MovieChat Forums > Malcolm X (1992) Discussion > Are black muslims aware of the role of I...

Are black muslims aware of the role of Islam in the slave trade?


Because even a simple google search will turn up vast documentation on 2 inconvenient facts:
1.- African blacks were mostly captured by their own people (rival tribes) whom realized it was way more profitable to sell rather than imprison/kill their rivals/criminals/prisoners/whomever.
2.- Arab Muslims commanded and manned the slave trade routes, thus effectively becoming whitey's slave provider (and of their own societies whom some STILL TODAY practice slavery).

So if blacks think that Christianity is the main force that enslaved them and Islam is the main force that can liberate them, they've been bamboozled, to borrow one of Malcolm's zingers.

And if they really want reparations, their first stop should be their own people in Africa, then the likes of Saudi Arabia and Iran, and last whitey back home.

Have fun trying to collect from the first two, or even get an apology...

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NOI writings spin the historical narrative to put the blame for the Arab slave trade on Jewish leaders and merchants. And if you go back through older speeches and writings of the NOI and splinter groups, you find a couple of divergent views: either the 6th/7th century Muhammad and his tribe were black, or he was a white imposter. The official view seems to be the first one. In any case, their view is that the term "Islam" is not just the Middle Eastern religion that most people think of, but that it actually refers to the original religion of humanity millions of years ago, and that humanity at that time was all black.

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