Story by Askia Muhammad
I was pleasantly surprised recently on the first day of my trip to Morocco as a member of a delegation of Black journalists representing the National Newspaper Publishers Association – NNPA, The Black Press of America.
Our first dinner host was Dr. Ahmed Abadi, Secretary General of the Moroccan Theological Council. He made the case, as you might expect, for the tradition of religious tolerance in his North African, largely Islamic country.
Dr. Abadi went to pains to point out how tolerant his society is of Jews, many of whom were expelled along with the Muslims, from Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition of 1492. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community. Before the founding of Israel in 1948, there were about 250,000 to 350,000 Jews in the country, which gave Morocco the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world, but fewer than 2,500 or so remain today.
Dr. Abadi explained that Moroccans have an enlightened view concerning their efforts to extend full equality to women, and their education system emphasizes teaching girls and women in practically all areas of service. During our visit we met a number of female government ministers, members of parliament and several of the women we met had proudly earned doctorate degrees in various fields of study.
But what most surprised me, was that our host volunteered a story in which he went on and on about a wonderful trip he made to the United States – to Chicago – where he met and was entertained in the home of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
“It was back in 1999,” Dr. Abadi explained, “when I had the honor to meet with the Honorable Louis Farrakhan. Our meeting was supposed to last for 45 minutes, but the Honorable Louis Farrakhan was so generous, he allowed me (for several) hours and I was so amazed to see how loyal, how profound, and how transparent this man was, and I was so inspired by the fact that he was understanding the context, and yet having this capacity to dream about the transcendency (of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad), of the ferocity of the real life, and how he could be so positively contagious to all the ladies and men who are surrounding him.
“I was also inspired to witness how the Honorable Louis Farrakhan was believing and was aware of his capacity to connect directly with the Divine and ask for all the assistance and all the help. It was one of the rare times when I witnessed someone talking about those notions, not as words, but as meanings, alive and vibrant,” he continued.
“I had the opportunity to cry along with the Honorable Louis Farrakhan and to laugh along with him in this memorable, memorable day. He made me the pleasure to tell me at the end: ‘Oh Ahmed, you made my day; no, no, no, you made my week; no, no, no, no, you made my month; no, no, you made my year.’ I said: ‘Mr. Louis Farrakhan, you made my life.’”
It does not surprise me to hear such testimonials from important Islamic leaders, important world leaders concerning this truly amazing man, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. I was blessed to travel with the Minister to major world capitals – to Damascus, to Tripoli, Addis Ababa and cities all over Africa, to Baghdad, to the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina – where the government leaders, the religious leaders, the leaders of the civil society were equally effusive. In Tehran, Minister Farrakhan became the first (and maybe the only) U.S. citizen to address the audience of 10 million (!) souls celebrating the anniversary of the Iranian revolution which overthrew American puppet, Shah Reza Pahlavi from the Peacock Throne.
I witnessed a similar celebration in Ramallah in Palestinian Occupied Territory following an hours-long meeting with Brother Yasser Arafat, chairman of the of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the ruling Palestinian Authority. After an hour long meeting in the private home of then South African President Nelson Mandela, I heard with my own ears, when Madiba said concerning matters of importance that he and the Minister “see eye to eye.”
I saw then Cuban President Fidel Castro embrace Minister Farrakhan like the “Brother” he is, after their four-hour “chat.” In the mostly Black, English speaking Caribbean the Minister is treated like the long-lost-brother-leader he really is to them. But how else would you expect people to act in his presence? He is so captivating, disarming.
But in Morocco, Dr. Abadi had no way of knowing that any of the members of our delegation might have been personally acquainted with Minister Farrakhan, and yet the praise came voluntarily, sincerely, from his heart, just like the words of love which inspired that outpouring, come freely, from the heart, from the lips of Minister Louis Farrakhan, a man for all continents; a man for all seasons.
