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If Black lives mattered to God such that he revealed verses about them in the Qur’an, there should be no ambivalence among our communities about valuing Black lives. Imam al-Suyuti delivers this message clearly through his insightful text, which includes the names and unique qualities of the multiple Black Companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the Qur’anic verses regarding them, a commentary on the value of the land of Abyssinia itself (where many of the Black Companions originated from), and much more.

Dimensions: 6 in x 9 in

Number of Pages: approx. 150 pages

Paperback

About the Author:

Imam Jalaludin al-Suyuti is hailed as a leading authority in Islamic Law and is widely considered to be a reviver of Islam in the 10th Islamic century. He is one of the foremost hadith masters, encyclopaedist, historian, biographer, and a prolific writer of highly influential Islamic texts. To this day, enormous numbers of his essays, treatises, and other writings are preserved.

About the Translator: 

Imam Adéyínká Mendes is the founder of the Bilal Spiritual Center for Peace and the Arts and co-founder of the African-American Healing, Ancestry, and Development (AHAD) Collective, an international speaker, spiritual activist, educator, author, and translator of sacred literature. He is a recipient of the Center for Global Muslim Life "2020 Spiritual Impact Award" and his latest work, "The Spirits of Black Folk: Sages Through the Ages" is due to be released in 2021.

Blackness and Islam by Imam Dawud

Muslims speak of Islam in egalitarian terms: the religion of peace, the religion that seeks to elevate man over his base desires, the religion that does not discriminate based on race and ethnicity. Despite the egalitarian spirit of Islam, the lived reality of many Muslims is very different, and this is most apparent when we observe how Muslims deal with race and ethnicity.Muslims who are Black in the West in particular, have found that while Islam may not discriminate based on race, many Muslims do. To make matters worse, some of those Muslims will delve in to the Islamic tradition to justify their biases and bigotries, seeing no contradiction between their racism and the Islamic ideals.This work seeks to clarify and debunk some traditions which support their racist positions, and presents biographies of early Muslims who were Black. The biographies of these great Muslim personalities shows us how Blackness was a normal part of life for early Muslims, in sharp contradistinction to modern prejudices against Black folks found in some Muslim communities.

“Imam Dawud Walid’s life’s work – in his previous publications, in the present volume and over the decade that I have known him – commends him as a soldier against satanic racism and especially its most perfect historical expression: white supremacy. This volume, by framing a religious response to what must be understood as a satanic spiritual attack, should be widely read and taught.”

- Dr. Rudolph Bilal Ware – Associate Professor of West Africa, Islamic Knowledge & Spirituality

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