Islam, Slavery and the African
By Abdullah Hakim Quick | 2026-01-15T12:49:45.872178+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Islam, Slavery and the African - By Abdullah Hakim Quick
Opening Greetings and Welcome
In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful, I begin with the greeting words of Paradise. (السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ - Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah). And those are the words of peace, and I pray that the few moments that we have together tonight would be a source of peace and would also be a source of understanding.
And peace and understanding, I believe, are two very important qualities in these times, especially with the world becoming a global village, and that people are sharing culture with each other, and especially with the rapid change in technology, and with the tremendous or fearsome weapons that are in the hands of humanity today. It is very important for us to understand each other, and it's very important for us to be honest with the history of this planet and where we are going.
Congratulations to the Community
And I want to, in the beginning, to congratulate the Muslim students and the Muslim community people who are here tonight on their completion of the month of Ramadan, that is the fasting month for Muslims. And I pray that Allah would give them the best for their fast, would accept their prayers, would accept their struggle, and would help Ramadan to be a doorway for the rest of the year.
I also would like to congratulate and to welcome the African students and community people who are here tonight. This is Black History Month, and when Carter G. Woodson began this idea in America, the intention really was to bring out some of the stolen legacy, some of the misunderstandings concerning African people in this part of the world.
Reflections on Black History Month
And Black History Month has come to be a very important time for people throughout America in the exchange of information. In Canada, I have had the opportunity in Toronto to be on a number of panels and a number of lectures in the exchange of information during this month. My only hope and prayer for Black History Month is that it wouldn't be restricted to the month of February. Not only is it the shortest month of the year, but up in Canada, it's the coldest. And really, that's sort of the opposite of what we think about when we're talking about African history, because that's something that's really warm, especially to those who understand it well. And so, my hope and prayer is that this could extend to the whole year.
The Need for Inclusive Curriculum
And what we are struggling for now is to have the misunderstanding, the stolen legacy of African people and other underrepresented groups to be part of the curriculum, part of the mainstream curriculum. So that we shouldn't actually have to have a Black History Month or Native History Month or Islamic Awareness Week.
This should be part of the curriculum. And the average young person growing up should have the opportunity to benefit from the history of Islam, from the history of Africa.
Media Stereotyping and Representation
The average person growing up should not have to go through a racism change in their value systems. You know, when they're looking at television, and I as a young African American with West Indian parentage went through a very serious change from a young age as an African American trying to find my own place on the television, in the history books. And sometimes, I really had a problem because the only characters that I was finding on the television, in the movies, and this lasts up until today to a certain extent, were usually people who were either comedians or athletes or the villain. This is what African people usually play.
And I challenge at the outset anybody, go through the television programs today and think about how many African people are actually heroes in the program. Not a comedian, not a joker, not an athlete, not a villain. There's a few programs now, but it's not many. And when you think of people of Chinese descent, how many Chinese heroes do you know? Not Kung Fu fighters, right? When you think of a person of Indian descent, how many Indian heroes do you know? Not Gandhi or Indian movies, no. And a mainstream program, think about it.
Modern Stereotyping in Media
A person who's an Arabic-speaking American, what do they think about TV? Right now, in most of the movies, we are finding that the bad guys who used to be, when I was growing up, Japanese, Russians, Germans, and natives, now the bad guys are usually Spanish drug cartels, Afro-American posse or Jamaican gang, or the most sinister character you can bring to the screen is the Arab terrorist. They seize their hostages, and they will not release them until their comrades are released from the prison, and then the Delta Force is in motion. Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, that big guy, Steven Seagal with the little ponytail, and it said all the heroes are in motion to rid the world of the new terrorists.
This is stereotyping. It's stereotyping, and it's gone on with a number of people in our history, and especially with Hollywood, which has a license to do what it wants without any historical authenticity. They can make anybody who they want to be the hero or to be the villain.
The Topic: Islam, Slavery, and African People
And so tonight, I wanted to shed some light on a very misunderstood area, and that is concerning Islam, slavery, and African people. This is a very serious topic, and it is one that really requires a number of lectures. To be able to get into this topic, actually, it would probably require a whole university semester to really get into it properly. What I want to do tonight is to really give you an overview and maybe let you understand something about this area from the horse's mouth, as they say, or from the primary source, from a Muslim.
And I want to speak not only from myself, but I want to speak to you from the primary sources of Islam, meaning from the Quran itself, from the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, also from history, and then from the perspective of the people who live in the countries themselves, and not somebody who is writing about the country from the outside.
Defining Islam
In the beginning, I think it is very important for you to understand, when we are talking about Islam itself, we are not talking about a Middle Eastern group. We're not talking about a way of life that is restricted to any particular nation or any particular linguistic group. What Islam means in the root essence of the term is submission to the will of Allah. And when we say Allah in Arabic, you can translate that into every language. And there is a way that people throughout the world have expressed the concept of the Creator. You'll find it in every language. And so Islam really means that submission to the Creator. Not worshipping created things, but going beyond the created things to the power that initiated life. This is what Islam means.
The Global Presence of Islam
Right now, there are over 1 billion Muslims in the world today. The latest census coming out of Egypt is 23.1% of the earth's population. There's over 70 million Muslims in China, over 60 million in the former Soviet states. It is the majority religion on the African continent. By the year 2000, it'll be the second largest religion in North America. So this is not a restricted way of life.
And quiet as it's kept, if you are aware of a recent struggle that went on in a place called Chechnya, which is in the former Soviet Union, the Chechen people are Caucasian people. They come from the Caucasoid mountains. And so those old racist definitions in terms of dividing up people to Negroid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, those racist definitions. If you are using those definitions, Chechens are Caucasians. And they led one of the most intense Islamic struggles that we have witnessed in the second half of the 20th century. They have a long tradition of Islam.
Islam is Not a Racial Phenomenon
So what I am trying to say is that Islam is not a racial thing. But Islam is that feeling of submission that expresses itself in the individual and then within the nation, within the collective. This is really what I mean by Islam.
And just to wrap up that definition, according to Muslims, over 124,000 prophets and messengers came to every nation and every tribe. In the Quran it says:
We have sent to every nation a messenger that they would worship the Creator and stay away from false deities.
Prophets in Islamic Understanding
So this is an international phenomenon. So according to our understanding, the prophet Abraham, Ibrahim عليه السلام (alayhi salam), submitted to the creator, he was a Muslim. The prophet Moses, Musa عليه السلام (alayhi salam), we believe the water opened up for Moses, he was a Muslim. The prophet Jesus, Isa عليه السلام (alayhi salam), we believe was a prophet. He was born of a divine conception. His mother had him without a father. But we believe that he is one of the prophets of Islam, meaning only submission to the creator.
The difference between the mainstream Christian church and us, for definition purposes, is that when it is mentioned in John the Comforter, we believe that the one who was destined to come after the time of Jesus, peace be upon him, was the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, who was the seal of the prophets, who lived 1400 years ago or more in Arabia, the seal of this long line of prophets and messengers. And so when we talk of Islam, we are speaking about monotheism.
Challenging Traditional Views of African Religion
For the definitions of people who may not be aware of religion in Africa itself, there's a discussion that goes on. And you have it on different levels. But basically there's a discussion that happens where people propose that in Africa, originally there was traditional religion. And the people worshipped the river, or they worshipped the tree, or they worshipped the sun. And then later on, that religion evolved into a higher level, or changed into a higher level with the Semitic people coming into Africa. And then they say there's Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
This is what you get in a lot of university courses that you take. I want to challenge that root definition right from the beginning. What we are finding from going to the primary sources, going to the sources of the people themselves, and not other people who wrote about them, is that we find that Africa has been a place of multiple beliefs from the beginning of time.
Africa's Religious Diversity
There have been people who have a number of different beliefs. And this is the way Africa is. If you go to the African continent, especially in traditional Africa, and you go to the city, you will find people of many different nations in the marketplace who are discussing with each other, who are trading with each other, who understand different cultures from different parts of the continent. It is a continent that is very much diverse in its languages, in its culture, in its expression.
Ancient African Monotheism
As far as monotheism is concerned, from the teachings of Ptahhotep, and this was first published in the 5th Kemetic, or you could say Egyptian dynasty, around 2388 before the Christian era, Ptahhotep, believed to be a sage who served under the king Asa, was reported to have said: Do not scheme against people. God will punish accordingly. If a man says, I shall live by scheming, he will lack bread for his mouth. People's schemes do not prevail. God's command is what prevails. Therefore, in the midst of peace, what God gives comes by itself.
And so you will find in this book, which is considered by many historians to be the oldest text that we have written text, in these teachings of Ptahhotep, it is recorded that monotheism was alive and well.
Akhenaten and Monotheism in Ancient Egypt
Also in the Middle Kingdom of ancient Kemet, or ancient Egypt, the well-known Pharaoh Akhenaten, who was somewhere around 1358 B.C. to 1340, he expressed his dedication to the soul god, Aton, and he was expressing a belief that focused not on the different gods, not on the sun, but on the power behind the sun. The power behind the sun. This is in ancient Egypt, which of course, is in Africa. And within the Psalms of Akhenaten, you find the following:
How manifold are your works, though hidden from sight, O soul god, besides whom there is none. You created earth according to your desire, you alone. All people, cattle, and all kinds of animal, all on the earth that walks on legs and all on high, that fly with wings. You set every person in his or her place, and satisfy their needs. All have food, and their time of life is determined. Their tongues differ in speech, and so do their characters. The colors of their skins are different also, for you distinguish the people. How excellent are your ways, O lord of eternity.
This is an African Pharaoh speaking. This is before the time of Moses, before the time of Jesus, and before the time of Muhammad peace be upon him. This is in Africa. And you will find other writings throughout the continent. You will find in Shona writings, the strong belief in one god, the great spirit. You will find in the writings of Langi, of Uganda, also the concept of the great spirit. You will find this throughout the continent.
The Prophetic Confirmation
So really, the root definition of Islam, meaning submission to one god, or the concept of monotheism, is something which is not new in Africa. It is something which is not new throughout the world. But the only thing that the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him did, was to confirm what came before him, was to confirm the natural belief, or the natural tendency in all human life to recognize the creator of the heavens and the earth.
The Artificial Division of Africa and Asia
And this is a very important definition for us to begin with, because when people speak about Islam today, when they try to define Africa, we tend to do this in a way that separates instead of a way that unites. I'm still trying to figure out how they separated Africa from Asia. Because this didn't happen until the European colonial period. It wasn't until then that the Red Sea divided Asia from Africa. If you look at the people who live along the Red Sea, you will find that for the past ten thousand years, their cultures have been one. People have been traveling across, back and forth of the Red Sea, as though they were traveling from one city to another in America.
It is only when the European colonial system came, that they said, if you're on the eastern side of the Red Sea, you're an Asian. If you're on the western side, you're an African. This is a definition that really, when you
The Diverse Early Muslim Community
And so, it is the same thing with Islam. When you start to divide people up, or start to categorize Islam, you will realize when you go to the root sources of Islam, that it is ridiculous. Because from the beginning of the message of Islam, or the last message of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, had with him people of all different nations.
Understanding Slavery in Historical Context
Now, what I also want to look at, before going into the specifics of Muslims themselves and their relationship to slavery, is the concept of slavery itself. What we have to realize is that slavery in the ancient world was an international phenomenon. Slavery was in China, in Africa, in Europe, in the Americas, in the Middle East, it was everywhere in the world. It's almost similar to worker and boss today.
Even the word slave itself, many historians are saying, comes from Slav. You know, like Czechoslovakia, Slavic people, because they were enslaved by the Romans. And so they looked at blonde-haired, blue-eyed people coming from the North as slaves. That's a strange definition today, especially with racism having overtaken everything. That's a strange definition. But in the ancient time, slavery was not defined by color. Slavery was a class, or it was a life that a person was put into for a number of different reasons.
Slavery in Ancient Civilizations
And so, when you look back at the ancient times, you will find in ancient Byzantium, the Byzantine Empire, under the Digest, compiled by a Christian emperor, slavery was considered part of the law of nature. Marriages between slaves were not legal in the Byzantine Roman Empire. Marriages between slaves and free were prohibited under severe penalties. You will also find that within America itself, amongst the native people, in China, in Africa, there was slavery.
And slavery usually came about through warfare. That after the war was over, the prisoners of war, who were usually women and children, were taken by the other side and incorporated into the society. So the definition of slavery itself, if we are to look at Islam, which began not recently, but over 1400 years ago, to have the proper perspective, we need to have a proper perspective about slavery itself.
The Universal Nature of Ancient Slavery
You are talking about a relationship between people that was established throughout the planet. It was the way of life of the people on earth. If you were in a war and you were not killed, you were taken as a slave. This was all over the planet.
The Columbus Mentality and Colonial Exploitation
Now what has clouded the issue is that in this 15th and 16th century, starting from the 15th century, when Christopher Columbus bumped into America, thinking he was going to India, lost and discovered by the people in probably the Bahamas, who cooled him down and probably tried to give him something to drink, but he told them, I discovered you, I control you. And we foolishly have maintained this in our institutions for years, even only recently in 1992, it was the 500th anniversary centennial of the age of discovery.
But my question was at that point in time, who was discovered? Was it the people here or Columbus? It was Columbus. That's what they should actually have been saying. But what you have to deal with is the mentality, not Columbus himself, because Columbus was very late. And historians recognize now that many people made it across long before Columbus. That's another lecture in itself. But African people made it across, Muslims made it across, Vikings made it across, Phoenicians made it across. Many different nations were able to come across the Atlantic and the Pacific, on the other side too, and come into the Americas.
The Mentality of Exclusion
The important point is the mentality, it is the mentality where you deny the civilization of the other people. Just imagine this now. We look at the picture and we see Columbus landing on the shore and he's looking at people and it says, Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. I tried this out, man. I went to Nigeria, Kenya, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and I said to the people, who discovered America? They said, Christopher Columbus. I said, when? They said, 1492. I said, did you look at the picture? They said, oh, that's right, there's other people in the picture.
So this mentality of exclusion, the mentality where people are living there, yet you don't recognize their humanity. That is the one that is the poison that destroyed the relationships where racism became a tool of oppression and a tool of mental and physical exploitation.
When Slavery Became Racial
And we find that from the 15th and especially 16th century that slavery became a racial phenomenon. When Europe found in Africa a source of cheap labor to bring into the Caribbean, South America and North America to produce sugar and cotton and tobacco and the other products, they looked to Africa. They tried poor whites first, but that didn't work because they looked at themselves. They looked in the mirror and at the master, they said, wait a minute, I look just like you. I'm not going to be a slave.
They tried the native people, but the native people had been here for over 10,000 years. And so they refused to submit. They would either run away and fight or they would just die. So they looked to Africa because African people not only would be very visible, especially if you brought people out of West Africa or Central Africa, they would be very visible. Also the climate in the Guinea coast, the Gold Coast, Angola coast is very similar to
The Transformation of Slavery into Racial Oppression
So they figured all these things in and then targeted Africa as we know the slavery period began and millions of people were brought out of Africa into the Americas. Slavery became racial. History also records that there were African people who lived in America at the time of the 13 states who had their own property. Some of them even had slaves. Some of the African people, I believe, were also part of the native culture because they had come across with the Mandinka and there's a book called Deeper Roots here. You can read Ivan Van Sertima and other people and you will find out about the discoveries before Columbus.
So African people were already here but slavery became racial, Code Noir, the black laws. These laws came in, everybody of African descent became slave, whether you were free or slave. Regardless of your tribe, regardless of your status in society, once you fit a particular definition racially, you became a slave. This is how everything changed.
The Emotional Weight of This Topic
And so that definition, that concept, that concept is with us today. This is what makes it extremely difficult to talk about this topic because this is a very emotional topic, especially for people who have had ancestors who were in a state of slavery, including myself. This is a very emotional topic but we have to be able to look at this topic in the proper perspective so that we ourselves would not fall into stereotyping or into wrongly accusing people of something that they did not commit.
Arabia in the Time of the Prophet
When you look in the time of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, I want to again take it back to Arabia and we're going to go 1,410 years before or more into this period of time in the Arabian Peninsula. And what you have to understand about the Arabian Peninsula itself is that the Arab people who were living there are actually a mixed people themselves. And so when you start to talk about racial definitions, you have a problem even in Arabia to do that because people were not necessarily distinguished in the Arabian Peninsula by the color of their skin.
The strict color definition is something which is only recent from the 16th century. And if you look back to Herodotus and other Greek and Roman historians when they talked about ancient Egypt, they said the ancient Egyptians were dark-skinned people with woolly hair. They had no problem with color. They had no problem at all. It is only at the 16th century now that color has become so crucial to people's definition.
The Prophet's Mission and Teachings
And so the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who was the seal of the prophets who came in line with the
other prophets, began his mission in Mecca, in the city of Mecca. And he basically taught the belief in one God. He basically confirmed the teachings of those who came before him, that you should be honest, you should not steal, you should not lie, you should not commit adultery, you should not oppress, you should believe in one God, you should pray, you should give in charity, you should fast. He confirmed what the other prophets taught before his time.
And it is recorded in the history books and you can go to a book, Ibn Ishaq, there are a number of very serious Islamic works that are written in Arabic language. Arabic was a lingua franca of Islamic civilization. And so in Arabic, Africans or people from many different parts of the world wrote. And you find that from the beginning, the Prophet, peace be upon him, was surrounded by people of all nationalities.
The Social Composition of Early Muslims
One striking quality though about his followers was that they were generally from the lower class. He himself was from the tribe of Quraysh. And the Quraysh was considered to be a noble tribe. That is because they were descendants of Abraham, of the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him. Also they were descendants of one of the tribes from southern Arabia, Jorhum. And they were also a descendant of Hajar or Haja, who was an Egyptian, who was the wife, one of the wives of the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him. And so they were considered a noble tribe and they were in a leading position in Mecca itself.
Although he came from that tribe, he wasn't a rich person. He was surrounded by people from the lower class. And so you find the slaves in Arabia at that time were not from one particular racial group. They were from any racial group, including the Arabs themselves. Because it was based upon your position in society and not your racial definition.
Famous Early Muslim Companions
And so it is recorded that a number of his followers and one of the famous followers, Bilal ibn Rabah, may Allah be pleased with him, was the person who called to prayer for the Prophet, one of the early Muslims. Also Salman al-Farisi, a Persian man. He was also a slave. There was also Suhaib al-Rumi, Suhaib the Roman, was also in a slave position. And you will find that there were Arabs, Zaid, a number of people who were Arabs, who were in slave positions.
The Core Islamic Teaching of Tawheed
And so from the beginning, Islam taught that people should not submit to created things, but they should submit to the creator of the heavens and the earth. In the opening chapter of the Qur'an it says
You alone, O God, do we worship, and you alone do we seek for help.
And so this concept, which is called Tawheed, this strict concept of monotheism, gave the individual a feeling not to submit to created things, but to submit only to the creator of the heavens and the earth.
The Islamic Practice of Freeing Slaves
And so from the beginning, one of the strong actions done by the Muslims was to free the slaves. And so you find a number of people being freed from the beginning, especially by one of the Sahaba, the companions of the Prophet, whose name was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, who was recorded to have freed a number of slaves, a number of people from the lower class. And many of these people rose up in the ranks of the Muslims to become people of distinction.
It is also reported that the Prophet himself freed 63 slaves. His wife Aisha freed 67. The Prophet's uncle Abbas freed 70 slaves. Abdurrahman ibn Auf, one of the rich Sahaba, there's a number of reports, but he freed thousands of slaves. Zulkala Himyari freed 8,000 slaves. Abdullahi ibn Umar freed 1,000. Hakim ibn Hazm freed 100. And this list continues, and you'll find within the annals of history, if you read the history book of At- Tabari, Tarikh At-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Al-Athir, you go into the actual reports from the language of the people living at the time, you will find a number of people who were released from slavery by the Muslims who were struggling very seriously in those times to try to right the wrongs and to bring the society into a society of justice.
Prophetic Guidance on Treatment of Workers
Also we find that the Prophet, peace be upon him, made it very clear in his language to his followers what their relationship should be. And in one hadith, there was a report on the authority of Abu Hurairah, who was one of the famous companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him. This is called hadith Qudsi for the Muslims who are here. It's not the Quran, it's not a saying of the Prophet, but it is when the Prophet quotes from the Creator.
And this is what it says: Allah the Almighty said, there are three whose enemy or adversary I shall be on the Day of Judgment or the day of resurrection. A man was given his word by me and has broken it. A man who has sold a free person and has consumed the price and a man who has hired a workman has exacted his due in full from him and has not given him his wages. This is reported in Sahih Bukhari, which is a very authentic text, which is the second most authentic source for the Muslims.
Islam's Struggle Against Bondage
And so Islam struggled then to liberate the people from physical bondage, from psychological bondage, and from spiritual bondage. You also found that Islam allowed slaves to buy their freedom. Now what was happening is again you're coming into a society where slavery is an institution spread throughout the world. And so within the society itself, this is a class of people. There is free and there is slave. This is the way it is.
And so the Quran itself in chapter 24 verse 33 says, and if those of you and if those who are in your possession ask for a deed of emancipation, execute the deed of emancipation with them, provided that you find some good in them and give them something out of the means Allah has given to you.
Zakat and the Liberation of Slaves
Also one of the pillars of Islam, which is called zakat, and this is the third great pillar of Islam, and this is charity or this is the due, two and a half percent of the wealth which is given every year to the poor and the needy. One of the categories of people who were defined by the Creator that you should use your wealth for is a person in slavery. That you should spend your money to get people out of a state of slavery.
The Narrowing Definition of Slavery in Islam
And so what we find is that the definition of slavery itself was narrowed down. Originally slavery could be a person who captures another person, a person who just goes to a marketplace and buys a person. The only definition that remained within Islamic Sharia, which is the law of Islam, is for the prisoners of war.
So actually the word slave itself is really the wrong definition, it's the wrong term. Because when you say slave in English, what comes into your mind is somebody who is captured, and somebody who is put in ball and chains, working on a plantation. This is not the Islamic definition. The Islamic definition of right-hand possession is a person who comes into the society as a prisoner of war.
Islam's Phasing Out of the Institution
And so what Islam basically was doing was phasing out this institution of the prisoners of war. It is not a needed institution. It is not one of the pillars of Islam, as the New York Times might say. But what it was, it was an international institution. It was a relationship that people had throughout the world. And Islam was bringing the people out of the institution, phasing it out. It was not wise at that time, according to what we understand, to try to totally eliminate it. Because the relationship of slave to master was a relationship throughout the world.
And so therefore what was done, it was narrowed down. Capturing a person was prohibited. Going to the marketplace and just buying somebody for any reason was prohibited. It is only when a person is a prisoner of war.
Treatment of Prisoners of War in Islam
In that condition, according to the traditions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, we find that if a person fell into that condition, that they were supposed to eat the same food as the person who was above them, wear the same clothing, not supposed to be punished or harmed, and they were supposed to be helped to come out of that condition as soon as possible. This is the root definition of quote-unquote slavery within Islam. It is a narrowed down institution which was not a pillar of Islam and not a necessary institution within Islamic life.
Distinguishing Between Islam and Muslims
And so you find that as Islam spread to different parts of the world, in many parts of the world slavery completely disappeared. In some parts of the world, when people in the name of Islam wanted to take advantage
of other people, slavery then continued. And I'm not here today to stand in front of you and say that slavery did not exist in the Muslim world and there were not people who were quote-unquote Muslims, who were not involved in slave raiding or slave trading.
What I am here basically to show you, is that there is a difference between a person who is actually practicing Islam in the proper way, according to Sharia, the Islamic law, and a person who has an Islamic name, who comes from a Muslim family and carries out what they want to carry out anyway. There's a difference between the two. You might find a person, may Allah protect us from it, who is a Muslim, you might find him drinking alcohol. Muslims don't drink alcohol, but you might find somebody who drinks. That's his problem. That is not Islam that made him do that. That is the choice that the individual made to carry it out.
The Early Islamic Period
When you look at the history of Islam in the era that is called in Islamic jurisprudence, the time of the Salaf as-Saleh, this is the first three generations of Islam, you find within that early time, there is no slave raiding that is going on. There is no historical report that shows that Muslims were involved in slave raiding or in slave trading, as it happened later on in Islamic history. That is the source for Islamic lifestyle. And so people have practiced Islam based upon their understanding of their relationship with the Creator and their ability to perform the Sharia.
Muslims Among the Enslaved in the Americas
When African people were taken into slavery from the west coast of Africa, and quiet as it's kept, we are now understanding that maybe close to 30% of the slaves taken from the Guinea coast of West Africa were Muslims. Close to 30%. In Bahia, in Brazil, which was the largest slave population created by the Portuguese, there was a huge slave revolt in Bahia, a successful slave revolt, to the point where the Hausa and the Fulani or the Fula people, who were taken into slavery in that part of the world, were able to defeat the Portuguese. They were given boats and they returned to West Africa. And you can go to Lagos today and you can find Brazilian mosques, which is a mosque, a house of worship, built by people who were captured, taken to Brazil, and then won their liberation and returned to West Africa.
Muslim Resistance in Suriname and Trinidad
You also find that in Suriname, the bush blacks led a great revolt. And if you go to the interior of Suriname today, you will find African people who are free people, who fought for their liberation. One of the leaders in this revolt, his name was Arabi, and his general was Zamzam. Zamzam is water in Mecca, that the Muslims drink. It's been flowing from the time of the Prophet Abraham. This is in Suriname.
Also, you find that in Trinidad, Mohammed Sisay, and a number of Muslims who were living, who were captured prisoners of war or slaves, were able to get their freedom and actually gain, get property in Trinidad. And they actually had a society going on in the Caribbean. And you find it all over the Caribbean in the writings
now. We are reinterpreting the writings and understand, and we understand, that when the term Mandingo is being used, they are referring to a Muslim.
Mandingo. This is the terminology now. They wouldn't use Muslim, because you have to remember that the Spanish were paranoid of Muslims. Because they were, Muslims were in Spain for 700 years. And so, that the Spanish had to overtake the Muslims in Andalusia, right? Seville, Toledo, Granada, Cordoba. So, they didn't want to hear the words Muslim. They wanted to erase it. They just baptized everybody on the boat. And so, nobody could use it, especially the Muslims. But still, records are coming to us.
The Wathiqa Document and Jamaican Resistance
In 1821, in the Manchester parish of Jamaica, a document was being passed around, which is called Wathiqa. (وَثِيقَة - Wathiqa). It was written in Arabic. This is a document which is now being linked by Nigerian scholars to a document written by a West African Islamic reviver of the faith. His name was Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio of the Fulani people. He wrote a document which was called (وَثِيقَةُ ابْنِ فُودِي إِلَى أَهْلِ السُّودَانِ وَمَنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الإِخْوَانِ - Wathiqa Ibn Fudi Ila Ahl al-Sudan Wa Man Sha'a Allahu Minal Ikhwan).
This document says, it is the document or manifesto of the son of a scholar, Ibn Fudi, to the people of the Sudan, meaning right across West Africa, you know, to the Sudan today, and those whom Allah pleases from the brethren, meaning his students or talaba. This document, Wathiqa, was calling the people to resistance. Resistance. At that time, it was against the petty Hausa kings, who were oppressing people in Gobir and other parts of Hausa land. There was a revolt, a resistance that went on in the time of Sheikh Uthman (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ - Rahimahullah).
Linking African and Caribbean Resistance
What happened now in Jamaica, and the link is being made now, Dr. Usman Bugaje, one of the scholars in northern Nigeria today. I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Usman last summer in Leicester in UK, and he gave me this paper, and he linked it. They were linking it together now. The Wathiqa of Ibn Fudi, they're linking it with the document passed around amongst the slaves in Jamaica, and sure enough in 1821, there was a slave revolt in the Manchester Parish.
You also find in Bahamas. I went to the archives in Bahamas, in Nassau, and I was surprised to read in one of the documents that it said that a certain amount of slaves were taken to the island of Exuma, and a large number called themselves followers of Mahomet. Now they didn't know what this term Mahomet was. M-A-H-O-M-E-T. This is the crusading middle-aged definition for the word Muhammad. These people in the Bahamas were defining themselves as Muslims, and so Muslims were one of the groups, one of the groups, who resisted oppression and slavery in the Americas.
The Maroons and Their West African Connection
Very interestingly, what has happened to me recently is that Sheikh Fahim Joof, who is a Gambian scholar who is living in New York area and teaching, Sheikh Fahim was linking now the concept of Maroons, the Maroon people with a strong tribe known in Gambia. This is interesting because the definition that came to us, and I had the opportunity to visit the Maroon settlements in Jamaica. I was there for four years, and the Maroons basically in Jamaica were known as, it is said that the word comes from Cimarrones, which is a Spanish word for wild horse, because when the Spanish came, these people were so resilient that they resisted slavery, went into the interior, and the Spanish couldn't get them out. They left them alone. The French came alone, left them alone. British came, left them alone.
But the British had a plan, because they're very crafty. So they made a treaty. They made a treaty, and in that treaty they turned the Maroons against other people of African descent, and people who know Jamaican history will know that negative side of the existence. What is important is, what Sheikh Fahim is showing us, is that in West Africa there is a nation of people in Gambia who are of very strong stature, known for their fierce warlike nature. They're all of them are Muslims, and their name is Maroons. This is serious. This is serious, because this would link us now in the name directly to a nation in West Africa, and research is being done right now to look into the records to see whether this definition really was this so-called Spanish word Cimarrones, or actually was it a terminology that had come from an African language that was trying to be covered up by the colonial powers.
Muslims in Mainland United States
What is important is that Muslims were resisting slavery, and you find in America, you will find the story of Ayub Ibn Sulaiman, who was in Georgia. You find Abdurrahman in Mississippi. You will find Salih Bilali, Bilali Muhammad in the Gullah Islands. You will find Muslims very strong within African-American culture, in mainland United States. The presence is very strong, and it is probably that same spirit of resistance that was passed on from family to family, from generation to generation, that is coming to the surface today within African-American society in the name of Islam.
And this is a strange phenomena, because even though the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and other so-called authentic media publications are trying to put out propaganda against the Muslim world, and against Africa, and different liberation movements, still people are looking at Islam. We recognize now that there is a link in terms of lineage, and in terms of knowledge and resistance.
Diverse Resistance to Slavery
And again, I want to make it clear, it's not only Muslims who resisted slavery in America. There's other groups who are very powerful as well, but we now identify this as one of the strong groups who resisted slavery within the Americas. A colleague of mine, Imam Nafi Muhammad, may Allah have mercy upon him, who studied with
me in Medina, he was from Georgia, and he reported to me that he remembers the slave master would say to their great-grandmother, anytime they got angry at the slaves, they would say, you all ain't nothing but Aunt Hagar's illegitimate children.
Now you know what that means? Now let's try to unwind that. Aunt Hagar, this is Hajar, the wife of Abraham, right? Okay, so he's saying, you're nothing but Aunt Hagar's illegitimate children. In other words, you're a bunch of Muslims, because it was Hajar who went with Abraham and Ishmael, and they built the Kaaba in Mecca. Now how now is this man, this slave master in Georgia, calling the slaves Aunt Hagar's illegitimate children? It is because he understood that they were Muslims.
The Spirit of Malcolm X
And so that same spirit we see coming out in individuals, probably the most important individual for us is Malcolm X. And within his spirit, Al-Hajj Malik Shabazz, (رحمه الله - Rahimahullah), may Allah have mercy on him, we find that same resilient spirit, we find that same resistance to oppression, resistance to slavery and tyranny in any form. That is the essence of Islam. That is the root definition of the terminology. And this is what has existed throughout the world.
Understanding Contemporary Muslim World Struggles
That is the reason why, in the Muslim world today, there is turmoil. That is the reason why you're seeing it in the press. Because neo-colonial powers were put into place in the Muslim countries. That when the colonial system left, a person was put into place who spoke the same language as the people, looked like them, but he was worse than the colonial master. He was worse. And this is what the Muslim countries are suffering from today.
The Reality of Sudan
And so what I want to make you aware of, that you may not be aware of, is that when you are dealing with a country like Sudan, which is a big country, and to go from one end of the Sudan to another, it's like driving from Toronto to New Orleans or maybe Brazil. The place is big. I mean, when I would drive from Kano, just to get from Kano to Sokoto, those of you who know northern Nigeria, it's like you're driving forever. And if you look at the map, Nigeria is small compared to the Sudan. It's huge.
So to try to lump everybody together in one little group, to try to blame one group in Khartoum for something that goes on in another part of the Sudan, you don't understand the country. What you have to understand is that the people there want, they want to be independent. They are now, in terms of their agriculture, their economy, they do not depend upon foreign powers. They're growing their own food. There's a serious education that is going on in the Sudan. These are some of the things that you don't see. The Sudan is a refuge in the northern part too. It has been a refuge for people from all over Africa. And if you go there, you will find people from all over Africa.
A Clear Stance Against Oppression
So, you know, when we are defining terms, you have to try to define it from the perspective of the people themselves. I am not here today to cover up any exploiter, any oppressor, who in the name of Islam or Christianity or nationalism or whatever it is, oppresses people. I'm not covering them up and I'm not making an excuse for them. What I want to say very clearly is that there is a difference between what Islam stands for as a way of life and what certain people have done in the name of Islam, who would try to use this international way of life as a means of gaining wealth or exploiting other people.
Closing Words
I want to close this phase of our discussion tonight at this point. I've been talking for a while and, you know, I'd like to get some feedback (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - inshallah) from you. And I want to thank you for your patience so far. And I pray that the rest of our evening would be a source of peace and understanding. And I leave you at this point in peace by saying (السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ - as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah). Thank you very much. جَزَاكُمُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا (Jazakallahu khairun), which means Allah give you goodness.
Question and Answer Session Introduction
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), peace and blessings be upon him, said that there's one thing that you should do from the cradle to the grave, and that is to seek knowledge. And wherever you find it, to take it. So on that note, without any delay, we're going to have a question and answer session. And I believe everyone was given a note card and some pencils to write down their questions on. And if you want to, you could just raise your hand and just ask the question out loud. But if not, just pass the cards down the aisles or outside the aisles and someone will come by and collect them. So (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - inshallah), we'll go ahead and go into that.
Okay. And if anyone leaves during the session, the Shaykh has written the book, Deeper Roots, and it's available right out here. And there's some tapes of different lectures that the Shaykh has given. And I've had some of those tapes myself and listened to them. And it's incredible. There's just so much you could learn. It's very important concept in Islam to take knowledge where you find it. And when men like this will have studied so much of their life about Islam and things about which we do not know, but we should know. So I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to stay and ask questions and to get a book and to maybe purchase some tapes (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - inshallah), if God's willing.
Setting Boundaries for Questions
Okay, the floor is open for any questions that anybody may have. Now, what I would like to ask, and I would like to reserve the right to basically deal with questions that are connected with this topic. I know there are Muslim brothers and sisters here, and there's a lot of questions, right? But some of them is going to go too far off in another angle. And with respect to the non-Muslims who are here tonight, we want to keep it restricted to the topic itself and not go too much on. There's a question about the Ahmadiyya movement. There's about Sufism in Islam. Brothers and sisters, we can have a session afterwards. We can have a session. But we want to deal with this thing. Yes, sir.
Question: Present-Day Islam and Resistance
Thank you very much for your speech and your lecture. I have a question about most of the examples you gave, Muslims, Islam, and resistance states. Most of the examples you gave were people that were going to be in- state, so it makes sense that they were resistant. So, what I'd like to hear more from you, since you have much more knowledge than I do, as present-day Islam and resistance states.
Response: Forms of Contemporary Resistance
Well, basically speaking, slavery, as you know, has taken different forms. And what I would say is that slavery today has gone from ball-and-chain slavery to economic slavery, and is also psychological slavery. Because really, what has happened to African people in the West, as I'm sure you're aware of, is that people were enslaved not only physically, but they were enslaved psychologically, mentally, spiritually.
And so therefore, there's a physical resistance where you fight back the system, you run away, you revolt, okay? But now, when the institution is gone, the slave institution in this part of the world, for instance, doesn't exist. However, there's a psychological one. There's a spiritual one, where people are being put down, where racism is continuing. And so, you will find that one of the elements, or one of the important aspects that Islam has to bring to this part of the world, is that concept of submission to the Creator and not to created things. And so you will find that there are Muslims in different parts of America, the Caribbean, who are trying to give their children like a different definition of life, and resist that old Christopher Columbus mentality type of thing.
In the Muslim world itself, okay, as I said, the Muslim world is going through a very serious change in the sense that the authority themselves, the authorities, in most cases, represent the colonial period. The colonial period has not ended in the Muslim world. It is what you call the neo-colonialism, the new colonialism. And so there are people who are ruling the Muslim world now, who are still holding the masses of the people down. They're still favoring one family or another family. They're still dividing people. They're still being tools of imperialism. And so therefore, Muslims are resisting it throughout the Muslim world, and there is a great change which is going on there.
And so this is really how, you know, it is being resisted. Because slavery as an institution, in terms of a marketplace and buying and selling and that type of institution, really, from my own understanding, I haven't seen it. There's a brother from California named Sheikh Hamza Yusuf. He studied in Mauritania. He lived in Mauritania for a while. And his witness was, he never saw it, buying and selling of people. He never saw that.
The Situation in Sudan
In the Sudan, actually next week at Rutgers University, there's going to be a very important session. If any of you can get up to Newark, New Jersey, next Saturday, the Minister of Justice of the Sudan is going to be there. He's going to be on the firing line. Also, Dr. Sulayman Nyang, who is a Gambian scholar in Howard University, and myself (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - inshallah), will be on this panel. And it's dealing with slavery. So the Minister of Justice is going to be there, man.
So like, I don't know what's going on in the Sudan itself. What I do know is that, you know, basically what I've heard from it is that the government in the north, basically, and the people in the north, they have no, they are not involved in this. If there are people who are involved in raiding or trading, these are renegades. This is a renegade group that is doing this. It is not a group which is attached to the mainstream Islamic movements in the north. This is what I understand so far.
Economic Resistance in the Muslim World
But most of the parts of the Muslim world, what is going on, it is a resistance to economic slavery. In other words, what is happening in the Islamic system, for instance, there is no interest. And so there are banks being developed now, economic systems that would not be capitalist or not be socialist. They're outside of the realm of the so-called east and western systems. So that is a very serious resistance that is going on in that sense.
In the other sense, there are no marketplaces, and there's nothing like that even to resist there. However, people who are oppressed in low classes and low castes or groups like that, you know, if they exist in the Muslim world, you generally find there's a struggle going on right now. There's a struggle with these authoritarian groups who are trying to maintain supremacy over the masses of the people. This is basically what is happening there. Any other oral questions or anybody else?
Question: Islamic History in School Curriculums
It says, how can Islamic history be included in school and college curriculums with the existing separation between church and state?
Response: Primary Sources and Objectivity
Well, when I'm talking about including Islamic history, I'm not talking about practicing Islam here. I'm not talking about an Islamic state. What I'm talking about is that when you are dealing with Islamic history, you should go back to the primary sources in the same way in any discipline. You want to first deal with the primary sources, and then the secondary sources, and then the other sources.
What happens when you're dealing with Islamic history, and sometimes African history, is that they don't deal with primary sources. They deal with what somebody said three or four levels down, and because he came from Oxford University or Sorbonne, they say he's an expert. Scholars will start saying crazy things. I've heard a scholar, I'm not going to mention any names, but I've heard a so-called scholar say, with authority, that Bilal taught the Prophet Muhammad how to pray. Now, for a Muslim, this is totally against all levels of understanding, and nobody, even a drunken historian in the Muslim world or anywhere, has ever said anything close to that. But somehow, people are making these statements off of propaganda books and of stereotyping, which has been done in the name of scholarship.
Multiple Perspectives in History
So really, what I'm saying is is that to include it within the curriculum, we should go back to the primary sources, and then try to be as objective as we are with other types of history. And within history fields now, people are trying to tell the story from different perspectives. Because if there's a great battle, then you can tell a story from either side, right? The winners or the losers. I mean, it's usually told from the side of the winners. You can also tell it from the point of view of the people on whose land was the war. And maybe these people never even fought in the war. But they suffered over these two kings or two rulers fighting and killing each other on their territory.
So history can be told from a number of different perspectives. And what I'm saying is, to understand Islamic history properly, you would have to also give the testimony of Muslims themselves to be able to understand Islamic history. And fortunately, we have hundreds of authenticated historical works in Arabic, in Persian, in Turkish, in Swahili, in a number of different languages. We have a number of works that can be read and can be used as primary and secondary source material. Any other questions that anybody has? Oral questions? Yes, ma'am?
Supporting Statement: West African Islamic Documentation
I just wanted to support some of your points with that. There's another document, which I'm ashamed to call this document myself as a graduate, but it was written in the sixth and the seventh grade, West African Islamic Scholar. And in that document, they describe the nations that may be taken in slavery through acts of war. And in the document, it describes the Muslims of West Africa, who are all black and Latino, and specifically states in the document that these people are not to be taken as slaves under any condition, because they are brothers of Islam.
And from that document, the myth of Ham is created. And it's perpetrated by Christian slaveholders to justify why dark-skinned people deserved to be enslaved in the Americas. And if you look at it, it actually goes to the point of assessing everyone's primary test. It goes to the primary test. The myth of Ham is not the myth of Ham at all, but it's a discussion of which peoples in Africa have submitted and were therefore freed from being taken as his slaves. So I just wanted to use that to underscore your point. It's an assessment of who the actual primaries were. Any other comments or questions? Anybody has? Yes, sir?
Question: East African Coast and Zanzibar
Have you done any study of the situation that existed on the East African coast in Zanzibar and what some people report as the slave trade in that area?
Response: Personal Visit to Zanzibar
Well, I had the opportunity in 1995 to go to Zanzibar. And I was a friend of a family who knows a Salih family. Actually, the Salih, my friend's older sister was Karume's wife, the one who was overthrown. And we were looking for Dr. Sharif. There's a Dr. Sharif who was a well-known writer out of there. I was looking for Dr. Sharif. And so I went to Zanzibar and we went downtown. And one of my friends there was a tour guide. He did this to make money. So I said to him, I want you to take me on a tour of Zanzibar. Just the same way you take somebody from France or Russia or wherever. Just give it to me the way you're supposed to give it to a regular.
So he took me to a place. They said this is the slave chambers. It's downtown, right? The slave chambers. And there's a stuffy place. You go down inside there. And my friend is from the Salih family. They're Omanis, okay? Although he looks like an Afro-American, but he's an Omani, right? And so he was talking about the dirty old Arabs and what they did. They took the Africans and they did this to them and whatever. And I was getting uptight myself. I was going to punch the brother in the head. I was really like, I was feeling like, because my own thing was coming out, right? And he was almost crying. He said, how could my family have done this?
Then we went up and there was a cathedral there. And they said that this Catholic church was built on the place of a slave market that was there downtown. And then they took us to Sultan Barghash. He had a palace there and whatever. And they took us around.
Historical Research Reveals Exaggeration
So then I went to the archives and I met Professor Hamad, who was one of the main professors in the archives. And we started to talk. And he told me that Dr. Sharif and the main historians on the island, when independence came and they opened up these slave chambers, they challenged the place. What they said, they found out, and they have historical proof to show, that the slave chambers was actually a place where the British stored medicine because there was an outbreak of cholera. It was not slave chambers.
Also, the so-called slave market, they said when they checked the records, there was one stand that was there. And there was a low volume of actually slaves who were sold from that market. And when Sultan Barghash was ordered by the British to count the slaves, to free everybody and to count the slaves on Zanzibar, he counted 10,000 people who could be of a slave lineage. And there's a fairly large population there. And so what we realized from that is that there has been exaggeration that has gone on. There's been a big exaggeration.
The Historical Reality of Omani Involvement
And no doubt that the Omanis, when they first came into the coastal region there, they were working with the Swahili people. The people had already been in Islam before the Omanis, long before. Some people even date it
back to the 2nd or 3rd century after the Hijrah, that Muslims penetrated East Africa. So the Swahili culture was already developed. So when the Omanis came in, they were helping the people resist the Portuguese.
But after a while, when they took over, they became pirates themselves. And they actually were involved in transporting people from the interior of East Africa into different parts of the Muslim world. And even in Pakistan and other places, there are some African groups that can be linked to the slaves, the Makranis, Makran, they're called in Karachi. And there's certain people that could be linked, possibly, to the Africans who were transported up there by the Omanis. So it definitely did go on. But what I understand, what I'm seeing is a big exaggeration.
The Purpose of Exaggeration
Because what is happening now is that the scholars, quote-unquote, want to try to make Arab slavery, so-called Arab slavery, or Islamic slavery. I don't know how they say Islamic. They're not calling European slavery Christian slavery. They're not saying that. But if someone, anyone from the Muslim world, it's Islamic slavery. So what you do, you indict the religion. So what they are doing now is they're pushing so-called Islamic slavery in order to turn off Afro-Americans or anybody who resists slavery to accepting Islam. That's the bottom line. And it's really unfortunate. Because there's a lot of people who are being confused. And even policy was being shaped. And the British did it purposely.
Colonial Divide and Rule Tactics
They divided the Swahilis from the people from the upcountry in Kenya and places like that, saying you're an African, you're an Arab. Although the person who was supposed to be an Arab, for all intents and purposes, is an African. Maybe he has a grandfather or a great-grandfather who came from Hadramaut or Yemen or something. But for all intents and purposes, he's an African. But they say you're an Arab and you're an African. So they divided the people up. So it's like divide and rule. It's divide and rule.
It's strange to me when they say the Arab Sudan and the African Sudan. Because when you talk about Arabs from the north, they are as dark as anybody in the darkest part of Africa. Many of the people from the north. So for us, for Afro-Americans, we get thrown off when we go to Africa. They get thrown off by us. Even when Malcolm X went there and he had red hair and he's light-skinned or somebody like myself who's a mixture. So then you go over there and they say, which part of you are African?
Different Definitions of Identity
But for us, because of racism, I am an African-American. I understand that. That's our definition. But in Africa, that's not the definition, man. When you go over, they say like, what's your tribe? What's your nation? What's your language? That's what they're asking you. Now Islam breaks a lot of that down because if you're a Muslim, then people will accept you anyway. So Islam breaks all that down. But if you're not dealing underneath Islam, then you come up with this different understanding there.
And our understanding here is different because you say Arabs, you're thinking of a light-skinned person with a big nose and then the African, whatever the definition, right? This is totally opposite to what it is, man. The so- called Arabs can be anything. They can be light-skinned or they can be dark-skinned. It is not a racial group. It's not a racial group. It's a linguistic group and a cultural group. And this is a total misunderstanding.
The Problem of Stereotyping
But because people do not have access to direct information from the Sudan or Africa, they just look at the people, oh, see those Arabs? They're doing it again. And you develop this stereotype, Arnold Schwarzenegger, get them. Chuck Norris, get them. Stephen, go get them. Because they're terrible, right? The Crimson Jihad. Go get them, man. Send the Delta Force and get all them Arabs. This is what is happening, man. It's stereotyping. It's stereotyping. And it really has a negative effect on a lot of young people who get confused when they go to Africa and find something different when they go there.
Question: The Al-Moravids and Ghana
I'm studying West African history. And they were saying about, you know, in West Africa, they are talking about the Al-Moravids, Al-Morabitun. And they came in the 11th century, you know, out of North Africa and they destroyed the kingdom of Ghana in the 11th century.
Response: The Conquest That Never Was
Then when you look at the records, Conrad and Fisher, they put out this article, they call it the conquest that never was. Because when you go back and you read Al-Bakri and you read the different writings of the people who recorded it, the Al-Moravid, Al-Morabitun, they never invaded Ghana. They assisted the king. The king stayed in power after they reached. Now if you invade a country and defeat it, the king does not stay in power. You kill the king. The king stayed in power. And all the definitions being used by, you know, the writers of the history were not conquest.
But they, again, they want to divide North from South. The Berbers in the North, the Arabs in the North, the Africans in the South. Right? In the same way like here, the light skin, the dark skin. Okay, like we have blue vein societies in America and you have the, you know, whatever. In the Caribbean, small island and big island. You know, you have all this different, you know, things where, you know, a person from Barbados feels like negative when he goes to Jamaica.
Division Tactics Throughout History
This is a Caribbean thing for people who are there. Like, you know, my grandmother is from Barbados, right? So, you know, you go to Jamaica and, you know, you say you're a Bajan. Okay, so where do you get this division of people? So this is what's being done to divide up people so that they cannot work together and they can't really understand what is going on because they're caught up in their division.
And Africa is probably one of the biggest areas for misunderstanding and division, you know, for the whole definition of Africa. And it goes right back from the beginning of history. As I said, you look at the ancient Egyptians. There's no proof that anybody other than Africans built the pyramids. There's no primary information. It's not until 1650 or so when the Hyksos came in that somebody came from outside of Africa and came in. And the pyramids are already built.
Racist Historical Interpretations
What do the historians say? Either they say the aliens came down from outer space, built the pyramids and flew back out or they give you Stargate in the modern version. Or they say somebody who looks like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, or Yul Brynner, they built the pyramids. Because that's racism, man. That's racism. It's racism and it's being used to divide and conquer. Yes, sir?
Question: The Haitian Revolution and Islam
The question I have for you is concerning, considering the revolution in Haiti in 1804 and the strong presence of Muslims in the Caribbean and here in America, have you drawn any connections between the people of Haiti and their connections to Islam in Africa throughout this war?
Response: Muslims in the Haitian Revolution
Yeah, definitely. In my book, Deeper Roots, which I have here, there's one of the generals of Toussaint Louverture. His name was Makandal. Makandal was an imam. And I've just heard there's a paper which is going to be released by a Senegalese woman scholar. I don't know her name. I'm going to hopefully find out (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - inshallah), next week. But the paper is going to be released. She has documents, Arabic writings from Haiti. And they have found amongst the slaves a considerable population of the slaves in Haiti were Muslims. A considerable amount. And so this paper hopefully will be released within the next few months. It's a Senegalese woman scholar. I'm not sure what her name is, though. I'm going to find out. Hopefully I can find out next week. Yes, brother?
Question: Arab Involvement in Slavery
When Louverture said that he was not here to cover for anybody who had done something wrong. And from all what you've said, you have kind of talked more about the ways that the operation was done. And as you recall, from a name that's always applicable to a country, there were some slaves too that were taken by the Arabs. So what do you want to say about that?
Response: Acknowledging All Parties' Involvement
The Tsetse fly was killing them. And the malaria. They couldn't make it in. But it was one nation pitted against another nation. And then selling captives of war, or people, or prisoners, or whatever. People they want to get rid of. Making money to get the guns and whatever else. But they were tricked and they were used.
So people other than Europeans were involved in slavery. Europeans did not invent slavery. They did not invent slavery. It has existed in every part of the world. The only difference is that the volume of slaves in European slavery is higher than anywhere else ever. And then racism. Racism coming in. And the effects of it still on the minds of the people up until today. That is the difference between what happened within the Islamic so-called slavery.
Upward Mobility in Islamic History
There are leaders. Major leaders in Islamic history who were from slave families. In the Abbasid Caliphate, Harun Rashid, who was probably maybe one of the richest men in history in Baghdad. Okay, he was from a slave family. Qutb al-Din, one of the famous leaders in Delhi, in India. A famous leader. He was from a slave family. And you'll go and you'll find many of the great leaders within Islamic history came from slave lineage. So there's upward mobility.
But this form here, there's no mobility. But down into the ground, that's your mobility. And racism still makes it difficult for people to make it up in the ranks. This is what the difference is within it. But definitely Arabs were involved in it. Africans were involved in it. Indians were involved in it. But what I'm trying to say is that Islam as a way of life is free of this. Islam is free of this.
Why Islam Did Not Abolish Slavery Completely
Now, to understand why Islam did not totally abolish it at that time, that's a question. As I said, what we understand from the perspective is that it was phasing it out because it was a worldwide institution. And it narrowed it down to such a small level that, you know, in many parts of the world, of the Muslim world, it ended. And there's no need for it. But only people who wanted to exploit tried to bring it back to life. But it is not a pillar of Islam. It is not needed within an Islamic state or any type of Islamic community. It is not needed at all.
And as I said, you know, in the great pillars of Islam, there's a constant reminder. Even when we fast, like we just finished Ramadan, when you're fasting, if you break your fast intentionally, the Prophet, peace be upon him, when a person broke his fast intentionally, he said to him, can you feed 60 poor people? And the man said, no, that's the first penalty, feeding 60 poor people. If you can't do that, then can you fast two months in a row, 60 days? And the third one, can you free a slave?
So I mean, even though there's no slavery, that still exists within Islamic heritage. That, you know, if you break your fast, one of the ways to make it up with Allah is to free somebody from slavery. So all throughout the religion is a constant reminder that you should be fighting against this institution. You should be getting rid of it, phase it out, resist it. That's all the way through. And the people who maintain it are just using the name of Islam, but they are exploiters. They are exploiters and they are oppressors. And we have to suffer under them as well as non-Muslims. Any other questions or comments anybody has?
Question: Pyramids and Ancient Civilizations
This question is going off. I went off myself a little bit, but it said, how can you explain the fact that there are only pyramids on the north of the equator? Inca, Aztec, Egyptian, blood is the same, didn't they possess the knowledge we have?
Okay, this pyramid is another discussion, this pyramid understanding. Maybe I can have this with you afterwards, whoever asked this question.
Question: CIA and Drugs in African American Communities
It says here, a question about a different form of slavery. Do you know of any evidence that can substantiate the claim that the government used the CIA to introduce slaves or drugs to the African American community?
Response: Evidence of Government Complicity
Okay, I don't have specific evidence myself in terms of that, but it is definitely something happened. Because I can remember in the 60s when people were really organizing in the black communities and consciousness was out there and suddenly you had like Superfly, this movie called Superfly. Suddenly everybody starts straightening their hair and then these drugs start pouring into the community and then crack cocaine. This was not done just by chance. Okay, would you like to comment?
There was a documentary that was produced recently in Washington, D.C. and there were several government officials who participated, like Maxine Waters, the congressman from Los Angeles and some other people, a professor at the University of Maryland in the history department. And they documented that there was a connection with the Nicaraguans in terms of bringing cocaine into Los Angeles. I think some of you might be aware that there's an article published in the San Jose Mercury exposing the CIA connections. And actually there are now government investigations of the CIA, FBI, their complicity with bringing in drugs in the country.
Maxine Waters and some other congresspeople have been involved in this. If you can contact Maxine Waters' office, you can probably get a copy of this tape. It's a very enlightening videotape about this relationship. There was an African American who was complicit with this, who was receiving the drugs, who was selling the drugs, who was in jail. And Maxine Waters actually went there and interviewed this person. So if you contact her office, you may be able to get this PBS video which is very illuminating. And the investigation continues. So there's clear evidence of CIA government bringing drugs into the African American community. Thank you.
Final Invitation and Closing
Any other questions anybody has? Okay, I want to thank you for your patience. And I want to invite you to Rutgers University campus, Newark, New Jersey. Next Saturday night at 6.30 sharp, the Minister of Justice, he's the Assistant Attorney General of the Sudan, Abdulrahman Khalifa, will be there along with Dr. Sulayman
Nyang of Howard University and my humble self, (إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ - Inshallah), just backing them up. So you're invited to come to Newark, New Jersey next week. And I leave you in peace.