Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

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true and authentic Islamic idea of G-d. During the course of this reply, which will be multipart, I intend to respond to these characterizations. I hereby acknowledge and thank Dr. Wesley for caring enough to make clear that he did not intend his use of the word misrepresentation to imply that I was doing so with ill-intentions. I would like him to know that I did not perceive its use in this way, but rather that he believes I have erred and thereby misrepresented what he believes is the correct representation. While my response will be multipart, I hope not to prolong it and "beat a dead horse," as the metaphor goes. Dr. Wesley presented his lecture to us. I responded to his lecture. He replied to my response. I am now replying to his reply. Hence, we have both taken two turns at making our views as clear as we can at this time. So, I hope to minimize redundancy and at the conclusion of my reply, I'll consider the "formal" part of this debate done for the time being. Of course dialog on other and related topics will continue for all of us. As I have just become aware of Dr. Wesley when I saw his lecture, I have learned more about his views upon reading his responses during this dialog and by reading through parts of his dissertation. Having what I believe is a better understanding of Dr. Wesley's viewpoint, I feel even more confirmed in my views, although he argues his point of view very well. Therefore, in addition to responding to some of his specific comments, I may reference small parts of his dissertation in making some general observations. HOPE FOR UNITY BETWEEN COMMUNITIES OF IWDM AND NOI Dr. Wesley made the following comment, "This past July I was among those fortunate enough to join Brother Minister Farrakhan for dinner at the National House in Chicago, during which he shared with his guests, among other things, his desire to see his followers and the followers of Im?m W?rrithudd?n come together as a unified community descendant from the spiritual loins of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (hereafter THEM). The Minister acknowledged that our claim that God is a man is the obstacle to this unity." (Response to Mubaashir Part 1) While the NOI merging with the community of IWDM as one community is an unlikely scenario for several reasons, including the one you've mentioned, I can understand and appreciate the desire to build a bridge that allows our two communities to cooperate in ways that benefit humanity in general and African people in particular. This desire exists among many of us as well and I believe there is room for us to find ways to cooperate. While the followers of Imam Mohammed differ with many people theologically, the Imam urged us to look for and connect with right-minded people everywhere who respect each other and where we must differ, do so respectfully. Allah tells us in Qur'an 2:62 "Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve." (Qur'an 2:62 Yusuf Ali translation) While at the same time we are told in Sura 4:171: "O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of Allah, and His Word, 50
which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His apostles. Say not "trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah. Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs." (Qur'an 4:171 Yusuf Ali translation) So, in my opinion, there is room to differ and engage each other about our differences, yet the good people amongst us can find common ground to do good deeds. THE BLACK SHEEP AND THE WHITE SHEEP Dr. Wesley makes two major points in his opening comments. The first is that the debate is not about the meaning of shirk, but about the nature of Allah. Is He a man or not? This point has been the subject of most of the discussion and will be commented upon later in my reply to Dr. Wesley's evidence on this topic. It is his second point that I would like to address first, which is how most of the Muslim world came to believe in a G-d that we cannot see with our physical eyes rather than as a man, albeit super or divine man who is different from a regular, mortal man. My reading of Dr. Wesley's words is that Prophet Muhammad and the other original black Arabs conceptualized Allah in one way (the way of what he refers to as the Semitic tradition) and then afterwards the non-blacks, non-Arabs became Muslim and brought their non-Semitic conceptualization of Allah into the Islamic religion, which drowned out by their sheer numbers the black Semitic way of looking at Allah. Eventually, the white way of seeing (understanding) Allah became the dominant concept and the black way was pushed into the background and obscured. Dr. Wesley says: "Bro Mubaashir begins his review by echoing the sentiment of Bro Imam Salim Mu'min that "the only way Dr. Wesley's case proves that the followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad are not guilty of shirk is if he changes the definition of the word shirk to something other than what it means." This, Beloveds, is deflection. The problem is not at all our respective understandings of shirk: we three all agree that a mushrik is one who associates partners with Allah. The problem is our respective understandings of "Allah" to whom no partners may be legitimately associated. We who adhere to the Islam taught to us by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad understand that Allah is a man - a divine man rather than a mortal man, but a man nonetheless. In my most recent book, "Take Another Look: The Qur'an, the Sunna, and the Islam of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad," I demonstrate that this understanding of Allah is absolutely consistent with the Qur'an and Sunna when these are no longer read through the lens of al-Ghazzali and other non-Arab converts to Islam who rejected the Black Arabs to whom the message first came and their understanding of the religion. These non-Arab converts - particularly the Persians and Byzantines - introduced a new understanding of God and a peculiar way of reading the Qur'an so as to locate this new God therein. I introduced this history in Philly and identified there the great Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855) as the champion of the Islam of the original Black Arabs against those who tried to de-Arabize the religion by (among other things) replacing the Semitic God of the Qur'an with the Greek God of Hellenism." (Response to Mubaashir Part 1) Dr. Wesley goes on to say: "In my lecture (and book) I emphasized this Black Arab/White convert dichotomy in 51
Page 1 and 2: Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? The Long O
Page 3 and 4: ARGUMENT 1 First, Dr. Wesley refers
Page 5 and 6: your Allah is one Allah. So stand t
Page 7 and 8: "He ran the race." "He ran up the b
Page 9 and 10: He adds to his case by saying that
Page 11 and 12: Allah, only to turn around and say,
Page 13 and 14: In his review Bro Mubaashir display
Page 15 and 16: 1. Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal affirmed t
Page 17 and 18: came to the Prophet as a young man.
Page 19 and 20: Sunna is a formless, invisible God
Page 21 and 22: Salaam Bro Dr Wesley Muhammad 3.] D
Page 23 and 24: ―When the Prophet tells his peopl
Page 25 and 26: This issue of the significance of t
Page 27 and 28: ―So if it is said (by the believe
Page 29 and 30: When Imam Mubaashir stated; ―As a
Page 31 and 32: 7.] Dr Wesley Muhammad - Response P
Page 33 and 34: ownership rights over this Islam th
Page 35 and 36: secondary meaning ―He manifested
Page 37 and 38: 9.] Dr Wesley Muhammad - Response P
Page 39 and 40: people say, ―He (God) is solid,
Page 41 and 42: ―Within the pages of the Holy Qur
Page 43 and 44: Salaam 12.] Kyle J. Ismail -Respons
Page 45 and 46: 14.] Dr Wesley Muhammad Response As
Page 47 and 48: To negate an act of the past we may
Page 49: Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 1209) who, am
Page 53 and 54: After all, how could we believe thi
Page 55 and 56: things, whoever says any of which,
Page 57 and 58: We are all familiar with the Greek
Page 59 and 60: Your positions were well laid out a
Page 61 and 62: Muslim and thus was an advocate of
Page 63 and 64: different opinions between the Saha
Page 65 and 66: Ru‘ya, with one possible exceptio
Page 67 and 68: In the Pushkin State Museum of Fine
Page 69 and 70: the sociological enigma of the mode
Page 71 and 72: 23.] Imam Salim Mu‟min Response t

Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

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