Tags

  • Published on

    The Other 'Ism': Colourism & Its Harm To Community

    Race Sojourns With Na'eemah

    ﷽

    Image description

    Abu Musa reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:


    إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى خَلَقَ آدَمَ مِنْ قَبْضَةٍ قَبَضَهَا مِنْ جَمِيعِ الْأَرْضِ فَجَاءَ بَنُو آدَمَ عَلَى قَدْرِ الْأَرْضِ فَجَاءَ مِنْهُمْ الْأَحْمَرُ وَالْأَبْيَضُ وَالْأَسْوَدُ وَبَيْنَ ذَلِكَ وَالسَّهْلُ وَالْحَزْنُ وَالْخَبِيثُ وَالطَّيِّبُ


    "Verily, Allah Almighty created Adam from a handful which He took from the earth, so the children of Adam come in accordance with the earth. Some come with red skin, white skin, or black skin, and whatever is in between: thin, thick, sullied and pure." (Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2955)


    According to some scholars, the explanation of this ḥadīth is as follows. The Prophet ﷺ explains the manner in which Adam عليه السلام and his progeny were created. He said: “Indeed, Allah created Adam from a handful which He took from the entirety of the earth.”  That is, that the origin of human creation began from a handful taken by Allah, exalted is He. A “handful” (qabḍah) refers to that which is gathered and held within the palm. The phrase “from the entirety of the earth” signifies that it was taken from all its regions and constituents: from its pure and impure soils, and from its various colors and qualities. This accords with the Divine saying: ⁠“From it We created you, into it We shall return you, and from it We shall bring you forth once again.” (Qurʾān 20:55)

  • Published on

    On Afro-Feminism & The Health of a Nation

    History Sojourns With Na'eemah Womanhood

    ﷽

    Picture

    via Yaqeen Institute

    “The most complete of believers in faith are those with the best character, and the best of you are the best in behavior to their women.”
    —Tirmidhi
    Image description
    ​As Black women, we have a great capacity to survive and, one would argue, thrive. Despite all that befell us over the past 500 years, we participated in communities and societies and made great contributions to bettering those communities and societies. We’ve held our families together, providing education and inventions while, at the same time, holding onto and passing down the cultural and spiritual heritages of the Black communities and societies we belong to.

    How well we thrive is a litmus test of how equitable, advanced and civilized the communities and societies we find ourselves in are. In a healthy, sound society, women (and especially Black women and girls) are valued, and their worth and contributions are not only advocated for but also found essential to the collective growth and prosperity of their societies and communities.

    Take, for example, the West African Sokoto Emirate (    Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso), founded in 1804 by the Fulani scholar, Shehu Usman dan Fodio.
  • Published on

    “Liberté ou la mort”: On the Haitian Revolution & Our Liberation

    History Sojourns With Na'eemah

    ﷽

    Picture

    'Black Spartacus': Toussaint Louverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution by de Baptiste (1875) Credit: Photo 12 / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    "Zamba Boukman, also called Boukman Dutty, a Papaloi or High Priest, was a literate Muslim; his chief assistant, the mambo Cécile Fatiman, a likely cognate with Fatima (and indeed, Cesil Fatima in Haitian Kreyol), might also have been Muslim."
    ​ ​(Diouf 1998, 152-53, 229)
    Do you sense it? The spiritual revolution awakened by Dutty Boukman in the mountains of San Domingue--present-day Haiti--to the rubble of Gaza? The great evil of European chattel slavery and occupation has kept this spiritual revolution alive.
    When Cristóbal Colón (aka Christopher Colombus) a Spanish Jew, left Spain and landed in the islands of the Bahamas, he brought with him the oppression of the very empire that was oppressing his own people. Five centuries later, the ghost of that landing continues to haunt the world.
  • Published on

    How Storytelling Saves Lives

    On Stories Sojourns With Na'eemah

    ﷽

    Picture

    Photo by Alexey Demidov on Unsplash

    ​How every good Bahamian story begins:
    “Once upon a time and a good old time
    Monkey chewed tobacco and spit white lime”.
    "Have ya’ heard of B’rabbi and Br’fox? ‘Vell, B’rabbi is a rascal and his biggest nemesis is Br’fox. No two characters ever did hate each other like those two. 
    I blame B’rabbi the most though—now hear me out. A fox is doing just what foxes do; why now B’rabbi think he can just harass Br’fox all day every day and not think a fox will come for him? What kinda thinking is that? 

    That rascal was just bored, I think. Bored and maybe a bit jealous? ‘Cause Br’fox came up with some real clever tricks to trap him. Who can forget the ‘Ta’ Baby’ incident of ‘31? Ya never heard of the ‘Ta’ Baby’ incident? ‘Vell chile! Br’fox made a tar baby to catch and vex B’rabbi. And it almost work too...but unfortunately B’Boukee has a weakness too; he too greedy!

    You want me to tell you about the ‘Ta’ Baby’ incident, ya say? I ‘ain gat time today but it’s very famous ‘round here. Ol’ Mrs. Pratt down the road, she gat time, ask her, but make sure ya gat time because the Lawd is my witness, that woman can run on!"
    Storytelling saves lives.
  • Published on

    Sisters in the Struggle - The Legacy of Assata Shakur

    Legacy Spotlight

    ﷽

    "I think that in order to struggle you have to be creative. In my life, creativity has been something that has sustained me; it awoke my spiritual struggle."
    A few weeks ago we heard of the death of Assata Shakur, who chose to be called, ‘she who struggles for community and is thankful’. She was a daughter, sister, mother and revolutionary fighter, a woman who saw injustices and wanted to fight against it. She died free in Cuba but in exile from her birth nation of the United States of America.

    This is the outcome of those that are true, those that stand up against tyranny and oppression. They are mocked and vilified - and if those tactics do not work, then they face imprisonment, torture, exile or death.

    We have seen the tyrannical techniques played out against people like Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and many other freedom fighters and revolutionaries. If we want to know who is on the right side of history, see who their enemies are.

    The entire United States government, both left and right, demonized and hunted our sister Assata Shakur, branding her a terrorist - the first American woman to be put on the terrorist watchlist...even though all charges against her were either dropped or acquitted. Yet she remains on the list to this day.

    This is the price of making true change, of speaking the truth, of actively standing for truth. We honour our sister, her sacrifice, her commitment to her people, and her solidarity with all oppressed people in the world.

    May Allah have mercy on Assata Olugbala Shakur.
    Picture
    "A woman’s place is in the struggle."

  • Published on

    Home: A Short Tale

    Sojourns With Na'eemah

    ﷽

    Picture

    Photo by Sherard Campbell on Unsplash

    Looking at the remnants of my great grandmother’s home (or, as we called her, Mama or ‘Grand Dame’ to you)—it was here I learnt Prophet Elijah came to visit, ghosts and evil spirits get revenge and grief turns into song between Nova’s knees singing of burials while braiding hair.

    Here was my first experience of death and that buildings could sway to negro spirituals that grip the soul. Of where insanity and family charity intertwined. The place where generations grew under poverty’s roof. One cent candies and possessed snakes came from the neighbour's house.

    Imprinted forever upon little Nikkie’s soul: Mama’s lap and watchful gaze rocking on the porch, a hard black woman turned soft with babies placed in her care.