THE INVISIBLE MATTER: How we impoverish a liberal arts

education by marginalizing Africana Muslims

by Mansa Bilal Mark King, Ph.D.

Highlighting New African Diasporas – Senegal

A program of Morehouse College and the School for International Training

What is a Liberal Arts Education?

What is a Liberal Arts education, and what the heck has it to do with Key and Peele’s East versus West skit?

Blackamerican Muslims played a starring role in changing the overall Blackamerican population’s naming practices. – NOTE: today’s practices have likely evolved beyond the

impact intended by the Blackamerican Muslim pioneers

What is a Liberal Arts Education?

• The Association of American Colleges and Universities: – It should empower individuals

(i.e. liberate the mind from the shackles of “ignorance”)

– prepare people to deal with complexity, diversity, and change.

– provide people with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society)

– provide people with in-depth study in a specific area of interest.

– help people to develop a sense of social responsibility,

– help people to develop strong intellectual and practical skills (e.g. communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings)

– provide people with transferable skills

What is a Liberal Arts Education?

What I will address:

• Liberated/Empowered

• Cope with complexity, diversity, and change

• Have broad knowledge of the wider world

• Develop a sense of social responsibility

• Develop intellectual skills (communication, analytical and problem-solving)

• Have practical skills (apply to real-world settings)

Who are Africana Muslims?

Who are Africana Muslims?

Muslims

• Identity: people who self-identify as Muslims

• Discourse: people who recommend or debate over Islamic norms for themselves and others.

• Many groups’ “Islamic bona fides” are regularly challenged by non-Muslims or by other Muslims

– Examples: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Nation of Islam, Ahmadiyya, Sufis.

Who are Africana Muslims?

Muslims

• Ethno-religious identity: Collections of people who are significantly Muslim, and often whose ancestry, nationality or ethnic identity is key to Islamic history or studies.

– Moors

– Swahili People

– Mandinka, Pulaar-speakers, Songhai, Wolof, Hausa, Somalis, Arabs,

Who are Africana Muslims?

Africana people

• of Africa

– including Northern Africa, South Africa, and the Swahili Coast

• of the Diaspora/African heritage

– Communities formed by enslavement or trade beyond Africa over time.

– Example: Blackamericans, most Jamaicans, most Dominicans, Afro-Columbians, Afro-Mexicans, Siddis, Habshis, etc.

Who are Africana Muslims?

Africana people

• pre-historic meaningful connection to Africa or Blackness

– in parts of Southern Asia, Micronesia, and Melanesia…when indigenous people are meaningfully associated with African-ness or Blackness.

– Example: Ghawarna of Jordan

Who are Africana Muslims?

These women are celebrating the Sufi saint Mangho Haji Syed Sakhi Sultan at Manghopir, a suburb of Karachi. Sheedis, like the Siddis of India, revere the African saint Bava Ghor. http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africansindianocean/essay-south-asia.php

Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan who moved to Philadelphia in the 1970s, and became the center of a multiracial community of seekers of many faiths. http://www.bmf.org/shop/songs-of-bawa-muhaiyaddeen-sufi-mystic/

Who are Africana Muslims?

Filipino Muslims (Moros)

Some Moros have phenotypical features that Americans (and many of the first Westerners to encounter them) associate

with Africa.

Stock Photo - Manila, Philippines -October 15, 2012: Filipino Muslims from different part of the nation at a peace rally near the presidential palace as a peace pact is signed between the Philippine government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front

• http://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/peace_philippine.html?mediapopup=15927778

Who are Africana Muslims?

Many Arabs, even among the royalty and elite: Moroccan, Libyan and Kuwaiti

Sultan Youcef ben hassan of Morocco 1912-1927 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rulers_of_Morocco#/media/File:Youcef_ben_hassan.jpg Prince Idris Al-Senussi (or Mahdi Al-Senussi) Crown Prince http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/the-royals-house-of-al-senussi-of-benghazi/comment-page-1/ SHEIKH SAAD AL ABDULLAH AL SALEM AL SABAH Crown Prince of Kuwait from 1978 until 2006 http://arabroyalfamily.com/kuwait/sheikh-saad-al-abdullah-al-salem-al-sabah/

Who are Africana Muslims?

• Abdul Rahman (from the biography about him, Prince Among Slaves). Originally from today’s Guinea, he lived as a slave in Mississippi for 40 years. http://princeamongslaves.org/module/identity_intro.html

• Seyyid Bargash Omani/Zanzibari Sultan in the late 1800s. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/ruete/arabian/104.jpeg

• British colonial official with Arab rulers in Zanzibar; on the far right is Tippu Tip, the most infamous Arab slave and ivory trader, who died in 1905

• https://www.pinterest.com/pin/549791066984620153/

Who are Africana Muslims?

South African Muslims

http://aboutislam.net/muslim-issues/opinion-analysis/muslims-in-post-apartheid-south-africa/

Who are Africana Muslims?

• Sheikh Ali Mustafa Seinpaal of Suriname http://www.caribbeanmuslims.com/categories/Our-Region/Suriname/

Why do Africana Muslims matter?

• Peace studies

• Human Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle

• The History of Music

• Race, Class, and Gender studies

• Islamic Studies

• Area Studies

Peace Studies

The Jakhanke, Dyula, inviolable towns, and Suwari

Peace Studies

The Muridiyya tariqa founded as nonviolent.

Peace Studies

Sufi communities often embody peaceful coexistence, but it is not inherent to Sufis. Some have taken up arms.

Human Rights & the Black Freedom Struggle

• Islamic community-building in Black America has been tied to Black Liberation for over 100 years.

• The Nation of Islam framed the Black Freedom Struggle in terms of Human Rights (not Civil Rights).

– Civil rights: asking abusive and negligent American elites to “do right”

– Human Rights: persuading the world to pressure American elites to “do right”

History of Music

• The Blues was likely influenced by Sudanic African instruments, Quranic recitation and/or the adhan.

• A sizable cadre of Jazz musicians became Muslim

– Their travels in majority-Muslim societies allowed them to introduce new sounds into jazz music

• Key figures connected to both Islam and the Black Freedom Struggle are also connected to Hip-Hop.

– The Last Poets, H. Rap Brown/Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X/El-Hajj Malik Shabazz

History of Music

Harry Allen, a journalist, wrote in The Source Magazine that Islam was “the unofficial religion of Hip-Hop.” – The 1970s: AfriKa Bambatta’s Zulu Nation used teachings

from the Nation of Islam, the Ansar, and the Five Percenters.

– SOME Golden Age Muslim-affiliated acts: Rakim, Public Enemy, Tribe Called Quest, Paris, Brand Nubian, X-Clan, Busta Rhymes, Wu-Tang Clan, Big Daddy Kane, Brand Nubian, Nas, Kool Moe Dee, Gang Starr, Mobb Deep, Poor Righteous Teachers, Queen Latifah, Ladybug Mecca, MC Ren, Da Lench Mob, Ice Cube, Jeru the Damaja, The Roots, Wu Tang, Busta Rhymes…and more.

History of Music

Method Man (Wu Tang) applying Five Percenter teachings: Minute 1:49 in the song “All I Need”

Lord Jamar (Brand Nubians) applying Five Percenter teachings: Minute 3:30 in the song ”All for one “

History of Music

…“the unofficial religion of Hip-Hop.”

– Goodie Mob, Still Standin’ (1998)

• on Inshallah (2:20) recites half of Al-Fatiha in English

– Eve, Common, Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco

– Often fluid affiliations

– The decline of Muslim influence among Hip-Hop’s stars has accompanied the decline of socially conscious messaging in mainstream Hip-Hop music.

History of Music

Many American Hip-Hop artists embraced Islam, and some were born into Muslim families

– In Muslim societies beyond the U.S.A., Hip-Hop continues to be heavily influenced by America’s Golden Age of Hip-Hop

– Muslim communities are in every big American city with large, struggling Black neighborhoods

– A large percentage of incarcerated Black Americans become Muslim

– These links between Muslim identity, Black American street life, and Hip-Hop may have “institutionalized” Hip-Hop’s relationship with Islam

Race, Class & Gender

RACE & GENDER: In 1887, Edward Wilmot Blyden, a preacher, a political figure, and one of the fathers of Pan-Africanism, wrote Christianity, Islam, and The Negro Race. • He concluded that European Christianity had an

emasculating effect upon Africans. He linked it to assimilation into European culture upon conversion.

• In contrast, he argued that African Muslims remained “real men” by retaining their ethnic cultures.

• His writings and talks helped to launch over 100 years of “masculinist” Black nationalism wedded to Islamic identities and rhetoric in the Black Freedom Struggle.

Race, Class & Gender

• Blyden concluded that conversion to European Christianity was having an emasculating effect upon Africans (later applied to Blackamericans).

• In contrast, he argued, African Muslims remained “real men” and retained their ethnic cultures.

• His writings and talks helped to launch over 100 years of “masculinist” Black nationalism wedded to Islamic identities and rhetoric in the Black Freedom Struggle.

Race, Class & Gender

RACE & CLASS: There were also attacks on Black elite cultural dominance coming from non-Muslim Blacks.

• Harlem Renaissance

• Marcus Garvey

• Carter G. Woodson “Miseducation of the Negro”

• E. Franklin Frazier “Black Bourgeoisie”

• W.E.B. DuBois recanting “The Talented Tenth”

Race, Class & Gender

In the 1960s, the impact of rhetoric from figures like Malcolm X, segregated labor markets, insufficient government protection, COINTELPRO, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Blaxploitation Era films all gave birth to the Black cultural revolution – Malcolm is called “our manhood” by Ozzie Davis (2:40)

– Malcolm calls conciliatory Black leaders “house negros.”

– Malcolm’s gender talk (19:55-23:25)

– Malcolm is described as speaking “in a manly fashion” by Sonia Sanchez (0:30-2:09-2:40)

– Malcolm calls Dr. King an “Uncle Tom negro.”

Race, Class & Gender

Race, Class & Gender

• RACE & CLASS: Most Blackamerican Muslims who attacked Blackamerican elite cultural dominance sought to replace it with a blended working-class, rural, civil, ascetic, and scholarly culture

• Nationalists, Socialists, Communists, Pan-Africanists, Traditional Religion Seekers, and other activists sought their own cultural replacements

– Some were Muslim and some were not

– H. Rap Brown, Muslim after 1976

Race, Class & Gender

RACE & CLASS: H. Rap Brown as Imam Jamil Al-Amin Nat. Day of Action on Fri.

Race, Class & Gender

• Black Cultural Revolution: Black authenticity becomes tied to resisting white dominance and to the cultures of the Black masses (street, rural, working class, impoverished, and criminal cultures)

• Elite Black cultures became generally stigmatized as weak, soft, and afraid to offend white people

– “weak, soft, and afraid” is a particular problem for those trying to establish male authenticity

Race, Class, & Gender

Blaxploitation film subtly continues these attacks, & then Hip-Hop continues them gradually and openly

• Examples: “Sweetback” and “Shaft”

• Hyper-masculinity, criminality, and objectification of women become Hip-Hop’s dominant themes with new corporate investments into only certain sub-genres of Hip-Hop

• Hip-Hop goes global in this same period

Islamic Studies and Area Studies

• “Islam was in Africa literally before Islamic Time began” – Rudolph Bilal Ware

• Africana Muslims play key roles in Africana studies and narratives – Slaves: Bilal, Kunta Kente, The Bahia Rebels of 1835,

Makandal & Boukman in Haitaian Rebellion, Abdul Rahman ibn Sori, Ayyub bin Sulaiman, Omar bin Said

– Rulers: Sunjata, Mansa Musa, Ibrahim Sori, Abdul-Qadir (Senegal) & Abdelkader (Algeria)

– Warriors: Muhammad Ahmed (Sudanese Mahdi)

– Scholars: El-Hajj Salim Suwari, Ahmad Baba, Bagoyogo, Umar Taal, Uthman dan Fodio

Islamic Studies and Area Studies

Islamic Studies and Area Studies

Africana Muslims figure significantly in European(Moors) Asian (3:00) and American studies (0-1:40)

– Yemeni scholar, Habib Omar bin Hafiz, in Indonesia

– Siddis, Sheedis, Habshis of India and Pakistan

• Mai Mishra and Bava Gor are revered Siddi saints

• The spiritually purifying Manghopir crocodile pond in Pakistan

• (Some) ancestors of today’s Siddis/Habshis were political elites

• Some became hereditary royalty

– Janjira (implications for race studies)

– Sachin (implications for race studies)

Islamic Studies and Area Studies

• West African elites buying Arab and Turkish women in Egypt turns the dominant narrative upside down.

• Some of today’s most populous Muslim societies have a story that is similar to that of West Africa.

– Indonesia

– Malaysia

– Mogadishu down to Dar-es-Salaam

– Rather undermines the false narrative “Muslim Arab warriors stream out of the desert proclaiming convert or die”

Islamic Studies and Area Studies

Africana places and people figure prominently in the Qur’an, Muslim (sacred) history, and today’s Muslim landscape.

– Yemen, The Horn, & Egypt (then and now)

– Luqmaan, Negus, Bilqis/Makeda of Sheba, Pharoah’s wife,

– Khalif Ali, Khalif Omar, Soumaya, Bilal

– Qarawiyyin (Morocco): Oldest continuously operating university in the world, AND founded by a woman.

– Andalusia: Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal & Spain

Islamic Studies and Area Studies

Islamic Studies and Area Studies

Africana places and people figure prominently in the Qur’an, Muslim (sacred) history, and today’s Muslim landscape.

– Zaytuna College founded in California, by

– Zaid Shakir, a Blackamerican Muslim

– Hamzah Yusuf, an Anglo-American Muslim who recognized the liberal arts core in his Mauritanian Islamic education experiences

– Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, a Blackamerican Muslim educated at Al-Qarawiyyin

New African Diasporas: Transnational Communities, Cultures, and Economies

• Application Deadline is Oct 1 (visa)

• Financial aid is still available if you finish application now…

• Four courses and 15 credits: - Africana Muslims - Migration & Entrepreneurship - Wolof Language - Frameworks & Fieldwork

• http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/semester/spring-2017/adp/

Additional Resources (a partial list, in no particular order…limitations due to time constraints)

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Additional Resources

Interview of Zaid Shakir – PBS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waBA9vrz9lw Interview of Hamzah Yusuf – (source not stated) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqQA2C15_l4 An Islamic View of Race Formation & Diversity: Abdullah bin Hamid Ali https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSa4mcy01bU&index=19&list=PLD6C2936B16DBEBDA About Shaykh Abdullah bin Hamid Ali and Lamp Post Productions - Imam Zaid Shakir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpMRp-f29S4&list=PLD6C2936B16DBEBDA&index=31 Zaytuna College Inaugural Commencement Address https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQHmVISiooM White Supremacy as the Beginning of Modern Shirk – Sherman Jackson https://youtu.be/a5OoJaW-Y2E?list=PLD6C2936B16DBEBDA&t=51

Additional Resources

Islam as Black History – Jamillah Karim and Edward Curtis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3puXJzDsodc The History of Islam in Africa – Sulayman Nyang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPPdpXKv_CY The History of Islam in India and Southeast Asia – Sulayman Nyang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-HyWUu6US0 The History of Islam in Spain – Sulayman Nyang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVXZElTJPXM Foundations of Islam – Hamzah Yusuf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICu3ITHnBoM&list=PL7DDC6E4A27E031CC Conversations with Talal Asad (coined idea of Islam as discourse) – Multiple sources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfAGnxKfwOg&list=PLXJQfAAzIyhQnVY4l5gpgDXVcWnACXDd9