Announcing My New Book!

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Women of the Nation Between Black Protest and Sunni Islam Dawn-Marie Gibson and Jamillah Karim 288 pages | $26.00 Paper "A fascinating and well researched book that expands our knowledge about Islam in the United States. Its analysis of the interactions between the Nation of Islam and mainstream Islam is a model for the scholarship on African American Islam. Anyone who wishes to understand the complex religious identities of contemporary African-American Muslim women should read this book." —Richard Brent Turner, author of Islam in the African-American Experience, Second Edition READ: Our legacy, too: Muslim women and the civil rights movement E-book also available.

With vocal public figures such as Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam often appears to be a male-centric religious movement, and over 60 years of scholarship have perpetuated that notion. Yet, women have been pivotal in the NOI's development, playing a major role in creating the public image that made it appealing and captivating. Women of the Nation draws on oral histories and interviews with approximately 100 women across several cities to provide an overview of women's historical contributions and their varied experiences of the NOI, including both its continuing community under Farrakhan and its offshoot into Sunni Islam under Imam W.D. Mohammed. The authors examine how women have interpreted and navigated the NOI's gender ideologies and practices, illuminating the experiences of African-American, Latina, and Native American women within the NOI and their changing roles within this patriarchal movement. The book argues that the Nation of Islam experience for women has been characterized by an expression of Islam sensitive to American cultural messages about race and gender, but also by gender and race ideals in the Islamic tradition. It offers the first exhaustive study of women’s experiences in both the NOI and the W.D. Mohammed community. Dawn-Marie Gibson is a Lecturer in Twentieth-Century U.S. History in the Department of History at Royal Holloway, University of London. Jamillah Karim is a national and international lecturer in Islam in America, Islam in black America, and women and Islam. Her former academic appointment was as Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Spelman College in 2011.

JET Magazine Didn't Leave Black Muslim Women Out, or the New York Times

Photo in JET, except a head shot. By Sunny Tyrell, a Muslim woman

You would have thought I'd won some money if you had witnessed my excitement upon learning that I was selected to be featured in JET as a young faith leader in the Black community. That was in February. 

It was perfect timing that the article came out in this week's JET with Queen Latifah on the cover. Why? Because just Monday I received this tweet from Arabic Funk:

Where's @IbtihajMuhammad@aminawadud Fatima Jackson@jamillahkarim Intisar Rabb?thrivalroom.com/32-photos-that…@SanaSaeed

The link in the tweet is Thrival Room's (hadn't heard of this site before) "32 Photos That Hope to Change the Way We Look at Muslim American Women." The women profiled range from artists to educators to doctors. 

BUT there was not one African American Muslim woman featured. The women appear to be of Arab and South Asian descent. 

My first thought was that it demonstrated the continued relevance of my first book American Muslim Women, where I argue that African American and South Asian American Muslim women generally occupy separate ethnic spaces, though ummah ideals of unity and other social dynamics occasionally facilitate our crossing our race, class, and gender boundaries. 

My children and the richness of life pulled me away from these thoughts until facebook returned them as African American Muslim women discussed what it meant to be left out again and as efforts were made to create alternative lists. 

Mohammed Schools senior class on NYT, 1993

I want to say out loud that this glaring omission does matter in the sense that it unwittingly reinforces the narrow narrative of American Muslims as immigrant and proves the immense work we need to do to recognize one another across race and ethnic lines in the American ummah. But in another sense, it really doesn't matter that we were left out because our community mothers and fathers, our leaders, our Ana Karims (you have to read my new book to learn about this amazing lady), our Tayyibah Taylors, our Ayesha K. Mustafaas, and our Qur'an Shakirs have been doing this work since we were babies. 

Yes, images and books and lists are powerful and we need all of them to fight Islamophobia, but know that we've been in the trenches shattering the myth of the oppressed, deprived, foreign Muslim woman for some time now. And it's paying off.

We have been featured in our own presses such as the Muslim Journal, but also in mainstream presses such as the New York Times. Just recently, the image of a Black woman first featured on a back cover of Azizah magazine was chosen by the U. S. Department of State for its 2014 publication on American Muslims.

For me, the greater achievement is when our media are recognized by the larger community, as in the case of Azizah Magazine, or when we are included in an important list by a publication that is not Muslim. And not because others are defining us, but because others find us valuable and relevant. 

The JET article in which I am featured is titled "The Chosen Few", and it reads, "With a passion for raising spirits, these new faith leaders inspire truth-seekers to listen for God in the still and the storm." Each faith leader is introduced and quoted with words of wisdom on some aspect of human experience such as love or failure.

Alhamdulillah, I am the Muslim among the five faith leaders featured. Though the feature is small in print, the meaning of this is enormous because it demonstrates American Muslims' ability to offer something beautiful and meaningful from our tradition to a larger human community beyond our faith. The great historian of Islam Marshall Hodgson notes that indeed this ability to offer something relevant to people is indication that a new religious tradition has succeeded in becoming an integral part of society. 

Actor Sumayya Ali, The Washington Times

Hodgson argues that the cultural traditions and dialogues within a place determine Islam’s cultural relevance: only as Islam engaged already existing cultural dialogues could it “become significant for cultural life at large.” To be included in JET's list and other mainstream media in positive, self-defined ways means that we have entered the dialogue and that we are valued.

But of course, our success started with creating our own value, our own images, but even as we created and promoted our own, we have been most effective when the mission is beyond establishing ourselves in this country, and showing compassion and concern for the people who were already here.

Two leaders, whom I highlight in my first book, come to mind most immediately in this light: Dr. Umar Abd-Allah who has encouraged Muslims to make the concerns of non-Muslim Americans their concerns and Imam W. D. Mohammed, whom Dr. Umar holds as a model of this principle.

Speaking to an audience largely second-generation South Asian and Arab Muslim, Dr. Umar stated, "You have to love your people. If you don't love your people, how can you take Islam to your people? And how can you not love your people?"

Imam W. D. Mohammed loved his people.

The Nation of Islam created the Muhammad Speaks newspaper as a medium for Black Muslim expression and images. When Imam W. D. Mohammed became the leader of the Nation after his father's death, he changed the name of the paper from Muhammad Speaks to Bilalian News. Imam Mohammed coined the term Bilalian and offered it as a name for all African Americans, not just Black Muslims.

A 1976 cover of the Bilalian News

As Precious Rasheeda Muhammad and Mahasin Abuwi Aleem have eloquently described, he offered the name to Black Americans in light of our historical search for "a dignified name."  He preferred the term “Bilalian” over “black” and selected it as the name for African Americans: “I think there’s more dignity in identifying with an ancient ancestor than in identifying with skin color. When I say I am a Bilalian, I’m saying that I am a man like Bilal.” He chose Bilal, companion of the Prophet Muhammad emancipated from slavery after embracing Islam, because he was the Muslim ancestor whose story most reflected the narrative of African Americans. 

Ana Karim states, “The Imam had told us Bilal is a prototype of us. . . .His enslavement did not break his will. He held fast to Almighty God. So, the imam said, ‘We are [now] the prototype; we are Bilalians.' The Imam wanted us to be a beacon or harbinger to the future generations to reach for excellence.” The Bilalian News (later changed to Muslim Journal) was an offering, inspired by the Muslim tradition, to all Black Americans.* Ana continues:

Bilalian News stood on the shoulders of Muhammad Speaks in that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said in Muhammad Speaks, “Up you mighty Nation, you can accomplish what you will.” Imam W. D. Mohammed, by naming it Bilalian News, he was saying to our people, “You have the wherewithal within you, God has put all the ingredients in you, to become a great people and become respected by the world. . . .He was reaching out to our people to strive for human excellence.

My recognition as a young faith leader by a Black magazine is simply one of the many fruits of the efforts of Imam W. D. Mohammed and his early followers, including my parents. Because Imam Mohammed loved his people and dedicated his community's newspaper to Black Americans at large, it is no surprise that we are now recognized by one of the most important magazines in the history of the Black freedom struggle.

Indeed, I associate JET with my Granny and Grandpapa, Mrs. Lavada Smith and Dr. Harvey Smith, who always had a copy of the magazine on their coffee table. It was hard for my Granny when my father became a Black Muslim, but over time, as her grandchildren grew with character and intellect, she began to see the beauty of the new life my father had chosen. Her seeing me in JET as a faith leader in the Black community would have sealed her appreciation for Islam, I like to imagine. I am blessed that my 91 year old grandfather has lived to see this day.

May our sons and daughters bring greater light and clarity on a faith meant to benefit all of humanity.

* Bilalian News included a statement of its “policy objectives.” The first five were: “1. Advancement of the moral, and educational development of the entire society. 2. Encourage support for the financial development of economically deprived communities in the society. 3. The presentation to the world of the religious mission of the World Community of Islam in the West, and its community building activities. 4. The presentation of positive Bilalian achievements within and without the United States. 5. The censuring of destructive and negative influences which have traditionally impeded Bilalian development.” “Bilalian News Statement of Policy,” Bilalian News, August 26, 1977, 2.

Celebrating My Book with an NYU Press Blog Post: "Muslim Women's Dress"

Jessica Muhammad

Three years ago I told you about a new book I was writing with Dawn-Marie Gibson, a scholar of the Nation of Islam in the UK. We completed the book last week (due out in July). That same week, I wrote a short piece for Women's History Month for the NYU Press blog: "Muslim Women's Dress, a Tool of Liberation." It gives you a tiny taste of what's to come. The woman pictured in the NYU Press blog is Jessica Muhammad, one of my amazing community mothers featured in the book and a talk that I am giving next week at Harvard. Thanks to everyone for their prayers, support, and assistance.

Speaking at Harvard

Almost two years ago I gave a talk at Harvard featuring Sandra El-Amin, the amazing teacher (and later director) at Mohammed Schools who in many ways trained me to do what I do. I return to Harvard on March 26, 2014 to again share fascinating narratives of women currently and formerly in the Nation of Islam. This time Jessica Muhammad, another one of my beautiful community mothers, will be among the women highlighted. I also feature Jessica in an NYU Press blog post.

Black Is Beautiful, Uh-huh!

When given the opportunity to make my own images, they are black and Muslim!

These words make up the chorus of an audiobook that I play for my sons, ages 2 and 4.

When I received a vintage Fisher Price fire truck in the mail, before presenting the gift to my sons, I painted the firefighter's face brown.

Have I become my father, whose cry to his daughter sounds as vivid today as it did 25 years ago: "But Baby, your hair is beautiful!" His desperate words now echo softly through me. 

It is an understatement to say that we've come a long way since the shouts of Black Pride in the '60s, but even now, the books and toys I regale upon my boys are overwhelmingly shadowed by white faces. How then could I miss the chance to paint a white face brown?

I am a daughter of the Nation of Islam. I carry the legacy with gratitude and wisdom, thanks to my parents, Imam W. D. Mohammed, and my loving community.

The other day I had the opportunity to present my research on women in the Nation of Islam to a small crowd in Eugene, Oregon. After sharing with them how much racism made little girls like my mom feel--she would sit in the tub for hours after playing in the hot sun to wash away the sun's mark--my favorite part was to share how transformed my mother was by the message Black is Beautiful:

           It was one of the most beautiful and refreshing ideas that ever came to my mind.

           It was almost like my mind was being unshackled—

           To know that black was beautiful

           That I’m beautiful

           That brown was beautiful

           That kinky hair could be beautiful

           Thick lips could be beautiful

           And it was wonderful because this was me.

And while I think it's absolutely important to teach and remind about our history, our suffering, and our strength in unbearable times, I am always relieved to wrap things up with a spirit of love and growth. Thanks to Imam W.D. Mohammed, I was able to do that in one of my talks to the mostly white crowd.

I began the talk with a reading from Dreams from My Father. Already I love this book because it is indescribably relevant, discerning, and poetic, but I love it even more that it gave me an opportunity to make the case for why black nationalism and Islam are critical to the souls of black folk, and brown and white folk too: Barack Obama spoke about it, and considerably.

"Ever since the first time I'd picked up Malcolm X's autobiography, I had tried to untangle the twin strands of black nationalism, arguing that nationalism's affirming message--of solidarity and self-reliance, discipline and communal responsibility--need not depend on hatred of whites" (197).

Obama's cogent analysis of the appeal but ultimate ineffectiveness of Black nationalism evoked again and again the spirit and wisdom of Imam W.D. Mohammed. He was a man before his time. 

Twenty years before Imam Mohammed had begun the journey to teach and model Obama's gut belief, that one could adore kinky hair and love blue eyes too:   

"How are we going to hate this world? How are we going to hate America and hate America’s progress and hate the white man?  No! We should hate wrong whether it’s in a black man or a white man, or a red man or any man. Whether it’s in your family, or in your friend, or in your neighbor.  Hate wrong!  Hate evil!  But don’t hate people. That’s against Islam."

Imam W.D. Mohammed had the awesome task of introducing his community to the correct understanding of God while also addressing the yearning that brought them to a black nationalist version of Islam in the first place. With wisdom he connected the two: the inherent nature to seek the Divine and the soul’s demand for a beautiful, dignified human identity.

“You want to make a people superior to you?  Hold them back, and eventually they will be superior to you. Why?  Because they are going to have a superior motivation working for them, and that motivation is to measure up to the dignity that God created them for.”

The Muslim is “obligated by God’s expectations.  God expects me to do more.  God expects me to assume more responsibility.  God expects me to measure up or qualify for more responsibility…You know that a man struggling to get a grade “A” from God will definitely rise higher than a man striving to get an “A” from a white man.”

Imam W. D. Mohammed dedicated his life to nurturing the highest motivation for human excellence: the soul’s innate pursuit of God-given excellence.

"I am trying to get African Americans who still have the burden on them of [finding their] identity…to go back to your better identity.  The better identity that God gave us is not our racial identity…or our national identity.  The better identity for Muslims in Islam according to our Holy Book –[the identity that] God gave us—is our human identity, which is to be understood as the aim for excellence in the human nature….God created us for human excellence, and this is our common heritage.  We should care more about this common heritage than we do the color of our skin or the nations that we come from….The racial classifications are temporary.  They are not going to last forever.  The national classifications are not going to last forever.  What God will receive is our human soul and its excellence."

Focusing on this inherent, God-given potential, Imam W. D. Mohammed accomplished two things.  First, he empowered his followers to reclaim the nobility that was taken away from them.     

Second, Imam W. D. Mohammed instilled a motivation that, instead of reflecting a desire to achieve parity with another race, resonated with an inherent yearning to meet the standards that the Creator designed for all humanity.  “Black nationalism...[or] Black Muslimism is just a strategy to accomplish the real thing.”  The real thing is “answer[ing] the demands in my soul for respect to come for me and my people!” 

**He shaped you and then formed you beautifully (Qur'an, 40:64).