Whenever a community feels that it is chosen, or even an individual feels that they are chosen, the question they must ask is, chosen for what? Are we chosen to live a self-serving, other-obliterating communal existence, or chosen for something more inclusive, chosen for something that benefits everyone? That is the only basis that a community can claim that it has any status with God: that they enjoin what is right, that they stand for justice, that they forbid what is wrong, that they prevent harm from coming to the vulnerable, and that they enjoin faith in God.
Ubaydallah Evans is ALIM’s Scholar-in-Residence and the first African American to graduate from Al-Azhar’s Shariʿa program, also teaching with the Ta’leef Collective and IMAN, after classical training in Tarim and Chicago.