Ep. 80: Slavery and Islam Part 3: Racial Consequences & Theological Considerations - Dawud Walid

ImanWire Podcast

In part 3 of our series on slavery, Imam Dawud Walid considers the aftereffects of slavery on our current condition, its historical role in contributing to anti-blackness in the community today, and how it affects our understanding of Qur'anic language and theological concepts such as 'ubudiyyah (being a slave to God). Imam Dawud Walid is the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) and member of the Imams Council of Michigan. He is the author of several books, including Blackness and Islam, Towards Sacred Activism, and Centering Black Narrative: Black Muslim Nobles Among the Early Pious Muslims. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Introduction 5:39 - The Conflation of Slavery and Anti-Blackness 11:50 - Racialization in Language During the Abbassids & The Zanj Rebellion 16:20 - The Fabrication of Anti-Black Narrations 17:50 - Deployment of Racially-Specific Language 21:00 - Blackness and Arabness 21:56 - A Story of Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida 24:54 - Effects of Slavery on Fomenting Anti-Blackness 26:44 - Anti-Blackness and Representation 36:26 - Scholars Fighting Anti-Blackness and Race-Based Slavery 46:17 - Revisiting the "Arab Slave Trade" 1:00:13 - Slavery to God and Freedom 1:10:52 - Qur'anic Parables of the Slave and Free 1:16:06 - Egalitarianism Vs. Social Hierarchy in the Qur'an 1:20:31 - Modern-Day Slaves