Muhammad Fraser-Rahim - America’s Other Muslims: Imam W.D. Mohammed, Islamic Reform, and the Making of American Islam

LEXINGTON BOOKS

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Control Number:2019956280

ISBN 978-1-4985-9019-8 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4985-9020-4 (electronic)

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

For my parents and community,

who taught me al Islam of taste and its inner
and outer realities to remake the world

Learn before you practice religion, as those who practice without learning usually become so fanatical that killing becomes an essential part of their behavior.

Hasan of Basra (642728 CE)

Numerous family members, friends, and colleagues have been instrumental in allowing my research and intellectual work to gain a footing in both academia and policy circles. Thank you Fatima and Yaya Fanusie, Kareem Sharif, Amir and Habeebah Muhammad, Mia Carey, Imam Luqman Rasheed, Imam Talib Shareef, Imam Earl El-Amin and Imam Benjamin Abdul Haqq, just to name a few. To my copyeditor, Sevim Kalyoncu, you were superb. I would also like to thank Laila Muhammad and the Muhammad estate for the use of W.D. Mohammeds speeches and writings throughout this book. The book is dedicated in memory of the Frasers and the Hamiltons, my maternal and paternal families, who have shaped my thinking and instilled in me a legacy of intellectual learning. Their experiences have included more than seven generations of college education and learning despite the difficulties and challenges of the African American experience. Their examples are the epitome of resilience, and for them I am eternally grateful.

Two academic scholars and mentors, Dr. Sulayman Nyang of Howard University and Dr. Alpha Bah of the College of Charleston, both of whom have passed, were influential in my intellectual and emotional growth as a student and trained me in understanding the intricacies of Africa, Islamic thought, and all things related to history, international relations, culture, and life. I am eternally indebted to them both. In addition, Shaykh Harun Rashid Faye, of the Zawiya of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, and of Senegal, West Africa, was extremely helpful in introducing me to in-depth knowledge of traditional Islamic sciences at a young age and served as a reliable teacher of understanding Islam through his lived experience and practice. Most important, I would like to show my appreciation to Herbert and Martha Fraser Abdur Rahim, my parents, who made the spiritual journey to awaken themselves and raise me and my siblings, Omar, Rabiah, Jamilah, and Aminah, in a utopian heaven in which they dedicated a lifetime of personal and community responsibility to help remake the world. Laila and Adam, savor the words and the history; this is for you.

I am also deeply thankful for the community that raised me in Charleston, South Carolina, which gave me my foundation. The red rice, the hoppins johns, the bean pies, the ginger punch, Walis Fish Supreme, Lateefss, and that hot fush (fish) in my Gullah/Geechee vernacular sustained me and allowed me to be who I am now.

Masjid Al Jami Ar Rasheed was the madrasa in which my parents were my first Arabic teachers as well as the community that gave me love and attention. This community wasnt from overseas or distant places. It consisted of AmericansAfrican Americans, Black Americans, descendants of enslaved Africans and white Americans alike, and in this village I learned the foundation of being me. I am eternally grateful! And finally, to Ms. Robinson (C. E. Williams Middle School), Bro. Nathaniel Razzaq, Bros. Hattie and Nabee Karim, Bro. Sadruddin El-Amin, Bro. Ernest, and the countless others from all over the world who have affected me, you all resonated with me more than you even know.

The historical links between religion, spirituality, and cultural identity on the continent of Africa and their journey to and development in the New World have been, in recent years, a source of increased discussion within academia and the diaspora of people of African descent. As a result of this growth in interest, the varying collective stories of the ethnic and religious descendants of Africa have been examined to understand how their origins in Africa have either been adapted, acculturated, or reformed into a new experience in new lands.

Islam arrived in Africa in the eighth century after dispersing out of Arabia and spreading into modern-day North and West Africa. As such, the experiences of Islam in Africa established Islams formative years on the continent via social agents of change in the form of traders and Sufi mystic interlocutors. The well-documented experiences of key Islamic personalities as well as Africas rich Islamic heritage throughout the continent, specifically the Sahel region, detail a history of intellectual learning and scholarship in places like Timbuktu, Mali; Agade, Niger; and Kano, Nigeria.