Over at Garvey's Ghost, Sondjata wrote a piece called afrocentricity and islam which was a response to a Grenada entry: islam and the african people. Unfortunately, comments don't seem to be working at Garvey's Ghost or else I would probably make my points over there. But what I would respectfully argue is that in at least a few a cases Sondjata is mistaken in his attempts to refute the original article (For example, some comments he attributes to Uthman Dan Fodio really were made by Cheikh Anta Diop). And in any case, the larger point is basically untouched: that various major Afrocentric scholars mentioned really did have a number of positive things to say regarding Islam's role in African history. And I would add that the best argument (at least, the best argument I can easily make right now) in favor of the fact that a strong Black and African identity is totally compatible with Islam is just the Third Resurrection blog and all the articles posted over there. Islam's roots in the Black world are just too deep to give the Black Orientalist position too much credibility. Islam has had links to Africa and Black people from the very beginning and it is sily to argue that it is in any sense unAfrican.
3 comments:
I'm pretty much going to make this my last post on the subject for various reasons.
There was a prior post on Planet Grenada and Third Resurection, that linked to a supposed African who wrote such historically inaccurate material that I was shocked that you actually linked to it, given what I percieved as your position on being "factual." I resisted my first impulse to respond because that individual did not even attempt to back up his claims with documentation.
However, this last piece was different in that it made a specific claim and attempted to back them up with documentation. Even when I disagree with a person, I respect them if they at least show that they have done some research. Furthermore, out of that respect I respond to such items in great detail and with documentation as well. When one disagrees with an individual in such a manner it is best to at least show enough respect for the person by doing research also. It is in my opinion disrespectful to counter a documented (even wrongfully documentent) argument with documentation.
That said, The author made a blanket claim of supposed "black orientalism" and used as supporting evidence the works of Diop, Dubois, Blyden and another scholar who's name escapes me at the moment.
I took the same exact authors, and in two cases the exact same texts, and demonstrated that the author had misrepresented the texts. In many cases the texts were reduced to single sentances taken completely out of context of the work cited. I demonstrated this with direct quotes. Furthermore, I asked a Professor of African History, Dr, Oussenou Traore, who is not only from Senegal, but is more qualified that myself, yourself or the author to discuss Diop and he agreed that the quotation of Diop was taken out of context of his entire body of work. To expand, not only a misrepresentation of Pre-Colonial Black Africa, but of Civilizatin or Barbarism, African Origins of Civilization, Black Africa: Towards a Federated State, etc.
Therefore, I find it highly insulting to read a comment that dismisses the clear scholarship in order to support a claim that was never proven by the author himself.
I find it highly insulting that extraneous arguments about religious truth are being used to dismiss textual evidence from scholars cited in the original text.
I also find it highly disapointing that a blog that purports to deal with truth, is willing to co-sign data that has been shown to be simply incorrect. By doing so the Blog and the blogger has sullied his intellectual reputation and the intellectual reputation of Islam as seen in the Universities in Timbuktu and Fez where free intelectual debate was done in the manner done in Ancient Kmt and Greece (also pointed out by Diop).
Furthermore, the Blogger is misleading the readers of his blog, by allowing them to wallow in mis-information.
The blogger should immediately disclaim the bogus claims and arguments of the text he linked to. Not because I say so, but because it is the right thing to do intellectually. To do otherwise is simply to be intellectually dishonest.
I thought that this was a place for honest and frank intellectual discussions on matters that concern Islam (at least in part). Unfortunately it has not proven itself to be so. Instead it has become like the Christian church where uncomfortable facts are ignored or conveniently waved away with slanderous charges of anti-Islamism and anti-Christianism. I have long left the Christian church due to such closed mindedness so that the "believers" could continue to fellowship among themselves without a disruptive influence. regretably I will now do the same thing here.
Thank you for your hospitality.
Yesterday I had started to reply to a post of yours on your blog but there were technical problems and the comment didn't appear. Perhaps I'll write a post about that later.
In terms of intellectual honesty, it is probably fair to say that in some general sense I losely support the articles which I link to (in the sense that I feel that they are interesting and worthy of further consideration, and at least some of their content is true) but I don't think a blog is the same as a peer-reviewed journal and i think you are reading a little too much into the fact that i chose to link to the particular article in question.
Furthermore, if you are arguing that the article took quotes out of context, i would just suggest that even if you are right, the passages aren't misquotes. In other words, Diop really did make the claims which are attributed to him. And you might even be right in suggesting that other passages from Diop provide more context or give a more complete and nuanced picture, but that still doesn't refute the fact that he said what was attributed to him. And that's the point which I think the original article was making. In other words, here are some prominent Afrocentrists, and here are some positive comments they are making about Islam's role in Africa.
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