Wednesday 9 March 2011

Separatism among African Americans

http://www.noi.org/about.shtml
http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action;jsessionid=A4260971CBC3EF6A294F33DDF8987FF7?load=detay&link=191456&newsId=191348

Separatism among African Americans aims to make separate institutions apart from ‘white America’. Some African Americans appear to be embracing such groups as the ‘Nation of Islam’ in part because of their feelings of disadvantage from a white dominated society in America. However there is evidence that in some quarters this may be looking towards forming a minority “state” within the U.S.

The article chosen shows this may be a leader in a group known as “Ummah” or “the brotherhood,” a mostly African-American group of Muslim converts, seeks to establish a separate Sharia law-governed state within the United States.

A leader of the ‘brotherhood’ appears to be H. Rap Brown now converted to Islam with the name Jamill Abdullah Al-Amin who is a convicted murderer and political black activist.
H. Rap Brown was well known for his behaviour in the 1960s and gained a reputation as the “violent left's least-thoughtful firebrand,” and was jailed for murdering a policeman. The defendant was one of the leading figures of the American Muslim community. His definition of non-violence includes his famous boast, “We’re gonna burn American down.” He was a member of the FBI’s Most Wanted, Black Panther Party, a revolutionary leftist organisation.
The article describes Abdullah as "a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group consisting primarily of African Americans, some of whom converted to Islam while they were serving sentences in various prisons across the United States.".

The simple question here is whether the promotion of a Sharia law “state” by the “brothers” is compatible with the U.S Constitution? I believe the answer is no. There are aspects of the Sharia law that come into conflict with the U.S Constitution. Firstly, I will identify what the Sharian law is. Wikipedia states Sharia refers to the sacred law of Islam. “All Muslims believe Sharia is God’s law, but they have differences between themselves as to exactly what it entails, which will be difficult to discern what to apply when, but we’ll labour along for the sake of discussion.”.

“In Western countries, where Muslim immigration is more recent, Muslim minorities have introduced Sharia family law, for use in their own disputes. Attempts to impose Sharia have been accompanied by controversy, violence, and even warfare.”
During the Arab International Festival, there were recent incidents displaying the poor image of Sharia inside the United States and its incompatibility with American culture and law.

American is a melting pot of many nations. From Chinese to Italian, people come from all over the world and they blend together very well. However, the Muslims in America are becoming too much and this is reinforced as they wish the Americans to comply with their wishes and the Sharia Law. Americans, however, would like the Muslims to follow their own rules, dressing accordingly and worshipping in their homes and mosques only. Americans generally are concerned with Muslims preaching their religion or trying to convert them. The notion of freedom, democracy and human rights tend to be lost with the application of Sharia Law and under a Sharia based law in America, these concepts might soon be long forgotten.

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