The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan: “America: You are wicked as hell. I hate the wickedness that you have practiced, and still practice on my people.” What are your thoughts?
by Nzinga Muhammad
The never-ending propaganda that demonizes Muslims and our entire faith gets annoying. More than annoying, it gets dangerous. This rhetoric has become a fact to many people, but it is a sinister view of Muslims and our faith that bears no tangible truth. The lies, myths, and straight up foolishness that I see and hear about Muslims needs to be debunked, and completely thrown away from our thinking.
“Muslims don’t believe in God or Jesus, they believe in Allah”
This is literally one of the most ignorant statements I’ve ever been encountered with. This lie attempts to accuse Islam as being anti-Christian and some radical religion with a grudge against Jesus. Jesus is loved and appreciated in Islam. In the Holy Qur’an, his mother Maryam (Mary) has an entire chapter dedicated to her. Muslims generally don’t worship Jesus as God, but see him as an important Prophet and Servant of Allah, and a good example in his obedience to God.
Do people who say that quote know what “Allah” means in English? It translates to God. If you are a person of any other faith besides Islam, and you speak arabic, then you would also say “Allah”. Jesus being a man who did not speak English, but most likely Arabic, would have said “Allah” too. We don’t have a “Muslim god”. There is but One God.
Muslims like ISIS want to kill everyone *inserts false verse allegedly from the Qur’an*
ISIS doesn’t even pray in the same direction as us, let alone read from the Qur’an! As far as I’m concerned, they are not Muslim. They are far off from Islam and the true teachings of it. Of course, you will have those who use the Qur’an as justification for their own political agenda. Kind of how the Bible was used to justify chattel slavery. Often times, people who claim that Muslims want to kill everyone, bring up verses from the Quran that have either been misinterpreted completely, or aren’t even in the book. If you’re going to quote the book, at least read it. Muslims do not want to kill everyone. And if you have read the Qur’an you would have read that it says killing one person is like killing all of mankind ( Surah 5:32). Don’t believe the hype.
Islam is wrong because all Muslims have an agenda to wage Jihad against America.
True “jihad” is the struggle with self. It truly is about overcoming war with yourself; your own personal challenges, often times, spiritual. Muslims are never to be the aggressors, however if we are attacked first, then fighting back is never a bad thing. In terms of a physical war, as Minister Farrakhan has said before, “No leader of any Muslim nation can call for Jihad or Holy War and cause the Muslim world to obey that call.”
I’ve been Muslims all of my life, and I’ve never been told to hate people of other faiths, or that it’s wrong to love Jesus. Islamophobia gets tiring. It, unfortunately, extends beyond some troll on twitter. This is propaganda that has been repeated post-9/11, and has not stopped since. This shaped the minds of many Americans (and people around the world) to potentially mistreat Muslims. Women have had their hijabs pulled off of their heads, and hate crimes against Muslims have happened many times. Words are powerful and should never be taken lightly, especially when it perpetuates harmful stereotypes and misconceptions about people of an entire faith.
(Nzinga Muhammad is based in Rochester, NY. Follow her on Twitter @QueenNzinga13)
America celebrates her villains as “heroes”, then convinces her citizens that it’s acceptable to honor corrupt men and women. History has been tampered with and diluted to mask the stench of absolute wickedness done in this country and others. America softens the tragedies of people of color in history, by minimizing its impacts and brushing it aside as “the past”. Such has been done in the celebration of Columbus Day. This is a racist holiday, as it reveres a man who had a big hand in the slaughter of the indigenous people. To honor him is to disrespect those who suffered under his coming to their land. Fortunately, there are many states who have changed the name and focus from Columbus Day to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” for the recognition of indigenous people instead of European invaders. The arguments (and there are many) that Columbus should be praised as some American hero is insensitive. What’s so heroic about genocide?
By Nzinga Muhammad
First of all it should be known by now that Columbus did not “discover” anything. You can’t discover a land that people already knew about and lived in. Secondly, his perspective on the Native People was not at all positive. He bragged in his journal about how they could be made servants and “with fifty men they can be subjected and made to do what is required of them.” (Voyages of Columbus , pages 111-114). Columbus also enslaved the Native People for gold and punished those who didn’t bring him enough by cutting their hands off.
Young girls were sold into sex slavery and given to Columbus’s men. His friend, Michele de Cuneo, disgustingly reported his sexual assault of an indigenous woman. Historic European/Indigenous relations are often romanticized, and the indigenous women are often portrayed as having a lust for European strangers. In reality, they were raped and abused. This fact can’t be ignored.
This is not every detail of the tragedies that Columbus brought, but hopefully a good enough reason to refuse admiration of him. You can’t honor a man responsible for murdering, enslaving, robbing, and torturing people. No matter how much of a “tradition” it is, those traditions need to be reexamined. Christopher Columbus does not deserve to be painted as a hero. There are too many murderers and criminals with schools and streets named after them. Once we ask questions and research more, we find that what we have been taught about supposed “heroes” are actually lies.
But how is this racist? It’s just a holiday right? But when you celebrate a man like Columbus, you’re ignoring the history of his wrongdoing towards a group of people who to this day suffer from the aftermath. If you disregard these facts, you’re cosigning the history of what happened to Native people as acceptable. It shows how little respect is actually given to those who have been here for centuries.
No one should celebrate Columbus this Monday, next Monday, or ever again.
(Nzinga Muhammad is based in Rochester, NY. Follow her on Twitter @QueenNzinga13)
Top photo source: Native News Online photo by Anthony Roy
Photo Source: http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2009/10/columbusgenocideship.jpg
Black Muslims in America have to deal with two struggles: anti-Islam rhetoric and anti-blackness. Inside and outside of the mosque, or masjid, there is racism that shouldn’t be ignored. If you tell a Muslim who isn’t black that there is racism among the ummah, sometimes the response will be “That’s not true! There is no color in Islam!” Colorblindness is never a good thing. There are dangers in a colorblind society. If you claim that you can’t “see color”, you are choosing to ignore racial injustices that people face. You ignore people’s identities and conform them to say that who they are is wrong. Just because Islam is diverse, doesn’t mean you should deny my blackness, or the issues we face while being black. Black Americans in particular have had to deal with white supremacy for centuries. It has not yet disappeared.
By Nzinga Muhammad
Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon him) had to teach the Arab people of his day to not discriminate against the black people who followed him. Sadly, that anti-blackness still lingers in many Muslim communities. You would see sometimes during Jummah, all of the black people all together in a corner, segregated from the rest. You would see disrespectful glares of non-black Muslims towards us, and even hear the repetition of racist speech in Arabic. This is not Islam. But this is an unspoken reality. Actually, its spoken of, but always talked over by the loud recitation of Quranic verses and hadiths discussing diversity. If you can’t identify or listen to Black Muslims, or dismantle any racist behaviors, then your quotes on diversity mean nothing.
One of the reasons why “traditional” or Orthodox Muslims don’t like the Nation of Islam is because of the teachings to empower mainly black people to bring us back from a “dead” state. Black power was manifested in our own grocery stores, newspapers, businesses, schools, etc from the Nation of Islam, who had a very big hand in establishing Islam in America. This has gotten criticism for many years as “un-Islamic.” But understand what black people have gone through and still go through daily in an unholy society. Understand the need for self-love in a community with likened conditions as the Arabs in jahiliyyah, during Prophet Muhammad’s time. No one else would willingly teach black people Islam at first.
There are those Orthodox Muslims who claim our great brother Malcolm X, or Malik El Shabazz, yet didn’t care for him until AFTER he got taught by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The Nation of Islam cleaned him up. We did that. He learned “As Salaam Alaikum” and all of his prayers from the Nation of Islam, not Orthodox Muslims. No one else taught us until after the fact, and even still, there was discrimination.
With all due respect, there are some so called “Muslims” who sell the forbidden swine in black communities. There are some so called “Muslims” who mistreat black women, and disrespect black people in general. It happens more often than we think, not even limited to American borders, but the issue is always pushed to the back of our minds. There are a lot of black Muslims who have to find an all-black mosque to pray in, because they haven’t been treated as they should in other mosques. It’s a horrible thing when people who claim to follow Prophet Muhammad hate the same people who look just like Bilal.
There is definitely racism in the mosque. You can’t sweep it under the rug and pretend blackness doesn’t exist to make the issue go away. Islam and religion in general needs to be cleansed so that it can be as pure as it’s supposed to be.
(Nzinga Muhammad is based in Rochester, NY. Follow her on Twitter @QueenNzinga13)
It baffles me how much ignorance and arrogance Americans can have. It has gotten to the point where, the very languages people speak is considered unacceptable.
I remember being in a café inside my sister’s gymnasium, sitting down near these two women conversing in another language. All was well until this rude white man goes over to them and asks them to stop because “This is America, we speak English”. The women could understand what he said and protested against his ignorance. I honestly at first thought that this was all staged and John Quiñones was going to come out somewhere like, “Haha hey this is What Would You Do..” Unfortunately that wasn’t the case this was real life.
By Nzinga Muhammad
So I got up, and said to him,”Sir, if you want English, go to England.” Obviously he was a little shocked to have a teenage petite girl tell him to go to England if he wants English so badly. He went on about immigrants and how they should speak English since “this is America”. It was a back and forth conversation and my stance was of course with the women.
If you didn’t know, America has no official language. I told the man this (paraphrasing): “Yes our laws, street signs, and other things are in English, but we have no official language as a country. On top of that, this land didn’t used to speak English until the English illegal immigrants came over here. Shouldn’t you be speaking the languages of the indigenous people?
Oh by the way: while you’re traveling countries and struggling with English trying to learn another language on Rosetta Stone, they have already mastered several languages. They could be bilingual or trilingual.”
After this conversation, the man sort of left it alone. I’m not bringing this up so I’ll be praised as some sort of “hero”, but I hope that we start to see the arrogance that America has towards people who don’t fit its criterion.
I will never understand how Americans brag about this country being a “melting pot”, how this is the land of the free, home of the brave, yet they’re scared of people speaking languages other than English.
How long have some students learned a foreign language in high school and yet come out still knowing one language? Yet the people they criticize for not speaking English are fluent in several other languages. So with all due respect: Take several seats and humble yourself.
(Follow Nzinga Muhammad on Twitter @QueenNzinga13)
Minister Farrakhan warned on The Breakfast Club, “After this broadcast, the weather will intensify.”
On The Breakfast Club, Minister Farrakhan warned, “After this broadcast, the weather will intensify.”
Have you been paying attention to the weather since? Will Sanders, Clinton or Trump take heed to this warning?
Donald Trump’s supporters collectively decided to have amnesia and forget the history of The United States of America. They want to make America great “again”, implying that it was once again a great country. “Great” maybe in size. “Great” maybe in power. But not “Great” as in good or morally correct. However, when you tell them that America was never good for us, let alone great, they tell you to leave the country. Woooowwww ok, maybe you all need a history lesson. Better yet, here’s some instances of when America was not so great.
Remember when the illegal immigrants came over and brought their rapists, criminals, and disease infested citizens? Our indigenous family in the Americas suffered and continue to suffer greatly. Their land was stolen; they were forced to move from their territory (Trail Of Tears for example); their chiefs beheaded; millions of native Americans killed, many due to diseases….need I go on? Due to the massacres and colonization of these white invaders, Native American’s numbers in population have decreased drastically. Their various cultures have been deemed inferior, yet used as props for those white invader’s children’s accessories. But that’s another article for another time…
In Massachusetts from 1692-1693, there was a sweep of paranoia that resulted in a series of hangings of people who allegedly practiced “witchcraft”; also, because of denial of enforced Christian beliefs of that time. This hysteria resulted in the accusations and deaths of many innocent individuals, mainly women. One of the “witches”, I found out, I happen to be a descendant of : Susannah Martin. When analyzing the situation, many of the accusations were based on suspicion, spooky mindset, and illogical reasoning. Not concrete truth. What a “great” moment in American history!
By Nzinga Muhammad
How can I not mention slavery? The kidnapping, castrating, raping, mistreatment of African people for hundreds of years. The criminal act of taking people across the atlantic ocean, many of whom died along the way; selling them in slave auctions; separating families, forcing labor on these men, women, and children….Unforgivable. I can go on and on about the tragedies of slavery, and its after-effects on blacks in America in 2016. I can write volumes about lynchings, injustice, and the shame America should have for her mistreatment, but unfortunately we have other American “greatness” to discuss…
Remember the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis? It was when 600 enrolled black men were promised free healthcare, burial insurance, meals on examination day, even the treatment of “bad blood”, which was a term used for afflicting diseases. Of those 600 black men, 399 had syphilis, and 201 did not. The men who had syphilis, did not get any treatment for what they had, nor were they informed of their diagnosis. The study administrators wanted to watch how the disease affected them, thus many black men died, infected their wives, and even some of their children were born with syphilis. It was supposed to go on for 9 months, but went on for 40 years from 1932-1972.
5). Japanese-American Internment
OMG What about that great American moment when Japanese-American citizens were forced into concentration camps due to yet again American paranoia? After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which is said to be a false flag attack, the FBI raided homes of many first generation Japanese immigrants. Many thought that they were spies for the Japanese government. President Roosevelt with executive order 9066 on February 19, 1942 called for anyone of Japanese ancestry to relocate. They were forced to evacuate into concentration camps with horrible conditions. Any attempt of escape meant death. After the “internment” closed, and the people were allowed to go back home, many Japanese-Americans received racist Anti-Japanese sentiments.
So, looking at American History, I’m trying to find an instance of greatness, in the sense of morally good. I’m struggling to find an acceptable reason as to why we should say “Make America Great Again”, as though there was greatness to begin with. This country was literally founded on the slaughtering of another people. Trump Supporters are too stuck in their anger and confusion to see what’s wrong with their slogan.
(Follow Nzinga Muhammad on Twitter @QueenNzinga13)
Originally published 6.4.11
For the second time since becoming president, Barack Obama on May 20 pardoned eight people convicted of crimes. Georgia death row inmate, Troy Davis, wasn’t on that list and is still facing a possible fourth execution date.
“The warden in the prison doesn’t like my brother and all the notoriety he’s been receiving. They are really trying to execute my brother and do not want him to get a new trial. They know if he gets a new trial, their case will not stand because there is no evidence showing he did the crime,†Martina Correia told me in a phone interview.
According to the Georgia Corrections Department, the state recently changed to a different lethal injection drug to put inmates to death. When executions resume, Mr. Davis could be the first to have the new drug run through his veins.
“They want to break Troy’s spirit but he told me he’s constantly praying to Allah and that gives him joy. They restricted him from having phones calls since our mother’s funeral in April and he’s been on strict lockdown since March on a bogus accusation,†said Ms. Correia.
U.S. Supreme Justices halted Atlanta’s 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on March 28 from examining the controversial case, in which Mr. Davis was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1989 killing of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. That was Mr. Davis’ final appeal.
One of his last chances for freedom rests with the state parole board, which could choose to hear his case and grant clemency.
Over 20 exonerated death row survivors signed an open letter in support of Mr. Davis and sent it to James E. Donald, who chairs the Georgia State Board of Pardons & Paroles.
“We don’t know if Troy Davis is in fact innocent, but, as people who were wrongfully sentenced to death (and in some cases scheduled for execution), we believe it is vitally important that no execution go forward when there are doubts about guilt. It is absolutely essential to ensuring that the innocent are not executed,†the letter reads in part.
The exonerees also wrote to Mr. Donald, “When you issued a temporary stay for Troy Davis in 2007, you stated that the Board “will not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused.” This standard is a welcome development, and we urge you to apply it again now. Doubts persist in the case of Troy Davis, and commuting his sentence will reassure the people of Georgia that you will never permit an innocent person to be put to death in their name.â€
“We’re going to keep fighting. We have to find new witnesses who are not afraid to come forth and testify. Many are afraid and I don’t know why unless the cops have something on them,†said Ms. Correia.
Ms. Correia, along with a host of organizations, including Murder Victims Family Members, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Amnesty International and the NAACP, are calling on political, religious, and community leaders to cry out like never before in demanding freedom for Mr. Davis, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1991.
Witnesses claimed Mr. Davis, who was then 19-years-old, and two others were harassing a homeless man in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant when off-duty officer MacPhail arrived to help the man. Witnesses also testified at trial that Mr. Davis then shot the officer twice and fled the scene.
Since Mr. Davis’ conviction, seven of the nine witnesses against him have recanted their testimony and no physical evidence has been presented that links Mr. Davis to the killing.
Since 2007, the state of Georgia has slated Mr. Davis for execution three times only to have the executions delayed.
In August 2009, the Supreme Court ordered the federal court in Savannah to hear Mr. Davis’ innocence claim in an evidentiary hearing. In June of 2010, U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. heard two days of testimony and two months later he ruled that Mr. Davis’ defense team failed to present satisfactory proof of innocence.
Mr. Davis’ attorneys argued that Judge Moore was incorrect in his refusal to hear from potential witnesses who could testify that another man confessed to taking the life of Mr. MacPhail. The attorneys filed this latest appeal in January, only to see it rejected.
The clock is ticking and supporters are flooding Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, websites, blogs and events on the grounds on behalf of Mr. Davis.
“Troy has lost both of his parents since being on death row and hasn’t been able to say goodbye to either of them. But the more they do to him on the inside of the prison, he says, the more he’s going to keep smiling at them,†said Ms. Correia.
To follow updates on this case visit: www.troyanthonydavis.org
Free Troy Davis!
~Brother Jesse Muhammad
(Note: I originally wrote this story for The Final Call Newspaper for the Vol. 30 No. 35 edition dated June 7, 2011)
Originally published 1.15.10
by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
[The following text is taken from a message delivered by Minister Farrakhan on November 1, 1997 at Celebration’s Banquet Hall in Chicago, Illinois.]
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.
Tonight I would like to take as my text, “Sing Unto the Lord a New Song and His Praise from the End of the Earth.†America is in trouble. It is the greatest nation ever in the history of the world. She has the finest constitution of any government in the history of the world. She is the greatest economic and military power in the history of the world. She has everything that it takes to be the greatest nation on the earth, but she is dying from an internal rot produced by a moral decline that is taking her into the abyss of decadence.
Those of us who are preachers and teachers have to analyze our preaching, whether we are imams, rabbis, ministers, cardinals, arch-bishops or high potentates. When you see the decadence that we see everyday of our lives, of what effect is our preaching if our preaching cannot change people’s hearts that they may do better? Or are we preaching a watered down Torah, Gospel and Qur’an that literally tickles the ears of the wicked and makes people satisfied in their wickedness with no pangs of conscience that they are in manifest error?
The church, mosque and synagogue have embraced what Christ, Muhammad, Moses and the Prophets of Israel cannot embrace. We can embrace the human being, but when the human being’s ways are contrary to the will of God, we cannot embrace that. We can come as we are, but we can’t stay as we are.
America is sick, and America needs a doctor. What is America’s sickness? She started off wrong. She started off with an ideology and a philosophy that was not Christian, though she came in the name of Jesus. She started off in the name of a philosophy of White supremacy. White supremacy, as an ideology and philosophy, spawned from it a racist America and a Constitution watered with racism, so that the darker people that live in America could never feel like they are a real part of the promise of this nation.
To read more click on The Final Call online link: For America to Survive, She Must Make a Real Change
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Written by Jesse Muhammad
Originally published 11.5.08
Congratulations to Barack Obama on becoming the 44th President of the United States of America. I pray for the safety of him and his family.
As I type this blog, I am smiling at the countless text messages from my family, friends and associates who are elated at what has just took place. Some of the text messages were serious and others were simply funny forwards.
Regardless, I felt their spirit. The thought that in our lifetime…a Black man…has become the President.
For some reason when Obama walked out on the stage to deliver his victory speech, I thought of a woman who had a major impact on my life: Mrs. Christopher.
Mrs. Christopher was my first-grade teacher at Fonwood Elementary located on the Northeast side of Houston. At that time my name was Jesse James Earl Jackson, so you can easily imagine the type of attention that name brought me on a daily basis.
Because it was during that time that a civil rights activist with the same first and last name as mine had made a bid for Presidency that shook up the country.
I remember Mrs. Christopher telling me “You too can run for President one day. Your name may be a sign. A Black person can be President. You can do anything you want to do.” My response to her was always “Yes maam”.
She said it on many occasions to me and was always encouraging all of her students to be the best no matter what.
Well over twenty years later, Mrs. Christopher you were right. Neither my classmates nor myself did it but we watched tonight as your words came true. Also my name has changed since then.(smile)
Becoming the President of the U.S. is not for everyone to accomplish but we all have a purpose for being here. Tonight shows that when you have a strong work ethic, a powerful team, a supporting family, and a deep desire to be the best, nothing is impossible. Being a “tech-junkie”, I marveled from the start at the technological strategy of the Obama campaign and how it has set a standard. Perfection.
So when the victory parties have ended, the confetti is swept away, the champagne bottles are empty and the camera lights are turned off, we all have to awaken the next day to the inevitable questions of: What’s next? What am I going to do? What will I do of greatness today?
Remember, Mediocrity is Not in Your D.N.A.
