Muslim Americans and Race

is challenged with Alzheimer's Disease,” took shahada some 44 years ago, impressed by the character and conduct of the Sunni Bilalian Muslims who had recently left the Nation of Islam.

As a mother of three sons and two daughters, she lost one son in a car accident and one to police violence. Bahiyah hopes that Muslims will help uplift Black boys and men and asks them to remember her sons in their prayers. Her surviving son, a University of Houston Clear Lake graduate, has created his own legacy in the Muslim poetry scene in Houston as well as his Firm Apparel and Know Resources businesses.

Raised in a good home but living as a single mom on food stamps for a few years, she accessed college programs and earned her nursing degree while navigating through the Tablighi Jamaat and other Islamic groups. Like most Black Muslimahs of her generation, she rose from socio-economic distress to socio-economic gains and leadership. Her daughter Aisha R. M. Pratt followed in her mother’s legacy as a loving wife, mother and nurse.

These are the types of strides that Black women (descendants of slaves) are accomplishing as models for the entire community and society at large.

MOVING FORWARD

Many of us are raised to believe that we are better than others. For example, I grew up believing that Blacks were superior to Whites. Somehow this seemed okay because I had White friends. I had nothing against Whites, although privately my friends and family had our jokes about them. The jokes seemed harmless, especially since we were the race that some Whites were trying to oppress.

However, practicing Muslims cannot accept such thoughts and ideologies, for the Quran and Hadith condemn them. God knows what’s in our hearts, and thus all of us would be well advised to remember the dua “ya muqalab al-qulub, thabat qalbi ‘ala dinik” (Oh controller of hearts, establish my heart on the deen).

Moreover, we need to take a deep look at why we feel the need to subscribe to racial supremacist ideas that determine who is worthy and who is not. Are we ascribing to these notions because they are just so deeply ingrained in our subconscious and culture that we never thought to challenge them? Do we ascribe to these stereotypes because it makes us feel that we are better than others and because we just have to feel that way? If so, what does that say about our true character, who we really are and our actual relationship with God? Whatever the reasons for the stereotypes and values placed on Black women through the lens of white supremacy, it is time to dig down deep and challenge how we think, to not continue to be blinded and controlled in how we view the world. ih

Baheejah Aaliyah Fareed, administrative coordinator at The Islamic Seminary of America, is a global student, writer, traveler and cofounder of various successful startups.

Muslim Americans and Race: The Way Forward Muslims, especially Muslim Americans, need to understand the daily realities faced by their Blackamerican brothers and sisters

BY JAMES WRIGHT

“O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e., one of the Muttaqun (pious)]. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware” (Quran 49:13, Muhsin Khan trans.)

Some of the most prolific commentators of the Quran explain that Allah’s oft-cited verse 49:13 is an admonishment and reminder to humanity that they emanated from one source, the offspring of Adam and Hawaa (Eve) [‘alayhum as salaam]: whom Allah created from dust. Allah then reminds us that from this one source, Adam and Eve, He distinguished and differentiated us, male and female, by nations, tribes, languages, skin colors, and cultures. Allah signifies his stark, vast, and infinite power by the vast and stark differentiations and distinctions among people and nations. Furthermore, Allah reminds us that the purpose of these differentiations and distinctions were so that we would come to know each other as family and attribute such vast differences to Allah’s immense power. Moreover, the most important reminder is that Allah says none of these differences, gender, tribe, culture, and skin color, make any individual or group better than the other. However, Allah established that At-Taqwa determines those best among humanity. At-Taqwa refers to

Allah’s pious and obedient worshipers, who follow the guidance and examples given to us by his messenger. There are no other criteria. It is not one’s Arab ethnicity, lineage, nor tongue. Additionally, it is certainly not any one’s whiteness or proximity to western Europeans. Additionally, in what is known as the Prophet Muhammad’s (salla Allahu’ alayhi wa sallam) farewell speech, he stated:

All mankind is from Adam and Eve.

An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every

Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim, which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves.

This context is central to much of the stagnation in Muslim communities throughout the U.S. and worldwide.

ON THE PATH TOWARD RACIALIZATION

We live in an era that imposes Western European norms and values upon nations and people globally. This hegemonic imposition began with the sacking of Al-Andalusia, which comprised a significant number of African Muslims from various Northwest and West African tribes. The settler-colonial regime of genocide and colonization that enveloped the Americas began in Al-Andalusia and later traversed the globe. The Black Muslims, identified as Moors, were central to Al-Andalusia, many of whom, along with their descendants, later showed up on America’s shores, enslaved by Europeans. This historicity is significant and underdeveloped in both the Islamic and Western European historiography. Thus, the European enslavement of Blacks became the cornerstone for much of the global antiblackness that persists today; it is the darker side of western modernity that is permeating the globe, and which comprised the economic base that fueled the growth and spread modernity.

ISLAM, MODERNITY, AND COLONIALITY

Many Muslims, like so many other people and nations, have been stifled by European WE LIVE IN AN ERA THAT IMPOSES WESTERN EUROPEAN NORMS AND VALUES UPON NATIONS AND PEOPLE GLOBALLY. THIS HEGEMONIC IMPOSITION BEGAN WITH THE SACKING OF AL-ANDALUSIA, WHICH COMPRISED A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF AFRICAN MUSLIMS FROM VARIOUS NORTHWEST AND WEST AFRICAN TRIBES. THE SETTLER-COLONIAL REGIME OF GENOCIDE AND COLONIZATION THAT ENVELOPED THE AMERICAS BEGAN IN AL-ANDALUSIA AND LATER TRAVERSED THE GLOBE.

colonization. Thus, they have rejected much of their historicity, internalized deficit Eurocentric interpretations of their past, and as a result, exchanged Islamic traditions for Western ones. To further analyze and critique this effect of colonization, we have to name it. Coloniality identifies and critiques these contemporary effects of colonization, including exchanging and mimicking Western values and norms. Coloniality is a term most notably used by scholars throughout the U.S. and helps to identify the other side of western modernity. Modernity is constructed upon racialization and capitalism, resulting in the expansion of Eurocentric models of governance and hierarchies of knowledge, cultures, and systems. The genealogy of coloniality, the other side of modernity, is rooted in what Cedric Robinson called Racial Capitalism. Racial capitalism, hence coloniality, is useful to help expose the perils of modernity by understanding the legacy of colonization and its impact on modern knowledge systems. Coloniality is exemplified by resistance to struggle against, and an analysis of modernity, Eurocentrism, and the hierarchy of Whiteness that it birthed. In the U.S., this resistance and struggle against modernity/ Eurocentrism, Robinson (1983) called the Black Radical Tradition, culminating with the Civil Rights Movement and the Black radical movement of the 1960s.

The Black Radical Tradition of the 1960s consisted of a prominent collective of Blackamerican and Black-Caribbean intellectuals and freedom fighters, who influenced generations of non-Whites seeking liberation across the globe. The Civil Rights Era was the byproduct of the Black Radical Tradition, and many of its most prominent members included many Blackamerican reverts to Islam. The term Blackamerican is in agreement with Prof. Sherman Jackson (“Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection,” Oxford, 2011), as celebrating the African origin of the Blacks in the U.S. but that the force of American history and experiences had essentially transformed the descendants of Africa into a new people replete with new ontologies, epistemologies, cultures and traditions.

THE BLACK RADICAL TRADITION: THE INCUBATION FOR ISLAM IN THE U.S.

This thesis is critical to the future of Islam in the U.S. and the way forward. Before the 1960s, most Muslims in the U.S. were Blackamerican reverts to Islam, the former enslaved’s descendants. These Muslim reverts, sheltered and allowed to incubate within the Black Radical Tradition, reconnected with their African roots and pre-enslavement Islamic ancestry. Notwithstanding, and more importantly, it was the Black Radical Tradition that propelled the Civil Rights legislation. One specific legislation that is pertinent to this inquiry is the Immigration Act of 1965.

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, IMMIGRATION LAWS, AND BLACK MUSLIMS

Dating back to the 1920s, the U.S. banned immigration into the U.S. for non-Northwestern Europeans as part of 1790 enslavement era citizenship laws. The immigration Act of 1965 legislation opened the floodgates for eastern and southern Europeans, Asians, Africans, Latin Americans, including Muslims, to migrate to the U.S. Before this legislation, most of the immigration into the U.S. came from Northwestern

Europe and Canada. The 1960s was pivotal, as Blackamericans in the U.S. were establishing global connections to and making inroads with formerly colonized people across the globe who were awakening and becoming empowered against colonial-era power dynamics. Perhaps two of the most global and identifiable figures of this era were two Blackamerican Muslims, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ali. Both unapologetically embraced and promoted their Islamic identity. The fearlessness and charisma that they displayed forever carved Islam into the U.S.’s mainstream, popular culture. They are the foremost crafters of the Muslim mold and blazed a trail for Muslims in the U.S. for decades to come. They also embraced the broader Muslim community throughout the globe. It is essential for Muslims in the U.S., particularly those who are either unaware or indifferent to the U.S.’s racialized history and the Black Radical Tradition’s role in changing legislation that opened legal pathways for Muslims to migrate to the U.S. post-1965. This immigration legislation, also known as the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, was ratified in the House and the Senate in September 1965, just seven months after the assassination of Malcolm X. In April 1964, Malcolm X went to Hajj. He later embarked on a one-month-long excursion in and across the Middle East and North Africa, where he met and engaged with heads of states, all of whom were equally grappling with Eurocentric power dynamics and modernity discourses. Upon his return to the U.S., he spoke highly of the Muslim communities abroad.

MOVING FORWARD

Blackamericans suffered the most casualties due to the Civil Rights Movement. Members of the Black Radical Tradition in the U.S., such as Malcolm X, countless other Muslims, and non-Muslims such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others, were targeted, assassinated, politically imprisoned, and otherwise isolated and marginalized. As blackamericans and as Muslims, we cannot forget nor be indifferent to these realities. Moving forward, we must recontextualize and remind Muslims in the U.S. that the bravest men and women and the vanguard of Islam in the U.S. are part of a broader Black Radical Tradition. Contrarily, in their quest for power in the U.S., many upwardly mobile migrant Muslims deviated significantly from Islam’s trajectory in the U.S. paved by the blackamerican Muslims as part of this Black Radical Tradition. Some very troubling trends need to be addressed regarding Muslim migrants into the U.S. in the 1970s ability to: 1. Locate and settle in blackamerican communities as the primary source of much of their entrepreneurial endeavors. 2. Exploit black communities with stores selling every sort of illicit products. 3. Remove black dollars from black communities that would never return. 4. Espouse the worst sort of antiblackness, mimicking white-supremacy, many sought to escape in their homelands that they fled. 5. Lastly, display a resounding sentiment of antiblackness in masjids causing many

Muslims to turn away from attending

Masjids and Islam altogether.

As a blackamerican Muslim, I admire the legacy and road paved by Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and many others far less notable but not less impactful in the U.S. It is sad to witness antiblackness plaguing Muslim communities not just here but across the world. Lastly, it is critical to understand that President Trump’s Muslim Ban does/did not happen in a vacuum. It directly responds to the impact of the global antiblackness campaign that weakened the Black Radical Tradition, particularly here. The Muslim Ban was simply part of a much broader rollback of Civil Rights Era legislation.

The way forward for Muslims in the U.S. addresses antiblackness head on, truthfully, even if it is against their own selves. Black people are best suited to articulate the antiblackness that they live and breathe every moment that Allah allows them to breathe, so listen to them. A significant amount of Islamic history is missing, ignored, or not taken seriously within the Muslim American communities. Imagine blackamerican relocating to Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, or any similarly populous Muslim country and self-appointing themselves as better knowers of these countries’ sociohistorical and sociopolitical realities above and beyond the local and indigenous peoples knowledge and perspectives. It should be clear by now that Muslim’s aspirations and or proximity to whiteness are a major stumbling block in the path forward for Muslims in the U.S. and abroad.

For the community of Muslims to establish the brotherhood prescribed of us, and that many of us long for, we have first to address a very significant problem as I have sought to identify here. I have no intention to divide what is already a divided community. Instead, addressing some of these divisions’ sources, despite how uncomfortable they are, is a better long-term solution rather than pretending they do not exist and or choosing to ignore the white supremacy and the antiblackness plaguing our communities. ih

James Wright, PhD, MBA, is assistant professor of educational leadership at San Diego State University.

Suggested Reading List

(Andreotti, 2011; Grosfoguel, 2016; Jackson, 2005; Kane, 2016; Maldonado-Torres, 2007; Mignolo, 2011; Quijano, 2000;

Roberts & Foulcher, 2016; Robinson, 2000; Wallerstein, 2006; Wright, 2008) Andreotti, V. de O. (2011). (Towards) decoloniality and diversality in global citizenship education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(3–4), 381–397. https:// doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2011.605323 Grosfoguel, R. (2016). What is Racism?

Journal of World-Systems Research, 22(1), 9–15. https://doi.org/10.5195/ jwsr.2016.609 Jackson, S. A. (2005). Islam and the

Blackamerican: Looking toward the third resurrection. Oxford University Press. Kane, O. O. (2016). Beyond Timbuktu.

Harvard University Press. Maldonado-Torres, N. (2007). On the Coloniality of Being. Cultural

Studies, 21(2–3), 240–270. https://doi. org/10.1080/09502380601162548 Mignolo, W. (2011). The Darker Side of

Western Modernity: Global Futures,

Decolonial Options. Duke University

Press Books. Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of

Power and Eurocentrism in Latin

America. International Sociology, 15(2), 215–232. https://doi. org/10.1177/0268580900015002005 Roberts, B. R., & Foulcher, K. (Eds.). (2016).

Indonesian Notebook: A Sourcebook on Richard Wright and the Bandung

Conference. Duke University Press

Books. Robinson, C. J. (2000). Black Marxism: The

Making of the Black Radical Tradition (2nd edition). University of North

Carolina Press. Wallerstein. (2006). European Universalism:

The Rhetoric of Power (1 edition). New

Press, The. Wright, R. (2008). Black Power: Three

Books from Exile: Black Power; The

Color Curtain; and White Man, Listen! (First Edition edition). Harper Perennial

Modern Classics.