Dr. Sulayman Nayang: a Sage Intellectual and an architect of American Muslim identity

Always polite, always respectful, always optimistic and always progressive. That is how I always characterize Dr. Sulayman Nayang.  He was a professor and former chairman of the African Studies Department at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He was a co-principal investigator of the Project MAPS and also a former deputy ambassador and head of the chancery of the Gambia Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He also served as a consultant to several national and international agencies and on the boards of the African Studies Association, the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, America's Islamic Heritage Museum, and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. He wrote extensively on Islamic, African and Middle Eastern affairs. He had a master's degree in public administration and a Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia. He was an advising scholar for the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentaries Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (2002) and Prince Among Slaves (2007), produced by Unity Productions Foundation.

But to many of us, who came to this country in the early eighties, he was a pillar of the Muslim community who pioneered the development of Islam in the US. He was an academician, but he transcended his role and became of the most rational public intellectual and a traditional Muslim teacher with all humility that one often hears about the earliest generation of the believers.

 I had numerous encounters with Dr. Sualayman Nayang, the last time in Las Vegas, where we along with interfaith leaders shared the podium discussing the essentials of a pluralistic and democratic society. We were together in several conferences and seminars, but the most memorable time that I had was spent in the Fish Camp in Yosemite national where we both attended the Muslim Family youth camp organized by the Central California Muslim society. The four days that we had together were spent in discussing everything, including theology, jurisprudence, history, and the current affairs of Muslims. He was well versed in western political thoughts, religious pluralism, American history and Muslim struggles for their identity throughout history.  Like a traditional teacher, he would hold discussions on various topics and invite the participants to express their opinions fearlessly.

He believed that the American Muslim community was unique as it has the best opportunities to live Islam the way it should be lived combining modernism with traditionalism. He also believed that Muslims in American would have to evaluate the jurisprudence and build on it. He believed in the unity of Islam with its diversity and often argued that Muslims should learn to live with their differences even on theological issues as long as the goal is to serve humanity. 

 Dr. Nayang suffered a stroke in June 2016. His school honored him by instituting a formal scholarship fund established in his honor. Some of his friends launched a fundraising campaign to take care of his medical bills. Almost 100,000 were needed, but the collections did not reach the $40,000 marks. Its really sad to see that the man who dedicated his life and work to serve the Muslim American community suffered apathy, even from those who learned from him and grew under his shadow.

But this is how communities act? They often ignore those who serve it, but after their departure, create great monuments for them. The legacy that Dr. Nayang left would continue to inspire hundreds of his students throughout the world and the ideas that he propagated would continue to influence the Muslim minds for the generation to come.

The least we can do is to remember him in our prayers and thank God for his intellect and service.

A Tribute to Uncle Dr. Irfan Ahmed Khan: A legendary scholar of the Quran

by Dr. Aslam Abdullah

He was over 85, unable to walk properly, living on medicine more than the food, yet, until the last conscious minute of his life, he was inviting people to the Quran. His last travel for this purpose was in California and Georgia just 10 days before he had three massive heart attacks in his hometown Chicago. He visited California and Georgia as if he had gone there to say goodbye to those who were his disciples and students.

I called him uncle and during his last visit, I had the opportunity to listen to him and learn from him immensely. Wherever I drove him, he was always sharing his vision and dreams and his efforts. He was a man of peace and justice. He lived in this world, yet every minute he was conscious of the world he has to move on. During his stay he would every day call his daughters and wife and inform them of the itinerary. He would share with them the details. He visited during his stay in California the offices of Islamicity.org. He spent the whole day there and accepted the request from this largest Islamic portal in America to serialize his work. It is good that what he taught would now be available to the world. 

He was my mentor, my teacher and my friend and his absence would stay would me until I also leave this world.  There are only a few people who live a life they talk about. There are only a few who always think of others. There are only a few who view entire humanity as their own family and he was no doubt one of them. His life must be celebrated as he enriched those who came in contact with him.

He indeed was a sign from among the signs of Allah. He reminded people how the true life of a believer should be. He offered his life as an example of dedication and sacrifice to the ideals he was promoting. His main focus was the Quran. His life was the Quran. Everything he did, revolved around the Quran. He was in the process of writing a few more books on the methodology of understanding the Quran before he was recalled by Allah leaving the task to his students. 

His main thesis was simple and appealing. The Quran comprises 114 discourses and each discourse or Sura focuses on a few dominant themes and each aya highlights an important issue. All ayas are interconnected and all Suras are related. The ayas and Sura offer guidance to humanity as a whole to create a peaceful environment to explore the universe and serve humanity to reach a higher degree of consciousness. It was a methodology that a few great scholars of the Quran such as Maulana Hameeduddin Farahi and Abdullah Mubarakpuri had also focused on. It was unconventional because it viewed the Quran as a complete message not collected from scattered ideas. It is a revolutionary methodology capable of ensuring the universality and continuity of the divine message.

His scholarship did not prevent him from activism. Until he breathed his last, he was actively involved in interfaith dialogue. In fact, during his visit to California, he attended the dialogue between Christians and Muslims on the theme Prophet Moses.

He was the president of the Association for Quranic Understanding. He was the founder and a trustee of the revived Parliament of World Religions.  He was the initiator of several interfaith dialogues in the world. More important than all this, he was the mentor and teacher of hundreds and thousands of young people in India and the USA. He did not run after fame. He did not seek any position. He served the cause of peace and justice quietly and left a legacy that would continue to benefit people all over the world.

Dr. Irfan Ahmed Khan was born in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He got his education at the Muslim University of Aligarh and became a professor of philosophy. In 1973 he moved to the United States and completed his Ph D in philosophy and then taught at various colleges and universities in the US.

Despite the struggle in raising a family of five daughters and two sons with meager resources, he remained active in reminding people that the Quran must be given due place in Muslim thoughts and actions. His opinion that the Quran should be understood directly by everyone, including non-Muslims was often challenged by traditional scholars, yet he was firm in his opinion that was fully supported by the Quran. He is one of those few scholars of his life and work, a Ph.d was granted to a student from a prestigious Chicago school.

Dr. Irfan was active in the Jamat e Islami, India. He organized several youth conferences while in India and offered youth training in interfaith work and understanding the Quran. His life deserves to be studied closely and his work needs to be referred to by all those who are making efforts to understand the divine guidance. His book Reflections on the Quran: Understanding Surahs Al-Fatihah & Al-Baqarah is a monumental work on the Quran.

Indeed to God, we all belong because from him we all come. But there are some who leave behind them imprints that remind people of the meaning of this life and the struggles that one goes through in it. He indeed was one of them.

May God have mercy upon the family