Islam is, for all its universalist claims, inherently Arab: prayers must be said in Arabic, the Qur’an must be recited in Arabic, etc. Throughout Islamic history this has created tensions among non-Arab Muslims who find that with this Arabic character of Islam inevitably comes an Arabization of their culture. Note also here the information about the persistence of slavery. A press release from Newswire, with thanks to Twostellas:
African Muslim Groups Protest Arab Rule, Expansion in Africa; Demonstration to Protest the visit of Mauritanian President
Demonstration to protest the visit of Mauritanian President
Maaouya Ould TayaWhen: Tuesday, April 5, from 1 PM to 3 PM EDT Where: In front of The State
Department, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, D.C. Details:African Muslims from Mauritania and Sudan are joining to protest the visit to the State Department of Ould Taya, Arab leader of Mauritania, an African country ruled and brutally controlled by Arab regimes. Taya is coming to United States to arrange oil trading with the Bush Administration. This protest builds on the growing cooperation of African Muslims from Sudan and Mauritania to protest Arab colonialism, slaughter and enslavement of black Africans.
Mansour Kane, a Mauritanian Muslim of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Mauritania, said, “Ould Taya’s hands are dirty with the blood of thousands of non-Arab black people in Mauritania.”
Mamadou Barry, of the African Liberation Forces, said two of the slogans of the demonstration will be, “No Arab expansionism in Africa,” and “Stop the genocide in Darfur.”
Kane said, “The Arabs enslaved blacks in my country hundreds of years ago. Today they still have Black Muslim slaves by the tens of thousands, and they are pushing the free Blacks off our land in the south.”
Barry said, “Just like happened to our people hundreds of years ago, African Muslims in Western Sudan’s Darfur region are being slaughtered and enslaved by Arab militia armed by the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Khartoum. We stand and fight with them.”