Wednesday, April 05, 2006

conference on islamic african civilization

sankoreconferenceflyer

Saturday April 8th, 2006
12:45 pm - 10 pm
The Fourth Annual Conference on Islamic African Civilization
Public Health Auditorium, Rm. 23
(located on Fifth Ave. bet. Bouquet St. and Oakland Ave.)
University of Pittsburgh

Lectures Include (in order of schedule):
The U.S. Constitution: Reading Between the Lines
An Analysis of African Muslim Resistance to European Colonialism
The Historical Relationship between Muslim Spain and Islamic Africa
Keynote speaker: Jihad Abdul-Mumit, former Political Prisoner, Black Panther Party Member, and Black Liberation Army Member, speaking on "Self Determination"

9 comments:

Leila M. said...

Nice! Wish I was out east...

sondjata said...

This wouldn't be the same organization that hosted the representative of the government of Sudan and has basically attempted to explain away the conflict in Darfur as nothing more than an ethnic conflict?

sondjata said...

perhaps because the founder is "in" with the Sudanese government who supplied (ies) it with manuscripts and "blessed" the institute?

sondjata said...

that claims that the University at Sankore was THE biggest black African university as if Alexandria didn't exist or was not created by Black people?

Abdul-Halim V. said...

MSA/and the Sankore Institute did invite a Sudanese envoy last year to give a talk. I don't think anyone is trying to explain "away" the conflict. I don't think that MSA or the Sankore Institute are trying to justify genocide in any way shape or form.

In general, my understanding is that especially given the current (anti-Islamic) political where people are using animosity against Muslims to justify things like invading Iraq, Afghanistan, possibly Iran and other places, etc. Muslims are definitely going to be sensitive to how certain events are described.

People on both sides of the conflict are "black" so it is an oversimplification to view it racially. If it is an Arab vs. non-Arab issue then that would suggest it *is* an ethnic conflict. Some experts have described the conflict as being more economic in nature.

Wikipedia on Darfur Conflict:
Although the large majority of resultant refugees are non-Arab black Africans fleeing Arab Janjaweed attacks [3], there are also Arab victims and non-Arab perpetrators. In addition, both sides are largely black in skin tone, and the distinction between "Arab" and "non-Arab" common in Western media is heavily disputed by many people, including the Sudanese government. Moreover, these labels have been criticized for sensationalizing the conflict into one of racial motivations, where some experts instead attribute the causes to competition between farmers and nomadic cattle-herders who compete for scarce resources
[end quote]

The act of trying to find a non-religious perspective on the conflict in Darfur does not minimize one bit the significance of the killing.

Abdul-Halim V. said...

Dear Anonymous,

I would suggest checking out the blog Third Resurrection which mainly discusses the overlap between Blackness and Islam in much more detail and richness.

But in terms of some of your specific claims, DArfur is more of an ethnic conflict between Black folks than some kind of religious conflict between "white" Arabs and "black" Africans.

And in terms of the "raisin" comment attributed to Muhammad (saaws) he didn't make fun of Africans, it was actually a statement of racial equality of sorts:

Bukhari
Volume 1, Book 11, Number 664:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

The Prophet said to Abu-Dhar, "Listen and obey (your chief) even if he is an Ethiopian with a head like a raisin."


In other words, anti-Black Arab racism definitely existed in Muhammad's day but he didn't just accept it. Islam teaches against it. And in this case, the hadith seems to be telling people to not let their racism lead them to disobey the legitimate authorities placed above them.

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