One might be tempted to suggest (and I actually have in some early Grenada entries like it's a black thing? and my name is kunta) that that there is a general affinity between "Blackness" and "Islam" but Jackson questions whether it is even possible to meaningfully speak in such abstract and universal terms.
In South Africa, for example, the Muslim community is represented mostly by people of Asian descent and Islam hasn't really made significant inroads in the Black population. And this situation wasn't helped by the fact that the Muslim community was incredibly late in terms of getting involved in the struggle against apartheid.
While in Latin America (where Catholicism was prevalent), it was easier for people of African descent to resist white supremacy through following African-based syncretic religions (rather than Islam).
What Jackson argues is that there is a specific body of ideas and themes he calls "Black Religion" which arose in the United States and exists somewhat autonomously from any particular religious community.
Black Religion has no theology and no orthodoxy; it has no institutionalized ecclesiastical order and no public or private liturgy. It has no foundation documents or scriptures, like the Baghavad Ghita or the Bible, and no founding figures, like Buddha or Zoroaster. The God of Black Religion is neither specifically Jesus, Yaweh, nor Allah but an abstract category into which any and all of these can be fit, the “God of our weary years,” the “God of our silent tears.” In a real sense, Black Religion might be profitably thought of as the ‘deism’ or ‘natural religion’ of Blackamericans, a spontaneous folk orientation at once grounded in the belief in a supernatural power outside of human history yet uniquely focused on that power’s manifesting itself in the form of interventions into the crucible of American race relations.
But Black Religion isn't just a catch-all for all the religions of Blackamerica, only those with a certain "political" outlook:
[At] bottom, Black Religion remains, in its abiding commitment to protest, resistance, and liberation, ultimately more committed to a refusal to be the object of another’s will than it is to a positive affirmation of any particular philosophy of life. Subversion, resistance, protest, opposition: These are all key to the constitution of Black Religion.
Jackson argues that historically in the United States, Black Religion had been "married" to the Black Church but that the nature of that relationship changed and a "divorce" occured (this is reminiscent to some things we've mentioned before in no place for me and pimpin' ain't easy) If we want to extend the metaphor further, we might even say that for a long time now, Black Religion has been "seeing other people" which might help to explain Blackamerican willingness to explore certain non-mainstream spiritual paths (Islam, Nation of Gods and Earths, Hebrew Israelites, Rastafarianism, Ma'at, Santeria, African Traditional Religion, etc.)
In the early part of the 20th century, Black Religion was strongly associated with proto-Islamic movements like the Nation of Islam and Moorish Science. This affinity continued even after Warithdeen Muhammad took over the Nation of Islam (after the death of his father, Elijah Muhammad) and brought them into the Sunni fold. Now there is an interesting and complex relationship now between orthodox Islam of Blackamericans and Black Religion (which I'm assuming the book will discuss further.)
(to be continued...)
More on the book:
review of islam and the blackamerican
Islam And The Blackamerican: The Third Resurrection
black orientalism
an extensive excerpt from the book
More on Jackson's other work:
islam, past, present, and future: summary
more on sherman jackson
might as well make it sherman jackson day
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