Berkeley, California

  On Wednesday, October 28, 2009, Imam Luqman Abdullah, a humble servant of America’s underclass, was killed by a fusillade of bullets fired by government agents, some of whom had played an integral role in helping to stage the crimes he was accused of committing. His story, like that of all humans is a complicated one. Unfortunately, most people in this country will never learn of Imam Luqman Abdullah, the complicated man. The complexity of his life will be drowned out by the simplistic images of the homegrown Muslim extremist – a caricature.

The nuances of his story, his dedication to family, friends, and community; and his struggle to live a dignified life despite the crushing weight of poverty, will all be lost. With their loss, America loses yet another opportunity to attain a small part of the understanding so vital to move this country towards the sort of policies it needs to pursue, both domestically and internationally, if it is to avoid the consuming trap of imperial hubris and the inevitable ravages her twin sister, who is never too far behind her - Nemesis.

Imam Luqman was no fan of the American government. It is difficult to find many people living and working in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Detroit, one of the poorest cities in this country, who are fans of the government – regardless of their religion. Too much of the country’s sordid underbelly is exposed in such communities to engender much affection for its government. Too many souls are lost to the liquor that flows too freely. Too many lives are fractured by crack and other debilitating drugs. Too many dreams are deferred by the crushing combination of poor schools, dysfunctional families, and inadequate opportunities and services – in housing, employment, and healthcare. And far, far too many people are gunned down by the bullets flying too freely from guns that are too easily available. In most instances the trigger is pulled by the brown or black hand of a lost soul hailing from the same neighborhood as the victim, but in far too many instances it is pulled by an agent of the state.

Imam Luqman knew that violence well, on both ends. He was shot and nearly killed by a robber who assailed his vehicle during the time he was a struggling cab driver, and his life finally came to an end at the hands of government agents who had lured him to the warehouse where he was gunned down after allegedly shooting a dog that had been unleashed against him.

However, despite the poverty, the pressure, and the pain existing in communities such as his, there are heartwarming stories of human dignity and decency. Imam Luqman Abdullah was the author of many of those stories. He wrote those stories with his service to the community, the people he assisted, day in and day out, such as providing rides to people lacking vehicles, arranging for a heater to be repaired before the onslaught of a brutal Detroit winter, and in countless other ways. He also wrote them in his commitment to his family. The Imam has thirteen children. Not all of them are his biological children, but all of them affectionately call him Abu, or Papa, because of the sincere advice and guidance he had provided them over the years. He loved his community and his family, and he also loved his religion.

Imam Luqman loved Islam. The depth of that love can never be appreciated by one who has never experienced the intensity of conversion. Many will point to that intensity as one of the factors feeding what is viewed as a brooding radicalism among African American Muslims. However, for every African American Muslim who has, in an unprovoked manner, done something to harm the interests of this state, hundreds of thousands of lives have been removed from the ranks of the living dead and ushered into the ranks of the morally and spiritually quickened, and those revived lives have contributed immensely to the betterment of their communities and this country.

For the likes of Imam Luqman, Islam provides a vision for a new and better life. It has showed him, and legions of others, how to live. For many African Americans, this is something that the country herself still cannot do. Despite the tremendous progress made in some facets of race relations in this country, it is sad that the deep musing of Richard Wright, found at the end of his powerful classic, Black Boy, are as relevant today, for many, as they were when penned several decades ago:

Well, what had I got out of living in the city? What had I got out of living in the South? What had I got of living in America? I paced the floor, knowing that all I possessed were words and dim knowledge that my country had shown me no examples of how to live a human life. All my life I had been full of a hunger for a new way to live…

Through Islam, Luqman Abdullah and countless others have found a new way to live.

The political rhetoric sometimes employed by the Imam has led his detractors to argue that he is responsible for his own death. After all, they argue - falsely - he was an advocate for a violent Islamic revolution in this country. However, those close to the Imam present another picture. They say that ultimately his vision of Islam was far removed from any grandiose delusions of overthrowing the American government. His was a vision of creating a space where children could play and develop free from the influence of drugs, consumerism and the ever-present threat of violence, where young men could grow up without being stalked by the pernicious spectre of gangs and gang warfare, and where families could establish networks of mutual support and assistance. If his neighborhood in Detroit could have been cleaned up to the degree that such conditions prevailed, then that neighborhood would have become Islamic in his view.

One could debate the Imam’s political ideology, just as one could debate if the Imam would have ever been moved to a point where he would have become involved, unprovoked, in an act of violence against the state. However, if agents of the state had not infiltrated his mosque and set in motion the series of regrettable events that culminated in his death he would still be alive today. That is a fact beyond dispute.

It would have been inspiring if the agents who had come into his community brought access to the resources needed to make the healthy community he envisioned a reality. They would have found the strongest ally in Imam Luqman. Instead, they brought intrigue, violence and yet more social devastation. Unfortunately, this is something they had to do, as they were fighting a war on terror. Although Imam Luqman had not been implicated in any terrorist related charges or conspiracies, he would become an unsuspecting victim of that war. In that sense, he is not alone.

In a final, but telling twist to his story, his life came to an end because he allegedly fired the shots that would kill Freddy, the government dog that had been unleashed against him. As his own bullet-riddled body lay handcuffed in a pool of blood on that cold, hard Detroit warehouse floor, Freddy was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital for possible life-saving treatment. Folks familiar with communities like those Imam Luqman lived and worked would not be surprised by that prioritization. As an old song goes, “…it’s an everyday thang, in the ghetto.”

Zaid >>> Imam Luqman was no fan of the American government. It is difficult to find many people living and working in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Detroit, one of the poorest cities in this country, who are fans of the government – regardless of their religion.

~ No! Those people are free. They are better in the US than in any other country. Americans know more than everyone else and have the best of everything. You're either a patriot or ungrateful blah blah blah ~

While Americans self-actualise their rhetoric as triumphant and righteous, I believe it will be the change in our attitude of helpless victims that will truly turn the tide. You cannot expect the change if we don't live that change ourselves. Muslim Americans are impoverished and discriminated against. Muslim Americans also happen to be highly educated, wealthy and resourceful too.

With Qurbaani being sent at wholesale prices to the Middle East and the Subcontinent, I wonder if Muslims in our communities truly care about the "other" Muslims in our midsts. Or do we prefer thinking of ourselves as the troubled outsider/foreigner. WE have systems of Zakaat, Sadaqaat, Sadaqah-jariyah and Lillah etc. that we circumvent through misapplication. American Muslims shouldn't be hat in hand victims of an American Agent Freddy.

>> It would have been inspiring if the agents who had come into his community brought access to the resources needed to make the healthy community he envisioned a reality.

I get the impression, that alot of the patriots who comment on this site just refuse to discuss American issues, other than the problem with the Muslims. The problems of this world are always the extremism of some other guy and Muslims in some backwater somewhere. And then too, its their condition that's their problem, and not the problem with their condition.

Muslim Americans are impoverished and discriminated against. Muslim Americans also happen to be highly educated, wealthy and resourceful too.
>>>>

Yeah, and lets make that distinction. African American Muslims may be impoverished in some areas or even as a whole. And some immigrant communities may be impoverished, depending on what they brought to the table when they arrived. Throughout my life, all the Muslims I have known have made far more money than I ever have. But that's a demographic. For whatever reason, my social circle is not lower income immigrants: probaly because there is no cultural context for our knowing one another. I probably would not be in my element sitting in the kitchen talking to the women about babies and hijab because the men won't talk to me about al-Ghazzali. Without exception, the Palestinian, Persian, and Arab immigrants I have known have been doing JUST FINE. But they are socially very, very different people than other kinds of Muslim immigrants or even African American Muslims. I attended Wajahat Ali's play "Domestic Crusaders" and I think I was the only person in the audience who was not in med school or an intern at a hot cutting edge hospital and globetrotting. Maybe it's a NYC kind of thing or a San Francisco kind of thing. But then I am happy as a clam in NYC or SF but would be living a nightmare in Alabama even if I wasn't Muslim. Why on EARTH do Muslim immigrants move to places in the US that culturally aware Americans avoid like the plague?

I appreciate Zaid's drawing a picture of a complicated man. Being complicated is one thing (is there any simple human out there), but doing crime is quite another.

However, do note that government agents cannot make you do what you're not already willing to do.

Akena >>> I probably would not be in my element sitting in the kitchen talking to the women about babies and hijab because the men won't talk to me about al-Ghazzali.

Lol ... in my entire life I have never had a conversation about Ghazzali. Don't aim to high. You'll find that people shy away from discussing any element of Deen.

>>> But that's a demographic. For whatever reason, my social circle is not lower income immigrants: probaly because there is no cultural context for our knowing one another.

I know where you're coming from on this, but with the worlds dynamic as it is, I think there's an imperative on us to find common ground with ALL the different types of people we interact with.

OmarG >>> However, do note that government agents cannot make you do what you're not already willing to do.

The population is willing to do quite alot at the behest and influence of its government agencies. Its not a matter of unwilling but a matter of incapable. Or in the words of the Imam

~ However, those close to the Imam present another picture. They say that ultimately his vision of Islam was far removed from any grandiose delusions of overthrowing the American government. ~

While the loss of human life is always tragic, the piece of Imam Zaid Shakir is confusing and ultimately evasive and even in some places pushing the "victimization" approach. In few places, Imam Zaid Shakir is downright wrong: Many community organizers in urban settings over the last decades did wonderful work in uplifting their neighborhoods without getting involved in unacceptable means and practices. The piece is understandably emotional. The way the Imam was gunned down is suspicious and humiliating. However the message conveyed by the piece is confusing and I found it very disturbing that in several places he tried to justify unacceptable practices and narrow thinking by the fact that the Imam loved Islam. Imam Ziad should have encouraged a more genuine introspection of the way some of our urban communities live their faith and express it. He should have encouraged more faithful and mainstream approaches for social justice.

Bilal15 >>> Imam Ziad should have encouraged a more genuine introspection of the way some of our urban communities live their faith and express it.

I think we expect too much from Imams. I think this kind of failure is a failure of the entire communtiy.

I am sorry but they are not Imams but speakers. The tragedy is that they believe they have a road map for the Muslim community.

Bilal15 >>> I am sorry but they are not Imams but speakers. The tragedy is that they believe they have a road map for the Muslim community.

Don't be despondent about this. Many communities and causes are without leadership. That doesn't change their goals. Currently, the imaams are the ones who have mastered Madhab, Quraan, Sunnah and other sciences of Deen. Its been so for quite a long time. Its up to the community to build that roadmap now from what they know, and the Imaams will follow that with providing from what they know. All of these Imaams exist within the short term views and limited applications that are possible only for their own small communities. An Imaam does not make an Ummah

@Ghluma: That's an excellent point.

>>the imaams are theones who have mastered Madhab, Quraan, Sunnah and other sciences of Deen.

Perhaps its more accurate to say that they are on the road towards mastery rather than having already mastered it. In my limited experience with imams in the West, it seems to me that even the highly educated ones learned the Islamic Sciences by rote and display little original reasoning and scholarship.

There are some who do, and they're often the ones with lots of CD sales, cough, cough ;-)