Al-Lail

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

  • The Perfect Universal Model

    In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

      Muhammad the Prophet (SAW) is considered by Muslims the world over the perfect universal model for humanity. The Qur’an, the hadiths (oral written traditions), and history is replete with examples of the Prophet’s (SAW) excellence of character and sublime morals. When he captured prisoners from the battlefield, he granted them freedom in return for teaching a certain amount of Muslims how to read. During and after war he showed mercy on his enemies even though he knew they wouldn’t have done the same. There is a tradition about a certain woman who opposed the Prophet and would put obstacles in his past every chance she got. One day she wasn’t out to put obstacles in his path; when he found out it was because she was sick he brought her a bowl of soup. The mercy and integrity he demonstrated was such that Aisha (R.A) called him “the Qur’an walking”, suggesting that he was the personification of all the enlightened principles of Allah’s Book. The Qur’an is described as light (noor) and so is our Prophet (saw). The Qur’an is called a reminder (dhikr) and so is our Prophet (saw). And so on and so on.

    But what made the Prophet the perfect model? Did it have everything to do with his character? The answer is, ironically, in the criticisms of the disbelievers:

    "And the chiefs of His people who disbelieved and called the meeting of the Hereafter a lie, and whom We had given plenty to enjoy in this world’s life, said: This is only a mortal like you, eating of that whereof you eat and drinking of what you drink."

    23:33

    "And nothing prevents people from believing, when the guidance comes to them, except that they say: Has Allah raised up a mortal to be a messenger? Had there been in the earth angels walking about secure, We would have sent down to them from the heaven an angel as messenger."

    17:94-95

    He was human like you and me. He ate bread. He married. He grieved. He answered the call of nature. He got angry. He experienced the range of human emotions and life challenges. As Muslims we should remind ourselves of this as frequently as we remind ourselves of his sublime characteristics. Why? Because shirk waits for us behind our forgetfulness. The humanity of Rasulallah (saw) teaches us that it is possible to attain a state of being that gives us favor with Allah (swt). Allah (swt) sent down the Book of guidance and a man to demonstrate the application of it not just so that we could marvel over the man. The demonstration is both to help us to know how to do it and to instill confidence that it can it be done. You don’t honor the Prophet (saw) by only sending him greetings and blessings and bragging on him. You honor him by striving to attain the level of spiritual maturity he attained.

    But wait a minute. How can one attain the level of spiritual maturity of someone who was perfect? What made the prophet “perfect” was not simply human merit. His perfection of character was due to Allah’s presence with him. This is the reason that he (saw) says, in a hadith, that our deeds won’t save us. When they asked him if he was excepted from this he said, “No, even I will not be saved unless and until Allah bestows His mercy on me.” Nothing and no one is perfect save Allah (swt). In surah 6, Prophet Ibrahim (as) is observing the star, the moon, and the sun asking the rhetorical question, “Is this my Lord?” When each of them set he said to his people, “Surely I turn myself being wholly upright to Him who originated the heavens and the earth.” Ibrahim (as) was only satisfied with worshipping perfection. Because the sun, moon, and stars set he knew their presence was finite and thus unworthy of worship.

    When the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was sick and on the verge of dying one of the companions was so overwhelmed with grief he threatened to kill any man who came to bring news of the Prophet’s (saw) death. When Abu Bakr came to give the news he said to the companion and the rest of the community:

    "O people, if any one among you worshipped Muhammad, know that Muhammad is dead. But those who worship God, let them know that He lives and will never die."

    Our Prophet (saw) as noble, trustworthy, and honorable as he was, could not escape death. His death is a reminder of his humanity. His humanity is a reminder that he is not perfect. Like the sun, moon, and stars —he had his time to “set”. To exalt to a superhuman deity-like status is not only shirk, it puts him too far out of reach to be a perfect example. That he was human is fundamentally why he was the perfect universal model. 

    Part of what happens when the Prophet (saw) or any prophet is exalted above being human is that everything about him acquires a superstitious, transcendental quality—his cultural dress, the way he sat when he ate, the color of his beard etc. Once I was sitting with a friend talking about the complexities of life being black, especially black and Muslim. To give a little context, I am Muslim and I am also a black man living in a city that a pastor I work with described as having “open arms but a closed heart”. This city’s racially homogenized communities are reminiscent of Franz Fanon’s polemic on the compartmentalization of colonized countries.

    My friend, having listened only superficially, replied, “Our problems are small when you think of them in comparison to the Prophet’s. I mean, none of us have had a goat’s entrails thrown on our back as we prayed, have we?” On one level, this is a beautiful reminder of the Prophet’s (saw) steadfastness under trial. It’s a beautiful illustration of our potential to overcome oppression without being unjust and showing mercy to those who act unjustly toward us. Its important for us to study and become attuned to the thinking and behavior of our Prophet in all circumstances in life. It’s true, I’ve never experienced the hardships of Allah’s (swt) Apostle and can never know what it was like to be an Arab in 7th century Arabia.

    But let's be real, the Prophet (saw) couldn’t know what its like to be black in America either. Welfare mothers and fathers addicted to crack. Children hating the color of their skin & whole families falling through the cracks. That he was a universal example doesn’t mean that his experiences were universal. He was a man born for a message to uplift all of humanity,yes, but he was also a man born in a specific cultural context in a specific era. His experiences, though they may be similar, are not the same as mine. This reality neither detracts from his experience nor from mine. It doesn’t mean that his teaching and example is not guidance for me and my community because it is. So what’s the point I’m making here? Islam fits the needs of people in whatever condition they’re in not because the Prophet Muhammad knew all but because Allah knows all. One mustn’t impose a certain cultural understanding and practice of the religion and disregard the fact that we are different. The Prophet (saw) was an Arab. I don’t have to become an Arab to be Muslim. He was the perfect universal model not because he was an Arab but because Allah gave him a heart that loved all of humanity. 

    Surely Allah knows best and may He grant us all the light of wisdom and understanding, pardon us of our sins, and reward us for the best of what we’ve done. Amin.

     

Sunday, 16 October 2011

  • Blessed Assurance

    "O you who believe, be steadfast and try to excel in steadfastness and guard (the frontiers). And keep your duty to Allah that you may be successful".

    Surah 3 Ayat 200

    Relationships are trying. They are taxing on multiple levels and sometimes uncertainty rises in the heart. A certain degree of uncertainty is good because its indicative of humility and surrendering control. Its a sign that we've divorced ourselves of the illusions of knowing. A sobering realization that, actually, we don't know--that the only thing we can be absolutely certain of is that there is no God but Allah--the one and only reality.

    I asked Allah for a sign, to give me assurance. Help me to see if I'm still on a good path. I flipped open my Quran and it opened to 3:200.

    "O you who believe, be steadfast and try to excel in steadfastness and guard (the frontiers). And keep your duty to Allah that you may be successful".

    I read it and immediately got what Allah was saying to me, "Just stay steadfast fool. You're doing just fine." I looked down and read Maulana Muhammad Ali's commentary. In the commentary on the verse he explains the contextual meaning and the deeper spiritual meaning. He says that the verse highlights three keys to success for the Muslims.

    1. Sabr or Patience. It is that ability to endure to the end, glorying in tribulations with an understanding that it produces character--to reference the Christian text. 

    2. Musabarah or vying in steadfastness. Competition is not inherently a bad thing. It only recently became a dirty word after the advent of capitalism (smirks). The Qur'an actually encourages the believers to be competitive in things righteous. So its not strange that here Allah counsels us to compete to excel in steadfastness.

    3. Ribat or "guarding the army on the frontiers". I think the choice of words here is so powerful. As mentioned before this has a double meaning. Contextually it literally meant Muslims stationing the army and building strong fortifications against the enemy. But at a deeper level we're encouraged to guard the frontiers on a spiritual level against the wiles of Satan or Shaitan. Our frontier is our mind. We should protect the perimeter of our mind from negative influences. 

    This makes it very clear to me to that the extent to which i have been successful or unsuccessful in this relationship and those prior is hinged upon these three keys. There will inevitably be setbacks and unexpected obstacles -- disastrous dates, failed romantic surprises--nonetheless steadfastness what gets you the victory. Afterwards, manifestly, all the trials and challenges are worth it. In fact it makes the success that much more sweet and rewarding.

    Because it is the soul's tendency to grow weary in our journey, to maintain and strengthen patience Allah says compete to excel in it. It is so beautiful to see and be inspired by certain qualities in others that we crave to acquire and grow in. I've always considered myself a patient man but Wallahi, Aidah's demonstration of patience is unparalleled. I've never seen or experienced anything like it. It inspires me to "vie in such persevereance" because doing so helps us to "strengthen each other" (Yusuf Ali rendering of the same scripture). 

    Being guarded seems counter-intuitive to building a healthy strong relationship on the surface. But the guardedness here refers to protection against things that take one away from one's nature. Doubt, suspicion, and insecurity are examples of things that don't just undermine relationships but also one's personal happiness & self-contentment. Allah has blessed me with strong fortifications against enemies like insecurity, hopelessness, & cowardice. The more observant I am of my duty to Allah the stronger my taqwa (God-consciousness) grows. This is moving closer to one's nature. And the closer I move to my nature happier I am and the more successful i will be in all things, including the 2nd most important relationship I will build in my life -- the relationship with the woman I take as my life-partner.

Thursday, 01 September 2011

  • The Victory

    He it is Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they might add faith to their faith. And Allah's are the hosts of the heavens and the earth and Allah is ever Knowing, Wise ---

    -48:4

    I asked Allah for clarity in my life around matters concerning love, relationships, & marriage. I flipped open my Qur'an and my eyes found the above ayah. I read it over a few times and thought on how calm and at peace i was at that moment. Then my mind went back to a conversation I had with Aidah a few weeks ago outside of a cafe on Divisadero. She asked me what about her i find attractive. One of the first things I remarked was her inner peace. If God grants you the gift of discernment, you can look at someone and know if there is inner turmoil or inner peace. Inner confusion or inner clarity. And when I observe her I see a calm and peace that, as i told her, I've longed for.

    Allah sends down tranquility into the hearts of the believers to add faith onto their faith. Since I've known her, I've felt so much more at peace. She consoles and encourages me. She challenges me to take better care of my self and to tend to broken relationships--like the one with my father. Her empathy and compassion is reminiscent of the Prophet Jesus and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUT). She has the kind of heart where she'll give you the shirt off her back if you need it. Allah sends down tranquility into the hearts of the believers. Allah sent down tranquility into my heart through her. She is my spirit of tranquility. I already believed but she helped add faith to my faith. She helped renew and increase my faith in myself, in my father, and most importantly in Allah.

    Allah says in the Qur'an:

    Pray to me. I will answer you.

    -40:60

    She is an answered prayer. Masha'Allah.

Saturday, 27 August 2011

  • Surely the Promise of Allah is true

    Let’s be clear about something. We have real enemies. Enemies that seek to destroy us, drive us out, and undermine our progress as an Ummah in America and other parts of the world. We aren’t trying to establish and build communities and civilizations at the expense of others. We aren’t destroying other peoples and nations in order to claim supremacy. That is how White America and the nations of Europe acquired and continue to maintain their wealth and prosperity —exploitation, genocide, and oppression.

    Allah wants to destroy our enemies. At this moment, he is breaking the power of the oppressor and throwing off the yoke of oppression to make us rulers in the earth. Rulers that will rule with justice, peace, and righteousness. Let’s also be clear that, if we fail, Allah has no problem with bringing in our place another people.

    Muslims. Black people. People of color all over the earth. This is our time. Don’t be ensared by the oppressor’s tricks. Don’t trade in the friendship, blessing, and promise of God to curry the favor of your open enemy. Allah says in the Qur’an:

    "And Allah best knows your enemies. And Allah is sufficient as a Friend and Allah is sufficient as a Helper."

    Allah knows our enemies. He knows their past crimes, atrocities and sins against humanity. He knows their present day evil machinations and plans against us. He tells us that He is our Patron but that some of us take “the devils for friends instead of Allah.” Some of us want the friendship of our enemies so badly that we risk forfeiting Allah’s help.

    Follow the guidance of the Qur’an my dear Muslims. The guidance of both the Christians and the Muslims is to not be “unequally yoked together with unbelievers”, as it is put in 2nd Corinthians. The word “unbelievers” here is translated from the Greek Apistos meaning one who isn’t trustworthy; or one not to be trusted. That’s why the Qur’an uses the adjective “devil” referring to the enemies of the Muslims. They are deceivers; they are constantly found trying to trick the believers into ending up on the wrong path—the path of destruction. The Qur’an tells us that the believing men and believing women are friends of one another, that they enjoin good and forbid evil. Why expend so much time, energy, and emotion trying to make your open enemies brothers and sisters when, for centuries, they’ve made it clear they don’t want you for a brother or sister. Allah (SWT) counsels His Prophet (SAW) in the Qur’an:

    "Then maybe thou wilt kill thyself with grief, sorrowing after them, if they believe not in this announcement." 

    Don’t kill yourself with grief sorrowing after your enemies. Pray for them and then turn to Allah and the believers as a refuge from them.

Wednesday, 06 July 2011

  • And show us OUR way(s) of devotion

    I've been reflecting more on my path toward Islam since Applegate training about a week or so back. I gave a faith reflection on the last day in front of the network during plenary. My first ever khutbah. The subject? Racial & economic justice in Islam. I started with the story of Bilal (RA) and how the Prophet (s.a.w.) had to chide some of his earlier followers for their racist attitudes toward Bilal, an Ethiopian Muslim, one of the Prophet's (s.a.w.) most beloved companions. Then I told the story of a man named Clarence who lived during the Civil Rights Movement; i highlighted his experience hearing Malcolm X for the first time. I brought it home with my story. I struggled telling it partly because i didn't quite know how to explain it. What I could explain was painful & uncomfortable to speak on. My racial identity & socio-economic background growing up shaped and even primed me for accepting the invitation to Islam. I remember growing up wanting to stay inside during the summer because i didn't want my skin to get dark. I wanted to maintain my light hue (and never reflected deeply about why). I grew up pretty poor. One of the houses I lived in growing up had a nest of roaches that were living in our wooden bar & in my room wasps had eaten through the wood and built nests. Memories i live with. Memories of hating the skin i was in & of being poor and struggling to climb the socio-economic ladder.

    When I first heard Minister Farrakhan speak at a church while in college i was captivated. Afterward, I went and bought dozens of his lectures on VHS & DVD. What he taught and how he taught it resonated at a deep level. It opened my mind up to challenge what i held true and reassess how much i actually knew. And he presented these mind and heart convicting arguments in the context of Islam. This wasn't quite the same Islam as taught in orthodox mosques across the world (as i later understood). He presented Islam in a different way. He presented Islam in African American cultural trappings consistent with black sensibilities & ways of being. These cultural trappings included both a unique theology and culture. A new vernacular developed, different folkways, & style of worship. The mosques were called temples and they were set up like a classroom. The women set on one side & the men sat on the other side. The preacher was called a Minister & everyone was "bro." or "sis." so and so. Certain foods became black Muslim staples. The service meeting date and time was the same as what reverts were used to coming from the church--11am Sunday morning. It was a blending of "foreign" & existing cultural elements that created a unique and distinct culture of worship & dedication to Allah (God).

    The Minister taught heavily from the Bible and invoked the Qur'an to support and confirm what he was teaching. Why? Because I, like many black folks, didn't know anything about the Qur'an. However, I grew up reading the Bible and it was text i held in esteem, as authoritative. So he started with what I was familiar with, and led me into the unknown--expanding my parochial and one-dimensional understanding of attainment of truth. Once he said, as people of faith we shouldn't care what bowl we drink the wisdom of God from. No one religion has exclusive right or claim to divine truth. To think otherwise, is to have a very bourgeois & ethnocentric frame of mind. Its this kind of thinking that led to the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, & other atrocities.

    When i heard the voice of Minister Farrakhan I didn't know why it spoke to my soul. I realize, in reflection, that its because i was in need of something that he offered--at a soul level. I was is need of dignity. Of a sense of self worth. Of love. Now, we could look just at the circumstances around my childhood to understand why I was in need. But that wouldn't give the full scope of the problem. What the Minister did so gracefully was to situate my individual plight & struggle for identity, dignity, & love in a larger socio-historical context. I began to see how everything was connected; I could now discern how what happened in the past--both within my family history & my people's history--helps to answer the question "why?" in the present. Why am in such need of dignity? Why, as my therapist ask me once, do I hate my self so? What Islam, as presented by the most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, did for Malcolm X, for Clarence, & for me was instill a greater sense of dignity. It taught me to see being a black man as a badge of honor and not of shame. It began a process of unlearning all the false ideas about myself & my community & all the self destructive behaviors created as a result of being taught falsehood.

    The theology was designed for this purpose. As a Muslim colleague from Pakistan put it, "black people needed to hear that the white man was the devil". Most people believe that Elijah Muhammad's aim in teaching that was to get black people to hate white people. What Elijah Muhammad was attempting to do was disrupt mal-adaptive and dysfunctional thinking patterns in black people. After centuries of the slavery, oppression, & dehumanization black people learned to self-hate & love white. The superiority complex that white folks developed created in black people an inferiority complex. There is a profound relationship between the two complexes that cant' be denied. The false idea of white supremacy is the soil out of which America's institutions grew and that consequently shaped our worldview & view of ourselves. White became the standard of everything excellent, beautiful, divine & noble. Black, a symbol of shame, suffering, deceit & filth. At both a conscious and unconscious level we believed that we were less than white folk--all the evidence pointed to this fact. Overall we were less wealthy, have had lower stations in life, & living in bleak crime-ridden communities. To reeducate our people required a powerful psychology to break this learned self-effacement.

    In Elijah's theology, the psychology was present in the teaching about whites being devils. He knew that as long as we were in love with white folk, we would not be able to love ourselves. This is not to suggest it impossible to love yourself & others at the same time. The way we were taught to love white folk was to hate ourselves. This dichomtomy of white and black is the Manichean or compartmentalized structure of colonial society that Frantz Fanon talked about. A world divided in two, inhabited by different species --one human, one subhuman; one good, one evil, one white, one black.This is what Dr. King didn't understand. Our love for white folks had grown out of and was based on fear, subservience, & self-hatred. Would you stay in a romantic relationship like that? Do you see that kind of love as healthy in any kind of relationship? Neither did Elijah. He knew if he could break black people from their unswerving & unconditional adoration & loyalty to white folks then we could begin to love ourselves again. He knew that our salvation was not in hate, but in love. It's why he sacrificed his life to teach us to love ourselves. And for that I will forever love him.

     

Thursday, 28 April 2011

  • all black people look alike

    I’ve been told i look like: Prince when i was in middle school, Richard (“Rip”) Hamilton when i was in high school, Trey Songz when I got to college, Dave Chappelle after college when i cut my hair, and Raphael Saadiq today wearing my tortoise framed designer eyeglasses . Why none of them look alike?

Sunday, 24 April 2011

Monday, 11 April 2011

  • What is life?

    I’m too young to be having a mid life crisis. Aren’t I? I was just reflecting on what feels like has come to define my life: appointments. I’m beginning to feel that my life is just a series of appointments loosely strung together with a thin string called destiny. Is that all life is? A bunch of appointments that lead up to the “Final Appointment”?  Where one’s only enemy is time?

    Say it ain’t so.

    [end melodramatic rant]

Friday, 08 April 2011

  • God, Colorblind?

    I’ve heard people talk about colorblindness as if it is some noble characteristic or virtue that they have and that others should have. As though denial of cultural differences makes you liberal and tolerant. It doesnt. It makes you a jackass. I’ve even heard some people refer to God as colorblind. This has to be some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard in my life. Allah says in the Qur’an:

    “And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colours. Surely there are signs in this for the learned.”

    Allah created diversity. He didn’t make everyone the same. While God did create all things equal it doesn’t mean they are all the same. A tree is not a flower. An animal is not a human. They are different and the difference in Allah’s creation bears witness to His unity or Tawhid. “Sameness” is denial. Its a rejection of one’s legitimate claim of a unique & different experience based on gender, race, sexuality, religion, and other identity classifications. Colorblindness, in my view, is a dysfunctional reaction to the visceral retaliation of White dominance and privilege. White America’s solution for the subjugation, discrimination, and oppression of people of color based on their color is to pretend as though color differences don’t exist. Your identity—Black man, Asian woman, Latino youth—has been swallowed up by this mammoth called White Guilt. And now White folks have even superimposed this denial based solution onto the Divine. But to make God colorblind is to make God an oppressor. God is not an oppressor. He is a crusher of the power of the oppressor (Psalm 72:4). 

     

    What do you think? Is God Colorblind?

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

  • playin' the dozens

    WHOA i just found out the historical meaning of “playing the dozens”. Originated during slavery where slaves would be competitors, insulting one another in a battle of wits, jokes, & mental agility and dexterity—all for the massuh’s pleasure.

    Sounds a lot like what we used to do on the school bus when i was in High School! Where i’m from we called it “workin” or “clownin”. Here in the Bay the call it “Roastin”. During slavery they called it dozens. And some of you niggas still be playin' the dozens White America laughs. smh.

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About Me

  • The Messenger of Allah said: "He who amongst you sees something abominable should change it with his hand; and if he has not strength enough to do it, then he should do it with his tongue, and if he has not strength enough to do it, (even) then he should (abhor it) from his heart, and that is the least of faith." I've realized that if I am to make real sustainable change in this world I have to help wage a revolution in the minds and hearts of the people. And since Islam is a religion of moderation, it only makes sense that I be a pragmatic revolutionary, always seeking the middle course. And at the same time being able to hold that radical injustice requires radical change. What I do I do for the millions of nameless black men and women who jumped into the unforgiving Atlantic--preferring death by the sea than a life away from home. I do it for the ancestors who picked cotton from can't see morning to can't see night, hands blistered and swollen every day of their lives.

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