Continuing the work of Malcolm X: Khutbas For Black Liberation

                                                                                           The Power of Salah. 

Salah is an obligatory act of worship in Islam and has historically been a tool of spiritual resistance for the descendants of black slaves in the western hemisphere.   In a scene in the classic African-American film Roots, Kunta Kinta  prostates into sujood when his salah is interrupted by another slave who tells him,”you know white folks don’t want to you praying like that.”  Though this movie account is fictional,  it represents the daily occurrences of actual slaves.

Omar Ibn Said sought to escape from slavery when he was unable to make salah and was recaptured when he was found making salah at church.  Other enslaved Africans such as  Bilali Muhammad produced a text on Islamic law outlining the proper way to pray. Centuries later, in the autobiography of black freedom fighter Assata Shakur she recounts a powerful incident at her courtroom trial,”The Muslim sisters and brothers brought their prayer rugs and broke out into prayer in the hallway of the kourthouse.” This Khutba will analyze the spiritual significance of this act, how it interrupted the disciplinary forces of white supremacy,  and use it as a broader segue to discuss the power of prayer to acquire the spiritual strength to combat oppression.

Spiritual Lessons: The importance of  prayer.