The Character and Courage of Sister Clara Muhammad

As we honor Women’s History Month, recall what the scriptures tell us about the time when angels, in the form of strange men, shared the good, albeit strange and miraculous, message from God about a woman named Sarah. This message was a revelation that was instantly international, before the age of Twitter and Facebook, and it was about Sarah’s role in bearing a son that would lead to the fulfillment of God’s promise to make Abraham’s offspring as many as the stars in the sky (Genesis 22:17). This was initially laughable due to the improbable biological fact that both were extremely elderly at the time. Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100. The Qur’an tells the story in the following verses in the chapter called al-Hijr (the mountains):

Said they: "Fear not! Behold, we bring you the glad tiding of [the birth of] a son who will be endowed with deep knowledge." Said he: "Do you give me this glad tiding despite the fact that old age has overtaken me? Of what [strange thing], then, are you giving me a tiding!" (Qur’an, Surah Hijr 15:53-54)

Have you ever feared someone from the opposite sex or an unfamiliar person? Have you ever been told about something miraculous happening or witnessed something greatly improbable occur? Have you ever experienced such extraordinary blessings that you first laugh due to the absolute implausibility of the event? It is important to note that this occasion is memorialized in both the Qur’an and the Bible. In the Bible, it is written that this event marked when God changed Sarah’s and Abraham’s names. This event occurred after they had received governmental assistance from Egypt and migrated from the dangerous south in Egypt to settle in the north near Hebron. This also was when they separated from their family members from Lot’s house after experiencing economic, political and social hardship and unrest for many years. So when these strangers reached them with this news, they both responded naturally in complete amazement, but ultimately affirmed themselves having full hope in the all-encompassing Grace of God. Thirteen years after Ishma’el was born to Hagar, news of Isaac came in the verses that continue in al Hijr:

They answered: "We have given you the glad tiding of something that is bound to come true - so be not of those who abandon hope!" [Abraham] exclaimed: "And who--other than those who have utterly lost their way-could ever abandon the hope of his Sustainer's grace?" (Qu’ran, Surah Hijr, 15:55-56)

In honor of Women’s History Month’s 2014 theme, “Celebrating Women of Character, Courage, and Commitment”, I wanted to share with you one contemporary narrative similar to what the scriptures share about Sarah. Whether it is International Women’s Day or Women’s History Month, we respect the customs of our land to share beneficial stories of encouragement and this story is about one courageous woman of deep religious and spiritual commitment and character, like our mothers Sarah and Hagar. She exemplifies for us all, both male and female, how to move from fear to hope, migration to stabilization, and affirmation to grace. Although to some this may be strange and laughable, this is not written for likes and re-tweets nor from the normative traditional male perspective, but fear not. I bring you glad tidings of an alternative narrative through the lived experience of our beloved mother, Sister Clara Mohammed.

Similar to the angels who calmed Sarah and Abraham, let me attempt to calm your fears before I deliver this strange but good news celebrating the character of a courageous and committed Black woman. Two relevant Islamic legal maxims should be understood about honoring praiseworthy customs. They state: “custom has the weight of law” (al-‘ada muhakkama) and ”permissibility is the basic rule in customs” (al-asl fi al-‘adat al ibaha). Therefore, the burden of proof that a particular customary convention (such as celebrating women on a day or a month) is impermissible or reprehensible falls exclusively on those who repudiate it, not on those who affirm it. This is my affirmation.

Clara Evans was born in the deep south of Georgia and married Elijah Poole at 18 years old in 1917. Unlike Sarah and Abraham who went to Egypt and received governmental assistance, Clara and Elijah lived in the Jim Crow South and there was no such governmental assistance. In fact, for sharecroppers during those years it was extremely difficult economically and so three years after their marriage they migrated north. They were going north to escape the politically sanctioned public fear and terror that openly resulted in lynchings of people of color. Elijah and Clara moved to Detroit along with millions of African Americans who responded to the recruitment of corporations that promised work and a life of plenty in the northern factories.

It was Clara—not Elijah—who first heard and accepted the message of Islam as presented to them in the form of the Nation of Islam’s strange and uniquely crafted message to Blacks. However, enough Biblical references and cultural memory was evoked to make the odd seem familiar. For example, like Sarah, Clara’s name was also changed, from Poole to Muhammad. Elijah was a preacher’s child so he knew the Word of God and therefore the covenant of Abraham to give him a nation resonated with him. This strange message was also a glad tiding to Sister Clara Mohammed, as she labored hard to care for her eight children and her struggling alcoholic husband before this message got him clean and sober. They would leave pork and alcohol and begin one of the nation’s first alternative home-schooling networks that grew to over 75 branches across the country in the late 1920’s

Sister Clara Mohammed helped establish and run what was called the University of Islam and the Muslim Girls Training schools. In over a decade of religious leadership, she simultaneously raised her own family alone, a heavy task laid upon her capable back and shoulders. Courageously--dare I say even miraculously-- did she carry the fledging, developing Nation of Islam as Elijah Muhammad was on the run or incarcerated for draft evasion from 1935 to 1946. There are many similarities in the stories of Sarah and Clara, but the most significant for American Islam is not the migration north, nor the common name change, but rather the strange but good news promise of a son that would lead his father’s Nation of Islam to true Islam. That promised son was told to them by the mysterious stranger who they called Master Fard Muhammad, who came with glad tidings and left abruptly, saying it would be her seventh child that was destined to bring about the greatest help to the Nation of Islam.

Imam Warith Deen Mohammed was that seventh child, who would be raised by this strong Black woman of character.. At her feet, Warith was inspired to stand up for himself; on her knees did he learn what beautiful character looked like; and in his soul did he hear and respond to God’s call in his life. That is why Warith later renamed all their elementary schools after his mother upon her death in 1972-- to honor this great woman of character, courage and commitment. Upon his father’s death, Imam Warith Deen Mohammad, , now a man of character of 40 years old, was ready and prepared by his mother to courageously lead his birth mission to bring thousands of African American followers in America to orthodox Islam.

In closing, I wish to share with you that it is absolutely important to honor our American custom to honor women in this month as a reminder to ourselves. Reminders of good bring about only good. Langston Hughes did that in his poem, “A Negro Mother”, and I think it is a good way to end this message with glad tidings about honoring Black women:

Three hundred years in the deepest South:
But God put a song and a prayer in my mouth.
God put a dream like steel in my soul.
Now, through my children, I'm reaching the goal.
Now, through my children, young and free,
I realize the blessings denied to me.
I couldn't read then. I couldn't write.
I had nothing, back there in the night.
Sometimes, the valley was filled with tears,
But I kept trudging on through the lonely years.
Sometimes, the road was hot with sun,
But I had to keep on till my work was done:
I had to keep on! No stopping for me—
I was the seed of the coming Free.
I nourished the dream that nothing could smother
Deep in my breast—the Negro mother.