{"id":7023,"date":"2022-08-25T18:20:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T16:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/?p=7023"},"modified":"2023-03-09T20:55:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T20:55:41","slug":"collective-agency-in-impossible-situations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/collective-agency-in-impossible-situations\/","title":{"rendered":"Collective Agency in Impossible Situations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reflections on Prof. Sylviane Diouf\u2019s article, \u201cEnslaved Philanthropists: Charity, Community, and Freedom in the Americas<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAnything can happen, child.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anything can be.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

– Shel Silverstein<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A note about ancestry: If I read about Omar Mukhtar, for example, I claim his courageous acts as part of my Muslim heritage. I\u2019m not Libyan, but I claim this aspect of history as an example. When I use the word \u201cancestor\u201d here, I don\u2019t mean that we\u2019re necessarily direct descendants of the enslaved African Muslims who lived here on the land that we call America. (Although many of us may be!) What I mean is that I claim cultural\/spiritual\/heart-centered heritage or ancestry from Muslim heroes throughout history, and I think you should, too.<\/p>\n

In the context of our enslaved African Muslim ancestors, practicing Islam was about reclaiming ownership of yourself through surrender to Allah. These Muslim American ancestors were incredible, spectacular role models that we should both take pride in and emulate today. Here\u2019s just one amazing thing they were able to do – they crowdfunded freedom<\/b>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey contributed to a common fund and used it to redeem their coreligionists, including those who had just arrived. When a slave ship landed, they went on board and redeemed the Muslims<\/em>\u201d (26).<\/p>\n

I believe that the teachings of Islam inspired them to this ingenuity and impactful collective action. These people are my heroes. When we use MLFA\u2019s legal and human power to set people free or keep people out of prison, we\u2019re trying to live up to the example of the incredibly brave and generous Muslims who were here on this land before us.<\/p>\n

\u201cExamples of Muslims\u2019 continued observance of their religious obligations can be found in several countries. Among these requirements, charity may seem the most impracticable given the terrible deprivation the Africans endured<\/b>. Yet the two most important categories of charity, zakat and sadaqa, have been documented in the United States, Brazil, and the Caribbean and, given the Third Pillar of Islam\u2019s significance<\/b>, they were likely part of the Muslims\u2019 practices wherever they landed\u201d (Diouf, 25)<\/p>\n

Enslaved African Muslims found a way to reclaim agency of themselves in an impossible and dehumanizing context. Looking back, despair seems a perfectly reasonable response to the conditions under which they lived and died. Obligations of Islam, like fasting or zakat – they could very easily have found exemptions to these obligations. Instead people chose to impose further discipline on their own bodies, on their own meager resources. Allah\u2019s path gave them back their own selves, preserved in some way their humanity and dignity, allowing them to accomplish heroic achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201c… the freeing of coreligionists through zakat was the embodiment of collective agency<\/em>\u201d (35)<\/p>\n

Even enslaved under truly brutal conditions, our proud Muslim American ancestors understood the power of collective agency<\/b>. May Allah show us how to honor their generosity in all that we do.<\/p>\n

Their example reveals that charity itself can be a subversive or revolutionary act. They used their agency as legal non-persons, searching for the in-between spaces to set people free. Here\u2019s another example – let\u2019s say you want to get across the wall to reach someone you love. Officially, it\u2019s impossible. But let\u2019s say you\u2019re patient. You pay attention. You spend a lot of time watching, gathering information. Eventually, you\u2019ll start to see a small break in the wood or stone, a gap where the wall is starting to crumble, just an inch. Or maybe you notice that one of the guards falls asleep at a particular time of the afternoon – that\u2019s your gap. And if you remain open to the gap, you can find a way across.<\/p>\n

There is space around things and between things, as long as we don\u2019t get tricked by fear, by helplessness, or by despair.<\/p>\n

After 9\/11, certain government authorities named Muslims as the new enemy of the state. If we believe that this wall is completely solid, then we may as well give up, accept our new role. If we know that there are always possibilities around the edges, then maybe we\u2019ll be willing to sit quietly and pay attention. We\u2019ll start to see that the Constitution still has protections that we can use to defend those who are unfairly targeted. We\u2019ll notice laws that may help us make space for ourselves or for struggling brothers and sisters. Over time, we\u2019ll build strength and use our collective power to change the story. That\u2019s my hope for you, and that\u2019s my hope for the impact of the Muslim Legal Fund of America.<\/p>\n

by Jeannine Sherman – Thursday, August 25, 2022<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources<\/b><\/p>\n

Diouf, Sylviane A. \u201cEnslaved Philanthropists: Charity, Community, and Freedom in the<\/p>\n

Americas.\u201d Journal of Muslim Philanthropy and Civil Society<\/i>. Volume VI, Number 1,<\/p>\n

Spring 2022.<\/p>\n

Make a Donation | <\/a>Learn More\u00a0 About MLFA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reflections on Prof. Sylviane Diouf\u2019s article, \u201cEnslaved Philanthropists: Charity, Community, and Freedom in the Americas\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything can happen, child.
\nAnything can be.\u201d
\n– Shel Silverstein<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlfa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}