Islam and the Black American
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Now we get into the early 20th century. What we find? We find another very famous Muslim arriving on the shores of New York into Harlem. In 1918, we find Sheikh Daoud Faisal who actually starts the first black Sunni Muslim mission inside of New York. Now this is actually 1918. He and his wife start not only the Muslim mission, which is like a non-profit organization, they also start the Bronx Mosque. So his wife, which is Lady Khadija, also starts the Muslim Ladies' Society. And so this Ladies' Society was known that not only they would have classes together, but they would also have womanhood training. Now both Daoud Faisal and his wife were responsible for leading this movement together. Something very unique about Daoud Faisal and his wife. They were both jazz musicians. This is really significant because in this time, this is the height of the Harlem Renaissance. And they become responsible for a mass conversion of jazz musicians into Islam. As a matter of fact, so many jazz musicians became Muslim that it became known amongst the community that those Muslims who had converted to Islam actually enjoyed a higher status than some of their other counterparts. They could get into certain restaurants, into certain stores. And why is that? Because they were known for having a grasp of the Arabic language.
And when they would speak it to each other, then they would oftentimes mistake them for not being African American. Thinking that they were from somewhere else, allowing them to enter into places that they normally would not have. This level of freedom of movement began to become something popular. And people began to associate Islam with not only intelligence, but Islam with a higher status. And so this began to spread. Now something interesting happens with jazz at this time in America. It actually becomes the music of social movement and social change. The American government actually looks at jazz music as something that should be spread throughout the world. And so interestingly enough, they began to send these Muslim jazz musicians all over the world as American ambassadors of culture. It was commented to someone that you should not, that you should be careful not to be used by America. But interestingly enough, those jazz musicians said, America might be think that it's using me, but Allah is the one using me in order to spread this deen all over the world. And this movement that was started by Daoud Faisal and his wife, which was known as Lady Khadija, was known as the Dar Es Salaam movement. And that Dar Es Salaam movement did not only remain inside of New York. It's something that began to travel into Philadelphia, down into the East Coast, into Washington, D.C., all the way down into Atlanta. It would then begin to spread west into Ohio. And as that movement began to spread, it actually picked up more than a few well-known characters. One of them I want to list is the name by the name of Wali Akram.
Wali Akram is actually later on from the Dar Es Salaam movement and its influence over him, he becomes a well-known peacemaker amongst gang communities. As a matter of fact, he's well known for negotiating a peace treaty between the Bloods and the Crips in the 90s. Also, another famous, famous imam that comes out of that movement is none other than our brother, Ma'am Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown.
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