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Maafa: African Holocaust


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ABOUT ISLAM AND AFR IC A: This site


intends to serve two aims:(a) to provide
information about Islam in Africa (the
continent and Americas)

About this Site

; and (b) to offer a guide to African Islamic global


identity in the context of culture, politics and
personality.
African Kings and Queens
African Marriage
Consciousness
White Supremacy
Business & Africans
ICC & Africa
African Fundamentalism
Malcolm on Revolution
Capitalism or Socialism
Facts About Africa
War and Religion
Death of African Languages
Garvey Economics
Cabral Theory
NGO and Development
Garvey Legacy
Willie Lynch Hoax
Malcolm OAAU
Ethics of the Reparations
Afrocentrism Pseudohistory?
Marley Film Review
Abolition and Wilberforce
Black Panther Critique
Jews and Slavery
Gay Rights

About Islam
What is Islam
Conscious Islam
Qur'an
Islamophobia
Popularity of Islam
Homosexuality and Islam
Racism & Muslims
Islamic Civilization
Contributions of Africa
Islam and Women
Hijab - Veil
Sharia
Myths About Islam
Facts on Islam
FGM
Challenges
Islam and Slavery
Islamic Empires
Muslim Legends
Nation of Islam
Timbuktu
Islam in Hausa Lands

Rites of Passage
Contributions to Islam
Capitalism or Socialism
Timbuktu
Slavery in America

It is also a cultural and historical site on progressive


understanding of Islam from the lenses of this promising
community of peoplethe Africans. Which shows a religion,
which is dynamic, hospitable, and beautiful. But not without its
challenges. The objectives here are Pan-African that create unity
through fostering knowledge between and about different African
religious groups in the world. Islam has been a central force in the
creation of the plethora of African Kingdoms (from Ethiopia, to
Islamic Spain, to the largest African empire of Songhai), and has
been part of Africa since its emergence. Sculpted by African and
Arab agents, Islam is one of the fastest growing religion among
Africans (Black people) and the largest religion in Africa
accounting for 1/4 of the world's Muslim population of 1.5 billion.
Islam and Africa is also the most misunderstood, underrepresented, and misrepresented.
The site aims to give service to these reflections by dealing with
historical truth from a cultural Pan-African position. We aim to
focus on an African-Centered Islam as distinct from Arabized
Islam, or a monolithic restrictive Wahhabi Islam or the Hindu
influenced Indo-Pakistani variant of Islam.
In any multi-faith continent, knowledge of self must include
knowledge of our neighbors. Ignorance of each other has been
the tool which others can use to create friction. Anyone who does
know this will become a victim of the oppressors biggest weapon
"divide and rule." In seeking a Pan-African future a constructive
dialogue is necessary which deals with Africa today and not a
mythical romantic historical Africa. Culture has never been static,
and certainly no static culture has survived history. A culture which
is inflexible in a globalized world is a culture on the verge of
extinction. African Culture is not a monolith and while the
foundations remain fundamentally unaltered, the interpretation
and expression of continues to be a forever blossoming flower.

African Holocaust
War and Religion
Slavery in Ethiopia
Africa Before Slavery
Arab Slave Trade

Islam has been a traditional (while not indigenous) part of the


dynamic African landscape for over 1438 years, far older as a
contained religion than much of the 11th and 15th century native
religions that came with the Bantu expansion into Southern Africa
and West Africa. Beginning with the Hijra of Islamic refugees to
Ethiopia in 615.
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Sokoto and Medicine

Ethiopia in 615.

Agency and Africa


Tajdeed in Africa
African Revolt
The Flag of African Cinema
The Politics of Liberation
White Supremacy
The Horrors of 500 Years
Africa and the Rise of Islam
Why Kwanzaa
Seen But Never Heard

And beyond argument remains one of the most fundamental sculptor of the African reality, past and
present. And with every step towards Islamization Africa has responded with the Africanization of
Islam creating Africa's own Islamic orthodoxies. And by the time of the Atlantic slave system approx
15-30% of the enslaved Africans that arrived in the New World were Muslim. Influence much of the
culture and traditions of African American people.[3] These enslaved Muslims stood out from their
compatriots because of their "resistance, determination and education"(Hill/Lippy 2005)
Islam has always taken on the cultures of the peoples it passes over. Just like water passing over a
rock. There is no such thing as African Purity, cultures smash through deserts and cross trade routes,
and they travel through immigration borders and disregarding our notions of geography and race.
Throughout history, Africa has influenced, and been influence. Names, foods, cultures, religions,
genetics have jumped between Asia and Africa from the dawn of humanity.

African Classical Music


South Africa: 10 Years On

ABOUT ISLAM : For information on other African faiths click here

Music and Dance in Religion


White Abolition of Slavery
A Threat to Black Studies
Art of Revolution
African Influence in Barbados
Origins of Voodoo
Black Out White Wash
Ethiopian Slave Trade

Until lions tell their


tale, the story of the
hunt will always
glorify the hunter
African Proverb

WHAT IS ISLAM?
Power concedes
nothing without a
demand. It never did
and it never will
Frederick Douglass

The most pathetic


thing is for a slave
who doesn't know
that he is a slave
Malcolm X

Every man is rich in


excuses to
safeguard his
prejudices, his
instincts, and his
opinions.
Ancient Egypt

Islam has been part


of the African
landscape for over
1400 years.
Beginning with the
Hijra of Islamic
refugees to Ethiopia

Whoever of you sees wrong being committed,


let him change it with his hand. If he is unable
to do that, then with his tongue, and if he is
unable to do that, then with his heart

Hadith (Muslim)
Islam ( ) is a gloabl spiritual technology, which codifies a way of life and dictates
relationships between God, the environment and other human beings. Religion is the culture
of spirituality, the container that gives spirituality structure. The code of Islam serves to create
cohesion among its members by propagating certain core principles.

The highest ideal governing all forms of Islam is Tawheed, the oneness
of Allah (the absolute and only divinity). Communal activities form
ibadats that facilitate a relationship with God: (iman) , prayer (salaat),
pilgrimage (hajj) and fasting (sawm ) and alms giving (zakaat) . Zakat
serves as a socio-economic wealth distribution system, which has deep
parallels in ancient African practices. The ultimate aim of the Islamic
faith is to guide humanity to a successful balanced, and structured
society, with morality as the apex principle by showing obedience to the
laws of the Creator, Allah. The final destination is for the deeds of the
individual to be weighed to allow entry into paradise (al-Jannat), A
concept found in Ancient African Egypt thousands of years earlier.
Unlike Western Christianity, Islam--just like native African religions does
not dichotomize religion and state. Sharia is therefore just another
political system with Islamic ethics. Sharia is no more or less valid as a
system of governance compared to democracy, or communism.

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in 615. And beyond


argument remains
one of the most
fundamental
sculptor of the
African reality, past
and present.

What kind of world do


we live in when the
views of the
oppressed are
expressed at the
convenience of their
oppressors?
Owen 'Alik Shahadah

We are not Africans


because we are born
in Africa, we are
Africans because
Africa is born in us.
Chester Higgins Jr.

And Sharia, just like democracy (an ideology forced all over the world by war or threat of war) or
communism, extreme practices can have elements of oppression.
Islam is not only a 1400 year old religion, but moreover 1400 years of dynamic ideological evolution,
and constant adaptation based upon scholarship traditions. There is an entire science of fiqh
(jurisprudence) which constantly, reflexively evaluates the modern prevailing conditions Muslims find
themselves in. So that it stays relevant to modernity. So Islam can form policies and attitudes based
on new science because of the institutionalizing of the ancient traditions.
The Hajj was not only for religious worship, it was a centralized place for networking, exchange and a
kind of global market. This was where people aquired new information and ideas which they took
back to their local communities. Out of these networks came new business relationships, political
relationships, and development. (See Kanka Musa)
While most religions bear the following format, Islam is different: Christianity - Christian, Hinduism Hindu, Judaism - Jewish, Rastafarian - Rasta, Buddhism - Buddhist. But the followers of Islam are
called Muslims. This is because the name of the religion is not after its founder but after its theological
rootSubmission to God in peace (Islam). Muslim is one who submits. In Islam drawing images of
God, Muhammad, Jesus or any prophet is strictly prohibited. There is a total taboo (haram) on
discussing "What God looks like, and what race God is," therefore the issue of race are only temporal
not divine.

Even as the fingers of the two hands are equal,


so are human beings equal to one another. No
one has any right, nor any preference to claim
over anotherYou are brothers

Leave no brother or
sister behind the
enemy line of
poverty.
Harriet Tubman

Muhammad (SAW)
Some unique under-discussed aspects of social Islam is it was in response to social-economic-racial
inequality in Arabia (Hijaz). Islam was born into a multicultural racialized world similar to today (i.e.
Black and White (Arab)). It was the first religion to be preach emancipation as a core doctrine.

RISE OF ISLAM IN AFRICA


Linguistics and African Reality
Religion in African Diaspora
African Cultural Footprint
Somali: Money and Civil War
Africa Before Slavery
African Influence in Barbados

The key means by which Islam is particularly


true regarding the spread of Islamic civilization
in Africa, which was the result of a profound
global trading network which stretched
eastward from Futa Turo, to Walata, the Akan,
Timbuktu, Jenne, the city states of Hausaland,
Kufra, lake Chad, Darfur, Sennar, Soba, Suakin,
the Two Sacred cities of Mecca and el-Medina
stretching eastward along the Silk Road as far
as the imperial capitals of China

Muhammad Shareef
See African contributions to Islam
The presence of Islam in Africa, predates all notions of an Africa by at least 1000 years. This is also
true for Judaism and Christianity in North-East Africa. So by the time a notion of an Africa and the
later formulation of an African identity superimposed on the people of that continent;, Islam was
already a standard identity in Africa. And this is a critical perspective in how we engage the study of
an authentic Africa, which is largely a modern construction projected backwards in time.
Islam entered Africa (Ethiopia) before it reached the Indus river of India,
or the poppy fields of Afghanistan, the heart of Palestine, Iraq or Persia or
even the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia. East Africa and the Arabic world
have a deep historical Afro-Asiatic relationship which is defined not only
by the Arab slave trade, but in cultural and linguistic, political
engagements.
The process of Islamization in West Africa was by African traders such as
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The process of Islamization in West Africa was by African traders such as


the Fulani. Islamization and Arabization was the principle process which
operated in North Africa (including Sudan) resulting in its Arabized
Berber population. The process in East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) was
the legacy of Arab colonization, with the exception of Abyssinia (Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Djibouti) and to some extent Somalia.
In West Africa, Islam was the religion of the elites, merchants and rulers for over 1000 years. Later on
Islam became a military force of conquest which was used to expand the faith and the Islamic polity.
Two forces silently worked themselves out in the background of African life, the Islamization of the
area, and the equally potent Africanization of Islam.
The final wave of Islamic domination came to parts of Africa with colonization Because Islam was
familiar, its legacy of resistance appealed to the ordinary person who saw corruption in their own
native systems (made up of elite collaborators), and alien culture and inequity in the actions of
Europe. The Wolof, and even the Serer, who were historically resistant to Islam, peaceful became a
dominant force in Islam. Islam was for most a social conscious revolution against the imperial
Western ambitions and this featured in many of the 18th century conversions in West Africa.

The Oriental aspects of Islam has become


largely modified in Negroland, not, as it too
generally supposed, by a degrading
compromise with the Pagan superstitions, but
by shaping many of its traditional customs to
suit the milder more conciliatory disposition of
the Negro

Edward Wilmot Blyden

Mansa Musa was an important Malian king from 1312 to 1337


expanding the Mali influence over the Niger city-states of
Timbuktu, Gao, and Djenne. Mansa Musa (Mansa meaning
emperor or sultan and Musa meaning Moses), the grandson of
one of Sundiata's sisters. Timbuktu became one of the major
cultural centers not just of Africa but of the world. Vast libraries,
madrasas (Islamic universities) and magnificent mosques were
built. Timbuktu became a meeting place of poets, scholars and
artists of Africa and the Middle East. Even after Mali declined,
Timbuktu remained the major Islamic center of Africa (Hooker
1996). Mansa Musa maintained a huge army that kept peace
and policed the trade routes.
Mansa Musa's hajj, which may have even indirectly funded support for the Italian renaissance,
was the only time in recorded history that one man directly controlled the price of gold in the
Mediterranean. Musa's Hajj across North and West Africa to Mecca , inadvertently devastated
the economy of the region. In the cities of Cairo, Medina and Mecca, the sudden influx of gold
devalued the metal for the next decade.
In recent times Islam has seen a rise in previously non-Muslim countries particularly Rwanda. During
the Rwandan genocide mobs avoided searching in local Rwandan Muslim neighborhoods, which
were used to hide Tutsi and other persecuted people. In places like Cyangugu, it was also widely
believed that local Muslims and Mosques were protected by the power of Islamic magic and the
efficacious Jinn. Post-genocide many Rwandese mass converted to Islam because of protection
Islamic communities offered them.

We picture Islam and picture Arabs on horseback, swinging swords and conquering Africa, chopping
heads of all who cling to "heathen ways" while screaming Allahu Akbarthat is Hollywood, that is the
deliberate fabrication of crusader mythology. Even when Islam came with armies, like in parts of
North Africa, tribal leaders agreedfor political and practical reasons to embrace Islam, and as
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North Africa, tribal leaders agreedfor political and practical reasons to embrace Islam, and as
was the custom the entire "tribe" embraced Islam. And we should never isolate religion out of the
1000 reasons people went to war. Why would Islam be the primary agent of conflict when so many
other reasons, like standard national expansion avail themselves? Why is Islam always the motive?
Who is inserting this undue emphasis. Even when war "for the sake of Allah" was declared, very
rarely were the motives any different to the standard "I want to expand my power." Everyone did this,
Muslim and non-Muslim. Even Muslim vs. Muslim was common place because the wars were about
gold not God.
And evidence of this is the gradual process of Islamization in places like West Africa and Egypt. Had it
been overtly forceful it would not have absorbed the cultures of the people who embraced Islam.
There is also a longstanding myth that the Arab slave trade Islamized Africa. There is no logic in
making slaves into new Muslim as it would lead the way to their manumission. Accepting Islam was
part of the self-determination of many nations to enhance their trade relations and political position. It
moreover allowed them to unify greater territories and create multi-ethnic polities. (just like was the
case for Ezna building a Unified Abyssinia)

RADICAL ISLAM
See War Myth
When Islam is defined by imperialism, it modifies
Islam to suit its objectives. Terms like Islamist,
radical Islam, political Islam, fundamentalist Islam,
which contrast the Western preferred moderate
Islam, apolitical Islam. There is certainly no
authentic version of Islam that is moderately
apolitical; impotent in face of tyranny, silent in the
face of oppression and exploitation. Islam is
political and there is zero fragmentation of Islam as
a religious system versus Islam as a system of
governance.
That split occurs when Western forces seek to pacify opposition from a faith that is equipped to be a
enduring tool of resistance. (Sudan, Crusades, Algiers, Somalia, Afghanistan, etc).
Radicalism and fundamentalism, when they exist, and they do exist, can only be defined by authentic
representatives of the faith, not by the Islamic scholars for dollars; but by the Qur'an and Hadith. We
cannot live in a multicultural world where elements of Islam are first filtered for Western acceptance
before being deemed acceptable. And there is no escape or propaganda that can change the core
tenants of Islam, there is no degree of acquiesce in leadership that can make Islam some spiritual
hocus pokus with no political teeth.
What is loosely, nebulous, hypocritically, termed the war on terror is a Western response to a failure
of convention treatment to resistance stemming from religious fervor. Conventional treatment for
Pan-Africanism, strains of socialism, and other social dissenting movements was be to throw money
at the problem, causing them to soften. However, this conventional treatment of trinkets for opinions
fails at every conceivable level with the so-called Islamist. You cannot offer them alcohol, positions,
money, not even a billion dollars, in exchange for acquiesce. Because the antibodies in the Islamist
ecosystem are vulgarly intolerant to accommodating anything which remotely smells Western. What
Islam, as the spiritual motivational energy, therefore representsin its most resistant strainis a
serious impasse, an unknown obstacle to any imposition. As it fails to respond to conventional
treatment, the West has deployed unconventional treatment. In comes the media to brand any and all
forms of religious dissent (violent or non-violent) to imperialism as extremist, hardliner, and radical.
The nebulous nature of language mask realities, blurs objectives, so much so the sole arbiter on what
constitutes terrorism, radicalism is detemined by one player in the fray.
And when there is a fundamentalist element in some applications of Islam, then we must also look for
the fundamentalist element in Western foreign policybecause one sometimes creates the other.
And why is Zionism, the Western created and approved system of extremist fundamentalist, which
governs Israel not classified in this way? Why are the numerous occupations under Western foreign
policy not labeled as a form of terrorism and extremism? It is very hard to engage actual cases of
extremism when disingenuous agendas labeling even people seeking Sharia governence as
terrorismit is not, unless self-determination is no longer a human right.

POPULARITY OF ISLAM

I believe in a religion that believes in freedom.


Any time I have to accept a religion that won't
let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell
with that religion

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El Hajj Malik Shabazz


Islam is one of the most popular religions in Africa. Even outside of its traditional territories
(East, North and West Africa). Islam is on the rise among the Khoisan people of Namibia
and very popular in Rwanda due to the protection/shelter Muslims gave victims of
genocide. All of this against the strong current of Western dedication to the
demonizing of every inch of Islam.
Islam allowed a greater centralization of governance which was traditionally ethnocentric. This
allowed for a far more egalitarian society which appealed to many of the "weaker" nation groups.
Islam has been a profound contributor to African culture beyond the boundaries of the Islamic faith.
The dress we associate with African culture is from Islamic culture. The Kufi, Islamic skull cap which is
cross-religious, comes from West African Islamic dress culture. The African word Kufi is now the
standard term across Islam for referring to that style of head-dress.

About Islam
What is Islam
Conscious Islam
Qur'an
Islamophobia
Popularity of Islam
Homosexuality and Islam
Racism & Muslims
Islamic Civilization
Contributions of Africa
Islam and Women
Hijab - Veil
Sharia
Myths About Islam
Facts on Islam
FGM

In America the Nation Of Islam is the single largest force in recent


history for conversions to Islam and almost overnight creating a
new Islamic identity, the African-American Islamic cultural identity.
Iconized by powerful people such as Malcolm X and Farrakhan.
Cities like Philadelphia even have their own integrated Islamic
language "Sunni Joint - Beard", "Deen = religion." It is intertwined
in the African-American identity even where people are not
Muslims because of the names like Alliyah, Rihanna, Shakira,
Shanice, Rahim, Na'im, etc.
Many of the philosophies manifesting in the Diaspora are
claiming Africa origins but are inefficient at navigating the moral
corridors of life. While there are academic ring-tones and sound
bites, they fail to have systems, which address the human spiritual
thirst. Their subjects are left wanting; floating spiritually
disconnected to be ultimately annexed in the worst expressions of
Eurocentric conduct or the primitive world of spookism. Islam with
is strong African conscious associations is very different to
Eurocenrtism and yet presents itself as an equal force with
infrastructure and sophistication. It is not Western, it is not White, it
has a spirit of resistance which attracts Africans everywhere.

Challenges
Islam and Slavery
Islamic Empires
Muslim Legends

The wonders of the Islamic world testify to one indisputable fact,


that Islam has the power via its ideological structures to extract the
best out of humanity. From deserts we see massive civilizations
appearing overnight. We see Arab-African building Andalusia, we
see universities and science flourishing and which impact on
European development. History testifies to the potential of Islam
as a unifying force and a force for giving a power advantage.

Nation of Islam
Timbuktu
Islam in Hausa Lands
[Comments]

And like anything which grants this power, it can be used for good (Universities) or bad (Conquest
and Arabization). But It is this same real potential that captures those who seek success within its
ideological structures.

O My Servants, indeed I have


prohibited injustice for myself, and I
have prohibited it amongst you
Hadith
THE "ISLAMIST" TODAY
The campaign to fracture and split Islam from Africa is an age old colonial campaign. What is really
stinging the West is after all their plotting and planning all the so-called "horrible" Islamist (a Western
manufactured political term with zero meaning to anything but Western propaganda) so dear to their
propaganda machine are the ones winning the hearts and minds of the people. But if you just read
BBC you would never think people want these "radicals" it means there is something missing in the
reports. Egypt, all over the Arab spring the very thing the West hated is the one thing that is rising. Let
see how "democratic" values critical to the Western "moral" campaign pan-out when the process of
democracy puts their interest at a disadvantage. Part of the Western problem is in their arrogance
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democracy puts their interest at a disadvantage. Part of the Western problem is in their arrogance
they assumed the world is what they say it is, hence they create dichotomies and assume everyone
else believes in them not the case. The campaign to push religion out has not worked, what is
happening the people see the pro-gay west, the immorality, the consequences of capitalism, greed,
and inequity in the West and do not want that future for their country.

COUNTRY STATS
Statistics on Islam (CIA) : Algeria 99%, Benin 15%, Burkina Faso 50%, Chad 50%, D.R
Congo 7%, Ivory Coast 60%, Djibooti 94%, Egypt 86%, Ethiopia 47%, Ghana 30%, Kenya 7%,
Libya 97%, Malawi 20%, Mali 90%, Mauritania 99%, Mozambique 20%, Niger 80%, Nigeria
47%, Senegal 92%, Somalia 98%, South Africa 2%, Sudan 70%, Tanzania 35%, Tunisia 98%,
Uganda 16%

ISLAM & REVOLUTION

If one of you sees something wrong, let him


change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with
his tongue; if he cannot, then with his heart
and this is the weakest faith

Hadith [Sahih Muslim]


Islam like the radical teachings of Jesus, is a revolutionary religion. It is the only major
world religion to be abolitionist in its Holy text - the Qur'an. But like any tool of revolution it
can be poorly used if poorly understood. Some things cannot be denied from Islam is the
fact it has been part of shaping Pan-Africanism and African consciousness.
Islam underwent a change in the time-line in West Africa. It started out as the religion of the minority
elite (trader and administrator) to become a reaction of popular resistance against arbitrary rule of the
reigning aristocracies, combating the negative impact of the Atlantic slave system in general.
[Senegambia and the Atlantic Slave Trade (Africa) Hardcover) by Boubacar Barry]

It has produced more African kingdoms and


preserved African history via agami. And Islam's role
in aggressively repelling colonialism in Africa.
(Senegal, Algeria, Sudan, etc). The first Jihad in the
Western Hemisphere was the Bahia Muslim Slave
uprising in 1835 . The revolt was the largest slave
revolt in Brazil and the largest urban slave revolt in
the Americas.

The campaigns of Nasr al-Din's (Tubenan movement) anti-slavery and Western imposition
galvanized Africans in the region in the late 17th century.

The most excellent jihad is to speak


the truth in the face of an unjust ruler
Prophet in Mishkat,
Hadith

In the Diaspora the process of Islamization (making new Muslims) is an equal


counterpart to the process of African consciousness. African consciousness in
the Diaspora has largely been expressed through conversion to Islam; the two
walk hand in hand, thus becoming Muslim is associated with becoming
aware of an African identity. This makes Islam unique as a vehicle for
revolution. Islamophobia and Eurocentrism has hidden much of Islamic
contributions and tried to create rifts in the African world by funding and
encouraging Black revisionist.
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encouraging Black revisionist.


In the UK, the mechanisms of Islamization in African communities (in recent years) has been
radically different due to the Salaafi-Wahabbi impact which divorces African consciousness from
Islamization. However, the historical record is loaded with the contributions of Islam to Africa but also
to Pan-Africanism and the foundation of Black consciousness. Islamic influence is a fundamental
partner in Pan-African thought development. Commanding what is right, and forbidding what is
wrong provides a mechanism whereby the Muslim communities can fight off various social, moral
and spiritual ills and maintain a healthy and dynamic life. Where the African is concern this is why
Islam has an appeal as Malcolm X said:

I believe in a religion that believes in freedom.


Any time I have to accept a religion that won't
let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell
with that religion

Malcolm X
In recent history the list includes Elijah Muhammad, Farrakhan, Malcolm X, Duse Muhammad,
Cheikh Anta Diop, Edward Wilmot Blyden, and even African conscious musicians such Art Blakey
and many conscious hip-hop artist .

I t was out of Trinidad that African Muslims


called the Mandingoes wrote legislation to the
British Parliament applying for repatriation back
to Africa in 1833. It was African Muslims out of
Trinidad who gave the world the idea of
repatriation that was transformed into
reparations

Farrakhan

SHARIA - POLITICAL ISLAM - BANKING


See War Myth of Religion
Islam has a political system embedded in its foundation, there is no way to escape sharia as part and
parcel of Islam. It would be like discussing Islam and leaving off the praying. There is no complete
Islam without its political system, because how can a "way of life" not also instruct politics for ruling
people? So in theory why would Muslims need democracy when sharia deals with the governance of
Muslim lives? And the reason this logic is not well received because the media has constructed and
cherry picked examples of sharia as backward, barbaric and oppressive: e.g.. Sharia = Taliban. Why
would we assume that is the only expression of Sharia? Especially when much of the African
kingdoms were under sharia law, Islamic Spain which was a sanctuary for Jews and persecuted
people during the Almoravid reign for over 500 years. And this was not unique in the history of sharia,
the mighty learning centers were a haven to all, because of the reputation Islamic governance had for
degrees of justice and truth. Even in the UK sharia law has done a better job than so-called secular
law with family affairs and is tolerated because of its success rates. Right now in Europe Islamic
banking (based on sharia law) is adopted and used beyond the believers of Islam because of its
ethical policy (the entire concept of Ethical banking started with Islam ). Islamic banking is the new
banking revolution in Europe and HSBC and other major banks now engage in it. Even in South
Africa most banks now offer Islamic banking. But none of these conversations come up when sharia
is mentioned in Western media, leaving the most ignorant debates to go on; informed by CNN on one
hand and Hollywood on the other.
There is no area of Islam more misunderstood, demonized and misrepresented by utter ignorance
than the topic of sharia. Lets get straight to the truth, skipping religion for the moment. Sharia is bad
for business. Sharia threatens Western trade in the vices the feed their economies; liberal media,
alcohol, etc. It is necessary to use every single muscle in the Western arsenal to demonize Sharia.
Sharia like socialism and communism is a competing political ideology. Sharia can be very
destructive in the hands of the wrong leadership, but which one caused the deaths of millions of
people in the 21st century, sharia or Western democracy? What was the motives for poisoning and
slaughtering millions of people in Indochina? Countless wars after wars all over the world in the
bloody name of Western democracy. So it is hypocritical if fear of persecution, intolerance and
violence are being used as the primary augments by the detractors of sharia.
Now why is Shariah such a hot topic? For the same reason communism was 40 years ago. Its all
about political power struggles. Why do people, even practicing Muslims, run when they hear the
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about political power struggles. Why do people, even practicing Muslims, run when they hear the
word? Because of the Western indoctrination. If you lived on Mars for the last 1000 years you would
treat Sharia with the same academic neutrality as Democracy, Socialism, Capitalism and all the other
isms failing as builders of civilization. We have to ask our selves, are the best components of
democracy (justice, balance, fair play) absent from Sharia? Does anyone actually know what Sharia
means? Is Sharia a monolith? Is the Taliban and Saudi models the only examples of Sharia? The
point here is we cannot even begin the debate because of the prejudicial climate which was created
to frame the debate.

NOTION OF TIME | PARADIGMS


One thing that Islam brought to Africa and also to Arabia was something that is often neglected, and
overlooked but has profound administrative and social implications. And that is a notion of time
based structure. In Islam the day is divided into 5 sectors, Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Magrib and Isha.
Observance of the daily prays or Salaat, means that people lives are governed by time base. The
consequences of this spill over into all areas of social, administration, legal and trade. Time in the
Qur'an is a divine element in which gives humanity a notion of the local time, but also the finality of
time. A notion also sacred in Ancient Egypt:

By (the Token of) Time (through the


ages), Verily Man is in loss, except
such as have Faith, and do righteous
deeds, and join together in the mutual
teaching of Truth, and of Patience and
Constancy.
Qur'an (103:1-3)

ISLAM COMPARED
Islam is closest theologically to Judaism, but socially to Christianity in terms of the
mechanism of expansion and cultural impact. Islam is second only in world followers to
Christianity with over 1.6 billion adherents.
It is the largest religion in Africa and the largest practiced religion on Earth. While the term practiced is
subjective because being a Muslim has a completely different set of demand on it compared to
Christianity. Islam's tenants are more observed by its followers than any other religion. Islam unlike
Christianity is not fragmented into denomination in the same way. For example in Christianity you
may have a Roman Catholic Church or a Baptist Church, generally speaking a Mosque is a Mosque.
There are no Shia Mosque and Sunni Mosque; a mosque is a mosque, Shia use Sunni Mosque and
no one is the wiser. And while denomination do exist it is radically different from denominations in
Christianity. Islam is therefore far more theologically homogeneous than most other religions. For
example no Muslim group will eat pork or hold partners with the supreme Deity. Honor is also an
intangibles quality found in the Muslim world which does not have a cultural counterpart in
Christianity. This maybe because of the old-world African, Asian and Middle Eastern cultures which
practice Islam. Islam integrates culture far more rapidly than Western Christian which is general
secular. This integration protects the cultures which are Islamized but sometimes cause non-Islamic
practices. to be treated as aspects of the religion for example FGM (which is an African tradition seen
in Ancient Egypt). But some Muslims and Western detractors associate it with Islam because African
Muslims communities do it.
Being a member of the Islamic faith requires more active declarations than most other religions.
Being a Muslim is therefore less flexible and far more specific than "being a Christian" or "being a
Jew." This radical difference means being Muslim has a inherent responsibility to adhering to the
Islamic doctrine. And while Judaism has an ethnic inheritance, this tendency in Islam is quasi-taboo.
Rabbinic Judaism claims Judaism as a matrilineally pass-down. Being Muslim requires the Shahada
( )and an acceptance of the canon of the Islamic doctrine. Committing blasphemy (shirk
| Arabic: ( ) challenging God as the supreme deity) can take someone out of the fold of Islam. In
the canon of Islam you cannot be technically born a Muslim (contrary to the culture of some IndoPakistani Muslims), you must accept the religion. Islam holds that all people are born in a state-ofIslam and thus all children are born Muslim. Christianity does not have such clear parameters.
Judaism is difficult to compare because the definition varies depending on whether a religious,
sociological, or ethnic aspect is being discussed. But Rabbinic Judaism holds that anyone who does
not follow the Talmud is not a Jew. The problem of White dominance is very true for the entire Jewish
discourse even more so than Christianity. Judaism today is not Judaism in antiquity. Mainstream
Judaism is a European cultural expression which evolved first Islamic Lands (Maimonides) and later
Medieval Europe. Islam suffers from the new dominance of Saudi and Iranian brand of Islam with the
same issues of Orthodoxy.

ISLAM & NATIVE AFRICAN SYSTEMS


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ISLAM & NATIVE AFRICAN SYSTEMS


Islam spread across to West Africa (by African traders such as the Fulani people) from as early as the
8 th century by African traders and was firmly established by the 11 th century. The peaceful nonobstructive course Islam took in West Africa was mainly because those propagating the faith were
culturally and ethnically identical to those receiving it. Also the indigenous African had many features
in common, such as animal immolation, communal pray, celebrating ancestors, circumcision,
polygamy, dowry bride gifts, and the spirit or jinn world. The African spirit world of Bori and Zar was
bridged to the Islamic world of jinns whom like African spirits could be friend or foe.
Such similarities between Islam
and indigenous African religions
facilitated a general peaceful
conversion
and
religious
tolerance in West Africa. Islam
hence left African culture
uniquely African and a traditional
African Sufi Islam was formed
over the centuries. This brand of
Islam in time even reshaped
Islamic culture in the lands
beyond Africa.
Afrocentrism has never been able to answer the question; between Islam and Ancient KMT, and
Ancient KMT and so-called native faiths, which had more in common? There is no escaping that
Islam and Ancient Egypt had far more in common with each other than say the religions of Dahomey.
Bias and unbalance are a form of corruption because it mask objectivity and kills alternative
paradigms for processing information regardless of who is doing it. When opinions are formed in an
intellectual vacuum and not via a process of dialectics it can often mask obvious realities and
solutions that are looking us in our face.

COMING OF ISLAM

In 1324, the Mali king Mansa Musa is


said to have told the Arabic historian,
Al-Umari that "his predecessors had
launched two expeditions from West
Africa to discover the limits of the
Atlantic Ocean

When Islam arrived, war and servitude were features of African and Arabian life. Judaism existed
among certain Arab tribes as well as Christianity, and like them Islam did not blatantly out law
slavery; Islam did however blatantly outlawed chattel enslavement. The Qur'an with every reference
to slavery ask the believer to free the slave as atonement for sin, the term "emancipating a slave and
feeding an orphan" are repeated constantly throughout the Qur'an as acts which gain God's favor.
Islam is therefore the only abolitions m ainstream religion which contains within its
scared text a m essage of m anum ission . Also there were regulations which enhanced the
pre-Islamic laws with respect to the treatment of enslaved people. Ideally they were entitled to good
care, to the same clothing and food as their masters. These enslaved people were more akin to
indentured servants in Europe than Chattel slaves in the Americas.

EGALITARIAN CODE & RACE IN ISLAM

All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an


Arab has no superiority over a nonArab nor a non-Arab has any
superiority over an Arab; also a White
has no superiority over Black nor a
Black has any superiority over White
except by piety and good action.
Prophet Muhammad
One unique feature of Islam is it egalitarian code. The only superiority in Islam is piety
(Taqwa).Therefore when people enter say a Mosque there is absolutely no hierarchy, may someone
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(Taqwa).Therefore when people enter say a Mosque there is absolutely no hierarchy, may someone
be a president or a pauper. They wash (wudu) in the same place, they pray (salaat) in the same
place. There is no front row, or recognition of political or economic station in the canon of Islam.
Race is real in Islam, and the purpose of race is a blessing to humanity. It is a gift to create a diverse
and beautiful world. It is also a challenge which test our development and humanity. But today we
see a Wahabbi imposed mono-cultural Islam which tries to destroy culture and religious diversity
within Islam. And while Wahaabism tries to make obsolete, it is the Arabized culture which they bring
as the norm for diverse people. So race is irrelevant as long as Islam is Arabized.

in Africa the biggest baddest richest most


powerful man in that country after hearing the
Adzan must go to the Mosque and take off his
shoes, and like everyone else -- with zero
special treatment, kneel before God. No front
row seat, no special designated area. He must
sit and pray with the people. Islam has this
function of instructing humility and putting
people of all status as equals before God.

Nothing in creation is accidental, Black skin is not an accident, or a topic not to be discussed. In both
the Qur'an and Hadith, the Prophet refers to both Ethnicity and Nationality. Thus the issue of race can
never be smooth over with "it doesn't matter." If it did not matter then we are saying God made a
mistake.

O Mankind, We created you from a


single (pair) of a male and female and
made you into nations and tribes, that
you may know each other
Qur'an

ISLAM AND AFRICA


Islam was founded in a multi-ethnic Arabia which lay 22 km of the coast of the African
continent. Prior to the rise of Islam, Ethiopia, a super power of that time, had annexed
modern day Yemen and parts of Saudi Arabia for centuries. The Qur'anic accounts of the
mighty forces of the Ethiopian general Abraha, who marched towards Mecca with an
arsenal of elephants, this testifies to the power of the ancient Ethiopian Empire.

Islam in Ethiopia

Historically, Islam was a religion inseparable from trade


relationships. Africa and Arabia were old partners in trade so it
is no surprise that Africans were among the first handful of
people to accept the new religion brought by the Prophet
Muhammad. It is said that when Bilal the Ethiopian, one of the
most revered legends of Islam, first heard of Islam he called it
the ancient religion. The call to pray which echoes over Muslims
lands today was first carried on African lungs (by Bilal).

Islam became a permanent feature in Africa when the prophet Muhammad in 612 sent the first group
of the early Muslims to be protected from Arab persecution by the Negus of Ethiopia; this was the first
Hijirah. Islam was thus spreading in Africa before it even reached Medina.

The Eurocentric opinions of Orientalist


scholarship has been copied into
Africanist europhone writings. These
attitudes reflect a failure to account for
the full complexities and heterogeneity
of Islam and its history in Sub-Saharan
Africa
Bangura, Islam and the West
African [2]
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African [2]

About Islam
What is Islam
Conscious Islam
Qur'an
Islamophobia
Popularity of Islam
Homosexuality and Islam
Islamic Civilization
Contributions of Africa
Islam and Women
Hijab - Veil
Sharia
Myths About Islam
Facts on Islam
FGM

It is important to note that while Islam generally disseminated in


most of Africa peacefully it took wars, such as the Riddah wars, to
conquer the Arabs into accepting Islam. In the mid-tenth century
during the rule of the Ummayad Caliph Abdul-Rahman III (929961), Muslims of African origin sailed westward from the Spanish
port of Delba (Palos) into the Ocean of darkness an fog. They
returned after a long absence with much booty from a strange
and curious land. It is evident that people of Muslim origin are
known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent Spanish
explorers to the New World.
Also it is reported that the descendants of Kanka Musa of Mali
made and epic voyage with a 2000 strong fleet in search of the
Americas. Recent linguistic, cultural and archaeological finds in
Brazil and Peru offer documentary evidence" that West African
Mandinka Muslims explored the early Americas. Islam spread
across to West Africa (by African traders such as the Fulani
people) from as early as the 8 th century by African traders and
was firmly established by the 11 th century.

Challenges
Islam and Slavery
Islamic Empires
Muslim Legends
Nation of Islam
Timbuktu
Islam in Hausa Lands

The peaceful non-obstructive course Islam took in West Africa was


mainly because those propagating the faith were culturally and
ethnically identical to those receiving it. Also the indigenous
African had many features in common, such as animal
immolation, communal pray, celebrating ancestors, circumcision,
polygamy, dowry bride gifts, and the spirit or jinn world. The
African spirit world of Bori and Zar was bridged to the Islamic
world of jinns whom like African spirits could be friend or foe.

[Comments]

Such similarities between Islam and indigenous African religions facilitated a general peaceful
conversion and religious tolerance in West Africa. Islam hence left African culture uniquely African
and a traditional African Sufi Islam was formed over the centuries. This brand of Islam in time even
reshaped Islamic culture in the lands beyond Africa.

Diop: The primary reason for the success of Islam in Africa, with one exception, consequently stems
from the fact that solitary Arabo-Berber Travelers to certain Black kings and notables, who then
spread it about them to those under their jurisdiction, promulgated it peacefully, at first... What is to be
emphasized here is the peaceful nature of this conversion, regardless of the legend surrounding it.
(Pre-Colonial Black Africa, page 163.)
Asante: The religion of Islam made each Muslim merchant or traveler an embryonic missionary and
the appeal of the religion with its similarities to the African religions was far more powerful than the
Christian appeal. (Asante, Genocide in Africa 1991 10)
Diop: The Arab conquests dear to sociologists are necessary to their theories but did not exist in
reality. To this day no reliable historical documents substantiate such theories. ((Pre-Colonial Black
Africa, page 102)
When Islam proliferated in West Africa around the 9 th century,
one of the first universities was founded by African Muslims. It
was called Sankore, Arabs and others came to Sankore which
was built in Timbuktu to learn from the African erudite who
lectured on Islamic belief, Islamic jurisprudence, astrology,
science, and many other subjects. Timbuktu was reputed for
African erudition where books and those who traded in books
were the wealthiest elites of the merchant society.

Mosque at Timbuktu
The bulk of African history after the Ancient Egyptians Medew Netjer , was written in the Arabic
language by both Africans and Arabs. The Arabic script also served as an agami to write languages
such as Swahili, Wolof and Mande. For thousands of years Arabic served as the international
language of trade as English is today. Some of the hidden histories of Africa are locked in as many as
700,000 Arabic manuscripts written by ancient African scholars. One of these the Tariq-ul-Sudan,
details the history of Islamic West Africa, but this manuscript remains inaccessible to non-Arabic
speakers.

NATION OF ISLAM
See | Nation of Islam
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A sect of Islam, NOI teaches Black pride, economic empowerment within an Islamic framework. They
now teach that their founder Wallace Fard Muhammad was the Mahdi of God (Allah).

Nation of Islam produced Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali;


and Warith Deen Mohammed. All of which have been instrumental in
Diaspora Islam. Elijah Muhammad (the principle leader until his death)
is perhaps on of the most influential Muslim religious leaders in recent
times, responsible for the rise of Islam among the African-Diaspora.
NOI was known as a pioneer of self-determination and do for self
(Black empowerment). Elijah was a living example of separation and
racial independent in America, as oppose to strike for inclusion and
justice NOI created their own sustainable world inside of America.
Elijah took broken people and gave them back pride in their race,
morality, and discipline.

No other Diaspora leader has created such economic and social transformation since. By the 1970s,
the Nation of Islam owned bakeries, barber shops, coffee shops, grocery stores, laundromats, a
printing plant, retail stores, numerous real estate holdings, and a fleet of tractor trailers, plus farmland
in Michigan, Alabama, and Georgia. In 1972 the Nation of Islam took controlling interest in a bank, the
Guaranty Bank and Trust Co. Nation of Islam-owned schools expanded until, by 1974, the group had
established schools in 47 cities throughout the United States. In 1972, Muhammad told followers that
the Nation of Islam had a net worth of $75 million.
While controversial, from a sociological perspective, the Nation of Islam (NOI) are a Muslim
community. Disputes to their "validity" are internal religious issues. And such objections to their
inclusion under the 'banner of Islam' have been silenced by their reform to mainstream Islam
(praying, Ramadan, etc). It can be argued that their Islamic identity is just as valid as that of some
Shiite or other sects. Unfortunately elements of anti-African racism are nested in objections to NOI
because it is Islam on African-American terms they cannot be controlled or turned into little Black
Arabs or dressed up like little Black Pakistanis. Nation of Islam is on a spiritual journey and should be
embraced and encouraged into the Islamic brotherhood.

HIJAB | ISLAMIC VEIL


The hijab identifies women as followers of Islam,
with it also comes tremendous responsibility. The
hijab is not merely a covering dress, but more
importantly governs behavior, manners, speech
and appearance in public. The headscarf is an outer
manifestation of an inner commitment to a Muslim
woman's faith. It symbolizes a commitment to piety
and is a form of spiritual beauty. It is also a symbol
of human cultural diversity.
The hijab is the culture of Islam worn on the bodies of Muslim women. The hijab is also a political
symbol which calls multiculturalism into account in the West. And the respect of their cultural dress
crosses the religious-geographical divide, even in the West, people automatically have a different
sphere of engagement when dealing with women in hijab. The same is true for all cultural attire; it
informs behavior and in turn behavior is informed by it. No Muslim woman wears a Hijab to help
Westerners better understand Islam. Islam makes sense to Muslims, it doesn't become valid because
some White person somewhere "Gets it." And while it is okay for Europeans to have rules about
dress, it seem to be deemed "oppressive" when Muslim people also have rules which govern their
dress code.

Ignorance cannot see beauty outside of its own


narrow cultural constructions. And I pity such
people that look at our diverse world with
distain

'Alik Shahadah

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Contrary to popular belief the


hijab is a high fashion item worn
in some many different styles it
is an additional woman's dress
and deeply varied and
expressive. Some ways of
pinning it alone speak to the
culture where people come from
(e.g. Malaysia vs. Somalia).

The hijab is a alternative paradigm of beauty, style and femininity. Some have noted that the hijab refocuses it on areas of the woman's non-sexualized beauty-- like the eyes. Any woman therefore
wearing the hijab is instantly transformed to another paradigm of beauty. [Google result on Hijab
diversity]
The Hijab has extended its influence far beyond the corridors of Islam. What is rarely written about is
the profound influence of the Hijab on what is widely now considered an African headdress style. All
of these stylistic variations seen from Erica Badu to Nigeria come from the consequence of cultural
sharing between when Islam entered into Africa. What is largely considered "African dress" is a direct
variation of "Islamic dress."
The false focus on a woman head-dress is part of the Eurocentric tradition of removing "the other" to
bring diversity into a European notion of acceptability. Thwarting the very diversity they claim to
support in their human rights rants.

Europeans through the lens of


cultural supremacy and sheer
arrogance assume that the
values of Europeans should be
the values of the world. And
unless the rest of the world is
struggling to be more like them,
the world is backward and
oppressed.

This is the continuation of the tradition in orientalist thinking which misunderstood everything in
African culture it saw. It is ironic that the issue of "liberation" in the West is anchored almost
exclusively to sex: Freedom is an expression of excessiveness and immorality.
And while they would say "choice" when it comes to Western societies, the word is "coerced, and
brainwashed" for Islamic communities. However, the majority of Hollywood actresses and singers
always end up 1/2 naked in FHM and the like to appease the sexualization and commodification of
Western markets. Yet this is not labeled as a form of denigration and oppression. There is a serious
social expectation in Western societies to sexualized women, from Rihanna to Beyonce, all of them
express themselves with degrees of nudity. The hijab mirrors the "halal' beauty of a woman, her
grace, her composition, her humanity. Her femininity as a women is not suppressed by transmitted
within different paradigms.
So what is the real issue the West has with the Hijab? The Hijab is a cultural political symbol of the
face of the rise of Islam. Every year more of the West sees women wearing this "alien" dress on their
high streets. It is a political sign of a world they have always been at odds with. But now the Muslim is
again in Europe, but not with weapons of war, but weapons of culture. Now in the UK we see White
skinned British girls walking down Oxford street in hijab. A serious threat to the "Europeanization"
which is being diminished in the face of multiculturalism.
NIKAB (NIQAB)- FACE VEIL
The Niqb (the extra veil that covers some Muslim
women's face in public) can be viewed from different
perspectives. Some have raised the issue of security
where face identity maybe required (banks, ID cards etc).
That can easily be fixed with regulations that are
sensitive to both parties interest. Because in all honesty
when is the last time a woman in a Niqb held up a
bank? However, from an Islamic perspective there is
zero demand for a Muslim woman to wear a Niqb. It is
an self-inflicted "extra" sign of piety people place on
themselves (like monks self-enforcing celibacy).
Islam makes it clear that Mizan (balance) is key to the religion, that not to make the religion a burden:
No one was wearing a Niqb at the time of Muhammad. While subjective, the Niqb does become a
excessive burden that adds no true spiritual reward. It does have some cultural value where it is an
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excessive burden that adds no true spiritual reward. It does have some cultural value where it is an
aspect of identity and social piety. Either way this is an internal issue for Muslim people to debate. As
long as we have true freedom if women feel like the Niqb is an aspect of their spirituality then no one
nowhere has a right to stop them from their version of Islamic spiritual expression.

The Right to Life


The first and the foremost basic right is the right to live and respect human life. The Holy Qur'an lays
down:
"Whosoever kills a hum an being without (any reason like) m an slaughter, or
corruption on earth, it is as though he had killed all m ankind ..." (5:32)
"Do not kill a soul which Allah has m ade sacred except through the due process of
law ..." (6:151)

The Right to Justice


This is a very important and valuable right which Islam has given to man as a human being. The Holy
Qur'an has laid down: "Do not let your hatred of a people incite you to aggression" (5:2). "And do not
let ill-will towards any folk incite you so that you swerve from dealing justly. Be just; that is nearest to
heedfulness" (5:8).

Equality of Human Beings


This has been exemplified by the Prophet in one of his sayings thus:
"No Arab has any superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an
Arab. Nor does a white man have any superiority over a black man, or the black man any superiority
over the white man. You are all the children of Adam, and Adam was created from clay" (al-Bayhaqi
and al-Bazzaz).

The Security of Life and Property


In the address which the Prophet delivered on the occasion of the Farewell Hajj, he said: "Your
lives and properties are forbidden to one another till you m eet your Lord on the Day
of Resurrection."
God Almighty has laid down in the Holy Qur'an: "Anyone who kills a believer deliberately will
receive as his reward (a sentence) to live in Hell for ever. God will be angry with him
and curse him , and prepare dreadful torm ent for him " (4:93). The Prophet has also said
about the dhimmis (the non-Muslim citizens of the Muslim State): "One who kills a m an under
covenant (i.e. a dhim m i) will not even sm ell the fragrance of Paradise" ( al-Bukhari and
Abu Dawud).

The Protection of Honor


Holy Qur'an clearly lays down: (a) "You who believe, do not let one (set of) people m ake
fun of another set. (b) Do not defam e one another. (c) Do not insult by using
nicknam es. (d) And do not backbite or speak ill of one another" (49:11-12).

The Rights of the Non-Combatants:


Islam has first drawn a clear line of distinction between the combatants and the non-combatants of
the enemy country. As far as the non-combatant population is concerned such as women, children,
the old and the infirm, etc., the instructions of the Prophet are as follows: "Do not kill any old
person, any child or any wom an" ( Abu Dawud). "Do not kill the m onks in m onasteries"
or "Do not kill the people who are sitting in places of worship" (Musnad of Ibn
Hanbal).

ISLAMIC THREAT
Another sale, $30 billion to Saudi Arabia, so much for fear of radical Islam. If radical Islam has $30
billion dollars to spend on arms you can be our friend, if you don't well you can just be plain old AlQaeda fundamentalist Islam. The deal secures 50,000 jobs in America. And for public performance,
and public performance alone Islam is factored as enemy number one. Now and then it has almost
exclusively been about the politics of money and resources. If Iran is in America's pocket and buying
arms and getting its energy from the Western alliance and helping Israel then the debate over
"Islamic fundamentalism" doesn't come up. If the Taliban were happy allowing American soldiers to
train in the mountains then the issue of the Burqah would never get to the New York times. Religion is
used to persuade the public of a course of action to support Western economic and political interest.
For the last 1000 years the biggest threat to European imperialism was Islam. The one thing that
almost took over all of Europe. The one force that was mightier and more long-lasting the
communism. Now tracing back a lot of the antagonism becomes clear. Edward Said claimed a
"subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arab-Islamic peoples and their culture." He
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"subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arab-Islamic peoples and their culture." He
argued that a long tradition of false and romanticized images of Africa and the Middle East in Western
culture had served as an implicit justification for Europe and the US' colonial and imperial ambitions."
He goes on to state "So far as the United States seems to be concerned, it is only a slight
overstatement to say that Moslems and Arabs are essentially seen as either oil suppliers or potential
terrorists."
In the mid Prince Henry the Navigator expeditions were sent to create much-needed maps of the
West African coast, to defeat the Muslims, to spread Christianity, and to establish trade routes. Prince
Henry attacked the Muslim port of Ceutha in Morocco. This successful attack in 1415 inspired Prince
Henry to explore West Africa, most of which was unknown to Europeans. Prince Henry wanted to find
the limits of the Muslim world to circumvent and destroy the Islamic advantage. He was also looking
for the mythical Christian empire of the priest-king Prester John.
A royal edict, for a while, prohibited the taking of African Muslims as slaves due to the likelihood of
rebellion. The rise of Islam in America among African-Americans has been seen as an extension of
this threat. And it must be remember that Spain for 800 plus years was controlled by Berber Africans,
West Africans and Arabs.
It is evident that people of Muslim origin are known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent
Spanish explorers to the New World. Also it is reported that the descendants of Kanka Musa of Mali
made and epic voyage with a 2000 strong fleet in search of the Americas. Recent linguistic, cultural
and archaeological finds in Brazil and Peru offer documentary evidence" that West African Mandinka
Muslims explored the early Americas.

ORIENTALISM - MYTHS & ISLAM


Knowledge is a function of information
received, which is diminished or
enhanced by the condition of the mind
receiving it.
' Alik Shahadah
The knowledge of any subject is limited by the information received and the conditioning of the mind
which processes this information. These two variables explain that all studies are subjective and bad
information = bad conclusions. Low information on living Islam continue the veil of ignorance. African
Islamic studies is traditionally treated as a marginal and not a serious aspect of the Islamic world.
(David Robinson) We have seen this with how Islamic Spain was treated until recently. And this antischolarship is the foundation of how African scholars outside of the African Islamic world treat Islam
and Africa.
With the most ridiculous turn of the century notions still being posed as fact. the myth of Islamic
intolerance, where every study shows Ancient Islamic societies are some of the most peaceful, nonviolent and tolerant societies compared to similar societies in antiquity. And still today Muslim
communities are safe, peaceful, tolerant, and hospitable.
One of the sources of pseudo-intellectualism is the Afrocentric aka Afro-Orientist (absorbing
Eurocentric phobias, and orientalistic world view like an orphan minion inherits the agendas of their
master) regarding the "origin" of Islam. But foreign to who? Was Africa one big happy Afrocentricpagan romantic construction before Islam? So foreign to who? Foreign to the Amhara of Bahir Dar? No. Foreign to the Tuareg of the Sahel -No. Foreign to the Mand and the Fulani (who brought Islam
to the region)? - No. What about the people of the Swahili coast with their long history of cultural
fusion? - No. Was it perhaps fore+ ign to the Muslim Khoisan of Namibia? Maybe it was, but they
chose Islam out of their own self-determination: no coercion, no Arab conquest, no "convert or die."

The origin of this website is the UK (for


the sake of argument), what bearing
does that have on the content of this
page? The language of Islam is Arabic.
The language of this website is English, what
bearing does that have on this sites unique ability
to articulate a deeply African consciousness?
Arabic is not an ethnic language, like Gurage of
Ethiopia, it is primarily a Lingua Franca for large
communities of diverse ethnic groups.
Arabization
Islam originating from a multi-cultural society moots all baseless arguments that suggest that coming
from Arabia has any special negative significance. Afrocentricity comes from America, would
historians 1000 years from now see Afrocentricity as a foreign European construction? Because none
of it has been written in an African language and none of it comes out of geographical Africa. So what
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makes something African or Arabian culturally? Only its values and principles. It is therefore critical
that a paradigm-shift in intellectual debates deal with the value formulations of Islam as oppose to
some colonial monolithic understanding of an Islam (which they saw as an competing adversary). It
is regressive and anti-intellectual to keep throwing 1960's reactionary arguments at a continent so
diverse. "foreign", "Invasion" is the languages of victims, not people of agency. Aksum was no victim
when they embraced Christianity, no more so than when Rome did.
What part of the ablution ritual is "foreign", What part of communal pray is foreign to Africa? Islam
hugs a large constitutions of values under one umbrella. Polygamy was not introduced by Islam,
neither was the sexual modesty. Zakat is neither foreign nor harmful? So what are these pillars in
Islam that are so deeply destructive to Africa? Asante would argue that it created a disloyalty for
things Africa and reassigned value to things Arabian and in principle we must concede this as a valid
observation across all mainstream religions. But beyond the Hajj and the usage of Arabic, it would be
fair to say that the majority of the Islamic faith does not do this. More over how is it then possible for
Islam to create might Ottoman empires in Europe? (who used Arabic). How is it possible for a religion
that reassigns values at the scale Asante discusses able to create such superpowers which ultimately
annexed Arabia and oppressed the very same Arab people? If the Ottomans (who are not an Arabic
people) fit into Asante's theories how did these cultural orphans create a massive empire which
lasted for 600 years and creating some of the most marvelous arts and science the world has seen?
And what about the Mughal Em pire of India, or the Islamic people of Indonesia and China?
Something is not adding up when theory attempts to make the jump to reality. It would be far more
correct to say, that regardless of what system you bring, African or otherwise, if AGENCY is lacking
you will witness cultural disloyalty in preference of a "foreign" cultural transplantation. Because Islam
did not create weak statelets of pseudo-Arabs in the Sahel of Mali and Nigeria. And it is for this very
reason that Timbuktu was sacked by outsiders (Berbers and Morocco), despite all parties on both
sides of the conflict being Islamic.
If Islam was incompatible with Africans then how was it able to be used to create the libraries of
Timbuktu? Or the scholarship of the university of Sankore, which still exist? How was it able to
produce Malcolm X and Askia? Where is the massive history of this idealistic Africa that they speak
of? Even the dress we today globally associate with "being African" is an Islamic import.
If Islam or African Christianity in Ethiopia is foreign, and hence undesirable, then was Christianity not
also foreign to Europe? How has that "foreign" product serve Europe? Has it been an agent of
advancement or destruction? So "Foreign" is a baseless anti-intellectualism for a pub debate not in
an progressive African historiography. Even with Europe losing a part of its culture to Christianity it
has undoubtedly been the backbone of its political supremacy.

CULTURE AND ISLAMIZATION


The other notion of an Islamic monolith (per Edward Sad observations) assumes that Islam is one
cultural ( ) product of Arabia. Islam takes on the cultures of the peoples it passes over. Just like
water passing over a rock. Islam and Arabization might coexist but that does not make them one and
the same thing. As Ali Mazrui explains, the processes sometimes run in opposite directions. But
Islam, like any ideology coming in, takes on the personalities of those bring it; as long as agency is in
place. And it is very important to state, that Islam has never been a monolith.

Islamization rarely equals Arabization.


The creation of new African-Caribbeans
Muslims in London is not by Arabization,
but an Indo-Pakistanization,
because the dominant agents of Islam in London
are Pakistanis. The agents of Islamization in
Barbados are Indians, specifically Gujarati Indians. Dr. Mazrui: Arabization

So with the conversion of Islam you get an imposition of Gujarati Islamic flavors. The same is true for
Durban, South Africa. In Cape Town the Malay culture dominates and flavors the Islam to that cultural
orientation. In America the process of Islamization is via the Black consciousness of the Nation of
Islam. In Indonesia the process of Islamization (making new Muslims) carries the cultures of
Indonesia Asian people, which is very different from the Arabization process. So in Ramadan you see
the ritual of breaking fast might be relatively standard across all these groups but the foods used is
culturally unique to each group. In Indian communities Indian food is used, in Ethiopia they use
Ethiopian food in the Iftar ritual (evening meal to at the end of fasting).
All of these examples show how many non-Muslims authors have oversimplified and reduced Islam
with very poor understanding of the diversity of Islam. The assumption of Arabization (as what
happens in Sudan) is not true for Ethiopia and Senegal. The Fulani people that brought Islam into
these regions would have been the dominate depositors of cultural to the variation of Islam in these
territories. Cultures fracture and reform creating new realities which seed progress and usher in
diversity. That has always been the way of the world.
Africans, like all other Muslim people, must separate out the culture ( ) from the religious ideology
( )in shaping new flavors of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad was not only a prophet in the religious
sense; he was a man, an Arab Qureshi, and a 7th century person. So the sunnah (way) of the prophet
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sense; he was a man, an Arab Qureshi, and a 7th century person. So the sunnah (way) of the prophet
would be informed by all of these considerations. Maybe the Prophet licked his fingers after eating his
favorite Arabian food (honey, meat and wild birds). Had he been Chinese that would be chopsticks
and chow mein, and he would not have licked his fingers. Had he been French it would have been a
knife and fork with a croissant, had he been Ethiopian it would have been ingera and Wot. None of
this is an aspect of the faith, but a cultural trend, which is inescapable. The Islamic etiquettes of eating
and leaving space for breathing however are acultural, and applicable independent of culture. This
wholesale taking of traditions is sometimes stifling, unproductive, tedious, and regressive. And while
being all of these things the most critical values, and ethics are lost.

ISLAM AND SLAVERY


See Arab Slave Trade
A popular myth, in the non-Muslim world, is that Muslims have not dealt with slavery in their
communities. And how would we measure this, especially when Muslims are even less
knowledgeable about the history of slavery, esp the history of slavery and Islam. However, how would
we measure what Muslims do if we are outside of these communities? The language barrier, the
cultural barrier alone puts Islam behind a political and cultural veil. Islam is not structured into
diocese like the Anglican Church which has supreme representative for that sect. therefore Islam
cannot make flashy Press conference on slavery on behalf of the Islamic world. Many Muslim
scholars addressed the issue of slavery, in Iraq, in Mauritania, in Sudan, people like Alik Shahadah
(ArabSlaveTrade, 500 Years Later, Motherland), Ali Mazuri, all deal with these issues. No group
anywhere independent of race, politics, religion has done enough on the issue of slavery.
Also bear in mind the current anti-Islamic climate. When Islamic Charities such as Islamic Relief and
Muslim Aid are working hard in the African world they do not get the press and publicity like Oxfam,
leaving people to make ridiculous generalizations about Muslim communities. Zakaat, a socialeconomic structure is hard wired into Islam which has been feeding the impoverished of the world for
1400 years. Social issues are key to the Islamic faith, Islam is not a secular religion and social
resolution is embedded in the articles of faith.

Other cultures limit a master's right to harm a


slave but few exhort masters to treat their
slaves kindly, and the placement of slaves in
the same category as other weak members of
society who deserve protection is unknown
outside the Qur'an. The unique contribution of
the Qur'an, then, is to be found in its emphasis
on the place of slaves in society and society's
responsibility toward the slave, perhaps the
most progressive legislation on slavery in its
time
Jonathan Brockopp

Qur'anic legislation brought two major changes to ancient slavery which were to have far-reaching
effects: presumption of freedom, and the ban on the enslavement of free persons except in strictly
defined circumstances (Lewis). It became a fundamental principle of Islamic jurisprudence that the
natural condition, and therefore the presumed status, of mankind was freedom. Despite this, there
were the greedy and the vindictive that sought to make slaves of their Muslim brothers and sisters as
well as other Africans.
Despite the Arab dominated Middle Eastern and Trans Saharan slave trade in African captives the
religion of Islam is the only mainstream faith to activity emancipate enslaved people as a aspect of
religious devotion. "Free the slave" is repeated constantly in the Qur'an Hadith. The natural condition
of humanity in Islam is therefore freedom and justice. Islam therefore is a revolutionary religion born
into a world where slavery was part of the fabric of that society. On paper and in the living traditions of
the prophet of Islam emancipation was part and parcel of the Islamic belief. So the question is the
same question posed to other faiths, where did things go wrong? How can a religion so open about
abolition be practiced by the Arab slave traders? How is it possible to oppress Africans and then pray
five times a day reciting the very verses that say:

Righteousness is not turning your faces


towards the east or the west.
Righteous are those who believe in
GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the
scripture, and the prophets; and they
give the money, cheerfully, to the
relatives, the orphans, the needy, the
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relatives, the orphans, the needy, the


traveling alien, the beggars, and to
free the slaves
Qur'an [2:177]
There is no blemish on the religion of Islam but on the greed and inequity of some Muslims. This is
seen across the board the blatant hypocrisy of humanity. The White Christians sang praises to God
and preached about the enslavement of Israel in Egypt while having slaves in the dungeons of Goree
and El Mina.

ISLAMIC EMPIRES OF AFRICA


The most numerous Empires in Africa's history are the Islamic Empires. Songhai was the largest
African empire, even larger than Kemet at it's summit. Songhai was 1.4 million km2 (1500), followed
by Mali, followed by Aksum, followed by Kanem and then Ancient Ghana.
Kanem Empire (700 AD - 1376 AD)
Kingdom of Kano (1000 AD - 1805 AD)
Ifat Sultanate (1285 AD - 1415 AD)
Songhai Empire (1340 AD - 1591 AD)
Bornu Empire (1369 AD - 1893 AD)
Adal Sultanate (1415 AD - 1555 AD)
Sennar Sultanate (1502 AD - 1821 AD)
Dendi Kingdom (1591 AD - 1901 AD)
Wassoulou Empire (1878 AD - 1898 AD)
Sultanate of Darfur (1603 AD - 1874 AD)
Kong Empire (1710 AD - 1894 AD)
Kingdom of Gumma (1770 AD - 1899 AD)
Fouta Tooro (1776 AD - 1861 AD)
Kingdom of Gomma (1780 AD - 1886 AD)
Kingdom of Jimma (1790 AD - 1932 AD)
Sokoto Caliphate (1804 AD - 1903 AD)

The most pathetic thing is for a slave


who doesn't know that he is a slave

Malcolm X

AFRICA, RELIGION AND SLAVERY


Full Article here
There is not one major indigenous African faith that had an issue with slavery, not one African native
religion had principles that denounced slavery. Between the most aggressive slavers in West Africa
such as Oyo, Benin, Igala, Kaabu, Asanteman, Dahomey, the Aro Confederacyl none of them
Christian or Muslim.
None of them with principle objections to slavery. Therefore, the challenge which is posed to Islam
and Christianity for having a tolerance for slavery is also true for the religions native to Africa. The only
true difference between Islam and Christianity and indigenous faith is power. They had more power
to destroy and had the added side-effect of carrying the culture of the conquering party: may that party
be Arab, European, or another African group (see Songhai and Mali).
And today the old urban legend of religion and oppression is invalid. The new tools of oppression
hide themselves in western democracy. And that Trojan horse contains the soldiers of the free
market, globalization and debt. False focus is a death sentence when worrying about a spider when a
lion is about to pounce.
Islam, Christianity, and what became known as Vodun all fell prey to human greed. All were used to
enhance the position of the slavers. So in native African faith based societies (Dahmoney especially)
the rituals which were set-up for purity and celebrating the deities became an opportunity to acquire
more captives.

Life is beautiful and ugly too, but always diverse


enough to respect the good in something while cursing
the bad. Rome was a tyrant where Africa was
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concerned. But it doesn't mean every last thing in Rome


was vile. Our world is far too sophisticated for such
simplistic deductions. Ships carried every African from
the Motherland to Africa (America?), do we curse the
ship? Surely without ships there could never have been
slavery. Planes were used to drop poison on Ethiopia,
do we curse the plane?

What in the message of Jesus said "Go to African and get as many Africans as you can?", Where in
the Qur'an does it say "Where ever you find a Black make him a slave"? Democracy right now is
making a job and a half of creating new colonies, this does not invalidate the principles of democracy
just because of Obama and Bush's misuse.
If these mainstream religions are the principle agent of mentally enslaving people why is there the
same problems existing in countries that do not have the influence of these faiths? Does Benin have
some superiority claim over Ethiopia? But if the argument was correct then we should see this. We
should see more agency in Benin than in Islamic-Christian Ethiopia. Because if these Abrahamic
faiths, as separate elements, are enslaving people then how do you explain Ethiopia's rich and power
history? In treating a prostate cancer it is usually a good idea not to cut out the bladder and leave the
prostate. Mis- identifying religion is a detrimental to Africa; it is only convenient for people who do not
want to waddle through the complexities of the Africa's problem. And the language of "destruction
and domination" is political language, not historical language. The script destroyed oral tradition, the
car destroyed the donkey, the cd destroyed the record, and the turntable destroyed the musical
instrument. It is no different with culture and religion anywhere.
Many religion or spiritual systems, for hundreds of years, in West Africa practiced, and still practice,
Trokosi: The giving of virgin girls to the gods for services or religious atonement. Similar practices
were also found in the royal court of the Kingdom of Dahomey (in what is now Benin), in the 18th and
19th centuries. Wives, slaves, and in fact all persons connected with the royal palace of Dahomey
were called "ahosi", from "aho" meaning "king", and "si" meaning "dependent" or "subordinate." In
traditional Efik societies It is believed that Abassi gave certain tribesmen the ability to heal the sick
through necromancy. If the witch doctor was unable to heal the ill person, they were thrown on a fire
because it was believed that Abassi did not want them to be healed. So we must understand the
"flaws" of spirituality and religion are not exclusive to the Abrahamic faiths. And with the coming of
Islam many of these harmful practices were destroyed. Islam was not selective and some serious
aspects of culture were also washed away with its rise. And this must be considered in a holistic
understanding in presenting valid arguments regardless of our position on religion and Africa.
More wars are caused over land and resources than God. The largest wars in human history had
nothing to do with religion. Even during the crusades (which were supposed to be a Muslim-Christian
conflict), the crusaders killed many non-Western Christians. However, far more emphasis has to be
placed on greed, wealth disparity, and its effect on the human condition. In the absence of religion,
slavery would have taken place. In the absences of democracy and communism, wars would have
taken place. If we look at the most ruthless dictators most of them do not kill in the name of religion,
(Mao for example said religion was poison). The problem with Mao et al was religion competed with
him as a god-head. The biggest wars in history are not really in the name of religion; even the
crusades were about Europeans acquisition of trade routes, which Muslims controlled. Outside of
Islam and Christianity slavery existed, the largest slavers on the continent were neither Muslim nor
Christian. All arguments support that religion is not the primary agent in the oppression of Africa, now
or then.
It might not be right, but one thing we need to swallow is that all "advances" and "civilization" is the
product of degrees of imperialism and conquest: Take a look at Ethiopian history. Kmt in her brutal
conquest of Nubia, and Nubia's conquest of Kemet? Or the bloody Mfecane of Shaka Zulu as he
forcible united the Ngoni people. If our primary issue is with conquest, then the only thing to celebrate
is hunter-gatherer societies. There is a profit from conquest which every society of technological
sophistication has inherited, and we must deal with this. The human challenge is therefore how to
advance without exploitation.
Terms like "Islamic Invasion" and "foreign religions" are painted all over African history as if this was
the only process by which Christianity and Islam came into Africa. Islam has been a native part of the
African landscape for 1418 years, Christianity for 2000 and Judaism for far longer. Yet history paints
Christianity in Europe as if it was fundamentally a European institution. Europe Europeanized
Christianity just like how they paint Buddhism in China as if its origins where Chinese. So the notion
of Christianity being a European project needs to be challenged. They were Churches in Africa long
before the Vatican.
Europeans and Arabs did not walk into Africa to enslave Africans because of a deep hatred for dark
skinned people: The primary motive was profit. South African apartheid was the same. It was a
system, which protected European privilege and opportunities. Race was used as a justification to
secure this privilege and most found justification in the Bible, the same Bible that Martin Luther King
and Nat Turner used for liberation.
If someone's religion informs their lives to be righteous, care for the sick, to feed the poor and stand
up against oppression and inequity, to speak truth in the face of lies, to seek social advancement, to
feel guilt when in error, to be critical of self, to have honor in the face of challenges, to treat others with
respect and dignity, to be equitable in business, to be fair in all dealings and to do the work necessary
for progressive advancement of humanity; then that is a good religion. It makes no difference what
you call that religion or where it comes from if it does not function in cultivating a better human being.
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you call that religion or where it comes from if it does not function in cultivating a better human being.

You cannot measure an African success


with a European ruler
' Alik Shahadah

RELIGION

Superstition and witchcraft still hold many


of our people in a cycle of fear and
wasted time and resources. It contributes
to a huge waste of money and effort and
abuse by the people who purport
themselves to have the powers to help
others to attain their wicked goals or the
powers to fend off spiritual attacks by the
wicked

1.1K Regardless of what is published, all great nations achieve greatness by solidifying
polities and empires around spiritual or political uniformity: Kemet did it, Songhai did it,
Like and Aksum did it. Therefore, religious or ideological conformity has been at the
backbone of greater human conglomerations.
And even in Rome with its many gods and plural religious ideology there was political uniformity on
the notion of being Roman. As is the case with the Pax-American national identity and culture of
diverse groups of immigrants. The God concept does not survive long outside of the bottle of religion;
religion is an institutionalized set of rituals which securely pass on the God concept from generation
to generation. The paradigm shift demands a new center of gravity in revisiting these facts as they are
inseparable from human sociological development.
Many of the philosophies manifesting in the Diaspora are claiming Africa origins but are inefficient at
navigating the moral corridors of life. While there are academic ring-tones and sound bites, they fail
to have systems, which address the human spiritual thirst. Their subjects are left wanting; floating
spiritually disconnected to be ultimately annexed in the worst expressions of Eurocentric conduct or
the primitive world of spookism.
It might not be right, but one thing we need to swallow is that all "advances" and "Civilization" is the
product of imperialism. Take a look at Ethiopian history. Kmt in her brutal conquest of Nubia, and
Nubia's conquest of Kemet? If our primary issue is with imperialism, then the only thing to celebrate is
hunter-gatherer societies. There is a profit from imperialism which every society of technological
sophistication has inherited, and we must deal with this.

SPEAK THE ETHICS OF THE FAITH


Let us begin with de-focusing the labels (names which religions go by). Why not have a debate
around values? The question of what are the components within any given religion that foster
development for African people. Islam is just a name for a collection of values which constitute the
religion of Islam and govern adherents to that faith. It is almost immature to have a debate about
cultural displacement in Africa with the rise of Islam if you do not identify the core value changes of
each given society. Because the minute the debate switches to value formations which grow out of
the ideology of Islam we find the entire discourse changes. Because are we saying given alms to the
poor, was alien to Africa? Are we saying an egalitarian society is harmful to Africa? Circumcision,
animal sacrifice? This needs to be the new platform for debate because once we identify values then
we quickly realize the names are immaterial in unifying the continent. As Karenga said we need to
discuss the ethics of the religion and then we will see we all are generally on the same page.
If our objective is at we state, Pan-African unity, how are we going to get there? How will we get if we
are divided along the color line? How will we get there by letting borders divide us? And how will we
get there by letting religion divide us? Those using religion to cause tension, or those using religion
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get there by letting religion divide us? Those using religion to cause tension, or those using religion
as a tension are one in the same. How can it be Pan-African if it is not tolerant of ethnic, religious,
color, national differences among African people?

Religion is a bottle with a label on it,


spirituality is the thing inside. Religion is
the culture of spirituality, the container
which gives it structure.
' Alik Shahadah
Constantly poking at Islam and Christianity does not to solve any inherent problem within those
systems. If 90% of the people you are trying to unite belong to those faiths then agitation will only be
met with resistance. The options are leave the topic alone or seek to Africanize these faiths, the same
way Europeans Europeanized Christianity in the form of the Roman Catholic Church or how the
Chinese converted Indian Buddha into a Chinese cultural treasure. Islam is the fastest growing
religion in Africa and is virtually immune to the taunts of the all-powerful USA, so what about the less
than 0.001% of self-branded Afrocentrics? The basic political intelligence tells us unity does not
require uniformity and all those seeking to divide are nothing but false prophets lusting for their own
shortsighted egos. At best, they sell more books by appealing to the intellectual fast-food junkies
looking to feed hatred by attacking easy targets. But ask what is the solution? No real remedy except
to place people in a spiritual wasteland.

About Islam
What is Islam
Conscious Islam
Qur'an
Islamophobia
Popularity of Islam
Homosexuality and Islam
Racism & Muslims
Islamic Civilization
Contributions of Africa

With Islam Malcolm X became one of Pan-Africas greatest heroes.


And with Christianity Garvey created the floor on which we all stand.
With Islam, the libraries of Timbuktu were built preserving the
histories of Africa. And with Christianity the greatest East African
Kingdom of Aksum forged its way and annexed Southern Arabia.
With a Middle Eastern religion, Europe went onto conquer the world,
at what point in their history did they stop and cast out these religions
lamenting the gods of old? At what stage in the greatness of China,
past and present did Buddhism interrupt their glory? So why is Africa
the only continent that cannot take these spiritual technologies and
make them serve her interest?

Islam and Women


Hijab - Veil
Sharia
Myths About Islam
Facts on Islam
FGM
Challenges
Islam and Slavery
Islamic Empires
Muslim Legends
Nation of Islam
Timbuktu

There is not one major indigenous African faith that had an issue with
slavery, not one African native religion had principles that denounced
slavery. Therefore, the challenge which is posed to Islam and
Christianity for having a tolerance for slavery is also true for the
religions native to Africa. If these mainstream religions are mentally
enslaving people why is there the same problems existing in
countries that do not have the influence of these faiths? Does Benin
have some superiority claim over Ethiopia? But if their argument is
correct then we should see this. We should see more agency in
Benin than in Islamic-Christian Ethiopia. Because if these religions
as separate elements are enslaving people then how do you explain
Ethiopia. In treating a prostate cancer it is usually a good idea not to
cut out the bladder and leave the prostate. Mis- identifying religion is
a waste of time; it is only convenient for people who do not want to
waddle through the complexities of the African problem.

Islam in Hausa Lands


[Comments]
African Holocaust
War and Religion
Slavery in Ethiopia

Now Islam did destroy some good aspects of West African culture but
how do we weights this from the comfort of our current location in
time? One might as well say anything that changes is destruction;
The script destroyed oral tradition, the car destroyed the donkey, the
CD destroyed the record, and the turntable destroyed the musical
instrument.

Africa Before Slavery


Arab Slave Trade
TransAtlantic Slavery
Mental Slavery

Islam has been used to impose Arab culture, but this is because Africa was lacking agency. Turkey
held its own, so why don't we? And yes Christianity was the excuse used to drive a trade in Black skin.
It was also the vector for mental slavery. None of this is in denial. No where in history do cultures stay
static in a world in motion, change is part of the cycle of life. And just as in life, after the fire the rains
come and bring life. The challenge is realistically salvaging from the ashes of history a clean place to
start from.
In the northern parts of West Africa, human sacrifice had become rare as Islam became more
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In the northern parts of West Africa, human sacrifice had become rare as Islam became more
established in these areas such as the Hausa States. There was a rise in general justice, education,
nation building, health, etc. We must be careful judging good and bad with our modern eyes because
we take for granted many moral norms were absent in the historical record. For example we all know
you don't kill a man and take his wife, or steal someone's car if it is unattended. But in antiquity this
would not have been considered a problem. The Afar of Ethiopia have no problem with any of the
above, so clearly this African habit which is not unique to the Afar is a problem in modernity. Because
our first location is truth, which harmonizes our lives verse leaves us at risk. In Islam there is a
tradition of justice, in some ancient African systems in the belly of the Sudan if the rains do not come
they killed the king. In other victims had to be ritually sacrificed to feed the lust of gods. Now these are
some extreme examples but we must be realistic when we understand that the world we recognize
as civil has a lot to do with the morals, which come from Islam and Christianity. And to finalize the
most critical point both Islam and Christianity as well as Judaism are philosophical children of
Ancient Kemet, an African civilizations. Now Kemet spiritual systems are physically dead and it is
neither practical or wise to reprise them from the dust of the Nile Valley. What we do have in front of
us is a continent which is either Christian or Islamic. Which path makes more sense to fix the
dilemma of Africa? Convert everyone or Africanize these faiths?

REFERENCES
Encyclopedia of religion in the South. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press. p. 394

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