The Tragedy Of A Slave Man

At 11:30 on Tuesday 6th of October, we met Imam Abdul Alim Musa in the assembly room of World Studies' faculty. He seemed friendly and I inferred that he knew some of our professors from the days of their residence in the U.S.

His way of life was different and I encouraged search about him. I found that he is "a Muslim activist and director of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT),"[1] "an international pro-Iranian, pro-Hezbollah Islamist think tank." [2] The magazine of this institution is Crescent International. He has founded As-Sabiqun. An organization "in Washington, D.C., and has branches in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, and Philadelphia.The As-Sabiqun philosophy stresses unity between the various Islamic organizations in the attainment of common goals. Cooperation on domestic social issues with like-minded non-Muslim groups is also encouraged, as long as Islamic ethics and morality are not compromised. Additionally, although As-Sabiqun is a Sunni movement, they have publicly voiced support for Shi’a movements and organizations such as the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and Hizbullah."[3]

According to the San Francisco Bay View " Alim Musa is "one of the highest-ranking Islamic leaders in the Black community, nationwide and specifically in the Islamic movement."[4]
When I got a bit familiar with him, then I could have a view of his speeches in the faculty. He spoke about Identity crisis among black people in the U.S.. He began his talking with giving a picture of slaves, packing like sardines in ships, brought to the U.S.. There all of their backgrounds were taken from them, including their religion, language and culture, then a new culture and language were introduced to them and the way of their life completely changed. Then he gave a brief summary about leaders and heroes of black people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

I found some interesting points in his speech. What Abdul-Alim Musa set forth was a very important thing and that was self image. He believed as black people have accepted the assumption of the colonists about themselves, it is nearly impossible to change.
The other attractive issue to me was his perception about being minority. He said being minority does not always mean disadvantage. They may have the ability of resilience, so they can remain and reach their goals. I liked to ask him whether it is his own experience or he has conferred it from Quranic verse "Haply a little group who conquered a big group."

About political system of the U.S, he thought that it is shaped in a way that no acceptable person would be able to go up and be president. So either Obama is not a reliable person and prescribed the students not to expect that he would do a great job.

According to the Washington Post, Musa "has been trying for years to build an Islamic community [in D.C.] … that he would like to see replicated nationwide until the United States becomes an Islamic state."[5]



[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Alim_Musa

[2] http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/sabiqun_anti-semitism.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_3

[3] http://www.sabiqun.net/about_us.html

[4] http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/sabiqun_anti-semitism.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_3

[5] http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2009/05/americas-punk-the-fbi-imam-gets-punked-by-britain