Why Bilalian?
I had been familiar with Bilalian as a term that Imam W. Deen Mohammed had introduced early in his leadership (1975).
I had the privilege to read some old Bilalian Newspapers as the community paper at that time was called early in Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s leadership.
The explanation that Imam Mohammed gave made sense to me. I concentrated it down to an individual having no name or the wrong name. Prophet Muhammed said a good name is worth more than a mountain of gold. That’s significant.
So I understand the emphasis of a correct name, a name expressing clarity and purpose.
I had that sensitivity to change my birth surname, I like most know the origin of many names that African Americans possess right now from over 100 years ago.
These names that were imposed upon us, I say imposed because at that time we didn’t have options. But now we have favorable circumstances that allows us to courageously choose our own name and I wanted a last name that reflected a relationship with my Creator , a name that reflected that awareness. From its origin to its destiny, a name reflecting a line of purity from its beginning to its conclusion.
So I as an individual chose El-Amin the trustworthy one. Trust and faith are closely connected actually related.
Muhammed was described as El-Amin because he was truthful to his original design. He was in tune with his natural inclinations. Hence the nickname El-Amin, a strong character he was known by.
Well Bilalian is the inherent description of a whole people who share a parallel history with a notable figure of African-descent who was authorized and chosen by the Prophet of Islam to call humanity to a profound awareness of their reality and the relationship they should have with that Loving Creator.
Imam Mohammed said it like this in the latter part of his leadership as he looked out into the crowd, “I’m looking at the LOST BILAL.”
I came into this understanding in the early 1990’s. When I heard it (Bilalian) especially from those associated with Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s leadership, local imams, it was always presented as something more nostalgic than a relevant answer to an ongoing circumstance. A whole people described not accurately or fully correct. Bilalian and it’s intended use was presented as though it had EXPIRED!
So when I heard a public address by Muslim American Leader Imam Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed on Bilal and Bilalian in the summer of 2020 something clicked in me.
I felt it an obligation on me to get this ‘help’ this profound understanding to the masses of people.
I concluded it would need to be tangible so people can at least lay their eyes on the word.
Remember Imam Mohamed wisely said ‘words make people.’
And at this time in the summer of 2020 we are in the midst of a raging pandemic. I recall Imam Mohammed saying we Muslims should be a help not only to our immediate group but offer something good that all of humanity can benefit from.
The language Bilalian is a sensitizer. If you sensitize people to a particular problem or situation, you make them aware of it and imbedded within Bilalian is answers. I thought let’s offer face coverings with the language Bilalian on it in a nice simplistic font and color scheme.
Black and White is expressed in G’d’s Guidance in depth in a way that doesn’t burden mankind’s thinking but gives answers to the development and components of man’s life.
The air of America presents black and white as forever in eternal conflict. The Islamic understanding we see them as a compliment to each other. The inherent nature of all humans that has within it a reservoir of potential (excellence) waiting to be acted upon by the enlightened mind.
The mind of a profound awareness and knows that to have and maintain the establishments it want for itself it has to have a regardful consciousness, awareness of its Designer, it’s Creator.
My goal was never to get everyone to put on a face covering with that language but to get enough of us wearing it where the public takes notice. What is this Bilalian I see on peoples faces?
We were successful with that plan and proceeded to place the language strategically on clothing.
Our strategy is working where more and more people are becoming acquainted with this guided language from the son of the Honorable Elijah Mohammed, Imam W. Deen Mohammed.
Allah exhorts the believer in Qur’an teaching “to take the best thereof.”
Bilalian is the ‘best thereof.’
Bilalian is an organic consciousness, an awareness that opens the door to an inheritance of human excellence propelled into the world courageously by exhibiting what the Creator has deposited into every newborn straight from Heaven. The potential for a life of excellence, human excellence.
With the expression of Bilalian our Human identity is not in conflict, warring with itself. Black as a racial description can be a heavy burden on our children‘s mind and soul, let’s invite them to purpose and clarity.
I believe Bilalian is heavenly language simply put I believe it’s Guidance and Imam Mohammed foremost should always be seen as associated with divine guidance.
I believe with the circumstances and what Allah has blessed us with in understanding NOW is the time to spread the word about Bilal and Bilalian in a concentrated way.
We would not know anything about Bilal in human history if he was not connected to divine guidance.
He was Muhammed’s trusted deputy, do we not see our role in the world?
More and more are arriving at this understanding of Bilalian as a parallel history, I believe that’s Allah’s doing.
Bilalian is on the rise!
Allah’s Blessings
Terynso El-Amin
Owner of El-Amin Priority Distributors LLC
QUESTION: In the United States we're faced with Muslims being identified as "black" or as "Bilalians" and in the meantime the same name has been applied to the many African-Americans who from time to time are being referred to as Bilalians when they may not even be Muslim???
WDM: And I think the problem is the concept; your understanding is being collected from outside of America or from somebody who is not American. So when a
Pakistan, an Egyptian, a Sudanese, a Saudi Arabian or some other non-American Muslim hears the name Bilalian, he thinks that this name is a religious name.
Bilalian is not a religious name. We have adopted the name Bilalian as an ethnic name to replace these other terms that we think are not as rich, ethnically speaking. They are not as rich because to identify with skin color is not as rich ethnically speaking as to identify with an ancestor who identified with Africa and also identified with a great ideology. So we are identifying with a person rather than identifying with skin color.
I was reading a form to be filled out by those who owned minority businesses or enterprises that said list your nationality. And do you know the only people that were given a color was ourselves. All the others were called American-Indian, Asian-Indian, European, Spanish, Hispanic, but when it came to us it said Black.
I refused to mark Black. I filled out the form and I sent it in with Bilalian on it and beneath Bilalian I put in brackets African-American just to help them understand what I meant by Bilalian.
I just left a member of our community, Sister Dorothy Fardan—she's Caucasian, not a Bilalian—but she's a Muslim belonging in our community. She's one of us.
We have many others who are Hispanic and others who are not Bilalians, but they are Muslims and they belong to our community.
The Great Gardener, Imam W. Deen Mohammed, the Son of The Honorable Elijah Mohammed.
I wear our Bilalian Wear Proudly, I will defeat any il-logic that attempts to separate us from Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s Way, this is serious business for us!
The enemy of man promotes confusion which Imam W. Deen Mohammed taught us that confusion is the ABSENCE of knowledge, Bilalian is Special Knowledge for our purpose and identity and what is common in all people, no baby is born guilty but always innocent in its human nature.
We have Muslims who claim this Tradition trying with weakness to discourage use of this Guided Language, “We seek Protection with Allah from the arrogant, the rejected one.”
More and more people will become acquainted with this Special Language and Reasoning coming from Allah’s Special servant Imam W. Deen Mohammed.
His Language and Reasoning is Making a Public Resurgence, All Praises are due to Allah for Muslim-American Leader Imam Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed.
MuslimAmericanMinistry.com
Our start on this Continent:
It does not diminish me to acknowledge what happened with our people since arriving on these shores, if you look at it through the right lenses it says here is a people that were relegated as beasts in a field, no one came to our rescue only G’d in His direct intervention.
To see our history would have the one looking if they are sober and intelligent to arrive at this conclusion:
These people despite all that have been thrown on them and in their way they are still HUMAN!
That's a modern-day miracle, so it doesn't diminish me to see our start here knowing what we have overcome, that is a testament to Allah being Akbar, The Greater and He is never absent at any time or place!
And it is seen in the STRENGTH in our human will, the human spirit to remain what the Creator created us to be.
To mischaracterize what happened to us I believe has contributed to the confusion with our young people, being labeled a ‘King or Queen’ does not address the issues it just allows us to gloss over it because for many to this day the issue of Slavery is just too painful to deal with directly so we MISCHARACTERIZE what happened to us.
You are not helping a doctor of medicine or yourself if you are not truthful about your maladies!
We have to be truthful with ourselves and we have a lot of help if we see the situation through clear and sober eyes!
" Healing doesn't mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls your life."
~ Native American proverb
People exaggerate on one side to distract from their deficiencies on the other side instead of fixing the deficiencies and being honest.
Don't lie to others and especially don't lie to yourself.
Are you really a queen? Are you really a king? Are you really a boss?
Of what?
We're living through the consequences of centuries of white people presenting themselves as superior. They rewrote history to spread that lie. They rewrote science to spread that lie. They rewrote religion. They rewrote social standards and norms. They designed a global social order that fed, grew, and protected that lie.
The solution for us is NOT to copy that strategy of exaggerating our human worth at the expense of other humans.
What's wrong with being a normal human? There's more power in claiming human-ness than there is in claiming false royalty, false divinity, false superiority, or imaginary magic. Truth is always more powerful than lies.
You get stronger than others by lifting more weight, not by some inherent specialness that others don't have access to. If the Bilalian people, the descendants of America's enslaved Africans, have some special strength it is because we have had a heavier burden placed on us than anyone else in history. Our special strength is not because we have a superior nature, but because we've been carrying more weight.
Some of us are getting crushed under this weight and claiming to have the strength that comes from carrying it.
Bilal, the dark-skinned, enslaved African, was being crushed under the boulder of inferior value. He embraced an expression of faith that gave him the strength to lift that spiritual burden off of himself. As a result, his would-be slave master laid him out in the hot desert and crushed him under a physical boulder. If he would have surrendered, he could have lived the rest of his life under a boulder. But he fought, and his faith lifted that boulder off of his chest in the desert, freeing him to rise through the ranks of the social order to get to the top.
Bilal had a heavier burden to lift than others around him. He did not have a superior nature. He had a superior expression, which came from the strength he had gained from his circumstances. This super expression of his common human nature moved him from being seen and valued as less than human to being one of the highest ranking and one of the most respected members of society. His process qualified him for the recognition of Muhammed the Prophet, who asserted that he heard the footsteps of Bilal walking ahead of him in paradise. Prayers and The Peace be on Muhammed, the messenger of G'd.
We don't have to lie or exaggerate in order to satisfy that yearning in our soul. All we have to do is refuse to allow this boulder to crush us, and stand upon the truth. The potency of our expression is superior because we are Bilalians.
"African American" is no longer sufficient to identify us. It was a transitional term, not meant to last forever. It does not do us justice for a number of reasons. WE ARE BILALIANS!
This is an example of framing our life and Importance properly.
“As-Salaam Alaikum. That is, peace be upon you. This is our traditional Islamic greeting spoken by all Muslims wherever we are in the world. And these are also signature words identifying a special group in the history of this country. These words identify a new mind and cultural influence, a new dignity, a new pride, and a new people in America.
It didn't come from immigrants. Immigrant Muslims didn't appear here in great numbers until the 1960's and by that time the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and his following had been using this greeting with each other for 30 years. We say these words imperceptibly now, they are such a normal characteristic in our religious and cultural habits as Muslims. But they have very significant meaning for our religious life.
With this greeting we are saluting G'd's purpose for each one of us, and we are asking G'd to preserve us for that purpose in each other and for each other. These words, if we obey them in what they allude to, guarantee and secure a righteous existence, a peaceful existence; a peace-loving, G'd-centered society. We do not believe as Muslims that we come out of G'd. But, we do believe that we have something from G'd. That He has given us something of Him in His attributes. G'd acquaints us with the power of peace and acknowledgement of Him over human society.
These greetings make our concentration on peace an intimate matter. It is our peace to have for our individual lives, for our family lives, for our lives in society. See how wonderful our history is and what powerful presence our Muslim history has for America when we see these things in the correct way?
When the first teachers in the Temple of Islam introduced these words, do you not see that they were greeting America: "As-Salaam Alaikum," for the first time?”
Who would reject this type of clear teaching but someone separated from his or her common senses?
Excerpt from A New People Stand.
Photo: Imam Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed giving Juma’ address (The Importance of leadership in Islam) one week after Imam W. Deen Mohammed had his National Representative announce to the community he was resigning from the community’s national leadership apparatus.
Circa 2004 Newark, NJ Wyndham Hotel
I ask you make the connections!
February is designated African American History Month, this began as a week, Negro History Week by renowned educator Carter Godwin Woodson, author of The Mis-education of the Negro (black in Spanish).
Why February, is it because like so many like to say, “they gave us the shortest and coldest month,” No, it was because Carter G. Woodson chose the 2nd week of February in honor of our Beloved Frederick Douglass, Fredrick Douglass didn't know his birthday due to he was born a slave and he recalled his mother calling him her ‘Sweet Valentine’, so let's be more informed when we come to conclusions.
We should take advantage of this month of recognition to educate ourselves and the American public to our history and contributions. We should be more aware as a people of what helped shape us in this American Construct.
During this month we will share more history, especially regarding this strange injection that came into our people that led us on the route to authentic native-born expression of Islam on these shores.
If I am to appreciate anything about our rich history, it is that we as a People have remained ‘Human’ despite all that was done to reduce us to animals, Praise be to Allah, we are still here as Human beings with human life and human aspirations!
Why establish a Business?
My motivation in starting a business was so I can help with establishing the Life that we want, Imam W. Deen Mohammed said years ago “I want to be rich in spirit and rich in the pocket”, why so we can address the misery in the world.
Imam W. Deen Mohammed gave us the language that is above my head in the picture, “Researching our Faith and Supporting Business Life in Our Community. This is still our emphasis with Imam Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed's leadership.
Our perspective is contrary to money is the root of all evil, the thinking going astray from it's natural, inborn life is the major problem, imagine the one who is true to him or herself, think about the good that can be achieved with correct thinking and resource$, a lot of good can be done.
We need Business people, a community that wants to thrive can not just depend on the working people to propel the life, we need successful business people and the business people need your support.
I honestly believe Imam W. Deen Mohammed would be proud of this effort of perking the Consciousness to awaken it to its best possibilities.
Some of us know that what we are doing is Correct and Straight but won't support it because I align with a Leader that they don't approve of because of shallow reasons.
Me personally I would not need any motivation to support something that directly came from Imam W. Deen Mohammed, his Guided Mind gave us ‘BILALIAN’, Imam Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed like a good student and Defender of Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s Way intelligently reasserted this great help to address something that all our eyes are aware of, the need for proper human identity.
We hope to inspire more of us to get into business, we are more than just consumers, we are producers and we have something extremely valuable to offer.
These words were written close to 2 years ago by it's author.
I AM MORE THAN A COLOR!!!!!
We label human beings by color, as "white folks" and "black folks" the "yellow man" and the "red man". Oh! and don't forget those labeled the "brown man" over there.
I preferred to be identified by my content that reflects my history, a homeland continent and my ethnicity, so simply calling me a color "black" is a cheat. The only thing black on me is my hair (and a lot of that is gray...lol). So my skin is not actually black; it's a beautiful African-based brown; a G-d-given blend of Momma and Daddy.
BUT I AM SO MUCH MORE THAN A COLOR.
IF WE REALLY WANT TO GET RID OF RACISM THEN WE SHOULD QUIT CALLING FOLKS A COLOR AS THEIR IDENTITY.
Don't get me wrong. You'd be hard pressed to find a person who is more gratefully-proud of who and how my Creator made me. My challenge is to the use of colors, because colors do not and can not describe Human Excellence.
I prefer African-American over "black" because African American connects me to something that has more significance that the colors in a box of crayons...you know what I mean?
In closing, if I had it my way I'd follow the advice of Imam W. Deen Mohammed and identify myself as "BILALIAN"; named after a great African in Islam named Bilal - a man who rose from slavery to freedom.
Learn more about Bilal at this site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilal_ibn_Rabah
https://www.elaminprioritydistributors.com/
Maker of #Bilalian mask and Bilalian Hoodies.
A look at Bilal through a Muslim African American (Bilalian) eyes.
Who is Bilal? Who are we?
A people in search, in need of a dignified identity.
Bilal ibn Rabah (Bilal, Son of Rabah) was an Abbysinian (modern day Ethiopia) slave in 6th century Arabia.
At that time, slaves, among others, were on the lowest rungs of the social ladder; having no voice and no choice in how to conduct their lives. Their very existence was arbitrarily decided by their masters.
The Arabs in 6th century Arabia were pagans who worshipped hundreds of gods which they fashioned from wood, clay and stone. They were a people steeped in superstition and unbridled race and class prejudice.
But, a movement was taking place. A call was being made. It was a call to the unity of G'd, the oneness of mankind and the rights of the oppressed, downtrodden, despised and neglected of society.
Muhammed, the Prophet, was proclaiming this call and Bilal heard it. And, it touched him deeply.
Despite the torture he endured at the hands of his master for even thinking of accepting a belief which his master opposed, Bilal held firm. Ahad, Ahad (One G'd, One G'd) He uttered while lying on the burning sand with the blazing sun overhead and a heavy stone upon his chest.
But, Bilal's master would not have the last say. Just as the torture grew nearly unbearable and Bilal's utterance became only a whisper a close companion of Muhammed paid for Bilal's freedom.
When the five daily prayers that Muslims observe was instituted, there was the issue of how the people should be summoned to gather. Several options were considered. And, finally it was decided. The human voice would be the medium by which the believers would be called to assemble.
Who was the first man considered for this great responsibility? It was Bilal. He is the first muedhin, (caller to prayer) in Islam. Whenever and wherever the call is made for Muslims to gather for prayer it is in essence the echo of Bilal's voice that is heard. It is his voice that for over 1400 years people have rushed to acknowledge and affirm the unity of G'd and the oneness and brotherhood of humanity.
Bilal. An African. A former slave. A lover of G'd and freedom and justice and equality.
Historical note, the Imam of Al-Islam, Imam W. Deen Mohammed gave this name and term (BILALIAN) in 1975 for the misnamed people of the Western Hemisphere.
Chief of Staff for the Muslim American Ministry for Human Salvation,
Lari Hayat Dawan
www.muslimamericanministry.com
