Islam, Blackamerica: Between Morality and White Supremacy

In this episode, Imam Marc fosters an important conversation about the future of Islam in America, particularly as it relates to Blackamerica, with Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, assistant professor of Islamic law and Prophetic Tradition at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, and Malik Shaw, author of The Green School: A Natural Approach To Educating Children and the co-Founder and executive director of Midtown Mosque, in Memphis.

From Malik Shaw’s book, The Green School:

“As Jill Rigby states in her book Raising Disrespectful Children in a Disrespectful World, ‘As a result of this emphasis on self-esteem, twenty-somethings are returning home rather than facing the world on their own. College kids are flunking out because they don’t know how to manage their schedules. Kids are growing up without problem-solving skills because their parents think love means solving all their problems for them. Many adolescents have no respect for authority because their parents didn‘t command their respect. Instead, their parents gave too much and exposed them to too little. In our attempt to build self-esteem in children, we have reared a generation of young people who are failing at life, haven’t a clue who they are, and are struggling to find a reason for living. Their kids fall for the latest craze, healthy or unhealthy. It doesn’t matter, as long as they are in the middle of it. They would rather die than give up their cell phones. And they feel that others have an obligation to serve them’.”

Anxiety Is Love’s Greatest Killer – A Khutbah By Imam Marc Manley

“Anxiety is love’s greatest killer” — Anaïs Nin

There is a distinction between anxiety, which preoccupies and cripples, and concern, which spurs to action and advances the cause of change.

There are no assurances/guarantees in this life, not even for the Prophets.

قل ما كُنتُ بِدعًا مِنَ الرُّسُلِ وَما أَدري ما يُفعَلُ بي وَلا بِكُم ۖ إِن أَتَّبِعُ إِلّا ما يوحىٰ إِلَيَّ وَما أَنا إِلّا نَذيرٌ مُبينٌ

إِنَّ الَّذينَ قالوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ثُمَّ استَقاموا فَلا خَوفٌ عَلَيهِم وَلا هُم يَحزَنونَ

الم – أَحَسِبَ النّاسُ أَن يُترَكوا أَن يَقولوا آمَنّا وَهُم لا يُفتَنونَ

وَلَقَد فَتَنَّا الَّذينَ مِن قَبلِهِم ۖ فَلَيَعلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذينَ صَدَقوا وَلَيَعلَمَنَّ الكاذِبينَ

أَم حَسِبَ الَّذينَ يَعمَلونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ أَن يَسبِقونا ۚ ساءَ ما يَحكُمونَ

“Say: ‘I am nothing new among the Messengers. I have no idea what will be done with me or you. I only follow what has been revealed to me. I am only a clear warner’.” Qur’an, 46: 9

“Those who say, ‘Our Lord is Allah,’ and then go straight will feel no fear and will know no sorrow.” Qur’an, 46: 13

“Do people imagine that they will be left to say, ‘We have iman,’ and will not be tested?” “We tested those before them so that Allah would know the truthful and would know the liars.” “Or do those who do bad actions imagine they can outstrip Us? How bad their judgement is!” Qur’an, 29: 1-4

Do we think that these people who are perpetrating oppression and chaos, do we believe that Allah will victorious or them?

The importance of remembering Allah and trusting Him:

The Jews instructed the Meccans Prophet about certain issues concerning Revelation. At first the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said that he would have the answer right away, but he forgot to say, “As God wills.” To teach him a lesson-that he could not order God to reveal things-no new revelation came for fifteen days. The Prophet realized his mistake and repented. Then verses 18:23-24 were revealed to explain the reason for the delay, and then finally the answers came.

وَلا تَقولَنَّ لِشَيءٍ إِنّي فاعِلٌ ذٰلِكَ غَدًا
إِلّا أَن يَشاءَ اللَّهُ ۚ وَاذكُر رَبَّكَ إِذا نَسيتَ وَقُل عَسىٰ أَن يَهدِيَنِ رَبّي لِأَقرَبَ مِن هٰذا رَشَدًا

“Never say about anything, ‘I will do that tomorrow,’ without adding ‘If Allah wills.’ Remember your Lord when you forget, and say, ‘Hopefully my Lord will guide me to something closer to right guidance than this’.” Qur’an, 18: 23-24

Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean You’re Not Being Followed

My esteemed guest this week is a close friend, Dr. Jerry Hionis. Dr. Hionis holds a PhD in economics from Temple University and is an assistant professor at Widener University in economics. One topic Dr. Hionis and I have in common is our love (but not taking seriously) of conspiracy theories. Given that President-Elect Trump has just added Steve Bannon (of white supremacist Breitbart fame) and Frank Garrney (of white supremacist anti-Muslim fame) what better time to talk about conspiracy theories and why so many in the Muslim community believe in them.

The State of Our Unity: Bridging The Credibility Gap

American History

Some things to consider about American history:

    1. Civil War: (1861 – 1865).
      1. Union victory in 1865 gives some 4 million slaves “freedom”.
    2. Reconstruction: (1865 – 1877).
      1. Institution of the black codes: a reassertion of white control by enforcing the pass system, which “required blacks to carry a pass and present it on demand” if they wish to travel or work.

 

  • Black codes were created to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans.
  • Black codes were a means of criminalizing free blacks.

 

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” –  Amendment XIII to the United States Constitution

      1. Muslims as exception to the law.
      2. Reconstruction (1867): newly enfranchised blacks gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress. In less than a decade, however, reactionary forces–including the Ku Klux Klan–would reverse the changes wrought by Radical Reconstruction in a violent backlash that restored white supremacy in the South.

 

  • Reconstruction: drafted by President Andrew Johnson. States’ rights to “govern themselves”, meaning the federal government had no right to interfere on the state level: land that had been confiscated by the Union Army and distributed to the freed slaves by the army or the Freedmen’s Bureau reverted to its prewar owners (whites).

 

    1. 1868: “whites across the South strained to accept the apparently inevitable ignominies (shame/disgrace) descending from the [Civil] war”.
  1. Why were whites upset?
    1. Loss of fortune/economics;
    2. Humiliation;
    3. Fear that former slaves would “vote and rule governments and perhaps take their [former] masters land.

“Stereotyping was the basis for winning political campaigns during the Jim Crow era.”Khalil Gibran Muhammad

On Liberalism

Malcolm X said, “being friendly and being a friend I think are two different things”.

We must discern and know there are those who

  1. oppose us due to blind hatred,
  2. those who oppose us on principled critique of Islam and Muslims,
  3. and those who are just leery because the only articulation of who we are that they know is what “exotic” cuisine we have to offer.

Dealing With Adversity

Finding out that God isn’t Santa Claus can be one of the most traumatic events an adult can go through.

  • White liberals were willing to put aside their so-called values and vote for a candidate who mocked the disabled, spewed racist rhetoric towards Mexicans and exhibited violence towards women. Think about that.

We must admit, like an addict who has come to the terrible conclusion that he has a life threatening problem, our condition must change. We have become addicted to dysfunction.

Behind the Mask of Chivalry by Nancy K. MacLean.