A MESSAGE

to my Brothers and Sisters-in-Islam

of African-American Heritage

by Majida Amat'Al-Quddus

We, as African-American Muslim women and men, have a great blessing and a great responsibility upon us. We are very new to ISLAM. One, two, or at the most three generations of Muslims; and there are many more Muslims who are recent reverts to the Islamic manner of submission to the ONE who Created us. The great blessing, of course, is ISLAM. The great responsibility: educating ourselves, our sons and daughters, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren and the world regarding ISLAM. We must protect this precious knowledge we have gained so that it is not superficially veiled by Shaitan's devices of heroin, cocaine, gambling, liquor, fornication, adultery, and the like--running rampant in our society today.

The African-American Muslim man and woman, as I see it, is at one of the most crucial times in our existence; not because we are African-American, but because we share a common experience. What we do now with this time will determine the spiritual health and therefore, physical, mental, and emotional well-being; of our children for generations to come, inshaALLAH.

Now that most of us have gone full circle from ISLAM, TO 600 OR MORE YEARS OF SLAVERY (in one form or another), BACK TO ISLAM AGAIN. We now know why in slavery, if a black person learned to read--it cost that person their life. We now know that Prophet Muhammad's, sallallahu alaihi wa salaam, first command from ALLAH, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, through Angel Gabrielle was to "Read", three times "Read". We now know why in slavery we were separated under vile conditions so that we could not communicate in a common tongue.

ALL OF IT, ALL OF IT, this totally incredible deceit, this mutilation of an entire people, was about the attempted destruction of ISLAM, its people, and at the same time satisfying the greed of our oppressors.

The booty those who would enslave us received were the products of greed: slavery and a nation built on the backs of the brutally oppressed.

This is NOT ABOUT HATRED, please don't misunderstand me, this is NOT ABOUT HATRED--our time and understandings gained through HOLY QUR'AN (by the Grace and Mercy of ALLAH) lets us transcend that, Alhamdulillah! NO, this is about UNITY, UNITY of self through discipline, UNITY of brothers, UNITY of sisters, UNITY of husbands and wives, UNITY of family, UNITY of tribes, UNITY of community, UNITY of nations, UNITY OF THE COMPLETE UMMAH in giving our Creator His Proper Acknowledgement, Glorious and Humble Adoration and Worship.

"WORSHIP" of our Creator--the ONLY reason we are here.


"I have only created jinns and men,
that they may serve Me."
HOLY QUR'AN 51:56


". . . To ALLAH we belong, and to Him is our return."
HOLY QUR'AN 2:156

Slavery to ALLAH, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, is the only freedom. Slavery to ALLAH, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, is the only freedom. The only road to success for any of us, Muslim or non-Muslim. Our Creator does not need us--we need our Creator. We should be so humbled and grateful to the Creator of all things that He gave us HOLY QUR'AN as Guidance, owing us nothing. He is so Merciful. Alhamdulillah!!!

Yet now, now we've come full circle, only by the Grace of ALLAH; and we are amongst the first generations to realize the reasoning behind all of this. ALL OF THIS that our ancestors endured. All that our ancestors wrenched their souls about. All that they struggled to achieve and pass on. Of all the messages sent through time from our loved ones, this is the message we are responsible to give back: "READ" HOLY QUR'AN AND RE-READ AGAIN AND AGAIN. We may read the HOLY QUR'AN a thousand different times and in each reading, inshaALLAH, gain new insights and a new and closer relationship with our Lord.

The words of the HOLY QUR'AN are the Words of ALLAH--Creator of all things--and the only source of perfected, guaranteed unaltered, and unalterable truth:

"This is the Book;
In it is guidance sure, without doubt,
To those who fear ALLAH;"
HOLY QUR'AN 2:2


"Praise be to ALLAH,
Who hath sent to His Servant The Book,
and hath allowed therein no crookedness:
"(He hath made it) Straight (and Clear)
in order that He may warn of a terrible punishment from Him,
and that He may give glad tidings
to the believers who work righteous deeds,
that they shall have a goodly Reward."
HOLY QUR'AN 18:1-2

Where else can we go and know that every word is TRUE? Where else can we go to have our hearts ring with the reality of its TRUTH? Where else can we go for answers to any problems? ALLAH, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, supplies the questions and the answers, and guarantees that every word is correct and cannot be violated. Whatever the question: ISLAM is the answer. ISLAM--the religion of Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus Christ, Muhammad (saws) and of all the prophets.

"Say ye: 'We believe in Allah,
and the revelation given to us,
and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes,
and that given to Moses and Jesus,
and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord:
We make no difference between one and another of them:
And we bow to Allah (in Islam).'"
HOLY QUR'AN 2:136

ALLAH, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, has blessed us in allowing us to be Muslim, and as Muslims we are given the opportunity and responsibility to pass this precious message on not only to our sons and daughters, but to the world.

How then, can we, on that final day, look at our Creator and say:

"La illaha ill'ALLAH, Muhammad durRasul'ALLAH."

"There is no God but ALLAH

Muhammad is the Messenger of ALLAH."

May Allah accept. Ameen.

Original publication:
The Muslim Observer
A National Weekly Muslim Newspaper
April 28, 2000

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