Connect with us

Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Bigotry – I mean Islamo-Fascism Awareness – Week -Ruth Nasrullah

Guests

Published

When I read about Islamo-Fascism Awareness week I was reminded of an interview I did while in graduate school studying journalism. I was assigned to cover an anti-war protest in Boston Commons, and while looking for people to interview I was intrigued to come across two Neo-Nazis who were there to protest the protest – or maybe just to take advantage of the day to express their disapproval of the diverse world they found themselves in. I recall that one of them was wearing a t-shirt that applauded the effects of Zyklon B gas.

I asked them for an interview because the assignment was boring and I thought they would be interesting. (I should note that back then I didn’t wear hijab, so as far as they were concerned I was an ordinary blue-eyed white girl). I no longer have my notes, but as I recall the interview was kind of stupid. They were skinheads and I was a journalism student proudly honing my skills at unbiased interviewing.

Q: Why are you here?
A: To support the war and promote white power.
Q: Oh, you believe in white power? What does that mean?
A: It means we believe the Aryan race is superior and America needs to go back to its white roots.
Q: Okay, thanks for your time. Have a nice day.

Support MuslimMatters for Just $2 a Month

MuslimMatters has been a free service to the community since 2007. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

As a reporter, it was a big yawn. What I saw is what I got.

I thought about my interview with the Neo-Nazis in the park when I read about Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. Not because the week’s organizers are as evil as Nazis, but rather because I was struck by the difference between the two. The Neo-Nazis were quite up front about their ideology of hate. The IFAW organizers cloak their agenda with the spectacular promise that “the nation will be rocked by the biggest conservative campus protest ever – Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, a wake-up call for Americans on 200 university and college campuses.” Rocked? Biggest ever? Wake-up call? How silly. Get over yourselves.

Their attempt to intellectualize their bigotry doesn’t legitimize it.

David Horowitz, the genius behind this project, is an anti-Muslim propagandist who, along with colleagues Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes, claims to support academic integrity in higher education. In fact their goal is to vilify all Muslims by mish-mashing together historical and political issues with the faith – as though Ahmadinejad is my voice and Hamas is my religion.

Horowitz’ FrontPage Magazine hosts a propaganda film (replete with the menacing sound of staccato violins) equating Muslims with Nazis. To me that’s particularly ironic because the IFAW brought to mind those guys I met in the park in Boston.

Anyone who bothers to educate himself about Islam will realize how nonsensical – and how dangerous – the “Islamo-Fascism Awareness” campaign is, and will begin to wonder about the real motivation of its organizers. The IFAW troops could take a lesson from the Neo-Nazis and just tell the truth. Instead of expending resources falsely claiming to defend freedom and support women’s rights, perhaps they could save us all time and just wear a t-shirt.

Also see (the following added by Amad):

Support Our Dawah for Just $2 a Month

MuslimMatters has been a free service to the community since 2007. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

16 Comments

16 Comments

  1. Avatar

    Moiez

    October 21, 2007 at 8:28 PM

    Ok as a member of the MSA of Delaware I think we should hold an event for this propaganda and stop some of the brain washing that will occur during this “awareness” week and I need ideas…..
    Anyone?

  2. Avatar

    Habibi

    October 21, 2007 at 9:33 PM

    @ Moiez:

    Well, there are two main categories in which at least the MSA could respond.

    A) Being Pro-Active : We can start our own campaign as most of the people are doing. I am not sure how many people are on facebook [I guess all of us :P] ( i think we should have a FaceBook group thingie so that we can share things on facebook as well..yeah ? ) but there is already something like that going on there, called wear Green to oppose this IFAW
    http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=7627125398

    b) Being Re-Active : I know most of the management gurus go against being reactive but I believe actions ( or reactions ) should be modified/customized based on what we are dealing with. Like over here, since they have already announced about the so called ” awareness week ” , people ( audience ) can be divided in three groups based on their respective knowledge or perception of Islam.

    i) Those who already believe on this non-sense, who are brainwashed right from the start. And therefore who don’t need all this propaganda. And of course these are in minority.

    ii) Second minority is those who know something about Islam. Something positive that they won’t be affected by all this misleading week.

    iii) It is the majority, whom they are after. The majority of confused Americans who don’t have any knowledge of Islam ( or of anything worth knowing [no offence to dear fellow Americans ]) . These are the people that we can target as well. We can have our information booth or information fliers distributed in area close by. So that after listening to the nonsense, if some sensible person wants to find out the truth or have questions about it, they can see in front of themselves some people who CAN answer them , and satisfy their quests, and provide them knowledge. So in this way, basically what we are doing is answering these who want to know, since those who don’t want guidance wont even listen to us to begin with. So essentially the idea is to provide what they need and when they need something. Its like giving food full of spices for free and selling soda or water right next corner for money ( ok not really a good example :P)

    Also checkout

    http://www.petitiononline.com/mybridge/

  3. Amad

    Amad

    October 21, 2007 at 9:55 PM

    The nonsense that the term “islamofascist” is: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060911/pollitt

  4. Avatar

    Kashif

    October 22, 2007 at 12:00 AM

    salaam aleikum,

    2 things that i will mention about this:

    1. there can be some good that can come out of this. Especially given the wild exaggerations and outright lies these people tend to tell about islam may get people to try and explore the other side and investigate the issues further.

    2. The confrontational style which they have advertised should help to alienate more people than these stupid fools will ever attract. For example, they plan on doing “sit in protests” in womens studies departments protesting against Islam’s treatment of women and feminists silence. This coming from Iraq war cheerleaders who cheered on American troops as they gang raped their way in Abu Gharaib and in Mahmudiyya.

    3. It will force MSAs from doing purely “spiritual” works and being practically invisible to the general student body out in the open and allow the public on campuses to see who Muslims are and what they are not.

    Lastly, there is an excellent blog by a brother that exposes some of the big “names” they have coming to speak here is the link:

    http://drmaxtor.blogspot.com/

    salaam aleikum,

    Kashif

  5. Avatar

    zfnd

    October 22, 2007 at 2:39 PM

    Nice article.

    MSA’s may want to use the following resources:

    http://www.mpac.org/article.php?id=545

    MPAC is also conducting “Truth Over Fear: Countering Islamophobia” workshops for student groups.

  6. Avatar

    DrM

    October 22, 2007 at 5:32 PM

    Check out Judeofascist Awareness Week at my blog. Fun for friends, and the whole family.

  7. Avatar

    amad

    October 22, 2007 at 6:09 PM

    Dr. M is doing a great job exposing the real fascists behind this whole propaganda… must-read!

  8. Amad

    Amad

    October 22, 2007 at 9:05 PM

    Some other great links:

    JUDEO-CHRISTO-FASCISM AWARENESS WEEK COMES TO AMERICAN CAMPUSES!
    Rabbi Arthur Waskow

    NOT IN OUR VOICE: JEWISH ALLIANCE REPUDIATES ‘ISLAMO-FASCISM AWARENESS WEEK’
    Shira Gordon, Alana Krivo-Kaufman, Josh Schwartz and Shlomo Bolts, Columbia Spectator,

    MN: ISLAMO-FASCISM A RACIST CONCEPT
    Fedwa Wazwaz, Minnesota Daily

    ‘ISLAMOFASCISM’ – DEBUNKING A CONSERVATIVE SMEAR TACTIC
    Annika Carlson and Sarah Dreier, Campus Progress

    IN: ISLAMO-FASCISM AWARENESS MISFIRES BY TARGETING PROFESSORS
    Indiana Daily Student

  9. Avatar

    ruth nasrullah

    October 22, 2007 at 9:54 PM

    I agree – DrM’s Judeofascist posts are awesome – very enlightening and right on point.

  10. Avatar

    ruth nasrullah

    October 22, 2007 at 9:56 PM

    BTW, here is the correct link to DrM’s blog: http://drmaxtor.blogspot.com/ . There is a comma where there should be a period in the link to his name in his post above.

  11. Avatar

    Moiez

    October 23, 2007 at 10:55 AM

    Jazakallah Khair for all the suggestions and websites! Much Appreciated

  12. Amad

    Amad

    October 23, 2007 at 11:28 AM

    Horowitz a disaster at UW (Wisconsin or??)

    One of his supporters shares a report on it (so it can’t possibly be biased)… MSA did an awesome job… WAY TO GO MSA!!

    http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/10/islamo-fascis-1.html

    He was so uninspiring a speaker they didn’t even really heckle him.

    The crowd both right, left, Muslims, Jews, Christians all decent people began the perfect chant. A**hole, A**hole, A**hole. He was browbeaten from the theater, deemed beneath the dignity of the proceedings.

  13. Avatar

    Ruth Nasrullah

    October 23, 2007 at 11:55 AM

    To clarify, though…from the way I read the post it wasn’t Horowitz who got called that name and ejected from the theater; it was an audience member.

  14. Amad

    Amad

    October 23, 2007 at 12:25 PM

    A clearing house for info. against IFAW:

    http://www.defendcriticalthinking.org/

  15. Amad

    Amad

    October 23, 2007 at 2:39 PM

    how about zionofascism… at least that’s what Juan Cole is talking about:

    http://www.juancole.com/2007/10/sadism-of-israeli-occupation.html

  16. Avatar

    DrM

    October 23, 2007 at 9:03 PM

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

#Current Affairs

The Disenfranc(e)hisement Of Muslims And Why We Need To Stay Focused

Shaahima Fahim

Published

France is currently enjoying its turn in the limelight of the current news cycle, constantly feeding journalists, pundits, activists, religious leaders and laypeople with material to justify more and more stage time.

“We don’t believe in political Islam that is not compatible with stability and peace in the world,” President Emmanuel Macron is quoted to have said, blind to the fact that the very specific brand of politicised liberalism he currently wields, is ironically only holding that olive branch further out of reach.

Unfortunately, with the France-Macron issue, we find ourselves stuck in torturously lengthy debates over the many hypocrisies of the French laïcité, or going back and forth yet again trying to correctly define the newest terminology (‘Islamic Separatism’) coined for our apparently many-tiered brand identity, refusing to acknowledge the reality check in the room. That all those answers have already long already been writ.

Support MuslimMatters for Just $2 a Month

MuslimMatters has been a free service to the community since 2007. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

Macron’s message to Muslims is clear: You Are Not of Us. And in unabashedly endorsing the parading of offensive caricatures of the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) — knowing with full certainty the distress this causes for Muslims the world over- and cracking down on prominent Muslim charities and even anti-Islamophobia organizations. Macron is shouting it out from the rooftops; seemingly unafraid of any potential repercussions.

And why should he be? In a political climate where Donald Trump  is the leader of the free world, where Britain is no longer part of the EU, and the highly-respected Merkel soon on her way out, Macron is enticed by the notion that if he plays his cards right, he may well be in contention to be seen as the strongman of Europe.

Liberal Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Although there is so much more to unpack geopolitically, this only partially explains why Macron’s beef (not halal, of course) with France’s Muslim community is not new. Long before the Samuel Paty brouhaha, Macron has been stirring the proverbial pot of anti-Muslim sentiment by shutting down over 70 mosques, schools, and private institutions in the name of neatening up France’s secular identity. Domestically, having only barely earned his presidency when the country went to the polls last, Macron has now chosen to conveniently stretch the limits of his party’s liberal stance in order to drum up support when up against the far-right Le Pen in 2022. And when anti-Islam rhetoric is being employed in a secular political agenda, you know now is the time to be really concerned.

It becomes evident then that Macron too is operating from an all-too-familiar political playbook which calls for the weaponization of Islamophobia for political gain, in a bid to cover-up the deeper underlying issues of the state; and if that comes from smearing an entire civil society under the guise of countering radicalization, so be it. The same playbook has already been passed on by one too many hands, and if we fall into the trap of treating each incident in isolation, there looms the threat another great (Muslim-specific) pandemic.

Leaves of the Same Book

We recognize the same machinations from some of the pages China has earmarked, where the Chinese state is currently incarcerating of over 1.3 million Uyghur Muslims in a network of brutal concentration camps across what China calls Xin Jiang 9occupied East Turkestan. This under the official guise of countering separatist tendencies. Further south, a few leaves too have been taken and applied by India’s Modi  — notoriously known to have come into power flaunting his hard-line nationalist agenda—, in the passing of the blatantly anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and his ruthless ‘handling’ of the people of Kashmir. These examples representing only a small segment of an extensive readership.

Currently Muslims the world over are being distracted into believing that the demonization of Muslims is a very Macron-specific issue, and that we can wash our hands from the matter once through. The very specific French pastry mould that cuts out the definition of a ‘good’ Muslim (apolitical and unseen), and the increasing elasticity of laïcité, is in reality just a modified version of attempts at Muslim disenfranchisement and erasure we are witnessing the world over; only in this instance disguised by very French accents.

We have witnessed many an example where scare-mongering against Muslim minorities and immigrants has done wonders for winning votes in elections and referenda, and although the situation of Muslims in France does appear particularly bleak right now, taking offense too can be a surprisingly effective catalyst in tackling an unfair world order. As concerned bystanders from afar, we the oft-silent majority -and our non-Muslim allies-, should most certainly invest in efforts to counter instruments of institutionalized Muslim bashing  — in specific, and minority bashing in general- that is increasingly being mainstreamed.

Many jaded activists will testify that this movement too shall pass, with the oppressed yet to be left behind in the dust again. While most likely true, instead of cynically questioning whether or not these movements, petitions, and demonstrations are going to eventually produce results, we need to show up while the coals are still hot. Better still, with the blinders off. In reading up, speaking to those on the ground, keeping abreast of developments, and pressurizing our governments, we stand a chance at greater staying power for this cause now, and for a re-fuelled sense of purpose against Muslim-directed atrocities being committed anywhere else.

Secularism has never killed anyone, tweeted Macron callously, simultaneously blacking out pages from France’s bloody history and wiping clean the blood from his own hands.

Au contraire, Monsieur President. Au contraire.

Support Our Dawah for Just $2 a Month

MuslimMatters has been a free service to the community since 2007. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

Continue Reading

#Current Affairs

Democracy, Citizenship, And Islamophobia: The Making Of A New India

Meraj Din

Published

When tracing the political genealogy of modern India after its partition in 1947, historians identify the two defining principles used by the state as secularism and democracy. Yet the idea of India, post-1947, a newly born nation-state and now-market of 1.4 billion people, as a home for multiple religious, ethnic and linguistic denominations continues to unravel under the contradictions of historicity.

While the Union of India was historically seen as a progressive multi-ethnic secular democracy, throughout the past few decades the policies and politics of inequality for minorities, violent objectification based on castiesm, virulent manifestation of Islamophobia, and clampdown on all forms of democratic political dissent show a paradoxical paradigm shift from its founding principles.

Tracing the Genealogy of Partition

In the early years after independence, the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the ruling Indian National Congress (or Congress Party) advocated for an Indian brand of secularism designed to hold the country’s disparate communities together under one roof.

Support MuslimMatters for Just $2 a Month

MuslimMatters has been a free service to the community since 2007. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

This idea was formally attested in the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976, the Preamble to the Constitution proclaim that India is a secular nation. 

Yet this idea of a nation that tolerates religious and ethnic minorities was contradictory of Hindu nationalist ideology, first collated in the 1920s by V. D. Savarkar in Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?. Savarkar defines India culturally as a Hindu country and intended to transform it into a Hindu Rashtra (nation-state).

Hindu nationalists view India as a Hindu nation-state not only because Hindus make up about 80 percent of the population but also because they see themselves as the rightful sons of the soil, whereas they view Muslims and Christians as the outcome of bloody foreign invasions or denationalising influences.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen argues in his path-breaking work The Argumentative Indian:

“the enthusiasm for ancient India has often come from the Hindutva movement—the promoters of a narrowly Hindu view of Indian Civilization—who have tried to separate out the period preceding the Muslim conquest of India.”

The case for  secularism, with its own historical pitfalls, really started to shake when Hindu nationalists populated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its various ideological affiliates and started promoting a starkly different worldview; envisioning India as a majoritarian Hindutva nation-state, not a country with diverse multi-religious and cultural history.

The question of the viability of India’s secularist tradition, and the tensions inherent in these competing visions of Indian nationhood have come to the fore in recent years, since the BJP’s landmark electoral victory in 2014. 

Politics of Otherisation 

After India’s parliament revoked article 370 in Kashmir (called out as constitutional blasphemy), it passed a bill in the parliament offering ‘amnesty’ to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from three neighbouring countries.

It was a major step towards the official marginalisation of Muslims that would establish a religious test for migrants who want to become citizens, solidifying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda.

The bill offers citizenship to religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), argued “this will give sanctuary to people fleeing religious persecution”, while forcing Muslims, many of whom do not have any official documentation, of re-registering as Indian citizens.

This is one more step towards realising the grand project of creating a Hindutva Nation.

Arundhati Roy, one of India’s most famous writers, compared the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to the Nazis’ 1935 Nuremberg Laws, which blocked Jews from German citizenship. 

The ruling BJP government itself includes the Shiv Sena (Army of Shivaji) political party, which actually sought inspiration from Nazi Germany.Click To Tweet

In 1967, Bal Thackeray said, “it is Hitler that is needed in India today,” in an interview to Time magazine. In 1993, he said, “If you take Mein Kampf and if you remove the word “Jew” and put in the word “Muslim,” that is what I believe.”

This new reality of India clearly manifests the reductionist understanding of religion and use of politics as a means to achieve religious goals inspired from the Hindutva theology with all institutions working in tandem to promote the politics of exclusion. 

Take the case of the Babri Mosque in the city of Ayodhya, which was demolished by Hindu fundamentalists in 1992. Then, last year India’s Supreme Court awarded the disputed site to Hindus for the construction of a temple for the Hindu deity Ram.

Hindu hardliners, including BJP supporters, say that Ram was born at the site of the Babri Mosque, which was built 460 years ago during Mughal rule in the subcontinent.

The unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court in the Ayodha dispute“gives precedence to faith and belief over available documented archaeological evidence”, according to Kashmiri political analyst Sheikh Showkat Hussain.

The case of the Babri Mosque dispute, if read in continuation of other steps taken by the BJP government is another move towards the delegitimisation of Muslims’ citizenship. 

Just as it is illustrated in Brad Evans and Natasha Lenard’s Violence: Humans in Dark Times,the increasing expression and acceptance of violence-in all strata of society has become a defining feature of today’s world.

In December, while China was fighting the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, the government of India was dealing with a mass uprising by hundreds of thousands of its citizens protesting against the brazenly discriminatory anti-Muslim citizenship law it had just passed in parliament.

There was punishment to be meted out to Delhi’s Muslims, who were blamed for the humiliation. Armed mobs of Hindu vigilantes, backed by the police, and attacked Muslims in the working-class neighborhoods of north-east Delhi. Houses, shops, mosques and schools were burnt and more than 50 Muslims were killed.

Covid and Islamophobia

While much of the international response to the coronavirus pandemic was unity and shared responsibility, , the battle against Covid-19 in India metamorphosed into Muslim-bashing.

Coming just weeks after pogroms based on religious hatred ended up 36 Muslims dead in Delhi, the outpouring of intolerable tweets manifest how concerns over the coronavirus have merged with longstanding Islamophobia in India, at a time when the Muslim minority — 200 million people in a nation of 1.3 billion — feels increasingly targeted by the ruling Hindu nationalists.

Since March 28, tweets with the hashtag #CoronaJihad have appeared nearly 300,000 times and potentially seen by 165 million people on Twitter, according to data shared with TIME by Equality Labs, a digital human rights group.

Coronavirus is just “one more opportunity to cast the Muslim as the other, as dangerous,” says Ali, an assistant professor of political science at JNU in Delhi. 

Antagonism towards the minority community, which had already spread its tentacles in society, intensified amidst the nationwide lockdown. By singling out an Islamic religious congregation as a major source of the spread of the infection, the authorities inflamed communal tensions and reports of Islamophobia poured in from various quarters across the country.

The mainstream media has incorporated the COVID story into its 24/7 toxic anti-Muslim campaign. An organisation called the Tablighi Jamaat, which held a meeting in Delhi before the lockdown was announced, has turned out to be a “super spreader”.

That is being used to stigmatise and demonise Muslims. The overall tone suggests that Muslims invented the virus and have deliberately spread it as a form of jihad.India has continued with this claim of being a progressive secular democratic nation even though systematic pogroms have been going on against the Muslim population. Islam and Muslims seen as an immediate ‘other’ die a silent death under different pretexts. 

“One of the key features of anti-Muslim sentiment in India for quite a long time has been the idea that Muslims themselves are a kind of infection in the body politic,” said Arjun Appadurai, a professor of media, culture and communication at New York University who studies Indian politics.

“So there’s a kind of affinity between this long-standing image and the new anxieties surrounding coronavirus.”

The left-leaning newspaper The Hindu published a cartoon showing the world being held hostage by the coronavirus—with the virus itself depicted wearing clothing associated with Muslims.

The Nehruvian secularist project and Modi’s communal project are not fundamentally all that different, in that both demand India’s minorities to “integrate” into the national majority which means giving up their socio-cultural way of life.

Modi’s model is to make all minorities homogenous by saying everyone is a Hindu and, therefore, they have to stop being anything else. The other is a secular model whose template is taken from the dominant religion, Hinduism, and, therefore, is cast upon everyone.

Arundhati Roy accused the Indian government of exploiting the coronavirus in a tactic reminiscent of the one used by the Nazis during the Holocaust. 

“The whole of the organisation, the RSS to which Modi belongs, which is the mother ship of the BJP, has long said that India should be a Hindu nation. Its ideologues have likened the Muslims of India to the Jews of Germany,” Roy said.

“And if you look at the way in which they are using Covid-19, it was very much like typhus was used against the Jews to get ghettoise them, to stigmatise them.” Click To Tweet

Hatred against Muslims continues after the massacre in Delhi, which was the outcome of people protesting against the anti-Muslim citizenship law.

Now, under the cover of Covid-19 the government is adamant to arrest young Muslim students; already Sharjeel Imam, Safoora Zargar and Umar Khalid have been booked them with anti-terror Laws like Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

It seems the idea of India being the largest secular democratic country has disguised an organised Islamophobia campaign and an institutional oppression of Muslims that has existed for decades.

Support Our Dawah for Just $2 a Month

MuslimMatters has been a free service to the community since 2007. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

Continue Reading

Africa

Top 10 Books On Black Muslim History

Dr Muhammad Wajid Akhter

Published

The history of Black Muslims seems to be trapped between Bilal raḍyAllāhu 'anhu (may Allāh be pleased with him) and Malcolm X. While these are particularly bright supernovas in the pantheon of giants from Muslim history, they are far from being the only stars in that history.

Recent events have meant that many Muslims want to actively close that gap in their knowledge of Black Muslims. This isn’t just an academic interest, it is one of the recurring pieces of advice given by Black Muslims themselves when asked what the rest of the Muslim community can and should do to actively fight against racism in all its forms.

When you don’t know the story of a people, it becomes easy to belittle or even dehumanise them.

So here, in no particular order, are my Top 10 books on the history of Black Muslims in the English Language.

  • Centering Black Narrative: Black Muslim Nobles amongst the early pious Muslim by Dawud Walid and Ahmed Mubarak

Support MuslimMatters for Just $2 a Month

MuslimMatters has been a free service to the community since 2007. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

There are many reasons why tokenising Bilal ibn Rabaah raḍyAllāhu 'anhu (may Allāh be pleased with him) is embarassing. One of them is because there are just so many other Black Sahaabas out there to talk about. This great book showcases so many of the greatest generation who, we may not have realised, were black. I actually did a prior book review on this that you can check out here.

  • The history of Islam in Africa edited by Levtzion & Pouwels 

This is less a book and more like a mini-encyclopaedia. This is for the serious student of history and a good reference book. If you want to tell the difference between the Songhai and the Sanussi or want to tell apart the different Tariqahs – this is your encyclopaedia. I mean book.

  • Illuminating the Darkness: Blacks and North Africans in Islam by Habeeb Akande

Habeeb Akande is one of the most prolific Black Muslim writers out there on a range of topics. This book offers a sweeping narrative dealing with history, social issues like interracial marriage and the concept of race as dealt by scholars such as Al-Suyuti. As expected, this book is well researched and well written so a good primer for those new to the topic.

  • Beyond Timbuktu: An Intellectual History of Muslim West Africa by Ousmane Kane

Timbuktu and West Africa was for a time one of the richest centres of Islam in terms of wealth and intellectual tradition. To read about this time read this book by the Harvard professor Ousmane Kane. To all those who believe in the idea of racial superiority, you’ll be quickly disabused of that notion when you realise that this is the intellectual depth of a book about the intellectual depth of Black Muslims in West Africa.

  • The Black Eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire: Networks of Power in the Court of the Sultan by George Junne

In almost every Muslim Empire, the Sultans and rulers might change but there is a constant presence just off centre if you look closely enough. Eunuchs, who were often but not always of Black heritage, were right there at the centre of power. While the institution that brought them there was horrific and inhumane, the power they wielded was serious and far reaching. This book goes through the lives of a group of Black Muslims who shaped the Muslim world in ways that may surprise you.

  • The African Caliphate: The Life Work & Teachings of Shaykh Usman Dan Fodio by Ibraheem Sulaiman

In a part of the world that gave us the world’s richest known person, great kings and warriors – you have to be pretty special to stand out. Usman Dan Fodio was more than special. He was one of those people who excelled as a military leader, a teacher and a person. He revived the sunnah and stands as one of the giants in the history of Islam. Learn about the man they call simply “Shehu.”

  • The Caliph’s Sister: Nana Asma’u, 1793-1865, Teacher, Poet and Islamic Leader by Jean Boyd

History tends to be His story far too often. It is the history of great men doing great things. 50% of the world is missed out with women far too often playing cameo roles as femme fatales or spoils of war. Well, the story of Nana Asma’u bucks this trend. She was not just a towering figure. If her father conquered lands, Nana conquered hearts. Learn about her story. Herstory – get it? Just read the book.

  • Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas by Sylvaine Diouf

The story of how enslaved Muslims struggled to hold on to their faith and values, to not just survive but to actually thrive is fascinating and should be required reading. While there are other books that deal with the subject in a more detailed manner, this book is accessible and touches on all the main themes from revolts to literacy levels. Ms Diouf does a lot to shine a light on one of the darkest institutions in Islamic history.

  • Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times by Thomas Hauser

It is a measure of the man that despite being the greatest sportsman of all time, it was still only the 2nd most interesting part of the life of Muhammad Ali. How this young scrawny kid from Louisville went from being Cassisus Clay to one of the most recognisable human beings on planet Earth is not just a biography of a superstar but the story of the struggle of a people, the many missteps on the road to that struggle and the ultimate redemption that awaited. Long after the name of the Presidents and Kings of his era will be forgotten, the name of Muhammad Ali will live on.

  • The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Alex Haley

For me, even though it speaks to a specific person, place and struggle, this is by far the greatest of all the books out there on the history of Black Muslims . This is the denouement of a centuries long struggle for the survival of faith against the greatest odds and how slavery, racism and enforced conversions all came crashing down when one man of rare intelligence decided that it was time to overcome “by any means necessary.” If you have not read it, what are you waiting for? It will change you.

As I argued in a previous article called Erasing Race: Problems with our Islamic history, the history of Islam without Black Muslims isn’t really a history at all.

Whether you decide to read any of these books or check out some YouTube videos or articles about the history of Black Muslims, let us all educate ourselves. Only then will we all be able to start helping to build a more just world. Only then will we all be able to breathe.

Support Our Dawah for Just $2 a Month

MuslimMatters has been a free service to the community since 2007. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

Continue Reading
..

MuslimMatters NewsLetter in Your Inbox

Sign up below to get started

Trending