Peace Be Unto Those Who Follow Right Guidance.
I have just finished reading Sherman (Abdul-Hakim) Jackson's Islam and The Problem of Black Suffering (Oxford: OUP, 2009). Like his earlier work, Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection (Oxford: OUP, 2005), it made for an engaging and informative read.
Islam and The Problem of Black Suffering is Jackson's attempt at mounting an Islamic theological response - more precisely, a Sunni Muslim response - to William R. Jones' Is God a White Racist? (New York: Basic Books, 1973). (I should point out that, although it is within my possession, I have not read the latter work.)
Having read the book and considered its arguments in detail, I think that Jackson has succeeded in his project, viz. refuting Jones' claims of
(1) "divine racism" under assumptions of God's omnipotence ("All Power") and omnibenevolence ("All Justice/Mercy/Good"),
(2) socio-political quietism as entailed by a commitment to a theological worldview which upholds God's omnipotence and omnibenevolence, and
(3) the desirability of a post-theological secular/humanistic foundation for "anti-racist" activism.
In short, Al-Islam [=The Self-Surrender to God/Allah] is fully consistent with a theology asserting God/Allah as both Omnipotent and Omnibenevolent and with a commitment to counter-Racist - and, more generally, counter-Supremacist - activism.
Nonetheless, from an Islamic counter-Racist perspective, I find Jackson's book to be somewhat disappointing because of its exclusively theological focus. According to Jackson, theology is
ultimately a negotiated product, the medium through which religious communities conceptualise and talk about God in the public space, where the only valid form of knowledge is objective knowledge to which everyone has ostensibly equal access. This discourse serves the community by enabling it to settle on conceptual frameworks and concrete understandings that are broad and resonant enough to draw its disparate members into a common and commonly owned religious identity. (pp.161-162)
I don't deny the importance of engaging with theology and accept that the book's explicitly stated remit was exclusively theological. Yet, IMHO, Islam and The Problem of Black Suffering, with its theological focus, offers little in the way of what is needed PRACTICALLY in order to RWSWJ (Replace White Supremacy With Justice).
Classical Islam distinguished foundational theology (usool-ad-deen) from foundational jurisprudence (usool-al-fiqh). While Jackson has, arguably, engaged with the former - at least in a negative/reactive fashion - and outlined the foundational basis of what might be described as a kalaam at-tahreer or "Liberation Theology", there remains an urgent need to develop what might be described as a fiqh at-tahreer, i.e. a "Liberation Jurisprudence." This is going to require ijtihaad, i.e. the exertion of intellectual effort in determining new solutions to new problems.
To the extent that Jackson's engagement with Jones' Is God a White Racist? has foregrounded kalaam at-tahreer or "Liberation Theology", I wonder whether engagement with Neely Fuller's seminal work, The United Independent Compensatory Code/System/Concept: a textbook/workbook for thought, speech and/or action for victims of racism (white supremacy), might stimulate development of a much needed fiqh at-tahreer or "Liberation Jurisprudence."
Peace
Read more!
