(In memory of Hubert Pipersburg, aka Abdullah Muhammad; Murphy “Jihad” Mclaren and Yesuf Abdur Rahman, aka “Barber Joe” Haylock.)

On Sunday, Oct. 20, 2013 four of BREDAA’s former officers met for the last time. Earlier that Sunday afternoon Nuri Akbar, Bilal Morris and Hubert Pipersburg had attended a town hall meeting in Los Angeles, California. The meeting was organized by the Belize consulate office and featured the Belize Prime Minister, Dean Barrow. At the end of the town hall, we all agreed to visit the ailing founder of BREDAA, Ishmael Shabazz, who was in town for medical treatment. There was a sense I felt as we all sat around a dining room table and began sharing our view of the town hall meeting and other issues relevant to Belize, that this would be a moment in time I must relish. Bro. Shabazz would pass away a few months later.

Last week the owner and publisher of the Amandala newspaper, the Hon. Evan X Hyde, wrote about two foundational Belizean Muslim pioneers and activists — the late Abraham Abdullah, aka Justice X Eagan, and pan-Africanist revolutionary Odinga Lumumba. Hyde explained the circumstances surrounding the interments of these well-known Muslim interments, which were not without controversy, and were met with challenges, and he noted that Justice X was, in fact, buried as a Christian. Hyde explained that in Bro. Odinga’s case, Lumumba had requested that he, Evan X, make a pledge to him before he died that he would make sure his interment be done within the perimeter of Islamic tradition.

What I am about to say are my views and conclusions regarding several Muslim activists not being given a respectful burial. Some of these occurrences are a result of the individuals not empowering a trusted individual with such responsibility, as was done in the case of Hyde and Lumumba. Trusted individuals do not necessarily have to be blood relatives or “Muslim” etc. Secondly, in certain cases clear written instructions might not have been put in place regarding what the deceased wanted in terms of burial procedures. Let me say this for the record: nobody is going to put me in a bag and “rush” to dump my remains in some unmarked hole! If my body is intact, I shall be buried in a coffin made of wood — no plastic or metallic material. My remains must be allowed to return to the earth from which it came without impediments. The memorial community service can be held within a “public space” — a non-religious setting that will allow for people of all beliefs and persuasions to comfortably pay their respects. In regards to music, I would prefer the conscious, upbeat, lyrical content of the reggae genre, drums of our fathers, poetry, and speakers. Absolutely no public display of the body other than a closed coffin.

Now I want to turn to a deeper subject where following religious rituals are a concern, in cases where dogmatic tendencies have turned adherents into a non- productive collective. Our deeds, works, action and productivity are our yardsticks of measurement. This is why Fidel Castro, for example, is revered. In 2013, while representing the Amandala newspaper on the occasion of Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan’s visit to Belize, I asked the minister to give his reflections on Pres. Hugo Chavez, who had just recently passed away in Venezuela. The minister delineated that leaders like Chavez only come along once every hundred years and spoke of his humanity and impact upon the lives of his people.

Rituals without “substance” and productive work are a reflection of the “zombie syndrome,” meaning we go through all the roles of being alive, but are fundamentally dead. While you have individual Belizean Muslims who understand the work and mission, the community has become susceptible to imported cultural baggage that has rendered it largely inconsequential, dead, and non-productive. Members attend “services,” and that is the extent of the work. Some years ago, the community attained several hundred acres of fertile land. Several decades later, their priority was to use it for a graveyard. Since then we have become dependent on the Mennonites, Chinese, and Central American refugees to feed us.

As I have grown and matured, I am less tolerant of ignorance, docility and self-inflicted wounds. This is an issue I shall expand on in future writings. (Inshallah) Some of the old school members are tired, burnt-out, and unable to grasp, and keep pace with the rapid transformation in culture, politics, economics, due to the generational gap. As a result, many of their children have drifted, searching for action and productivity. So, to drive this point home, a woman and man’s legacy is not defined by how they are buried, but what they did while alive and kicking to affect their environment, communities, people, and the world.