The empowerment of black muslim women

My name is Rasheedah I am of Afro Caribbean heritage. I live in Vancouver Canada. I am a mother of 4 daughters. my background is in health care. I lived in Miami FL for 10 years. My children also attended Clare Muhammad school when we lived in Miami. My goal for taking this course is to learn more about Black people and Islam as this was never told when I reverted to Islam over 28 years ago. I am learning so much from this course and from the beloved teachers.

I am puzzled as to why this crucial piece of our islamic history was left out? I feel empowered just listening to Dr Bilal and Dr Jameelah and others as they explain to us how valuable the women are in the west African tradition as a muslim woman and that we are indeed a very valuable and vital part of the community. listening to Sheikh Mendes explain how our muslim sisters built masjid and a learning environment for everyone to benefit from gives me hope and courage that I too can start something in my community to benefit others. I feel like my learning in Islam is just beginning. I look forward to learning more insha’Allah and to learning from others.

3 Likes

Assalaamu alaykum sister Rasheedah,

I’m in Vancouver too and would love to support the vision you have. I work at the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies at SFU and through my role doing community engagement work there may be opportunities for collaboration.

I share your interest in telling the stories of Black Muslims and see it as an important part of decolonizing our Islam. A couple of years ago we held an event called Being Black and Muslim in Metro Vancouver - the graphic recording of the event captured some of the highlights of the conversation: https://www.sfu.ca/ccms/community/community-conversation-series/being-black-muslim-metro-vancouver.html

Please feel free to reach out to me directly (aslamb@sfu.ca)

Take care,
Aslam

1 Like

Walinkum salaams. I think My daughter attended that event. I didn’t get the chance to attend. Thank you for reaching out.

1 Like