Page 7 - Pakistan Link - June 25, 2021

OPINION JUNE 25, 2021 – PAKISTAN LINK – P7

n By Dr Akbar Ahmed Exploring Islam in America grandmother not eating pork, al-
American University though it slowly entered their diet
Washington, DC out of necessity, but still in small,
reluctantly eaten, quantities. She
n October 2017, Mrs Cor- mentioned stories of her ances-

nelia Bailey, a leading mem- tors and grandmother praying five
Iber of a tiny community of times a day. Divorce was strongly
African Ameri- discouraged, and even today men
cans living on and women are not allowed to
Sapelo Island off “live in sin”.
the Georgia coast, Into the long night with the

passed away. This Atlantic wind howling outside,
remarkable wom- Mrs Bailey painted some graphic
an was a spokes- images of the brutality that slaves
woman, storytell- suffered—that of a pregnant

er, historian and preserver of her mother’s belly being slit open
people’s unique culture known and the fetus trampled under the
as Gullah-Geechee. boots of the slave owners was par-

The community’s roots go ticularly disturbing. She said black
back to the time of slavery, when ministers talked of “forgiveness”
the area was owned by Thomas constantly, but “sometimes I don’t

Spalding, a planter and US con- feel like being so Christian. Some-
gressman from Georgia who grew times, I want the Old Testament,
cotton, sugarcane and rice using an eye for an eye”.
African slave labor. In the middle of this long,
Following the abolishment depressing conversation, Mrs

of slavery after the US Civil War, Bailey said something that I al-
the people of Sapelo remained, most missed but forced me to sit

but their number steadily grew up as its significance sunk in. She
smaller. said she would like to “reverse the
What made Bailey and the obliterate original identities. (PBUH) had a special love for Bilal ground; ignoring it would be like ships.” For a moment, I thought
community even more unique was Mrs Bailey took us to Hog and appointed him the first Muez- cutting off an arm”. she meant that the descendants

their Muslim background. Bailey Hammock, where her tiny com- zin (the one who gives the call to For Mrs Bailey, history was a of the Africans should be allowed
herself was a direct eleventh-gen- munity lived, and to our lodgings struggle to preserve as much of her through some magical process to
eration descendant of Bilali Mu- in her quaint, if austere, house Mrs Bailey remembered people’s identity as possible. Her go back in time to Africa and pre-
hammad, a Muslim slave original- turned hotel. Over a long inter- a long tradition of African Baptist Church was a re- vent the ships from landing in the

ly from West Africa who was taken view late into the night, Mrs Bailey sponse to the mainstream Baptist first place. Her meaning was en-

first to the Caribbean and then to allowed us glimpses into her com- washing hands and feet, Church dominated by the white tirely different and more sinister:
Sapelo in the early nineteenth cen- munity. majority and established to assert she would like to enslave whites,
tury, where he became the head Mrs Bailey recalled her which comes directly the congregants’ unique identity she said, to put them in “shackles”
“enforcer” over the other slaves. grandmother telling her, “We were from the Muslim and distinct ancestry from Africa, in order to do to them what they

Bilali Muhammad left us a Christian by day and Muslim by including some possibly Islamic had done to the Africans. We were
document known as the “Bilali night”. As Baptist preachers only Wudu. Modesty was roots, she said. stunned into silence.
Diary”, a manuscript he wrote arrived once a month to teach pronounced among Even though worshippers At a time when many Ameri-
entirely in Arabic characters, al- Christianity, Sapelo’s residents were Christian, once they entered cans are questioning and debat-

though the language he used is not were largely left to continue their women, and after the church, for example, the men ing the place of Islam in America,

standard Arabic. His manuscript Islamic practices. With each gen- puberty arms and went to a section on the left and Sapelo and Mrs Bailey confirm
reveals a scholarly, pious, and in- eration, however, the links with women to one on the right. They that Islam has been part of the

telligent man who clung to his Islam faded. legs were covered. also took their shoes off, and the United States from the beginning.
identity and dignity. Even the meaning of the She recalled her men and women covered their Islam, as many African Americans

Fascinated by this back- eponymous name, Bilal, after heads. The church was called remind me, is an important part
ground, I set out with my team whom her ancestor was named, grandmother not eating a “prayer house” rather than a of African American culture and
of researchers to meet Mrs Bai- was lost. When I recounted the pork, although it slowly church, an echo of the meaning as- there are many African American
ley and stay with her community story of Bilal and his devotion to sociated with the term “mosque.” Muslims today who feel they have
while conducting research for my the Prophet (PBUH)—and the entered their diet out Churches face the east, she ex- “reverted” to the religion of their
book on Islam in America, Jour- reason why Mrs Bailey’s ancestor of necessity, but still in plained because the sun rises in ancestors. It is time for Americans
ney into America: The Challenge would be called Bilali in the first the east and the “devil” resides in of all backgrounds, and Muslims

of Islam (2010). place—she confessed she had not small, reluctantly eaten, the west. Even as Christians, they around the world, to understand
I was aware that a large per- heard of it. quantities said their prayers facing east. and appreciate these historical
centage of slaves brought from Hazrat Bilal (RA)was an Ab- Mrs Bailey remembered a roots.

Africa to America were Mus- yssinian slave, I told Mrs Bailey, long tradition of washing hands (The writer is the Ibn Khal-

lim—some scholars give a figure who converted to Islam and in and feet, which comes directly dun Chair of Islamic Studies at
of 30-40 percent and even higher. spite of being tortured refused prayer) in Islam. from the Muslim Wudu. Modesty American University, Washing-
But what interested me was seeing to abandon his faith. Bilal’s voice Eyes glistening with tears, was pronounced among women, ton, DC, and author of Journey

what remained of Islam, consider- was legendary for its soothing Mrs Bailey seemed to soften and and after puberty arms and legs into Europe: Islam, Immigration,

ing the slave-owners’ attempts to and exquisite quality. The Prophet said, “I love my Muslim back- were covered. She recalled her and Identity)

KASHMIR FROM P6 was asked to clarify the position of the moral or other clout to even nudge In- offered his office of mediation on July has been shocked and horrified by the

13, 1948 and January 5, 1949 that pre- UN on Kashmir soon after the abroga- dia towards compliance with its resolu- 23, 2019 to resolve the Kashmir dispute, daily atrocities against the people of
scribed a self-determination vote for tion of Article 370 and 35A by the Gov- tions. It seems that the Security Coun- S. Jaishankar, Indian foreign minister Kashmir. Ditto for the annual human
Kashmiris on the heels of United Na- ernment of India, he said on August 8, cil has honored India’s indefensible said on August 2, 2019 that any discus- rights country reports of the US

tions supervised demilitarization. Paki- 2019, “The position of the United Na- defense of its Kashmir broken promises sion on Kashmir will only be conducted State Department.
stan eagerly endorsed that solution to tions on this region is governed by the because of its muscular military, nucle- with Pakistan and only bilaterally. Then To hide its human rights inferno

Kashmir’s disputed territory. Charter of the United Nations and ap- ar and economic profile and hegemony Jaishanker broke the promise number in Kashmir, India prohibits world par-
India, however, was soon unde- plicable Security Council resolutions.” in South Asia. nine when he told Chinese foreign liamentarians, international broadcasts
ceived of its delusions over Kashmir’s Dr Syed Nazir Gilani, President, Broken promises number six, minister, Wang Yi just two weeks later or unchaperoned international elec-
political yearning. Recognizing that its JKCHR is correct when he said, “Indian seven, and eight came in 1966, 1972, on August 13, 2019 that Kashmir was tronic media. With no heart-clutching
people would never freely vote acces- action of 5 August 2019 in Kashmir has and 1999. At Tashkent following the an internal matter of India. pictures in the living rooms of the

sion to India, it contrived excuse after consequences at home, in the neigh- 1965 India-Pakistan war, promises The train of broken promises over United States and the European Union,

excuse to frustrate a plebiscite. When borhood and at the international level. were made by India to negotiate seri- Kashmir might be forgiven if the con- no moral clamor has arisen to do some-
the United Nations proposed arbitra- This action is a breach of the terms of ously over Kashmiri sovereignty. But sequences were innocuous or inconse- thing to relieve the horrors of mil-

tion, a reference to the World Court, or the Instrument of Accession and under nothing was done. At Simla, following a quential. But I submit the opposite is lions of Kashmiris. But griping at
any other method of resolving minor the UN template on Kashmir India has 1971 war over Bangladesh, India again the case. India exerts an iron-fisted rule the unfairness of the world is as otiose

demilitarization quarrels, India nixed loaded upon itself a very grave offence agreed to talk seriously about Kashmir. over Kashmir that would stir the heart as shouting at the weather.

them all. After a few years, it dropped against the United Nations and the But again the promise was honored in of Genghis Khan. With approximately The people of Kashmir are not

all pretense of acceding to a referendum right of the people of Jammu and Kash- the breach, not the observance. During 900,000 military and paramilitary vengeful. Charity and magnanimity
by unilaterally proclaiming its annexa- mir to self-determination”. a brief honeymoon between India and troops in the territory, gruesome hu- would be their loadstars if self-determi-
tion of Kashmir. India’s proclamation Broken promises two, three, and Pakistan at Lahore in 1999, India once man rights violations are perpetrated nation were honored despite so many
has never been accepted by the United four thus represent India’s reneging on more promised genuine negotiations with impunity on a scale that makes betrayals. Let us hope that the last
Nations, which continues to list Kash- its Kashmir plebiscite pledges made by over Kashmir, and once more betrayed East Timor under Suharto seem a tea promise over Kashmir has been broken.
mir as disputed territory and subject to Lord Mountbatten, Prime Minister Ne- its pledge by instantly insisting that In- party. Every human rights group that
the Security Council’s self-determina- hru and Indian delegate to the United dia’s claim of sovereignty over Kashmir has surveyed the grim Kashmir land- (Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai is the Secre-
tion resolutions. Nations. Broken promise number five would never be placed on the negotiat- scape, including Human Rights Watch, tary general, Washington-based World

When Antonio Guterres, the Sec- can be laid at the feet of the Security ing table. Amnesty International and the UN Kashmir Awareness Forum. -6435 or
retary General of the United Nations Council which has never exerted any When President Donald Trump High Commissioner on Human Rights, gnfai2003@yahoo.com)
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