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Jihadis in the Hood: Race, Urban Islam and the War on Terror

Author(s): Hisham AidiSource: Middle East Report, No. 224 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 36-43Published by: Middle East Research and Information ProjectStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559422

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In his classicnovelMumbo umbo, shmaelReed satirizeswhite America'sage-old anxietyabout the "infectiousness"of black culture with "JusGrew,"an indefinable, irresist-ible carrierof "soul"and "blackness" hat spreads ike aviruscontaminating everyone in its wake from New Orleans toNew York. Reed suggests that the source of the Jus Grewscourgeis a sacred ext,which is finallylocatedanddestroyedbyAbdul Sufi Hamid, "the Brotheron the Street."In a turnof events reminiscent of Reed'sstoryline, commentators areadvancingtheorieswarningof adangerousepidemic spread-ing through our inner cities today,infecting misguided, dis-affected minority youth and turning them intoanti-American terrorists.This time, though, the pathogenis Islam, more specifically an insidious mix of radicalIslamand black militancy.Since the capture of John Walker Lindh, the MarinCounty "blacknationalist"-turned-Taliban,1 nd the arrestof would-be terroristJose Padilla, a Brooklyn-born PuertoHishamAidi,researchfellowt ColumbiaUniversitys iddleEast nstitute, orks ntheuniversity'sslam n New YorkProject,ponsoredy heFordFoundation. longerversionfthisarticlewillappearn HishamAidi andYusufNuruddin,ds., slamandUrbanYouthCulture.

Rican ex-gang member who encountered Islam while inprison, terrorismexpertsand columnists have been warningof the "Islamic hreat" n theAmericanunderclass,and alert-ing the public that the ghetto and the prison system couldverywell supply a fifth column to Osama bin Laden and hisilk. Writing in The Daily News, black social critic StanleyCrouch reminded us that in 1986, the powerful Chicagostreetgang al-Rukn-known in the 1970s as the BlackstoneRangers-was arresteden masse for receiving $2.5 millionfrom LibyanstrongmanMuammarQaddafi to commit ter-rorist acts in the US. "We have to realize there is anothertheater n this unprecedentedwar,one headquartered n ourjails and prisons,"Crouch cautioned.Chuck Colson of the evangelical American ChristianMission, which ministers to inmates around the country,penned a widely circulated article in the Wall Street ournalchargingthat "al-Qaeda raining manuals specifically iden-tifyAmerica'sprisonersas candidates for conversion becausethey may be 'disenchanted with their country's policies'...As US citizens, they will combine a desirefor 'payback'withan ability to blend easily into American culture."Moreover,he wrote, "Saudimoney has been funneled into the Ameri-

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Street scene in NewYork.

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can Muslim Foundation,which supportsprisonprograms,"reiterating hatAmerica's"alienated,disenfranchisedpeopleareprime targetsfor radicalIslamistswho preacha religionof violence, of overcoming oppressionby jihad."2Since September 11, more than a few American-bornblack and Latino jihadis have indeed been discovered be-hind enemy lines. BeforePadilla Abdallahal-Muhajir), herewas Aqil, the troubled Mexican-Americanyouth from SanDiego found in an Afghan training camp fraternizingwithone of the men accused of killing journalist Daniel Pearl.Aqil, now in custody, is writing a memoir called MyJihad.In February, he New YorkTimesran a story about HiramTorres,a Puerto Rican whose namewas found in a bombed-out house in Kabul, on a list of recruits to the Pakistanigroup Harkat al-Mujahedeen,which has ties to al-Qaeda.Torres,also known as Mohamed Salman,graduatedfirst inhis New Jerseyhigh school class and briefly attendedYale,before dropping out and heading to Pakistanin 1998. Hehas not been heard from since. A June edition of US Newsand WorldReportmentions a group of African-Americans,their whereabouts currently unknown, who studied at aschoolcloselylinkedto the Kashmirimilitia,Lashkar-eTaiba.L'Houssaine Kerchtou, an Algerian government witness,claims to have seen "some black Americans"training at al-Qaeda basesin Sudan and Pakistan.Earlierthis year, the movie Kandahar caused an uproarin the American intelligence community because the Afri-can-American actor who played a doctor was Americanfugitive David Belfield. Belfield, who converted to Islamat Howard University in 1970, is wanted for the 1980murder of Iranian dissident Ali Akbar Tabatabaiin Wash-ington. Belfield has lived in Tehran since 1980 and goesby the name of Hassan Tantai.3The two most notoriousaccused terrorists now in US custody are black Europeans,French-MoroccanZacariasMoussaoui and the English-Ja-maican shoe bomber Richard Reid, who were radicalizedin the same mosque in the London ghetto of Brixton.Moussaoui's ubiquitous mug shot in orange prison garb,looking like anyAmericaninner-city youth with his shavedhead and goatee, has intrigued many and unnerved some."My first thought when I saw his photograph was that Iwished he looked moreArabic and less black,"wrote SherylMcCarthy in Newsday."AllAfrican-Americans need is forthe first guy to be tried on terrorism charges stemmingfrom this tragedy to look like one of our own."But assessmentsof an "Islamicthreat" n the Americanghetto are sensational and ahistorical.As campaignsare in-troduced to stem the "Islamic tide," there has been littleprobingofwhy alienatedblackandLatinoyouth might gravi-tate towardsIslamism.Therehas been no commentarycom-parable o what British racetheorist PaulGilroywrote aboutRichardReid and the groupof Britons held at GuantanamoBay: "The story of black European involvement in thesegeopolitical currents s disturbinglyconnected to the deeperhistory of immigration and racepolitics." Reid, in particu-lar, "manifest[s] the uncomfortable truth that Britishmulticulturalismhas failed."4

Foroveracentury,African-Americanhinkers-Muslim andnon-Muslim-have attemptedto harness the black struggleto globalIslam,while leaders n the Islamicworldhavetriedtoyoke their political causes to African-American iberation.Islamism,in the US context, has come to referto differingideologiesadoptedbyMuslimgroups o galvanize ocialmove-mentsfor"Islamic"politicalends-the Nation of Islam's"buyblack"campaignsand election boycottsor Harlem'sMosqueof IslamicBrotherhoodlobbyingfor benefitsand culturalandpolitical rights from the state. Much more rarely, t has in-cluded thejihadistrainof Islamism, mbracedbyforeign-basedor foreign-funded slamistgroups(suchas al-Rukn)attempt-ing to gainAmerican recruits orarmedstrugglesagainst"in-fidel"governmentsat home and abroad.The riseof IslamandIslamism n American nner cities can be explainedas a prod-uct of immigrationandracialpolitics,deindustrialization ndstatewithdrawal,and the interwoven culturalforces of blacknationalism, Islamism and hip-hop that appeal strongly todisenfanchisedblack,Latino,Araband SouthAsianyouth.Islamn heTrans-AtlanticThe West Indian-bornChristianmissionary,EdwardBlyden,was the first African-Americanscholar to advocate an alli-ance between global Islam and pan-Africanism,the systemof thought which is considered his intellectual legacy.Afterstudying Arabic in Syriaand living in West Africa, Blydenbecameconvinced that Islam was bettersuited for people ofAfrican descent than Christianity,becauseof what he saw asthe lack of racialprejudice,the doctrine of brotherhoodandthe value placed on learning in Islam. His seminal tome,Christianity,slamandtheNegroRace 1888), laid the ground-work for a pan-Africanismwith a strong Islamic culturaland religiousundergirding.Blyden'scounterpart n the Arab world was the Sudanese-Egyptian intellectual Duse Muhammad Ali. In 1911, afterthe First Universal RacesCongressheld at the UniversityofLondon, Duse Mohammed launched TheAfricanTimesandOrient Review, a journal championing national liberalstrugglesand abolitionism"inthe fourquartersof the earth,"and promoting solidarity among "non-whites"around theworld. Published in both English and Arabic, the journalwas circulatedacross he Muslim world andAfricandiaspora,running articlesby intellectualsfrom the Middle East to theWest Indies (including contributions from BookerT. Wash-ington). Duse would laterbecome mentor to MarcusGarveywhen the American black nationalist worked at the Reviewin London in 1913, and would leavehis indelible stamp onGarvey'sUniversalNegro ImprovementAssociation,whosemission "toreclaim the fallen of the race,to administer andassist the needy"would become the social welfareprinciplesanimating myriad urban Islamic and African-Americanmovements.5In 1926, Duse created the Universal IslamicSociety in Detroit, which would influence, if not inspire,Noble Drew Ali's Moorish Science Temple and FardMuhammad'sTemple of Islam, both seen as precursorsofthe modern-dayNation of Islam (NOI).

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Blyden's nd Duse's deas,whichunderlineduniversal roth-erhood, human rightsand "literacy"i.e., the study of Ara-bic), had a profound impact on subsequent pan-Africanistand Islamicmovements in the US, influencing leaderssuchasGarvey,ElijahMuhammad andMalcolm X. The lattertwoinheritedan "Arabo-centric"understandingof Islam,viewingthe Arabs as God's "chosenpeople"and Arabic as the lan-guage of intellectualjihad-ideas still central to the Nationof Islam today. The NOI's mysterious founder, FardMuhammad,to whom ElijahMuhammad referredas "Godhimself," s widely believedto have been anArab.6"Fardwasan Arab who loved us so much so as to bring us al-Islam,"MinisterLouis Farrakhan assaidrepeatedly.Forthe past35years,Farrakhan'stop adviserhas been the Palestinian-Ameri-can Ali Baghdadi, though the two fell out earlierthis yearwhen the Ministercondemned suicidebombings.7 nthe NOI"typologist" heology,Arabsareseen as a "Sign"of a futurepeople, a people chosen by God to receive the Quran, butwho have strayed,and so God has chosen the American Ne-gro, who like the Arab is "despisedand rejected"with a "his-toryof ignoranceand savagery,"o spreadIslam n the West.8Malcolm X was probably the most prominent African-American Muslim leader to place the civil rightsmovement,not just in a pan-Islamicandpan-African ontext,butwithinthe global strugglefor Third World independence. In addi-tion to his historic visit to Mecca, where he would witness"Islamicuniversalism" ndeventually enounce he NOI's racetheology,Malcolm X would conferwith EgyptianPresidentGamalAbd al-Nasser ndAlgerianPresidentAhmed BenBella,leadersof theArabLeagueandOrganizationof AfricanUnity,respectively, nd considertakingAfrican-Americanproblemsto the floor of the UN GeneralAssembly.When the al-Azhar-educatedWarith Deen Muhammadtook over the Nation of Islam after the death of his father

Elijahin 1975, he renounced his father'sracetheology andchanged his organization'sname to the World Communityof al-Islamin the West to emphasizethe internationalisttiesof Muslims over the nationalistic bonds of African-Ameri-cans-leading to a split with Minister Farrakhan,who thenproceeded to rebuild the NOI in its old image. Arab andIslamic states would persistentlywoo W. D. Muhammad,apparentlyeager to gain influence over US foreign policy."But," amented one scholar,"hehas rejectedany lobbyingrole for himself, along with an unprecedentedopportunityto employ the international pressureof Arab states to im-prove the social conditions of blackAmericans."9TargetingheDisaffectedIs thereany truth to the claim that Muslim states or IslamistgroupsspecificallyargetedAfrican-Americanso lobbytheUSgovernmentor to recruit hem in warsoverseas?US News andWorldReport otes that,just in the 1990s, between1,000 and2,000 Americans-of whom "a airnumberareAfrican-Ameri-cans"-volunteered to fight with Muslim armiesin Bosnia,Chechnya,LebanonandAfghanistan.Manywererecruitedbyradical mams in the US. Accordingto severalreports, n the

late 1970sthe PakistanimamSheikhSyedGilani,now on therun for his allegedrole in Daniel Pearl'smurder,founded amovementcalledal-FuqaraThe Poor)withbranchesn Brook-lyn and New Jersey,where he preachedto a predominantlyAfrican-Americanconstituency.Using his "Soldiersof Allah"video, Gilani recruitedfighters or the anti-Sovietjihadin Af-ghanistan.Likewise,according o the FBI,workingout of his"jihadoffice" n Brooklyn, he blind cleric Sheikh OmarAbdal-Rahmanraisedmillions of dollars or theAfghanresistanceandsent 200 volunteers o join the mujahideen.Accordingto a recentstudy,Saudi Arabia has historicallyexerted the strongest influence over the American Muslimcommunity, particularly ince the rise of OPEC in 1973.10Throughthe IslamicSocietyof NorthAmerica(ISNA),Mus-lim StudentAssociations, he IslamicCircleof NorthAmericaand the Saudi-sponsoredWorld Muslim League,the Saudishavefinancedsummercampsforchildren, nstitutes ortrain-ing imams, speakers' eries,the distribution of Islamic itera-ture,mosque-building ndproselytizing.naddition, heSaudiembassy, through its control of visas, decides who in theAmerican Muslim community goes on the pilgrimage toMecca. But thereis absolutelyno evidencesuggestinga con-nection betweenthis influence and terrorismagainstthe US,as has been allegedby severalmedia outlets."In the early1980s, Iranattemptedto counter Saudi influ-ence over the AmericanMuslimcommunityand to gainAfri-can-Americanconvertsto Shiism. On November 17, 1979,AyatollahKhomeini had ordered the releaseof 13 African-Americanhostages,statingthat they were "oppressedbroth-ers"who were also victims of Americaninjustice.In 1982, astudy commissioned by the Iraniangovernmentto appraisethepotentialfor Shiiteproselytizingn blackAmericaattackedthe Nation of Islam and Sunni Muslims for their "insincer-ity"and arguedthat Saudiproselytizerswerein cahootswiththe CIA. The reportstated:"Besidesbeing dispirited,theAf-rican-AmericanMuslims feel that nobody caresabout them.[Everyone] only wants to use them for their own personalreasons as they languish... The majorityof African-Ameri-cansreallywant pureIslam.However,until and unlesssome-one is willing, qualifiedand able to effectivelyoppose activeSaudioil money...theIslamicmovementin Americawill plodon in a state of abject ineptitude and ineffectiveness."12 Butthe Iranianrevolutiondid not havemuch influence overAfri-can-AmericanMuslims, with the notable exception of theaforementionedBelfield.The majority of African-Americans, and increasinglyLatinos,who embraceIslamdo not end up wearingmilitaryfatigues in the mountains of CentralAsia. For most, Islamprovidesorder,meaning and purpose to nihilistic and cha-otic lives, but even if most do not gravitatetowards radicalIslamism,why the attraction to Islamin the firstplace?ExitingheWestMany blacks and Latinos in American metropolises live inpovertyand feel alienated from the country'sliberalpoliti-caland culturaltraditions.Repelled byAmerica'spermissive

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Street scene in New York. EDWARDGRAZDA/POWERHOUSEBOOKS

consumeristulture,many earchora faithandculture hatprovides ulesandguidelines or life. Oftentheyaredrawnto strandsof Christianityhat endorsepatriarchy,familyvalues" ndabstinence.ButmanyyoungAfrican-Americans,andincreasingly atinos, ejectChristianity, hichtheyseeas the faithof aguiltyand indifferent stablishment. hris-tian Americahas failedthem, and stripped hem of their"ethnichonor."Estrangedrom the US, andin the case ofLatinos,rom heirparents'omelands,manyminority outhsearch or a senseofcommunityand dentity,n aquest hathasincreasinglyed them to the othersideof theAtlantic,to theIslamicworld.SunniIslam, he heterodoxNationofIslam and quasi-Muslimmovements such as the FivePercenters nd Nuwaubians llow for a culturalandspiri-tualescape rom he American ocialorder hatoften entailsa wholesale ejection f Western ultureand civilization.Familybreakdown nd familyvaluescome up often inconversationsnd sermonsat inner-citymosquesasexpla-nationsfor the youngergeneration'sisenchantmentwithAmerican ocietyand liberalism.The declineof the two-parenthouseholdwhich preoccupiesdiscussionof familyvalueshas economic andpoliticalroots.In the 1970s and1980s,the middleclasses eftfor thesuburbs,nvestors elo-

cated andjoblessnessn urbanareas ncreased apidly.Asone analystobserved,"The abormarket onditionswhichsustained he 'malebreadwinner'amilyhaveall but van-ished."Matrifocal omes arose n itsplace.The new urbanpolitical conomyof the 1980s-state withdrawal ndcapi-talflight-led to "thecreationof a newset of orientationsthatplacesessvalueon marriagendrejectshedominanceof men as a standardor asuccessful usband-wifeamily."'3Butin theviewof many nner-cityMuslim eaders, amilybreakdown nd economicdislocationresult fromracism,Westerndecadence ndimmorality-they arethe effect ofstraying rom the wayof God. RaheemOcasio,imam ofNew York's lianza slamica, ontends:"Latinosn the soci-etyatlarge,dueto pressuresf modernWestern ulturearefightinga losingbattleto maintain heirtraditionalamilystructure...Interestingly,he effects of an Islamic ifestyleseem to mitigate he harmful ffectsof the Westernifestyleand havehelpedrestore nd reinforce raditionalamilyval-ues. Latinoculture s at its rootpatriarchal,o Islam'slearlydefined roles for men as responsibleeadersandprovidersand women as equallyessentialand complementary, ereassimilated.As a result, divorceamong Latino Muslimcouples s relativelyare."'4

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By embracing Islam, previously invisible, inaudible anddisaffected individuals gain a sense of identity and belong-ing to what they perceiveas an organized,militant and glo-rious civilization that the West takes very seriously. OneChicano ex-convict tried to explain the allure of Islam forLatino inmates, and why Mexican-Americanssympathizewith Palestinians:"The old LatinAmerican revolutionariesconvertedto atheism,but the new fauxrevolutionaryLatinoAmericanprisonercanjustaseasilyconvert to Islam....Therereside in the Latino consciousness at least three historicalgrudges, three conflicting selves: the Muslim Moor, theCatholic Spanish and the indigenous Indian.... [For theMexican inmates] the Palestinianshad their homeland sto-len andwereoppressed n much the samewayas Mexicans."15"Bringingllaho Urban enewal"In the wretched social and economic conditions of the in-ner city, and in the face of government apathy,Muslim or-ganizations operating in the ghetto and prisons delivermaterially.As in much of the Islamicworld, where the statefails to providebasicservices and security,Muslim organiza-tions appear, funding community centers, patrolling thestreets and organizingpeople.As the state withdrewand capitalfled from the city in theReagan-Bush era, social institutions and welfare agenciesdisappeared,eavinganurbanwasteland.Churcheshavelongbeen the sole institutions in the ghetto, but Islamic institu-tionshave beengrowingin African-Americanneighborhoodsfor the past two decades. In Central Harlem, Brownsvilleand EastNew York-areas deprivedof job opportunities-dozens of mosques (Sunni, NOI, Five Percenter andNuwaubian) have arisen,standing cheek by jowl with doz-ens of churchesthat tryto providesome order and guidanceto these neighborhoods. In the ghettoes of Brooklyn andChicago'sSouthside and the barriosof EastHarlem and EastLosAngeles,where asidefrom a heavypolice presence,thereis little evidenceof government,Muslimgroupsprovidebasicservices.The Alianza Islamicaof New York,headquarteredin the South Bronx,offers after-schooltutorials,equivalencydiplomainstructionforhighschooldropouts,marriage oun-seling, substance abuse counseling, AIDS awareness cam-paigns and sensitivity talks on Islam for the NYPD. TheAlianzahas confrontedgangsanddrugposses, trainingyoungmen in martial artsto help clean up the streets of the barriowith little reliance on trigger-happypolicemen.

One quasi-Islamic group, the United Nation of Islam,which broke away from Farrakhan'sNOI in 1993, hasadopted the slogan "BringingAllah to Urban Renewal"andis resurrecting blighted urban neighborhoods across thecountry, opening up health clinics, employment centers,restaurants nd grocerystoresthat do not sell redmeat, ciga-rettesorevensoda because hey'rebad forcustomers'health.16The United Nation of Islam does not accept governmentfunds, fearingthat federalmoney would compromise theirmission of"Civilization Development." Similarly, he NOIconducts "manhood training"and mentoring programsin

inner cities across the country,earningthe praiseof numer-ous scholarlyreports,which claim thatyoung men who par-ticipate in these programs for an extended time show"positive elf-conception," mprovedgradesand less involve-ment in drugs and petty crime.17In additionto deliveringbasicservices, heNOI todaytriesto provide jobs and housing.The NOI's LosAngelesbranchis currentlybuying up homes for homelessyoung men (call-ing them "Houses of Knowledgeand Discipline"),buildingAIDS treatmentclinics and startingup a bankspecializing nsmall loans.'8In 1997, Farrakhan nnounced a "three-yeareconomicprogram" imingto eliminate"unemployment, oorhousingandall the other detriments hatplagueourcommu-nity."19 arrakhan eems to have reverted o the strategiesofeconomic nationalismpursuedby ElijahMuhammad. Onescholararguesthat under Elijah, the NOI was essentiallyadevelopment organization emphasizingthrift and economicindependence among poor black people, with such successthat it turnedmanyfollowers nto affluententrepreneurs. heorganization tself evolved into a middle-classestablishment,allowingW. D. Muhammad,afterhis father'sdeath, to shedblack nationalist rhetoric and identify with a multiracialumma-moves which resonatedwith his middle-classcon-stituency.20n the 1970s, the NOI had owned thousandsofacresof farmland,banks,housingcomplexes,retailandwhole-salebusinessesand a universityand was describedby C. EricLincoln asone of the "mostpotent economic forces" n blackAmerica,butW.D. Muhammadliquidatedmanyof theNOI'sassets. When Farrakhan esuscitated he NOI in the 1980s,he revivedElijah'smessageof blackeconomic empowerment(appealing o many poorerblacks)and beganrebuildingtheNOI's businessempire. Accordingto BusinessWeek,n 1995the NOI owned two thousand acres of farmland n Georgiaand Michigan, a produce transportbusiness,a series of res-taurantsand a media distributioncompany.IslamBehind arsOver the past30 years,Islam has become a powerfulforceinthe Americanprisonsystem.Eversince theAtticaprisonriotsin upstate New Yorkin 1971, when Muslim inmates pro-tected guardsfrombeing takenhostage,prisonofficials haveallowed Muslim inmates to practiceandproselytizerelativelyfreely.Prior to the riseof Islam,the ideologieswith the mostcurrencyamong minorities in prisonwere strandsof revolu-tionaryMarxism-Maoism and Guevarism-and varietiesofblack nationalism.According to one report, nowadaysonethirdof the million or more black men in prisonareclaimingaffiliationwith theNationof Islam,SunniIslamor somequasi-Muslim group,such as the Moorish ScienceTemple.21MikeTyson, during a stint in prison in the mid-1990s, seems tohave combined all threecurrents, eavingprisonas a Muslimconvert,MalikShabbaz,but with Mao and Che Guevara at-toos. "I'm ustadarkguyfrom the den of iniquity," heformerheavyweightchampion explainedto journalists.The presenceof Muslim organizations n prisonshas in-creased n the last decadeas the state cut back on prisoner er-

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RapperndFivePercenterBustaRhymes. MARCOOSSANTOS/VELOCITYvices.In 1988, legislationmadedrugoffendersineligibleorPellgrants;n 1992, this was broadenedo includeconvictssentencedo deathorlife-longmprisonmentithoutparole,and n 1994,the lawwas extendedo allremainingtateandfederal risoners.n 1994,Congress assedegislationarringinmates romhighereducation, tating hatcriminals ouldnot benefit rom ederalunds,despite verwhelmingvidencethatprison ducationalrogramsotonlyhelpmaintain rderinprison,butpreventecidivism.22egislationlsodenieswel-farepayments,eterans' enefits nd oodstampsoanyonendetentionormorehan 0days.In 1996,the ClintonAdministrationassedhe WorkOpportunityndPersonalesponsibilityctpreventingostex-convictsrom eceiving edicaid,ublic ousingndSec-tion 8 vouchers. linton orbadenmatesn 1998 rom e-ceivingSocialSecuritybenefits,sayingthatprisoners"collectingocial ecurityhecks"as"fraudndabuse"er-petratedgainstworkingamilies"ho"playytherules."23All hese utbacksffected inoritiesisproportionately,utAfrican-Americansnparticularecausefthedisproportion-ately ighncarcerationates fAfrican-Americanen.Dis-paratereatmentythecriminalusticeystem-which asadevastatingffect n theblackamily,he nner ityeconomyandblackpoliticalpower, inceconvicts ndex-convictsan-notvote n39states-isanotherowerfulactoruelingheresentmentfminoritiesowardheestablishment.

In this atmosphere, it is no surprisethat Muslim organi-zations in prisons aregaining popularity.The Nation of Is-lamprovidescasses, mentorshipprograms,studygroupsand"manhoodtraining" hat teachesinmatesrespectforwomen,responsiblesexualbehavior,drug prevention, and life man-agementskills.MainstreamAmerican Muslim organizationsalso provide myriad services to prisoners. At ISNA's FirstConference on Islam in American Prisons,Amir Ali of theInstitute of Islamic Information and Education describedthe services and support system that his organization pro-vides to Muslim inmates: regularvisits to prisonsby evange-lists who deliver books and literature,classes in Arabic andIslamic history, correspondence courses in other subjects,24-hour toll-free phones and collect-calling services for in-mates to call families, mentorship programs for new con-verts and "halfway houses" to help reintegrate Musliminmates into society after release.Those who study Islam behind bars cast doubt on theassertions of Colson and Crouch. At ISNA's Third AnnualConference on Islamin AmericanPrisonsin July2002, key-note speakerDavid Schwartz,who recently retired as reli-giousservicesadministrator orthe FederalBureauof Prisons,strongly rejected the notion that American prisons were abreeding ground for terrorists,and stated that Islam was apositive forcein the lives of inmates. Scholar Robert Danninadds: "Why would a sophisticated international terroristMIDDLEAST EPORT24 FALL002 41MIDDLEAST EPORT24" FALL002 41


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organization otherwith inmates-who arefingerprintedandwhose data s in the US criminaljusticesystem?"24Islam ndHip-Hop

The treetlifeis theonly ifeI knowI livebythecodestyle ts madePLOIranianthoughtsnd coverikean ArabianGrab niggaon thespotandputa 9 to his cranium.-Method Man,"PLOStyle""NowthatArabsare henewniggers,will Arabculturebe-comethe rage?"skeda columnist or TheBlackWorldTo-daysomeweeksafterSeptember11. Arabculturehasnotbecome the rage,but if Rastafarianismnd Bob Marley'sThirdWorldistreggae nthemsprovidedhe musicandcul-tureof choice ormarginalized inorityyouthtwo decadesago, n the1990s"Islamic ip-hop" merged sthelanguageof disaffected ouththroughoutheWest.Arabic, slamic rquasi-Islamic otifs ncreasinglyhreadthecolorful abric hat s hip-hop, uch thatformany nnercityandsuburbanouth,rapvideosand yrics rovide regu-larand ntimate xposureo Islam.Many"OldSchool" answill recall hevideoof EricBandRakim'sKnowheLedge,"which featuredmagesof KhomeiniandMuslimcongrega-tionalprayer,sRakimlowed: Incontrol fmany,ikeAya-tollah Khomeini...I'mat war a lot, like AnwarSadat."Self-proclaimed uslimrapartistsproudlyannounce heirfaithand nclude"Islamic" essages f social ustice n theirlyrics.Followers f SunniIslam "al-Islam"n hip-hoppar-lance),Q-Tip (FareedKamal) ndMos Def areamong hemosthighlyacclaimed ip-hopartists,audedasrepresenta-tivesof hip-hop'schoolof "Afro-humanism"ndpositivity.MosDef, in an interviewwith Beliefnet, escribed ismis-sionas a Muslimartist:"It's boutspeaking ut against p-pressionwherever ou can. If that'sgonnabe in BosniaorKosovo rChechnya rplaceswhereMuslims rebeingper-secuted; rifit'sgonnabeinSierra eoneorColombia-youknow, f people'sbasichumanrightsarebeingabusedandviolated,henIslamhasaninterestnspeaking utagainstt,becausewe'rechargedo be the leaders f humanity."25The fluidityand variegatednature of Islamin urbanAmerica s seenin the different Islams"epresentedn hip-hop,andmostpoignantlynthefriction etween unniMus-lims andFivePercenters.odaymost "Islamic"eferencesnhip-hopare o the belief ystem f the FivePercentNation,asplinter roupof theNOI foundedn 1964byClarence 3X.The FivePercent ation or"TheNationof GodsandEarths")refashionedhe teachings f the NOI, rejectinghe notionthatFardwasAllahandteachingnstead hatthe blackmanwasGodand thathispropername sALLAH ArmLegLegArmHead).Theytaught hat85 percentof the massesareignorant ndwill neverknow the truth.Tenpercentof thepeopleknow the truthbutuseit to exploitandmanipulatethe85 percent; nlyfivepercent fhumanity now he truthandunderstandhe "true ivinenature f the blackmanwhois God or Allah."26 n Five Percentertheology, Manhattan

(particularlyHarlem) sknownasMecca,Brooklyn sMedina,Queens is the Desert, the Bronx is Pelanand New Jersey sthe New Jerusalem.Five Percenterbeliefshave exerteda greatinfluenceon hip-hop argotand streetslang.The expressions"word sbond,""breaktdown,""peace," whassupG"(mean-ing God, not gangsta)and "represent" ll come from FivePercenterideology.Orthodox Sunni Muslims see Five Percentersas blasphe-mous hereticswho call themselves "Gods."They accuse FivePercentersof shirk,the Arabic word meaning polytheism-the diametrical opposite of the tawhid (unitary nature ofGod) that defined the Prophet Muhammad's revelation.Since FivePercentersoften wearskullcapsand women covertheirhair,SunniMuslims will often greetthem with as-salamalaykum(peace be upon you) to which the Five Percentersrespond, "Peace,God." Five Percentersrefer to Sunni Mus-lims as deluded and "soon to be Muslim." In the "tenper-cent," Five Percenters nclude the "white devil," as well asorthodox Muslims "who teach that Allah is a spook."BustaRhymes,WuTangClanandMobb Deep areamongthe most visible Five Percenterrappers.Their lyrics-repletewith numerology,cryptic"Islamic" llusionsand at timespe-jorativereferences o women andwhites (as"whitedevils"or"cavedwellers")-have arousedgreat nterestandcontroversy.Journalistand former rapperAdisa Banjokostronglyrepri-mandsFive Percenterrappers or their materialismand igno-rance:"Inhip-hop a lot of us talk about knowledgeand theimportanceof holding on to it, yet underthe surfaceof hip-hop's success' uns the threadof ignorance(jahiliyya,he Ara-bic termreferring o the pagan age in ArabiabeforeIslam)."Like"theoriginaljahiliyyaage,"hip-hop todayis plaguedby"jahili erritorialism nd clan affiliation,"a "heavydisrespectof women" and a materialismthat "borderson jahili idolworship."27Five PercenterIbn Dajjal respondedangrily toAdisa's riticism:"Noamountoffatwasorcensorshipwill eversilencethe soundsof theNOI and FivePercentmushrikidola-ter) nations. The group will continue to rise in fame withcustomers coming from all walks of life: black, white andBedouin. [F]arfrom a masterpieceof style, the book (theQuran)is literallyriddledwith errorsand clumsy stylewhichyield little morethan a piece of sacredmusic.... Maybethereshould be a new hip-hop album entitledAl-QuranAl-KarimFreestyle y Method Man and Ghostface Killa!"Though it has nothing to do with the jihadi trend, thelanguageof Islam n the cultureof hip-hop does often expressangerat government ndifferenceand US foreignpolicy,andchallenge structuresof domination. The outspoken rapperParis, ormerlyof theNOI, who galledthe Establishmentwithhis 1992 single "BushKiller,"hasraisedeyebrowsagainwithhis single "What Would You Do?" (included on his forth-coming LP,"SonicJihad")which excoriates he "waron ter-ror"and the USA PATRIOTAct, and implies governmentinvolvementin the September11 attacks.In early2002, theBrooklyn-basedPalestinian-Americanrothers, he HammerBros, "originally rom the Holy Land, living in the Belly ofthe Beast, tryingto rise on feet of Yeast," eleased heir pro-intifada cut, "FreePalestine,"now regularlyblaredat pro-

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Palestiniangatherings n New York.One particularly opularand articulate artist is spoken-wordpoet Suheir Hammad,the Palestinian-American uthor of BornBlack,Born Pales-tinian, on growing up Arab in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.Hammad appearedon HBO's "Def PoetryJam" ome weeksafterSeptember 11, and delivereda stirringrendition-to astanding ovation-of her poem, "FirstWriting Since," onbeing an Arab New Yorkerwith a brother n the US Navy.28"NoRealStake"Pan-Africanismand pan-Islamwere fused togetherby Afri-can-Americanand Muslim intellectualsovera centuryagotofightcolonialism,racismand Westerndomination.Todaythatresistancestrategyhas been adopted by tens of thousandsofurbanyouth (judgingby NOI rallies n the US and Europe)in the heart of the West. The cultural forcesof Islam, blacknationalism and hip-hop haveconvergedto createa brazenlypoliticaland oppositionalcounterculture hat has a powerfulallure.At root, the attraction of African-American,Latino,Arab,South Asian and West Indianyouth to Islam,andmove-ments that espousedifferent brands of politicalIslam,is evi-dence of Western states' failure to integrate minority andimmigrantcommunities,and deliverbasic ife necessitiesandsocialwelfarebenefits-policy failures fwhich Islamicgroups(and right-wingChristiangroups)arekeenlyaware.Rather thanprompt examination of why minorityyouth,in the ghettoanditsappendage nstitution,theprison,wouldbe attracted o Islam-whether in its apoliticalSunnior Sufi,Five Percenter,overtly political Nation of Islam or jihadivarieties-the cases of Moussaoui, Reid and Padillahave ledto argumentsabout how certain culturesare"unassimilable,"hystericalwarningsof a "black(or Hispanic) fifth column"and aggressivecampaigns to counter Islamic influence inthe inner city. Evangelical groups are trying to exclude Is-lamic institutions from GeorgeW. Bush's aith-baseddevel-opment initiative. Jerry Falwell stated that "it is totallyinappropriateunder any circumstances" o give Federalaidto Muslim groups, because "the Muslim faith teaches hate.Islam should be out the door beforetheyknock.They shouldnot be allowed to dip into the porkbarrel."29 nother Chris-tianeffort,ProjectJoseph,conducts"Muslimawarenessemi-nars" n inner cities acrossthe country,warningthat Muslimleaders are exploiting the weakness of black churches, in-forming African-Americans that conversion to Islam doesnot imply "recovering heir ethnic heritage"and publiclyadmonishing that "if the conversion rate continues un-changed,Islam could become the dominant religionin blackurban areasby the year2020."30The aspirationsof the very poor and disenfranchisedinAmericawill continue to overlapwith the strugglesandhopesof the impoverished masses of the Muslim Third World,who will in turn continue to look towardsAfrican-Ameri-cans for inspiration and help. Minister Farrakhan'secent"solidaritytour" of Iraq and recent meetings between AlSharpton and Jesse Jackson and Yasser Arafat show thatMuslim causescontinue to reverberaten theAfrican-Ameri-

can community. By and large, African-Americansdo notseem to share the hostility to Islam which has intensifiedsince September 11. Akbar Muhammad, professorof his-tory at SUNY-Binghamton and son of ElijahMuhammad,wrote in 1985 that becauseAfrican-Americanshave "no realpolitical stake in America, political opposition to the Mus-lim world is unworthy of serious consideration."31Thesewordsstill hold true for many minorities in post-September11 America. iEndnotes1 ManysayLindhwascorrupted yreadingTheAutobiographyfMalcolmXand hisloveofhip-hop.SeeShelbySteele,"'adicalSheik, WallStreetournal,December18, 2001. Lindhoften posedas blackonline,going by the names of "Doodoo"and "ProfJ."He attackedZionism,once writing:"Ourblacknessdoes not makewhitepeoplehate us, it is THEIRracism hat causeshate...[The N-word]has,forhundreds f years,beena labelputon usbyCaucasians...and ecause f theweight t carrieswithit, I neveruse it myself." eeClarencePage,"The WhiteNegro'Taliban?'ChicagoTribune, ecember14, 2001.2 ChuckColson,"Evangelizingor Evil n OurPrisons,"WallStreetJournal,une24, 2002.See also MarkAlmond,"WhyTerrorists ove Criminals AndViceVersa):Manya JihadiBeganas a Hood,"WallStreetJournal,une19, 2002; EarlOfariHutchinson,"Hispanic rAfrican-Americanihad?" lackWorld oday,une12, 2002; and Christian cienceMonitor,June14, 2002.3 Guardian,anuary 0, 2002.4 PaulGilroy,"Dividing nto the Tunnel:The Politicsof Race Between he Old and NewWorlds,"OpenDemocracy,anuary 1, 2002. http://www.opendemocracy.net5 RobertA. Hill, ed. MarcusGarveynd theUniversal egro mprovementAssociationapers,vol. 3 (Berkeley, A:University f CaliforniaPress,1989),p. 302.6 DespiteFarrakhan'slaim o haverenounced acetheology,TheFinal Call tillprintson itsbackpagethat "Godappearedn thepersonofW. FardMuhammad."7 AliBaghdadi, Farrakhanlans o MeetSharon,"MediaMonitors etwork, pril14,2002.http://www.mediamonitors.net8 SeeTheophusHaroldSmith,Conjuring ulture: iblicalFormationsn BlackAmericaNewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1994).9 ErnestAllen,Jr."Minister ouisFarrakhannd theContinuingEvolution f the Nation ofIslam,"nAmyAlexander,d. TheFarrakhanactorNewYork:GrovePress,1998),p. 73.10 RobertDannin,BlackPilgrimageo Islam NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress, 002).11 GregoryGause,"BeCarefulWhat YouWish For:The Futureof US-SaudiRelations,"World olicy ournal19/1 (Spring 002).12 MuhammadSaid,QuestionsndAnswers boutIndigenous SMuslimsTehran,1982).Unpublishedmanuscript.13 "In1993, 27 percentof allchildrenunder heageof 18 were ivingwitha single parent.Thisfigure ncludes57 percent f allblackchildren, 2 percentof allHispanic hildren nd21 percent f allwhite children."WilliamJuliusWilson,WhenWork isappears:heWorldoftheNew UrbanPoor NewYork:AlfredA. Knopf,1996),p. 85. ElsewhereWilsonargueshatthesharp ncreasen blackmale oblessness ince1970accountsn largemeasure or the risein the numberof single-parentamilies.Since oblessratesarehighest n the innercity,ratesof singleparenthood realsohighest here.14 RahimOcasio,"Latinos, he Invisible: slam's orgottenMultitude,"TheMessageAugust1997).15 LosAngelesTimes, une23, 2002.16 Christian cienceMonitor,December1, 1999.17 RichardMajorsand Susan Wiener, ProgramsThat ServeAfrican-AmericanYouth(Washington: he Urban nstitute,1995).18 LosAngelesTimes,February 3, 2002.19 FinalCall,February 1, 1997.20 Lawrence . Mamiya, Minister ouisFarrakhannd he FinalCall:Schism n the MuslimMovement,"n EarlH. Waugh t al, TheMuslimCommunityn NorthAmericaEdmonton:University f AlbertaPress,1983).21 Newsweek,October30, 1995.22 JoshPage, "Eliminatinghe Enemy:A CulturalAnalysisof the Exclusionof PrisonersfromHigherEducation"master'shesis,University f California-Berkeley,997).23 Bill Clinton, radio address, April 25, 1998. Transcript available at http://www.whitehouse.gov.24 Quoted n HishamAidi,"Jihadisn theCellBlock,"Africana.com,uly22, 2002.25 HishamAidi,"Hip-Hop orthe Gods,"Africana.com,pril31, 2001.26 YusufNuruddin, TheFivePercenters:TeenageNationof GodsandEarths,"nYvonneHaddad t al,MuslimCommunitiesn NorthAmericaAlbany: tateUniversity f New YorkPress,1994).27 AdisaBanjoko,"Hip-Hopand theNewAgeof Ignorance," NVNewsletterJune2001).28 The poem appearedn MiddleEastReport 21 (Winter2001).29 Washingtonost,March8, 2001.30 USAToday,uly19,2000.31 AkbarMuhammad, Interaction etween'Indigenous' nd 'Immigrant'Muslims n theUnited States:Some PositiveTrends,"Hijrah March/April 985).

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Aidi_Jihadis in the Hood

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