The African-American “sojourn” through the hells of chattel slavery and the oppressive Jim Crow laws created a new people on Earth with a burning passion to return home to the excellence that G_d created for every human being.
The 20th century witnessed two powerful expressions emerge from the African-American experience with energies striving for the one and same destiny – freedom! Not manmade freedom such as Abraham Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation” or Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society.” The freedom African-Americans want is the freedom endowed by our Creator that is innately granted to every human being without another human being as the key holder to his or her freedom.
The Civil Rights Movement represented one major expression of the African-American striving for complete freedom; a powerful energy that relentlessly strove for justice for all people; namely the downtrodden former slaves of America.
Another major African-American expression seeking freedom emerged from the Islamic experience namely the Nation of Islam, a community who modeled a defiant sense of independence in hopes of showing African- Americans how to love themselves while building an independent “nation.”
On the surface, to some people these two expressions of energy appeared to be diametrically; however, history has shown these were two entities – albeit applying different methodologies – was working toward the common destiny of true human freedom for oppressed African-Americans.
The Holy Qur’an advises humanity to, “Come together on common terms.” This past Jan. 18 at St John Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis we witnessed those words of the Qur’an come alive at the 47th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. Under the auspices of the Indiana Christian Leadership Conference we saw Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhist, Sikhs, and Hindus united under the common theme of “Stop the killing, rally for real living…LOVE – Let Our Violence End.”
Still the African-American struggle continues along with other human struggles. There’s still a lot of work to be done to reach our noble destiny as a people. What we witnessed at the 47th Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration was the unity of human beings who understand now is time for making the “dream” become real with a vision toward tomorrow.
The Bible says in Acts 2:17, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” We are living in the day and time for advancing the dreams of our forefathers into a futuristic vision for our people, a vision that will benefit all people.
The Qur’an, chapter 3: verse 200 says, “O ye who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such perseverance; strengthen each other; and reverence Allah that ye may prosper.” Both sacred texts are speaking of a forward movement toward a destiny of human excellence. Synergizing the foundations of the Civil Rights Movement and the African-American Islamic movements for the betterment of the African-American people will benefit all of humanity. When the people most oppressed begin to rise using their own willpower – then all people will become better because of that rising.
Dr. King and the Hon. Elijah Muhammad were two Georgia boys who emerged as the leaders of what seemed to be diverse expressions; however, history is showing both men were aiming for one destiny – the true liberation of their people from the oppressive sins of slavery and Jim Crow laws.
Both leaders as they guided their people toward the destiny of independent freedom demonstrated a strong sense of independence that refused to rely upon their oppressors for freedom. The freedom drives of Elijah and Martin agree that only G_d can bring us to our sacred destiny of freedom!
Imam Michael Mikal Saahir is the imam at the Nur-Allah Islamic Center. He can be reached at wordsmakepeople@gmx.com.
