Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1979)
i I Portland Observar Thursday. September 27. 1979 Page 3 There’s a lot more to contact than meets the eye We have all types, soft and hard—tinted and bifocal, too! Optometrie Eye Exam All Type« Contact Lenge« Visa A Mastercharge At 4 ^aíu>xii<»K O fitte s t Downtown I Lloyd Center I Eaitport I Oregon City 631 S W Alder 288-5393 1 771-3233 Shopping Center ............... I I 658-9727 223-2171 H erm an P lu m m er. Freddye P e te tt and George R ankins at Grand Opening of Benjamin Franklin Savings and Loan W aln u t Park branch. o tti 7 4 cá Dry S Anderson. E Brigg» R Hallquld, K LelUel. G -»teen W Sidden» "PíACe ta tfa ia tAc 7 [ a h c Tfau ^.'xaat American State Bank "The Bank that integration built" 2737 N.E. Union Com m issioner Charles Jordan; Miss Tan, Ophelia Stevens; and J im m y " B a n g B a n g " W a lk e r . Miss Tan cut the ribbon opening new branch office. 'I 282-2216 The Morris Morks House 1501 SW Hornson Sneer Portland 97201 Telephone 227-2666 George Rankins takes a cup of coffee. Why Islam is Spreading in Africa (Editor's Note: The rapid spread o f Islam throughout Africa is seen by many in the West as an extension o f growing Arab power. But, reports Abdul Babu, Islam has been a force in Africa fo r a millenium, and is only now re-emerging from the twilight o f the colonial period. And, he says, African Islam does not represent Arab power or influence, but purely African aspirations fo r an African future. Babu—a M uslim—and form er Tanzanian M inister f o r Economic Affairs and Development Planning, teaches in African Studies at San Francisco Slate University.) byA .M . Babu PNS— From the shores o f West Africa east to Ethiopia and the Red Sea, independent Black A frica n states are witnessing, w ith appre hension or enthusiasm, the re- emergence o f m ilita n t Islam ic religious forces that promise to become a decisive fa cto r in all A fric a ’ s future. A lready, one o f three Africans is a Muslim. Some observers see the growing power o f Islam in Africa as a natural expansion o f the Islamic revolution that is asserting itself in the Middle East and Asia. But this view tends to overlook the fact that Islam — A frica n Islam — has been a potent force in the religious, social and political life o f the African con tinent for a millenium. From the 10th Century onward, Islam has formented an African tradition o f militant resis tance to external forces. The power o f Islam in A fric a receded only during the modern colonial period, and even then provided fitfu l threats to foreign dom ination. As early as 1917 the B ritish colonial a dm inistration in East Africa predicted that the threat to their rule would come from Islam. “ It is in connection with a native conception o f the idea o f ‘ Africa for the Africans’ ,” noted a British o f ficer, “ that any conjunction with Islam propaganda is to be regarded as a real danger. Islam would provide a cementing factor. . . ” That prescient view has been wholly confirmed in the recent anti colonial past and the independent present. Alm ost everywhere in Africa militant Muslim communities have been in the fo re fron t o f the fig ht to throw o ff old colonial masters and new foreign intervenors. In Tanzania’ s struggle for inde pendence. President Nyerere found his most solid support among the M uslim com m unity in Dar es Salaam. In the Congo (Zaire) the centers o f m ilitant nationalism were in Stan- leyvillek. Kindu and the Kasonga areas—all militantly Islamic. In Egypt. Nasser quoted from the Koran to propogate his brand o f socialism, and in Algeria it was the ban against Koranic teaching that fin ally sparked the armed struggle against the French. In Zaire today, as in the Cam eroon, the most tenacious libe ra tion movements opposing foreign influence remain predomi nantly Muslim. And today in Egypt, Sudan and ail across A fric a — especially in those nations where open political opposi tion is banned— an underground Islamic movement called the Muslim Brotherhood is gaining a size and strength that w ill soon be capable o f erupting into a m ilita n t p o litic a l force at any time. To many Westerners, such a prospect conjures fears o f an Arab- d o m in a te d , g lo b a l- s p a n n in g religious force that is vehemently anti- Western. Some see in it an easy analogy to the West’ s own rise to in ternational power 1,000 years ago, and the rapid spread o f Christianity which coincided with it. Are the oil-rich Arab states—the home o f Islam— now expanding their new economic and political muscle through the spread o f Islam? Is A fric a its e lf tu rn in g tow ard the p o litica l as well as the religious magnetism o f Mecca? Such fears spring from equating Islam w ith C h ris tia n ity — w ithout recognizing that Islam, unlike the C atholicism that swept over the West, bows to no central authority. Throughout history, wherever the flower o f Islam has taken root it has grown into a native plant, not an Arabian hybrid. This is especially true o f A frica Islam. Ever since 640 A .D . when Arm ibn al Aas established the first Islam ic base outside the Arabian peninsula in Egypt, Islam has flourished in Africa not because o f the Arabs, but in spite o f them. Arab rulers and merchant adven turers over the centuries—far from enhancing the spirit and image o f Islam in A frica—degraded it by their practices o f slavery, exploitation and subjugation. To this day, anywhere in Africa, an Arab is suspect. Islam took root in Africa because A fr.a n s found it broadly in keeping with their own traditional values— primarily that o f loyalty to the com munity. Unlike Christianity, which came to A fric a via a highly in dustrialized Europe and was seen as a rig id ly hierarchical and in d i vidualized religion w ith a " p e r sonal” God, Islam reflected the pat terns and values o f a pre-industrial world. In contrast to the Catholic church, Islam never needed a hierarchical center like Rome to derive its a u th o rity. That a u th o rity always came from within, allowing Muslims and their communities to maintain a high degree o f autonomy and self containment. A shared set o f values, together w ith the absence o f an external authority, allowed Islam to be im m ediately localized, and in the process to lose its foreign identity. The unique adaptability o f Islam springs from the Prophet Muham mad’s own inclination to rebel against the status quo, which in his case meant revolt against his own clan, the powerful and corrupt Quraishis. The Muslim’s own holybook, the Koran, castigated the privileged Arabs (the Beduin) as "th e worst sinners and hypocrites." I f Muhammad were to re-emerge today, he would certainly lead a new struggle against the sheiks and monarchs whose oil money is now freely changing hands in casinos and nightclubs from Beirut to Las Vegas. For M uham mad in his tim e was moved, above a ll, by deep social anger at squandered wealth, op pression o f the weak, and the arrogance o f the mighty. Islam suc ceeded because its message made sense to both Arab and African? it was in te llig ib le and persuasive because it was relevant to the peo ple’s own experience. And it is re-emerging in A fric a today for the same reasons. A fte r having been buried under centuries o f European Christian colonialism— which left M uslim A fric a w ithout educated leaders in the immediate af termath o f independence— Islam began its march back into African consciousness when the Europeans began packing their bags in the 1960s. The new leaders o f the indepen dent A fric a n states introduced secular eduaction fo r a ll, and the Muslims, for the first time in cen turies, took fu ll advantage o f it. Nassar opened E gypt’ s colleges, universities and technical schools to M uslim students fro m all over Africa, and most o f these students are now back home in positions o f power and influence. This second revival is a spon taneous upsurge, not against socialism — as some Western ob servers contest—but against poverty and hum iliation, which for A frica has become the status quo. The struggle is part and parcel o f the mass upsurge witnessed throughout the developing countries against foreign e xp lo ita tio n and local despotism. N ationalism in A fric a is s till young, energetic and progressive— not yet chauvinistic. Islam is part o f that nationalism. Thus, so long as poverty and political repression exist in Africa, as both exist today, Islam can be expected to continue to grow, o ffe ring the nearest thing possible to organized resistance to the status quo. DES CONNAIT. Professional Corporation LEGAL CLINIC CONCENTRATING IN THE FIELDS OF: CRIMINAL LAW INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF INTOXICANTS DOMESTIC RELATIONS WORKERS' COMPENSATION BANKRUPTCY PERSONAL INJURY WILLS - PROBATE AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS CONSUMER PROTECTION If you have a problem that is not covered in this list, please call and ask whether we can help. Chances are, we can. If not, we can recommend someone else for you to call. One way or the other, we want to see you get the kind of professional legal counsel you're entitled to. The best time to call us, or any attorney, is before you are embroiled In a legal problem. This is called preventative law and it makes a lot of sense. Regardless, when you call us we will arrange for an initial consultation at your convenience. Cost: $20" We probably can't solve anything in this meeting, but it is a chance for you to explain your particular problem and for us to give you some idea of what it'll take to reach a solution. If you want us to proceed, we'll give you an estimate of the fees you should plan on. In writing. &• Ss.
