Tag: history
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The Last Salafi Holdouts: How a Fading Movement Desperately Tries to Keep Its Grip on Black American Salafis, by Imam Luqman Ahmad
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَبَعْد For more than three decades, Saudi religious institutions played a central role in shaping the Salafi movement in the United States. Their books, tapes, translations, and fatwas flowed into Black American communities at a time when many new Muslims were searching…
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The Free Qur’an That Fractured a Community. How a State‑Funded Qur’an Translation Reshaped Black American Muslim Identity, by Imam Luqman Ahmad
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَبَعْد The translation known as The Noble Qur’an (often called the Hilali–Khan translation) was produced in Saudi Arabia by Dr. Muhammad Taqi‑ud‑Din al‑Hilali and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, and published by the King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an in Madinah. It was…
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When “Wahhabi” Became “Salafi”: How an Imported Ideology Reshaped Black American Muslim Life, by Imam Luqman Ahmad
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَبَعْد Before the 1980s, the word “Wahhabi” circulated in Muslim communities as a pejorative label—an accusation of harshness, rigidity, and an almost mechanical approach to faith. It started as a name people chose for themselves, and wore proudly, but outside the Kingdom…
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THE GLOBAL SALAFI INDUSTRY BUILT ON THE BACK OF BLACK AMERICAN MUSLIM CONVERTS, by Imam Abu Laith Luqman Ahmad
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَبَعْد Walk into almost any Black Muslim bookstore in America — from Philadelphia to Atlanta, from Detroit to Brooklyn — and you’ll see the same pattern: shelves lined with glossy paperbacks stamped with the same familiar branding. “Salafi this.” “Salafi that.” “The…
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The Three Faces of Modern Salafism and Their Impact on Black American Muslim Life, Imam Abu Laith Luqman Ahmad
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَبَعْد Modern Salafism did not enter Black American Muslim life as a single, unified ideology. It arrived as a current, as a wave if you will. A global religious stream shaped by oil wealth, geopolitics, missionary institutions, and the intellectual anxieties of the modern Muslim…
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Beyond Skin, Beyond Wounds: Why Black American Muslims Must Reject ‘Racial Islam’, by Imam Luqman Ahmad
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَبَعْد The lived reality of Black American Muslims includes a distinct history, a unique set of social pressures, and a long record of struggle inside and outside the Muslim community. These realities deserve to be named honestly. They shape how we build…
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How Ignorance of Fiqh and the Absence of a Madhhab Damages Black Muslim Families in Divorce, Imam Luqman Ahmad
A lot of Muslims believe that ignorance of religion is a trivial matter that has no consequences. Nothing can be further from the truth. Divorce is one of the most legally detailed areas of the sharia, designed to protect families from chaos, prevent injustice, and ensure that separation does not destroy the rights of spouses or children. When…
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Madhhabs as Instruments of Unity, Order, and Civilizational Cohesion. By Imam Abu Laith Luqman Ahmad
Across fourteen centuries of Islamic history, no institution has done more to unify diverse peoples, stabilize communities, and create civilizational coherence than the madhhab. Whether in Baghdad or Timbuktu, Cairo or Aceh, Damascus or Zanzibar, Muslims who shared no language, no ethnicity, no political system, and no cultural background could still pray together, marry each…
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Do Black American Muslims Need Their Own Madhhab? Imam Luqman Ahmad
While a new madhhab is unnecessary, there is a genuine need for a contextualized fiqh discourse rooted in the lived experiences of Black American Muslims.
Imam Luqman Ahmad Mosque Without Borders 