Historians and anthropologists have inculcated into the societal consciousness, so thoroughly, the false belief that black equals failure, black equals incapable and that blacks have been subjugated throughout world history.   The achievements of blacks have been systematically denied and ostracized; sentiments of black inferiority pervade every aspect of European culture. But Anti-Black Sentiments transcend the West and rampant  in the Arab world. Recently, a Lebanese singer, Haifa Wehbe,  referred to Nubians as “Monkeys”,  and during the Arab Spring of Libya; many blacks were slaughtered wholesale by Arabs.  Moreover, the history of the  ‘Arab Slave Trade’ was a gross injustice perpetrated on Black People. ‘The word Abd is also an Islamic term which some utilize to call themselves the slaves of God. However, in the Middle East many have turned this word into an epithet for black people to denote slaves.

This violence and racism of the Arab World has led to many people to criticize Islam as a source for Arab Imperialism and Racism towards Black People. A blogger named “Godless and Black” expressed such views:

” Islam came on the point of a sword. Why then do so many Black people believe Islam to be the true religion of African people when it is not an indigenous religion but rather one adopted by African leaders in order to increase their profit and power and forced upon poor Africans by Arab raiders?

The proliferation of Islam in Africa, just like that of Christianity among Black Americans, is yet another example of the conquered adopting the religion of their conquerors. Just as with Christianity, had Africans not fallen prey to Arab slave traders, had Arabs never acquired a taste for Nubian slaves, far fewer of the millions of devout Muslims in Africa would be Muslims today. “ [1]

Such views demonstrate a lack of understanding of Islam’s Early and the actions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Islam: The Earliest Black Power Movement In History

Pre-Islamic Arabia, specifically before the rise of the Prophet Muhammad, was characterized by tribalism, senseless wars, slavery, and economic inequality. Tribe and lineage took precedence over ethical decisions and morality.

There was no unified Arab Race in existence, and these tribes waged war over trivial causes.  The society lacked law and order. Female off-spring would often be killed at birth, as the society  valued sons over daughters.  Pagan Arab elites would charge gullible, mostly poor, people to worship various Gods made of clay and wood. This inhumane practice drastically exacerbated the rich and poor gap.  In addition to these injustices, slavery ran rampant  in Pre-Islamic Arabian society. When the Prophet Muhammad began teaching Islam it was very revolutionary as Pagan Arab Elites began to lose out on wealth

Islam began to spread rapidly among the poor, orphans, women, slaves and downtrodden members of society precisely because it elevated their social position.    One of these slaves was a Black Man  of Ethiopian heritage named Bilal. His slave-master suspected that he was visiting Muhammad and began torturing him outside.   Muhammad, disgusted by Bilal’s treatment, sent for his friend Abu Bakr to purchase  his freedom.  Bilal was then freed and would go on to be a great friend of Muhammad and be the first man to preform the call of prayer, a highly prestigious position in the Muslim world.

Bilal,  one of the first black converts to Islam,  was not forced to become Muslim by the sword.  Rather, he himself chose Islam to the dismay of his slave-master because of its stance against oppression.

Thus, in early Islam we actually see Black people leaving Arab Captivity and entering positions of prestige- not the reverse.  Islam, and its message of universal brotherhood and sisterhood was a response to Arab injustices and prejudices towards Black People.

Islam’s elevation of Black people is not limited to Bilal.  There was also another slave named Zayd whom Muhammad freed and adopted as a son. Zayd’s son,  Usama, would then be chosen by Muhammad as a military general at the age of 19.  In a biography about Muhammad, the author Tariq Ramadan writes:

“In the presence of God, nothing could justify discrimination, social injustice, or racism. IN the Muslim community, a Black Man called the believers to prayer, and a slave’s son commanded the army; faith had freed the believers from judgments based on deceptive appearance linked to origins and social status that simulate unwise passions and dehumanize them.” [2]

Thus, Muhammad did not choose positions based upon social status or race but rather on merit,meaning that he confronted racism on a structural level.  This should not be surprising as Muhammad was raised by a black woman!  His biological father and mother died at an early age, and his mother entrusted his care to a black woman named Barakah or Umm Ayman.

Concerning Umm Ayman, ‘A Notable Muslim African Woman’ the author writes:

If you’re looking for an important Muslim African woman to talk about during Black History month, look no further than the Seerah of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) , and the woman he described as his “mother after my own mother. She is the rest of my family.”Barakah or Umm Ayman was the name of the woman whom the noble Prophet esteemed so highly. She was the first person to hold him in her arms when he was born and the only person who knew him from that point until his death. She was one of the few Muslims who the Prophet assured of a place in Paradise.[3]

She is likely one of the reasons Muhammad did not develop the tribalism or skin-color prejudice that many Arab tribes had.  Muhammad spoke very glowingly of Umm Ayman, considering her to be a mother-figure in his life. Thus we can say, God’s last Prophet was raised, fed, and taken care of by a black woman! Muhammad did not put a sword to his mother but she believed Muhammad to be a Prophet of God on the basis of his good character, honesty and other valuable  attributes.

Another early black follower to Islam was Wahashil,  a slave of Ethiopian descent owned by Pagan Arabs. He was told by the Arab pagans that if he killed Muhammad or someone close to Muhammad, he would be granted his freedom.  He would eventually kill the uncle of Muhammad, and afterwards, the Pagan Arabs would then sever parts of the uncle’s body .

Muhammad and his uncle were very close and loved one another. Muhammad was deeply upset and sad when he saw his uncle’s decapitated  body.

Wahashil was granted his freedom by the Pagan Arabs for killing Muhammad’s uncle, and he always desired to convert to Islam, despite his murder of an important Muslim.  Wahashil  then heard  that Muhammad often taught forgiveness,  and he went to have a dialogue with Muhammad. He confessed that he was the one who killed Muhammad’s uncle. Yet, Muhammad willingly decided to forgive this man and accepted his conversion.

Wahashil, so moved by Muhammad’s treatment, would eventually join the Muslim army and would redeem himself when he killed Musaymiliyah,  a man who claimed to be a Prophet also, but who was-only a protector of the Arabian Status quo whose alleged revelations from God were only a support for the injustices of the Pagan Elites.  He was persecuting and torturing many Muslims until he was killed by Wahashil. [4]

Also, there is a specific incident of Muhammad confronting racist attitudes.  While at a meeting, an Arab Muslim companion called Bilal, “The Son of a Black Woman”  which was suppose to be degrading. Muhammad admonished him saying he still has  jahiliyyah in him and told the man that he himself was equally the son of a Black woman referring to Umm Ayman who breastfed him.  The Arab man who made the racist remarks was than bowed on his knees begging for Bilal’s forgiveness.[5]

Thus, history documents both that the early black followers of Muhammad were not forced into conversion by means of the sword but instead willingly converted and that Islam was the first ideology in human history to confront an anti-black society.

Islam and the Empowerment of Women, Especially Black Women

“For me it is enough that Muhammad is the greatest feminist the world has so far had but has so little come to know of… Personally I am infinitely grateful to Muhammad, who has not only empathized with the crying voice of the despairing and exploited woman but has taken momentous measures blustering all opposition, to alleviate her lot and strengthen her in realistic terms.– Anita Rai    [6]

Muhammad, found himself in a 7^th century patriarchal Arabian society that mistreated women. Female infanticide was common, rape went unpunished, and women lacked property rights.

Muhammad was deeply troubled by this. He did not publish academic works criticizing the “patriarchy of Meccan Society”, as he could neither read or write Instead he would eventually overthrow the society responsible for this tyranny and become the first person in Arab history to secure property rights for women and to outlaw female infanticide.

This is in contrast to early western feminist who mostly sought certain rights with the confides of a structurally misogynistic society. Muhammad actually overturned the patriarchal society of his day.

Additionally, many early white feminists held racist views and excluded black women.

This gave rise to ‘Black Feminism” which stressed an intersectional  approach between race, class, and gender . Yet, this intersectional approach was done over 1400 years earlier by Muhammad, who systemically confronted racism, poverty, and sexism in Meccan society.  Muhammad not only fought for the emancipation of women but also for freedom for slaves as he confronted the racism and tribalism of early Meccan society.

Islam Legacy of empowering movement would eventually influence Nigeria. Nana Asma’u,[7] a black Muslim woman who authored over 60 surviving books rose to power in West Africa

She not only spoke and wrote in Arabic, Fula, Hausa and Tamacheg Tuareg but many scholars have noted she was able to write in each language prolifically.

Her biggest accomplishment was that she oversaw the educational system for women, and her main body of work emphasizes leadership positions for women and womens’ rights, based upon the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad who said, “Seeking Knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim- male and female.”

In addition to overseeing the education system for women, she also headed an educational system aimed at the poor.

She would also advise her  older brother who would eventually assume a position of leadership in the Caliphate and would partake in debate with other political leaders about political affairs of her nation. Her story is a direct contradiction to the modern narrative of women being oppressed under Islam. 

While many feminists have attempted to co-opt her legacy  and hold her up as an example of an early feminist, such ideologies were not around during Nana Asmau’s time, and she was influenced by one thing— Islam.

 

Islam: The First Intersectional Approach IN History

The Qu’ran  is a book that is critiques economic inequality, greed, and oppression using the example of past societies . Its message was a direct threat to the Pagan-Ruled Meccan Society.  Pre-Muhammad, Meccan society was characterized by a huge rich and poor gap, slavery and mistreatment of women.

Islam came and encouraged the feeding of the poor  and the freeing of the slavery. Muhammad protested  Female Infanticide and  taught respect for women. As Islam spread, Meccans fearful that they would lose money as a result of Muhammad’s teachings first offered him wealth, women and a leadership position in Meccan society, and unlike modern day politicians, Muhammad rejected all of these proposals and still spread his message.  Early Muslims were then persecuted, tortured and killed.

Yet despite all of the backlash, Islam still began to spread among the downtrodden members of society. Eventually, assassination attempts were carried out on Muhammad’s life which caused him to flee from Mecca. The first Muslim community entered Ethiopia, gaining the political protection of Negus, the black emperor.

Thus, the first Muslim community entered Africa as hopeless refugees not conquerors and a black king willingly gave them protection as he sympathized with their cause.  This means that Islam was allowed to flourish in Africa—Ethiopia– before it was accepted in Arabia!Eventually, Muhammad moved to Medina where he would be the head of state and create what’s arguably the first egalitarian society in human history. Every citizen, was giving the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Muhammad encouraged economic redistribution as an important tenant of Islam.[8]

An Islamic Scholar, Dr Bilal Philips Writes:

Distribution of wealth teaches the believers that they are only temporary custodians of this wealth who must give a portion of it to those who are destitute.

 Muhammad lived in a simple tent and gave the money the Muslims’ treasury brought in directly to the poor.

One author writes:   “From  his earliest days he [Muhammad] had a deep sympathy for widows and orphans, the poor and the helpless. He would ever stand by the oppressed. He … [advocated]the rights of women over men, of slaves over their masters, of the ruled over the rulers, and of the subjects over the king. Negro slaves were accorded the same position of honour as the Quraish leaders.” [9]

As the Medina state began to prosper, the Pagan Arabs began to organize an army to invade the state. Several wars and battles ensued, and eventually the Muslims won, overthrowing the tyrannical Meccan society.

With regard to slavery,  one author writes:

Despite the Arab-dominated Middle Eastern and Trans-Saharan slave trade in African captives, the religion of Islam is the only mainstream faith to actively emancipate enslaved people as a aspect of religious devotion. “Free the slave” is repeated constantly in the Qur’an … Islam therefore is a revolutionary religion born into a world where slavery was part of the fabric of that society. [10]

Jonathan Brockopp writes: The unique contribution of the Qur’an, then, is to be found in its emphasis on ….. society’s responsibility toward the slave, perhaps the most progressive legislation on slavery in its time. [11]

Muhammad was so successful at confronting poverty that when gold was left out  the respective owners could come back to it with it still being there. And in particular, there was a mosque that had a huge container of gold.  The rich could freely donate gold to the container, and the poor could take out as much gold as they want.  There was no supervision, and no one could see who was putting in gold and who was taking out gold.[12]

Surprisingly, when at the end of the day the Muslims  would check the container,  there was always an abundant amount of gold in the container.

The Islamic Economic Model as practiced by Muhammad  which stresses redistribution of wealth may seem similar to Socialism but of significant note is that while many socialists  stressed an egalitarian society, many  actually turned to be hypocritical and held on to wealth.

Muhammad on the other hand never did this.  He lived in a simple tent.

Can you imagine a President or Prime Minister of modern day society choosing to live in a simple house while also giving the vast majority of their wealth out freely to the poor? This is something unique to Muhammad.

Muhammad is the first figure in human history to explicitly denounce racism.  In his society, he assigned positions based upon merit not social origin.  As stated early, a society based upon tribalism and prejudice was overthrown, and he assigned positions based upon merit not skin-color. So Bilal became the first Muzzien of  Islam while the son of a black slave commanded the Muslim Army.

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action… Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves. …  beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone. “ – The Prophet Muhammad

Muhammad confronting religious intolerance and bigotry.

Muhammad adhered meticulously to the charter he forged for Medina, which – grounded as it was in the Quranic injunction, “Let there be no compulsion in religion” (2:256) – is arguably the first mandate for religious tolerance in human history. – [Huston Smith] – [13]

“To me my religion and to you, your religion.”– Quran.

When suspicions of an Arab pagan assassination attempt against Muhammad—were made known to him he trusted a righteous Arab Pagan with intelligence reports. Although he was a Pagan Arab, Muhammad was able to see that this man was trustworthy and behaved righteously, and he encouraged Muslims to treat him with respect and tolerance.  This indicates that although Muhammad was persecuted by Pagan Arab, he never homogenized them and recognized that some among them were indeed moral. [14]

As the statesmen of Medina, Muhammad allowed Christian and Jewish tribes to freely worship and secured their rights in the future with this statement:

“Beware! Whoever is cruel and hard on a non-Muslim minority, or curtails their rights, or burdens them with more than they can bear, or takes anything from them against their free will I(Muhammad) will complain against the person on the Day of Judgment.” [15]

Muhammad’s revolution against the racism, religious intolerance,  sexism, and classed-based exploitation of early Meccan Society truly constitutes the first ‘intersectional approach’.

Thus, Islam was the first ideology in history that  led to the abolition of female of infanticide, secured property rights for women, succeeded in  ending  poverty, and  confronted a racialized slavery  not simply at a theoretical level but at a practical one.

Muhammad can clearly be classified as the most socially progressive person in human history. His commitment to women’s rights surpasses that of modern feminists, his devotion to ending poverty surpasses that of socialists, and confrontation of racism surpass that of your most radical ‘black nationalist’.

 

Did Islam Spread to Africa VIA the Sword?

“He preferred migration to fighting his own people, but when oppression went beyond the pale of tolerance he took up his sword in self-defense. Those who believe religion can be spread by force are fools who neither know the ways of religion nor the ways of the world.” A Sikh journalist in ‘Nawan Hindustan’: Delhi, 17 November 1947.

Islam did not enter west or central Africa via the sword.  Ethiopia was the first location Muslims entered outside of Arabia, and they came as helpless refugees and were given political rights and allowed to prosper in Ethiopia while Muslims in Arabia were persecuted.  The rapid spread of Islam is something even secular historians has described as truly miraculous  and unprecedented  in human history.

There are numerous African Islamic Kingdoms—Mali, with the esteemed Timbuktu university and Songhai.       They were not conquered into accepting Islam:- it spread via trade. For example, the Songhai Empire in West Africa was headed by  Askia Muhammad, originally a non-Muslim he willingly converted and became very devout in his practice.   Eventually, he created elementary schools for children to learn the Qu’ran, established a banking and credit system and over one hundred schools in his empire. The schools offered degrees in  theology, traditions, grammar, rhetoric, logic, astrology, astronomy, history, geography, medicine, science, and math.

In the tradition of the Prophet, he gave freely to the poor and was truly loved by his people. An medieval Sudanese source writes about:

“One cannot find his like among those who preceded him nor among those who came after him. He had a lively affection for the doctor, holy persons, and students. He gave much alm and undertook special religious devotions. Full of respect for the doctors, he distributed wealth to them generously to assure the interest of the Muslims and to help them in their submission to God …. He caused all the bloody cruelties, iniquities, …. to disappear. He established religion (Islam) on the most solid base. [16]

In addition to Songhai, there was also the Mali Kingdom.  This kingdoms governmental structure resembled many modern day kingdoms with a master of treasury, Master of commerce, Etiquette of Protocol sanitation commissioner, and master of foreign affairs.[17] It was also home to an esteemed Islamic centered educational system which gave rise to one of West Africa’s greatest scholars Ahmad Baba al Massufil, a teacher, philosopher, and Arabic grammarian who wrote over 40 books.

Concerning some of these manuscripts, Michael Palin writes that the Kingdom of Mali

“has a collection of scientific texts that clearly show the planets circling the sun. They date back hundreds of years . . . Its convincing evidence that the scholars of Timbuktu knew a lot more than their counterparts in Europe. In the fifteenth century in Timbuktu the mathematicians knew about the rotation of the planets, knew about the details of the eclipse, they knew things which we had to wait for 150 almost 200 years to know in Europe when Galileo and Copernicus came up with these same calculations and were given a very hard time for it.” [18]

While European scientist were nearly persecuted and killed for suggesting the Earth wasn’t the center of the universe, despite the religious nature of Timbuktu , scientific inequity was freely encouraged among Black Muslims.

Black people in West Africa were not only willingly converts to Islam but were also extremely devout in their religion. None of the people of West or Central Africa where Islam flourished among Blacks were forced into it by Arab Imperialists. In North Africa, Muslims did indeed conquer Egypt.  However, Egypt at the time was under the control of the Non-African Roman population.  Indonesia is the largest  Muslim country in the world and none of its inhabits ever saw a single sword or forced into conversions.

“Godless and Black” also misunderstands the nature of the Muslim Army which was never comprised exclusively of Arabs. Since its inception, Black people played an integral part of this army and his blatant denial of it is yet another example of the erasure of black history.

For example, Spain was conquered by Black Muslims known as the Moors who ruled Spain for over 700 years.  Much of early Greek and Roman literature was preserved due to Muslims who translated their works into Arabic. Some historians believe their presence lead to the Scientific Revolution and the Renaissance. Dean Derhak writes:

When you think of European culture, one of the first things that comes to mind is the renaissance. Many of the roots of European culture can be traced back to that glorious time of art, science, commerce and architecture. But, long before the renaissance there was a place of humanistic beauty in Muslim Spain. Not only was it artistic, scientific and commercial but also tolerant and poetic. Moors, as the Spaniards call the Muslims, populated Spain for nearly 700 years. .. was their civilization that brought Europe out of the dark ages and ushered in the renaissance. [19]

Also, Muslims in Spain lived peacefully with Jews and Christian—it was one of the first religiously tolerant societies—so while Muslims certainly carried out conquests – forced  conversion were never carried out due to the Quranic verse,”There is no Compulsion in religion. Truth has been made clear from Falsehood.”

Concerning the spread of Islam,  Mahandas Ghandi Writes:

“ it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet’s biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life.”  [20]

From its earliest days, black people played a vital role in the spread of Islam. A black woman raised the Prophet from his childhood and years after the Prophet’s death Islam would spread into West Africa not through conquest but through trade and Black People were at their highest when-following the religion of Islam evidenced by the Mali Empire,  Timbuktu, and Songahi. Black Women in the Sokoto Islamic Empire were scholars and professors and played a vital role in the political landscape of the nation when women in the western world were barred from attending educations.

Today, the influence that Islam has had on African-Americans is profound. Malcolm  X, is a cultural icon and Rap Music, an African-American invention, has been significantly influenced by Islam. Nas,    (Rapper of Illmatic which is widely regarded to be the greatest Album in Hip-Hop history) is named after a Surah of the Qu’ran. Rakim, who is considered one of the greatest rappers of all time, is a Muslim, and Islamic themes pervade his music.   Common slang terms utilized by African-Americans such as ending conversation with “Peace” are Islamic in origin. Many of the slaves taken to America were Muslim such as  Bilalil Muhammad who partook in the American revolution against the British Empire and wrote Islamic Law Documents, and Omar Ibn Said  who was asked to write the “Lord’s Prayer” in a newspaper in Arabic. Years later, we would find that what he actually wrote was Al-Fatima—the opening of the Qu’ran.

Islam flourishes and  is an important part of African Culture and in the diaspora. While Anti-Black violence and beliefs pervade the Arab Muslim world today, fighting it requires a return to the true principles of Islam. Just as in the early days of Islam, the Prophet encouraged “freedom for the slave” and would militarily confront an oppressive Meccan society- the Muslim Ummah must confront racism and destroy every vestige of it. To do so requires returning to the Hadiths, which explicitly condemn racism.   I leave you with this quote:

“His readiness to undergo persecutions for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement – all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad.  Professor William Montgomery Watt

1)Islam is not the Black Man’s Religion, http://godlessandblack.blogspot.com/2009/05/islam-is-not-black-mans-religion.html

2)In the Footsteps of the Prophet – Tariq Ramadan

3) Umm Ayman, Black History Month, http://soundvision.com/info/history/bkayman.asp

4) IN the Footsteps of the Prophet By Tariq Ramadan

5)Racism & Islam, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-KnRS9v4qg

6)What unbiased Think about the Prophet, http://www.paklink.biz/articles/islam4.html

7) Nana  Asma http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/p/214.html

8) Dr Bilal PHilips, http://www.ummaland.com/pages/84/

9) Qualities of Muhammad, http://www.muslim.org/islam/pr-life/l9.htm

10)http://www.islamandafrica.com/

11)http://www.islamandafrica.com/

12) In the Footsteps of the Prophet by Tariq Ramadan.

13) http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/muslim

14) In the Footsteps of the Prophet, by Tariq Ramadan

15) The rights of non-Muslims,http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/374/

16) Ending Stereotypes, http://endingstereotypes.org/mali.html

17)http://endingstereotypes.org/18)100 things you didnt know about Africa, http://www.blackhistorystudies.com/resources/resources/100-things-about-africa/

19) The religion of Islam, http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/522/

20) http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=articles&id=119832

21) What Non-Muslims say about Muhammad, http://www.gainpeace.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63:what-non-muslim-scholars-said-about-prop