Gloria the Great,
Instead of beating about the bush, you could start with " The Curse of Ham" or the Bible episode where Joseph brothers sell him to some Ishmaelites
You may or may not agree with this so-called psychological truth that is being peddled, that in any given situation you find yourself in, the reaction is going to be one of either love or fear. Listen up or listen in: Having received my second vaccine three weeks ago it was time to say to hell with the very un-African "social distancing", so last night on the way back home – by tube - someone came and sat right opposite me and started coughing violently, got me a little worried because unlike me he wasn't wearing a mask, thereby signifying danger and before I knew what was happening I found the taboo question spurting out of my mouth: Are you from Eritrea? I asked him (he looked Eritrean) No, he said, guess. I suggested Brazil, Pakistan, Sudan, gave up asked him again, where? He said Iraq! I thought of the Zanj Black slave rebellion in Iraq back in 869- 883 –
and that's where the tinge of Black must be coming from. I thought of Joseph and his coat of many colours. Where in Iraq? Baghdad , he smiled – Ah, the Baghdad of history. I told him that I have many friends from Iraq, including Ali Sistani. We chatted for a while He was probably rushing home to break his fast. In his The Destruction of Black Civilistion , Chancellor Williams claims that the Black Man arrived in Saudi Arabia in the same way that he arrived in North America: through slavery. Is that right Professore Gloria Emeagwali? You that "Wali" in Arabic means " friend of God" and not she-devil? This means that you are not going to the everlasting bonfire...
Why on earth does he want to write about that, just that, right now? Because of the recent slave auction in Libya??
The fact is that the Prophet of Islam salallahu alaihi wa salaam must have been addressing a very topical issue when in his very last sermon, he said
"All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a White has no superiority over a Black nor a Black has any superiority over a White except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly."
"Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone."
Don Ochonu doesn't quote that sermon or Pre-Islamic slavery as an aspect of capitalism in pre-Islamic Mecca //Capitalism and slavery in the pre-islamic period or the frequent references in the Quran, to "those that your right hands posses"
I have just read right through the distressing subject matter, Ochonu's contribution to "knowledge production" I presume, he says ostensibly, "to understand or explain contemporary anti-Black racism in the Arab world" - a quantum leap and from his point of view, hopefully another feather in his academic hat or cap and to the glory of the on-going vicious Islamophobic propaganda that can be classified under various other vicious names, the means by which many professionals earn their daily bread.
We're familiar with the term" self-hating Jew" and I suppose that Ochunu would like to produce some self-hating Nigerian Muslims, who become self-hating after reading his piece?
I suppose that it is a contribution that's supposed to further poison the general atmosphere in Nigeria and hopes to successfully generate some questions, some self-searching and some self-loathing as to why a traditionally born black and proud person would want to embrace Islam after all that Professor Ochonu has proclaimed here, asking the same question that Mr. Eliot asks in Gerontion:
"After such knowledge, what forgiveness? Think now
History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors
And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,
Guides us by vanities."
In effect, Ochonu's contribution's supposed to be in tandem with the all-American prejudice, just around the 911 event - ironically expressed by this one line from Amiri Baraka's "Somebody blew up America" (about 911):
"They say it's some terrorist, some barbaric A Rab..."
As far as I can remember, up to now in all my relations with Arabs, I have never experienced any so-called racism. Never. On the day that I got married a Lebanese (Arab) friend Ahmed Labi, put his vintage Mercedes Benz at my disposal and was one of the witnesses who signed our marriage certificate...
Some wisdom from Ramana Maharshi
Moses,If you stated "Slavery, Theology and Anti-Blackness in the West Asian World, "you would be more accurate. Afterall, where did the anti-Black Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa get its inspiration from? The Quran?Black devils, White saints and so on, in popular Christian imagination should be noted as well. Steve Biko warned that it was a White God "doing the talking all along" and speaking to attentive devotees, including our dear moderator. https://www2.ccsu.edu/africaupdate/?article=501Steve BikoBiko Agozino, his namesakedoes not want to be part of hell's bonfire,- but apologies to Biko and Cornelius the Wise, this she- devil believes that hell is a very, very 🥶 cold place.By the way, remember that the first Muezzin in Islam was a Black man and that in 614, CE, the Prophet Mohammad sent about one hundred of his close relatives for safety to Ethiopia, during the reign of Emperor Armah,- and that the fourth most holy shrine in Islam is located in Ethiopia.But I would add to your narrative theArab refusal to acknowledge the largely Black identity of the ancient Egyptians (Minus the era of Hyksos, Greek and Roman occupation), essentially for racist reasons, too.On the whole, though, fundamentalist Afrocentrists would have no problem with your piece.Professor Gloria EmeagwaliVimeo.com/gloriaemeagwaliGEOn May 7, 2021, at 08:26, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com> wrote:--Here's a link to my review essay titled, "Slavery, Theology, and Anti-Blackness in the Arab World," just published in RESEARCH AFRICA REVIEW. The essay started life as a lecture I gave at Duke University's symposium on Anti-Blackness in the Arab World. Thereafter, due to popular demand, the editors of the review publication, who are also editors of Duke's popular "Research Africa" scholarly listserv, appealed to me to develop the lecture so they could publish it in the review journal.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAAHJfPru0%3D%3DHz5JXqQav-0-xZnX8vJ%3DschQJGtaMHFo_%2B5ZkGQ%40mail.gmail.com.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/2ebfbe4b-d49a-4bdc-879e-481f562b8670n%40googlegroups.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment