Dr. Jackson speaks at MANA 2007

Dr. Sherman Abdul Hakim Jackson addresses the black Muslim community at the 2007 MANA Conference (videos courtesy of Islamic Perspective). In reality though, I think it's pretty good advice for the Muslim community in general, particularly those who are living the US. Yes, I'm annoyed that I can't find Part 3.

Part 1
Part 2
Imagine there's a Part 3
Part 4
Part 5 (final)


Highlights:

(I didn't take any notes during the lecture itself, so these are kinda just off the top of my head. Naturally, though, bear in mind that it means the things that I remember are the things that probably apply most to myself and my own understanding).

- Dr. Jackson talks about how the black Muslim needs to realize that Allah swt has a plan for us, and to embrace that plan. He brings up the example of a black youth raised in the ghettos of Philly, who grows up and one day, he'll be sitting among like... princes. And he thinks to himself "what am I DOING here?!". Dr. J urges us to hear the voice that MUST come back, "God PUT you there!" and to realize the reason we're there, and strive to make the best of our situation.

- In his estimation, the two greatest problems that plague the Black American Muslim community are: sexual immorality and education. Really? I think that extends to the American Muslim community in general. He says we need to develop a way to raise our children and maintain our household in a way that our families and community provide can provide them with the emotional and psychological support that we need. Also, we NEED to get back to education because in a 21st century economy, it's almost impossible to maintain a family without a strong educational background.

- He brings up an extremely interesting point, I thought, about the roles of being a leader and a follower. He says that we've maintained this idea of leadership is "to be **served**," whereas true leadership is about service in the cause of Allah through serving the interest of the community. Then he brings up that there's a problem with the followers as well, where our community has embraced "super hyper-individuality," in which we all want the community to strive, but we all want to do our own thing in Islam without any kind of collective commitment.. In the end, we blame leadership when things don't get done. Dr. J mentions, "where do you think the Prophet (saw) would have been without the Sahaba? People who were willing to set their personal interests aside to serve the mission of the Prophet (saw)." He urges us to realize our own role, to put aside or our personal interests to do what is best for the community. <3

- If Dr. J actually contacts and yells at me for this post, I may cry. I'm sorry! I'll take it down :(

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I consider this a nice follow-up the the NYT article about the gap between the black American Muslim community and the immigrant American Muslim Community.