Can The Black Church Learn From The Muslim Faith?

Can The Black Church Learn From The Muslim Faith?

First off, I would like to say that I am not Muslim; although, I am fond of some of their practices. The Muslim Faith is one of the most riches and profound religions throughout the world. You have many people across the country practicing the Muslim faith. The Muslim faith is the riches religion around the world because the men and women are strong advocates of this faith. Even if a person didn't know much about the Muslim Faith one thing for sure, Muslim's are much respected.

Can we stay the same thing about the Black church? Is the Black church respected this much? What about the Black man?

Some black church leaders believe that the black church should not only cooperate with Muslims but learn from them as well, especially when it comes to reaching black men. "Black churches challenge you emotionally, and maybe intellectually" Rivers said, "but Islam challenges a man spiritually, physically and intellectually." Like Islam, Rivers observes, the Church of God in Christ enjoys a large male membership because "it cultivates the image of manhood." Rivers maintains that "black churches will have to take a page out of Islam’s playbook if they are going to engage young people." A former gang member, Rivers confesses to studying the strategies used by the NOI in its heyday. "My entire outlook was influenced by the Muslims," he admits. Rivers is now heavily involved in promoting church leadership in inner-city neighborhoods.

Robert Franklin, president emeritus of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, thinks the church should pay close attention to what he sees as the three distinctive marks of Islam’s appeal to African-Americans. "The political theology of Islam appeals to African-American activism the well-ordered spiritual life provides specific guidelines for prayer and for relationships to others; and the promotion of family values emphasizes male leadership. African-Americans feel the family is fragmented, mainly because black men are not fulfilling their role. In Islam the man is the provider," Franklin remarks. When Malcolm X presented Islam as an alternative, Franklin notes, black men responded because "Christianity failed to understand and satisfy what they were feeling but didn’t say."
Butts acknowledges the empowerment, stability and privileges Islam brings to African-Americans and their communities. "I see men who are redeemed from prison and drugs, who are off the streets and running their own businesses, who are neat and clean. They even have a new name!" he exclaims.

Hafis Mahbub, a Pakistani Muslim missionary to "new" black Muslims in Brooklyn during the 1960s, offered an even more radical account of Islam’s appeal to black Americans. In Dannin’s words, Mahbub taught that in Islam "the struggle to achieve personal transformation was synonymous with the struggle for total social reform."

Source