Terms of Use
Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
Every oral history relies on the memories, views, and opinions of the narrator. Because of the personal nature of oral history, listeners may find some viewpoints or language of the recorded participants to be objectionable. In keeping with its mission of preservation and unfettered access whenever possible, BHS presents these views as recorded.
The audio recording should be considered the primary source for each interview. Where provided, transcripts created prior to 2008 or commissioned by a third party other than BHS, serve as a guide to the interview and are not considered verbatim. More recent transcripts commissioned by BHS are nearly verbatim copies of the recorded interview, and as such may contain the natural false starts, verbal stumbles, misspeaks, and repetitions that are common in conversation. The decision for their inclusion was made because BHS gives primacy to the audible voice and also because some researchers do find useful information in these verbal patterns. Unless these verbal patterns are germane to your scholarly work, when quoting from this material researchers are encouraged to correct the grammar and make other modifications maintaining the flavor of the narrator’s speech while editing the material for the standards of print.
All citations must be attributed to Brooklyn Historical Society:
[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
These interviews are made available for research purposes only. For more information about other kinds of usage and permissions, see BHS’s rights and reproductions policy.
Abdul Rasheed Abdullah
Oral history interview conducted by Zaheer Ali
March 10, 2018
Call number: 2018.006.07
error code: 504Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Abdul Rasheed Abdullah
Abdul Rasheed Abdullah was born in 1952 in Brooklyn. He joined the Nation of Islam and married his wife in the 1970s, and was involved in Muslim communities in both Queens and Brooklyn. In 1984, his son received a scholarship to study in Sudan through the Al-Madrasa Al-Islamiya school in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The family relocated and Abdullah spent his time in Sudan studying Sufism. After returning to New York, he taught as a licensed Sufi shaikh in a zawiyah in Brooklyn. He also attended Masjid Abdul Muhsi Khalifah and Masjid At-Taqwa, both in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, and was the head of the Islamic studies department at Masjid Khalifah's Clara Muhammad School.
In this interview, Abdul Rasheed Abdullah discusses his childhood in Brooklyn and Queens, his exposure to the Five Percent Nation as an adolescent, and his embrace of the Nation of Islam while serving an eighteen-month prison sentence. He speaks about his participation in the Nation of Islam-affiliated Muhammad Mosque No. 7B in the Corona neighborhood of Queens and Muhammad Mosque No. 7C in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn; his reaction to Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975; and his subsequent exploration of Masjid At-Taqwa in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Yasin Masjid in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. He expands on studying Sufism in Sudan and teaching as a licensed Sufi shaikh after his return to New York. He also talks at length about his wife's religious convictions and support; his father's embrace of Islam; and his friendship with Imam Siraj Wahhaj (interviewed for this collection on February 19, 2018). Interview conducted by Zaheer Ali.
This collection includes oral histories conducted and arranged by Brooklyn Historical Society in 2018. The interviews reflect varying approaches to religious observance among Muslim Brooklynites in relation to a wide range of communities and traditions within Islam, including Sunni, Shi'i, Sufi, Nation of Islam, W. D. Mohammed community, Five Percent, Dar ul Islam, and Ansaarullah. Collectively, there is particular focus on cultural and religious customs, practices, and gender roles within these communities; education and the arts; immigration from South Asia and the Middle East; the Nation of Islam; Islamophobia in the wake of the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center as well as after the 2016 presidential election; political activism and engagement; and community relations with law enforcement and government officials.
Citation
Abdullah, Abdul Rasheed, Oral history interview conducted by Zaheer Ali, March 10, 2018, Muslims in Brooklyn oral histories, 2018.006.07; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Abdullah, Abdul Rasheed
- Five Percent Nation
- Masjid Abdul Muhsi Khalifah (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Masjid At-Taqwa (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Muhammad Mosque No. 7B (Queens, New York, N.Y.)
- Muhammad Mosque No. 7C (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Topics
- African American Muslims
- Black Muslims
- Black power
- Islamic religious education
- Mosques
- Muslim converts from Christianity
- Muslim educators
- Muslim families
- Prisoners
- Religious education of children
- Spirituality
- Sufism
Places
- Bedford-Stuyvesant (New York, N.Y.)
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- Corona (New York, N.Y.)
- East New York (New York, N.Y.)
- Queens (New York, N.Y.)
- Sudan
Transcript
Download PDFFinding Aid
Muslims in Brooklyn oral histories