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Tuesday, October 2, 2012
National Writers Union, NYC Chapter News
From the Archives: Dr. M on Islam Needs a Martin Luther
Islam Needs a Martin Luther
By Dr. M
By Dr. M
Revised 10/2/12
The Islamic world needs a Martin Luther, someone to usher in an Age of Reform that will radically alter some of the fundamental values of Islam that are retrograde, archaic, primitive and must be discarded into the dustbin of Muslim history so that Islam can regain its position as a culture of enlightenment rather than darkness.
At an Islamic Art Conference I attended this past weekend in Oakland, California, along with Muslims from around the world, there was discussion of how Islam has suppressed artists, calling Muslim art haram (religiously proscribed), shirk (associating partners with God) and other negative terms that essentially condemn Islamic art as evil.
At an Islamic Art Conference I attended this past weekend in Oakland, California, along with Muslims from around the world, there was discussion of how Islam has suppressed artists, calling Muslim art haram (religiously proscribed), shirk (associating partners with God) and other negative terms that essentially condemn Islamic art as evil.
When I addressed the audience, I noted that I am the “father of Islamic literature in America” by default because other Muslim writers were told to give up the art of writing by Elijah Muhammad, i.e., creative writing, but I (being hard to lead in the right direction but easy to led in the wrong direction) ignored the ban and thus my work continued throughout the years, although many of my Black Arts Movement comrades such as Sonia Sanchez, Askia Muhammad Toure and Amiri Baraka wrote Islamic inspired poetry and plays. But aside from poet Sam Hamad, my work stood alone until the Rap era. Not only writers, but painters, musicians, dancers, singers and others were suppressed in the Nation of Islam. Even minister Farrakhan, a musician and singer, was made to give up his art. Of course there were many Muslim musicians influenced by Sunni, Sufi and Ahmedism who produced Islamic inspired art, e.g., Ahmed Jamal, John Coltrane, Dakota Stanton, Sun Ra, Pharaoh Sanders, et al.
But we know artists give visions and prophecy, thus when they are suppressed, the people walk in darkness as we see at the present moment with rampant emotionalism, fundamentalism, honor killings, suppression of the human rights of women, partner violence and sectarian mass murder. Even the so called revolutionary Arab Spring has been infiltrated by reactionary elements that would take Muslims back to the Stone Age or Ya'um Jahiliah, the so called days of ignorance before the advent of Prophet Muhammad pbuh.
In my remarks at the conference, I challenged the Muslim artists to be revolutionary and yes, disobedient — to hell with those who desire to suppress Muslim art, they are the backward ones, they are the evil ones and must be opposed by, yes, any means necessary.
So much that goes for Islam is ancient and primitive, really, not worthy of discussion in the modern world among people of intelligence. Elijah Muhammad used to say the wisdom of this world is exhausted, and this includes Islam. It must be revolutionized or thrown into the dustbin of ancient thought.
The Islamic revolution must, will and shall be led by Muslim artists with vision for a day when Islamic culture will be the vanguard of world culture, projecting the most positive and scientific aspects of the new millennium.
Islamic culture must come from behind the veil, or if anything, put the veil on men and let the women march forth as harbingers of the new world order. Contrary to what men think, women have been found to be the most advanced sector of society, intellectually and spiritually, so we would do well to listen to them for answers to the right path.
But we know artists give visions and prophecy, thus when they are suppressed, the people walk in darkness as we see at the present moment with rampant emotionalism, fundamentalism, honor killings, suppression of the human rights of women, partner violence and sectarian mass murder. Even the so called revolutionary Arab Spring has been infiltrated by reactionary elements that would take Muslims back to the Stone Age or Ya'um Jahiliah, the so called days of ignorance before the advent of Prophet Muhammad pbuh.
In my remarks at the conference, I challenged the Muslim artists to be revolutionary and yes, disobedient — to hell with those who desire to suppress Muslim art, they are the backward ones, they are the evil ones and must be opposed by, yes, any means necessary.
So much that goes for Islam is ancient and primitive, really, not worthy of discussion in the modern world among people of intelligence. Elijah Muhammad used to say the wisdom of this world is exhausted, and this includes Islam. It must be revolutionized or thrown into the dustbin of ancient thought.
The Islamic revolution must, will and shall be led by Muslim artists with vision for a day when Islamic culture will be the vanguard of world culture, projecting the most positive and scientific aspects of the new millennium.
Islamic culture must come from behind the veil, or if anything, put the veil on men and let the women march forth as harbingers of the new world order. Contrary to what men think, women have been found to be the most advanced sector of society, intellectually and spiritually, so we would do well to listen to them for answers to the right path.
Clearly, Muslim men are not on sirat al-mustaqim (“the straight path”). Over a billion people of Islamic faith are currently steeped in poverty, ignorance and disease, wallowing in political oppression of the most backward, Stalinist variety. And when the politicians are not oppressing, the mullahs and Imams do the same work, even to the point of following the Christians in the sexual exploitation of boys and girls in the madrases and elsewhere.
Let a Muslim Martin Luther step to the front of the line and represent the way of truth, freedom, justice and equality. Muslim collaborators with imperialism, colonialism, and all manner of retrograde religiosity and political oppression must be condemned. Islamic scholars whose theology is based on primitive laws, edicts, fatwas must be ostracized because their actions only add to the utter confusion and ignorance pervading the Muslim world. The brutal regime in Syria must be smashed along with the Stone Age Islam emanating from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain's suppression of its majority Shia Muslims.
Surely, the destruction the Tsunami brought to South Asia is a sign of Allah’s displeasure with the Muslim people, along with Christians, Hindus and others. If we continue down the path of primitive worship of myths and rituals, surely Allah has even greater destruction planned for those without eyes, ears, the deaf, dumb and blind. After Allah has blessed us with light, how can we yet walk in darkness? How can we possess “supreme wisdom” yet have nothing, behave as spiritual slaves to any storefront imam with a rote memory of Al-Quran?
Let a Martin Luther Muslim arise to destroy idols of ignorance and suppression of creativity. Yes, let everything praise Allah, from the flute to the lute, from the dancer to the poet. Let the Sufis whirl, let the Islamic rappers give us the Adhan to revolutionary Islam, beyond ignorant ritual and rote memory of Qur'an, blind and debased interpretation of Hadith and Sharia.
See Dr. M's Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2007.
Let a Muslim Martin Luther step to the front of the line and represent the way of truth, freedom, justice and equality. Muslim collaborators with imperialism, colonialism, and all manner of retrograde religiosity and political oppression must be condemned. Islamic scholars whose theology is based on primitive laws, edicts, fatwas must be ostracized because their actions only add to the utter confusion and ignorance pervading the Muslim world. The brutal regime in Syria must be smashed along with the Stone Age Islam emanating from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain's suppression of its majority Shia Muslims.
Surely, the destruction the Tsunami brought to South Asia is a sign of Allah’s displeasure with the Muslim people, along with Christians, Hindus and others. If we continue down the path of primitive worship of myths and rituals, surely Allah has even greater destruction planned for those without eyes, ears, the deaf, dumb and blind. After Allah has blessed us with light, how can we yet walk in darkness? How can we possess “supreme wisdom” yet have nothing, behave as spiritual slaves to any storefront imam with a rote memory of Al-Quran?
Let a Martin Luther Muslim arise to destroy idols of ignorance and suppression of creativity. Yes, let everything praise Allah, from the flute to the lute, from the dancer to the poet. Let the Sufis whirl, let the Islamic rappers give us the Adhan to revolutionary Islam, beyond ignorant ritual and rote memory of Qur'an, blind and debased interpretation of Hadith and Sharia.
See Dr. M's Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2007.
From the Archives: Dr. M Reviews the Great Debaters
The Brotha on the far Right played Melvin B. Tolson
Marvin X Reviews The Great Debaters
This is a coming of age film of the North American African Nation. It is about a people regaining their consciousness after decades of obscurity. This film puts them back properly in the time and space of history, for they present themselves as a civilized people, the children and the adults, thus making it a movie on the goodness of life and the power of consciousness to reveal the very best of a people, thus regaining their self respect before the world community. It shows the intelligence and leadership of American African youth-- of adult leadership and intelligence as well, including the radical activist tradition in North American African History.
Every North American African, every Pan African, can be proud that Oprah Winfrey and Denzil Washington produced this. Perhaps we have reached that moment in time when our people have no choice but to be their true selves, their best selves.
For the first time in a long time, we see the intellectual genius of a people during the turbulent 1930s. This should be a lesson to all North American Africans that we have a dignified liberation tradition to uphold, thus we cannot sink into the morass of today, but in the manner of this film, take a great leap forward into dignity, respect, and intelligent behavior.
As a people, we must be proud of the young performers in this drama. They have exhibited the very best in us as human beings, as African people. The children teach us and themselves in this movie. They teach us the worst in human consciousness with their remarks on a lynching.
They repeatedly show us the power of using the black mind for intellectual dexterity rather than barbarity and expressions of animal consciousness.
This film is in the genre of Akila and the Bee, except that it goes deeper socially, intellectually, historically and spiritually. While it reveals the utter racism and white supremacy of this nation, it also depicts the resistance and transcendence to this unique American evil, especially in the present era.
The music is excellent, the visuals as well, including the acting and dance, giving us a sense of the ritual life of our people during the 1930s. The young character Henry who became a debater after a riotous life is exemplary and a clear example to other wayward youth struggling to survive in the hoods of America . You can come up if you get up! Yes, it takes energy: the same energy it takes to stay down it takes to get up!
Denzil Washington must be given kudos for his role as Melvin Tolson, the great poet of our people. Denzil proves his acting ability in presenting Tolson as the intellectual/activist, a tradition often represented by the artists/activists of the 1960s. But in the character of poet Tolson, we see the roots of the Black Arts Movement artist/activism that would emerge in the 60s with Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure,Larry Neal, Marvin X, Haki Madhubuti, Ed Bullins, June Jordan and others. But this tradition had its origins in the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s, and the poets, writers, and artists of the 30s, 40s and 50s, from Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Sterling Brown, Gwen Brooks, Ralph Ellison and others.
Forest Whitaker as the senior James Farmer maintained a certain dignity early on that his character revealed later in The Deacons, his character kept its self respect when confronted by white racists after he accidentally ran over their hog. This scene is a survival lesson for young black men. I tell young black men on the street and in the schools and colleges that they must pass the tone test when confronted by police: depending on their tone of voice, they can be killed, arrested or released.
But imagine, so-called Negroes having an intellectual debate, even a team of debaters with a coach who apprises them on the Willie Lynch syndrome, who tells them straight out white supremacy has made them insane, thus confirming the sister who says it is not white supremacy but white lunacy, thus we are victims of an insanity far beyond the economic implications. I love James Baldwin's quote's, "It's a wonder we haven't all gone stark raving mad" dealing with white supremacy for four hundred years. The Debaters is a hopeful sign that we can and shall overcome, that we can and shall regain our collective sanity.
Sign up for the next session of the Pan African Mental Health Peer Group. In Houston check with Khepera Books and the Secret Word Cafe. Dr. M can be reached at 510-200-4164.
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