SIGNS OF THE TIME

Introduction August 17th marked the 123rd memorial birthdate of Marcus Garvey. In honor of that occasion, I release the following from my future book, Reclaimed Legacy:Muslim Indigenous And Immigrant Peoples, And The True History Of Al-Islām In America. Muslim Influence on the U.N.I.A. “Father of all Creation Allah Omnipotent, Supreme o’er every nation God Bless our President” These are the words of one of the “hymns” of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.), founded by the late Marcus Mosiah Garvey, often described as the most influential leader of African descent in the West, during the 20th century. Garvey, considered by many to be the “Father of Black Nationalism”, had been taught African history, topology and politics while residing in Egypt, by a Muslim Egyptian named Duse Muhammad Effendi (see photo above left) Amongst Garvey’s followers were many African Americans, who viewed themselves as Muslims struggling for the liberation of their people from oppression.Th...

The political right-wing, Tea Party based or influenced media has taken up the effort to build a mosque and Islamic community center near NYC’s ground zero, as its latest cause célèbre. In so doing they have been using the same tactics successfully employed during the “Stop the Madrassa” campaign to destabilize the Khalil Gibran School in Brooklyn. The outcome of their skillfully designed and executed work was described by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission in its decision published last March. The EOEC wrote that the Dept. of Education (as part of the Bloomberg Administration) “…succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel and a small segment of the public succeeded in imposing its prejudices on D.O.E. as an employer." Implicit in the arguments put forth in the case of both the Gibran School and the mosque near ground zero, have been disguised, racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Islam and anti-Muslim sentiments. Call them “stealth, white suprem...

WE’RE COUNTING ON CONTINUITY By Imam Al-Hajj Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid New York City, once referred to by former Mayor David Dinkins as a “beautiful mosaic” stands poised once again at yet another historic juncture in its 345th year of existence. Last week, in an unprecedented demonstration of unanimity the City Council of New York voted 50-1 in favor of adding the two major Muslim holy days of Eidul-Fitr and Eidul-Adha, to the Department of Education calendar for school closings. According to the Associated Press, when asked whether or not he would support the Council’s action, current Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed his concern. “When you have a city as diverse as New York, you simply can’t close the schools for every religious holiday”, he stated, “it depends upon the number of school children affected”. The fact of the matter though is that the city’s Muslim community numbering some 800,000 people, are both hopeful and prayerful that Mr. Bloomberg will make a decision consistent with...