|
American
rap music has seen more than its share of influence from the
religion of Islam. With groups such as Public Enemy rapping
about their respect for the Nation of Islam, to people such as
Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest embracing mainstream Islam, the
religion seems to be a recurrent theme in the genre, both
impacting lyrics and lives. One artist more recently touched
by Islam is Eric Schrody, better known in music circles as
Everlast.
What
follows is an interview with journalist Adisa Banjoko in which
Everlast discusses his journey to Islam and the challenges he
faces as a new Muslim.
Adisa:
Tell me about the first time you learned about Islam?
Everlast:
It was probably around the late 80's. I was hanging out with
Divine Styler (a popular
Los Angeles
rap artist). He was basically at the end of his 5% period (a
reference to an American religious sect); he was starting to
come into Islam. He lived with the Bashir family. Abdullah
Bashir was sort of his teacher – and mine it wound up later.
As he was making the transition from 5% into Islam, I would
just be around and hear things.
I'm
trying to think of the first time I recognized it as Islam. I
think it was when one of Divine's friends took Shahada (the
Muslim profession of faith) and I was there. I heard him say,
"I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, and
Muhammad is His servant and messenger." And I remember me
being like, "What is this? I'm white. Can I be
here?" It was out of ignorance, you know? Cause here in
America
, Islam is considered a "Black thing." And that's
when someone pointed out to me, "You have know idea how
many white Muslims there are in the world." I was like,
"Really," and somebody broke it down. I said,
"That's crazy. I had no clue."
Adisa:
Do you feel any extra pressure being a white Muslim in
America?
Everlast:
I don't think of it on the grand scale. To me, Islam is mine.
Allah is the God of all the worlds, and all mankind and all
the `Aalameen (worlds). Islam is my personal relationship with
God. So, nobody can put any more pressure on me than I can put
on myself. But as far as the mosque where I pray, I have never
felt more at home or more welcome. And it's not just mine. The
few mosques that I've gone to around the country, I've never
ever been made to feel uncomfortable. Like in
New York
, the mosque is big and there's so many people that nobody is
looking to notice you. There were Chinese, Korean, Spanish
[peoples] – everything, which was a good thing for me
because at my mosque I'm the only white male, [although] there
are some white females.
I
think at first, I thought about it more than anybody else the
first couple times I went to Jumma (the Friday congregational
prayer). The first time I went to Jumma, I was taken by a
friend of mine in
New York
. It was in
Brooklyn
in Bed-Stuy (Bedford-Stuyvesant). I was nervous about the
neighborhood I was in, not the mosque. But I was just so at
ease once I was there. I was like, "This is great."
I didn't feel any different than anybody else in the mosque.
Adisa:
How did your family take your turning to Islam? Because you
were raised Catholic, right?
Everlast:
Well, you know my mom is very open minded, very progressive.
My mother lives with me. And I've been raised all my life
without a belief in God, but a knowledge that He exists. I was
taught, if anything in the world, know [that] there's a God.
And my mom, even though she was Catholic she was the first
person to point out the hypocrisy in the church. My mom really
hasn't attended church in a long time. But as far as me, my
mom is just happy that I have God in my life.
She
sees me making prayers. And Divine is one of her favorite
people in the world. She knows how much different we are than
when she first knew us as kids. When me and Divine first
hooked up, we were wild. We were out partying, fighting, doing
whatever we had to do. We thought, "Yeah, that's what
being a man is about. We're going to go out here and be
thuggish."
She
has seen how much it's changed me and him, and how much peace
it's brought me since I've started to really accomplish
something with it. I actually had a long talk with my mother
the other day and we were on the topic of religion. We were
actually talking about life and death, and the future, and
when she might go – that won't be for a long time, in sha'
Allah (God willing). But I asked her to do me one favor. I
said, "Mom, when you die there might be some angels who
ask you a question, and I want you to answer it; and I'm not
sure exactly how it goes, 'cause I ain't died yet. Remember
that there's only one God, and he's never been a man."
She
said, "I know what you are trying to tell me."
I
said, "Jesus wasn't God, Ma".
Some
of what I know has definitely shown up in my mother. She's no
Muslim, but she knows there's only one God. And that makes me
very happy. I know guys that have turned towards Islam and
their families have turned them out.
Adisa:
My family tried to. I just can't understand that. But you know
what? That's a trial. Although I've changed my name for like 8
years now, they still run up calling me by my birth name. Then
it's, "Oh I forgot that you're Muslim." Then it's
the pork jokes... It never stops.
Everlast:
It's one of those things where people laugh at what they don't
understand, or they fear what they can't grasp. The thing is
that nobody can pretend that they don't understand it, because
I've never come across anything more simple in my life.
Like
I remember that when I sat down and asked, "So, what does
a Muslim believe," and I got the list run down to me. I
was like, "You don't put up the wall between Christianity
and Judaism." They were like, "Nah, it's all the
same story."
If
when you finally get down to reading the Qu'ran, the Bible,
and the Torah, which is pretty much just the Old Testament,
you find that the Qu'ran is just an affirmation of what is
correct and isn't correct within those books. And then you say
to yourself, "How did that go down when these cats were
all from different parts of the world?" But they are all
confirming each other's story.
I'm
reading a book right now called Muhammad: The Life of the
Prophet, by Karen Armstrong. It was written by a non-Muslim.
So far, I'm only about a quarter of the way through; but it
starts out telling you how they originally tried to make
Muhammad look like the most evil man on the earth – that he
established Islam under the sword. But then you learn that
Muhammad only fought when he had to. Muhammad only fought to
defend Islam. It's a very good book about the man. It just
lets you know that this cat was a man. We ain't trying to tell
you that he was anything else but a man. We're telling you as
Muslims that he was the most perfect example of a man to walk
the earth so far. And from what I've read, he is the last one
to come of his kind.
When
you get beyond being scared of Farrakhan (the Nation of
Islam's head) and what he's saying – and here as a white
person I'm speaking – when you get beyond the ignorance of
believing that Islam has anything to do with just people that
are blowing up things, that doesn't have anything to do with
Islam, they might do it in the name of Islam, but it has
nothing to do with Islam – you can't argue with it.
When
I explain Jesus to a Christian, he can't argue with me. And I
don't mean argue, saying, "Jesus isn't God!" I mean,
how much more sense does it make that he's a man? If I was
Christian, which to me means to be Christ-like, and God asks
me, "Hey how come you weren't more like Jesus?" I'll
say, "I wasn't more like Jesus because You made him half
of a God; I'm only a man!" That doesn't make any sense.
God
doesn't want things hard on us. God wants things easy as
possible. Allah is going to make it as easy as possible. If
you ask and you are sincere, Allah will bring it to you. He
might throw some rocks on your path, to make you trip and
stumble. But it's going to come to you.
Adisa:
Talk to me about the first and second time you took your
Shahada (profession of faith).
Everlast:
Well the first time, it was right after I had heard a tape
from Warith Deen Muhammad (son of Nation of Islam founder,
Elijah Muhammad, who took most of the Nation of Islam into
mainstream Islam). That just kind of broke down the whole
Jesus thing. He explained that we [Muslims] do Christians a
great favor by bringing Jesus down to the level of a man. Why
would God create a man who is half a God and compare us to
him? And it just sent off a bomb in my head. So I took Shahada. And then the initial high wore off.
It
was almost like a Christian who says that they accept Jesus.
Then they say, "No matter what I do now, I'm saved."
Cause I was raised with that kind of mentality. Like,
"OK, I accept the truth so let me just go out here and
sin my butt off and I'm saved."
I
didn't really claim to be Muslim though at that time. I picked
and chose what I wanted to believe. Allah gave me leeway for a
time. But eventually it was time to fish or cut the line. I
was coming to a point where I was unsatisfied emotionally and
spiritually. I had money in the bank and a $100,000 car, women
left and right: everything that you think you want. And then
just sitting there being like, "Why am I unhappy?"
Finally that voice that talks to you – not the whisper [of
Satan] – the voice said, "Well, basically you're
unhappy because you're living foul and you're not trying to do
anything about it."
My
stubbornness at that time wouldn't allow me to talk about it
at that time. You get in that state of mind where you're like,
"I can figure this out all by myself."
I
finally got humble enough to talk to Divine and Abdullah about
it. They asked me, "How do you feel? What do you think it
is?" So finally, I'm sitting there taking Shahada again.
From that point on, I've made a commitment where I'm going to
try my best. I'm going to do my best to make my prayers, let's
start there. Let's make our prayers and pray for the strength
to stop doing one thing at a time. That's what I'm still
dealing with.
You
know, once you get over the big things, it becomes very
subtle. It can be as subtle as looking a man, and not even
speaking bad about him, but backbiting him in your mind. The
easy ones to beat – well I shouldn't say easy – the big
ones are easy to notice. It's the subtle psychological stuff
that helps you get into who really you are. You got to be able
to face the truth of who you are. If you are not able to face
that truth of who you are, you're going to crumble, man.
People
question me and go, "You're Muslim?" And I'm like,
"Yeah I'm Muslim, but I'm also a professional sinner. I'm
trying to get over it, trying to retire. I won't front and say
I'm better than you. I just believe that I've been shown the
truth and hopefully that will save me."
Adisa
Banjoko is a journalist and lecturer living in the
San Francisco
Bay
area. He can be contacted at soulpolisher2001@yahoo.com
This
interview was originally published on
12 July 1999
and has been republished, with a few minor changes, by
IslamOnline.net with the permission of the author.
|
