Islamic Culture & Philosophy: The Race Factor In Islam
BLACOLOGY
NET-INFO RESEARCH
ISLAMIC CULTURE AND PHILOSOPHY
SCHOLARLY ARTICLES:
THE RACE FACTOR IN ISLAM
05-17-00
BY PROF. WALTER CROSS
SUMMITED TO: DR. SULAYMAN NYANG
AFRICAN STUDIES Ph.D. HOWARD UNIVERSITY
BLACOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE, BRDIINC@ AOL .COM, FT. WASHINGTON, MD 20744
1
Islamic Culture & Philosophy: The Race Factor In Islam
TABLE OF CONTENT
I. INTRODUCTION2
II. SCHOLARLY ARTICLE3
III. BLACOLOGICAL ANALYSIS5
IV. DEFINITIONS11
V. REFERENCES13
In the Name of ALLAH, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
End this Race Factor:
Black/Africans are inferior to whites, whites are superior to blacks, if you are white you are right, if you yellow you are mellow, if you are brown stick around, if you are Black get back. Blacks are not intelligent, whites are intelligent; everything good is white everything bad, is black; white schools are better than black schools.
The Unwritten Law of Non-Black and White Supremacy:
I.INTRODUCTION
The Net-Info Research is a collection of information gathered for a subject or interest. This information is received from the Internet. It consists of documents acquired while scanning the Internet for information pertaining to class assignments, topics or individual interest. This research is primarily the writings, articles, and materials of the authors on their web pages. These articles are the facts and works of those who have researched the subjects. These articles, writings, and materials assist or provide knowledge and documentation on subjects or topics that are of interest to Prof. Walter Cross, CEO/President of The Blacology Research and Development Institute Inc. (A Cultural Science) and a candidate for Ph. D. in African Studies at Howard University. This Net-Info Research is a review of a scholarly article on,"THE RACE FACTOR IN ISLAM", an assignment that was given in the class," Islamic Culture and Philosophy", instructed by Dr. Sulayman Nyang in the Spring Semester of 2000. The assignment was to provide an article on aspects of Islamic Culture and Philosophy. As a Blacological Cultural Scientist, I selected this article because it is my obligation as a Black/African and Blacologist to speak out against racism and slavery wherever it exists.
In the establishment of the Cultural Science Blacology, one may be able to distinguish a Blacological Research or Blacology by the capitalization of the first letter of all words that are associated with Blacology (i.e. Black People, Black Culture, Black Woman, Black Man, Black Youth, Blacology, and Blacological, etc). It is done to give honor, respect, and importance to these words. In the Euro-Centric Culture, Black People have been taught to hate everything Black and African. Black People had been taught to hate themselves. The Cultural Science of Blacology is to undo this type of self-hatred by giving importance to all that is Black and African. So then, it is proper and fitting to capitalize the first letter in all words that are of Black/African Culture. This is also a way to acknowledge and identify a Blacological Research and the Interdisciplinary Cultural Science of Blacology. Blacology may also consist of it's own Cultural Linguistics or Ebonics. In addition, it is not restricted to the Euro-centric Language Arts. This give Blacology it's own significant identifiable writing form. Net-Info Research is a method of utilizing the Internet information to support academic studies. This Net-info Research is an article on Black/Africans and Islamic Slavery. This is a brief analysis on the enslavement of Black/Africans to Islamic Culture and Philosophy in Mauritania and Sudan. See your Internet address provided for you on the reference page for a more detail informative update.
II.SCHOLARLY ARTICLE
This article appeared in the February 7, 1995, issue of The
City Sun.
ARAB MASTERS—BLACK SLAVES
By Samuel Cotton:The Race Factor
There is a belief among African Americans about Arabs near and far that may cause them to shrink in disbelief and doubt the credibility of these reports. Many blacks feel that racism and racist attitudes do not exist among Arabs, especially Muslims, and that there is a common bond between black people and Arabs, and again, I must add--particularly Muslims. It is partly for this reason that the Arab slave trade has always been played down.
This perception was reinforced among African Americans by the experiences of Malcolm X. His positive interactions with Beydanes (white men) played a significant part in his transformation from Black Muslim to Orthodox Muslim. Malcolm stated quite elatedly, "America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. "Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered 'white'--but the 'white' attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. . . .We were truly all the same (brothers)--because their belief in one God had removed the 'white' from their minds, the 'white' from their behavior, and the 'white' from their attitude." (The Autobiography of Malcolm X pg. 345, 346) Are these perceptions true? Does racism along with economics drive slavery in these two countries, and possibly other Arab nations, as was the case in the Judeo-Christian West? This question must be asked of other Arab nations because "The UN report suspects that many blacks are sold into Libya."
In Mauritania, Newsweek spoke to Fahl Ould Saed Ahmed the owner of two 10-year slave boys. He was asked if there was racism or slavery [in his country]. He replied "There is no racism, there is no slavery." The truth is that "In Mauritania, there is a Muslim ruling class made up of Berbers and Arabs, whose base is in the north of the country. They enslave thousands of blacks who are cut off from their tribes in the south which also includes from their language and culture. They are Islamicized and made slaves for life." said Dr. Jacobs who, along with Mohamed Athie was featured on a PBS expose of modern day slavery that aired on Tony Brown's Journal, the week of January 6 to the 12. "All the blacks of Mauritania converted to Islam a hundred years ago," Athie said. "The
nation forbids it. The religion forbids it. Yet slavery goes on. And it is clearly racial in nature. These people are slaves solely because they are black. A non-black Muslim is not enslaved, a black one is."
In 1992, Newsweek spoke to a slave named Dada Ould Mbarek in Mauritania: "He was asked: weren't Mauritania's slaves emancipated? 'I never heard of it,' he said. 'And what's more, I don't believe it. Slaves free? Never here.' Isn't he the same as his master? 'No, I'm different. A master is a master and a slave is a slave. Masters are white, slaves are black.' Is this just? 'Naturally, we blacks should be the slaves of the whites." Dada Ould Mbarek manifests the effects of physical and psychological slavery. He sadly has come to think that black men are inferior to whites.
Africa Watch spoke to Moussa Ndiaye (not his real name), he was a teacher in Tagant region from 1984 until he was deported in May 1989. Moussa Ndiaye sheds further light on the race factor when he explains that ". . .The center of the social order is the white master who has the right to do nothing while the blacks do all the work.
When the master goes to the fields, he usually sits in the shade of a tree and is served tea while the blacks do all the work. No white woman does any domestic work. Slave women who have grown up in the household do all household tasks. Although she grows up together with the white children, she is made to understand, from a tender age, that she is at the service of the master."
III.BLACOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Blacologically speaking, the research of Blacology has revealed that the African-American when visiting the Fortress in Africa on the West Coast imagine that the forts house their Ancestors in the last days of freedom. This is not a true imagine of what happened in the forts. These forts were not houses of freedom: they were cages of inhumanity. The Ancestors of the Atlantic Slave Trade was not the last days of freedom: they were the beginning of bondage.
This was the first stage of conditioning of slavery. This stage of slavery was the most treacherous because the captives had not left their homeland. They were also being conditioned for the long ride on the slave ships. The West African Fortress was horrifying and dehumanizing. The people were placed into these cave sells as though they were on a ship. There was standing room only. The conditions were intolerable. Our Ancestors were treated as animals. The final days of freedom came to our Ancestors as death comes to one who is in a fatal car accident. The last days of freedom did not have a day or time on it. Slavery captured you with no warning. One minute you were free and the next minute you are a captive. There was no way one could know that they were going to be enslaved. The act of slavery was sudden and quick. Once a person was captured freedom was over. Slavery did not begin when you reached the shores of North America, West Indies, or the European Continent. It began in the West African Fortress', fields, and villages.
Blacological Research revealed that Malcolm X went to Mecca and visited some Arabic Islamic Nations. It has been stated that Malcolm said, "the United States could learn from Islam". The whites or Beydanes impressed Malcolm X in his trip to Mecca. It is hard for me to believe that Malcolm X was aware of the slavery in Sudan and Mauritania. Malcolm X could not have known about the enslavement of Black/Africans by White Muslims and Arabs in the Sudan and Mauritania. The emancipation of slavery in North Africa was in 1980's. Even though there is still slavery today in the year 2000, Malcolm X was not aware of the slavery in Mauritania and Sudan. If Malcolm X knew of this, he would have a different perspective on Islam and the Arabs.
Black/African People can not be blind to the injustice of slavery just because we want to be apart of some religious faith or group. Beydanes and the Arabs tricked Malcolm X. The intention of the Islamic perpetuators was to be about the spread of Islam. The Beydanes and Arabs wanted to convert Malcolm X into the Sunni or Shiites. They offered to pay Malcolm X three million dollars if he would denounce the Honorable Elijah Mohammed and join the Sunni and Shiites. It is hard to believe that Malcolm X knew about the slaves in Mauritania and Sudan. It is a known fact that Black/African slavery was in operation during the 1960's and since the 4th Century. This is a fact. Any type of transformation of Malcolm X to Orthodox Islam could not have lasted for long. As soon as Malcolm X would have found out about the existence of North African Slave Trade that would have ended his transformation.
Blacologically speaking, if Islam is not to blame then Islam must put an end to slavery in those North African Countries where ever Islam is present. Blacologically speaking, it is hard to imagine an individual who practices a religion and that religion does not guide his/her daily activities. If one is Islamic in his faith and prays five times a day, how can they see the injustice of slavery being carried out by their government and do nothing about it? The government is made up of individuals who practice Islam. If Islam is not able to provide its members with morality than what good is Islam? If your job control your morality, why do you need religion? Religion is not just a spiritual toy. It is a mechanism by which one can develop righteousness and dignity. If Islam cannot control the practice of dehumanization in its environment, what good is Islam?
When one thinks about the relationship of Malcolm X and Dr. John Hendrik Clarke, this makes it difficult to imagine Malcolm X not having knowledge of the Mauritanian and Sudanese Slave Trade. In Dr. Clarke's video of 1996 produced by Black Dot Media, Inc., he talks about providing research for Malcolm X. Dr. Clarke being a Scholar had to have mentioned the relationship of the Arabs and the Black/Africans Slave Trade to Malcolm X. It would be unconceivable for Dr. Clarke to have not shared this information with Malcolm X. This could explain Malcolm X's reason for not excepting the three million dollars from the Sunni and the Shiites. It has been stated by liberal whites and assimilated moderate Blacks that Malcolm X was a newly converted Black Man ready to denounce the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Mohammed. This Malcolm X was apologetic and willing to change his ways. Malcolm X was new man.
Given consideration to the information about the Islamic Slave Trade in North Africa by Dr. John Hendrik Clarke, the Sunni or the Shiites could not have converted Malcolm X. Malcolm X was indeed changed. He was now covert in his thinking instead of overt. Malcolm X understood the value of strategy. What Malcolm X said to the United States was clever strategy to create envy and jealousy in the Christian White Supremacy in its practice of segregation and second class citizenship. This was not a conversion this was a strategy.
Blacologically speaking, considering what Samuel Cotton said in the New York City Sun, March 22, 1995, the Islamic Arabs sold into slavery and converted not less than one million Black/Africans every 100 years. This adds up to over 13 million from the 8th century and still increasing. The numbers continue to steady grow with no site of an end to this madness. All this is under the Islamic religion.
The enslavement of Black/Africans has become a vital part of the Islamic Arabic culture. It is hard to imagine Islam without slaves. If you are a Sunni or a Shiite, your tradition is based in the subjugation of the Black African as your slave. In your prayers you must ask Allah to bless your slaves and make you a better oppressor. In Blacology it is not logical to refer to one who would kidnap you as a master. The master is a very spiritual being. One who is worthy is a very spiritual being. One who is worthy of your praise and respect. One who can deliver you from trial, tribulation, and oppression. One who will provide you with wisdom to overcome and misfortune. The master is one who will supply you with the strength you need to conquer your struggle. The master is an honorable leader. This is not a title to give to one who is an oppressor and enslaver of your people. One who prays for you to be a good slave is not one who is worthy of the title Master.
Blacologically speaking, Malcolm X could not have been ignorant of the Arabic Islamic enslavement of Black/African. If Islam does not want to be associated with slavery then Islam should not hang out with slavery. Somewhere I read that if you walk with kings, you will be seen as a king. If you walk with thefts, you will be seen as a theft. Birds of a feather flock together. If Islam does not want to be associated as a religion that understands the practice of slavery, Islam must stamp out slavery wherever it comes in contact with slavery.
So, it does not matter if you are Muslim or not. Being a Muslim will not make you free from it enslavement. For over 1,000 years, those who practice Islam in North Africa have enslaved Black/Africans. It is not only the belief that Arabs have that Black/African are born to be the slaves, but it is also the religion they practice that reinforces this type of thinking. The religion of the people is made by the people and for the benefit of the people. For over a thousand years, Islam has not eradicated slavery as a practice from the mind of those who practice Islamic. If the Arabs cannot find in themselves the strength to eliminate from their hearts and minds the practice of slavery, then they should allow for the followers and students of the Honorable Elijah Mohammed to teach and council them in human dynamics. This would revive Islam and save it from this disease of racism, which has taken root in Islam. Only those who have practice Islam without slavery can provide a cure for this virus. If not, then Islam will be a religion that is associated with slavery. The only hope for Islam is the National of Islam and the Black Muslims. If the Nation of Islam is assimilated into the Sunni and Shiites without reconigntion for its accomplishment in humanity with the religion of Islam, there will be no hope for Islam ever getting rid of the virus of slavery.