In “Early African American Muslim Movements and the Qur’an,” Herbert Berg seeks to evaluate the usefulness of the Qur’an in the Moorish Science Temple of America and the Nation of Islam movements, both having different interpretations of what it means to be a black Muslim.
Berg argues that the Qur’an was used in these early African American Muslim organizations because of its independence from Christianity and “its ability to confer Islamic legitimacy on their movements and thus authority on themselves,” themselves being Drew Ali and Elijah Muhammad. Drew Ali formed the Moorish Science Temple of America and established the Circle Seven Koran, which bears no obvious relation to the Qur’an or Islam. The use of the title ‘Koran’ then was to …show more content…
This worked in both spheres as the Qur’an’s use constructed authority of the leaders and, due to the unfamiliarity of the text and its contents, allowed Ali to use the name Koran to develop his own authoritative text and allowed Muhammad to read race into the scripture to show the African American community that Islam was the guided way, rooted in their Ancestral History.
Clyde- Ahmad Winters in “Afro-American Muslims- from Slavery to Freedom,” argues that the Arabic language and Islam were the major vehicles of exchange among Africans of different ethnic origins in Africa and in the diaspora, at least among African and Afro-American communities during, and shortly after, slavery. Though many associate the African-American Muslim experience as a recent development, Winters explores the first mentions of Islam in America and situates them in the time of exploration and slavery, some of the earliest slave revolts (jihads) in the Americas having been led by Muslims from …show more content…
The African American Muslim has charted many courses in recent history starting with the Nation of Islam (NOI) and has searched for authenticity of normative Islam by exploring the Tablighi Jama’at and Salafi movements. Chande argues that “African Americans are more likely to be attracted to an Islam that is connected to their experience as a marginalized group and articulates issues of social justice, equality and empowerment or identity formation.” It is in this way that there is some faultiness to Islam’s development and adaptation in the US, particularly in the Salafi movement, within which many African American Muslims identified until the 9/11
Berg argues that the Qur’an was used in these early African American Muslim organizations because of its independence from Christianity and “its ability to confer Islamic legitimacy on their movements and thus authority on themselves,” themselves being Drew Ali and Elijah Muhammad. Drew Ali formed the Moorish Science Temple of America and established the Circle Seven Koran, which bears no obvious relation to the Qur’an or Islam. The use of the title ‘Koran’ then was to …show more content…
This worked in both spheres as the Qur’an’s use constructed authority of the leaders and, due to the unfamiliarity of the text and its contents, allowed Ali to use the name Koran to develop his own authoritative text and allowed Muhammad to read race into the scripture to show the African American community that Islam was the guided way, rooted in their Ancestral History.
Clyde- Ahmad Winters in “Afro-American Muslims- from Slavery to Freedom,” argues that the Arabic language and Islam were the major vehicles of exchange among Africans of different ethnic origins in Africa and in the diaspora, at least among African and Afro-American communities during, and shortly after, slavery. Though many associate the African-American Muslim experience as a recent development, Winters explores the first mentions of Islam in America and situates them in the time of exploration and slavery, some of the earliest slave revolts (jihads) in the Americas having been led by Muslims from …show more content…
The African American Muslim has charted many courses in recent history starting with the Nation of Islam (NOI) and has searched for authenticity of normative Islam by exploring the Tablighi Jama’at and Salafi movements. Chande argues that “African Americans are more likely to be attracted to an Islam that is connected to their experience as a marginalized group and articulates issues of social justice, equality and empowerment or identity formation.” It is in this way that there is some faultiness to Islam’s development and adaptation in the US, particularly in the Salafi movement, within which many African American Muslims identified until the 9/11