Showing posts with label african-american. Show all posts
Showing posts with label african-american. Show all posts

Sunday, June 28, 2015

"a love supreme" / "allah supreme"?


 The recording has long been understood to be a deeply spiritual, even devotional, piece. Its four phases - "Acknowledgement", "Resolution", "Pursuance" and "Psalms" - reflect what Coltrane described as a "spiritual awakening" in his overcoming of drug and alcohol problems. 

Yet, what was the nature of that "spiritual awakening"? The conventional view is that by 1964, Coltrane had moved away from his Methodist upbringing, adopting a "pan-religious" outlook with a particular interest in Eastern mysticism. In spite of that, "A Love Supreme" is still described as laden with Biblical symbolism: the title "Psalm", and the rising cadences, reminiscent of black preachers' style, are offered as evidence that Coltrane was still rooted in Christianity. But ask one of the jazzmen or Muslim elders who knew Coltrane, and you get a different answer. 

The saxophonist Yusef Lateef, who died at the age of 93 earlier this year, worked closely with Coltrane between 1963 and 1966. In his autobiography , "A Gentle Giant", Lateef says: "The prayer that John wrote in 'A Love Supreme' repeats the phrase 'All praise belongs to God no matter what' several times. This phrase has the semantics of the al-Fatiha, which is the first chapter or sura of the Holy Quran. The Arabic transliteration is 'al-Humdulilah…' Since all faithful Muslims say the al-Fatiha five times a day or more, it is reasonable to assume that John heard this phrase from [his Muslim wife] Sister Naima many times." 

Lateef is referring to the poem Coltrane wrote and included in the liner notes of the album. Coltrane wrote: "No matter what … It is with God. He is gracious and merciful" and ends with "All praise to God..."

What Lateef and others have noted is that "gracious and merciful" is a translation of "rahman raheem", the opening lines of the Fatiha. Moreover, say the elders, when Coltrane begins chanting the album's title for half a minute it sounds like a Sufi breathily repeating "Allah supreme".

The relationship between Islam and jazz is almost a century-old. It was in the 1920s that the Ahmadiyya movement, a heterodox Islamic movement that emerged in 19th century India, began sending missionaries to US cities, building a substantial following among African Americans in the decades to come. In a trend that still intrigues historians and music critics, after World War II, scores of jazz musicians embraced Ahmadi Islam.

When Coltrane arrived in Philadelphia in 1943, the Muslim presence in the "city of brotherly love" would rattle the young man. As he told an interviewer in 1958: "This Muslim thing came up. I got introduced to that. And that kind of shook me." 

The saxophonist was surrounded by Muslims: his drummer Rashied Ali was Muslim, as was his pianist McCoy Tyner (Suleiman Saud), and saxophonist Lateef. Coltrane then married Naima Grubbs, an observant Muslim. Even Coltrane's band members have pondered his relationship to Islam. If Lateef suspected that Coltrane's art was influenced by the Quran, the drummer Rashied Ali thought that the saxophonist was "a real country boy" and that "he was into being a Muslim and everything like that". One also hears the argument that Coltrane wanted to title his composition Allah Supreme - instead of A Love Supreme - but was worried about a political backlash, given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. "Back then jazz and Islam were intertwined - the first time I heard the adhan on Temple University radio, I thought it was a Nina Simone song," says Imam Nadim Ali, a celebrated jazz deejay and community leader who spent his youth in Philadelphia. "Artists were deeply influenced by Islam - sometimes publicly in their art, sometimes privately." 

It's not inconceivable that "A Love Supreme" could have been inspired by the Quran. After all, as the elders will observe, "Celebration", that great funk hit by Kool & the Gang, was inspired by a Quranic sura. 

"The initial idea came from the Quran," says Ronald Bell (Khalis Bayyan), the group's saxophonist and musical arranger. "I was reading the passage, where God was creating Adam, and the angels were celebrating and singing praises. That inspired me to write the basic chords, the line, 'Everyone around the world, come on, celebration'."

This song inspired by Islam - and released in 1980 - would become an international hit heard at ball games and political rallies in the US, and ironically was played by the Reagan administration on February 7, 1981, to welcome home the hostages held by students in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Monday, February 07, 2011

egypt and race

The Root has some interesting pieces on race relations in Egypt. First there is the blatantly-titled Egypt's Race Problem by Sunni M. Khalid which details some of the challenges, assumptions, and indignities faced by blacks (especially from sub-Saharan Africa) in Egypt. Secondly there is An African American in Egypt by Wendell Hassan Marsh with more of the same.

Monday, September 20, 2010

mooz-lum on npr

NPR: Film 'Mooz-lum' Confronts Public Perceptions Of Islam is an interview with film creator Qasim Basir and actor Roger Guenveur Smith. I liked hearing more from Basir and I hope the film does well.

Monday, September 13, 2010

coalition of african american muslims

The following is from the recently-formed Coalition of African American Muslims. (h/t to Seeker's Guidance) It seemed like a generally positive gathering with a lot of good things being said. It will be interesting to see what this group produces in the long run. I'm especially curious about the Nation of Islam and what implications there will be for relations between African-American Sunni Muslims and the followers of Farrakhan.

Mission Statement

The controversy over the Park 51 Project (Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan) is indicative of a general rise in racist bigotry towards people of color in this country. While the issue has its particular and unique distinctions, it cannot be separated from the rising violence against African Americans and Latinos, or the increasingly inflammatory rhetoric and exclusionary politics driving the national debate on immigration.

As African-American Muslims, we feel our unique perspective has been missing from an emerging national discussion. We wish to join that discussion by first of all affirming that among our forbears are Muslims who have lived peacefully and productively in this country since its inception. They, and others among our people have sacrificed too much, both in enduring the horrors and brutalities of chattel slavery, and during the long march to freedom, civil and human rights for us to silently accept a return to Jim Crow exclusionary practices and policies that relegate either ourselves or our co-religionists from other ethnic backgrounds to second-class citizenry.

We commend all of those Jews, Christians and members of other faith and ethnic communities who have raised their voices in defense of the constitutional rights of all Americans. We also laud the work that other Muslim organizations have done in response to the current situation. We add our voice to theirs and will work for a country that reflects the diversity of its people and extends full and equal rights to all.

CAAM Will:

* Work to expose the underlying foreign and domestic agenda being served by the ongoing demonization of Muslims;

* Be a voice for those who have been intimidated into silence;

* Establish networks between organizations representing those elements of the population, regardless of race or religion who are suffering as a result of the politics of fear and exclusion.


Coalition Members

Abdul Jalil Muhammad
Imam Abdul Malik
Amir Muhammad
Asma Hanif
Hodari Ali Imam
Johari Abdul Malik
Attorney Kareema
Al-Amin Imam Khalid Griggs
Minister Louis Farrakhan
Imam Nadim Ali
Nisa Islam Muhammad
Imam Siraj Wahhaj
Imam Talib Deen
Imam Umar Ibn Khattab
Imam Yahya Cason
Imam Zaid Shakir


Imam Zaid Shakir


Mahdi Bray


Asma Hanif


Imam Abdul Malik


Imam Siraj Wahaj


Minister Louis Farrakhan


Farrakhan Part 2


Farrakhan Part 3


Thursday, July 03, 2008

planet grenada and islam and hip-hop

Over at Goatmilk, Wajahat Ali recently posted an in depth piece entitled: Fear of a Muslim Planet:Hip-Hop’s Hidden History by Naeem Mohaiemen on the historical connections between Islam and hip-hop. It made me want to do put together a sampling of Grenada posts on the same subject.

Pieces range from

a simple list:
an old list of rappers and their religion

to specific peeks at particular Muslim hip-hop artists:
digging below the underground
more on lupe fiasco
one.be.lo - s.o.n.o.g.r.a.m.
de la soul
ali shaheed muhammad
whatever happened to q-tip?
boricua rappers drop anti-imperialist album

to discussions of Islam's presence in pre-hip-hop African-American music:
the last poets
muslim roots of american blues
all that jazz...

to broader more "sociological"discussions of the phenomena of Muslim hip-hop across different musical groups:
verily, there is only one hip-hop umma
al-ahram does a story on muslim hip-hop
more on muslims and hip-hop
hisham aidi

to pieces which focus more on the Muslim community and speak about the music in mostly general terms:
new age jahiliyyah
islam and hip-hop
traditional islam for the hip-hop generation

to more regional-based posts...

on African Muslims doing hip-hop (whether in Europe or the Continent)
in bleak projects, emerging culture
daara j brings rap back to its african roots

or Arab and Arab-American hip-hop:
rap the casbah
(global) southern girl
representin' the west (bank)

or Asian-related hip-hop:
an african american muslim convert as the founder of chinese hip-hop
afro-asian crosscurrents in contemporary hip-hop

Enjoy.