millions more marching

I've had the following unfinished rap floating around in my head for almost as long as I've been Muslim... one of these days it's going to finally grow up, move out of my head, and get its own place.

Trying to be a Muslim
Not the five, but the hundred percent
I repent, because only God is perfect

I make a mistake, a double-take, a retake,
intake forgiveness, mercy from the Merciful


Never find pork on my fork
or beef on my plate
I relate to all that's in existence

don't give me no resistance
don't test me
the cops, they can't arrest me, because I don't do nothing shady..


Malcolm was played by the Nation
slayed by the Nation
I think we've been delayed by the Nation

A million men facing all in one direction
Common called it resurrection
but I don't see the ascension because


The ghetto is still the ghetto
The man is still the Man
A snake is still a snake do you think you can understand why

The ghetto is still the ghetto
The man is still the man
A snake is still a snake so can you help me understand.

And the rest is hip-hop non-history...

I'm sharing because the 10 year anniversary of the Million Man March is coming up and Farrakhan is planning another gathering on the mall under the umbrella of the Millions More Movement.. And of course, contraversy is already being stirred up about the event.

Abe Foxman of the ADL has called on African-American leaders to reconsider supporting the event because it is being organized by Louis Farrakhan (of the Nation of Islam) and Malik Zulu Shabazz (of the New Black Panther Party) on the grounds that they are anti-semites.

Russell Simmons released a good response which you can read at Adisa's Holla at a Scholar blog.
(Actually, the past couple of entries over there have been really interesting, but anyway...)

The crux of the statement to Abe Foxman is as follows:

Simply put, you are misguided, arrogant, and very disrespectful of AfricanAmericans and most importantly your statements will unintentionally orintentionally lead to a negative impression of Jews in the minds of millionsof African Americans. Similar to how you single-handedly caused millions of persons to flock to see the ³Passion of Christ² in defiance of your call for non-attendance, you are going to precipitate a tremendous negative defianceof your demands that will again severely hurt and harm relations between Jews and African Americans.

You should refrain from pressuring African American leaders to denounce Minister Farrakhan and the Millions More Movement. This commemoration is as a real opportunity for establishing healing, reconciliation and fostering amore effective environment for constructive dialogue between Blacks and Jews. We want a society and world were there is no hatred, anti-Semitism,violence, or poverty.

There is a disturbing pattern, and this is just a recent example, of Jewish Americans condemning certain Black leaders, based on accusations of anti-semitism. From Malcolm X, to Jesse Jackson, to Amiri Baraka, to Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Toure). The accusations are often made based on isolated comments taken out of context. And the accusation of anti-semitism is often used to entirely dismiss and ignore any other significance a person's life might have.

What is also disturbing is the obvious double-standard involved in how American society views racism in its leaders. Senator Trent Lott can look back nostalgically at Jim Crow and the Confederacy without suffering serious political consequences. Senator Jon McCain can use the racist term "gook" without reservation and then refuse to apologize (at first) for it, and he's still considered a highly respected member of congress.

It would be wonderful if we lived in a world where all forms of racism were opposed. But it seems clear that in some cases, outdated accusations of racism are being cynically used in order to silence certain voices. I wonder if there is any prominent Black leader, opposed to the brutal extremes of Zionism, who hasn't also been accused of anti-semitism?

The way Russell Simmons brought up the Passion raised an interesting issue. I'd always thought that Abe Foxman's opposition to Mel Gibson's film seemed in alot of ways, insincere and misdirected. The film was a relatively faithful portrayal of the Biblical account (When Pope John Paul II saw it, he is reported to have said "It is as it was"). In any case, the portions of the movie which Foxman and the ADL objected to, are based on passages which are ACTUALLY found in the Bible. So if the movie is really anti-Semetic, then ultimately so is Biblical Christianity. And if that's the case, then protesting and criticizing a beloved Christian film is like using a flyswatter against an elephant. You are only going to make him mad.

By the same token, if having the Black community come together in D.C. means embracing the entire ideological spectrum of Black organizations and movements (which obviously includes the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party) and Abe Foxman actually expects Black leaders to disown Farrakhan on his say so, he is only going to make the elephant mad.

Now with that said, of course there are disagreements between orthodox Muslims and the Nation of Islam, and even between the original Black Panther Party and the so-called New Black Panther Party.

And there is certainly room for us to criticize the organizers of the Millions More Movement on our own terms, and for own reasons, but it is counter-productive to do so because outside organizations command it.

.....

Here is an interesting 1998 interview with Mos Def in the San Francisco Bay Guardian about Khalid Muhammad and one of the Million Youth Marches

free islamic books online

I'm surprised at the wealth of materials which are out there and available free online. Here is one such library of Islamic books and articles put out by Witness-Pioneer. I think it should be possible to download them and read them on your computer at your leisure. Or if you think there are too many trees in the world, you could print out the books and read them that way too.

Some I would recommend are:
"Ulum al-Quran" by Ahmed Von Denffer
"Toward Understanding Islam" by Maududi
"The Ethics of Disagreement in Islam" by Taha Jabir al 'Alwani

There are a number of works by Yusuf al-Qaradawi there too. I've only read "The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam" which seemed to me a really nice book with good explanations of the various do's and don'ts. I found it really useful as a beginning Muslim. But I was surprised to find out that in some circles Qaradawi is a very contraversial figure.

Also, a number of the Islamic pages in my links section have a pretty substantial collection of writings as well. Especially the Hizmet Books site which has a number of texts, many of which are from a Hanafi perspective. I especially like "Belief and Islam" and "The Sunni Path" which give some really nice descriptions of certain concepts, even though at times the English is a little spotty.

nicomedes santa cruz

And here is a site which deals with the life and work of Nicomedes Santa Cruz who is from an earlier generation of Afro-Latino (specifically Peruvian) writers and poets.

shaggy flores

Here is the official website of spoken word artist Shaggy Flores. The site is called Nuyorican Negritude. And his website describes him by saying:

Jaime Flores is better known as Shaggy the Modern Day Griot, Nuyorican, Massarican, Bilingual, Spanglish Speaking, AfroTaino, Revolutionary, Santero Poet from the Dark Souls Collective.

I think he's a good counter-example which helps reveal some of the limitations of the earlier article on Black Hispanics. If you look at his website, he is obviously light-skinned (although darker than Michael Jackson...lol) at the same time he is obviously joyfully identifying with African component of his Puerto Rican heritage.

Perhaps in certain contexts, it is more useful to think of Latinos in terms of Indo-Hispanics (somewhere along a continuum between white and Indian) or Afro-Hispanics (somewhere along a continuum between white and African). And then we should realize that culture is often very often not reflected by phenotype (how people look).

what race are hispanics?

What Race Are Hispanics? is another article similar to yesterday's. I think I like it a shade better. But I should just look up articles on this subject which I really like instead of just including one just to include in the blog.

Both this article and the previous one are from a site called Hispanic Trending which seems to be about how business can best advertise and market their goods to the Latino market. I guess that could be a good thing if it helps corporations to serve Latino consumers better and results in more relevant producucts, and helps maximize Latino buying power. It also would be good to helo Latino-owned businesses in Latino communities be more effective. But if neither of those things is happening I wonder if the net effect is just to help wealth flow out of the community.

black hispanics struggle for their racial identity

I just found a brief entry on another Hispanic blog (Hispanic trending). The story originally appeared in the Midland Reporter Telegram:
Black Hispanics struggle for their racial identity

Actually, the more I think about it, the more problematic I find the article, and I think the topic should have been covered alot better. But it is sort of interesting that the article appeared at all.

vacation pictures

I noticed that a couple of blogs had pictures that looked like they came out of South Park so on a hunch I did a search, and found this site.. There are a decent number of options available (in terms of hair, expressions, clothing, props, etc.), but once you have the image you need to do a screen capture and manipulate it with some other program like Adobe. Anyway, enjoy.

the notorious p.o.p.e.

I don't know where it came from, but Muslimah Soul put a hilarious picture on her blog

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.

the tao passes the turing test

Some time ago, I came across an interesting reframing of the whole question of God's existence:

There are many people out there who consider themselves to be atheists and they would claim to disbelieve in the existence of"God". But do you ever come across people who call themselves A-Tao-ists? I doubt it. It doesn't really make sense to ask whether the Tao exists or doesn't exists. There is some reason for why there is Something instead of Nothing. There is some reason for why there is Order instead of Chaos. It exists. Whether you call it Tao, Allah, the Absolute, the Ultimate Reality, Jah, or Fred. It's there. The real question is: what is it like?

And given the fact that most earthlings believe in some form of personal deity, it seems fairly clear that this reality, this entity, passes the Turing test. (The concept of the Turing test comes out of computer science, where researchers struggled to define what does it mean to say that a machine is "intelligent". And to put it very, very, simply, the suggestion is that something is *defined* to be intelligent if when you talk to it, you feel that an intelligent being is "talking back".)

So based on the evidence of human religious experience, it is pretty clear that most people do have this sense. We don't have to delve into God's "neurology" and insist that he has a physical human brain with lobes and hemispheres, or that his "anger" is like our "anger" or that his "mercy" is like our "mercy". Far from it. The Quran, at least, is clear that the Creator is unlike the creation. Allah is so amazingly Amazing that he beggars human language. Our words can't touch him.

But nevertheless, that doesn't preclude us understanding our own dependence on a Higher Power and expressing that awareness in the form of love, devotion and awe. Personal language is meaningful, not because God needs our words or feelings, but because we need express them, for our own sakes.

The farmer needs to understand his survial depends on the soil and the rain. The sailor needs to know his life is in the hands of the sea and the wind. And we need to cultivate a similar kind of gratitude and respect for God. Not in order to curry favor by stroking the divine ego, but because we need to keep our own in check. In earlier times, this knowledge might have been maintained by sacrifices to nature spirits or other creatures, and modern-man might view such practices as superstition, but from another point of view they are grounded in an uncompromsing absolute realism.

the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

I think the last few entires were a bit on the serious side. Not that it's totally out of place. I'm often in a serious mood but I'm not sure to what extent I should inflict it on everyone else. Especially since I've been gradually telling more people about this blog.


Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is coming out in movie theatre's today. Hopefully I'll be able to find a group of friends to go see it soon. Mos Def is in the movie playing Ford Prefect.

(I'm making sure to mention him because he's my thin and tenuous "justification" for mentioning the movie here at Planet Grenada. I'm actually planning on writng a seperate blog entry sharing some thoughts and info on Mos Def too. I love Mos Def. I've often thought to myself that the ummah could really use an "intellectual (i.e. academic, scholarly) Mos Def". But the more I read about him, the more I realize that reflects my own pre-conceived notions. He's not exactly a slouch. His creative career has been rapidly expanding in a couple of different directions, making (remarkably thoughtful) hip-hop music, Def Poetry, acting and activism. He's already making serious contributions to culture, even if its not in the ivory tower

Anyway, Hitchhiker's Guide has already been made into a television series (like over 20 years ago!) and a radio show. Even a computer adventure game (Oh my God, I feel so old. I used to play a bunch of those Infocom text adventures on my Commodore 64 way back in the day. Sometime in the future, a kid in middle school is going to be taking a history test where they have to identify which artifact is older...and on one side of the page they will be shown a commodore 64 and on the other they will be shown a picture of some kid in breeches playing with a hoop and a stick in the street... and this will be the hardest question on the test.)




So for all you archeologists out there, here is a site where you can actually play alot of the classic Infocom games. Some of the games might require maps or other props which were sold with the original packaging but you should at least be able to get a flavor of how the games worked back in the day. Besides, I'm almost certain that if you do a search online you should be able to find the relevant information online in some form which will let you complete the games.

But as far as the new movie goes, I should probably wait till actually seeing it before commenting much on its islamic or afro-futuristic implications. (athough the original novels did get into a fair amount of theology in a very quirky and lighthearted way. InshaAllah we'll see how, or whether, the subject is handled by the film.)

perennialism and traditionalism

Perennialism is the name of an school of thought which has become popular among some Muslims, especially in the West, this past century. Some of the prominent figures in this school are Rene Guenon, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, Charles le Gai Eaton, Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Frithjof Schuon. (There are other people involved in the larger movement which includes Hindus, Christians, and even some straight-up Fascists, but the above names are the most prominent among those who claimed to be Muslim.)

The basic idea is that there is a single body of truth known as the perennial wisdom which human beings have known from a very early point in history and which gets restated over and over again in the world's major religious traditions. So, for example, Muhammad (saaws), Jesus (as), Krishna, Zoroaster etc. were all basically teaching the same eternal principles, except in a language appropriate to the needs of their audience.

(In some sense this is similar to the Bahai faith which also affirms a belief in the Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus, Zoroaster, Krishna, and others. Although one difference is that the Bahai faith has a notion of "progressive revelation" which develops a time-based hierarchy among the religions. And since the Bahai faith is the most recent, it sits at the top of the hierarchy before those which came before)

You might think this suggests some kind of cafeteria-style spiritual free-for-all but the above names were also part of a movement known as Traditionalism which asserted that this perennial wisdom is best expressed in the traditional, authentically-transmitted, orthodox versions of the various religions. So even if at a very deep level, the various religions agree, it still isn't appropriate to mix and match. Each path should be taken seriously, and followed on its own terms.

So the Perennialists are interesting because, on the one hand, they seem to see a great deal of value in other religions and other civilizations. But on the other hand, they also strive, in their own way, to stay faithful to a particular religious tradition and stay "orthodox".

Some members of the movement, especially in its "Traditionalist" form really emphasize the past and see the modern-age as decadent with things only getting worse. (I have the impression that this is what really motivates the scarier Fascist-Traditionalists)

Mark Sedgewick has a website which goes into a certain amount of depth on Traditionalism and its different manifestations (Actually that first page is an interesting article on the introduction of sufism to the west, but if you go to the homepage you'll find more ino). Sedgwick also has a paper called "Marginal Muslims in Cyberspace"

You can also go to Religio Perennis which is another website which deals with these ideas, but more from an insider's perspective.

And as a counter-balance to give another side of the issue, Dr. Muhammad Legenhausen wrote a piece called "Why I am not a Traditionalist" for a pretty thorough discussion of Traditionalism faults from the point of view of a Muslim who rejects it (rather thoughtfully I should add)

Also at the Living Islam site you can find a page which doesn't deal with these terms head-on but discusses issues in the same ballpark from a critical Islamic perspective.

metaphysics of interfaith dialogue

just an interesting article about how the Quran can provide a basic framework in which to view and understand other religions.

bahais and divorce

The following piece is from Juan Cole, who was formerly a member of the Bahai faith but left because of differences of opinion with the Bahai administration.

An internal Baha'i household survey done in 1987 found that the divorce rate in the U.S. Baha'i community was higher than that in American society as a whole. The report was never released to the public.

My own suspicion is that the high divorce rate has several causes. First of all, Baha'is are encouraged to utopian ways of thinking. Two young people with little in common save that they are recent converts to the faith will be encouraged to marry. I have seen this sort of thing over and over again with my own eyes. This utopianism is widespread in the faith and is the same reason for which so many other Baha'i enterprises end up doing damage to people. That both are "Baha'is" is not a basis for a marriage. One may be a liberal and the other a fundamentalist; current norms against such labeling make it difficult for people to identify one another on that basis, but you'd better believe the difference would show up in a marriage!

Young married Baha'is are also encouraged to pioneer, whether abroad to places like Haiti and Nicaragua, or homefront. Being uprooted from their social networks and families and isolated in a strange environment is not good for them as young marrieds.

In smaller communities the Baha'i committee work is a killer, and may isolate the two spouses, who spend less time together just coccooning and watching t.v.

And it is my estimate that from a third to a half of U.S. Baha'is are what the sociologists would call marginal people--persons with poor social skills who are emotionally needy and who join the faith because they are love-bombed and find a high proportion of other marginals in it. A high rate of marginality is fostered by the cultists who have infiltrated the administration, since only such individuals would put up with being ordered around summarily or would eat up conspiracy theories about bands of dissidents seeking to undermine the administration. Marginals would have higher than normal divorce rates, obviously.

Finally, the Baha'i faith encourages a great deal of ego inflation in the individual. Each Baha'i thinks he or she is saving the world and is a linchpin in the plan of God. This inspires in them great (and often quite misplaced) confidence in their own judgment--I've seen them pronounce authoritatively on astronomy, biology, Qajar history, and many other subjects on which they are woefully ignorant. Such ego inflation and over-confidence in personal judgment would not be good for a marriage. cheers Juan

[P.S. I should have also included that the exclusiveness of the Baha'i community, non-attendance of non-Baha'is at Feast, pressure to convert spouses, etc., was also probably a contributing factor to Baha'i divorces where only one spouse was Baha'i.

source

lessons of the five percent

An old but relatively in-depth paper about the role that Five Percenter teachings play in hip-hop

hakim bey, ontological anarchy and cultural expression

I'm not sure I want to endorse Hakim Bey (aka Peter Lamborn Wilson). Actually in certain respects, I'm actually certain that I don't. But he is certainly a character who occasionally has some very interesting things to say, (assuming that I understand him)

There is a huge collection of his writings available free online. This is typically the material written under the name Hakim Bey.

But besides those works available online, his book, Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam contains the most thorough description I've ever seen of the teachings of the Moorish Science movement of Noble Drew Ali. (Along with various essays on other topics). And his book The Drunken Universe is a decent collection and discussion of the outlines of Persian Sufi poetry. These and his other more serious, academic works are typically written under Peter Lamborn Wilson.

Actually the last few blog entries have gotten me thinking about the Five Percenters and other individuals and movements on the "margins of Islam". On the one hand, many of these groups definitely go too far and cross certain lines which put themselves pretty much outside of Islamic limits. At the same time, some of them manage to find dynamic and vibrant ways to express some aspects of Islamic culture. And I wonder if it isn't possible to learn from them while avoiding their excesses. Or more generally, how is it possible for different Muslim communities around the world to maintain their cultural autonomy, and continue to joyfully and authentically be themselves, while at the same time staying true to orthodox Islam.

I didn't see it as clearly before, but in fact, figuring out how to do that is actually one of the goals of Planet Grenada in the first place.

ali shaheed muhammad

Also formerly of A Tribe Called Quest (like Q-Tip), is Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Oddly enough, in spite of his obvious Muslim background, he only came to practice Islam in a serious way around the same time that Q-Tip did (shortly before making ATCQ's 4th album, Beats, Rhymes and Life.

Since the ATCQ breakup, Muhammad has been mostly working on individual cuts for other artists and a brief stint as a founding member of the supergroup Lucy Pearl (which only lasted for an album). His most recent project is his own first solo album entitled Shaheedullah and Stereotypes.

Here is the main Ali Shaheed Muhammad page

An interview with Ali Shaheed Muhammad about his faith and the industry for a Canadian periodical. Another interview with Ali Shaheed Muhammad done by Kenny Rodriguez. And finally an interview with riotsound.com.

more on muslims and hip-hop

This can potentially be a huge topic. For a long time now, to varying degrees of depth and sincerity, hip-hop has included some kind of Islamic content. Oddly enough, it seems like the most well represented "Muslim" group in hip-hop have been the Five Percenters or the Nation of Gods and Earths (e.g. Poor Righteous Teachers, Rakim, Brand Nubian, Busta Rhymes, Wu Tang, Digable Planets etc.) I imagine that part of the reason is that the Five Percenters put a certain amount of emphasis on developing a certain "rap" and verbal fluency which lends itself very easily to hip-hop's lyricism. Another reason is likely that as a movement the Five Percenters are highly concentrated among the urban black youth who are part of the hip-hop generation. On the other hand, among orthodox Muslims there are certain factors which probably discourage participation in the production of hip-hop music, for example attitudes which restrict the permissibilty of music per se, and then reservations about being in environments where mainstream hip-hop tends to be performed (mixed crowds, places which serve alcohol). In spite of these factors, there are still a few who identify as Sunni Muslims in mainstream hip-hop. (e.g. Mos Def, One.Be.Lo, Q-Tip, members of Jurassic 5, the Roots)

I was especally surprised to find out that there is actually an online forum specifically dedicated to Islam and hip-hop at muslimhiphop.com. Some Muslim rap groups like Native Deen are becoming more and more visible. And the ummah in America is even developing Muslim record labels (here is an interview with one of their artists, Capital D from All Natural [2] and commentators on hip-hop culture like Adisa Banjoko

whatever happened to q-tip?

When A Tribe Called Quest came out on their first album singing "I don't eat no ham and eggs" you knew they were on a more natural, afro-centric vibe. By the time their fourth album, Beats, Rhymes and Life came out, Q-Tip changed his name to Kamaal Fareed, songs were interlaced with Siraj Wahaj samples, and he and Ali Shaheed Muhammad both declared their belief in Islam. The song which probably represents the peak of the group's spiritual development is The Remedy (with Common Sense) from the Get on the Bus soundtrack. But by the time their fifth album, The Love Movement, came out, they had started to lose some of their original vitality, and shortly thereafter the group announced its break-up in 1998. Q-Tip released a solo album called Amplified, with the single Vivrant Thing (and oddly enough, the video included the kind of "video hos" which never would have never appeared in a Tribe video in the early days before Q-Tip converted). And after that, Q-Tip seemed to disappear off the map.

Recently I found out that a few years ago Q-Tip actually did complete an album called Kamaal the Abstract, but Arista records has so far refused to release it. There is actually a campaign going to get Arista to Release Q-Tip's Kamaal the Abstract with its own website where you can sign an online petition and find a couple of links on what Q-Tip has been up to lately.

Here is another site with some Q-Tip news. Q-Tips to Jazz Joint is a New York Post review of Kamaal the Abstract. Here are some more reviews An interview with Q-Tip about an even newer unreleased album called Open. And then, pretty much all the Q-Tip or Tribe lyrics for their *released* material.

Both Kamaal Fareed and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have been keeping busy participating in other people's projects. And inshaAllah, we haven't seen the last or the best of their contributions to the industry.

islam and mexico

I haven't written a "Latino/Hispanic" post in a while so this is a bit overdue

The Murabitun have been active in Mexico, spreading in the Chiapas region where the Zapatistas are. I've been able to find some interesting sites about their efforts there. A short academic article on them is called Coversions & Conflict: Muslims in Mexico Here is the group's Mexican website The Murabitun are also very active in Spain and have even established a mosque there. So you could also check the group's Spain website (Their mosque happens to be located in Granada and has a certain amount of historical significance as the first mosque built in Spain since the Reconquista). Islam gains toehold in Mexico's Zapatista country is a recent Reuters piece about the Murabitun activities. Islam taking root in southern Mexico is an older article from the Houston Chronicle. And In Chiapas, missionaries battle for converts is from Knight Ridder Newspapers.

In the long run I wonder how successful the Murabitun efforts will be? They have sometimes been described as "extremist" Malikis who strongly believe in following the example of the first Muslim community in Medina. So if I understand them correctly they seem to want to set up whole communities in particular localities based on Islamic principles. It's an approach which seems to make a certain amount of sense if you have a critical mass of people and enough space to set it up. There are certainly aspects of being Muslim which are enhanced by having more of a community aspect. (making salat in congregation, producing food, collecting zakat, civil law, etc.)

I've known people who were Hebrew Israelites (there are many distinct but similar groups which call themselves "hebrews" or "israelites". The link is only to one of the most prominant) and talked about leaving the US eventually; perhaps to the community that they have in Dimona, Israel. And it seems to me that regardless of whether one agrees with the specific beliefs and practices, I think you have to respect the integrity and dedication of someone who picks up and moves to a different country in order to more fully implement their own religious principles.

La Voz de Aztlan is a somewhat contraversial website which is from a Chicano perspective but for some reason the contributors have chosen to take a more international perspective and are strongly anti-Zionist and against the war in Iraq. It is interesting to see how certain coalitions can potentially form among groups with superficially very different concerns or agendas. In this case, I think certain members of the Chicano movement see Palestians and Iraqis and identify very much with a strong desire for autonomy from outside forces, whether that foreign force is conceived as Anglo or Zionist or American.

An interview with Mexican intellectual Carlos Fuentes called the Invention of the Frankenstein Monster on US foreign policy in the Muslim world.

And finally:
Here is also a cautionary piece on how NOT to do dawa in Brazil

people of direction

Volume 8, Book 81, Number 771:
Narrated 'Umar bin Al-Khattab:
During the lifetime of the Prophet there was a man called 'Abdullah whose nickname was Donkey, and he used to make Allah's Apostle laugh. The Prophet lashed him because of drinking (alcohol). And one-day he was brought to the Prophet on the same charge and was lashed. On that, a man among the people said, "O Allah, curse him ! How frequently he has been brought (to the Prophet on such a charge)!" The Prophet said, "Do not curse him, for by Allah, I know for he loves Allah and His Apostle."

...
In Islam, one of the orthodox ways of understanding the nature of iman (faith) is to say that iman is something in the heart which is separate from your actions. Moreover, it is something which you either have or you don't, it neither increases nor decreases. This perspective (associated especially with the Hanafi school) has some rather sweeping and beautiful implications for how we view other Muslims.

An early unorthodox sect known as the Khawarij disagreed. They took the position that your actions were included in your iman. And so when Muslims were guilty of major sins, they declared that they were apostates and had them killed. This group was the same group who had Ali (ra) killed because they had felt that he was in the wrong.

But if iman exists in the heart then ones ordinary sinful actions can't take you out of Islam. And therefore a sinful Muslim is still Muslim. They are still part of the ummah. The basic link between you and them is maintained. You still give them salaams. You still visit them when they are sick. Pray for them when they are dead. In spite of their sins, they are still your sisters and brothers in faith.

As the prophet (saaws) said: "Do not curse him, for by Allah, I know for he loves Allah and His Apostle."

According to the famous orthodox Sunni creed of Al-Tahawi:

57. We do not consider any of the people of our qibla to be unbelievers because of any wrong action they have done, as long as they do not consider that action to have been lawful.
58. Nor do we say that the wrong action of a man who has belief does not have a harmful effect on him.
59. We hope that Allah will pardon the people of right action among the believers and grant them entrance into the Garden through His mercy, but we cannot be certain of this, and we cannot bear witness that it will definitely happen and that they will be in the Garden. We ask forgiveness for the people of wrong action among the believers and, although we are afraid for them, we are not in despair about them.
60. Certainty and despair both remove one from the religion, but the path of truth for the People of the Qibla lies between the two.
61. A person does not step out or belief except by disavowing what brought him into it.

It continually surprises me when non-Muslims seem to have this image of Islam as a stern, intolerant, medieval religion in need of a Christian-style Reformation. Traditional orthodox Islam is beautifully tolerant. And often it is the "reformers" who are responsible for the examples of intolerance which appear in the newspapers and television.

Take the concept of "People of the Qibla" mentioned above. To be Muslim does not require one to accept a complicated and paradoxical theology. Sunnis and Shias might disagree over the status of Ali. Hanafis and Malikis may disagree about the best place to put your hands in prayer. Sufis and Wahabis might disagree over the proper way to do dhikr. But that's okay because these aren't essential matters that will take you out of Islam. All these groups can still come together in one place, five times a day and pray in the same direction.

There is alot more that could be said about tolerance and inclusion found in traditional Islam but I think I'm going to stop here for now.

For a more involved discussion of Imam Tahawi's creed, Abu Hanifa and the nature of iman, you might want to check here.

And for an excellent in-depth explanation of how Muslims can learn to disagree with one another without being disagreeable, I highly recommend The Ethics of Disagreement in Islam by Taha Jabir al `Alwani. The book is FREE and available online in its entirety.

me'shell ndegeocello

The last piece about Irshad Manji reminded me of Me'shell Ndegeocello. Interestingly enough, both women identify as Muslim and non-straight but for some reason Ndegeocello doesn't bother me in the same way. I think part of it has to do with the fact that Me'shell Ndegeocello is a musician and it is very hard to argue with a song. (And in any case, I'm probably more sympathetic to Ndegeocello's politics on social issues than Manji's [1],[2]) Another difference is that Ndegeocello doesn't seem to display Manji's hubris in terms of making generalizations about Islam for other people, instead she seems to have a very personal and idiosyncratic, but sincere faith. I'm not saying she's a role model, nor would she claim to be. But at least she positively affirms Islam, rather than acting in ways which fundamentally discredit it. In my opinion, the way in which Ndegeocello presents Islam is more likely to intrigue and gently attract people those who aren't receptive to a more in-your-face approach.

She has an official website but there is also a more extensive page at www.freemyheart.com

Some exerpts from articles and interviews:

From the FWweekly.com,
a periodal from Fort Wayne, TX

11/12/2003

Me'Shell NdegeoCello
Comfort Woman
(Maverick Records)
By Jimmy Fowler

For her fifth studio album, the politically grumpy but spiritually conscious Me'Shell NdegeoCello has released the year's unlikeliest gospel collection -- an expression, perhaps, of her recent conversion to Islam under the name Me'Shell Suihailia Bashir Shakur.

Comfort Woman, produced by the artist with Allen Cato, is less a cycle of songs than an escalating series of meditations that employ NdegeoCello's husky whisper, alternating light reggae and stadium-rock beats, and shimmering clouds of synth/echo effects. These are mostly love songs with incantatory choruses -- "Give me shelter," "Come with me into the sun," "Take me down to your river" -- which, in the tradition of Sam Cooke and Al Green, could be directed as easily at a Supreme Being as a lover. (Frankly, anything is better than last year's disastrous Cookie: An Anthropological Mix Tape, in which Me'Shell worked up a Curtis May field fit over race, class, and gender issues without any of his withering musical precision.) "Come Smoke My Herb" and "Fellowship" are the closest to disciplined compositions, but anyone looking for hard grooves or even particularly memorable hooks will be disappointed. R&B stoners, on the other hand, should be thrilled at Me'Shell's invitation to "fly on butterflies" through the ether. And I give her props for one of the most provocative lyric lines I've heard in a while: "If you believe that your God is better than another man / How you gonna end all your suffering and strife?"

From Mountain Xpress

Cookie's original cover art, for example, depicted Ndegeocello in a hijab; a traditional Muslim woman's garb that covers all but the eyes. In a fluke of happenstance, the album was originally scheduled for release on Sept. 11, 2001, but was pushed back, for obvious reasons.

It's unfortunate that the cover art was changed; one could certainly argue that Ndegeocello's brave, multi-faceted perspectives on religion , especially as made manifest in that cover image . might actually have benefited the nation's scarred psyche at that point. Ndegeocello is, however, a sensitive and, more importantly, a thoughtful artist, however provocative: Her challenging nature most often comes undercut with humanism. [...]

Known to quote scripture during interviews, Ndegeocello also is openly bisexual (her last name, by the way, means "free as a bird" in Swahili). She freely references both Biblical and Koranic verse in her song (Comfort Woman's liner notes conclude with the declaration "all my praise is for Allah"), often juxtaposing her obvious spiritual bent with her social incisiveness.

On Peace Beyond Passion (1996), she even tosses a hint of sexuality into the already volatile mix, opening "Mary Magdalene" with: "I often watch the way you whore yourself. You're so beautiful." (The album also boasts songs with titles like "Leviticus: Faggot" and "God Shiva." And two tracks off Comfort Woman were inspired by Surahs (or chapters) of the Koran.

From Curve magazine:

So, back to the records, how is Dance of the Infidels different from what you've done before?

It's a lot more instrumental material, more improvisational music. I'm hoping it will be a record that you put on to ease your mind. I'm Muslim, so a lot of the music is inspired by my spiritual practice, and I wanted to definitely put my heart into it, but like religion- jazz is like religion, it's interpretive. For me, to be able to make instrumental music. It's a lot more free, because it is just sound.

Tell me more about your spiritual practice.

I believe in angels. I pray five times a day. I try to be as charitable as I can with my income, because I realize other people aren't as fortunate as me, and that.s how I came to be Muslim. One of the foundations is "seek knowledge until the grave"and that's allowed me to inform myself about various faiths and take what I need and want to from those, and just try to be a good person.

When you say it's allowed you to be a good person, I think some people would view that as a challenge and others would view that as a joyful experience. I wonder how you see it?

Oh, it's joyful. I make mistakes. I'm far from perfect. I've been a liar and a cheat. I've been many things. I have anger. I have intense anger, but the more I get into my practice and make those prayers five times a day. there's five times out of the day where I get out of my own shit, like, I get out of my own head and try to strengthen myself with something that's far greater than me. You know, far more beautiful. This whole experience of life, and when I connect with that regularly, it allows me to be a little bit more patient with others, to not be so judgmental, to not be so hard on myself. Islam speaks about the middle way. I find joy, not in the material things, or not in achievements, but just the fact that I got to see the sun shine or the leaves are turning.

That sounds very humbling.

Humility is a good thing. One of the teachings in the Koran I really didn't get until lately was not to walk around in insolence, not to walk around angry all the time.

the trouble with irshad manji

Recently Time magazine named Ayaan Hirsi Ali as one of the world's 100 most influential people. Ali is a Somalia-born member of the Dutch parliament who had worked with Theo Van Gogh to make a short film called Submission which featured, among other things, verses from the Quran super-imposed on the bodies of naked women. Irshad Manji comes up in all this because Time chose Manji to write about Ali for the magazine... presumably to evoke some kind of "heretic" to "heretic" vibe. One significant difference between the two women is that Ayaan Ali has disavowed Islam, while Irshad Manji, in spite of being the author of a book called "The Trouble with Islam" still identifies herself as Muslim.

But I doubt I'm alone in thinking to myself: With friends like her, who needs enemies?

Because she says she's Muslim, Irshad Manji has been given a unique kind of soap box but what is she doing with it? Whenver I've heard her speak or read her work she sounds like a secular westerner who tacks on "but I'm Muslim" at the end of her words (kind of like the Seinfeld character who converted to Judaism soley to be able to tell Jewish jokes). For example, she doesn't seem to make much, if any, distinction between Islam per se, and the various far-from-ideal practices which exist in so-called Muslim countries. So she doesn't seem to convey to the reader the sense that there is actually much which is salvageable in Islam. But if she finds Islam so "trouble"some, it is not clear why she is sticking around.

In her Time magazine piece she writes:

I met Hirsi Ali, 35, last year during a book tour. Because I have written a blunt call for reform in Islam, a Dutch newspaper assigned her to interview me - heretic to heretic. The difference is, she has left Islam. I asked her if she thought I was naive for sticking with Allah. "Don't go" she told me "Islam needs you."

Aside from the hubris of suggesting that Islam needs her (rather than all of us needing Islam) she seems to distance herself too much from basic Islam to be very effective as a reformer. On top of that she seems to simply ignore the many people in the Muslim ummah who already recognize the shortcomings of the community and actively do what they can to make things better. Irshad Manji lives in a kind of limbo for me. In content and tone she seems to have too negative an opinion of Islam for me (or many Muslims) to identify with her. But then on the other hand, I wonder why she doesn't make a clean break (like Rushdie, like Ayaan Ali, like Taslima Nasrin). At least that way she would have the respect deserved by the heretic who fully follows the courage of their convictions. (In fact I am still baffled by what exactly she feels is the meaning of "being Muslim" when she writes about how as a younger girl she was given a "Most Promising Christian" award or when she went on a trip to Israel and put a prayer in the Wailing Wall.)

To her credit, on her own website she is actually willing to include several articles very critical of her views. (One from the president of CAIR, another from Z magazine)

Also to her credit, she seems to have changed the title of her book from "The Trouble with Islam" to "The Trouble with Islam Today", allowing for the possibility that Islam will be less troublesome and improve "tomorrow". Here's to hoping that she will too.

.................................
Some recent comments about an appearance of hers at Stanford

happy mawlid al-nabi

In the Islamic calendar, today's date is the 12th of Rabi`-ul-Awwal (the third month) 1426 A.H which commemorates the birth of the prophet Muhammad (saaws). Celebrating this day is "contraversial" for certain Muslims because Mawlid isn't explicitly mentioned in the primary Islamic texts. However the traditional mainstream Muslim scholars don't object to the practice and even recommend it as long as certain reasonable conditions are met.

questions on mawlid
Commemoration of the birth of the beloved of Allah
Article by Nuh Ha Mim Keller on Mawlid
Fatwa Regarding Milad
Other pages on mawlid

in honor of our beloved prophet (from Masud's site)
Haqiqat al-Muhammadiyya
Tawassul (intercession) and it's position in Islam
A Thorough Discussion of Tawassul (intercession)

emperor leads death star memorial service

Thinking about Revenge of the Sith reminded me of the following "news" story.

Emperor leads Death Star memorial service

And then the posters just seemed to go along with the theme.

at the risk of sounding ridiculous...

I remember that in the wake of 9/11 I kept thinking to myself: Ok, even forgetting about jihad or the Quran. Even if the holy text of Islam were the San Francisco yellow pages, if I'm Muslim, and think of Muslims all over the world as my brothers and sisters, and I love them, then what is the logical response to U.S. policies in the Muslim world? Especially as the US was preparing to embark on a course which was likely to (and did) lead to the deaths of hundreds and thousands of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq?

As Che said: At the risk of sounding ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by feelings of love.

But how many revolutions actually remember that? How many actually live up to that ideal?

revenge of the sith

This past weekend I was in a Seattle airport bookstore when I saw the novelization for the upcoming Star Wars prequel, Revenge of the Sith and I couldn't resist buying it. I just finished reading it a few hours ago. Of course there really weren't any real surprises. We all know how the story ends. The book is all about transition. Completing the circle. The Republic falls and turns into an Empire. The only real question is how does it all come to pass. How do the honored and respected Jedis become hunted renegades? How does Senator Palpatine become Galactic Emperor? How does Anakin the small fun-loving child become Darth Vader, lord of the Sith?

Although this really isn't intended as a movie/book review, I'll say that they do a decent (but not a great) job of tracing Anakin's fall to the darkside. For my tastes the path was a little too quick to be totally believable or compelling but they could have done worse.

For some reason, this issue of transition from "good" to "evil" is a very fascinating one. As a friend of mine puts it "Even Osama had a mama". If there is no original sin and we are all basically well-intentioned then where does violence and evil come from? This is a question which seems to have been very prominent in our times, both fictional and factual. In her diary, Anne Frank famously said "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart". But do we believe that? In some ways she has a point. For example, in families one can often find situations where individuals love one another very much but still end up hurting one another somehow. Maybe the road to hell really is paved with good intentions.

And if we don't want to believe Anne Frank, and want to divide the world into heroes and villans, then where is the line? In the wake of Abu Ghraib, Bush declared that he is frustrated by anti-American sentiment abroad because "I know how good we are". What does that mean anymore?



People don't turn evil overnight. It's more like the famous analogy about boiling a frog. You can't just throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will just jump out right away. What you do is you put the frog in the pot of cold water, and put the pot on the stove. That way, you boil the frog and you don't even need to put a lid on the pot. Imperceptibly, the temperature rises until you find yourself slowly cooking in the melting pot, and you can't get out.

In certain respects, the Revenge of the Sith was more of a modern fable than a fairy tale. Palpatine's justifications for Empire seemed a little too familiar to our ears. But the important question is whether *we* would be able to tell when our own Republic crosses the line into Empire?

ratzinger - benedict xvi

The German, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger has recently been elected pope and has taken the name Benedict XVI. His previous title was Perfect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (more famously known as the Inquisition). He is often described as a theological hardliner and a conservative (even a neocon by some). Many have commented on his staunch opposition to liberation theology in Latin America and few years ago he's made comments on ecumenism which have even made Protestants uncomfortable (so you can only imagine what his relations would be like towards Muslims). In the past, he's opposed the inclusion of Turkey in the European Union on the grounds that it would threaten the Christian character of Europe. Instead, he argues, Turkey should associate with Arab or Middle Eastern countries.

Although I think he has a "point" in the sense that in the long term it probably would be a great thing for Muslim nations to come together in a more unified federation that would promote and defend common interests, like a Muslim version of NATO or the EU, I'm not sure that it is his place to make that call for Turkey.

Besides, he certainly isn't motivited by a concern for the interests of Muslims, but rather, is acting out of a basically antagonistic attitude towards Islam.

For what its worth, it doesn't seem like the choice of Ratzinger as pope bodes very well for the future of Catholic-Muslim relations. But only time will tell.

one.be.lo - s.o.n.o.g.r.a.m.

I had an interesting experience this weekend. I happened to be in a Tower Records in Seattle and at one of the hip-hip listening station I saw this new CD from One.Be.Lo. (his real name is now Nashid Sulaiman, formerly One Man Army of the duo Binary Star).

Now, I happened to see Nashid at a free local Michigan hip-hop show a while back and so I recognized him and knew he was Muslim. So firstly I was pleasantly surprised to see another Muslim artist getting a little more exposure in the hip-hop game, hopefully putting out some positive content in an arena which is too often surrounded by negativity.

Secondly, when I started to listen to the at the station it was gratifying to hear that the album didn't just fall into the trap of delivering weak beats and preachy lyrics but that the positive content was skillfully delivered over a strong soundtrack. (The album name, S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. aptly stands for Sounds of Nashid Originate Good Rhymes and Music).

But what really blew me away was that two of the cuts feature a friend of mine named Abdus Salaam, and that was actually the first time I've heard him flow, and he can spit! Abdus Salaam is this Puerto Rican Muslim brother from New York.

Although it shouldn't have been too surprising that Abdus Salaam was on the CD since the first time I met him it was also in a musical context. I happened to be riding my bicycle outside one summer when the weather was nice and I come by this grassy area where some brothers are playing on some drums. I stop to listen. After a while, one of them (Abdus Salaam) starts to call out some phrases slowly, like an old style bomba y plena. After a moment I realize that he's speaking in Spanish and after a while I realize that the lyrics aren't just generically spiritual, but they are specifically Islamic! I actually have alot of respect for him. He had converted to Islam relatively recently when I first met him, but he certainly has dived whole-heartedly into the deen and grown alot in a way which is always encouraging to see and is an example for me to follow.

But getting back to One.Be.Low:
here is an exclusive interview with Vibe magazine.
here is a Metro Times piece about Binary Star and
here is one about the new album.
Some previews of the new album can be found here
And here is the label's website (SubterraneousRecords) with plenty of information about tours, other projects, etc.

zaid shakir and female imams

not to beat a dead horse, but here is a rather thoughtful and nuanced traditionally minded discussion about the current issue-of-the-week: females leading men in prayers.

It's called:
An examination of the issue of female prayer leadership

birth of a nation: a comic novel

It would be hard to adequately convey the anticipation I've had for this project. I've been literally waiting for most of a year when I heard that Aaron McGruder, Kyle Baker and Reginald Hudlin were getting together to make a graphic novel it was natural to expect the beginnings of a revolution.

Aaron McGruder is the creator of the Boondocks, which is without a doubt the funniest, most politically insightful and subversive comic strip out today.



Kyle Baker is the author of Why I Hate Saturn, a superlative graphic novel in its own right, full of engaging and hilarious dialogue on topics ranging from the battle of the sexes, the interplay of race and culture, the limits of sanity and family loyalty, and why NY city pizza joints never give you enough napkins.

Reginald Hudlin is one of the Hudlin brothers, filmmaking duo behind Bebe's Kids, House Party, Boomerang, and most importantly (at least in my opinion) Cosmic Slop, an afro-futuristic film reminiscent of the Twilight Zone where Rod Serling-style segues are delivered by the ever-funky George Clinton's disembodied head.



Originally the Birth of a Nation project was conceived as a film, and I strongly suspect that it would have been more effective in that medium. But the story still works as a graphic novel, and is highly entertaining.

The graphic novel begins with the story of the predominantly-black city of East St. Louis where the citizens gradually come to the conclusion that their political rights and local concerns are not being respected by the U.S. government, so they choose to secede from the United States and found their own nation of Blackland (whose anthem can be sung to the theme music from Good Times). The rest of the novel deals with the struggles of the mayor/president as he tries to negotiate with and survive the powerful forces which threaten the new nation's existence, while keeping his integrity intact.

I thoroughly enjoyed the graphic novel and would heartily recommend it. My only reservation is that, in my opinion, it didn't live up to the heights I expected given the previous work of the individual creators on their own projects. But I would still look forward to any future collaborations from this team and hope their work spawns a new politically conscious direction in popular culture (film, comic books, etc.) much as BDP and Public Enemy sparked a stream of consciousness in hip-hop. Yeah Booooy!

victor hernandez cruz

I actually met Victor Hernandez Cruz once. A good friend of mine introduced us. I read him one of my poems and he told me he liked my stuff which made me smile for a good long time. :) His latest book Maraca, New and Selected Poems, 1966-2000 actually really fits in with Planet Grenada. I need to study him some more. I believe his wife is Moroccan and he has actually spent a certain amount of time living in the Middle East being influenced by Muslim culture. Even the title of his latest book is in part a pun (Maraca/Morocco) which plays with this link. One of the points he was trying to get across was that both the Caribbean and the Middle East are places where parallel mixings of different races and cultures took place.

In at least one interview he is quite explicit about these connections and influences:

VHC: There’s a Brazilian guy in Italy who wrote a thesis based on my work and sent it to me. He’s fascinated with Ginsberg and all the Beat stuff. I told him thank you, you know. But I didn’t like it much because it’s full of cliché. And there’s another guy, Francisco Cabanillas, who has done critical stuff about my work, a professor who’s writing some kind of book. Cabanillas comes closer to understanding what I'm doing, puts me in perspective with the literature of the island of Puerto Rico. But there are some things that I am about that critics tend to ignore.

turnrow: What are they missing?

VHC: For one example, no one has asked me about my influences from Islamic culture. I read the Islamic-Arabic philosophers, thinkers, poets.... About the fact that I lived in Morocco for a period of time and the effect that would have on my writing, the connections with Islam that I’ve seen in Spain. No critic has ever written about that.

I need to dive into Cruz's work alot more but at some points at least the connections are actually really obvious and explicit for example:

Islam

The revelation of the revelation
The secrets offered in rhythms
The truth of heaven entering through
chorus
Yourself runs into yourself
Through a crack of understanding
As if Falcons landed on a
shoulder of your thoughts
With a letter from your guardian
angel -
Like Carribean mambo dancers
The whirling dervishes go off
spinning into the arms of light
Across a floor of endless squares
and circles
Calligraphy brushed into tiles
Painted inside the names of God
Love
Compassion.

arnaldo tamayo mendez

And if we are going to talk about Puerto Ricans on the moon, I feel ethnically obligated to mention that the first person of African descent in space, and the first Latino in space was the Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez. You can read a little more here and here

Actually, for a while now I've contemplated writing a poem about him but it seems hard to find really good source material that would help to flesh him out.

boricua en la luna

I don't know if there is actually a "Latino-futurism" movement, but if there is, this just might be one of its main texts. The last line of the piece, "I would be Puerto Rican, even if I was born on the moon" has become a powerful slogan for alot of folks, Nuyoricans especially. To be honest, I'm not sure how literally one can take that idea but I definitely think they should get a chance to make their case.

Actually, the site where I got this piece The Virtual Boricua has some pretty good resources in general and is worth exploring.

Anyway, without any further ado

Boricua en la Luna

Desde las ondas del mar
que son besos a su orilla,
una mujer de Aguadilla
vino a New York a cantar
pero no sólo a llorar
un largo llanto y morir.
De ese llanto yo nací
como en la lluvia una fiera.
Y vivo en la larga espera
de cobrar lo que perdí.

Por un cielo que se hacia
más feo que mas más volaba
a Nueva York se acercaba
un peón de Las Marías.
Con la esperanza, decía,
de un largo día volver.
Pero antes me hizo nacer
y de tanto trabajar
se quedó sin regresar:
reventó en un taller.

De una lágrima soy hijo
y soy hijo del sudor
y fue mi abuelo el amor
único en mi regocijo
del recuerdo siempre fijo
en aquel cristal de llanto
como quimera en el canto
de un Puerto Rico de ensueño
y yo soy puertorriqueño,
sin ná, pero sin quebranto.

Y el echón que me desmienta
que se ande muy derecho
no sea en lo más estrecho
de un zaguán pagua la afrenta.
Pues según alguien me cuenta:
dicen que la luna as una
sea del mar o sea montuna.
Y así le grito al villano:
yo sería boricano
aunque naciera en la luna.

Juan Antonio Corretjer