Surah Luqman - A reflection by Ahmad Adisa
I chose this passage [for reflection] for numerous reasons.
The first being that Luqman was an African and so prominent a figure that his story is Qur'anic. Meaning Allah Ta' ala saw it fit for us to gain from this man's life, faith and wisdom. We could say that such a matter is not really significant and that the race of a person or the color of their skin should not add to nor subtract from the message. While I do not disagree with that, we know that the world we live in is constantly affected by such indicators. As well, there is much significance in such a fact when seen through the eyes of a Muslim in America of African descent.
When studying the books of fiqh from Northern Africa I always found myself wondering whether I could be related to any of these authors. My blood runs virtually through the whole of North-Western Africa, so the possibilities are endless. When reading the various reports about Luqman they seem to place him in modern day Ethiopia; however, that doesn't take away from my point.
As African-Americans we are faced with this reality about our unknown past, our ancestors, our forefathers, our lineage. Many of us these days have taken to DNA research to find out the answer to the question. Where do we come from? Growing up that was often lumped into one answer “Africa.” I still hear that from time to time and it disappoints me to no end that people refuse to differentiate a continent from a country. The issue of Luqman is that his significance is multi-faceted. In that he was a stultifying character in history of Ethiopian descent and was a righteous servant of Allah. There were undoubtedly others but none with a chapter of the Quran named after them quoting their actual words. Oftentimes, we do not see our faith in its totality. We don’t see that Islam opens doors for a myriad of things; women’s rights, human rights, animal rights etc.
The thing I’m speaking about right now is that of being able to be recognised for our differences and not discounted because of them. As well, we cannot overlook the basic fact that people view themselves based on the world view much more often than we think. If that worldview is negative, and a person has heard nothing but this about themselves then how do we find options for better thinking? Pointing out the potential that exists in others is fundamental to raising a person from a lowly state to one of just being human to see our own significance. Luqman is a name I hear often among African-American Muslims, along with Bilal, these great people themselves become identifiers. us specifically of African descent in America us not only to our faith but our past, our ancestors, our lost families.
Secondly the reason I chose this passage was because it discussed two subjects that relate directly to what I just wrote about faith and lineage. These two things come hand-in-hand in the Quran, numerous times we find the combination “worship Allah, do not associate any partners with Him and show ihsan to the parents” (4:36). While we may be the first generation Muslims in our families [re: converts] we still have a duty to our parents and those duties are obligatory. Luqman passed his knowledge down to his son and we read it in Allah‘s book to us, his spiritual progeny. That is why I emphasized in Arabic, “Oh my dear son.”
Individually we need to learn the rights of parents and it is sorely needed for that aspect of manners to be passed down to the next generations of Muslims behind us oh my dear son is dust us in the context of Allah to reach back to all his children and all of mankind with words that will always link us to our loved ones known and in known.
P. S.
For reference sake: I embellished the surrounding of the text with variations taken from African Mushafs and a little of my own alterations. The script is Maghribi, which is used widely in North Africa. The colors are taken from the various nations of Africa - red, black, green, blue and yellow.
