Today a street near Columbia University leading to Harlem is named after Malcom X. We were walking towards Harlem on the same street. “Welcome to heavenly Harlem” a banner declared.
The Dutch were the first land Mafia around here and they named the area “New Amsterdam”, however, when another group of land-grabbers i.e. the British, arrived here they renamed it “New York” for obvious reasons. Harlem, which is a Dutch word, remained the same.
And what is Harlem?
Right in the middle of a sea of white culture it is a black island sprouting, bubbling and throbbing with life with its very own culture, dress code, accents and morality. The inhabitants do not stick to any particular dress code or colour — skin tight jeans, trousers almost falling from the hips displaying at times the great divide, knee-length oriental robes, shocking pink suits and at times just the undergarments. Their latest expressions and proverbs are immediately adopted by musicians, youths and copy cats of America throughout the world.
There is an amazing variety of faces and colours. For instance, a face so jet black that pitch darkness in comparison brightens, then a woman whose complexion is like golden teakwood and when she walks by you are mesmerized and want to follow her. There are light-skinned Negroes signifying that their past master’s blood runs through their veins as slave girls were also legitimate in their owner’s bed. Those who possess jet black complexion take pride in the fact that their blood has not been polluted.
The Negroes are cursed by God, was the favourite slogan once. If their entry into white churches was banned, it was according to the will of the God. In Michelangelo’s city, Florence, there is the famous ‘Door of Paradise’ on display in a square. The door has six embossed panels depicting stories from the Bible and one of them is about Hazrat Noah and his sons. When my travel companion Wendy approached an elderly American for the details of the story, he explained it in the following words.
“After the great flood subsidized, Noah set foot upon dry land and cultivated grapes to make wine. He was in his tent when his son Ham entered and saw the nakedness of his father and turned back. Then his son Sham took the precaution of spreading a sheet in front of his eyes and talked to his father through it. Because of what Ham saw, Noah put a curse on him till eternity, his fair colour turned into jet black and all these Negroes and dark people are the off-springs of Ham. Young lady, you should not be associating with this coloured man either.”
Wendy, herself a thoroughbred American, in turn cursed the old man and then apologized to me, saying, “We still have sick people in our society.”
For the Negroes of America, the message of Islam was a breath of fresh air in the suffocating raciest society they faced. They found great appeal in the message that all human beings are equal in the eyes of Allah, no one is superior because of his race, cast or colour, the superiority is only in obedience to Allah. Naturally, Hazrat Bilal is the role model for them, a common Negro slave freed by Hazrat Abu Bakar rises to such dignified heights that he becomes one of the closest companions of the prophet. After the conquest of Mecca, the Holy Prophet takes him in to the sanctuary of Ka’aba, requests him to say the first Azan in Ka’aba.
Even the great Caliphs bowed before him out of respect, would not speak till he chose to say something. When Hazrat Umer dismissed Khalid Bin Walid, commander-in-chief of the Muslim army, he requested Hazrat Bilal to deliver the dismissal order to Khalid who, at that moment, was about to conquer Damascus because he feared that Khalid may rebel and invade Madina instead. Hazrat Bilal, according to the orders of the Caliph, tied the hands of Khalid with his turban and in presence of the whole army pronounced his dismissal.
Then Hazrat Bilal said, “O, Khalid, these were the orders of the Caliph of the faithfuls and it was my duty as a Muslim to execute them. Now I will do what my heart desires.” Hazrat Bilal untied his hands and wrapped the turban on his head and then prayed for him.
I have the honour of visiting the tomb of this beacon of light for the oppressed and blacks of the world in Damascus.
Dr Ali Shariety in his book Hajj states, “Amongst all humanity, a woman, amongst all women a black slave woman whose name was Hajira, Hajj is basically paying tribute to her.” And when you analyze this statement, you reach the conclusion that almost all the rituals of Hajj are directly related to our mother Hajra, wife of Hazrat Abrahim and mother to his son Hazrat Ismail, who in turn was the forefather of our prophet (PBUH). Ummatul Momnin Hazrat Maria Qibtia, who was the mother of Hazrat Ibrahim, the last son of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was also dark skinned. The Holy Prophet instructed his followers that after his death when they will conquer the lands from where Hazrat Maria Qibtia came, but they should treat those people kindly because they are his relatives.
In those days when these blacks were declared the children of Ham, a proud slogan emerged from this very Harlem — Black is beautiful. Black music, black faces, black culture — all that is black is beautiful.
I heard an old gentleman selling mineral water in Harlem and declaring it, “Black water”. This slogan again was inspired by Alex Helay’s The Roots. The Negroes who previously tried their utmost to be like the whites, wearing their dress, copying their mannerism and with the help of chemicals bleached their dark complexion, suddenly abandoned this attitude and became Afro-Americans. They adopted the ways and dresses of their ancestral Africa, the culture of Masai and Zulu tribes, wearing the same ornaments, doing their hair in pleats, wearing long robes and even carried the fly sticks of the African chiefs just to prove that they had a distinct culture of their own.
The tattoo craze which has gripped America has its roots in Harlem as this form of decorating the body was prevalent is Africa. Every second shop in Harlem is a tattoo parlour where this black art is practised. Get your body decorated with animals, flowers, cartoons, slogans, human and inhuman faces, anything which takes your fancy.
Almost 80 years ago this form of body art was very popular in our part of the world also. My father use to tell me that it was very fashionable in his childhood days and he, along with a friend, had their names tattooed on their arms when they visited a mela as kids. My father, when he blossomed into a tall and handsome youth, felt ashamed of this tattoo because according to him this art form was adopted by all tonga walas and drug addicts so he had it removed. But thanks to Harlem, once again tattoo is the ‘in’ thing, especially the tattoo which is invisible works wonders. I had the occasion to meet a Pakistani lady who had a very funny elephant tattooed on her shoulder and was rather proud of it.
However, the credit of establishing that black is beautiful actually goes to our very own Noorjehan when she sang Kala siyah kala, sadha kala hai dildar te gorian noon paran karo which can roughly be translated as, “Black, jet black, my beloved is black and the whites can go to hell”.
I am sure that in near future when the Negroes of America become aware of this great song, they will declare it their as national anthem. n
Today a street near Columbia University leading to Harlem is named after Malcom X. We were walking towards Harlem on the same street. “Welcome to heavenly Harlem” a banner declared.
