Dr. Su'ad Abdul Khabeer
Dr. Su'ad Abdul Khabeer, Amina Amatul Haqq, and Dr. Sharifa R. Avery (with Son) | Image captured at the Paper Monday Studio in New York
بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Dr. Su'ad Abdul Khabeer: As-salaamu ʿalaykum [peace be upon you].
I am Su'ad Abdul Khabeer. Blessed to be the daughter of Amina Amatul Haqq, who was the daughter of Carmen Inniss Weeks, and the granddaughter of Myra Riley Inniss and Ella Beatrice Barzey Weeks, who were the decedents of other mothers and daughters whose names, tongues and country marks were stolen by transatlantic slavery, but whose prayers fortify us till this day.
When I think of my umi, Amina Amatul Haqq, and the idea of passing the baton and what she passed on to me, one of the most important things she passed on to me, was community.
I saw the community, when she returned to Allah, how the people came out to help me and my sister, to pray for her at the janazah, must have been at least 500 people there, and that’s just the folks who came in person. It reminded me that community will take care of you if you care for it.
Her life, as her death, was a testament to the significance of community. She taught me that my responsibility to my community and my community's responsibility to me. She passed on to me relations, being in relationship with the people, with my people, and what that means is that you care about people and you live in a way that demonstrates that care.
And so I think my work with Sapelo was grounded in that. That care, that love, especially for Black folks. Care for the community, for my mother focused a lot on education. So it was really imperative that we know who we are and where we come from fo real, fo real, and that we honor how we show up. The grace, the humanity, the hope, and the inspiration we carry into the world, despite it all.
It's really really hard to put this in words, but when I think about it it makes my heart full. I shed a thug tear, and I feel immense gratitude to Allah for allowing me to be a part of this community.
It's like Kendrick said, “if G-d got us, then we gon’ to be alright.” Allah do, and we are.
Dr. Su'ad Abdul Khabeer is a scholar-artist-activist. In her most recent work, she examines the intersections of official history and the untold stories of Black women and Black Muslims through the lens of her mother’s life. Umi means mother in Arabic, so she named the series of digital exhibitions Umi's Archive. The project sees everyday Black women as people who know things we all need to know.
She is one of the Co-Founders of Sapelo Square, the first website dedicated to the comprehensive documentation and analysis of the Black US American Muslim experience. In 2018, Su’ad was profiled as one of 25 influential American Muslims by CNN and received the Soros Equality Fellowship in 2019.
Dr. Su'ad is currently an associate professor of American Culture and Arab and Muslim American Studies at the University of Michigan. She received her PhD in cultural anthropology from Princeton University and is a graduate from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and completed the Islamic Studies diploma program of the Institute at Abu Nour University (Damascus).
