-Mad Jack "The Mountain Man" & Grizzly "Bear(d)" Adams-

The Quest for "Authentic" Islam

The 9th Degree in our Student Enrollment states in it's answer, “The Lost Found Nation of Islam has no said birth record, it has no beginning nor an ending, it’s older than the Sun, Moon and Stars”. This statement alone tells us that Islam didn’t originate in the Koran, Prophet Muhammad or Arabic Culture. Islam (PEACE) is beyond all of this, therefore, Islam is not simply about how much Koran you can recite or Arabian you can look. Knowing the Koran is a plus but you damn sure don’t gotta be Arabian! I’m saying this because many people throughout the world think they are living Islamic Principles when all they’re doing is copying Arabic Culture. The concept of Islam (PEACE) always existed. Prophet Muhammad of 1400 years ago only recited this concept of “Peace” to Arabian Tribes, in Arabia using Arabian Culture/Customs and Arabic Language as the vehicle. Sometimes people confuse this vehicle with the destination! Prophet Muhammad used a methodology to reach the people from the specific language, customs, sociopolitical status, and geography familiar to them. It was already hard for Muhammad and those was his people, imagine the type of response he would have received if he came as a strait up foreigner? It never was a Mystery to me why Master Fard Muhammad “raised-up” one from amongst us and then bounced without a trace! Shit, Elijah spoke the language of many of our people! He had a “moonshine drinking” lead belly, swore by the blues, ate swine like it was going outta style, and probably couldn’t spell the word Islam. When Fard was asking Elijah Muhammad them questions that comprise our Lessons (Supreme Wisdom), he was definitely learning in the process! Elijah put him down about a lot of things and in the process, he learned what Fard saw from the outside looking in! Fard may have moved undetected amongst White People but in Black Bottom, Mi he stood out like a sore thumb! And you know women was feelin’ him like Michael Jackson when his Thriller album dropped! Yo’ let me stop, I’ll build about Fard “The Man, the Myth, the Magik” another time!!

Now, back to what I was dealing with originally. Many Arabian People try to claim Islam as if they created it. As if because you don’t speak fluent Arabic, you don’t have a Grizzly Adams beard, or your woman ain’t cloaked like a ninja that it’s not “authentic” Islam! That is just as ignorant and ass backwards as the belief that “muslim’s are terrorists!”. Arabian Culture/Customs is not Islam! Islam can however be expressed through Arabian Culture, just like in any Culture. But I must mention that there may be some Cultural Traditions that are not compatible with Islamic Principles. For example, American Culture teaches that homosexuality is simply an “Alternative lifestyle” while Islamic Principles teach that this defies the Natural Law of Gender. In cases such as this, the question always arises, “How can this situation be rectified, individually and collectively”?

Culture not only establishes identity but Culture serves the purpose of solving problems, solidifying principles, protecting/preserving interests and ascertaining individual/collective goals. Therefore, regardless of the Principles (Islamic or etc..), Culture serves as the synthesizing driving force to implement them. The problem tht many Arabian Muslims had and have with Muslims in the NOI during the early 1930’s up to the present date is not a question of “Principality”, it’s really a question about the politics of Cultural Assimilation!

Still don’t get it? Well check this out, people were only feelin’ East Coast Rap until West Coast Rap came out. We ain’t except that shit at first because the rhythm, cadence, slag, clothing and subject matter was so different, even though it was “still rap”! Eventually we understood and the same shit happened when Cat’s started rappin’ in the South. We was like “hell naw, that shit is really wack, nigga’s is on some clown shit”! Eventually we learned (some of us!) to embrace their “style” too. The key word is “style”. I think that when you look a brothers like Common, Rakim, Ras Kass, and Speech, they all may have different “styles” and reside in different geographic locations but it’s safe to say that they all represent a common spiritual centeredness and conscious perspective of the world! I’m just saying that they all are at least saying something no matter where they from! Is it fair to say that since this oral tradition called “Rap” resurfaced in New York during the early 1970’s that everybody who wants to “Rap” need to do exactly what cats in New York do? That sound’s real stupid! Of course their should be a sense of recognizing the formal chronology of how Rap evolved from both it’s ancient oral tradition and it’s more contemporary form but to say that it ain’t “authentic” if niggas don’t sound like Melle Mel or dress like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five is some bullshit! That’s just how ignorant people sound and look when they trying to accuse people of being on some “Haraam” shit because they would rather rock Tims instead of leather shoes, a hoodie and jeans instead of a sheet and a fresh line-up instead of a Grizzly Adam’s beard! On the flip side I also don’t think people in the NOI should insinuate that a brother isn’t “Civilized” because they not rockin' a Romanesque styled bald face! To me, both idea’s are too generalized and extreme.

One of the reasons that Elijah Muhammad is Most Honorable is because he taught strait up “Nigga’s” Islam in Black Bottom Detroit, MI, during the Great Depression with a 3rd grade eja-macation! Not Arabic Culture, but Islamic Principles that existed before there was even a place called Arabia!! So my Muslim brothers and sisters here in the Wilderness of North America, don’t let muthafuckas’ try to make you feel guilty because you breakin’ fast with a pot of Collard Greens & Turkey Tails! At least your Principles would never allow you to warehouse a Corner Store with “Pork” and “Alcohol” and distribute that shit to the families in ya’ Community! And to you Holier than thou Orthodox Muslims from the East, ya’ll family too but please season ya’ Koran & Hadith quotin’ with alittle common sense. Just because your home grown Arabian children have learned to express Islam in a North American context from pant saggin’ Urban Sufi’s doesn’t mean that it ain’t “authentic”! Don’t let this White Supremist Society and your Caucasian Ancestry deceive you because it was the Prophet Muhammad who said that when he ascended to Heaven Ali’s black ass was already there!

As-salaam Alaikum