There is a new and first of its kind book project which needs your support pertaining to Black Muslims in the early history of Islam.  

How Did The Idea Come About?

With a slew of very public anti-black events relating to hate crimes to police brutality in the spotlight as well as the expressed sentiment that there has been continued ignorance and erasure of the black experience within Islam, an idea came to birth among two Islamic educators.

During Black History Month this year, Ahmad Mubarak, who attended Al-Azhar University, and Dawud Walid, a lecturer on Islam and racial justice, were inspired to start the Facebook page Muslim Personalities Who Were Black In Early Islamic History to highlight Muslims from that era who were from African heritage and Arabs who had dark brown to black skin. Some of the personalities featured were Sumayyah, the first martyr among the Sahabah, Fiddah, the maid servant of Fatimah Az-Zahra, and the 8 Abyssinians who accepted Islam and migrated with Ja'far bin Abi Talib to Al-Madinah. 

What Was The Impact?

Besides having hundreds of people joining the Facebook group to keep up with the two entries per day, dozens of messages were received that these entries were read in the evening with subscribers' children.  A few teachers who work at Islamic schools also shared that the brief pieces were discussed in their classes.  A couple of mothers even sent private messages stating that the posts brought tears to their eyes because it was the first time they knew of any prominent black people among the Sahabah besides Bilal bin Rabah.

Why Should The Book Exist?

The feedback received from the brief daily entries spoke to the need for a compilation of black personalities among the early pious Muslims in English within book form.  From this feedback, the decision was made that select personalities from these posts needed to be expanded upon and refined to be put into book form for Muslim youth. There's no doubt that this lost history needs to be recaptured by English speaking Muslims.  There's also no doubt that such a book can serve as a valuable resource for parents and Islamic schools in undercutting implicit racism and inferiority complexes relating to colorism, which exist among far too many Muslim youth.  

In these last days of Ramadan, your support is requested in raising the projected $5,000 needed for editing and publishing fees to complete this groundbreaking project.  May Allah the Almighty bless you in your charitable giving, inspire you to spread the word about the project and make you among those who benefits others through it.