Imam Luqman Ahmad Mosque Without Borders

الوحيدون الذين يتحدثون عن الحب هم الوعاظ. لا أحد يهتم بالتعلم إلا المدرسين.

The Temptations, an African American Rhythm and Blues group,  said the above, in a 1970 song. I still remeber what we were doing when that song came out.

 In Arabic, it could easily be mistaken as a contextual observation of a medieval Muslim scholar. In English it reads like this;

 

“The only person talking about lovin,  are the preachers. Nobody’s interested in learning, but the teacher“.

There was a time in Muslim America when a Muslim would be condemned for listening to music.

We argued over music. Shunned each other over Music. Quoted ambiguous, contradictory, and applicably inconclusive views of the scholars regarding Music.

Yet, our history shows that many Muslims, from imams, duaat, and scholars, to philanthropists and moguls like Luqman Abdul-Haqq (Kenny Gamble), were in the music industry.

When Philadelphia native, Kenny Gamble wrote the song, “I’ll always love my mamma”, years before he converted to Islam, he was speaking of Islam. The song was about love, reverence, respect, and honor for the mother.

A man came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and said,  O Messenger of God, to whom should I do good? The Prophet ﷺ answered,  your mother. The man said, then who? The Prophet ﷺ answered,  your mother. The man said, then who?The Prophet answered,  your mother. The man asked for a fourth time, then who? The Prophet ﷺ said,  your father”.

Music is our poetry.

Music is people’s poetry. I don’t think that you can effectively give da’wah to people if you don’t understand their poetry.

 Little known facts. Shaykh Dawood Faisal from the well known State Street Mosque in Brooklyn originally came to America to pursue a music career. From there sprang the Darul Islam Movement. Lynn Hope (Hajj Rasheed Ahmad) who was instrumental in the early da’wah to Islam was a acclaimed saxophonist.

ImAnother legendary saxophonist, John Coltrane was a Muslim, his wife and daughter were Muslims, and Hajj Talib Ahmad Dawud, who in the late 1950’s, founded the Original Muslim Brotherhood Masjid on 5310-12 Girard Ave in Philly, used to play trumpet for the Dizzy Gillespie Band. He married the well-known jazz vocalist Dakota Staton who became Muslim and changed her name to Aliya Rabia. She died in 2007 at the age of 76. May Allah have mercy on our pioneers. Know your history beloveds.

Imam Abu Laith Luqman Ahmad. imamabulath@yahòo.com

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