The Institute will house major MWF initiatives, such as the Black Muslim Psychology Conference (BMPC), Deeply Rooted Emerging Leaders Fellowship (DREL), National Black Muslim COVID Coalition and various research projects. The establishment of this Institute underscores MWF’s ongoing commitment to center and uplift those narratives within the American ummah and beyond, which are often marginalized and overlooked in health and interfaith outreach efforts, yet offer profound lessons in resilience, wisdom, hope and healing. This exploration focuses particular attention on the rich intersection of race, religious minority identity development, well-being and community building. The aim of the Institute is to explore, deepen and enhance understanding of the content and context of the lives of Black/African American Muslims in the United States, many of whom are descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas. Honoring the legacy of the esteemed scholar, Omar ibn Said, the mission of the Muslim Wellness Foundation’s Omar ibn Said Institute is to become the nation’s premier institution for transformative scholarship on the Black Muslim experience, and like Said’s autobiography, unfettered by the constraints of the white gaze and white supremacy. This is the ONLY Institute of its kind in the United States. In commemoration of this grounding-breaking decade of work, particularly related to Black Muslim mental health, we have established the Omar ibn Said Institute for Black Muslim Studies & Research. We have been a powerful and consistent voice in advocating for spaces and dialogue which elevate the importance of faith, healing, identity and wellness as justice. Muslim Wellness Foundation (MWF) is celebrating 10 YEARS of service to American Muslim communities across the country. MWF establishes the Omar ibn Said Institute ofīlack Muslim Studies & Research on Juneteenth 2021 Is it possible for Said’s harrowing and remarkable life circumstances to help Americans like myself understand my own family story, as well as the journey of many other enslaved Muslims, the journey of “Black Islam” in America, and the ongoing evolution of American Muslim communities across the country? Absolutely!
My own 4th great grandfather Ned Knight was born in North Carolina in this very same year. In 1807, Omar ibn Said was kidnapped in Fouta Toro (Senegal), enslaved and brought to America. The life, legacy and writing of Omar ibn Said offers us rich guidance and wisdom. How do we find ourselves in the counter-narrative, processing the nuances and complexities of life in this American context? And so they seep into our collective consciousness. However, this context, this country, excels in these extremes. I recognize the danger, rigidity and limitations of binaries – life and spirit flows. It is this story of faith, resilience and resistance that I am most drawn to – it fuels the questions I often ask myself: What enabled our ancestors to remain steadfast? What profound belief comforted them? How do we recognize and honor what will forever remain unknown, though its presence courses through our veins? How do we channel the faith or faiths which have all contributed to our existence?Īs a psychologist, I wonder about the dance between sure faith and abject despair, certainty and confusion, devastation and wholeness, trauma and healing, connectedness and isolation? I am a descendant of people who (because I am here), were resistant and resilient against the arrogant, persistent, unrepentant narrative of a country, which will only see itself as earnest and triumphant in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. I have learned that I am a descendant of people who found ways to be and endure despite unimaginable oppression.
Over a span of 200 years, I’ve traced births, marriages, deaths, migrations and more across and to the Southern, Midwestern and Northeastern United States. My three decades of family history (which began when I was 12 years old) is, in many ways, a quintessential American story – that of a descendant of people enslaved in the U.S. Son of Ned Knight born in North Carolina in 1807.
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