dave chappelle gives salaams to fans

From MT Akbar (Chi-Town Revolutionary Guerrilla) : Dave Chapelle in the UK-Sends Salaams and Eid Mubarak to fans

new developments in the case of mumia abu jamal

Associated Press: Court: Mumia Deserves New Sentencing Hearing

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal appeals court has ordered a new penalty hearing for celebrity death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Abu-Jamal's conviction for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer should stand. But it says he should get a new sentencing hearing because of flawed jury instructions.

If prosecutors don't want to give him a new death penalty hearing, Abu-Jamal would be sentenced automatically to life in prison.

A Philadelphia jury convicted Abu-Jamal of killing Officer Daniel Faulkner after the patrolman pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother in an overnight traffic stop 27 years ago.

Probably due to his name, many people seem to assume Mumia Abu Jamal is Muslim but he actually isn't a confessional Muslim. In his book Death Blossoms, he gives his credo as follows:

My belief – my religion, which I call Life – the teachings of John Africa and the example of my MOVE brothers and sisters across the state, many of whom have survived imprisonment for years and years. Their example has buoyed me up over fourteen years behind bars. Also, my faith in the power of commitment, in the power of family, in the power of love, of community, of God. I could give you one term instead of four or five. "Family," for example, means unity, commitment, love. That is "family." The other thing, of course, is laughter. Very simply, it’s human to laugh and to find humor, even in something small. Every day. Every day there is something to laugh about! That keeps me human.

See also:
mumia abu jamal - death blossoms
mumia abu jamal: hispanics, latin america and the struggle against the empire
legal update in the case of mumia abu jamal

prophetic and civil religion

Fire and Damnation Awaits Those Who Transgress White America’s Religion by BAR executive editor Glen Ford, further develops the idea that Rev. Wright blow-up isn't really about individual views and opinions but is really about white American civil religion and a black prophetic tradition.

And also, in Counterpunch, Ishmael Reed weighs in on the The "Crazy" Rev. Wright

moors and mujaddids

The Moors Gate: Bab El Magharbeh is a Moorish Science Website but I've started to wonder if they are moving in a more orthodox direction with their promotion of The Book of Assistance by Imam 'Abdallah Ibn Alawi al-Haddad (Widely considered to be the mujaddid of his day). In earlier posts they have also recommended works by Ibn Al-Arabi and Imam Al-Ghazali. I wonder how they go about bridging the teachings of Noble Drew Ali with those of the classical scholars.

see also:
moors, snakes and st. patrick
compass for a sea of scholars

we are family

From time to time I like to reflect on the mathematics of genealogy, but I quickly get overwhelmed. Barring virgin births, everyone has 2 parents. Barring, incest, everyone has 4 grandparents, 8 great- grandparents, 16 great- great- grandparents, 32 great- great- great- grandparents`and so on, doubling with every generation. If you know anything about geometric progressions you would realize that the number of ancestors a person has in any given generation will get very very large, very very quickly as we move into the past.

Now, in order for two people to NOT be related what is necessary is the near-impossible requirement that their two respective geometrically increasing clouds of ancestors not overlap. But eventually, if you go far back enough, each person's theoretical number of ancestors in a generation will exceed the total population on the planet. In other words, there doesn't seem to be enough room on the planet for two people to really be from different "tribes". We are all at least distant cousins.

A special corrollary of the realization that we are all related is the fact that we are all related to royalty (or any sufficiently prolific historical figure). For example, everyone today of European descent is apparently descended from Charlemagne. A good discussion of this idea can be found in an old article which appeared in The Atlantic entitled The Royal We by Steve Olson

Last year, in a surprising turn, it was discovered that Barack Obama and Dick Cheney are cousins. And more recently, last month, Juan Cole over at Informed Comment wrote about how: Queen Elizabeth II was Descended from the Prophet Muhammad (saaws). (although this has been known among professional genealogists for a long time.)

See also:
britney spears may convert to islam
kerry descended from the prophet muhammad?
i'm back...
al sharpton and strom thurmond

there is nothing wrong with rev. wright

Here's a link round-up for the Reverend Wright issue:

The Real Rev. Wright: The Footage Fox and the Other Networks Won't Show. Shows some of the "controversial" comments with more context. Also TRINITYCHGO has posted dozens of other videos from Trinity United Church of Christ onto YouTube.

The two articles The Wright Dust-Up Shows and Proves That Many Whites Don’t Know Black People at All and There's Nothing Wrong with Rev. Wright both place Wright in the broader prophetic tradition of the Black Church.

Then The White Preacher Double Standard: How Hagee, Parsley and the Rest Get Away with Everything and GOP: Only Our Pastors Can Say Crazy Sh*t contrast how Wright has been portrayed to how the media treat white Christian clergymen who say outlandish (or bigoted, or hateful, etc.) things.

Finally, Pastor of Hillary's Former Church: Don't Use Wright to Polarize and Is It Hillary's Turn to 'Denounce and Reject' a Problematic Pastor? mention how Ms. Clinton might have to do some soul searching of her own before she thinks about using the Rev. Wright as a political club against Obama.

see also:
jeremiah wright and the black church
mccain's spiritual advisor hates muslims and islam

“do good works, engage politically, and get involved”

altmuslim.com: “Do good works, engage politically, and get involved” is an interview of the first Muslim U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison by Wajahat Ali.

obama: the death of white supremacy?

In Barack Obama: The Death of White Supremacy?, Amiri Baraka, Chinweizu, Floyd Hayes. Lloyd McCarthy, Jonathan Scott, and others discuss what would and wouldn't change in the wake of an Obama presidency.

immigrants of african descent should remember the shoulders we stand on

ChickenBones: Immigrants of African Descent Should Remember the Shoulders We Stand On by Patricia Jabbeh Wesley

two by eteraz

I thought I'd share two pieces from Ali Eteraz's series on Islamic Reform.

The first is The making of the Muslim left. In it, Eterez recommends

"creating a viable and well organised Muslim left. It would be an intra-religious movement as opposed to a universalist one (though obviously it doesn't shun allies). It would be a cousin of the international left, but in a Muslim garb. Just as the Muslim right found Islamic means to justify the destructive ideas from the enlightenment (Fascism, Marxism, totalitarianism, evangelical religion), the Muslim left should find Islamic means to justify the positive ones (anti-foundationalism, pragmatism, autonomy, tolerance)"

I have reservations about some of the specific bullet points in his platform (listed in the article), but I definitely agree that if the above principles gained a foothold in the Muslim world and spread it would be a good thing.

In the second article, The Islamic Reformation, Eteraz rightly points out that unfortunately the "Islamic Reformation" has already begun. What do I mean by that? Something I've realized for a while now is that since becoming Muslim I've gained a greater appreciation for the older forms of Christianity such as Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy. (I was raised Protestant) And whatever else you might think about the ideas of the Reformation or the sins of the ancient Church, it is pretty clear that the Protestant Reformation irreversibly shattered the unity of Christianity and unleashed high degrees of religious violence across the face of Europe. And in an similar way, the zeal of some of the Islamic "reformers" has undermined the tolerance which is a basic part of classical Islam (see people of direction) and has led to the creation of less tolerant, non-traditional sectarian groups.

For further exploration of the comparison between orthodox/traditional Islam and Catholicism check out:
protestant islam
more protestant islam
reverse missionaries
the radical middle way
"...being the last one around"

hispanic governor, bill richardson, endorses obama over clinton

ABC News: Richardson: Obama's Race Speech Won Me

quranic eucharist?

Behold! the disciples, said: "O Jesus the son of Mary! can thy Lord send down to us a table set (with viands) from heaven?" Said Jesus: "Fear Allah, if ye have faith."

They said: "We only wish to eat thereof and satisfy our hearts, and to know that thou hast indeed told us the truth; and that we ourselves may be witnesses to the miracle."

Said Jesus the son of Mary: "O Allah our Lord! Send us from heaven a table set (with viands), that there may be for us - for the first and the last of us - a solemn festival and a sign from thee; and provide for our sustenance, for thou art the best Sustainer (of our needs)."
[Quran 5:112-114]

Sometimes the above-described event is identified as a kind of feeding of the multitudes but when I get to the part where the disciples of Jesus (as) describe it as a solemn festival "for the first and the last of us" I can't help but wonder if it is a reference to some sort of Eucharist. The Didache, one of the most ancient Christian texts, contains a Eucharistic prayer which includes the words: "You gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us You didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant." but without any kind of association to the the Last Supper or the crucifixion. Perhaps this is the spiritual meal being referred to in the Quran.

the cross and the lynching tree

In the wake of the last post on Jeremiah Wright and in anticipation of Good Friday, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of James Cone's ideas apart from their role as ammunition in the current political "horse race".

First is A Conversation with James Cone facilitated by the Trinity Institute's Bob Scott:


and secondly there is a conversation between James Cone and Bill Moyers entitled The Cross and the Lynching Tree. In both talks Cone connects the sufferings of Jesus with the sufferings of Black people in America.

James Cone obviously identifies himself as a Christian theologian but I think it is possible to connect some of his ideas to Islam in at least two ways.

Firstly, he is willing to cite Malcolm X as one of the basic sources and inspirations of his theology (suggesting that Islam, at least as articulated by Malcolm, provides some important elements lacking in conventional Christianity).

Secondly, although Islam has a different understanding of what happened at the cross (see Good Friday) I wonder if there is a similar value in connecting Black suffering with examples of martyrdom and persecution out of the Islamic tradition. The two examples which stand out for me are the "lynching" of Hussein (ra) and the multiple Quranic allusions to the prophets being murdered unjustly (although by my recollection, only the murder of Abel is mentioned specifically).

But finally, we can also ask the broader question of whether there is another figure or moment in Islam which provides a more suitable lens with which to view the Black experience in America? Yusef who was a slave and then freed? Bilal, one of several black companions of the Prophet (saaws) ? Luqman, who is sometimes identified with the Ethiopian Aesop?

jeremiah wright and the black church

Martin Luther King Jr. famously said that 11 o'clock Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in the United States. And I think that the continuation of this state of affairs is at the heart of the current controversy over comments made by Jeremiah Wright, Sr., the former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ (where Barack Obama is a member). The issue isn't really about Jeremiah Wright, Sr. as an individual as much as it is a basic discomfort with (at best) or rejection of the progressive/prophetic voice of the Black Church.

In other posts we've mentioned how even apart from labels like "Muslim" or "Christian" one can talk about the American phenomena of Black Religion as a God-centered holy protest against anti-black racism. We've also touched on Cornel West's idea of prophetic Christianity and have repeatedly discussed the radical side of Martin Luther King Jr. [1][2] [3]

In the article, Dallas-area black clergy defend Rev. Jeremiah Wright's message, Gromer Jeffers Jr. and Jeffrey Weiss do a good job of providing some context for Wright's comments within the Bible and the tradition of the Black Church. Similarly, in Is Obama Wrong About Wright? Michael C. Dawson (who is the John D. MacArthur professor of political science at the University of Chicago) locates Jeremiah Wright in the mainstream of the Black community, particularly in the Black Theology tradition of James Cone.

see also Abu Noor Al-Irlandee: Michael C. Dawson: Is Obama Wrong About Wright?

mumbo jumbo with ishmael reed

Shamelessly taken from Tariq Nelson's blog:

An amazing and involved interview of Ishmael Reed by Pakistani-American writer Wajhat Ali. Topics include race and the Clinton dynasty, Obama, Paul Mooney and the Black/Latino pseudo-divide, the economics of misery, Nazi science, Irshad Manji, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Blacks in NASA, Amiri Baraka, Malcolm X, the racist uses of feminism and the scapegoating of Black males, Gloria Steinem, Geraldine Ferraro, medical experimentation on Black people, Dinesh D'Souza, Crash, The Wire, American Gangster and the canons of Western Civilization.

Mumbo Jumbo: Naming Names | "Faking the Hood" | Jabs, Low Blows and Knockout Punches

happy birthday to planet grenada

Planet Grenada is three years-old today.

andre carson became the second muslim elected to the u.s. congress

Tariq Nelson: Andre Carson becomes the second Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress.

mccain's spiritual advisor hates muslims and islam

Unlike the old McCain who in the last election was critical of the religious bigotry of Bob Jones University, (after Bush spoke there), the new McCain is apparently ok with the endorsement of a religious bigot like Rev. Rod Parsley.

Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it.

On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a "strong, true, consistent conservative." The endorsement was important for McCain, who at the time was trying to put an end to the lingering challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a favorite among Christian evangelicals. A politically influential figure in Ohio, Parsley could also play a key role in McCain's effort to win this bellwether state in the general election. McCain, with Parsley by his side at the Cincinnati rally, called the evangelical minister a "spiritual guide."

On the one hand there is the question of consistency: Will McCain's relationship to Parsley be scrutinized in the media to the same degree as Obama's relationship to Farrakhan? But for me, the really scary part of this story is the fact Parsley's views are not atypical among the Religious Right.

In a chapter titled "Islam: The Deception of Allah," Parsley warns there is a "war between Islam and Christian civilization." He continues:

I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.

Parsley is not shy about his desire to obliterate Islam. In Silent No More, he notes—approvingly—that Christopher Columbus shared the same goal: "It was to defeat Islam, among other dreams, that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492…Columbus dreamed of defeating the armies of Islam with the armies of Europe made mighty by the wealth of the New World. It was this dream that, in part, began America."

(for entire story) Mother Jones: McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam

afro-latinidad

For some thoughtful analysis of the condition of Black Latino, check out Waiting 2 Speak: Critical Latinidad and More Critical Latinidad

real unity for afro-latinos and african americans

Real Unity for Afro-Latinos and African Americans by Miriam Jiménez Román