Class Discussion

[Saucyn]

Salamu Alaikum,

So while we have a chain of GEMS going on, let's have a discussion about the politics we are actually learning in the class. This will also help us look deeper into some of the topics we covered, but were not able to look further into bc of time.

I'll start.

Regarding Africa, I always thought the geographical make-up of faiths on the west coast of Africa was rather interesting. Like Dr. Ashraf was saying, you don't find many Muslims on the coast itself, but deeper into the land. On the coasts, you found people who practiced tribal religions and Christians, which provides a better understanding of the faith of many (if not most) of the slaves brought to the Western Hemisphere. I really plan on looking more into this, because I have read many reliable sources that many of teh slaves were Muslim, but comparing the geographical make-up the religions on the coast, and considering the fact that most of slaves came from the coast, I think many of those sources come into question..

Something I also found interesting was the "changes" Islam faced as it spread. As understandable and realistic as this is, and while we all wish to have a more idealistic image of the Muslim world (that we all practice Islam correctly without any cultural bida'a), seeing Dr. Ashraf's the chain of transmission gave me a better understanding of how this happened. It makes complete sense that when the scholars taught Islam to the locals, leaving them to teach others would make it impossible to avoid any alterations to the deen. And even learning Islam from merchants could lead to some alterations in Islam. So it's not that Islam changed amongst these people overtime...I wonder if it's possible that it arrived to some of these people with bida'a intact.

This reminds me of how the European colonists came to the west coast of Africa, and converted them to Christianity, but allowed them to still practice their tribal practices (a lot of which included musical ceremonies and dances). When these people came to America, the opened their own churches..thus we see how lively many Black churches are, revolving a lot of their faith and religious practices around music. It's a bida'a, but we see how it came to be.

I wonder what would have happened if there was a stronger attempt to abolish all the bida'as as Islam spread..but that would again be in an ideal world...

ok im done rambling