Freedom through Submission: Muslim-talk in Contemporary Denmark

Abstract

ing received civil rights history have on Muslim–Christian relations? The dominant narrative of the civil rights movement has been that it was centred on and spiritually sustained by the Black church. Is credit for the successes of the civil rights movement a zero-sum game, so that the Black church will lose out if the historical record includes a broader account of Black contributions, including from the NOI? The answer must be no, for the primary reason that the civil right struggle is ongoing. The next front of Black liberation must and does include both resistance to police brutality and an all-out transformation of the carceral state. Felber offers a measure of hope in predicting that prisons will be abolished and perceived as a barbaric feature of the past (188). In the story of that struggle, the NOI will have its rightful place as the prophetic catalyst of human freedom and dignity. Felber’s argument is compelling and contributes to the unfolding civil rights story, past and present. He brings an historian’s eye to a movement that also includes important theological and religious dimensions that should be further explored. As a member of a peace church (Mennonites), I found my attention drawn to the NOI conscientious objectors who resisted the draft. Some of the language they used was blatantly political and racial, such as Malcolm X and ElijahMuhammad referring toWorldWar II as a ‘white man’s war’ in which they identified with the Japanese cause. But other examples of deeply rooted religious pacifism resonate across faiths; RogerAxfordwas described by his supporters as a ‘prisoner of the Lord’ andwrote to the draft board that he could not ‘serveGod andWar’ (22). OtherMuslims gave their defence in court, saying, ‘I have registered with Allah’ (16). Given that the decision to resist registration with the Selective Service set the course for the development of the NOI, the Black freedom movement and the carceral state, the question of what religious commitments drove this resistance in the first place is an important one to interrogate further.