Imâm W. D. Mohammed
and
The Third
Resurrection
(c)2008 Sherman Abd al-Hakim Jackson
| The passing of Imam W.D. Mohammed, may God have mercy
upon him and grant him Paradise, has brought the Blackamerican
Muslim community face to face with a reality that it
has been more comfortable with ignoring than coming
to terms with. Imâm Mohammed’s death has
signaled the end of the era of charismatic leadership
in which the rank and file can look to a single leader
to settle all major questions and chart the Community’s
course for the future. |
 |
Rather than being decided by a single voice, that future
will have to be negotiated by the collective understandings
and perspectives of the Community’s learned. This
implies, of course, general agreement on who is learned
and what the rules of engagement are. If the criterion is
set too high, it will marginalize valuable voices and confirm
an already widespread distrust of religious knowledge and
those who claim to represent it. If it is set too low, it
will open the Community to the ravages and abuses of those
who think that the role of religion is to sanction their
and or the dominant culture’s every undisciplined
whim and passion.
In the years leading up to his death, Imam Mohammed strove
mightily and with great farsightedness to empower his Community
to carve out a dignified existence for themselves, to transition
to what I have referred to as the “Third Resurrection,”
whereby, individually and collectively, the Community is
able to negotiate American reality in light of the Qur’ân
and Sunna. For the most part, however, the Imam had to go
it alone, with few contributions from Blackamerican Muslim
scholars outside his own movement.
Here we come to an embarrassingly sad fact about the state
of Blackamerican Islam. For decades, Blackamerican Muslims
have been venturing abroad to learn Arabic and the Islamic
religious sciences. Yet, this has translated into little
benefit and even less interfacing with the Community of
Imam W.D. Mohammed — despite that community’s
historically unique role in indigenizing Islam among Blackamericans.
When we think across the spectrum of the most noted Blackamerican
Muslim scholars – from myself to Zaid Shakir, from
Aminah Wadud to Aminah McCloud – what we see is a
veritable brain-drain out of the Blackamerican community
into discourses and activities whose primary beneficiaries
are not Blackamerican Muslims and or whose primary focus
is not Blackamerican Muslim problems or concerns. Of course,
there are exceptions, both in terms of individuals who contradict
this description and in terms of some of the activities
of the scholars named. But the fact that these are exceptions
points to the reality that I am trying to describe: Blackamerican
Muslim scholars have a closer relationship with the immigrant
community than they have with the community of Imam W.D.
Mohammed.
To be fair, there are understandable reasons for this:
1) it is easier (and safer) to direct the Islamic sciences
to the realities of the Muslim world and by extension the
perspective of Muslim immigrants; 2) Muslim immigrants have
more financial wherewithal to support such activities as
lecturing, teaching and writing; 3) the immigrant community
has a greater ability to validate scholars as scholars;
and 4) the media (which plays an enormous role in setting
the Muslim agenda in America) tends overwhelmingly to focus
on immigrant issues. Beyond all of this, however, there
lurks a far more subtle, sadder and less talked about reality
that has for decades plagued the relationship between the
followers of Imam W.D. Mohammed and the rest of the Blackamerican
Sunni community.
I remember Philadelphia in the late 70s and early 80s,
when Imam Mohammed was in this midst of his history-making
transition. Those of us converts who had been blessed with
greater access to (what we thought was) traditional learning
would deride the way members of the World Community of Al-Islam
in the West recited al-Fâtihah, joke about how they
gave salâms and relish their inability to keep up
with us on all of the irrelevant minutia on which we so
self-righteously prided ourselves. We were better than them;
for we were real Sunnis, not half-baptist wannabes. For
all our ‘knowledge,’ however, we were completely
devoid of wisdom and even more ignorant of the Sunna of
Muhammad (SAWS). Of course, our high-handed arrogance would
produce over time an understandable counter-arrogance. To
the Imam’s community, we were confused, self-hating
Negroes, wannabe Arabs, fresh off the back of the bus onto
the back of the camel. If what we displayed was what the
so-called Islamic sciences were supposed to be about, they
would have little use for them. Ultimately, this would lead
to a quiet resentment, mistrust and even hostility, not
only towards us but also towards the so-called Islamic tradition
that we so dismally (mis)represented. Of course, there were
those from Imam Mohammed’s community who managed to
transcend some of this alienation. But this was far more
the exception than it was the rule.
I may be wrong, but I suspect that Philadelphia was no
anomaly in this regard, that this was a fairly widespread
phenomenon across the country. The death of Imam Mohammed,
however, has now forced us all to take collective responsibility
for this toxic state of affairs. Imam Mohammed may be succeeded
by another leader; but he is not likely to be replaced;
for who could fill his shoes? The new leadership, therefore
– not unlike Blackamerican Muslim leadership in general
— will have to find ways to spread greater Islamic
literacy among the rank and file, to empower them to engage
the religion on their own, in order to enable them to sustain
their commitment to it. As for the rest of the Blackamerican
Sunni community – especially the scholars –
I pray that Allah will inspire us and show us the way to
mend this relationship. And I ask Allah (and the followers
of Imam Mohammed) to forgive me for whatever I may have
contributed to our mutual estrangement.
This is not time for a blame game; there is enough blame
to go around – on all sides. The time now is for us
to put all our “hidden differences” aside and
come together to work for the glory of God. In concrete
terms, perhaps this year’s MANA conference in Philadelphia
could be the starting point of a broad-based dialogue. And
if not the MANA conference, perhaps the conference held
by Imam Mohammed’s community next year could be the
forum. The important point is that we find a way to move
beyond where we are now, that we come together in safe space
where we can air our differences, establish bonds of mutual
respect, identify our common objectives and strengths and
renew our commitment to upholding the truth, as Allah says,
“even if against ourselves.”
In the meantime, may Allah shower his mercy upon our beloved
Imam W. D. Mohammed. May He keep him firm in the grave and
raise him among those who have earned His pleasure. May
He reward him richly for all that he has done and sacrificed
for Islam in this land. And may He bless and guide us to
overcome our insecurities through strengthening our bond
with Him. May He empower us to conquer the evil whisperings
of our souls and grant us the resolve to resist the temptations
of Satan. And may He gift us the wisdom to prepare ourselves
for a Day on which neither wealth nor progeny will avail,
and none shall be spared save those who come to God with
a purified heart.
Dr. Sherman Abd al-Hakim Jackson is
the author of Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward
the Third Resurrection. Dr. Sherman Jackson is the Arther F.
Thurnau Professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University
of Michigan. He is a co-founder, Trustee, and
Core Scholar of the American Learning Institute for Muslims
(ALIM). ALIM is an institution dedicated to empowering Muslims
through the development of Islamic Literacy; the application
of critical thinking to the building blocks of Islamic Knowledge,
Thought, and Character. ALIM currently provides intensive
instructional programs targeted at those desiring a critical
understanding of their faith and the place of that faith
in modern world.
Below are some of Dr. Jacksons lectures
and links to publications:
Video: Covering Islam and Muslims in America
Article: Dr.
Jackson's Excerpt in Islamica Magazine 
Audio: An
Interview with Dr. Jackson
