“ While we were sitting there one day an old woman passed by carrying a water jug on her head, when a boy came by and placed his hand between her shoulder blades and pushed it onto her knees and broke her jug. When she got up she looked at him and said, ‘You will know, you double-crosser, when God’s footstool comes down, when all mankind is gathered together, and their hands and feet are made to speak about their deeds, then you will know what is to become of me and you before Him tomorrow!’”

The Prophet replied, “She spoke the truth, yes, she spoke the truth! How can Allah sanctify a nation whose weak do not take their satisfaction from their mighty ones?” (1)

Was your modern version of the Roman Empire built on the skulls of ten million Indians and slaves, or twenty million? If we add the number of slaves who died during transport or during the hunt does it reach 40 million or 100 million? Estimates vary. The number itself does not interest us. The Qur’an states an absolute law: Whoever takes even one life unlawfully, it is as if he killed all humankind!

The readymade American excuse for these atrocities is that some Americans called for freeing the slaves and that they fought the supporters of slavery and eventually won. But they purposely distort the causes of emancipation. It was not out of belief in human equality and dignity as some of them try to portray, because neither side disputed the idea that blacks were inferior to whites! The dispute was whether these inferior people had the right to freedom, and whether it would be more beneficial to the country’s reputation and economy?

This detestable belief went to–and still remains at- a level that is difficult for Muslims especially to comprehend, in which even houses of worship are segregated, each race having its own churches, and a black minister in a white church is almost unheard of.

There are some facts that are very difficult for Muslims to interpret. Muslim Imams who have worked in American prisons (whose work itself bears witness to Islamic values and the necessity of them for reform of humanity) have noted the high percentage of blacks among those sentenced for drug crimes. This seems to contradict the official statistics of the Department of Health and Human Services which indicate that there are five times as many drug addicts among whites as there are among blacks. The confusion is partially cleared up when we see that police patrols in America have a dual purpose: to defend the freedom of whites, and to detect crime among blacks. But how do we interpret the statistics that show that there were twice as many blacks as whites arrested during the seventies, while in the nineties there were five times as many arrested!

The answer is that since most blacks are poor, they tend use a cheaper form of drug [crack cocaine] while whites use the more expensive form, and Congress passed legislation imposing stiffer penalties only on the cheaper form.

Through this legal oppression –if that is the correct expression- I will add another cause for the increase in black prisoners and clear up the confusion.

When the novel “Roots” (2) was made into a film, statistics say it was seen by more than 130 million Americans! Why?

It was not simply because it was a horrible tragedy, but because of the shock that a tragedy of that magnitude had been covered up so long by high-sounding slogans!

The film irritated a deep wound in the human conscience that quickly shredded the thin layer of deception and falseness with the dawn of the truth.

According to the novel, the author discovered that he was Muslim because his ancestor who was hunted down by the “civilized” whites, was Muslim. He was able to trace the event back so that he was able to meet his Muslim relatives seven generations