I am not a Muslim. I am simply a man in search of truth -- the truth about myself, my people, my country, my world and God. In my search for truth, I have discovered that there is much that I once believed to be true that is certainly not the total truth and, indeed, may not be true at all.
I once believed that I am only an "African American." However, in my search for truth, I discovered that such a label is not entirely true. I discovered that, like myself, most persons of African descent who live in the United States also have European and Indigenous American blood. By labeling such individuals as being only "African American," society may be denying essential elements of their being.
As a so-called "African American," I once believe that American slavery defined my past and impacted my present. But once I escaped the confines of the label, I learned that my triple heritage -- my African, European and Indigenous American heritage -- is far richer than I could ever have imagined. With a triple heritage, African slavery is not an overriding historical theme. With a triple heritage, the self-evident fact is that for people like me the overriding historical theme concerns the creation of a new people and the beginning of a new experiment with fascinating possibilities for the future history of man.
Another consequence of discovering the nature of a triple heritage is the realization that one of the defining labels that is currently en vogue in American society simply does not fit. On almost any day of the week, in schools, churches, and the halls of power throughout the land, one can hear pronouncements being made concerning the "Judeo-Christian" heritage of America. However, as a person with a triple heritage, there are other religious traditions which have obviously had some bearing on the individual that I am today. In addition to my "Judeo-Christian" heritage, there is also a lingering influence of the tribal religions of the African and Indigenous American peoples and, perhaps more significantly, there is the ongoing influence of Islam.
In discovering the truth about my African heritage, I was frequently confronted by the role that Islam played in developing African society and in initiating the African diaspora. After all, it was the Muslim Arab merchants who took African slaves and companions with them as they traversed the then known world. China, Malaysia, India, and Spain all came to be the home of Africans because of the peripatetic Arabs. It was the Muslims who spread their religion to both the West and East coasts of Africa and through persuasion and intermarriage converted the African people to the Islamic faith. And it was African Muslims from the West coast of Africa who frequently were the slave cargo of the European ships that came to the Americas, speaking such Muslim languages as Hausa, Mandingo, and Fulfulde. It was these forefathers who played such an integral part in the bold experiment which eventually made me what I am.
Yes, Islam has, undoubtedly, had an historical role in defining what it means to be an African American. But, for me, there is even more.
For me, there are moments and times in my life which are indelibly etched in my psyche. There was the time while living in Glasgow, Montana, that I became aware of the sport of boxing when a brash young boxer by the name of Cassius Clay defeated the "invincible bear" known as Sonny Liston. Cassius Clay would soon become the legendary Muhammad Ali -- a Muslim who became the dominant sports figure of my generation.
There was the time in high school when I first began to explore my African heritage by reading a story about a small time hoodlum who underwent two Islamic conversions -- first as the Nation of Islam leader known as Malcolm X and later as the more orthodox Muslim, El Hajj Malik Shabazz.
Then there was the crucial period of my life when during my first two years of college I served as the "Minister of Information" of the Amherst Afro-American Society under the leadership of the Umar Zaid Muhammad.
No, I am not a Muslim. But my personal heritage, and my personal experiences, compel me to say that here too I have a triple heritage. I have not just a Judeo-Christian heritage, but rather a heritage that is a combination of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
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The work that you are now reading is a product of my continuing exploration of my heritage -- my continuing exploration of my roots. In this exploration, I have been drawn back in time to the beginning -- the genesis -- of all that is. In doing so, I believe that I have been allowed to taste a bit of the fruit from the tree of knowledge but, unlike the biblical Adam, I have not come away filled with shame, but rather I have come away filled with awe and humility.
My words cannot adequately express the feelings that I have had during the course of this exploration. It seems that with each new day my eyes have encountered another new aspect of God. In exploring our creation from not only a multi-religious but also from a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural approach, I believe that I have discovered facets of the divine which may not be readily apparent to everyone, not unless they are willing to venture out on a similar exploration of their own. Indeed, for me, in studying the various religions, disciplines, and cultures, of our world, it often seems that people are so focused on one particular facet of God that they fail to see the extraordinary beauty associated with the many facets of God. Although no words can hope to fully convey the extent of the facets of God and no words can do full justice to the beauty, as one who has seen some the other facets, and who has been overwhelmed by their beauty, I do feel a sense of obligation to attempt to convey to others the beauty that I have seen.
And that, my friends, is what I shall attempt to do beginning now...
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