November 5, 2024 • 53 mins
In this episode of 'The Family Ties,' co-hosts Frank Abdul Shaheed &
Faridah Abdul-Tawwab Brown explore the cultural and spiritual journey of Faridah and her family in Medina Baye, Senegal. They discuss the significance of their daughters' experience memorizing the Quran and the importance of preserving family values and obedience to the Creator. Faridah vividly describes the contrasting landscapes and the community's spirit in Senegal, drawing parallels between their surroundings and inner cities in America. They highlight the role of family and community in shaping a healthy society and emphasize the need for a return to cultural and spiritual roots for personal and communal upliftment.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:55 Farida's Journey to Senegal
01:48 The Quran Memorization Program
05:34 Challenges and Reflections on Family Life
07:20 Exploring Senegal: Landscapes and Culture
14:48 Comparing Life in Senegal and America
16:29 The Role of Scripture and Community
21:29 The Importance of Family and Community Support
34:12 The African American Experience and Spirituality
52:04 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
This podcast is about family life as a means to address current problems in American society. A scripture based African American perspective.
Welcome to The Family Ties, a Prescription for Society.
Through this experience we invite you to join us in an exploration of the concept of family ties as a prescription for society.
YOUR HOSTS: Frank Abdul Shaheed &
Faridah Abdul-Tawwab Brown
This episode was edited by Darryl D Anderson of AMG - Ambassador Media Group visit https://www.ambassador-mediagroup.com/
__________________________________
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Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Copyright 2024
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Frank (00:16):
Peace be upon the family, as we welcome you to another
experience of The Family Ties, aprescription for society.
I am your co host, Frank AbdulShahid.
Faridah (00:26):
And I am your co host, Farida Abdul Tawab Brown.
Before we get started, don'tforget to subscribe so you can
stay up to date and get all thelatest episodes.
Frank (00:36):
Welcome back to another.
Fantastic episode.
Farida, it's good to have youback as my co host today.
How are you?
Faridah (00:42):
It is good to be back here with you.
And I don't know if you can hearanything in my background.
I'm hearing a call to, ofurgency in yours, Frank.
Frank (00:53):
Yes,
Faridah (00:54):
I can hear the ambulances.
And just a short while ago, Iheard some ambulances in my
background, where I'm joiningyou from the neighborhood of
Medina by in the city of Cowlackhere in the beautiful country of
Senegal and West Africa.
And so it's a pleasure to joinyou and our listening audience.
So I want to invite you to joinus and embark on this
(01:18):
conversation together today fromtwo different sides of
Frank (01:21):
the Atlantic ocean.
Absolutely.
So if I may ask, are you thereon business?
Are you there just on pleasure?
Are you by yourself or, youknow, what is the company that
you're keeping in that wonderfulcity in Seattle, Senegal?
I'm sorry.
Faridah (01:33):
Ah uh, the, the company that I am keeping currently.
And so I am here with two of mydaughters, my two younger
daughters, and they're here.
my sister and her familyincluding her two daughters.
So the four cousins we havebrought them here to Senegal for
the next nine months, you know,a period of gestation to study
(01:56):
and memorize the Quran, which isthe scripture of the Muslims.
And so, of course, for those ofyou who know, it is a scripture
that was revealed in the Arabiclanguage.
And so they will have to readand then memorize.
the, the Koran, the word of Godin the Arabic language until the
plan is for them to study andthe program runs from early in
(02:18):
the morning from the earlymorning prayer, fadjor and they
study with breaks for lunch.
And You know, breaks for restand nap and things of that
nature until the final prayer ofthe day, which is Isha at
nighttime.
So they do that for five days aweek.
And then the weekend is onbegins on Wednesday afternoon.
They get out of school early onWednesday at one and their
(02:39):
weekend is actually Thursday andFriday.
So yes.
So, and then they return afterMaghrib, after the sunset prayer
on Friday.
So Saturday and Sunday areschool days for them.
Frank (02:51):
Hmm.
That's very interesting.
So the love
Faridah (02:53):
of the Quran and wanting to to memorize it, to be
keepers of the Quran is thedesire of our daughters that has
brought us here to Senegal.
Frank (03:02):
Wonderful.
And I will say that that is awonderful Desire that your
daughters have, and I would saya very natural desire to want to
have their, to strengthen theirrelationship with their creator
and, and ultimately be theobedient creation that he
created them to be.
And I must say what a wonderful.
(03:23):
Job the parents have done to beable to put their children in a
situation at a very young age toone, be able to travel to, to be
able to travel abroad.
And three also to be able tohave create these lifelong
experiences in their youth, tobe able to shape and form them
(03:43):
as they become adults andunderstanding their
responsibility in this creation.
So kudos to the parents for youguys sacrificing your desire to
Once you satisfy your child'scuriosity and their development.
So great job, parents.
Faridah (03:58):
Well, I, I must say, as we close every show the praise
belongs to God.
So I, I appreciate youracknowledgement of the, the hard
work and the sacrifice that goesinto supporting your children,
your, you know, your youngperson's dreams for their life,
particularly when they aredreams and desires that want to
get them through.
Thank you.
(04:18):
take them closer to the creatorof all the worlds.
So we are, we are grateful thatwe did have this opportunity.
And I would say just to addthere that there are so many
different places in which tostudy the Quran, but you know,
including at home in the UnitedStates of America.
But we did think this was aunique opportunity.
We had heard from some friendsof the family, particularly you
(04:41):
know who had children who hadstudied here, young men and
young women.
Particularly those withdaughters and sons who have come
back and they have memorized theQur'an and now they it has
enriched their relationship withthe Creator.
So that, that's what, that wasthe most important thing.
You know, there are people whowill memorize but it doesn't
reach their hearts.
And all of these young peoplecame back with a real love for
(05:04):
the Qur'an and they also cameback with a sense that they had
to continually Purify themselvesand their intentions because
they were now preservers ofGod's word.
So they began to see themselvesas as vessels and not just you
know, reciters, but they sawthemselves as vessels securing
God's word, hopefully into thenext generation.
(05:26):
So I will say there are Quranschools everywhere, but we
thought this might be a uniqueexperience for them to do so
overseas, as you said.
Frank (05:33):
Yes.
So we, you know, in this.
And this podcast the familyties, the prescription for
society, you know, we've, we'vestressed countless times about
coming to a conclusion about,and a consciousness about us
having a a debt.
A, an awareness we owe ourcreator, our obedience, and as
(05:57):
we are striving to be moreobedient servants of him he will
bless us with insight for us tobe able to have our best life,
the life that he created for us,where we are in our lives.
So part of what we've beentalking about was what are, what
are those things thatchallenges?
The family life, what channel,what are the challenges of the
(06:18):
family life that are preventingus to establish the good life,
the good life that's universaleverywhere for all of creation,
the good life.
What are some of thosechallenges that we've always
said, and we've always stated,and we're going to state it
again today, that our obedienceto our creator is the first
step, having that sense ofobedience, that good nature,
(06:42):
that good moral compass is thefoundation for the beginnings.
Of the good family life.
So I know, as you said, you arein Senegal and Senegal looks
completely different than NewYork city, Washington, DC, any
Metro, Metropolitan city inAmerica.
(07:04):
It looks completely different.
Every place has their own uniqueset of circumstances, but I
would say that every place.
Where there are humans there,there is a commonality of
suffering and, and issues thatwe must all address, address.
So, What does it look like inSenegal where you are?
(07:25):
Medina by the city specificallythat you are currently, you
know, what does the landscapelook like there?
And do you think that landscapeadds or do you think it
challenges the family life?
Faridah (07:39):
That's an excellent question.
I'd like to take you with mewith us actually.
Both you as my co host and ourlistening audience.
I'd like to take you with us aswe, we landed you know, we
landed at the airport justoutside of Dakar, Senegal.
And as you said, we began thisjourney brought us to Senegal
(08:00):
with a unique set ofcircumstances, a unique
landscape.
And with a somewhat distant, butsentimental connection to to our
family as, as an AfricanAmerican family to, in terms of
the ancestral.
connection given the slave tradeand our birth and reality as a
(08:21):
new people here in the Westernhemisphere, here in the United
States of America, or whatbecame the United States of
America.
And so there, there is thatsentimental connection that kind
of hits you.
We, we flew actually from Dullesairport and we had a connection
in Casablanca, Morocco.
And we left Casablanca and weflew south to south, southeast
(08:45):
to Senegal.
And as we were entering, youknow, about 30 minutes out, we
flew over the desert.
And this is I have never seen,you know, the, the sand dunes.
It brought to me, it brought tomind, the picture of my mind the
landscape that our prophetMuhammad prayers and peace be
upon him that he lived in andwhich he traversed during the,
(09:09):
the days of his childhood andalso the, during the days of his
message mission to deliver themessage of, of peace.
monotheism and the oneness ofhumanity to to humanity.
And so it brought that to mindand it brought to mind the, the
traversing, the hijra, themigrations that are made.
And of course we do not have theintention to stay here longer
(09:32):
than a nine month period, but itis a migration of sorts in that
we are leaving what iscomfortable for us, what is
known to us, particularly ourchildren, and going to a place
where that we will.
And already have faced certaindifficulty.
So getting off of the planeoutside of the car, it you, you
know, you can see the ocean aswell when you're flying into the
(09:54):
airport there in Senegal.
And one of the things that itreminded us of is immediately is
that transatlantic voyage
Frank (10:03):
that
Faridah (10:03):
our ancestors took.
And you can't, help but to beaware of it and to feel it.
There is a we, we went to, toeat at a restaurant maybe two
days after we arrived and wewere in a beach town.
The name of the town is Sali.
And we went to the beach andthere was a restaurant on the
beach.
And then after we ate, the sunwas setting, we're standing on
(10:25):
the beach and it's just, I mean,the, it recalling what it must
have been like
Frank (10:32):
to
Faridah (10:32):
leave your home, to not know where you were going to go,
what was happening to you, whatyour destiny was, and to know
that as a sign, as a witness tothe mercy of the creator of the
heavens and the earth, that anentirely new people would be
born.
And centuries later, that's whatwe're Some of those new
descendants of that new peoplethat was born would return to
(10:55):
these shores with a mind shapedby scripture, a mind shaped
specifically by the Qur'an,ready to not just, share in the
wealth, meaning the, the sharingand the teaching of the Qur'an
that the people of Medina Bayeand Senegal have to share.
But to also impart something ofwhat God produced in us as an
(11:15):
African American peoplereturning to these shores, being
both a symbol, a witness, and amanifestation of God's mercy to
mankind and his purpose formankind to lead us to the
establishment of the just order.
Frank (11:28):
And
Faridah (11:28):
so we, there in Sali, as I, as you can imagine the
picture that I'm painting foryou, it's, it's gorgeous.
We're beachside, we're invillas, we're walking, you know
traveling and you see families,you see women and men, you see
you know, you see all types ofpeople.
And it's also because it's abeach town and it's closer to
Dakar, they're also tourists.
(11:49):
So we're seeing Koreans, we'reseeing Chinese, we're seeing
people from different Arabnations, Lebanon you know,
different, different places.
And of course, some Americansand many, many French, French
people.
So that's the landscape.
But of course, it's primarilySenegalese.
And you know, you're, you meetsome Christian Senegalese.
(12:10):
You know, one of the, thehousekeeper that we had, her
name was Suzanne.
She was a beautiful soul.
And, you know, we met some ofthem and we saw some of the
Catholic churches.
And then, of course, we sawprimarily Senegal is a
predominantly Muslim nation.
So it was beautiful for thechildren and I to see, and the
adults in our group, to seepeople making wudu in the ocean.
(12:31):
you know, and that's thepreparation, the ablution, the
washing up for the prayer andpulling out a prayer rug on the
side of the road and makingtheir salat.
So that was a beautiful thing towitness.
So we drive two and a half tothree hours on Sunday out here
to Medina Bayh, and Medina Bayhis a neighborhood that's built
around this beautiful masjid.
Or mosque as, as some people, asit's known to some of us the
(12:54):
French word for masjid.
So this beautiful masjid andit's been built around a what's
the Tijaniyya Sufi order.
So this is you know, people comefrom all over the world
basically to learn from ateacher who they you know
respect, the highly respect andthey come during different
festivals, during the Eidfestivals and, you know.
(13:15):
during you know, the celebrationof the birthday of the Prophet
Muhammad, prayers and peace beupon him and other times or just
to learn the Qur'an or learn thereligion.
And so as such, it is a centerof Islamic learning.
And when we got here, thelandscape, we are in a hotel
that was established.
By African American Muslims whohave come here and established
(13:35):
themselves here as part of thiscommunity.
The hotel is very lovely.
Across the street is a school.
But one of the things that wesaw here, we were not prepared,
any of us, for the amount of theeffects of poverty.
Frank (13:50):
that
Faridah (13:50):
that are apparent.
They have just come out of therainy season.
We're at the end of the rainyseason right now.
So they had had a great deal offlooding, which has, you know,
there are many dirt roads.
So there, there are not manypaved roads here in Medina Bay.
So all the roads that wetraveled on, they have ruts and
you can see where the water hasworn out and these rivulets in
(14:10):
the, in the road.
And so it's, it's washed a lotof the trash.
There's not there are not manysystems.
in place yet.
From what I understand, MedinaBaye has grown exponentially in
population over the past fewdecades.
So the infrastructure doesn'tseem to be in place to carry,
let's say the amount of trashthat is amount of trash that is
(14:31):
produced by a great number ofpeople.
And so that's what you, you seea great deal, this beautiful
masjid, this lovely hotel thatwe're staying in and it's
surrounded by the signs ofpoverty.
everywhere.
So that's, I, I would like us tosit with that image because in a
(14:51):
lot of ways it reminded me ofdriving through any inner city
in America.
You know, there, you know, yousee the, the beauty of the
people, the smiles, thewelcoming, you know, I'm, I'm
speaking in my broken Wolof, youknow, and broken Wolof, a little
broken French, you know, veryfew people speak English.
(15:13):
So that's been exciting to getto know people and the people
are warm.
They're very friendly andoutgoing, easy smiles.
And I mean, beautiful, beautifulpeople in every way, you know,
inside and out, just gorgeous.
And then you see, you know, thetrash on the ground and people
freely dropping their trashbecause maybe they don't know
where else to put it.
The trash cans are overflowingand the goats and the cattle,
(15:36):
who are also beautiful.
The cattle love, oh my goodness,the white hides.
I've not seen animals up closelike that so beautifully.
But, you know, they're wanderingthe same streets and they're
eating some of the garbage.
And it's, it's one of the thingsthat it brings to mind, as it
does whenever I'm in any urbancenter at home in America is
what has transpired that thoseof us who have the guidance of
(16:01):
scripture, who have the model offamily life, who have the the
excellence of the entirecreation around us.
to help us witness andunderstand the role of, of
tidiness and order andcleanliness and how that plays
into our psychological wellnessand our emotional wellbeing.
And as you said, theestablishment of a healthy
(16:23):
family life, because in order tohave a healthy family life, you
have to have healthyindividuals.
So all of those things just,they, they, they In me, there
are a lot of questions thatarise and connections that I'm
drawing between what I'm seeinghere in Senegal and what I see
at home, and what is the role ofscripture and the learned
people.
(16:44):
in changing that reality.
Frank (16:47):
What a very vivid picture you've painted.
Very vivid.
It seems as if you go from onelandscape to another landscape
almost instantaneous in theprocess, right in the same area.
You know, more or less.
So, so in scripture specificallyin, in the Qur'an it is revealed
(17:08):
in the Qur'an that from, from asingle pair was created male and
female and that they spreadthroughout the earth.
You know, God made us in nationsand tribes to, to exist
throughout the world.
Throughout the world and in ourexistence for us to have a very
(17:29):
unique expression, everyonewasn't created to have the same
expression, your circumstances,your environment, the, the
climate the trade access towater, all of these different
things are designed to create adifferent.
Expression from a group ofpeople.
So we are encouraged to seek outeach other because we have
(17:51):
something unique that we canoffer one another and they have
something unique to offer us aswell.
So we are encouraged in the, inscripture to, to travel, to
travel the land.
Look, look at those who havegone before you and look at
those who are even in yourimmediate time and just look at
their situation and try todetermine what it is, how you
both can benefit.
(18:11):
From one another.
Now you have any, the thefortunate situation of going to
Africa where many of us don't.
I, I saw research not too longago that said that less than 40
percent of Americans and we'retalking about Second generation
Americans.
Third generation Americans don'thave a passport.
(18:33):
The majority of people who havepassports in America are those
who are maybe first generationsor those who have A strong
connection with their familyties throughout the world, but
for the majority of Americanswho third, fourth generations,
they don't even have passports.
So we don't really get to traveland see.
So for us, we're fighting forour own expression, where we are
(18:55):
and the nature of what man'screation has had in these inner
inner cities today is we'reconstantly fighting each other
versus trying to learn from oneanother right next door to us,
our own neighbor.
To determine for us what's goodfor us.
So we, we, we fight, we fight athome and we can't get along with
(19:16):
people.
We want certain people out ofour neighborhoods.
We know we have thissegregationist type of mentality
because we can't see benefitfrom my own neighbor who don't
look like us or don't have thesame expression, but often when
we travel and see it.
You know, our sensitivitieschange almost, almost
instantaneously, because now wesee a different environment.
(19:36):
Our mind comes out of thenatural environment that man has
created for himself, that hethinks is natural and goes to
the actual natural environmentof the earth.
And we see that the people inMedina by their circumstance is
a lot worse than ourcircumstances here back in
America, and that shouldsensitize us in a way, not only
(19:58):
to them, but to our ownsituation.
And how we have neglectedmaintaining and protecting the
innocence and the ability of thefamily to be able to solve our
own issues and not only solvethem, but, but provide services
that would uplift humanityaltogether that you mentioned.
(20:21):
They don't have anyinfrastructure there.
Ultimately the infrastructurehas to be pressed upon the
government by the people.
It shouldn't be the other wayaround because the government
sees it as a monetary thing.
How can I make money?
I'll, I'll provideinfrastructure to this
particular city because I canmake money for it versus the
people in the city saying, look,we demand these services.
(20:42):
We want to have our best lifeand having our best life.
It gives the best picture ofthose who come to visit us for
them to now invest.
In our circumstances, in oursituation, so it's the way we
tend to look at our situationand the people indigenous seem
to look at their situation todetermine what resources and
what's resources from thegovernment that they get to help
(21:04):
sustain their life.
So from the picture you painted,I almost can see.
Detroit, Michigan.
In a sense.
Yes, I can almost see parts ofBaltimore, Maryland in a sense.
And like I said, any inner city,as you said, any inner city you
can see that the decadence ofthe city is because of a lack of
resources and a lack ofdetermination to maintain in the
(21:28):
ties of family.
So But I would like for you tokind of, if you don't mind, talk
a little bit more about just thenature of the people.
Like, do they understand thatthey're in a very poverty type
of environment?
Are they witnessing to it or isthis just their life and they're
just making the best out of it?
Faridah (21:47):
I, I think, I think it's, it's their life.
It's what, it's what they know.
I think every human being haswithin them this Or many human
beings have within them thisdesire, this aspiration to to
establish oneself and one'sfamily on a more sound footing.
So in that in that respect, Ithink that there are plenty of
(22:10):
young entrepreneurial peoplewho, you know, there are many
businesses here, many.
That is one thing that I can sayis, is different from a Detroit,
a Baltimore, Dorchester,Roxbury, you know, in Boston, is
that the, the entrepreneurialspirit, even if the shop is, you
know, eight feet by eight feet,you know, six feet by 12 feet,
(22:34):
there are shops, stalls, and notjust in the marketplaces, but
lining the streets.
And of course, because it's veryhot here, a lot of times what we
witnessed when we got here,we've only been in Medina by for
about a you know, this is oursecond day here.
So God willing, I will have moreto share, you know, the longer,
you know, we'll spend asignificant amount of time here.
(22:56):
But what I did notice is that,you know, in the evening,
evening, especially as the sungoes down, it's cooler.
It's a lot more comfortable forpeople to move about.
They're out and they're shoppingand that, you know, they go to
the masjid, the adhan is called,you hear the adhan called, and
the Quran recited, so there arereminders of the true picture.
(23:18):
And I can say that that isdifferent from our reality in
America.
Because as we spoke of on anearlier podcast episode of this
podcast, we talked about notwanting my best life or your
best life, but we want the bestlife.
Frank (23:33):
Yes.
Faridah (23:34):
And that is the life that God, the creator of heavens
and the earth has decreed forus.
It's the life that the youngpeople you know, that we spoke
with on a previous episode, thatthey are striving, they're
awakening to their purposewithin that context.
And that is going into theheavens and the earth and
observing and bringing benefitout of it so that not only do
(23:56):
they grow and do they benefit,but that they bring benefit to
the larger society.
So that.
reality, that picture of thehuman being.
I think that there is a clearerpicture of that here in Medina
Baye.
What, why do I say that?
Oftentimes, as you knowcurrently in our country, we
are, we are being, our childrenare being taught through popular
(24:20):
culture and also in theirschools, that there is, that
there are many differentpictures for the correct
establishment of the humanfamily.
And any one of those picturesbased on desires is correct, is
appropriate, and should besupported.
When, of course, we know thatthere is One picture of the
(24:42):
excellence of the human familythat begins with two, a man and
a woman committing to oneanother in marriage, being
supported by their family unitsand the larger community and
building community neighborhoodlife, community life and human
society based on that model ofconcentric rings of support.
(25:03):
all based around the comingtogether of man and woman.
Frank (25:06):
Yes.
Faridah (25:07):
That picture is whole.
That picture is in the forefronthere in, in Senegal.
It is safeguarded in Medina by,in a way that it is not in at
home in the United States ofAmerica.
So there are pictures of whatthe successful human family
looks like that have not yetbeen challenged.
(25:31):
in their truth and in theirreality, in their depiction of
reality.
And I think, so you'll seefamily units, you see fathers
and mothers, so many people, youknow, they're kind of looking
you know, they ask you, Oh,where are you from?
And what about your husband?
And what about your father?
And what about, so they'reasking you, and they're assuming
that all of these family,familial relationships are
(25:53):
intact.
Yes.
That's an assumption.
because that's the picture onwhich they're operating.
And I cannot underestimate howimportant that is, particularly
with respect to the sense of, ofsafety, you know, you walk down.
So the, the difference alsothat's manifest, and I like to
get your response to this isthat we're walking at night.
You know, from the hotel to theschool building where the
(26:16):
dormitory is and the classes areheld for this, the African
American Islamic Institute, theLegacy Academy.
And, you know, we're asking fordirections and people are
helping.
They're going out of their wayto help us with a smile.
They leave their home.
They'll walk us to the nextcorner.
There's this person's house andthere's the school.
The children in the street arehelping.
(26:36):
young men are helping.
And so, of course, we were withmy brother in law.
So it was a man with us.
But at times we were a littlebit separated because I had to
you know, kind of fall back andstay with the straggling
teenagers.
You know, those of you who areparents know that sometimes our
young adults tend to straggle,but even in that case I did, I,
I never felt unsafe, you know,the young men would give the
(26:59):
greetings of peace.
Peace be upon you.
Assalamualaikum.
I never felt unsafe at all.
That comes from having thepicture intact of having men who
model for their sons and theother young men what manhood
looks like in its presence.
So is there a lot of poverty?
(27:19):
Yes.
Are there some things in termsof material establishment that
need to be done differently?
A lot.
a lot.
And as a spiritual center, Ibelieve that the Al Islam is
meant, it's a way of life.
It's not supposed to be lived inthe ritual.
It's not supposed to stay in themasjid.
(27:39):
It's supposed to have a clearand edifying effect on all human
institutions.
And so I think as a spiritualcenter, we should be seeing a
lot better out of that.
But I would say that the, thesense of security and safety.
and peace that I felt as awoman.
(28:00):
Now that I'm speaking as a womantraveling that that I did, I
would not feel the same waytraveling through Dorchester,
Roxbury, some parts ofBaltimore, DC, Southeast DC,
Southwest, you know, I would notfeel the same way.
And I think it's directlyattributable to the picture of
the human family being clear andintact.
Frank (28:25):
Very poignant.
That's a very poignantdescription.
So the innocence, the innocenceis something that's raw, is
something that's not refined,but it's not being used either.
It is waiting for use for you touse it in a manner that it is
designed and created to be.
(28:47):
For the benefit of all people,that's the innocence and that's
the, the, the thing that drivesa very healthy society to be
able to identify what theinnocence is.
And once you identify theinnocence, now you can protect
that innocence.
But also in the same picture,there's also the ability, the
(29:09):
ability is the energy that'sdesigned to convert that
innocence into a a functionablematter, a functional process
that will get give life, givestrength, give sustainability to
what you have alreadyestablished.
That's the ability.
So a healthy family.
(29:31):
We'll nurture both of thosethings and keep those things
close to one another.
So when it comes time for bothto interact with each other,
they get the best idea of whatthe next step should look like.
So you mentioned the peoplethere who are speaking when
people are walking down thestreet manners.
(29:52):
You know, you're, you're be ableto identify something because
you're not responding tosomething that you see, you
know, there was a time inAmerica where you didn't walk
past somebody when I wasspeaking to them, there was,
there was a time in Americawhere men would just, they
wouldn't even go out of theirway to protect the women.
It was just a sense in thestreet that if I see a woman
(30:12):
coming, I either step out of herway, I give her the right away,
I escort her to her car, escorther to where she needs to go.
That's me protecting theinnocence.
That was already naturallythere.
The women on the other sidewould see the men and would
respond to the men.
They were the ability in theneighborhood, so they would give
them whatever benefit they couldgive them to assist them and
(30:35):
them constantly being theability in the neighborhood to
strengthen the neighborhood.
So women wouldn't talk bad toGod men and men wouldn't talk
bad to women.
So regardless.
Of the economic situation.
So for our history in America,the great Northern migration,
where many from the SouthAfrican Americans specifically
(30:56):
moved to the North.
Because they want to have jobs,they want to get out of a
situation where they couldprovide for their family.
Often the government will set uphousing for them, ultimately
known as projects, you know,housing projects, those types of
things that we are currentlyattribute to, you know, low
income.
Living, but during those times,we had a sense of the ability
(31:20):
and innocence that we didn'thave a disrespect of our
neighborhood or our environment.
We took care of it.
The, the, they would clean thesteps.
There wasn't any garbage on theground.
People would speak.
The children would speak to theadults.
The adults would have kind ofwords to the children.
They will make pathways for thechildren, for them to live their
best life.
Many of them came to the north.
(31:41):
To make sure that their childrencan have a better opportunity.
That was their sacrifice.
But somehow or another, we'velost that we've lost that in a
sense, in our pursuit ofmaterialism and our pursuit of
having an identity that removesus from the best life because we
now have been influenced byindividualism.
(32:03):
So the refreshing part of it isthat it's innate in us.
It's there.
It's there.
But barriers have prevented thatexpression to be what they needs
to be.
So when you hear it and you seeit is definitely a refreshing
thing.
So we just have to get back toopening up these pathways in
(32:24):
these families to allow Childrento have their.
Greatest expression for them tounderstand where they are in the
context of neighborhood andcommunity life and family life
as well.
So that's why we began thispodcast episode with, you know,
honoring the parents who giventheir children an opportunity
to, to traverse the earth, toget away from the environments
(32:44):
and the influence that theynaturally have where they are
and kind of see how other peopleinteract.
And, and, and then you get asense of appreciation for what
you have and understanding thatyour mother.
Is the one who you owe yourallegiance to and not just your
birth mother.
But your matter, mother, mother,matter, mother earth, the mother
(33:07):
who created me in this form, Iowe that to them because they
are the ones who have wrecked, Irecognize my innocence through
them and then ultimatelyacknowledging that and now going
forward with the ability.
for me to be the best.
So in these family situations wehave to get back to recognizing
that and possibly being able tobe a force in the world with the
(33:29):
spiritual guidance that we getfrom our moral compass that God
has created for us.
Faridah (33:38):
Wow.
I, I couldn't have summarizethat any better.
You know, you pointing to theability and the, the, the, the
nurture and and putting thosetwo things together and how they
manifest in the world and theenvironments and the parents
making these pathways, you know,as the, the leaders in the
family and in the society.
(33:58):
I think I want to go back to aword you used and that was
environment.
And you know, as we hear, youknow, on this podcast are
focused on the family as aprescription for society.
I think it's important,particularly for for all of
human beings to look at the rolethat we address this on another
episode of Migration,immigration, leaving one place.
(34:23):
And what was, what's theintention when you leave that
place?
What is the spirit or thedisposition when you leave that
place to go to another?
And then who is receiving you inthat place?
And how do they play intocreating an environment that is
conducive to human excellence?
And of course we spoke aboutthat in at some length in the
context of the Americanimmigration crisis that we have
(34:46):
going on today.
But it is a human phenomenon.
And so even as I said, I, Ireferred to this trip here as a
not a migration because we planto come back.
This is a visiting.
This is a, as, as you mentionedin the Quran God tells us to he
says, my earth is spacious.
It is.
You know, and so, so travel thisearth so that you may worship me
(35:08):
so that in even the travelthere's a form of the if you
bring with it your humility ifyou bring on your travels a
spirit of of obedience then youwill be worshiping the creator.
You will draw closer to yourcreator by this encounter with
what is not known to you.
And he tells us also what you,you cited earlier, that we were
(35:29):
created in tribes and nations sothat we may know one another, we
may recognize one another.
And so this is so important tothe human endeavor, even to this
picture that you're paintingabout the, the ability being
secured.
I, I look at it and I, I likenit, as you said, to the
migration that African Americansmade from out of our
(35:51):
circumstance of not justeconomic oppression, but the
oppression of the, the humansoul that our circumstances were
so circumscribed by terror.
You know, we throw around theword terrorism a lot today.
Terrorism is real.
We have experienced it in ourpast, particularly up from
(36:15):
slavery.
We have experienced theterrorism that sought to
preserve the status quo, thatsought to preserve a power
balance, a power imbalance thatwould leave African American
people at the bottom of theeconomic totem pole and, and
leave those who are in charge ofsociety at the top.
And so that migration was insome part an effort to remove
(36:41):
ourselves from that, that cycleof terror and oppression that
would keep us in that position,locked into that position.
But when you describe moving tothe North and we see what
happened within generations,just as I may see know, maybe
unsanitary conditions orgarbage, litter not having an
(37:02):
infrastructure here to handlethat here in Medina Baye.
I look at the detritus of, ordetritus that's one of my
reading vocabulary words Iencounter very often, but it's,
it's the waste of our society,of our human consumption, right?
We, we see that in the form ofour families, our young people
who have been driven toundermine their own progress as
(37:25):
human beings because they don'thave an environment that would
take that their natural state ofexcellence and shepherd it to it
toward its destiny.
Because that's essentially whata community is.
And the family is the first unitfor that.
The family unit is supposed totake the beautiful and excellent
nature of that new human being.
(37:47):
And it's supposed to protect it,to train it until it gets to its
maturity.
So that it can fulfill its, itspurpose here on earth.
So when the family breaks down,when the neighborhood breaks
down, when the community breaksdown, what you see is waste.
We see wasted lives.
We see young people ending up inthe criminal justice system.
(38:10):
We see families that, you know,have two and three fathers, and
the children don't know their,their own father, and the
mothers don't have support forraising these families.
And and we have violence andself harm, and we have a lack of
education.
We have a lack of disciplinethat leads us to a situation
where we're, you know, We don'tprovide for our own needs.
(38:33):
And on the other side of theocean, we, we see sometimes not
quite the same disrepair of thehuman life, but we see a lack of
ability to establish a realityfor the majority of the people
where they can live in humandignity.
And the one thing that I, Ithink of when I think of this,
(38:55):
this traversing from the Southto the North for the African
American people is that in hiswisdom and his plan, we are
tested in this life.
But God had a plan for thepeople who were denied
everything.
And part of that plan was thatmoving up out of our native, our
(39:16):
motherland of the South, out ofthat motherland, we wanted to
move to a fatherland, a placewhere we established ourselves.
We wanted to move to the home,the place of our birth, to the
place of our establishment.
And in these Northern urbancenters, that's exactly what
happened.
So even though we've seen the,the combustibility, this
(39:39):
veritable atomic bomb that hasgone off where we see our, our
entire units as a peopleexploding, because we have with,
with both positive anddetrimental energy we also found
our salvation in the message ofa new people who would be
(40:01):
brought to scriptural thinkingas a definition, as a defining
characteristic of who they are.
And that people will provideboth in Detroit and Baltimore
and Newark, New Jersey, thatsame adherence to and, and
living by the, the word of God,the scripture of God will also
(40:22):
bring guidance and leadership toother parts of the world.
including Medina Baye inSenegal.
Frank (40:29):
And that's the prayer of all sincere believers that the
true picture is brought into itsgreatest form into fruition.
Absolutely.
And you mentioned two terms,motherland and fatherland.
Many in the audience may nothave had any opportunity to
understand hearing those terms.
(40:50):
We often refer to Africa as themotherland and Africa is the
motherland.
But in our sojourn here inAmerica, our experience here in
America, many of us have been,have not been given language to
let us know that this is ourland and this is the land where
(41:11):
we establish ourselves and weestablish our best picture in
this land.
As you said, with, with God asthe center of our of our life,
everything that we plan is fromour honoring him and obedience
to him and using his revelationthat he has given man with to be
(41:33):
the focus of our every action.
Aspect of our life.
So you mentioned there how theyhad such a beautiful mosque, but
yet the houses around the mosquedidn't reflect the beauty of the
mosque.
You know, we don't, we don'twant to be a society in which we
hold up rituals and keepinformation locked in rituals so
(41:54):
that the common person can'tbenefit from the scriptural
insight that was revealed toman.
And that's what it was designedto be.
It wasn't designed to be locked.
Yeah.
In a ritual, but the ritualitself should unlock some things
in man to get man to be able toestablish themselves in this
place in which we call America,which is our fatherland.
(42:18):
We will have our bestestablishment here.
The world looks.
To America for theirdetermination for what is good
for them, they look for Americato determine, you know, what is,
what is the movement throughoutthe world and what, and what
their sensitivity should be.
So yes, America is ourfatherland.
This is the place where, and asI'm hearing in your background,
(42:41):
I'm hearing an individual make acall, making a call to remind us
that.
Our obedience is to our creator.
So whenever we sojourn to doanything and any type of
activity, we're always doing itknowing that God sees us.
But as the prophet said,Mohammed, the prophet made the
(43:02):
prayers and peace be upon himsaid, and knowing that you
should do an act knowing thatGod sees you, but knowing that
you can't see God.
He always sees you.
And I'm paraphrasing that.
So that should be, we call it aGod consciousness.
Amen.
So so when we talk aboutresources and talk about how
life could be better for, forfamilies and unlocking that.
(43:25):
Scripture and unlocking thatrevelation and unlocking what
God has provided for, for man,you know, the African American
is a sign of that for the wholeworld that he has the merciful
benefactor and the mercifulredeemer when, when the billions
of Muslims recite thatthroughout the world.
Every day, five times a day, ifnot more when they recite those
(43:50):
two words immediately, theyshould think of the African
American because that's proofthat he is the merciful
benefactor, merciful redeemerfrom taking us from our
motherland and establishing usin a new land.
That's now our fatherland, thatwe have our best expression.
And once again, in thatexpression is how we lift.
Community, the common unity, thecommon unity of the good life.
(44:14):
I'm not your neighbor.
If I'm decadent, I won'tconsider you a neighbor.
I will consider you a ministerto community.
You're not a neighbor.
If you're decadent, if you'retrash in the place, if you're
loud, if you're noisy, you don'thave any regard for the, for the
people in your neighborhood.
You're not a neighbor.
You're just in my neighborhood.
But those people who do havetheir sacred regard, they are
neighbors, which means thatultimately.
(44:35):
Our collective expression shoulduplift our neighborhood,
ultimately our city, ultimatelyour state, our country, and
ultimately the world, but that'sbased upon our regardfulness to
God,
Faridah (44:49):
you know, there's, there's I'm not quite sure how
many.
of us are familiar with what I'mgoing to say now, but it is a
teaching.
I believe it's a universal, it'san understanding that comes from
the Quranic thinking of thisguided tradition.
(45:15):
You know, this community thathas come to Islam with a, an
independent mind and independentthinking
Frank (45:22):
that
Faridah (45:22):
was preserved in what many saw as an aberration, a
proto Islamic movement that wasthe nation of Islam as taught by
Farad Muhammad, as led by theHonorable Elijah Muhammad, and
as purified by.
And made clear and brought toits conclusion by Imam Muhammad
(45:46):
in terms of taking anindependent mind and making it
open and available to scriptureitself and having that mind in
the legacy and in the pathway ofAfrican American leaders that
were birthed in this tradition.
And I say in a sense, yes,Africa is our origin.
(46:09):
And so there was something verysentimental tugging at my heart.
But as a people, I wouldhonestly say that I think
America is both our mother andfatherland because it is America
where we were born as a people.
We came as, as differing peoplesfrom different tribes and ethnic
(46:32):
realities and languages andreligions from the continent of
Africa, but it was in the bowelsof chattel slavery on the shores
of what came to be known as theUnited States.
That's where we came from.
That our people, this newestpeople in human history was
born.
So I think there might be anargument for saying, yes, we
were as all of humanity was, ourorigin was in America, I mean,
(46:54):
in Africa and particularly andspecifically as a people of
African descent, our origin wasthere, but I think for the
African American people, ournativity.
Is, is in the, the reality andthe history of American chattel
slavery and what followed it,but what a good
Frank (47:12):
point, great point,
Faridah (47:14):
You know, great points come from clear thinking from
good leaders.
Yes.
So I, I would, I would say thatwe can, that's another
conversation for anotherepisode, but Okay, so you know,
wrapping up this idea, I justwould say that the idea that I
just wanted to share is thatAmerica has so much promise.
And even as we speak, we knowthat our nation is, is
(47:37):
supporting some tragedies aroundthe world.
You know, that is an activeparticipant and supporter of
some very anti human events thatare transpiring around the world
right now.
But what I would say is.
The leadership that Americaprovides and the possibility
that America secures is thereality that African Americans
(48:02):
represent.
That this entire experiment as anation, Allah allowed it to come
to be.
God allowed this to come to beeven with all of its ugliness
and pain so that a people couldbe born to remind humanity of
God's mercy.
and his hand in taking humanityto its destination.
Frank (48:27):
Yes.
Faridah (48:27):
And without that experience, this would not have
happened.
So where Americans our, ourancestors in slavery, we're
languishing and nobody is.
came to rescue, not, not anyonein the Muslim world, not anyone
in the Christian world.
No one came to rescue this newpeople were born and secured and
safeguarded by the creatorhimself so that now these people
(48:51):
can remind all of humanity aboutthe best that's in us and that
the covenant with God is theanswer to everything that
plagues humanity, including theestablishment of the human
family.
Frank (49:04):
Yes.
Amen.
And in the human family is wherewe'll see the greater mercy.
That, that our Lord, our creatorgives to man in that picture in
the loving relationship betweenthe parents and the loving
relationship between thechildren and the children with
the parents in that picture iswhat we see the greatest
(49:25):
expression of, or the purity, Ishould say, of, of his mercy.
to us as a creation.
And then from that, weestablished based upon that
particular relationship of thosefamily ties.
Absolutely.
Can
Faridah (49:40):
I just share that just interject very quickly.
I think that even in this trip,you're seeing that picture play
out.
So, you know, my husband wassupposed to be able to, to take
them, but he, he had to, hisresponsibilities to provide for
this family took precedence.
And so me, you know, theirmother, I was there to, you
know, as a nurturing presence,as a caretaker in my own right,
(50:04):
to be here to help shepherd themthrough the beginning of this
experience, but it would nothave been possible without the
safeguarding and the provisionthat, that was provided by their
father, my husband.
So even in making this happen,we can see the reflection of the
beautiful best life that Godplans for all of us, even in
terms of securing thisopportunity.
(50:26):
I just wanted to share that.
Frank (50:28):
Beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
So, you know, we want to, we,once again, we want to applaud
those parents and not only justthose parents, but anyone,
anyone who has contributed totrying to create pathways for
families and young children tobe able to, to experience life
(50:48):
and get the true, the truebounty and a true idea of what
life looks like outside of theirown circle.
You know, we want to thank.
Thank God, thank the creator forallowing you to be sensitive
enough to be a part of thatgreat, that great process.
So, you know, we want to thankyou all for that too.
Now on a, on a side note, Hey,listen, if you guys want to take
(51:09):
a trip to any country you wantto and take, you know, a lot of
pictures so you can blow it upon your Instagram and Facebook.
Hey, do that by all means, youknow that is nothing wrong with
those, that, that type ofactivity.
But understand that, you know,there is a greater level to
that.
And the level is what sisterFarta just, just recognize about
the sacrifices of the parents,wanting to make sure that the
(51:31):
children have their bestopportunity because they're
securing the future for them.
So by doing that process, weknow in the future, God willing,
That the steps have been made,the preparation has been made.
So that way, when it comes downfor them to take their position,
they naturally go right intowhat they're supposed to do to
secure our future as acommunity.
(51:53):
Wonderful.
God's blessing has always beenupon us.
And it's the sensitive onesamongst us are the ones who
recognize, and we're the oneswho become obedient to that.
Well, Farda, The praise is forGod always we have moved one
step closer to destinationexcellence
Faridah (52:15):
until next time.
Let us remain conscious of ourCreator and of the sacred
relationship of parent and childand of the family ties that bind
us.
Subscribe to the podcast andcome back next time for a new
episode of The Family Ties.
Frank (52:32):
From Frank Abdul Shahid
Faridah (52:35):
and Farida Abdul Tawab Brown.
Frank (52:39):
Peace be upon the family.
Peace be upon the family, as we welcome you to another
experience of The Family Ties, aprescription for society.
I am your co host, Frank AbdulShahid.
Faridah (00:26):
And I am your co host, Farida Abdul Tawab Brown.
Before we get started, don'tforget to subscribe so you can
stay up to date and get all thelatest episodes.
Frank (00:36):
Welcome back to another.
Fantastic episode.
Farida, it's good to have youback as my co host today.
How are you?
Faridah (00:42):
It is good to be back here with you.
And I don't know if you can hearanything in my background.
I'm hearing a call to, ofurgency in yours, Frank.
Frank (00:53):
Yes,
Faridah (00:54):
I can hear the ambulances.
And just a short while ago, Iheard some ambulances in my
background, where I'm joiningyou from the neighborhood of
Medina by in the city of Cowlackhere in the beautiful country of
Senegal and West Africa.
And so it's a pleasure to joinyou and our listening audience.
So I want to invite you to joinus and embark on this
(01:18):
conversation together today fromtwo different sides of
Frank (01:21):
the Atlantic ocean.
Absolutely.
So if I may ask, are you thereon business?
Are you there just on pleasure?
Are you by yourself or, youknow, what is the company that
you're keeping in that wonderfulcity in Seattle, Senegal?
I'm sorry.
Faridah (01:33):
Ah uh, the, the company that I am keeping currently.
And so I am here with two of mydaughters, my two younger
daughters, and they're here.
my sister and her familyincluding her two daughters.
So the four cousins we havebrought them here to Senegal for
the next nine months, you know,a period of gestation to study
(01:56):
and memorize the Quran, which isthe scripture of the Muslims.
And so, of course, for those ofyou who know, it is a scripture
that was revealed in the Arabiclanguage.
And so they will have to readand then memorize.
the, the Koran, the word of Godin the Arabic language until the
plan is for them to study andthe program runs from early in
(02:18):
the morning from the earlymorning prayer, fadjor and they
study with breaks for lunch.
And You know, breaks for restand nap and things of that
nature until the final prayer ofthe day, which is Isha at
nighttime.
So they do that for five days aweek.
And then the weekend is onbegins on Wednesday afternoon.
They get out of school early onWednesday at one and their
(02:39):
weekend is actually Thursday andFriday.
So yes.
So, and then they return afterMaghrib, after the sunset prayer
on Friday.
So Saturday and Sunday areschool days for them.
Frank (02:51):
Hmm.
That's very interesting.
So the love
Faridah (02:53):
of the Quran and wanting to to memorize it, to be
keepers of the Quran is thedesire of our daughters that has
brought us here to Senegal.
Frank (03:02):
Wonderful.
And I will say that that is awonderful Desire that your
daughters have, and I would saya very natural desire to want to
have their, to strengthen theirrelationship with their creator
and, and ultimately be theobedient creation that he
created them to be.
And I must say what a wonderful.
(03:23):
Job the parents have done to beable to put their children in a
situation at a very young age toone, be able to travel to, to be
able to travel abroad.
And three also to be able tohave create these lifelong
experiences in their youth, tobe able to shape and form them
(03:43):
as they become adults andunderstanding their
responsibility in this creation.
So kudos to the parents for youguys sacrificing your desire to
Once you satisfy your child'scuriosity and their development.
So great job, parents.
Faridah (03:58):
Well, I, I must say, as we close every show the praise
belongs to God.
So I, I appreciate youracknowledgement of the, the hard
work and the sacrifice that goesinto supporting your children,
your, you know, your youngperson's dreams for their life,
particularly when they aredreams and desires that want to
get them through.
Thank you.
(04:18):
take them closer to the creatorof all the worlds.
So we are, we are grateful thatwe did have this opportunity.
And I would say just to addthere that there are so many
different places in which tostudy the Quran, but you know,
including at home in the UnitedStates of America.
But we did think this was aunique opportunity.
We had heard from some friendsof the family, particularly you
(04:41):
know who had children who hadstudied here, young men and
young women.
Particularly those withdaughters and sons who have come
back and they have memorized theQur'an and now they it has
enriched their relationship withthe Creator.
So that, that's what, that wasthe most important thing.
You know, there are people whowill memorize but it doesn't
reach their hearts.
And all of these young peoplecame back with a real love for
(05:04):
the Qur'an and they also cameback with a sense that they had
to continually Purify themselvesand their intentions because
they were now preservers ofGod's word.
So they began to see themselvesas as vessels and not just you
know, reciters, but they sawthemselves as vessels securing
God's word, hopefully into thenext generation.
(05:26):
So I will say there are Quranschools everywhere, but we
thought this might be a uniqueexperience for them to do so
overseas, as you said.
Frank (05:33):
Yes.
So we, you know, in this.
And this podcast the familyties, the prescription for
society, you know, we've, we'vestressed countless times about
coming to a conclusion about,and a consciousness about us
having a a debt.
A, an awareness we owe ourcreator, our obedience, and as
(05:57):
we are striving to be moreobedient servants of him he will
bless us with insight for us tobe able to have our best life,
the life that he created for us,where we are in our lives.
So part of what we've beentalking about was what are, what
are those things thatchallenges?
The family life, what channel,what are the challenges of the
(06:18):
family life that are preventingus to establish the good life,
the good life that's universaleverywhere for all of creation,
the good life.
What are some of thosechallenges that we've always
said, and we've always stated,and we're going to state it
again today, that our obedienceto our creator is the first
step, having that sense ofobedience, that good nature,
(06:42):
that good moral compass is thefoundation for the beginnings.
Of the good family life.
So I know, as you said, you arein Senegal and Senegal looks
completely different than NewYork city, Washington, DC, any
Metro, Metropolitan city inAmerica.
(07:04):
It looks completely different.
Every place has their own uniqueset of circumstances, but I
would say that every place.
Where there are humans there,there is a commonality of
suffering and, and issues thatwe must all address, address.
So, What does it look like inSenegal where you are?
(07:25):
Medina by the city specificallythat you are currently, you
know, what does the landscapelook like there?
And do you think that landscapeadds or do you think it
challenges the family life?
Faridah (07:39):
That's an excellent question.
I'd like to take you with mewith us actually.
Both you as my co host and ourlistening audience.
I'd like to take you with us aswe, we landed you know, we
landed at the airport justoutside of Dakar, Senegal.
And as you said, we began thisjourney brought us to Senegal
(08:00):
with a unique set ofcircumstances, a unique
landscape.
And with a somewhat distant, butsentimental connection to to our
family as, as an AfricanAmerican family to, in terms of
the ancestral.
connection given the slave tradeand our birth and reality as a
(08:21):
new people here in the Westernhemisphere, here in the United
States of America, or whatbecame the United States of
America.
And so there, there is thatsentimental connection that kind
of hits you.
We, we flew actually from Dullesairport and we had a connection
in Casablanca, Morocco.
And we left Casablanca and weflew south to south, southeast
(08:45):
to Senegal.
And as we were entering, youknow, about 30 minutes out, we
flew over the desert.
And this is I have never seen,you know, the, the sand dunes.
It brought to me, it brought tomind, the picture of my mind the
landscape that our prophetMuhammad prayers and peace be
upon him that he lived in andwhich he traversed during the,
(09:09):
the days of his childhood andalso the, during the days of his
message mission to deliver themessage of, of peace.
monotheism and the oneness ofhumanity to to humanity.
And so it brought that to mindand it brought to mind the, the
traversing, the hijra, themigrations that are made.
And of course we do not have theintention to stay here longer
(09:32):
than a nine month period, but itis a migration of sorts in that
we are leaving what iscomfortable for us, what is
known to us, particularly ourchildren, and going to a place
where that we will.
And already have faced certaindifficulty.
So getting off of the planeoutside of the car, it you, you
know, you can see the ocean aswell when you're flying into the
(09:54):
airport there in Senegal.
And one of the things that itreminded us of is immediately is
that transatlantic voyage
Frank (10:03):
that
Faridah (10:03):
our ancestors took.
And you can't, help but to beaware of it and to feel it.
There is a we, we went to, toeat at a restaurant maybe two
days after we arrived and wewere in a beach town.
The name of the town is Sali.
And we went to the beach andthere was a restaurant on the
beach.
And then after we ate, the sunwas setting, we're standing on
(10:25):
the beach and it's just, I mean,the, it recalling what it must
have been like
Frank (10:32):
to
Faridah (10:32):
leave your home, to not know where you were going to go,
what was happening to you, whatyour destiny was, and to know
that as a sign, as a witness tothe mercy of the creator of the
heavens and the earth, that anentirely new people would be
born.
And centuries later, that's whatwe're Some of those new
descendants of that new peoplethat was born would return to
(10:55):
these shores with a mind shapedby scripture, a mind shaped
specifically by the Qur'an,ready to not just, share in the
wealth, meaning the, the sharingand the teaching of the Qur'an
that the people of Medina Bayeand Senegal have to share.
But to also impart something ofwhat God produced in us as an
(11:15):
African American peoplereturning to these shores, being
both a symbol, a witness, and amanifestation of God's mercy to
mankind and his purpose formankind to lead us to the
establishment of the just order.
Frank (11:28):
And
Faridah (11:28):
so we, there in Sali, as I, as you can imagine the
picture that I'm painting foryou, it's, it's gorgeous.
We're beachside, we're invillas, we're walking, you know
traveling and you see families,you see women and men, you see
you know, you see all types ofpeople.
And it's also because it's abeach town and it's closer to
Dakar, they're also tourists.
(11:49):
So we're seeing Koreans, we'reseeing Chinese, we're seeing
people from different Arabnations, Lebanon you know,
different, different places.
And of course, some Americansand many, many French, French
people.
So that's the landscape.
But of course, it's primarilySenegalese.
And you know, you're, you meetsome Christian Senegalese.
(12:10):
You know, one of the, thehousekeeper that we had, her
name was Suzanne.
She was a beautiful soul.
And, you know, we met some ofthem and we saw some of the
Catholic churches.
And then, of course, we sawprimarily Senegal is a
predominantly Muslim nation.
So it was beautiful for thechildren and I to see, and the
adults in our group, to seepeople making wudu in the ocean.
(12:31):
you know, and that's thepreparation, the ablution, the
washing up for the prayer andpulling out a prayer rug on the
side of the road and makingtheir salat.
So that was a beautiful thing towitness.
So we drive two and a half tothree hours on Sunday out here
to Medina Bayh, and Medina Bayhis a neighborhood that's built
around this beautiful masjid.
Or mosque as, as some people, asit's known to some of us the
(12:54):
French word for masjid.
So this beautiful masjid andit's been built around a what's
the Tijaniyya Sufi order.
So this is you know, people comefrom all over the world
basically to learn from ateacher who they you know
respect, the highly respect andthey come during different
festivals, during the Eidfestivals and, you know.
(13:15):
during you know, the celebrationof the birthday of the Prophet
Muhammad, prayers and peace beupon him and other times or just
to learn the Qur'an or learn thereligion.
And so as such, it is a centerof Islamic learning.
And when we got here, thelandscape, we are in a hotel
that was established.
By African American Muslims whohave come here and established
(13:35):
themselves here as part of thiscommunity.
The hotel is very lovely.
Across the street is a school.
But one of the things that wesaw here, we were not prepared,
any of us, for the amount of theeffects of poverty.
Frank (13:50):
that
Faridah (13:50):
that are apparent.
They have just come out of therainy season.
We're at the end of the rainyseason right now.
So they had had a great deal offlooding, which has, you know,
there are many dirt roads.
So there, there are not manypaved roads here in Medina Bay.
So all the roads that wetraveled on, they have ruts and
you can see where the water hasworn out and these rivulets in
(14:10):
the, in the road.
And so it's, it's washed a lotof the trash.
There's not there are not manysystems.
in place yet.
From what I understand, MedinaBaye has grown exponentially in
population over the past fewdecades.
So the infrastructure doesn'tseem to be in place to carry,
let's say the amount of trashthat is amount of trash that is
(14:31):
produced by a great number ofpeople.
And so that's what you, you seea great deal, this beautiful
masjid, this lovely hotel thatwe're staying in and it's
surrounded by the signs ofpoverty.
everywhere.
So that's, I, I would like us tosit with that image because in a
(14:51):
lot of ways it reminded me ofdriving through any inner city
in America.
You know, there, you know, yousee the, the beauty of the
people, the smiles, thewelcoming, you know, I'm, I'm
speaking in my broken Wolof, youknow, and broken Wolof, a little
broken French, you know, veryfew people speak English.
(15:13):
So that's been exciting to getto know people and the people
are warm.
They're very friendly andoutgoing, easy smiles.
And I mean, beautiful, beautifulpeople in every way, you know,
inside and out, just gorgeous.
And then you see, you know, thetrash on the ground and people
freely dropping their trashbecause maybe they don't know
where else to put it.
The trash cans are overflowingand the goats and the cattle,
(15:36):
who are also beautiful.
The cattle love, oh my goodness,the white hides.
I've not seen animals up closelike that so beautifully.
But, you know, they're wanderingthe same streets and they're
eating some of the garbage.
And it's, it's one of the thingsthat it brings to mind, as it
does whenever I'm in any urbancenter at home in America is
what has transpired that thoseof us who have the guidance of
(16:01):
scripture, who have the model offamily life, who have the the
excellence of the entirecreation around us.
to help us witness andunderstand the role of, of
tidiness and order andcleanliness and how that plays
into our psychological wellnessand our emotional wellbeing.
And as you said, theestablishment of a healthy
(16:23):
family life, because in order tohave a healthy family life, you
have to have healthyindividuals.
So all of those things just,they, they, they In me, there
are a lot of questions thatarise and connections that I'm
drawing between what I'm seeinghere in Senegal and what I see
at home, and what is the role ofscripture and the learned
people.
(16:44):
in changing that reality.
Frank (16:47):
What a very vivid picture you've painted.
Very vivid.
It seems as if you go from onelandscape to another landscape
almost instantaneous in theprocess, right in the same area.
You know, more or less.
So, so in scripture specificallyin, in the Qur'an it is revealed
(17:08):
in the Qur'an that from, from asingle pair was created male and
female and that they spreadthroughout the earth.
You know, God made us in nationsand tribes to, to exist
throughout the world.
Throughout the world and in ourexistence for us to have a very
(17:29):
unique expression, everyonewasn't created to have the same
expression, your circumstances,your environment, the, the
climate the trade access towater, all of these different
things are designed to create adifferent.
Expression from a group ofpeople.
So we are encouraged to seek outeach other because we have
(17:51):
something unique that we canoffer one another and they have
something unique to offer us aswell.
So we are encouraged in the, inscripture to, to travel, to
travel the land.
Look, look at those who havegone before you and look at
those who are even in yourimmediate time and just look at
their situation and try todetermine what it is, how you
both can benefit.
(18:11):
From one another.
Now you have any, the thefortunate situation of going to
Africa where many of us don't.
I, I saw research not too longago that said that less than 40
percent of Americans and we'retalking about Second generation
Americans.
Third generation Americans don'thave a passport.
(18:33):
The majority of people who havepassports in America are those
who are maybe first generationsor those who have A strong
connection with their familyties throughout the world, but
for the majority of Americanswho third, fourth generations,
they don't even have passports.
So we don't really get to traveland see.
So for us, we're fighting forour own expression, where we are
(18:55):
and the nature of what man'screation has had in these inner
inner cities today is we'reconstantly fighting each other
versus trying to learn from oneanother right next door to us,
our own neighbor.
To determine for us what's goodfor us.
So we, we, we fight, we fight athome and we can't get along with
(19:16):
people.
We want certain people out ofour neighborhoods.
We know we have thissegregationist type of mentality
because we can't see benefitfrom my own neighbor who don't
look like us or don't have thesame expression, but often when
we travel and see it.
You know, our sensitivitieschange almost, almost
instantaneously, because now wesee a different environment.
(19:36):
Our mind comes out of thenatural environment that man has
created for himself, that hethinks is natural and goes to
the actual natural environmentof the earth.
And we see that the people inMedina by their circumstance is
a lot worse than ourcircumstances here back in
America, and that shouldsensitize us in a way, not only
(19:58):
to them, but to our ownsituation.
And how we have neglectedmaintaining and protecting the
innocence and the ability of thefamily to be able to solve our
own issues and not only solvethem, but, but provide services
that would uplift humanityaltogether that you mentioned.
(20:21):
They don't have anyinfrastructure there.
Ultimately the infrastructurehas to be pressed upon the
government by the people.
It shouldn't be the other wayaround because the government
sees it as a monetary thing.
How can I make money?
I'll, I'll provideinfrastructure to this
particular city because I canmake money for it versus the
people in the city saying, look,we demand these services.
(20:42):
We want to have our best lifeand having our best life.
It gives the best picture ofthose who come to visit us for
them to now invest.
In our circumstances, in oursituation, so it's the way we
tend to look at our situationand the people indigenous seem
to look at their situation todetermine what resources and
what's resources from thegovernment that they get to help
(21:04):
sustain their life.
So from the picture you painted,I almost can see.
Detroit, Michigan.
In a sense.
Yes, I can almost see parts ofBaltimore, Maryland in a sense.
And like I said, any inner city,as you said, any inner city you
can see that the decadence ofthe city is because of a lack of
resources and a lack ofdetermination to maintain in the
(21:28):
ties of family.
So But I would like for you tokind of, if you don't mind, talk
a little bit more about just thenature of the people.
Like, do they understand thatthey're in a very poverty type
of environment?
Are they witnessing to it or isthis just their life and they're
just making the best out of it?
Faridah (21:47):
I, I think, I think it's, it's their life.
It's what, it's what they know.
I think every human being haswithin them this Or many human
beings have within them thisdesire, this aspiration to to
establish oneself and one'sfamily on a more sound footing.
So in that in that respect, Ithink that there are plenty of
(22:10):
young entrepreneurial peoplewho, you know, there are many
businesses here, many.
That is one thing that I can sayis, is different from a Detroit,
a Baltimore, Dorchester,Roxbury, you know, in Boston, is
that the, the entrepreneurialspirit, even if the shop is, you
know, eight feet by eight feet,you know, six feet by 12 feet,
(22:34):
there are shops, stalls, and notjust in the marketplaces, but
lining the streets.
And of course, because it's veryhot here, a lot of times what we
witnessed when we got here,we've only been in Medina by for
about a you know, this is oursecond day here.
So God willing, I will have moreto share, you know, the longer,
you know, we'll spend asignificant amount of time here.
(22:56):
But what I did notice is that,you know, in the evening,
evening, especially as the sungoes down, it's cooler.
It's a lot more comfortable forpeople to move about.
They're out and they're shoppingand that, you know, they go to
the masjid, the adhan is called,you hear the adhan called, and
the Quran recited, so there arereminders of the true picture.
(23:18):
And I can say that that isdifferent from our reality in
America.
Because as we spoke of on anearlier podcast episode of this
podcast, we talked about notwanting my best life or your
best life, but we want the bestlife.
Frank (23:33):
Yes.
Faridah (23:34):
And that is the life that God, the creator of heavens
and the earth has decreed forus.
It's the life that the youngpeople you know, that we spoke
with on a previous episode, thatthey are striving, they're
awakening to their purposewithin that context.
And that is going into theheavens and the earth and
observing and bringing benefitout of it so that not only do
(23:56):
they grow and do they benefit,but that they bring benefit to
the larger society.
So that.
reality, that picture of thehuman being.
I think that there is a clearerpicture of that here in Medina
Baye.
What, why do I say that?
Oftentimes, as you knowcurrently in our country, we
are, we are being, our childrenare being taught through popular
(24:20):
culture and also in theirschools, that there is, that
there are many differentpictures for the correct
establishment of the humanfamily.
And any one of those picturesbased on desires is correct, is
appropriate, and should besupported.
When, of course, we know thatthere is One picture of the
(24:42):
excellence of the human familythat begins with two, a man and
a woman committing to oneanother in marriage, being
supported by their family unitsand the larger community and
building community neighborhoodlife, community life and human
society based on that model ofconcentric rings of support.
(25:03):
all based around the comingtogether of man and woman.
Frank (25:06):
Yes.
Faridah (25:07):
That picture is whole.
That picture is in the forefronthere in, in Senegal.
It is safeguarded in Medina by,in a way that it is not in at
home in the United States ofAmerica.
So there are pictures of whatthe successful human family
looks like that have not yetbeen challenged.
(25:31):
in their truth and in theirreality, in their depiction of
reality.
And I think, so you'll seefamily units, you see fathers
and mothers, so many people, youknow, they're kind of looking
you know, they ask you, Oh,where are you from?
And what about your husband?
And what about your father?
And what about, so they'reasking you, and they're assuming
that all of these family,familial relationships are
(25:53):
intact.
Yes.
That's an assumption.
because that's the picture onwhich they're operating.
And I cannot underestimate howimportant that is, particularly
with respect to the sense of, ofsafety, you know, you walk down.
So the, the difference alsothat's manifest, and I like to
get your response to this isthat we're walking at night.
You know, from the hotel to theschool building where the
(26:16):
dormitory is and the classes areheld for this, the African
American Islamic Institute, theLegacy Academy.
And, you know, we're asking fordirections and people are
helping.
They're going out of their wayto help us with a smile.
They leave their home.
They'll walk us to the nextcorner.
There's this person's house andthere's the school.
The children in the street arehelping.
(26:36):
young men are helping.
And so, of course, we were withmy brother in law.
So it was a man with us.
But at times we were a littlebit separated because I had to
you know, kind of fall back andstay with the straggling
teenagers.
You know, those of you who areparents know that sometimes our
young adults tend to straggle,but even in that case I did, I,
I never felt unsafe, you know,the young men would give the
(26:59):
greetings of peace.
Peace be upon you.
Assalamualaikum.
I never felt unsafe at all.
That comes from having thepicture intact of having men who
model for their sons and theother young men what manhood
looks like in its presence.
So is there a lot of poverty?
(27:19):
Yes.
Are there some things in termsof material establishment that
need to be done differently?
A lot.
a lot.
And as a spiritual center, Ibelieve that the Al Islam is
meant, it's a way of life.
It's not supposed to be lived inthe ritual.
It's not supposed to stay in themasjid.
(27:39):
It's supposed to have a clearand edifying effect on all human
institutions.
And so I think as a spiritualcenter, we should be seeing a
lot better out of that.
But I would say that the, thesense of security and safety.
and peace that I felt as awoman.
(28:00):
Now that I'm speaking as a womantraveling that that I did, I
would not feel the same waytraveling through Dorchester,
Roxbury, some parts ofBaltimore, DC, Southeast DC,
Southwest, you know, I would notfeel the same way.
And I think it's directlyattributable to the picture of
the human family being clear andintact.
Frank (28:25):
Very poignant.
That's a very poignantdescription.
So the innocence, the innocenceis something that's raw, is
something that's not refined,but it's not being used either.
It is waiting for use for you touse it in a manner that it is
designed and created to be.
(28:47):
For the benefit of all people,that's the innocence and that's
the, the, the thing that drivesa very healthy society to be
able to identify what theinnocence is.
And once you identify theinnocence, now you can protect
that innocence.
But also in the same picture,there's also the ability, the
(29:09):
ability is the energy that'sdesigned to convert that
innocence into a a functionablematter, a functional process
that will get give life, givestrength, give sustainability to
what you have alreadyestablished.
That's the ability.
So a healthy family.
(29:31):
We'll nurture both of thosethings and keep those things
close to one another.
So when it comes time for bothto interact with each other,
they get the best idea of whatthe next step should look like.
So you mentioned the peoplethere who are speaking when
people are walking down thestreet manners.
(29:52):
You know, you're, you're be ableto identify something because
you're not responding tosomething that you see, you
know, there was a time inAmerica where you didn't walk
past somebody when I wasspeaking to them, there was,
there was a time in Americawhere men would just, they
wouldn't even go out of theirway to protect the women.
It was just a sense in thestreet that if I see a woman
(30:12):
coming, I either step out of herway, I give her the right away,
I escort her to her car, escorther to where she needs to go.
That's me protecting theinnocence.
That was already naturallythere.
The women on the other sidewould see the men and would
respond to the men.
They were the ability in theneighborhood, so they would give
them whatever benefit they couldgive them to assist them and
(30:35):
them constantly being theability in the neighborhood to
strengthen the neighborhood.
So women wouldn't talk bad toGod men and men wouldn't talk
bad to women.
So regardless.
Of the economic situation.
So for our history in America,the great Northern migration,
where many from the SouthAfrican Americans specifically
(30:56):
moved to the North.
Because they want to have jobs,they want to get out of a
situation where they couldprovide for their family.
Often the government will set uphousing for them, ultimately
known as projects, you know,housing projects, those types of
things that we are currentlyattribute to, you know, low
income.
Living, but during those times,we had a sense of the ability
(31:20):
and innocence that we didn'thave a disrespect of our
neighborhood or our environment.
We took care of it.
The, the, they would clean thesteps.
There wasn't any garbage on theground.
People would speak.
The children would speak to theadults.
The adults would have kind ofwords to the children.
They will make pathways for thechildren, for them to live their
best life.
Many of them came to the north.
(31:41):
To make sure that their childrencan have a better opportunity.
That was their sacrifice.
But somehow or another, we'velost that we've lost that in a
sense, in our pursuit ofmaterialism and our pursuit of
having an identity that removesus from the best life because we
now have been influenced byindividualism.
(32:03):
So the refreshing part of it isthat it's innate in us.
It's there.
It's there.
But barriers have prevented thatexpression to be what they needs
to be.
So when you hear it and you seeit is definitely a refreshing
thing.
So we just have to get back toopening up these pathways in
(32:24):
these families to allow Childrento have their.
Greatest expression for them tounderstand where they are in the
context of neighborhood andcommunity life and family life
as well.
So that's why we began thispodcast episode with, you know,
honoring the parents who giventheir children an opportunity
to, to traverse the earth, toget away from the environments
(32:44):
and the influence that theynaturally have where they are
and kind of see how other peopleinteract.
And, and, and then you get asense of appreciation for what
you have and understanding thatyour mother.
Is the one who you owe yourallegiance to and not just your
birth mother.
But your matter, mother, mother,matter, mother earth, the mother
(33:07):
who created me in this form, Iowe that to them because they
are the ones who have wrecked, Irecognize my innocence through
them and then ultimatelyacknowledging that and now going
forward with the ability.
for me to be the best.
So in these family situations wehave to get back to recognizing
that and possibly being able tobe a force in the world with the
(33:29):
spiritual guidance that we getfrom our moral compass that God
has created for us.
Faridah (33:38):
Wow.
I, I couldn't have summarizethat any better.
You know, you pointing to theability and the, the, the, the
nurture and and putting thosetwo things together and how they
manifest in the world and theenvironments and the parents
making these pathways, you know,as the, the leaders in the
family and in the society.
(33:58):
I think I want to go back to aword you used and that was
environment.
And you know, as we hear, youknow, on this podcast are
focused on the family as aprescription for society.
I think it's important,particularly for for all of
human beings to look at the rolethat we address this on another
episode of Migration,immigration, leaving one place.
(34:23):
And what was, what's theintention when you leave that
place?
What is the spirit or thedisposition when you leave that
place to go to another?
And then who is receiving you inthat place?
And how do they play intocreating an environment that is
conducive to human excellence?
And of course we spoke aboutthat in at some length in the
context of the Americanimmigration crisis that we have
(34:46):
going on today.
But it is a human phenomenon.
And so even as I said, I, Ireferred to this trip here as a
not a migration because we planto come back.
This is a visiting.
This is a, as, as you mentionedin the Quran God tells us to he
says, my earth is spacious.
It is.
You know, and so, so travel thisearth so that you may worship me
(35:08):
so that in even the travelthere's a form of the if you
bring with it your humility ifyou bring on your travels a
spirit of of obedience then youwill be worshiping the creator.
You will draw closer to yourcreator by this encounter with
what is not known to you.
And he tells us also what you,you cited earlier, that we were
(35:29):
created in tribes and nations sothat we may know one another, we
may recognize one another.
And so this is so important tothe human endeavor, even to this
picture that you're paintingabout the, the ability being
secured.
I, I look at it and I, I likenit, as you said, to the
migration that African Americansmade from out of our
(35:51):
circumstance of not justeconomic oppression, but the
oppression of the, the humansoul that our circumstances were
so circumscribed by terror.
You know, we throw around theword terrorism a lot today.
Terrorism is real.
We have experienced it in ourpast, particularly up from
(36:15):
slavery.
We have experienced theterrorism that sought to
preserve the status quo, thatsought to preserve a power
balance, a power imbalance thatwould leave African American
people at the bottom of theeconomic totem pole and, and
leave those who are in charge ofsociety at the top.
And so that migration was insome part an effort to remove
(36:41):
ourselves from that, that cycleof terror and oppression that
would keep us in that position,locked into that position.
But when you describe moving tothe North and we see what
happened within generations,just as I may see know, maybe
unsanitary conditions orgarbage, litter not having an
(37:02):
infrastructure here to handlethat here in Medina Baye.
I look at the detritus of, ordetritus that's one of my
reading vocabulary words Iencounter very often, but it's,
it's the waste of our society,of our human consumption, right?
We, we see that in the form ofour families, our young people
who have been driven toundermine their own progress as
(37:25):
human beings because they don'thave an environment that would
take that their natural state ofexcellence and shepherd it to it
toward its destiny.
Because that's essentially whata community is.
And the family is the first unitfor that.
The family unit is supposed totake the beautiful and excellent
nature of that new human being.
(37:47):
And it's supposed to protect it,to train it until it gets to its
maturity.
So that it can fulfill its, itspurpose here on earth.
So when the family breaks down,when the neighborhood breaks
down, when the community breaksdown, what you see is waste.
We see wasted lives.
We see young people ending up inthe criminal justice system.
(38:10):
We see families that, you know,have two and three fathers, and
the children don't know their,their own father, and the
mothers don't have support forraising these families.
And and we have violence andself harm, and we have a lack of
education.
We have a lack of disciplinethat leads us to a situation
where we're, you know, We don'tprovide for our own needs.
(38:33):
And on the other side of theocean, we, we see sometimes not
quite the same disrepair of thehuman life, but we see a lack of
ability to establish a realityfor the majority of the people
where they can live in humandignity.
And the one thing that I, Ithink of when I think of this,
(38:55):
this traversing from the Southto the North for the African
American people is that in hiswisdom and his plan, we are
tested in this life.
But God had a plan for thepeople who were denied
everything.
And part of that plan was thatmoving up out of our native, our
(39:16):
motherland of the South, out ofthat motherland, we wanted to
move to a fatherland, a placewhere we established ourselves.
We wanted to move to the home,the place of our birth, to the
place of our establishment.
And in these Northern urbancenters, that's exactly what
happened.
So even though we've seen the,the combustibility, this
(39:39):
veritable atomic bomb that hasgone off where we see our, our
entire units as a peopleexploding, because we have with,
with both positive anddetrimental energy we also found
our salvation in the message ofa new people who would be
(40:01):
brought to scriptural thinkingas a definition, as a defining
characteristic of who they are.
And that people will provideboth in Detroit and Baltimore
and Newark, New Jersey, thatsame adherence to and, and
living by the, the word of God,the scripture of God will also
(40:22):
bring guidance and leadership toother parts of the world.
including Medina Baye inSenegal.
Frank (40:29):
And that's the prayer of all sincere believers that the
true picture is brought into itsgreatest form into fruition.
Absolutely.
And you mentioned two terms,motherland and fatherland.
Many in the audience may nothave had any opportunity to
understand hearing those terms.
(40:50):
We often refer to Africa as themotherland and Africa is the
motherland.
But in our sojourn here inAmerica, our experience here in
America, many of us have been,have not been given language to
let us know that this is ourland and this is the land where
(41:11):
we establish ourselves and weestablish our best picture in
this land.
As you said, with, with God asthe center of our of our life,
everything that we plan is fromour honoring him and obedience
to him and using his revelationthat he has given man with to be
(41:33):
the focus of our every action.
Aspect of our life.
So you mentioned there how theyhad such a beautiful mosque, but
yet the houses around the mosquedidn't reflect the beauty of the
mosque.
You know, we don't, we don'twant to be a society in which we
hold up rituals and keepinformation locked in rituals so
(41:54):
that the common person can'tbenefit from the scriptural
insight that was revealed toman.
And that's what it was designedto be.
It wasn't designed to be locked.
Yeah.
In a ritual, but the ritualitself should unlock some things
in man to get man to be able toestablish themselves in this
place in which we call America,which is our fatherland.
(42:18):
We will have our bestestablishment here.
The world looks.
To America for theirdetermination for what is good
for them, they look for Americato determine, you know, what is,
what is the movement throughoutthe world and what, and what
their sensitivity should be.
So yes, America is ourfatherland.
This is the place where, and asI'm hearing in your background,
(42:41):
I'm hearing an individual make acall, making a call to remind us
that.
Our obedience is to our creator.
So whenever we sojourn to doanything and any type of
activity, we're always doing itknowing that God sees us.
But as the prophet said,Mohammed, the prophet made the
(43:02):
prayers and peace be upon himsaid, and knowing that you
should do an act knowing thatGod sees you, but knowing that
you can't see God.
He always sees you.
And I'm paraphrasing that.
So that should be, we call it aGod consciousness.
Amen.
So so when we talk aboutresources and talk about how
life could be better for, forfamilies and unlocking that.
(43:25):
Scripture and unlocking thatrevelation and unlocking what
God has provided for, for man,you know, the African American
is a sign of that for the wholeworld that he has the merciful
benefactor and the mercifulredeemer when, when the billions
of Muslims recite thatthroughout the world.
Every day, five times a day, ifnot more when they recite those
(43:50):
two words immediately, theyshould think of the African
American because that's proofthat he is the merciful
benefactor, merciful redeemerfrom taking us from our
motherland and establishing usin a new land.
That's now our fatherland, thatwe have our best expression.
And once again, in thatexpression is how we lift.
Community, the common unity, thecommon unity of the good life.
(44:14):
I'm not your neighbor.
If I'm decadent, I won'tconsider you a neighbor.
I will consider you a ministerto community.
You're not a neighbor.
If you're decadent, if you'retrash in the place, if you're
loud, if you're noisy, you don'thave any regard for the, for the
people in your neighborhood.
You're not a neighbor.
You're just in my neighborhood.
But those people who do havetheir sacred regard, they are
neighbors, which means thatultimately.
(44:35):
Our collective expression shoulduplift our neighborhood,
ultimately our city, ultimatelyour state, our country, and
ultimately the world, but that'sbased upon our regardfulness to
God,
Faridah (44:49):
you know, there's, there's I'm not quite sure how
many.
of us are familiar with what I'mgoing to say now, but it is a
teaching.
I believe it's a universal, it'san understanding that comes from
the Quranic thinking of thisguided tradition.
(45:15):
You know, this community thathas come to Islam with a, an
independent mind and independentthinking
Frank (45:22):
that
Faridah (45:22):
was preserved in what many saw as an aberration, a
proto Islamic movement that wasthe nation of Islam as taught by
Farad Muhammad, as led by theHonorable Elijah Muhammad, and
as purified by.
And made clear and brought toits conclusion by Imam Muhammad
(45:46):
in terms of taking anindependent mind and making it
open and available to scriptureitself and having that mind in
the legacy and in the pathway ofAfrican American leaders that
were birthed in this tradition.
And I say in a sense, yes,Africa is our origin.
(46:09):
And so there was something verysentimental tugging at my heart.
But as a people, I wouldhonestly say that I think
America is both our mother andfatherland because it is America
where we were born as a people.
We came as, as differing peoplesfrom different tribes and ethnic
(46:32):
realities and languages andreligions from the continent of
Africa, but it was in the bowelsof chattel slavery on the shores
of what came to be known as theUnited States.
That's where we came from.
That our people, this newestpeople in human history was
born.
So I think there might be anargument for saying, yes, we
were as all of humanity was, ourorigin was in America, I mean,
(46:54):
in Africa and particularly andspecifically as a people of
African descent, our origin wasthere, but I think for the
African American people, ournativity.
Is, is in the, the reality andthe history of American chattel
slavery and what followed it,but what a good
Frank (47:12):
point, great point,
Faridah (47:14):
You know, great points come from clear thinking from
good leaders.
Yes.
So I, I would, I would say thatwe can, that's another
conversation for anotherepisode, but Okay, so you know,
wrapping up this idea, I justwould say that the idea that I
just wanted to share is thatAmerica has so much promise.
And even as we speak, we knowthat our nation is, is
(47:37):
supporting some tragedies aroundthe world.
You know, that is an activeparticipant and supporter of
some very anti human events thatare transpiring around the world
right now.
But what I would say is.
The leadership that Americaprovides and the possibility
that America secures is thereality that African Americans
(48:02):
represent.
That this entire experiment as anation, Allah allowed it to come
to be.
God allowed this to come to beeven with all of its ugliness
and pain so that a people couldbe born to remind humanity of
God's mercy.
and his hand in taking humanityto its destination.
Frank (48:27):
Yes.
Faridah (48:27):
And without that experience, this would not have
happened.
So where Americans our, ourancestors in slavery, we're
languishing and nobody is.
came to rescue, not, not anyonein the Muslim world, not anyone
in the Christian world.
No one came to rescue this newpeople were born and secured and
safeguarded by the creatorhimself so that now these people
(48:51):
can remind all of humanity aboutthe best that's in us and that
the covenant with God is theanswer to everything that
plagues humanity, including theestablishment of the human
family.
Frank (49:04):
Yes.
Amen.
And in the human family is wherewe'll see the greater mercy.
That, that our Lord, our creatorgives to man in that picture in
the loving relationship betweenthe parents and the loving
relationship between thechildren and the children with
the parents in that picture iswhat we see the greatest
(49:25):
expression of, or the purity, Ishould say, of, of his mercy.
to us as a creation.
And then from that, weestablished based upon that
particular relationship of thosefamily ties.
Absolutely.
Can
Faridah (49:40):
I just share that just interject very quickly.
I think that even in this trip,you're seeing that picture play
out.
So, you know, my husband wassupposed to be able to, to take
them, but he, he had to, hisresponsibilities to provide for
this family took precedence.
And so me, you know, theirmother, I was there to, you
know, as a nurturing presence,as a caretaker in my own right,
(50:04):
to be here to help shepherd themthrough the beginning of this
experience, but it would nothave been possible without the
safeguarding and the provisionthat, that was provided by their
father, my husband.
So even in making this happen,we can see the reflection of the
beautiful best life that Godplans for all of us, even in
terms of securing thisopportunity.
(50:26):
I just wanted to share that.
Frank (50:28):
Beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
So, you know, we want to, we,once again, we want to applaud
those parents and not only justthose parents, but anyone,
anyone who has contributed totrying to create pathways for
families and young children tobe able to, to experience life
(50:48):
and get the true, the truebounty and a true idea of what
life looks like outside of theirown circle.
You know, we want to thank.
Thank God, thank the creator forallowing you to be sensitive
enough to be a part of thatgreat, that great process.
So, you know, we want to thankyou all for that too.
Now on a, on a side note, Hey,listen, if you guys want to take
(51:09):
a trip to any country you wantto and take, you know, a lot of
pictures so you can blow it upon your Instagram and Facebook.
Hey, do that by all means, youknow that is nothing wrong with
those, that, that type ofactivity.
But understand that, you know,there is a greater level to
that.
And the level is what sisterFarta just, just recognize about
the sacrifices of the parents,wanting to make sure that the
(51:31):
children have their bestopportunity because they're
securing the future for them.
So by doing that process, weknow in the future, God willing,
That the steps have been made,the preparation has been made.
So that way, when it comes downfor them to take their position,
they naturally go right intowhat they're supposed to do to
secure our future as acommunity.
(51:53):
Wonderful.
God's blessing has always beenupon us.
And it's the sensitive onesamongst us are the ones who
recognize, and we're the oneswho become obedient to that.
Well, Farda, The praise is forGod always we have moved one
step closer to destinationexcellence
Faridah (52:15):
until next time.
Let us remain conscious of ourCreator and of the sacred
relationship of parent and childand of the family ties that bind
us.
Subscribe to the podcast andcome back next time for a new
episode of The Family Ties.
Frank (52:32):
From Frank Abdul Shahid
Faridah (52:35):
and Farida Abdul Tawab Brown.
Frank (52:39):
Peace be upon the family.
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