Islam & Juneteenth: Liberating Slaves as a Mandate - Khutbah by Hajjah Abrafi Sanyika (6/25/21)

In this educational and uplifting khutbah, we get to hear from Khateebah Hajjah Abrafi S. Sanyika, who also serves as a Griot/Djelli (preserver of African oral history). Hajjah Abrafi enlightens us about the parallels between the celebration of Muslims fleeing oppression through their Hijrah (migration) to Abyssinia and of the enslaved Africans (1/3 of whom were Muslim) celebrating their newfound freedom in America through the holiday Juneteenth -- freedom always being a victory for Allah. She reminds us of the Islamic wisdom through which the pre-Islamic practice of slavery was phased out -- a way that did not backfire and lead to persistent racial hatred as it did with the abrupt abolition of slavery in the United States of America. Hajjah Abrafi highlights the many verses of the Qur'an that mandate not only the freeing of enslaved peoples but also of good treatment and reparations to those who were formerly enslaved.

B I O
Hajjah Abrafi S. Sanyika is a proud native of Chicago, which was founded on the shore of Lake Michigan by an African fur trader, Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable. She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and listened as a young child to the life-affirming teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Even then she knew that there is only One God, because that is what her parents taught at home. She remembers being “thrown out” of Sunday school at age eleven, because she announced that Jesus (pbuh) was not the “son of God”, but a great prophet like all the other great prophets. She was exposed to many religious/spiritual traditions growing up and continues to honor the beauty in all of them. // Abrafi euphemistically describes her professional career as “eclectic”. She reflects that she is from that generation of women who chose either nursing, teaching, or secretarial work, because other professions were generally foreclosed to women. Originally an anthropology major, she redirected when she got a divorce and had to consider raising two small boys as a single parent. Instead, she obtained a B.A. and M.A. in education. Her M.A. thesis was a study of the cocoa industry of Ghana, West Africa. She first taught at the University of Chicago Lab School, then directed Ujima Family Center, an alternative school in Chicago. Moving to California, she attended UCLA Law School, worked for several attorneys, became a realtor, and eventually returned to professional education. // She is now retired and has published several position papers, including “An Open Letter to the Immigrant Muslim Community.” She co-wrote The Eternal Genetic Presence, an anthology of visual artist Nathaniel Bustion’s incredible talent; and is the author of Makeda, Queen of Sheba, a children’s book written in honor of her daughter, Makeda. She is the founder and director of The Egyptian Repertoire Company, a nonprofit educational foundation that researches, writes, and presents seminars and rituals based on African history and culture, and is currently writing two other books for publication.