Ramadan

An Online Photo and Audio Exhibit on the legacy of Malcolm X/Al Hajj Malik El Shabazz

Refracting Light

Black History Month 2020

"I Found Me" is a poem written and recorded by Basheer Jones.

I Found Me, a poem by Basheer Jones

We're celebrating 50 years of hip hop by shouting out a few of our favorite artists and albums. Senior Editor Ambata Kazi-Nance offers a reflection on the album that defined her youth and culture growing up in New Orleans.

Celebrating Hip Hop: Juvenile's 400 Degreez

In this episode of On The Square, Sapelo Square’s Senior Editor Ambata Kazi talks with Aaliyah Bilal, author of the new book, Temple Folk, a collection of short stories portraying the lived experiences of Black Muslims grappling with faith, family, and freedom in America.

Aaliyah shares her literary influences and how her interests in American Muslim history, especially the history of the Nation of Islam and its role in shaping the nation, inspired her to write the stories that comprise her collection. Ambata and Aaliyah discuss the challenges of being a Muslim writer: writing about difficult or taboo subjects, without fear or a need for approval, and away from the traps of the outside gaze. Aaliyah also shares advice for emerging writers on how to nurture their own unique voices and perspectives and write with confidence.

Getting Real: Writing Black American Muslim Life in the Nation and Sunni Tradition

From East Oakland to Gaza, poet Amelah El-Amin shares a prayerful call to our brothers and sisters in Palestine in their ongoing fight for liberation.

I Can’t Sleep, a poem by Amelah El-Amin

This poem was written to mourn the thousands of people killed in Gaza and millions more whose lives still hang in the balance. The poem references locations in Gaza as well as the Qur’an, the mu’allaqa of Imru’l-Qays, Mahmoud Darwish’s poem “Silence for the Sake of Gaza,” and Dan Heymann’s anti-apartheid song, “Weeping.”

Elegy for Gaza

A Qur'an recitation of Surah Al-Jathiyah (45): Ayaat 27-29 by Idris, 14 year old student of Qur'an.

Recitation of Surah Al-Jathiyah, Ayaat 27-29

A poem titled "The Promise of Spring" read by the poet, Irtefa Binte-Farid.

The Promise Of Spring: a poem by Irtefa Binte-Farid

Kamilah Mahasin Shuaibe, Cultural Social Artist

Hakeem Muhammad

Faatimah Knight, Student

Big Samir, Performing Artist

Dr. Amina Wadud, Islamic Scholar and Activist

**********************Ramadan Mubarak!*****************************
Some inspiration for the days and nights of Ramadan...a little inspiration for Eid too! 

Track List
    Ninety-Nine – Ashabu Taqwa

    Ramadan is Here – Suad El Amin
    
    Ramadan is Here – Native Deen
    
    Allah Did – Imam Wilmore Sadiki

    Come to Allah – The Whizdom Kids

    Best Names – Miss Undastood

    Allah – Khalil Ismail

    Grow Our Iman – Progress Theater

    Hamideen – The Mo’Rockin Project

    Sky is Mine – Amir Sulaiman

    Shining Through – The Reminders

    Shine Your Light – Tyson

Vocals - Tijani Rivera
Mixed by Ms. DiJa

Ramadan 1436 Mixtape

Mixed by DJ Maryam Kashmere

Full Track List

Uprising by Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith and Ed Blackwell
Peace by The Ensemble Al-Salaam
Palace Slide by Shabazz Palaces 
Bury Me Next To You by Bilal
Wide Open (Roomy) by Zaimah
It's Been a Long TIme by Rakim
Hallelujah by Amir Sulaiman
Word is Bond by Poor Righteous Teachers
The Forest by Charles Lloyd and Billy Higgins
Oklahoma Trek by Three Generationz 
Allah and Justice by Brand Nubian
Black Roses by The Reminders
Sister Mamie by Yusuf Lateef
You Ain't Hard (featuring Raheem Devaughn) by Maimouna Youssef
Shahada by Suad El-Amin
Casbah by Abdul Rahim Ibrahim (Doug Carn)
Faith and Deeds by Hijrah
Creator Has a Master Plan (excerpt) by Pharoah Saunders
I Love Music by Ahmad Jamal Trio
Summertime by Lynn Hope

Master Plan

Imam Yasin Dwyer was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba to Jamaican parents. He is currently a Chaplain at the Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto. Before joining the Muslim Chaplaincy of Toronto, Yasin was a part of the multi-faith chaplaincy team at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He has lectured extensively on topics such as spirituality and the arts, Black Canadian culture and the history of Muslims in the West. Along with working alongside many nonprofit organizations in Canada, Yasin was the first full-time Muslim Chaplain to work with the Correctional Service of Canada, a position he held for 12 years. He is also a board member of the Montreal-based Institut Route de la Soie/Silk Road Institute, which is dedicated to expressing Canadian Muslim narratives through the visual, auditory and performing arts.

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Sapelo Square is an award winning website that celebrates and analyzes the experiences of Black Muslims in the United States to create new understandings of who they are, what they have done, and why that matters. 
Read more at: http://www.sapelosquare.com 
FB: https://www.facebook.com/sapelosquare/ 
IG: https://www.instagram.com/sapelosquare/
 Twitter: https://twitter.com/SapeloSquare

Ramadan 1440/2019: Black Muslims Reflect on the Qur'an - Juz 19 by Imam Yasin Dwyer

Fact: In 1730, Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, a native of Futa Toro, now Senegal, was captured by Mandinke soldiers and enslaved. After being sent to a plantation in Maryland he was first assigned to tobacco farming, but as he was from a wealthy family — and this was not his trade — he was later moved to cattle herding.  He continued to practice Islam in secret, praying discreetly, until one day he was discovered by a young child, humiliated and prohibited from practicing his faith. In turn he ran away from the plantation, but was later captured, imprisoned and later returned to the Maryland plantation. Fearing for his life he penned a letter to his father in Arabic that ended up in the hands of James Oglethorpe, the director of the Royal African Company. Oglethorpe purchased Diallo and sent him to London as a free man. Diallo still feared recapture so he contacted Rev. Thomas Bluett whom he met while incarcerated and made a deal to have him write his memoirs if he would arrange a safe return to Futa Toro. He returned home in 1734 to find his wives remarried and his father had passed.

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Sapelo Square is an award winning website that celebrates and analyzes the experiences of Black Muslims in the United States to create new understandings of who they are, what they have done, and why that matters.

Read more at: www.sapelosquare.com
FB: www.facebook.com/sapelosquare/
IG: www.instagram.com/sapelosquare/
Twitter: twitter.com/SapeloSquare

Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (BHM Feb 1 2020)

Fact: Two Fulani youth, Yarrow Mamout and his younger sister (later named Hannah - her birth name lost to the inhumanity of slavery), were enslaved in the Senegambia region of West Africa. In early 1752, they arrived together on Maryland’s shores after enduring the harrowing middle passage aboard the slave ship Elijah. After over 40 years of enslavement, Yarrow Mamout reclaimed his freedom and secured land and property in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington D.C., where he lived as a renowned member of D.C. society until his death in 1823. His obituary was featured in multiple newspapers with clear references to his identity as a Muslim freedman. In the January 25, 1823 issue of the Baltimore Patriot, a newspaper from the era, excerpts from his obituary noted: “he was interred in the corner of his garden, the spot whe[r]e he usually resorted to pray...Yarrow was never known to eat of swine, nor drink ardent spirits.” Nearly two centuries later, after archaeological excavation located the sight of his burial, the Janazah funeral prayer was made for Yarrow Mamout in 2015.

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Sapelo Square is an award winning website that celebrates and analyzes the experiences of Black Muslims in the United States to create new understandings of who they are, what they have done, and why that matters.

Read more at: www.sapelosquare.com
FB: www.facebook.com/sapelosquare/
IG: www.instagram.com/sapelosquare/
Twitter: twitter.com/SapeloSquare

Yarrow Mamout (BHM Feb 2 2020)

Fact: In 1928, Sheikh Daoud Ahmed Faisal and his wife, Sayedah Khadijah Faisal founded what is claimed to be the oldest Sunni mosque in NYC, as well as the first mosque in Brooklyn, at 143 State Street. The mosque is now known as Masjid Daoud, and is still in operation at its original location. Sheikh Daoud advocated building unity between #Muslims in the U.S. and overseas. He also worked with the United Nations to advocate for justice and equality for marginalized communities. Sheikh Faisal’s leadership is believed to have brought well over 10,000 Americans to #Islam before 1959.

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Sapelo Square is an award winning website that celebrates and analyzes the experiences of Black Muslims in the United States to create new understandings of who they are, what they have done, and why that matters.

Read more at: www.sapelosquare.com
FB: www.facebook.com/sapelosquare/
IG: www.instagram.com/sapelosquare/
Twitter: twitter.com/SapeloSquare

Sheikh Daoud and Sayedah Khadijah (BHM Feb 5 2020)

Fact: February 4th marks the 21st anniversary of the murder of Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old Muslim immigrant from Guinea, West Africa. One night outside of his apartment in the Soundview section of the Bronx, Diallo reached for his jacket to take out his wallet. The white NYPD officers assumed he was holding a gun and fired 41 shots at him. Diallo was unarmed. A jury acquitted all four white cops of all charges. More than 1,700 people were arrested throughout the court proceedings for organizing protests and demonstrations. Diallo's funeral was held at the Islamic Cultural Center mosque on E 96th St. It was attended by about 2,000 people, including Reverend Al Sharpton. Inna lillaahi wa inna ilayhi Raaji'oon.

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Sapelo Square is an award winning website that celebrates and analyzes the experiences of Black Muslims in the United States to create new understandings of who they are, what they have done, and why that matters.

Read more at: www.sapelosquare.com
FB: www.facebook.com/sapelosquare/
IG: www.instagram.com/sapelosquare/
Twitter: twitter.com/SapeloSquare

Amadou Diallo (BHM Feb 4 2020)

Fact: In 1991, during preparation for the planned construction of a Federal office building in Lower Manhattan, not far from city hall, a 6.6 acre burial ground was discovered that had been used for the interment of both free and enslaved Africans from roughly the 1630s to 1794. Prior to this rediscovery, the site had been lost to history. A number of the bodies discovered there had been enshrouded and buried facing the East, toward Mecca, indicating the presence of Muslims among those entombed. Thus the African Burial Ground, not far from the intended site of the controversial Park 51 Mosque and community center, stands as a testament to the long history of racial terrorism against people of African descent, including many Muslims, in the United States. The African Burial Ground is currently the site of a national monument memorializing the history of enslaved Africans and their descendants in the West.

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Sapelo Square is an award winning website that celebrates and analyzes the experiences of Black Muslims in the United States to create new understandings of who they are, what they have done, and why that matters.

Read more at: www.sapelosquare.com
FB: www.facebook.com/sapelosquare/
IG: www.instagram.com/sapelosquare/
Twitter: twitter.com/SapeloSquare

African Burial Ground (BHM Feb 3 2020)

In April 1953, Ebony Magazine reflected on the growth of Islam amongst African American jazz musicians in the post-war era.  The article entitled “Ancient Religion Attracts Moderns” featured the story of tenor saxophonist Lynn Hope (Al-Hajj Abdullah Rasheed Ahmad) who after his conversion to Islam, famously wore a turban during his performances and headed an all-Muslim band.  Ebony highlighted how Islam changed Hope’s life and elevated his identity beyond the inferiority he had felt as an African American man.  In addition to describing Hope’s religious practices of prayer and Qur’an reading, the article included a list of “200 Muslim jazz hotshots” and covered the conversion story of Art Blakey and the Messengers (later the Jazz Messengers).  


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Sapelo Square is an award winning website that celebrates and analyzes the experiences of Black Muslims in the United States to create new understandings of who they are, what they have done, and why that matters.

Read more at: www.sapelosquare.com
FB: www.facebook.com/sapelosquare/
IG: www.instagram.com/sapelosquare/
Twitter: twitter.com/SapeloSquare

#BHM #BlackMuslimHistory #SapeloSquare #BlackHistory #History #Muslims #Islam #BeingBlackAndMuslim #BlackMuslim2020

Early Muslim Jazz Musicians (BHM Feb 8 2020)

On this day in 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King met with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad at his Chicago home. In Muhammad’s later recollections about the meeting, he would recall that King had a desire to work with him but feared public opinion, his supporters, and his enemies. In July of that year, Muhammad would pen a letter to King advocating for another meeting in which the two leaders could discuss unity efforts (that need not be exposed to the public).

King had previously met Malcolm X briefly on March 26, 1964 after a press conference at the U.S. Senate. Towards the end of both Malcolm and King’s deaths, their messages of social justice would become less oppositional than the media had always portrayed them to be. Due to their tragic assassinations we will never know what would have come from a more substantial relationship with the leaders.

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Sapelo Square is an award-winning website that celebrates and analyzes the experiences of Black Muslims in the United States to create new understandings of who they are, what they have done, and why that matters.

Read more at: www.sapelosquare.com
FB: www.facebook.com/sapelosquare/
IG: www.instagram.com/sapelosquare/
Twitter: twitter.com/SapeloSquare

#BHM #BlackMuslimHistory #SapeloSquare #BlackHistory #History #Muslims #Islam #BeingBlackAndMuslim #BlackMuslim2020

Elijah Muhammad And Martin Luther King (BHM Feb 24 2020)

Elegy For George Floyd

In this Real Talk interview, Sapelo Square’s Senior Editor, Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, hosts Dr. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five for an intimate conversation about his life journey. The interview touched on everything from Yusef’s upbringing, his relationships in prison, to his vision for the Muslim community and more. 
 
In this interview clip Salaam emphasizes the importance of community and support systems after prison. He draws our attention to the fact that Islam is fundamentally communal, and that it provides the structures that we need to sustain our spiritual and material needs as a collective. Islam also calls us to deliver its message to all people. He compels us to reflect on whether we’re doing that.

Real Talk with Dr. Yusef Salaam - On supporting Muslims when they come home

In this Real Talk interview, Sapelo Square’s Senior Editor, Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, hosts Dr. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five for an intimate conversation about his life journey. The interview touched on everything from Yusef’s upbringing, his relationships in prison, to his vision for the Muslim community and more.

Real Talk with Dr. Yusef Salaam: A conversation with Sapelo Square - Full Interview

In 2015, Sapelo Square Senior Editor Su’ad Abdul Khabeer posted a lament for the “khimar,” a name for the Muslim woman’s headscarf that is fading into oblivion, on her personal Facebook page. A few days later, she posted this call for a community poem: "I’d like to write an elegy for the Khimar, a word once used predominately in African American and AfroLatin@/Latina Muslim communities. I think it should be a community project and so please add a line of verse if you feel me and I will post our collective poem somewhere." This poem, compiled by Su’ad, is the end result of the verses written in response to that call by a diverse group of Muslim women of African descent. Full text of the poem can be found here: https://bit.ly/3mVKfZy

Elegy for the Khimar: A Community Poem

Sapelo Square is an award-winning online platform dedicated to celebrating and analyzing the Black Muslim experience in the United States. Currently, the website is led by an all-volunteer staff.

In the almost five years since we launched, sapelosquare.com has published over 300 original articles across five themes: Arts and Culture, Politics, History, Religion, as well as Special Features. As of April 2020, sapelosquare.com has received close to 350K views from readers across 194 countries in the world. Additionally, sapeloquare.com has received 179,912 unique visitors since its establishment.

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