Barely a few years ago, you could hardly get a critical word in about feminism without being excoriated by Muslims. As a group, we were gung-ho pursuent to the defense and protection of our women who we increasingly saw as victims of physical, and mental abuse, denial of rights, marginalization, and neglect, at the hands of Muslim men. It got to a point that anything and everything that wasn’t right with a woman was because of a man or her choices in men. Low down dirty men.
Abuse, whether physical, verbal, or psychological, is real. It should be addressed, and in relationships, women, more often than men, are on the receiving end. However, in the wake of our newfound conciseness regarding abuse, the ubiquitous ideological incursion of the extreme, anti-marrriage, anti-family, single gender accountability, gender war mindset has found a comfortable home in Black Muslim America. It formed the basis for much of our thinking about marriage, relationships, and how we view the opposite sex.
We bought the whole anti-man and anti-masculinity, narrative like it was a new enlightenment, hook, line and sinker. Before we knew it, we’ve raised an entire generation of Muslims in this country on the notion that women are untouchable in terms of accountability. We’ve also raised a generation of Muslim men and women on the notion that your feelings and your emotions take precedence over divine revelation from Allah and the guidance of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Some Muslims would say, “Let your emotional intelligence be your guide.”
There’s plenty of historical blame that we can toss around in Black Muslim America regarding the effects of feminism and its pernicious compliment of ideological accomplices and how it became so ingrained in our moral psychology. Nevertheless, it’s a moot point at this juncture. The programming has set in.
Moving forward, what’s important is what is going to happen in light of this mass deviation from scriptural outlook and view of the world to an emotional one. The Prophet said in the hadith of Abdullah ibn Amru, “none of you have believed until his whim is in agreeance with what ive come with” [لا يؤمن احدكم حتي يكون هواه تبعا لما جأت به]. Sound hadith.
The question is, how do we collectively extricate ourselves from this ideological entanglement? واعتصموا بحبل الله جميعا ولا تفرقوا [hold fast to the rope of Allah in unison and be ye not separate] 3:103
On the bright side, there are signs that the Black Muslim community in America is getting tired of feminist philosophy and is starting to push back. What’s needed is that we come together in scripture. As Muslim men and women, we have a greater chance to come together upon our scrptual foundation than upon anything else.
In order for that to happen, the rallying point has to be tawheed, scripture, and the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Granted, there are different views and opinions in the interpretation of our religious texts and our laws, especially amongst those ignorant of our religion. However, those differences can be mitigated by agreement to return to the source in areas where we differ. “O you who believe, obey Allah, and obey His Messenger, and those entrusted with affairs from amongst you. And if you differ in a matter, refer it to Allah, and His Messenger if you (truly) believe in Allah and the Last Day” 4:59
As far as radical feminism, in the year 2025, we’re starting to see substantial push back. A lot of it is coming from people who aren’t even Muslim.
I say we’re making some progress here. Black American Muslims are slowly starting to think about survival. Radical feminism does not figure into that equation. And Allah knows best.
Imam Luqman Ahmad
Imamabulaith@yahoo.com
Imam Luqman Ahmad Mosque Without Borders 