c) 2008 Azhar Usman | 10 Ramadan 1429 | 11 September 2008



About the Author

Azhar Usman is a Chicago-based, full-time standup comedian. He is
co-founder of "Allah Made Me Funny�The Official Muslim Comedy Tour,"
which has toured extensively all over the world. He is frequently
interviewed, profiled, and quoted in the press, and he is an advisor
to the Inner-city Muslim Action Network's Arts and Culture programs.
Mr. Usman is also a co-founding board member of The Nawawi Foundation,
a non-profit American Muslim research institution. He considers
himself a citizen of the world and holds degrees from the University
of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Minnesota Law School.
Born and raised in Chicago, his parents originally hail from Bihar,
India.



DISCLAIMER: The views and emotions expressed in this essay are those
of the author and are not necessarily held, advocated, or even
endorsed by any of the institutions with which he may be affiliated.



For more information, please visit:

www.allahmademefunny.com

www.nawawi.org

www.imancentral.org

www.azhar.com

An Apology
Heartfelt reflections on the passing of a legendary Blackamerican Muslim leader
 

On September 11th, 2008, while countless American flags whipped in the
wind and the television and radio waves were dominated by
remembrances, recordings, and stories about the terror attacks of
seven years ago, I attended the funeral of Imam W.D. Mohammed (may God
be pleased with him). For me, it was a somber day, but I found myself
mostly lost in thought: about African-American Muslim communities,
about the challenges ahead in American Muslim institution-building,
and about the future of Islam in America. If you don't know who Imam
WDM was, you should look him up. The Sufis say: "The true sage belongs
to his era." And of the many gifts given to Imam WDM by God, perhaps
the most obvious and beneficial one was the Imam's profound
understanding of the principles of religion, and his adeptness at
intelligently applying those Islamic principles in a socially and
culturally appropriate manner befitting the everyday lives of his
North American followers. While carefully respecting sound,
traditional jurisprudential methodologies of the Islamic religion, and
the collective religious history and time-honored scholarship of
classical Islam, he promulgated creative ideas and dynamic teachings
across many domains of human endeavor, including theology, law,
spirituality and even ethics and aesthetics, that together articulated
a vision for a quintessentially "American Muslim" cultural identity.