Imam Zaid Shakir highlights reclaiming our legacy for an abandoned frontier, the community, people, and nation of Latin America (Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America), and impact of African Muslim interaction.
Zaid Shakir – Reclaiming Our Legacy
AI: Summary ©
The region has a history of Muslims and native peoples, with a rise in Muslims among native people and the downfall of American nationalism. The Spanish colonization and its potential consequences are also discussed, along with the importance of establishing institutions to solidify their faith and build faith in Islam. The success of Islam in Latin America and expansion into other countries is also emphasized. Support for Islam is emphasized, and opportunities like this can reclaim their legacy.
AI: Summary ©
So that was, let's say you didn't we're sitting seed in 100 word he was
so
lucky or Bearcat.
It's a great blessing to be here. It's a great honor to be here in the presence of so many dedicated individuals who are working to really
bring this
I wouldn't say to a new frontier to an abandoned frontier. And that's the communities the nation, the peoples of water, generally referred to, as Latin America. reclaiming our legacy is a fitting title. Because we have to realize that there was an Islamic presence in the lives of the islands of the Caribbean and the lens of Mexico present in Mexico, Central and South America.
When fury For example, I then then sort of they came before Columbus, he documents the presence of West Africans freely moving back and forth between the lens I mentioned. And those were Muslim people by and large, and they were interacting. And they left
traces not traces enough
evidence of a significant Muslim presence. to just give a brief example, when Cortez first went to the former capital of the ActiveX Empire, to knock Shannon. He re he writes in his diary that it was a beautiful city that had many temples and mosques.
And so if we reflect on that statement, if he just said temples, then we can understand temples, even if he said mosque, we can understand he's coming from the lens of the Inquisition. They're being inundated with how to identify as brother Mujahid just mentioned how to identify a Muslim how to identify a mosque, so he just said mosque, but he meant temples, but he said temples and mosques. When Christopher Columbus sailed along the southern coast of Cuba, he noted that there was a beautiful mosque on a hill.
It's in his diary.
When when the importation of African slaves began into those lens, immediately, they started making alliances with the native people, and inviting them to Islam. And we know the first just to see the linkages. We know the Muslim presence in Andalusia see that that's not just at least the lucea is the southern part of part of province of present day Spain. But throughout the Iberian Peninsula, north south, east and west, before the reconquest.
But
this
alliance between Islam and the Spanish speaking peoples and the native peoples of this little brother Esteban who drove us here, mentioned one, his mother I think, from northern Mexico, and his father's from wahaca. In southern Mexico, and many other tribes there, they still speak their native languages. They speak Spanish for they speak their native languages, their native people.
And when we put these walls up,
we're dividing lens of people who are indigenous to this part of the world. But anyway,
and fifth 1522
the first slave revolt occurred in what would be called the New World on the and the land is presently called the Dominican Republic.
It was then called Hispaniola.
1522 on the plantation of Don Carlos cologne. This role of Muslims who were in Africa they were horsemen, they commandeered from horses. They they defeated the Spanish garrison and they ran off into the jungle and they made what is called a maroon community.
Do you know who Don Carlos cologne is? Anyone know? Christopher Columbus, his son
To show you the connection.
So those Muslims then began to propagate Islam amongst indigenous people. And the Spanish was so alarmed, they banned the importation of Muslims, because indigenous people receptive to the message of Islam, and they are just finished. They were at the height of the Inquisition, have been recently expelled the Muslims as a political force from the Iberian Peninsula with the re conquest of Granada and or the conquest of Granada in 1492 1522, just less than 50 years later,
and they banned the importation of Muslims, because the Muslims were so proud of their religion. The end is all throughout our history.
Florida wasn't an American state until 1836, it was under Spanish control. And the principal city in Spanish Florida was St. Augustine, St. Augustine was built by moriscos. Those peoples who are Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula forcibly converted from Judaism but primarily from Islam.
Soon as the guy who they started practicing Islam again, and when they got the Citadel, in St. Augustine, even you can go there this day and the ark way of the city, they will carve the slogan of the Muslims and they will see it without Harlem in LA LA. We'll call it Villa LA, you can find that today
is offered for our our throughout our history.
The Muslims ran away in the into the Everglades and formed an alliance with the Seminoles.
And so you see the seminal leader OC Allah who was married to an African woman who might have been a Muslim. He's wearing a turban, if you look at his pictures.
So all throughout our history of 1540.
We know
that a Muslim wall of Muslim
so we'll have they will call khilafah Pedro Kayla for
was a martyr Shahid. He was killed close to President, Guatemala and 1540. What is this claim for propagating Islam amongst the native people
use boiled to death in a pot of oil
in a room with 1516 bluepay Solano
was imprisoned for life, for propagating Islam amongst the native people.
So the roots are very deep brothers and sisters. And so reclaiming that legacy is an apt description for this program. But it's also appropriate for our time, we can look at the history and we can note that history. But history is meaningless if it doesn't provide us with a foundation to build a strong and a better tomorrow. That's the role of history. And so we have an opportunity and supporting our brothers and sisters from Islam in Spanish. When we support them, with supporting ourselves. When we support we support them. We support a stronger tomorrow. This country as we know, and evidence of that
is seen in the last congressional elections. We have two Native American women elected into the Congress. We have two Muslim women, one of them wearing Hijab elected into the Congress.
We have
a record number of women we have a wave of African American women who live in New England. Why come from Connecticut? We have our first African American Congresswoman from Waterbury, Connecticut. We have in Boston, Massachusetts, African American woman going into the Congress in Canada Yolanda Presley
has changed in this country. And at the forefront of this change is the Latino community
in 20 years, is estimated Oh by 2050 no love lessons.
on here to see that some people,
that grande beard and
one third of the population of these United States will be Latino.
Wouldn't it be fantastic if a significant number of that community were Muslims? And what would the implications of that be for the Muslim community, where as we said, You have indigenous people to this land.
People are and even those who my ancestors might have came from Spain or Portugal.
their ancestors were here in many instances before the United States was established.
Going back to the days of Spanish colonization,
but overwhelmingly indigenous people. What are the implications of that? for Muslims?
The implications are that Islam is an indigenous religion
with roots amongst the enslaved African population, and we know there's so much literature on that,
such as sylviane deals incredible book, Serbian civil law, African Muslims enslaved in the Americas, Dr. Allen, Austin's groundbreaking American Muslims in the antebellum south. So those are the rules. When this country was established, there were three indigenous populations, if you will,
nothing the native people. So it's established the 13 colonies that became the 13 original states along the eastern seaboard, the Atlantic coast.
African states, European settlers and indigenous tribes.
But when this country expanded westward, and then to the southeast to into the southwestern Texas, in Arizona, New Mexico, you have another indigenous people,
many of whom by and large, we're speaking Spanish, but not exclusively.
And many of our brothers and sisters are the descendants of those people, as well as the descendants of the Spanish colonizers. That's an indigenous population. And so when you have large numbers of an indigenous population becoming Muslim, the implications of that is that is now an indigenous religion. That is not an important religion is not an illegitimate transplant is a religion that has deep roots in the soil of this country.
And we have to make that connection brothers and sisters, we have to stand with our brothers and sisters, who were here, before the borders who were here before the fences, who ain't here before the walls. This is our historical responsibility.
And I'll tell you something, you stand with those brothers and sisters, they'll stand with you.
They're not scared of the gringo.
They have a long history of resistance.
You stand with them, they'll stand with you. You stand with them, you won't stand alone.
And it's time for Muslims to realize that
that is Muslims, those who might have migrated here, their parents migrated here. You don't have to stand alone. You have native you have native and natural allies, who will stand with you
if you stand with them.
And so now we have an opportunity to stand with them. We have an opportunity to extend Islam. They're coming to Islam but as brother who jack said, seven out of 10 that come in and go out. Mm. Saraswati frequently refers to a bucket with a hole in the bottom, we pour water in the bucket, that's the new Muslims. And then a lot of it just drains out of the hole this time to patch up the hole. And the way we patch the hole up is by establishing institutions that can help to solidify the faith of those converts. And that's why exactly what Islam in Spanish is. Islam in Spanish is an institution that has been established to solidify the faith of those who convert from the Latino
community be there here in the southwest
Predominantly southwest part of the country be they and Mexico be they in South America and Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, other countries where the reach of Islam in Spanish has extended itself to. We like to take great pride as Muslims, then Islam spread to every continent on earth. And it's true. And did you have Muslims in Asia? And when you have a few look at Christianity, and there might be Christian guests here, some family members who are Christians, we're not saying this to be offensive. We're just looking at natural demographic facts. If you look at Christianity, by and large, the Christian world is Western Europe, North and South Central America, the islands of the
Caribbean.
If you look at the Buddhist world, by and large, the Buddhist world is east and southeast
and into South Asia.
No one will say there's ever been a significant Buddhist population here in the United States, South America, in Western Europe. If you look at the Hindu population is the Indian, what's called the Indian subcontinent.
I don't know what that means.
Because the the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula is bigger than the Indian subcontinent. We get a condensed, they get a sub continent, but it's all good.
But
Hinduism is confined to the Indian subcontinent. That's it, some Hindu population in present day Malaysia, but a very small minority.
You look at the Muslim population.
The significant there are no Hindu or Buddhist populations in Africa. But there's a Muslim majority in Africa, though there historically have been instilled a significant Muslim populations in your the Iberian Peninsula.
At one time, Sicily,
but now boasts near Albania, the European part of Turkey, Macedonia,
all of these places have significant Muslim majorities. You look at Central Asia, this significant Muslim population amongst the stars.
You look at Southeast Asian, the Malays,
and the Filipino southern Philippines.
So in Africa, and Asia, Europe, Central Asia, all have Muslim, Ma, significant Muslim population. This is unique amongst the religions of the world.
But I point that out to say this, that didn't happen by accident. That didn't happen without a lot of work. That didn't happen without the sacrifice of time, energy, effort and money.
We talked about the intellectual accomplishment of Muslims, how we build these great universities, carabin and fez, pay around Akira, one in Tunis. And as an Asia response area, and both dead and the great universities in the Indian subcontinent previously mentioned.
When the Muslims had the strongest, the greatest, the most productive and advanced educational institutions, those are the teaching activities and translation activities that were going on there. If you read some of the the literature on the best Empire, and you look at the records of the money that was being spent, an astronomical amount of money was being spent to fund those endeavors. And so the propagation that education, it required money, and it requires strong institutions, it requires sacrifices
and to do to establish, and to fortify, one of the fastest growing Muslim populations on Earth.
That's the population Islam in Spanish is dealing with. I know people in Mexico City, their entire families converted to Islam.
I know family and Los Angeles, maybe they don't live there at the time the daughter was going to UCLA. And we had an MSA West Conference there. And she came up so this is my father. This is my mother. This is my These are my siblings and all of them converted to Islam.
So the people are coming to Islam, but then
support, then the education, the educational material, Vendee structured facilities they need in many instances assistance.
And that's why we're here tonight brothers and sisters. We're here tonight to provide the support so that people like our brother Christopher, can not only be called to Islam, but can be supported as a new Muslim. So that the radio broadcasts that are going into Latin America can become stronger and can and can can have more airtime. And then when people respond to the call, they'll be not just the musataha in wherever that was who is the masala
then of course, we have not just musallam Veracruz, we have a beautiful Masjid in Veracruz and in Tijuana, and in Acapulco is not just the resource, but that's the place I know. And what happened in Chiapas, and Mexico City, and everywhere. In Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, Venezuela and Brazil. There'll be filling the surgeon and the seed money will start here.
The seed money will start here now Kung Fu, where rather Mujahid concluded from a slightly different angle.
He concluded by mentioning the 10,000 people one person talk touches in their life, and then through exponential growth. So those 10,000 each one of those 10,000 reach 10,000
now you're up to 100,000 and each one of those 100,000 reach 10,000 now you're up to a million. And each one of those million means 10,000 that's exponential growth. And so our money also grows exponentially hasilnya to be actually embedded in a separate image and Agustin kathira the good deeds are multiplied 10 times over 700 times over many times over and beyond that, brothers and sisters when you give tonight to support this cause that dollar is a hustler. And that dollar does the work of $700 $7,000 $7 million. And as it grows, and as that musalla becomes a Masjid. And that Masjid becomes a master and then a system of salah and that system will sell it becomes a Masjid,
and it will sell and so on and so forth. It all comes back to you brothers and sisters because you planted the seeds. You were that the beginning. You are the pioneers, you provided the money that it took to get the project off the ground. You provided the money it took to make the pirate stuff solid, and viable and strong. And from that strong foundation from that strong base. A mighty building was built, but without the bass, it wouldn't be possible. This is your opportunity tonight. And we pray to Allah subhanho wa Taala that you take advantage of that opportunity so that our brothers and sisters like brother Mujahid and his wife and brother, Esteban and all of the brothers
and sisters, brother Christopher and brother Alex and all of them doing this incredible work can reclaim that legacy Solomonic.