The premise of the new book Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha is a familiar one: the book is about one of the most beloved wives of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Aisha. There was a book last year that was released under much controversy, Jewel of Medina, which focused on Aisha’s relationship with the Prophet (peace be upon him).

The book is told from Aisha’s perspective under the guise of writing a journal for her nephew Abdullah as a way to recount the events of her life. We are there from her birth, her childhood as part of the persecuted group of Muslims, the migration to Medina, her marriage to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and so on and so forth. Pasha touches on many of the significant events that are representative of the time of the Prophet (pbuh) while including a cast of characters who are familiar to many Muslims. However, while Kamran Pasha has obviously spent a great amount of time researching the life of Aisha, Mother of the Believers is not exactly a book I would recommend for those who wish to learn about Islam due to the manner in which this book is presented and the lack of true understanding of the religion that may come from reading Pasha’s novelized account.

Pasha telling the story from Aisha’s eyes and as a form of communication to her nephew doesn’t work too well here. First of all, there are too many scenes without Aisha in them where the first person point of view can’t even come into play, never mind the fact that there would be no way she would be able to relate these scenes to her nephew in her journal. Second, if Aisha is writing with the her nephew as the audience in mind, there would be no need to explain the Islamic concepts that she does for the benefit of the reader. I mean, why should she have to define such terms as hadith for someone like Abdullah? I realize that many may look at these as minor grievances, but these alone made this book hard for me to digest.

In addition to the aforementioned contentions, the actual topic of this book did not sit too well with me. In the Author’s Note in the beginning of the book, Pasha writes “My intention in writing this novel has been to give Westerners a glimpse of the richness that exists within the Muslim historical tradition and invite all my readers to learn more about Islam and draw their own conclusions.” That is definitely noble. Yet, despite these intentions, I’m still not quite sure how I feel about the novelization of the most revered Prophet for Muslims and other people that are held in high regard, like Aisha herself.

The reader may come away from this book without being able to distinguish what was real or not. One may believe that some of the more fantastical elements that Muslims believe happened are the work of Pasha’s imagination while thinking other events and pieces of dialogue are true when it’s something that Pasha added to give more color. It is not up to the author to add his own elements to true accounts (for Muslims anyway) that may end up misrepresenting the actions of historical figures or even Islam itself.

In the end, I don’t believe that fictionalizing these religious icons is in the best interest of one who wants to learn about Islam. I understand that not everyone may agree with me and that’s fine, but hopefully if someone really wants to learn about the religion, he or she will go to a different source.

Also check out:
Kamran Pasha recently wrote an article about the controversy that he expects to face with his new book.

As issues arise in Muslim communities, we are reminded of our duty to do what Allah (swt) has prescribed in Qur’an and accept the responsibility of Khalifah which Allah has bestowed upon us. Under the banner of Khalifah Consciousness we become more aware and are able to overcome the affects of deep psychological conditions that prevents us from acknowledging issues within and around our communities that need to be addressed. The following blog is an example:

Qur’an Conference promotes Unity of Humanity

Under the leadership of Imam Abu Qadir El Amin, the Muslim Community Center of San Francisco, California, is to be commended for producing one of the most enlightening conferences for people seeking to be more consciousness of religious Prophecy, the current times in which we are living and leadership for future generations. Held April 19^th and 20^th at the Masonic Auditorium and attended by predominantly Muslim African Americans, San Francisco Muslim Community Center’s Qur’an Conference is an annual event dedicated to spiritual awareness and guidance through the understanding of religious scriptures. Although the scholarly presenters referred to revelations from various collections of Scripture, the message overall focused on Creation Science and the completion of human evolution according to Scripture. Special emphasis was placed on the importance of understanding that the Qur’an and original Arabic language is a Blessing from God and our most reliable source of authentic scriptural information, referring to, correcting and upgrading the valid scriptures that were produced from earlier Revelations. Many viewed the event as an educational celebration for those who believe in and worship One God! Most of the religious faiths or paths were mentioned and acknowledged in past, present and future context as part of The One God’s Creation and Plan for the evolution of human beings. The chronological history and specific role of Muslim African Americans was referred to as a sign in scripture pointing to the establishment of Islamic leadership in the west and paving the way for Immigrant Muslims to build communities in America. Throughout the event, human evolution, brotherhood of humanity and righteous leadership was explained and supported with scriptural content.  All speakers were unified and in line with the principle tenants of the Islamic way of life.

The first day featured presentations by young and upcoming Islamic leaders such as Imam Zakee Madyun from Jamatul Salaam of Oakland. Imam Sulaiman Hamed, a young Islamic scholar born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Imam Sulaiman received local training from Sheikh Abdur Ra’oof Nasir and Imam Faheem Shuaibe, before attending Abu Noor University in Syria. His father Naazim Hamed and mother Saliha Hamed (Peace Be upon Her) were leaders in Muslim communities throughout the Bay area for over 40 years. Sister Shahidah Sharif, also a student of Abu Noor University gave a dynamic presentation on sincerity in religion and the contributions of women in Al-Islam. Next up was Imam Usama Cannon an instructor at the prestigious Zaytuna Institute, who introduced some valuable tips to understanding Arabic grammar. The highlight of the day was the historical overview of Islam in America delivered by Sister Gloria Karim and her husband Imam Darnell Karim, the renowned Arabic Scholar. These two Muslim pioneers from the Chicago area were childhood classmates of Imam W. D. Mohammed, who now leads the largest community of Muslims in America. Sister Gloria’s parents were early followers of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and her grandparents were early followers of Fard Muhammad, who led a group of about 25,000 Muslims in America during the 1930’s. Imam Darnell Karim closed the program with some etymology of Arabic language in Qur’an, reiterating definitions and deeper meanings from Imam Mohammed’s teachings and pointing out Qur’an references and relevance to the times we are living in now.

The second day was reserved primarily for the highlight of the whole conference, Imam W. D. Mohammed! However, prior to him speaking, we heard briefly from Dr. Hatim Bazian Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley; Abdullah bin Hamed Ali another resident Islamic scholar with Zaytuna Institute; Imam Haazim Rashed of Sacramento; Imam Sulaiman Hamed; Imam Darnell Karim and Imam Abu Qadir El Amin, who also led the escort of Imam Mohammed to the stage. Their spectacular entrance was accompanied by the wonderful sounds of an African percussion ensemble featuring Muhammad Ali, Naim Shabazz and Rashid Ali. The group’s performance contributed to an already heightened spiritual atmosphere brought on by the mere presence of Imam Mohammed. As the excitement settled down and Imam Mohammed began speaking, he reflected on some history; the mission of his father, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad; how black theology and the attempt to prefix everything with the word black has had and continues to have a counter-productive impact on African Americans today; and he cautioned us about trying to hold on to American values or ideals that are dead.

Not known for his participation in or commentary on politics, Imam Mohammed acknowledged his American heritage, the Constitution, some of America’s great leaders and to the amazement of many in the audience, he even voiced his love and respect for the values and leadership of Ronald Reagan, but after explaining why, quickly said “those days are over.” He referred to G. W. Bush as the end product of a long decline in American leadership. “We are living in the conclusion of the great issues for man in Scripture; it’s very hard to find a leader who can inspire the American people today. Many are saying President George Bush is a disappointment and it seems as though he doesn’t care.” Imam Mohammed also pointed out that moral degradation, wanton and willful disregard for human and civil rights, increase in crime and prisons, blatant resurgence of discriminatory practices and rampant destruction are clear signs that “the America we once knew is no more.” “We have reached the end of an era.” He said, “It is a new day” and alluded to the idea that Barack Obama could be the best hope for restoring decency and dignity in America. Imam Mohammed, following his theme “The Religion of Originality (Fitrah) & Muslim Identity,” connected government, politics, education, science, business, commerce and cultural issues confronting America today to religious Scripture. Periodically interchanging the name Allah with the word God he referred to Torah, Bible and Qur’an, balancing the signs of despair with signs of hope.  He encouraged all people to trust in Allah (God), His Prophecy and conduct their lives according to what is prescribed in Scripture. While acknowledging the validity of earlier Scriptures, he emphasized that the most complete and authentic source of Revelations from God is The Holy Qur’an.

After a very competent article covering the second day of this magnificent event written by Matthai Kuruvila appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, a few Muslims in attendance and some who did not attend circulated electronic media expressing their concerns about a divided Muslim image due to the lack of Immigrant Muslim support. But, this is nothing new, because we know that even before 911, Immigrant Muslims were more concerned with being accepted by American society than Muslims with a deep history in the American experience. The desire to assimilate into western culture over the desire to establish Islamic tradition has caused division amongst Muslims globally and can certainly cause division in America. We should remind ourselves that there is a difference between Immigrant Muslims and Muslim Immigrants and a difference between African American Muslims and Muslim African Americans. The difference is in how Muslims perceive themselves! A reasonable percentage of Immigrant, American and African American Muslims have adopted American lifestyles that are predominantly influenced by Christianity and are promoting what they consider to be a more democratic brand of Islam. Once the Americanization process is in motion, it conjures up old habits and practices (including the undesirable ones) and lodges them into the subconscious mind. As a result of desparately trying to fit in with popular American trends, many of these so-called democratic Muslims buy into the media’s promotion of negative images and stereotypical propaganda, especially when it comes to African Americans.  The arrogance and petty bourgeois attitudes inherited along with these trends, leads to the discriminatory belief that Muslim African Americans are inferior when it comes to Islamic scholarship, so the bourgeois Muslims choose to distinguish and distance themselves. Some are even embarrassed when they receive invitations to participate in events produced by Muslim African Americans. Yet, what we learned from the Islamic Scholars speaking at the event is, Qur’an Conferences are for all Muslims and all Muslims can benefit from understanding the specific role of Muslim African Americans in Islamic history, which for those who understand is revealed throughout Al-Qur’an in past, present and future context! In addition, we all know that The Qur’an’s reference to the unity of humanity or brotherhood of man closed the door on racial discrimination in Al-Islam. Qur’an Conferences such as the one produced by the San Francisco Muslim Community Center provides opportunities for all Muslims and righteous people of Scripture to share in a victory over The Shaitaan El Kabir (Big Devil) and his shaiteen (little devils) by coming together to gain a deeper understanding of religious Scriptures.

Dawan Muhammad AbduMuqaddim

Cross-Cultural Media Consultant, AMICC

Co-Chair SBIA Media Committee

The SBIA Media Committee was asked by San Jose State University Professor Ann Sarrafzadeh to conduct a presentation in her Studies in American Language class this past Friday, April 25.

A few members of the Media Committee – Irfan Ryhdan, Dawan Muhammad, Imam Bilal ibnMuhammad, and myself – participated in this presentation. Afterwards, the class broke off into small groups with one Media Committee representative present in each group to field questions about Islam, the media, or both.

The class was very receptive to the presentation and asked many questions about the image of Islam and Muslims in America.  Many were surprised to learn that Muslims believe in all the Prophets of God, including Jesus (PBUH) and our religion has many similarities between Christianity and Judiasm.

They also learned to not believe everything they see or hear in the media, particularly when it comes to Islam or Muslims.

Overall the presentation was a success and InshaAllah the Media Committee will be doing similar presentations to both Muslim and Non-Muslims audiences in the near future.

A few pictures from the presentation are below: