Race, Religion, and COVID-19: Black Muslims and the National Black Muslim COVID Coalition

Welcome everyone to Race, Religion, and COVID-19:

Black Muslims and the National Black Muslim COVID

Coalition.

I'm Asma Sayeed. I'm professor of Islamic Studies at UCLA and also the lead faculty member

for the Global Islam Cluster. And as many of you know, this is our inaugural webinar in our series of

events that we're planning in conjunction with the Global Islam freshman cluster which is open to the

broad public.

And it's um– although I can't see all of you, I see how many people are here and it's really

wonderful to have you all partake in this. I am going to briefly introduce Dr. Rashad and

then talk a little bit about the format and then allow her to take over the event as it were.

Um, so Dr. Kameelah Mu'min Rashad is the founder and president of Muslim Wellness Foundation which promotes healing and

emotional well-being in the American-Muslim community through dialogue, education, and training.

And through this organization, she also established the annual black Muslim psychology conference and

the deeply rooted emerging leaders fellowship for black Muslim young adults.

She's the co-founder or co-director of the National Black Muslim Covid Coalition.

This is an initiative recently launched in collaboration with the Muslim Anti-racism

Collaborative in order to address the need for effective planning and preparedness and organizing during

our current pandemic.

Dr. Rashad who previously served as University of Pennsylvania's Muslim chaplain

now serves as the Fellow for Spirituality, Wellness, and Social Justice and advises

the Black Muslim Student Organization.

Dr. Rashad's clinical and research areas of interest include diversity, religious identity, and

multicultural issues in counseling, healing justice, faith-based activism,

racial trauma, and the psychological impact of anti-Muslim bigotry in anti-blackness

and black Muslim intersectional invisibility.

These are all topics of incredible importance for all of us today in the particular

moment in which we are living. So I'm so happy to welcome

her here to speak with us. She has degrees or her training is from the University of Pennsylvania,

the International Institute for Restorative Practices, and she earned her doctorate in clinical psychology at the

Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Uh, welcome Dr Rashad. It's great to have you with us.

Thank you for inviting me, um and I'm going to get right to it since it seems like we're, we have a really rich discussion um,

ahead.

What is not included in my bio which I think is important because it explains a lot about who I am is that

I am one of seven children, um born to um, black Muslim converts um, to Islam.

They converted about late 1970s.

So born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

So my, my upbringing shapes a lot of my interest and the approach, sort of the

interdisciplinary approach that I bring to the study of psychology but also

religion, sociology, and understanding how people make sense of who they are

in the context that they're in. So I'm going to share my screen.

I have to say give this one caveat, there's a lot of information here. So if you have moments where you're

like, "Wait, I'm lost. I'm not sure. Can she repeat

that?" Please put it in the Q&A um, in the chat so that I can kind of

backtrack and explain a little bit more if that's helpful.

I also want to say that um if you are having trouble sort of understanding the connections between these concepts,

that that's also okay. Um, and I think it speaks to the complexity and the nuance of identity um, and the way in which we

understand who we are in particular moments, especially in this historical moment.

Um, so don't be too frustrated with yourself, don't be too frustrated with me.

Um but we'll, we'll hopefully have a really rich discussion.

Um so I'm gonna get right to it. So Race, Religion, and COVID 19: Black Muslims and the National Black Muslim COVID

Coalition.

This is the topic that we might be able to spend a whole semester talking about, so I'm going to summarize

the information that we've gathered from the black COVID survey but also my work around intersectional

invisibility as it relates to black Muslim identity development.

So the first question that many ask is who are black Muslims? And you might recognize the person in this photo.

And that question I think speaks to our understanding, especially in the

American Muslim context, about what images come to mind when you even hear the term

or the category American Muslim, right. The diversity of the community is often invisible.

It is the most diverse faith community in the United States

with no racial group having an overwhelming majority.

Which means we often have to ask ourselves,do the media representations, the images

that we see reflect this really rich broad diversity?

Again, the most ethnically diverse faith community.

And one in four American Muslims identify as black or African American.

And so this includes those uh, black Muslims like myself. I was born and raised Muslim

um, of convert parents. Um, it also includes those who've emigrated from the

continent of Africa and those who also identify as Afro-Caribbean.

So we have this sort of black category um, that is inclusive of sort of the black diaspora and all it represents.

Um, another sort of interesting point to note is that historians will estimate that about a

third of enslaved Africans were Muslim, which means that there was a

significant Muslim community in the um, in the early development of the United States.

And so we wonder what was the impact of those enslaved uh, African Muslims. How did,

how did they understand the institution of enslavement in the United States?

Um and there's um, some really um, fascinating work, historical work

that's done on Sapelo Island um, off the coast of

Georgia um, where a gentleman by the name of Bilali Muhammad, it is sort of guessed um, or not guessed but

um presumed that he wrote one of the sort of first documents in the United

States um, based on memory. Um and these were verses from the Quran.

And so when we think about you know who black Muslims are,

we're actually thinking about a history that spans over hundreds of years.

What this also says to us is that roughly half of black muslims are

converts to Islam.

And what the Pew Research has founded as of 2017 is that

84 percent or 75 percent of black Muslims report that religion is very important

in their lives, and also report being a group that has higher sort of

expressed religious practice than non-black Muslims.

So this becomes really important when we think about identity, when you think

about conversion, but also the introduction of those

like myself who are second generation Muslim um, kind of meeting this sort of diaspora.

What sort of new expressions of black Islam in America

are seen, and this can be regional, right. That in certain cities,

there are large populations of black Muslims.

I'm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Um, there's over 200 000 Muslims in the city.

Um and so in the the uh, in this region, the number is even higher.

So thinking about places like New York, Philadelphia, Newark,

Oakland, L.A. but also in the Midwest. Minneapolis, thinking about especially

Detroit, Chicago. We find that black Muslims have again

decades-long communities that were established and so we see kind of black Muslim life

flourishing in those areas. So black Muslims report that religion is

very important in their lives about 75 percent, um.

And so here I'm kind of weaving in, right, some of the the psychological theory

that can explain why um, religion and identity are so

integrated, right. They're linked. It's very difficult to separate them apart. So according to the cross

model of black identity development, internalizing a positive view of your racial identity

actually serves a purpose, right. It can defend against psychological stress caused by

discrimination, oppression, marginalization. Provides a sense of purpose of meaning,

of belonging, and it also helps sort of understand again the interactions with

others outside of the boundaries of blackness.

And so who am I in relation to others is often what we see.

So internalizing a positive view of blackness facilitates, right, defense against stress,

a sense of purpose, and also interaction and relationship with others.

Now this positive identity promotes resilience as well.

And I highlighted one section that looks at religious orientation. So having a

positive view of oneself as a black individual contributes to also a heightened sense of using

religion, faith, spirituality, um, as a way to also understand history, to understand oneself, to

understand community.

And also serves as a way to ground oneself in a way of considering, what does it mean right to live in this

time under these conditions?

What brings me joy? What brings me hope?

And how do I cope with all that the context

brings?

So intersectional invisibility, um again kind of bringing in another

psychological theory, looks at you know, the question of what

happens when a minoritized group, in this case,

American Muslims are minoritized in this country.

And I'm using specific language because I think it's important for us to understand who are the agents, right, who

are the targets.

And so for example, I always say enslaved

Africans rather than slaves. This was a condition of a people, not who they were. And so when we talk

about minoritized communities, that it is white supremacy and oppression that is causing that

marginalization.

Okay, um and so intersectional invisibility looks at what happens when a religious minoritized group experiences, right, in the case of black

Muslims,

what happens when black Muslims experience racial

minoritization within their religious group, right.

In other words, you're considered a minority within a minority and that leads to acute social invisibility. And by that meaning,

there are ways in which black Muslims are hypervisible, right. We think about sort of some of the famous names that we

know like Malcolm X. Muhammad Ali.

And sort of the day-to-day understanding or the lived experience of black Muslims

often is erased or ignored or made invisible.

So one way to sort of depict this um sort of this this understanding of black Muslim intersectional invisibility

is that it's often thought that black Muslims are not considered sort of the prototypical members of the

American Muslim community.

And by that I mean, if someone were to say close your eyes, I'm going to say the words American

Muslim. Tell me what images come to mind. It is likely that the images that come

to mind are not of me or my family or my

communities.

And because given um, the influence of islamophobia, of anti-muslim bigotry,

there was a very intentional concerted effort to cast Islam as a religion, as something

foreign. But remember what I said, about a third of enslaved Africans were Muslim,

right. So this was not a religion that was foreign to this country. In fact, it's been present

for hundreds of years. but post-9/11, there was more propaganda

that served to sort of cement this idea, right, or this belief,

erroneous belief, that Islam was not a religion that was practiced in the

United States.

So what happens to Black Muslims who are

minoritized due to racial and religious identity? So

on the left, often when we say black or African American, the assumption

is of uh, the universality of Christianity, right. That African-Americans are

predominantly Christian, there is no consideration

of different forms of religious and spiritual expression.

On the right side, we understand that often, again, when we hear the terms American-Muslim,

the schema or the idea the mental image of American

Muslims do not include black people. So all Muslims are considered

Arab or south Asian, right, which means

foreign, immigrant. Brown. And Arab and Muslim often used synonymously or

interchangeably. and that's actually not true. Over 50, I think maybe 60 percent

of Arabs are actually Christian. So we see what happens when um, these religiously or racially

minoritized groups um are seen as monolithic, that there isn't diversity, there isn't sort of

depth to that identity. So when we say African-American, often black Muslims are

not included. When we say American Muslim, black Muslims aren't often included in

that depiction. So this is an example.

This is um, an article that was published uh, just almost two weeks ago, "Coping with

Racism: A Perspective of COVID 19 Church Closures on the Mental Health of African Americans."

So again, what you might not be able to see

from from this screenshot is that it says, "Predominantly African-American churches,

hereafter referred to as the black church have always served a historical,

cultural contextual and scientifically validated role in the mental health,

well-being of African-American communities coping with American racism."

So this does not capture a significant majority of African-Americans who identify as Muslim.

This is um, another article that was published and the American, by the American Psychological

Association. A Culturally Specific Mental Health and Spirituality Approach for African Americans Facing the COVID

19 Pandemic. If you read sort of the smaller prints

of the abstract, it says that pastors and African-American churches

were interviewed. And so the assumption there, right, it doesn't say spirituality

approach for African-American Christians facing the COVID-19 pandemic. It sort of

assumes that African Americans are Christian and

that there's no religious diversity within the community.

So when we're looking at black Muslim intersectional invisibility

alongside the pandemic, alongside sort of this summer of protests of unrest, many begin to talk about this

pandemic within a pandemic of racial violence.

And that this is looking at the coronavirus, police brutality, how is this impacting the mental health

and well-being of black African-Americans across the country?

It's having a substantial impact.

This was just published in August that Muhammad Muhaymin Jr.

unfortunately was a black Muslim man who was killed by law enforcement. And recently released videotapes of that

murder, you can hear one of the officers mocking him saying, "Allah? He's not going to help

you right now."

And so black Muslims again, standing at that intersection of both blackness and

muslimness are subject to both uh, sort of experiences of discrimination of marginalization of

violence.

And so when we think about police

brutality, it is also a Muslim issue. When we think about those who are

experiencing incarceration, detention at high, and

alarming rates, that is a Muslim issue.

The other thing that is important to

explicitly point out, and I'm kind of pushing folks to kind of use this language to be

specific when we're talking about communities, is also the religious identity of the group that

we're referencing.

So um, Christian hegemony refers to the assumption again of

Christianity.

So in in a country like United States that is assumed to be secular, um, what happens in December? Folks will say

'Merry Christmas.'

It is it is a Christian holiday but it has been normalized to become almost a cultural

tradition when it has in fact its basis in religion.

When we're thinking about sort of observing traditional worship on Sundays,

that does not include those Christians

who worship or have a sabbath on Saturday,

does not include Muslims that worship on Friday,

Doesn't include the Jewish community that worships on Saturday as well.

So that has become normalized, right. Our week technically starts, right, Sunday.

This is a day of worship for Christians and then the work week begins.

And so imagine American Muslims who want to observe

their day of worship, having to taketime off, having to request

that this time be granted. And often again depending on the kind of

context in which those folks are working, it may be very difficultto get that time off or it has to be

approved or it has to be justified when worship on Sunday is not contested.

Black Muslims also experience islamophobia, right, or anti-muslim

bigotry, anti-muslim violence. Um and this was a screenshot from

protests that were happening outside of a mosque in Dallas, uh, Texas I believe in

Um, so a picture of a black Muslim woman

entering the mosque, um, being followed by this masked

gunman. And there were many protesting outside of this mosque and were armed.

Um, finally thinking about the issue of

immigration of detention of deportation, it is

also a Muslim issue that black Muslim immigrants face

high rates of either being stopped by ICE, being deported, and experiencing a

lot of mental burden, financial vulnerability due to

immigration status. And this has become again one of those

issues that is hotly debated but we often don't think

about black Muslims or American Muslims broadly,

having a stake in what we think about ICE.

Right, how is that a Muslim issue and one that needs to be

addressed? So this idea of social toxins um, comes from idea of thinking about

what are some toxins in the environment that lead to

sort of uh, negative health outcomes. Right so if someone has asthma we think

about the quality of the air, we think about

where they live, access to healthcare. Um, so if we think about

social toxins, it's understanding what is in the air

that black Muslims are breathingthat contribute to um chronic stress,

um poor health outcomes, vulnerability. And it is all of these things and more.

Right, it's white supremacy, it's

incarceration, surveillance, um anti-muslim violence or racial trauma because of that violence,

um Christian uh, Christian hegemony, um and also

anti-black racism. And this is in the broader American

society and also within the American

Muslim community itself. One of the uh, so Muslim Anti-racism Collaborative is

one such organization that serves to have us think a little

bit more deeply about how colorism, how just racial

discrimination plays itself out even within our faith

communities.

And so as a black Muslim experiencing

racism within the American Muslim community

um, is something that is detrimental um, to one's overall well-being

um, because it's happening in both likely spiritual spaces but also in cultural

spaces. Um, so when thinking about safety from harm, whether that is

verbal,physical, that safety is important for

those who are experiencing trauma onmultiple levels.

Often we think of a mosque, a house of

worship, as being that place of refuge.

For many black Muslims, it becomes another context in which they're experiencing microaggressions.

So that's important to note.

So on bringing all of those things

together, we have sort of in this context of the

social toxins, we have the summer of protests of unrest

um, due to police brutality and racial

violence. Um, we have a pandemic that's ongoing,

and it is disproportionately impacting

um, the black communities across the country. And so there are multiple

stressors that are chronic, that are persistent,

and impacting the the health and

well-being of the community.

Um, so these are just kind of pulled from the the headlines.

COVID 19's disparate impacts are not a story about race,

right, it's a story about racism. Um, so there,

there is nothing to suggest that

for instance black or African Americans are genetically predisposed to infection at higher rates. This is a

systemic failure that stems from white supremacy and

racism in the United States.

So as of most recent reports, APM Research Lab compiles data on mortality rates in the

country and 1 in 920 black Americans has died.

Um, and this is compared to one in 1 840 white Americans.

But that number is alarmingly high

because black Americans or those who identify as African-American only make up about 14

to 15 percent of this country's population, right. So we have to ask ourselves,

why is this minoritized group experiencing rates of infection and death at such

alarmingly high levels?

What APM research lab also um, uh captures through this data is that

if black Americans had died, right, at the same actual rate as

white Americans, about over 20 000 black Americans

would be alive today. Okay, I think this

is something important to sit with right as

we think of what is the impact of race right and racism. What is

the impact of those communities that are

more vulnerable um, to experiencing infection

um and death? These mortality rates are disturbing. Right, so if we had

again died at the same rate of white

Americans, over

20 000 black Americans would still be

alive.

So we wanted to, through the National Black Muslim COVID Coalition and my organization, Muslim Wellness

Foundation, wanted to explore this uh, important variable around religion, right.

And what is important to remember about religion is that is not just simply a

set of rituals or practices, right. This is a source of identity,

source of meaning, and for African-Americans, for black

Americans,

it is also um, contributes to a sense of purpose of meaning

of belonging. It helps uh, in coping with this environment that's

full of these social toxins.

Um so when we're talking about religious identity, it is what is the function of faith,

right. How does that faith help those individuals be able to withstand these conditions

which are persistent, they're chronic, they're systemic.

Um and so I want to push everyone to

think about sort of what is the – why faith, what is the function of religion,

like tangibly, pragmatically in folks' lives.

And it contributes to being able to meet sort of a day, right, where um, there might be multiple experiences

of microaggressions, of racism, implicit bias,

subject to religious discrimination

right. This faith and a positive view of oneself as

a black individual helps to be able to overcome those

obstacles. Or at least manage them, right. They still have an impact.

So we wanted to look at this through an anonymous confidential survey

that was launched in May and we

collected data from about almost 900 self-identified black Americans with

equal numbers of uh, Christians, Muslims, and those who

identified as members of another religious or

spiritual community. And this is what our research

team looked like.

Right, so a black Muslim research team trying to understand what is

the role, the significance, the impact of

religious identity when we understand uh the impact of coping.

Um, and so the reason that this coalition was launched is because

we notice from the very beginning, this is late February, early March,

that again all of those relief efforts geared towards the African American

community often, right again Christianity or

African-American Christians are seen as sort of the prototypical or

typical member of the community. so those

efforts were not including black mosques, black Muslim

communities, black immigrants that were also

vulnerable at this time.

So this effort was really designed to make sure that this community's needs

were not overlooked.

So who were our respondents? And again as, to the best of my knowledge,

this is the only national survey that was able to engage

a broad section of self-identified black Americans on this question, right,

of asking about religious identity and asking about the

impact of COVID on practice. Um and so this sample represents

actually the religious and ethnic

diversity of black Americans. Um and we wanted tounderstand what does it mean, right, to be

a black Muslim, what does it mean to be a black Christian,

and how the the racial and religious

identity helps mitigate right the negative impact of

the pandemic. Um, and so, and in this research we found

that the overwhelming majority, about 75% of our respondents were um, were female.

And then much lower about a third, male.

And one thing that we wanted to do was,

around gender, just ask people todescribe themselves.

Right and we also did this when it comes

to ethnicity.

And many of our respondents told us that

they often don'thave the option of being able to self-describe and that this was also

felt very affirming, very validating, that

we were curious about how people describe themselves.

The sample was overwhelmingly heterosexual.

And another important things to note that, um, the Muslim

respondents were more likely to be

Married than the Christian.

And 52 percent of Muslim respondents had children compared to 46 percent.

So we ask right, what is your personalexperience with COVID?

Alright, so over 80% said they had not shown any symptoms. And this was

between May and June, so these numbers may have changed. Um, but what we see is

more than 10% have symptoms but are not tested.

Right, there were some who were currently,

right, as ofthem completing the survey, diagnosed

with COVID,um and then there were those who had

recovered.

When we asked those same participants,what about your family, your friends, your

loved ones,how has covid impacted them?

Many, right, this is I think, this issomething that

um, we're able to get a better

understanding of through the qualitativedata that we collected,

but over almost 30 percent ofblack Muslims had no symptoms, reported

no symptoms.

But almost 50 percent identified as

having friends or family members that

had recovered and close to 30 percent, having a friend

or family member that had died of covid.

Um, so if you're thinking about one in three, one of four black muslims who says

'I personally know someone who's died of covid' or 'I personally know someone who

has recovered,'we have to begin to think about what is

the impact right on a community

where death, illness, violence are pervasive.

So again, kind of representing the average number of people

and here that knew someone that had died of COVID.

So our participants um, responding

that at least two or three people they knew

had died.

Um so, on a scale of one toeight, um we have black Muslim women

um reporting uh perceived stress at about a seven.

Um and then men reporting lower stress um, but still, this is on the side of

'yes, the stress is there.' And so our question was how are people coping?

Some reported that they were looking for counseling or

therapy. and they had been in therapy before.

So this becomes important in thinking about how people are understanding

ways to mitigate what they're experiencing in the world.

So I'm going to move to looking at the impact.

So the impact was predominantly in these

four domains:

Financial health, psychospiritual

well-being, physical health, and family

and community well-being.

So what is what does this mean? It sounds like this.

Right, a 72 year old African-American

Muslim womanum shared, "I'm tired of being labeled

'Most likely to die first'

because I am poor, black, and elderly."

This 21 year old African-American Muslim

man said, "I've been extremely demoralized

lately to have witnessed the significantuptick in police brutality, white

supremacy and utter disregard of blackand brown people and communities amidst

the pandemic.Feeling like whatever we do there is a

permanent target on our backs for merely existing."

This 38 year old east-African Muslim

woman said, "I have surges of anxiety.

The disparities black folks are

experiencing in infectiontesting and treatment have reinforced

the general anti-blacknessof this country." Right, so again, remember

those social toxins that

um, black Muslim individuals are very

very aware.

Right, that these things are happening simultaneously. there's a pandemic,

there's racial violence, there's disparities in health care,

and they're impacting overall overall well-being.

I included this much longer quote because I think it really captured

the way that the these multiple layers of toxins of the pandemic

can have an effect. Um so this 29 year old east-African

Muslim woman said, "I'm doing my best to hold on to the light of faith.

I've had a lot of dark days and I've had difficulty coping. I can't sleep at night.

my mind is always racing, thinking about how brief this life is.

Black abuses have escalated and to be forced to stay home and not be able to

do anything to fight back has made coping with this pandemic

a heart-wrenching one. I'm angry more

than ever. I find myself moving towards feelings of apathy and this is the most terrifying

consequence of this pandemic, to be indifferent about what is happening will be to sacrifice the

softness of my heart, but every day it feels like it inches

closer to despair. To be black in this time is to be beaten to a pulp with just

enough life to keep our blood flowing.

I don't know how much I can take. Allthis to say,

overall, I'm hoping, terribly." And everytime I read those words,

you know, I kind of have a chill. They'rereally impactful

because it sort of captures the feelingof a heavy burden, right, of

what does it mean to exist under these

these conditions um, and still have to push forward. I'm

thinking about what brings me hope and this is where faith comes in, um, so

that her first uhstatement was like, "I'm holding, I'm doing

my best to hold on to the light of faith"um, is also sort of emblematic of why

religion and race must be analyzed together.

Um, so one of the coping strategies that I want to highlight,

there are four, right: problem

focused, meaning um, what can I do.

Right, what precautions can I take. This was sort of very pragmatic,

realistic activities that folks can

engage in just to feel a sense of personal efficacy.

Right, like I wear my mask, I have gloves you know, I'm keeping, you know

socially distant, six feet apart. But one of the significant coping strategies

was meaning, right, and the reliance on faith and

spirituality and racial identity as a source of resilience, of pride, of

being able to

sort of put one's present moment

in context and say, well I believe I have strength to cope with this, to move forward

even though it's very heavy.

So religious coping can be positive or negative. Right, on the positive side

it means that it helps individuals to reframe events, to think about them from

a more hopeful lens.

It encourages connectedness, right, rituals,

what can I do in order to feel closer to members of my community but also to

to the creator, to god. But there's this other side,

right, there's there's always this balance of um, when it's

negative religious coping, individuals

may feel like well, maybe this is a punishment by god, right.

Um, there's nothing I can do about it right,

which becomes spiritual bypassing or religious deferral, like

you know it's already been decided. God knows best, right. there's nothing I can

do, um.

Or having a real existential kind of crisis.

um thinking, why would god allow this, why is this happening and happening at

such a rate to to a community that's already very

vulnerable.

But again, this meaning focused coping, right, is captured in this statement from

a 61 year old, not 601, that would be news, but 61 year old

African-American Muslim man who said,

"In spite of all the death, sickness, and trauma people are experiencing

not only here in America but all overcthe world, one thing is certain,

and that is that god is in control."

A 51 year old African-American Muslim man said, "As a Muslim and with Ramadan

observance in the midst of COVID 19, life is more peaceful.

It helps and redirects my focus away from the news and images

of death." So when we think about why faith, why is this important, why must

we talk about race and religion and health together, it is because it's

an important way of providing meaning, coping for

those who are experiencing tremendous challenges.

It helps those sort of make sense of continuity of what happens when

I am a member of a community that has experienced these different levels of

toxins of trauma, but there's still hope. There's still joy,

right. They're still striving for purpose. And faith provides that that really rich

fertile ground for that to happen.and so over the course of the last six

months, people are trying to understand this

right. That it's even for those who identify as agnostic,

atheists, is calling it the question what does all

of this mean.

And so the Pew Research Center um, did a survey and found that

86% of Americans felt like there's a lesson

right in this pandemic. 35% of those who said there was a lesson

said it was somehow related to god, right.

What must I learn about faith. What, how do I interpret this in light of

my religious practice?

So this is significant. Um and I want to leave you with this.

A 50 year old African-American Muslim man shared,

"I accept the Qadr (or the divine wisdom)

of Allah (of god) and I know that with difficulty comes

relief. And so with this difficulty, right, not only of

the the health crisis, but also

understanding violence understanding, the impact of

discrimination and oppression on the

community, there is a deep sense of justice,

of you know perhaps I don't understand

but I trust in god's wisdom that this

will all make sense at some point. And it is

my um, it is my sort of duty right to hold

on to that faith in order to withstand what is being

experienced. Um and so we must think about how are

people drawing on their religion,

their faith identity, their communities

um, as real sources of of strength, of resilience um and enables communities right, despite

all of these toxins, to continue to thrive. So understanding religion

as a source of strength and resilience, right, not simply practice and ritual,

is very important when it comes to certainly black Muslims,

but I would say American Muslims in general.

Um, so I am going to leave it there and turn it back over to

Dr. Sayeed. thank you Rashad,

Dr. Rashad. That was um, a really,

as far as I'm concerned, a model of an

interdisciplinary talk. I mean you've brought together uh

American history, um civil rights history, sociology, psychology, critical race

studies, and I know that the students have

benefited from this tremendously. and in addition

to being a model of an interdisciplinary talk,

it was deeply moving and uh, really eyeopening for me so thank you

so much. And I look forward to continuing the conversation in the weeks ahead.

You've given us quite a lot to think about, so thanks a

lot. Thanks so much.

You're very welcome, Bye-bye.