two muslim girls being detained in ny

Here is a blog dedicated to the case of the two 16-year old Muslim girls (one from Guinea, the other from Bangladesh) who
have been in detainment for over a month now, and are suspected of involvement in a suicide-bombing plot.

Two teen girls in custody after bomb plot is feared

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Two 16-year-old girls have been detained since last month on immigration violations amid concerns that they were potential recruits for a bomb plot that never materialized, officials said Thursday.

The girls — one from Bangladesh, one from Guinea — were picked up by authorities March 24 and put in a detention center, the officials said. They had been living in New York.

Details about the case, first reported Thursday by The New York Times, were sketchy, and a supporter of one of the girls said the accusations are false.

The Times cited a government document in which the FBI said the girls posed “an imminent threat to the security of the United States based upon evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers.”

Two law enforcement officials confirmed the content of the document, but suggested that it might have exaggerated the threat.

Investigators were concerned that girls might be recruited in the future for a suicide mission by a suspect in an ongoing terrorism investigation, one official said. They decided to detain the two before they could become involved.

The law enforcement officials declined to discuss the terrorism investigation. Calls to the FBI's New York office were not immediately returned.

Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed that two juveniles had been arrested on “administrative immigration violations” and remain in custody.

kingdom of heaven

When I first started seeing ads on television for new Hollywood movie about the Crusades, I groaned inside. But as I'm reading more about the publicity things are starting to get more complex. Yesterday I'd heard that Christian conservatives were critical of the movie. But today I find out that Khaled Abu el-Fadl also didn't like the film and neither do some unnamed "Islamic extremists". On the other hand CAIR seemed happy with the film and called it "balanced". From what I gather, the film is probably fairly sympathetic to Muslims (given the subject matter and the current political climate), but there's no pleasing some folks.

On the other hand, I haven't yet seen the movie so what do I know.

different trajectories: quraysh ali lansana

This is an excerpt from an article based on an interview with Chicago poet, Quraysh Ali Lansana.

On September 13, 1964, Quraysh Ali Lansana was born Ron Myles, the African American great grandson of a full blooded Tsalagi Cherokee. Sixth child. Youngest child. Second boy. Not completely on his parents' agenda, in a crowded two-story house in a culturally diverse, working class neighborhood in Enid.

Five months later. Three gunmen would rush the stage at the Audubon Ballroom and shoot Malcolm X fifteen times. Three years later. Martin Luther King Jr. would step onto the balcony of the Motel Lorraine. Such was the air of Ron's childhood environment, in a home shared by politically active older siblings.

[...]

In 1992, "Brother" Ron Myles converted wholly to Islam. He embraced Islam out of a need for faith, hope and discipline, three things it achieved for him in his life.

On May 1, 1992, buildings in Los Angeles were still smoking from the exploding streets after police were acquitted of the beating of Rodney King. Ron Myles stretched out on his bed, a mattress on a platform in the middle of the main room in the downtown Chicago loft space he shared with Yusef Shabazz, the drummer for the poetry band The Funky Wordsmyths. Ron felt as if he was floating in space, as if he was the huge dark that filled the room. Through the window, he could see the South side skyline bleeding.

He had been studying Sunni Islam since 1991, and on that night he turned to the Quran. After praying and meditating, Ron came across the surah of the Quraysh. The Qurayshi. Part of the blood family of the Prophet Muhammad. Caretakers of the Ka' Ba. It was on that night, the young, idealistic man known as "Brother" Ron Myles, deeply immersed in faith and politics, adorned himself Quraysh. And Ali, which means "The Greatest."

On July 25, 1996, as Quraysh wed his beloved Emily, chief Khalilu of Moselolo, their Yoruba babalawo (priest), bestowed the name Lansana upon the two of them. Lansana. From the Mende language of central West Africa, the Sierre Leone area. Lansana. "Storyteller."

The name change was spiritual. Political. It was a method of self-definition and preservation. It freed Quraysh from the shackles of western hegemony.

But there would come a time in his life when even Islam would become an issue of identity for Quraysh. As he matured, he found the jihads in ancient Africa harder to wrap his head around. He observed faithfully until 1997, then he decided to stop observing the tenets of Islam. Though he no longer refers to himself as Muslim, the reasons why he changed his name are as profound for him today as they were in the early 90’s, and Islam continues to be a great part of how Quraysh sees and moves through the world

Reading this made me sad. I don't remember how I first heard about Lansana (several years ago), but his name obviously made me wonder if he was Muslim. As it turns out, he was, but not any more. I don't think it's a widely discussed phenomena, but in every religion there will be individuals who are attracted to a particular community, but then later on come to believe that it isn't for them. Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, and even Wesley Snipes are examples of people in this category, who would have identified as Muslims but then later on moved away.

I don't know if this is a factor in the cases of the above individuals, but in general, as a community we could probably be doing more to create stronger, more welcoming, attractive Islamic communities; making sure that the young generation growing up in the West, and the new converts coming into the deen have a nurturing place to encourage their growth as Muslims.

muslim roots of american blues

This is an article which was written last year called Muslim Roots of American Blues by Jonathan Curiel which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle.

marvin x

The starting point for Muslim American literature is Marvin X.
--Mohja Kahf, Professor of English and Islamic Studies, University of Arkansas

The most important African American Muslim poet in the United States.
--Julius E. Thompson, African American Review

I'd seen Marvin X's name (who also goes by Maalik El Muhajir) pop up in a few poetry anthologies but it wasn't till now that I could find out much about him or get a sense of where he was coming from. A lot of his focus has been working on poetry and theatre projects as a part of the Black Arts movement in California, where he achieved a certain degree of prominence. But he has certainly not just a local figure. His poetry has even appeared on Al-Jazeera

Some of his religious perspectives are more explicit in the poem "What if there was no God but God" and in the outline for a project called "Toward A Radical Spirituality" Both are available here along with a large sample of some of his other works.

......
Obviously, Marvin X came to identify as "Muslim" through the Nation of Islam, but it isn't clear to me where he stands now in terms of certain problematic doctrines. It brings up the whole general issue of what is the best way to think of the Nation of Islam and the people who went through that experience.

It is clear that there are a large numbers of American Sunni Muslims today who wouldn't be Muslim at all if it weren't for the direct or indirect actions of the Nation of Islam. Some actually became members of the Nation, and held on when W.D. Muhammad reformed the organization more towards orthodoxy. Others were never members, but were intrigued by the charisma of individuals like Malcolm X or Farrakhan, but then on futher investigation, found their way into the fold. But either way, that was the means Allah chose to bring Islam to a huge section of the ummah in America. So instead of demonizing the group categorically, or giving them nasty nicknames like the Nation of Kuffarrakhan or alienating them in other ways, it makes more sense to think of them as a valuable and perhaps necessary transition point. Arethey where they should be in terms of correct belief? Probably not. But you don't win hearts over by insulting them.

Although there are still issues of concern, Farrakhan has been encouraging his followers to follow the pillars in a more orthodox fashion. And in recent years there have been some moves towards reconciliation between the Nation of Islam under Farrakhan (there are actually multiple organizations who use the name) and the more orthodox W.D. Muhammad. On top of that, I've known a "card-carrying" member of the Nation of Islam who has told me that they never believed that Fard was Allah (in spite of what other members might believe) This isn't to say that the Nation of Islam are Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jamaat (in the sense of following one of the four Sunni schools in matters of fiqh, and either the Ashari or Maturidi schools in matters of aqueeda). But orthodox or not, I'm only suggesting that members of the organization can be Muslim.

amina wadud interview

Wow, here is an interview which actually does NOT talk about the whole female imam issue. It was done on Frontline, and instead gives more a sense of her general perspective.

sunni - shia

I'm not sure that I "get" the sunni-shia split. I mean, I understand the basics of the original conflict, but I don't see why it should be the source of such animosity and violence in the present day. I can't help but wonder if sunni-shia is really just a cover for a different conflict alltogether, much as the "Troubles" and violence in Northern Ireland weren't really about Catholics and Protestants but instead were about ethnicity and land.

At least, from the sunni side I'm sometimes struck by the extent to which it is possible to have love and respect for Ali (ra) and Ahl al-Bayt (That's why I think the sunni Ahl al-Bayt site is so interesting). We all are supposed to accept the Quran, we all are supposed to follow the sunnah, we all are supposed to love Ahl al-Bayt, including Ali (ra).

Occasionally shias often point out the fact that the sunni hadith collections themselves have many exalted things about his status. (e.g. "I am the city of knowledge, and Ali is the gate" or "You are to me as Aaron was to Moses, except there are no prophets after me"). And those things are true, but the question is just how those hadith are to be understood.

What is even more striking (to me anyway) is the fact that almost all the sunni sufi tariqats (except for the Naqshbandis, and perhaps one other) trace their spiritual lineage (silsila) through Ali. So on the one hand, while accepting the status of all four caliphs, sunnis still can say that Ali had a particularly unique spiritual position. (And in the Naqshbandi tradition, some of the other shii imams appear in the lineage instead.) I've even heard a recording of Nuh Ha Mim Keller saying that Ali was the companion he personally felt the closest to because he saw him (ra) in a dream.

On top of that, even though sunni Islam doesn't have the concept of imam (in the shia sense), the sufis do speak of certain individuals being al-insan al-kamil (perfect/universal men) or qutbs (poles) of the age. And these stations would then necessarily be applied to Ali (by the sufis, at least). So without saying that Ali was robbed of his position by the other companions, it is still possibly to recognize the special spiritual status of Ali.

I feel like I'm rambling... but what I'm trying to say is that if a sunni can say all those things and still be sunni, then where exactly is the disagreement?

weirdness...

So, just few minutes ago, for the second time in my life now, I've been told I looked like Zacarias Moussaoui. I'm not sure what to say. Not only is the comparison weird to hear, but what's even weirder is I actually kind of agree. In my life I've been told that I look like a lot of different people... when I was youger, Gary Coleman.. and then when I was older... Tone Loc and Suge Knight. Just a week or two ago, I even got Mr. T. And in all those cases I more-or-less thought that the person suggesting the likeness ought to get new glasses or stop smoking crack. But it's funny... I think I actually have an old bad driver's license picture which DOES like the Moussaoui mugshot which you see on the news all the time. Go figure.

Let's hope airport security guards have a sense of humor...

daniel abdal-hayy moore

Speaking of an American Muslim culture, I think Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore must have been the among the first American Muslim poets I'd heard of in my life. And his book, Ramadan Sonnets must be the first published book of consciously religious American Muslim poetry I've seen. (But now with the democracy of poetry slams and open mikes things are opening up in all sorts of ways) He seems to have been a "hippie" in his youth who hung out with the Beats such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti (who I actually really like) but was ultimately attracted into Islam through Sufism and actually stopped writting poetry altogether for an extended period of time (10 years) But in around 1980 he "renounced" his renunciation and starting actively participating in the poetry scene again.

More of his works are available in the Deenport poetry section

american muslim culture

I didn't see this as clearly before blogging, but these days, I'm more exicited about the idea of participating in, and in small ways contributing to, an American Muslim culture. Part of the reason why I didn't see it as clearly before is that the term "American Islam" (in my mind) tends to suggest compromising and selling out for reasons of convenience; altering Islamic principles to accomodate to life of America. And if I were talking about changing Ramadan to December or changing jummah to Sunday morning that would be the case. But I'm not.

What I have in mind by "American Muslim culture" is just the natural product of Muslims, living in America, getting together, letting their creative juices flow and expressing themselves. Not just becoming doctors, lawyers and engineers (which are perfectly good occupations) but also becoming writers, performance poets, calligraphers, photographers, musicians or even comedians (also good occupations).
Not just maintaining and repeating the cultural forms from "back home" but coming together with Muslims here and creating and inventing new ones.

Before Planet Grenada, in the back of my mind, I knew there were isolated Muslims or small groups of Muslims, out there doing these things, but it wasn't till now, with the process of reading and writing about them, that it really sunk in how much has already been done. (This is especially true in jazz and hip-hop where many Muslims have gotten a high degree of mainstream recognition for their skills).

Right now, Muslim culture in the United States is still in its early early stages, but with more networking and organizational/institutional support it could grow into something amazingly beautiful. Muslim hip-hop forums, Muslim writers groups, Muslim poetry open mikes, artist collectives, etc. It is encouraging to see these connections being made and I can't wait to see what the future will hold.

spanish fatwa against bin laden

this is a few weeks old but still interesting:
On March 11 (the anniversary of the Madrid bombing), Mansur Escudero, the Secretary General of the Islamic Commission of Spain issued a fatwa against Osama Bin Laden. Here is coverage at Al-Jazeera and the Christian Science Monitor and here is the original fatwa in Spanish and the text of the fatwa in English

let us be moors

This piece, entitled Let Us Be Moors - Islam, Race And "Connected Histories" by Hisham Aidi connects incredibly well with the themes brought up all over Planet Grenada. Historical connections are discussed along with more contemporary ones: The Cuban patriot, Jose Marti declaring "Somos Moros!" (We are Moors!) in solidarity with African independence movements, Jose Padilla's indefinite incarceration, the rich cross-cultural fertilizations happening in hip-hop, Muslims detained at Guantanamo Bay, a Brazilian telenovela about Morocco, Shakira, the Murabitun in Mexico, and to Granada itself.

This amazing and wide-ranging paper ends on an inspiring tone:

With African-American and Latino converts speaking of the tragedy of 1492, and with Muslim minorities in the West becoming increasingly race-conscious and inspired by black America, the world is witnessing a new fusion between Islam and pan-Africanism. Today, however, this racialized Islamic internationalism contains elements of other cultures and diasporas as well. Islam is at the heart of an emerging global anti-hegemonic culture, which post-colonial critic Robert Young would say incarnates a "tricontinental counter-modernity" that combines diasporic and local cultural elements, and blends Arab, Islamic, black and Hispanic factors to generate "a revolutionary black, Asian and Hispanic globalization, with its own dynamic counter-modernity...constructed in order to fight global imperialism."

may day

Today is May Day...

I was considering trying to come up with something deep to say about Islam and labor and finding all sorts of subtle nuanced connections between the two, but no such luck. Like most religions, Islam teaches that people ought to be treated fairly (and in particular this includes workers). If you want to see a couple of nice quotes on that point, here is a pamphlet. If you want more, entire books which discuss Islamic economics (and its underlying moral principles) have been written and several are available online. From my perspective it is clear that Islam strongly and clearly (more so than certain other faiths) affirms the rights of workers.

Unfortunately, what Muslims DO is another question. Inshallah as an ummah we'll come back to our principles and the sorts of abuses which happen to foreign workers in Saudi Arabi, etc. will come to an end.

But then yet another level to this larger issue comes from the fact that many Muslims are also living in the developing world, and so Muslim laborers tend to be on the receiving end of "globalization" and all the negative consequences which come with that.

So on the one hand, in principle there is a strong Islamic impulse to put ethical constraints on the uses and abuses of wealth, along with other kinds of economic behavior (Islamic texts explicitly mention and disapprove of charging interest, hoarding wealth, jacking up prices in times of scarcity, mistreatment of workers etc.)

But on the other hand even in "fundamentalist" situations, these principles aren't always adhered to.

But in other situations, Muslims (or more precisely, average brown folks living in the developing world, regardless of religion) because of their position in the global economy, would still have a strong motivation to be concerned about economic abuse.

two pieces on islam and american culture

An Africana View of Progressive American Islam by A.S. Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad. This is a brief article giving another formulation/overview of "progressive islam".

East of the Sun (West of the Moon): The Harmonic History of Islam Among Asian and African Americans by Moustafa Bayoumi. This lecture has three sections, the first one (about the experiences of an Ahmadi missionary in the US) and the third (about the spread of Islam among jazz musicians) were the most interesting to me. A middle section about Malcolm X wasn't very deep or new.

all that jazz...

I'm a little hip-hopped out after the last couple of posts. But I actually think that the more things change the more they stay the same. This connection between Islam and Black music goes back alot further back than just the origins of rap. Similar things were going on among jazz musicians of the past too.

Many jazz musicians adopted Muslim names although not all of them were necessarily practicing the faith.

And in Dizzy Gillespie's autobiography "To Be, Or Not ... To Bop" there is an interesting passage discussing why so many African-American jazz musicians were converting to Islam.

And of course, in the intermediate period between be-bop and hip-hop come The Last Poets, which definitely fit in with the themes of Planet Grenada. I've been meaning to write something about them but I wanted to see what was available online first.

taliyah al-mahdi

In the course of trying to find more about Amir Sulaiman online the name of this group came up. The Asian symbols in their logo makes me think of Dead Prez and their use of the I Ching. Here is their website for more info. I wish I knew more about them. The site is well written. They seem to be coming from a Shia perspective, which seems interesting. They have a set of "12 Points of Action" which includes a study of the world's spiritual traditions, physical and mental training, opposition to terrorism and a strong statement against sexism: "we wash our hands of the oppression of women throughout history and oppose all forms of domination of man over woman." I wonder how well they manage to implement this really positive-sounding program.

If anyone knows more about them, feel free to add a comment. (Actually, that should go for all the blog entries)

amir sulaiman

Amir Sulaiman is a Muslim poet, writer, teacher and family man. You may have seen him on HBO's Def Poetry Jam doing a piece called "Danger" (which you should be able to hear on his website). He delivers his words powerfully, inspired by "a political consciousness that is profound without being preachy and stately without being stand-offish". Here is his website. The site is actually a pretty good reflection of his style. It's not as flowery nor as busy as other poet's sites I've seen. It is to the point and well-done.

an old list of rappers and their religion

I modified this list slightly. Da Youngstas and Divine Styler were originally in a seperate category for followers of W.D. Muhammad which I just lumped in with Sunni. And I got rid of "Black Panthers" as a category (Paris was the only one listed as a member)

I should point out that according to this list, Posdnus (Kelvin Mercer) was an Ansar and Common (Rashid Lynn) was associated with the Nation of Islam (They were mentioned recently on the blog).

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the industry, many of the groups have broken up, and many of the individuals no longer perform.


God Hop
Striving Righteous Brothers and Sisters in Hip-Hop
Updated Master Allah Why, Build, 15086
(May 8, 2000)

Nation of Gods and Earths :
(past and present) note - still studying means still doing research/hasn't make a commitment but uses the "language".

A+
Aceyalone
Akiem Allah from Micranots
Andre the Giant (ShowBiz and A.G.)
Artifacts
AZ (past)
Big Daddy Kane
Black Thought (from the Roots)
Boot Camp Clique
Brand Nubian
BuckShot (Black Moon)
Capone and Noriega
C Knowledge (Doodlebug) from Digable Planets
C. L. Smooth
Channel Live
Chino XL
C.I.A.S
Company Flow
C-rayz Walz
Cru
Dark Poets
Divine Life Allah
DJ Clark Kent
Dred Poets Society
E. Bros.
Erule
Erykah Badu (past)
Fanatic
Fruitkwan
Future Sound
God Sunz
Grand Puba
Gravedigga's
GURU from Gangstarr (Still Studying)
Invisees
J-Live
John Forte
Killarmy
King Just
King Sun
Kwame'
Lakim Shabazz
Leaders of the New School
Lil Soldiers (No Limit Records)
Lord Finesse
M.A.R.S. (from the Roots)
Massive Influence (was "y'all so stupid")
MC Shan
Medina Green
Mic Geronimo
MF Doom
Mobb Deep
Mother Superia
Movement X
Mwalim Allah (soul music)
Mystidious
Misfits
Nas
Nine
Now Born Click
Nu*Born Records
Omniscience
Pete Rock
Phenomena
Poets of Darkness
Poor Righteous Teachers
Powerule
Prime Meridian
Queen Latifah (past member)
Rakim
Rampage
Red Head Kingpin
Rough House Survivors
Scarmanga Shallah aka Sir Menelik
Self Jupiter (Freestyle Fellowship)
Self Scientific
7ods
Shorty Long
Smif and Wessun
Solar Panel
Supernatural (still studying)
Superstar Quam Allah
Sun Risers
Sunz of Man
3rd Eye Cipher
Top Quality
Two Kings in a Cipher
Universal
Wise Born (Stetsasonic)
Wizdom Life
World's Reknown
Wu Tang Clan
YGz (Young Gunz)

Ausar Auset:

Afu Ra
Jeru da Damaja

Holy Tabernacle/Nubian Hebrew Islaamic Mission/Nuwaubians (Ansars), past and present

Askari X
Intelligent Hoodlum (Tragedy) (past member)
Jay-Z (past member)
JAZ
Jedi Mind Tricks
K.M.D.
Mister Man (Bush Babees)
O.C.
Posdonus (De La Soul)
Sciencez of Life
Tung Twista (past member)
"Zev Love X" i.e. MF Doom (past member)

FOI(Muslims of the Nation of Islam):

Askari
Common (still studying)
Daddy-O
Fesu
Ice Cube (still studying)
Kam
K-Solo
Maestro Fresh Wes
M.C. Ren
Nubian Mob
Planet Asia (past member)
Proffesor Griff and the Last Asiatic Disciples
Public Enemy
RBX
Smooth B.
Unique and Dashun
X-Niggas (representin` Indianapolis)

Orthodox/Sunni Muslims:

Da Youngstas/ Illy Funkstas
Divine Styler
Abdul Shahid
Ali Shaheed Muhammad
Dr. Soose (Madkap)
Malik B (from the Roots)
Mos Def
Q-Tip

source

more on muslims and hip-hop

A Mercury News Piece called Hip-Hop's Islamic Influence focused on Akil from Jurassic 5

A very brief Associated press piece called Rapper helps Muslims to create pop culture (focused on Capital D)

A more serious piece by Hisham Aidi called Jihadis in the Hood: Race, Urban Islam and the War on Terror
for Middle East Report. There are some interesting comments on the relation between Islam and Pan-Africanism from a historical perspective and also a discussion of Islam's relevance to urban life today.

And finally a more academic, but very interesting paper: ISLAMIC HIP-HOP vs. ISLAMOPHOBIA: AKI NAWAZ, NATACHA ATLAS, AKHENATON by Ted Swedenburg, an anthropologist who wrote a paper I linked to earlier on Five Percenters and hip-hop. This piece discusses how Islam appears in the work of 3 specific musicians *outside* the U.S.

de la soul

A very brief excerpt from a very brief interview with De La Soul

I know that Common is Muslim, and so is Mos Def. Are any of you? What do you think about the current state of US?

Pos: We're all, especially myself and Dave, have definitely studied, practiced- where especially I am just more into trying to be positive and living my life in the right way. Not just coming in and promote something that's a lot of open gaps. As far as Muslim, as far as what I've always known it to be, referring to peaceful ways and being one of peace. I would consider myself Muslim. Try to be peaceful and try to do things of that sort.

Wow, thinking back to my college days it would be hard to understate how much I was a De La Soul fan. But I'm surprised they would identify themselves as Muslims. There were vague allusions in a song here or there (The only one which comes to mind is Posdanus saying: "So my occupation's known/ But not why I occupy/ And that is to bring the peace/ not in the flower but the As-Salaam Alaikum in the third I am" which comes at the end of "I am I be" on the Bahloone Mindstate album).

But other than just having a vibe different from the typical "gansta rap" being made at the time, they weren't really vocal about their specific beliefs.