesting, because for us in the UK, especially with the lack of black representation in the media, and the lack of black representation in you know, popular culture, we always tend to America for everything. So like, Yes, I grew up, even though I was in the UK, being young and being black, going, will turning on the TV, not seeing anyone that looks like me, then keep on clicking the channel until I get to my wife and kids, I get
to like, you know, I get to see. So it's like my exposure to seeing black people in the media or seeing anything, always came back to America. And this is something that I don't know, now, we have a lot of pride in the popular culture that has progressed to a level where we produce a lot of our own things. But like for me growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, everything was American, the music was American, the movies were American. And so growing up, I would watch roots, I would watch the story, his story of Malcolm X, I watched the Muhammad Ali movie, and that affected me and how I grew up, but I had to contextualize it within the UK and a British context. And then also realizing
as well that, like my grandmother telling me stories of her ancestors coming from the Americas back to The Gambia, and then us moving to the UK. You can feel like you're connected. So it's interesting. It's an interesting dynamic, because I can laugh.
London or Dallas.
Dallas. Yeah, I love you guys. Let them
I think you always prefer when you're a guest than when you actually live there. Yeah, that's true. It's true. I still like Dallas better yeah, no, I love London.
So exactly. So your book I look forward to reading it and shot lots out of myself I've not got a chance to it's been a pleasure getting to know you over the last few days inshallah and I think we'll open it up to questions. So questions from the audience
Sisters Brothers.
Yep.
I can sit down
my question is,
what do you think
are the lessons
do something about the communities
to teach them about black communities and Muslim community that have done a lot and what do you think should be done?
Okay, so the question was what should be done within our communities to integrate the stories of black Muslims into the mainstream curriculums and
To further raise awareness of this topic outside of Black History Month, and I feel as though just being honest to our tradition, because our tradition includes all of this information already, it's just about us teaching it and unveiling it and uncovering it. Black History Month as we know is like a western concept that we have that we Black History Month never existed in the OMA because scholars like even Josie and Jared into UT who thought it was important to write books about Hadith, and books about tafsir, and books about all of the Allume that they wrote, I also thought it was good and positive and productive and needed to write books about tackling racism and tackling anti
blackness, and speaking about the diversity within our tradition. So the fact that it's already there, in the Tafseer, in the Hadith, in all of the books of the scholars is just about us uncovering it and making it part of the curriculum, especially within our context of us being from diverse communities, and recognizing each and every one's plays and contribution.
Spot on, I think, you know, it just has to be a part of everything that we teach in a natural way, not a forced way. So in the first one we're going through the history of the Sahaba This is not coming up in like a forest way we're doing the physical descriptions of Sahaba by the way, even Mr. Little the a lot of times I know was Black Hat breed braided hair, you know, just as a matter of fact, now let's talk about Mr. That the first person to recite the Quran in public by the way so many of the a lot of time on how the first Shahida the first martyr and Islam
was was black, right? It has to become natural for us and, and talking about our modern day heroes, Malcolm
we all owe a great debt to Malcolm and Muhammad Ali. We all owe a great debt to those early Muslims that were brought to this land in chains and made the deal that they did and sought to preserve Islam that's all part it's part of every Muslim legacy here so it's just got to be a part of what we what we do. And you know there's the you talk about Osama in here Yes. All right handed in this speech he gave in front of there
are about Osama throw the a lot of time on who we will actually be covering him very soon before I'm alone and shot the most likely are right after eight because he's one of the early on sought. And just this legendary speech of his where he's he's put forth as the leader of the Muslims.
You know, which you can read I guess about more in the book and shall lots on it's it's such a beautiful speech, and my focus doesn't he says, you know, but the movie, give me someone else I want to talk to his black man, why did you send a black man to represent all of you, and the people respond. And they say, in Islam, we don't have this, this nonsense. The best of us is the one who's best in Taqwa. And this is the best of us, and about the plays on his racial fears. And he says to him, by the way, if you think I'm scary, they got a bunch of black people back there that you haven't even seen. Now there are 1000s, more of me back there in this Muslim army that's arrived. So
Subhanallah it's just such a beautiful, organic story. So I really appreciate that answer. It's just got to be integrated. And we use obviously, when Black History Month comes around we we revive our part of that discourse, but we don't limit ourselves to that discourse. And I think that's key. Does a great question, get better answers. So a question to either Sheikh Mustafa or chef Omar, I have often wondered, in the Jewish faith, have there been any black Jews going back to have Musa alayhis salam Stein, and particularly in the modern history, because I remember reading in the media, that Israel was not welcoming. The so called us from Africa, to migrate to Israel.
You're not covered?
Historically, so what's interesting is, when we look at the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam, his description of Satan and Musa who is the patriarch of the Jewish people, he's the one who the torah was revealed to the Prophet sallallaahu Salam describes him as Adam. And then in another narration, he describes him as as Hamada and Ibn Mundo, who's the author of Lisanna. Arab describes, as Adam, he says, as have is the color of the crows, meaning he was extremely black. And it makes sense if we look at the fact that in ancient Egypt, before the invasions of the Persians, and the Romans and the Greeks, and the Turks and the Arabs, that original Ancient Egyptians were black. Historically,
scientifically, this has been proven to bring some of the proofs in the book in order for me to not debate because I live in Egypt so I get
I get some lashes some
cried back about that. But what's interesting is that if we think about the fact that between Satan I use of Alayhis Salam, and Satan or Musa Satan I use of tells the story of how the people entered in ancient Egypt and then say no Musa tells the story of how they left, there's a base of 400 years between the two, roughly. So in that 400 years, it's impossible for us to believe Satan or Lucifer and his 11 brothers didn't intermarry with the local people. mix it in with the local people. And then lead to the fact that Satan or Musa and a Salaam is described as being black. And so the there are original black Jews, meaning the prophets themselves, some of them were black Jews. And you
mentioned this in one of your I remember a video many years ago, Hamdulillah. So you mentioned this about Satan. Until today, there are black Jews, if you talk about the philosophy of Jews in Ethiopia. They're black Jews, and they're the ones that are not being accepted in this. Yeah. Where you mentioned. And so yeah, they exist Well, positive. I have nothing else to say.
You can ask control. Yeah.
Sorry, the mic is coming to you. And the mic is coming.
Okay, we just have a group collective question. We'll use the mic. Am I not using it?
How would you say the best way to deal with the like racism in like our community as most of them's especially here, and just like, what's the best way to go about it?
Either one works.
For me, I felt the answer was education.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was able to change his community because he brought them a new perspective. He brought them new knowledge and he brought them education. As we know, the first word revealed in the Quran was a Torah, which means either read or recite. And so the Prophet says, knowledge based OMA was the first ever nation in the history of the world that was based entirely on knowledge alone. It wasn't based on ethnic barriers. It wasn't based on, you know, a nationalist sentiment it was based on the fact that Allah has revealed a book, he's revealed wisdom, and through this book, and this wisdom were meant to become purified, we're meant to become elevated. And we're
meant to become the people that Allah intends us to be the Holy Father of Allah on the earth. And this can only take place through education. And so when Allah tells us the stories of the NBA are the stories of the Salah when he tells us all of the things that he mentions in the Quran, when we look at it in an inner perspective of
realizing that all of these figures and all of these things are not just stories to keep us entertained, but they're meant to tell us lessons that we apply in our daily lives. Then, furthering this knowledge and expanding this knowledge as the Quran is the mother of all knowledge leads us to understanding how we should behave and how we should interact with each other based on the reality that we perceive. So when you know the Quran, study the Quran, see the level that Musa for example is given in the Quran, the fact that he's the Prophet that's mentioned the most in the Quran, and then you realize that he was black. That should lead you to question your anti blackness if you have
it. When you study the Syrah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as Allah tells in the Quran, like a cannula computer sooner or later, certain Hassanein, you have a great example or the perfect example in the Prophet says, you go to the Sierra, you go to the Shamaya, to study him. Then when you realize the woman that raised him was black, when you realized his most beloved adopted son was black, when you realize all of these companions were black, that should lead you to question your anti blackness, if the professor was meant to be a pushover,
all of these things, it comes through education, and then for you as well, either as a perpetrator of discrimination or a victim through education. You can not feel pushed out because you know, you have a place or you can realize that you shouldn't push people out as they have a place. Yeah.
That's all I can check. Mustafa, that was a wonderful talk. I look forward to reading your book. Shaohua
had a question about this last push statement that you're making about the stories aren't just about stories. You're about lessons. And this last question to the sister asked, Is there a particular story that you've come across through your work and your research that helps teach the lesson that answers that question that you would like to share with us that maybe you didn't get to share with us tonight? Maybe it's in the book that would help us elucidate and deal with that particular problem.
I would say hamdulillah Shia are already mentioned one story. And there are many more such stories in the book, and I'm not marketing the book. But honestly, we don't have enough time for me to go through them all. But I feel as though even what I've mentioned, so far, if we reflect on it, there's a lot to unpack. And when we read these further stories of, you know, the, I mean, for me, it all goes back to the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. As Muslims, we have no other role model, we have no other person to look to, we have no other example except him sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so we should be basing our interactions with each other on his interactions. And if we look at
all of his interactions, whenever topics of discrimination came up, whenever topics of racism came up, whenever topics of you know, interacting with people that went from the same culture, or the same drivers even came up, how did the Prophet sallallahu wasallam deal with those situations, or command the people in the situations to deal with those situations? So we have, for example, the story when it comes to many issues that we face today, interracial marriage, for example, or marriage. That doesn't match because people feel as though children's status doesn't make much. We have that in the story of Julie beep. We have the entire story of these stories that are mentioned
in the book. When we speak about, for example, racism amongst the Companions, the story between Abu Dhabi and Bilal, we have an example of that. We have all of these examples where the prophet says Adam is constantly trying to dismantle these negative characteristics. And we remember he said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in my birthday Allah you told me when McGarry will Aquila that he wasn't sent except to perfect good character, good character is of two parts.
Your character might unhappy with Allah subhanaw taala and your character might help with the creation. And the Prophet says Adam was tempted was sent to teach us both aspects. A lot of us unfortunately, we reduce the sunnah to just the first aspect we perfect us Allah we repent, we perfect our till our we perfect everything to do with a bad, but everything to do with what Amala we just throw it in the bin and we don't pay attention to it. So from all of the stories, I feel as though the Syrah itself is the best story that we can refer to, and how to deal with these situations. The last question from the sister Inshallah, then I have some harder questions for you,
then we'll let you go.
And let's get the
Okay, I'm sorry, US or UK? No, I'm just kidding.
You know,
I love the UK. But my wife is from the US. So I'm gonna say the US that my real question was the routing off from Park question was, how to face racism. Now, you said have some knowledge, educate yourself. And sometimes maybe you do have somewhat of a base like, hey, you know, one part is hurting, that will hold the whole emotion work together. But maybe the person next to you, they're Subhanallah arrogant, and you know, you Pakistani like you know, how do you deal with that, you know, that kind of, like, full on racism coming at you? You know, that makes any sense. Yeah, I feel like with these situations, they're always more difficult to deal with, in the heat of the moment,
then before you enter the situation, or after when you reflect on the situation. But in terms of dealing with arrogance, I mean, everything is, for me personally, the way I look at things, understanding the root causes of things. So one of the she, for example, in Senegal, he said, ignorance only comes from five things, knowledge, or wealth, or lineage, or status, or I forgot the fifth thing. But when you analyze anyone you're interacting with, and then if you feel as though they're arrogant, or if you feel as though you analyze, why do they feel this way? And then you figure out how to deal with them. So is it knowledge or lack of knowledge? Is it status? Is it race
is it all of these different things, and then you can unpack it, but it takes time and it takes practice. subber having patience is something that Allah doesn't give it to us, because we asked him but he places us in situations that forced us to develop it. If we look at all of the stories of all of the NBA, say dinner, no giving dower for 950 years Satana Abraham being thrown in the fire. All of these difficult difficult situations that are taught to us in the Quran are taught to us to let us know that it's not something that you're just gonna wake up and have or you can sit down and analyze. It's something that through interaction through experiences through being thrown in these
fires, and through being put in these difficult situations, you develop the characteristics that you're supposed to have. So you shouldn't feel as though you have to not get angry or you have to not get upset, that's part of the formation process. And how you manage those actions. How you manage those emotions and deal with them, is what will lead you to when you're in
Next situation, deal with it better and better and better. Our end here because I know we're running out of time, there was a story once of a pottery teacher. And he told his class, he divided them into two. And he said, I want this side of the room to focus on making the most perfect piece of pottery. Once like you have one chance, he said, and I want this side of the room to focus on making as much pottery as you can. And whoever has the best pottery, I'll give them a reward. So the people who were sitting down analyzing how to make it the best, the best the first time, they made all of their pottery, they presented it, then the people who are making pottery in quantities, they came up
with the best pottery, and he tried to show them a lesson he said they came up with the best poetry because they kept on learning through trial and error. They made the first one then the second one and the third one then once they got used to it, and they kept on doing it. They made a better quality of poetry than the people who sat down contemplating how do I get it right the first time, life is like that. You just have to keep Morava reflect on Allah when you're going into any situation and try your best to deal with the situation in the best way and over time, you reach the stage where you where you can that's why the age of 40 is the age of completion not 21 or 27 or
however old we might be
chromic Allah alive welcome and that's very enlightening and the only reason I'm going to cut it here is just to let people have a chance to I assume the books are outside Yeah, it looks like to get a copy of the book and shot lots and those are like to meet you personally.
There's a clean podcast called Double takes I learned this from the host over there when he does the or you know the brother Muhammad Zhou so if I was to ask you call Hera or scandal a scandal scanner a scanner does quick alright.
Tamia or
koshering Tom I already had the answer before I had the
full Sudanic or full musli see that was quick All right, there you go. Plantains or plantain
good Mashallah. He's good. Very diplomatic. I see the International Relations sign. Zack go ahead for being here, my last printout, bless you and increase you and grow you and sincerity and knowledge and steadfastness and use you for failure. Wherever you go and continue to benefit through you. It's a pleasure to have you this is your home hub that is not just you're welcome here. More than any other residence in Dallas. You're welcome to this
at any time in sha Allah Tada and we're grateful to you for being here.
And for everyone in Charlotte tomorrow night, we'll continue with the first again after the lottery shot we'll start with Hubble unsolved, unsolved the love of the unsolved and their virtues. And please do Jollibee here for slaughter Russia, anything you wanted to say Hamdulillah I just wanted to thank the community for welcoming me here. And to thank you I'm the love of making this space. Because it's been overwhelming the love and the support that I've received through this work and especially from somebody like yourself, who I've been benefiting from you for many, many years. So to actually be here and to see you hamdulillah in real life and then for you to give me this
opportunity to share with your community I feel as though it's a it's a very big blessing so humbling that Zach Allah here on the the medical off he comes from aliquam Chateau La La Land as Dr. Carter would excellent when it comes time to cut
it
Related Episodes
- Akram Nadwi – How to deal with people who harm Islam, Protests and Islamophobia
- Waleed Basyouni – Bulugh Al Maram – Book Of Fasting 03
- Omar Suleiman – Indeed, My Lord is Subtle – Qur’anic Healing #2
- Omar Suleiman – Abdullah ibn Abdullah ibn Ubayy (ra) – The Son of the Chief Hypocrite
- Shadee Elmasry – The Ultimate Guide to Beards in the Maliki School AnNafrawi
- Mohammed Hijab – Palestine Lecture – Bremen Germany
- Suhaib Webb – Hard Decisions Making Istikhara