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'Our story didn't begin in chains' Brother Malcolm reminded. Remember when we were free to just be? Be comfortable in the skin we're in? Where our chests were just as expansive as baobab trees? Where free traders and dusty foot philosophers threaded red earth paths of knowledge Seeking the truths we hold? Even held on to across the Seas? Where village aunties kept up tradition In colorful head scarves made educated guesses That healing was never done in isolation and understood that womanhood was the best hood to live in? Where children's classrooms were filled with wooden writing boards Not only blackboards To illustrate the long history of Islam and literacy in Africa? As lessons completed, boards were washed clean for reuse And the ink of young scholars flowed through the Savannah? Where the Sheikh and the mureed convened under the shade of palms from the heated sun beams sitting knees bent dripped in clothes without seams? Knowledge is a garden, if it isn't cultivated, you can't harvest it, the proverb says. Remember when they had us cultivating and harvesting everything else but in foreign, unwelcoming places and in cruel and unusual ways? 'But my hand was made strong by the hand of the Almighty' Brother Bob put forward And as we forward in this generation triumphantly 'We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because while others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind ' A lion name Marcus Mosiah authored So free your mind and be unconfined. Go ahead and tell your story Freely, in all your strength and glory The mind is a terrible thing to waste they said so don't waste time with those unworthy. Know your worth and charge taxes on every gem you drop Pick up where the ancestors left off and don't you stop. You are Black history and future in the making Through the joy and the pain Your spirit is steady manifesting The plant that God favours grows even without rain Resilience is a blessing Written by Zaakirah Rose
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Join Sakina Literary Society at a ladies only symposium with Ustadha Shehnaz Karim of Sanad Collective exploring the unseen. Make sure to bring a friend and RSVP!  Sakinah Lenoir & Rabiah Abdullah The Pearls of Islam are an acoustic dynamic duo born and bred in London. Their parents are converts of African Caribbean Heritage. Growing up in a convert family the Pearls were always exposed to many different types of Music from reggae to rhythm and blues to classical to traditional qasidas.
It was their parents passion and love that encouraged them to use their voices for the love of the Prophet Muhammed (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and their deen. As children they were always encouraged to sing on stage and perform their own poetry this eventually led to Pearls of Islam officially being established in 2005 under the management of Mecca 2 Medina. Since then, inspired and moved by their family and their Shaykh the Pearls have continue to express themselves through the use of their music and nasheeds. The Pearls perform a mixture of nasheeds, rap, poetry and spoken word accompanied with the Djembe, Daff, Darbouk and Guitar. They have been blessed to perform and take their music all over Europe from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Norway and perform to all audiences. Their varied work captures the attention of all types of audiences, non Muslim and Muslim alike. The Nasheeds which the ladies perform are in both English and Arabic and written with enthusiasm and love. Each piece has been worked on individually and expresses the love for Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى), His religion, His beloved Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), life and of course their spiritual teacher, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim. Their music emphasizes spreading the love of Rasululah (صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and the love of Haq (truth) in their hearts and others. (via Facebook) For our fourth monthly meeting, Sakina's members will be discussing the following article. Comment below and tell us what you think! Do you agree? Disagree? Does she have valid point or do you think the situation is more nuanced than this? A few months ago, as I struggled to carve out time in my crowded days for writing, a colleague suggested I read a book about the daily rituals of great artists. But instead of offering me the inspiration I’d hoped for, what struck me most about these creative geniuses – mostly men – was not their schedules and daily routines, but those of the women in their lives.
by Peter Sanders A culmination of 45 years of a spiritual journey photographing saints of Islam across the world and decades.
She is Amina, the daughter of al-Husayn, the son of Ali, the son of Abu Taleb (may Allah be pleased with them all). Her mother is Rabab Bint Umri’ al-Qays, the son of Adiyy, the son of Aws, the master of Banu Kalb. She was born in 47 AH and was named after her grandmother, the Prophet’s ﷺ mother. Her mother, Rabab, nicknamed her Sakina because she was a source peace and comfort to all her family members due to her merriness and liveliness. It was said that her father, Imam Husayn said about her: "By my life, I love the house wherein Sakina and Rabab live. I love her and for her would all my fortune sacrifice, without blame." Lady Sakina’s merriness and elegance did not preclude her from her devotion to Allah which sometimes reached a degree of complete occupation with worship. When al-Hasan al-Muthanna, her paternal cousin, asked for her hand in marriage, her father told him, “I have chosen Fatima for you. She is the most from among my daughters to resemble my mother, Fatima. But Sakina is mostly engrossed in her devotion and worship of Allah.”
Lady Sakina accompanied her paternal aunt, Lady Zaynab, to Egypt. The majority of the narrators and historians unanimously agree that Lady Sakina married three times: first to Mus’ab ibn al-Zubayr, followed by Abdullah ibn Uthman ibn Abdullah, and then Zayd ibn Amr ibn Uthman ibn Affan. If the West may boast about the salonieres of the 18th century, the Arabs would be speechless with wonder at the salons held by Muslim women in al-Andalus which predated the western salons by centuries. The salons of Walada Bint al-Mustakfy in the eleventh century CE were a gathering for scholars, poets, artists, and writers. al-Walada’s salons were not the first in Islam. In the first century after the Prophet’s ﷺ emigration, the women of al-Medina al-Munawarra hosted salons and the first to institute them was Lady Sakina. Later, the women of Quraysh emulated the practice. Lady Sakina’s salons were distinguished with refined literature, profound knowledge, and fine poetry. Many were the poets stood at her door seeking her permission to recite their poetry to her. These included al-Farazdak, Jarir, Jamil, and Katheer who, during the pilgrimage season, agreed together to attend Lady Sakina’s salon so she would judge who the best poet from among them was. Each recited his poem to her from behind a screen. She died in 117 AH. |
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