Imam Dr. Taymullah Abdur-Rahman

Peace.

My name is Taymullah. I'm a Muslim educator who specializes in system affected Islam. I'm author of '44 Ways to Manhood', the memoir, 'American Imam,' and creator of The604project.

Serving as imam and educator at Harvard University and several maximum security prisons has taught me one valuable lesson over the past twenty years: system affected Muslims must find an authentic identity that enhances their lives without burdening them.

System affected Muslims are Muslims who have been adversely affected by the welfare, educational and carceral systems in America. System affected Islam is an Islam that grants easy access to its creed and sacred texts, represents oppressed identities, and allows for easy daily application of Islamic values.

MY RESEARCH

My research revolves around three areas of focus that endeavor to understand the journey of system affected Muslims in America:

The history of and anticipated trends for system affected Black Muslims in America

The implementation of Islamic jurisprudence in U.S. prisons

The symbiotic relationship between Black Islamic practice and hip-hop culture

My research asks what social / political factors have influenced system affected Muslims’ as well as Black proto-Muslims' sectarian positions (such as the Nation of Islam heterodox claim that Allah came to earth as a Black man or the Salafist literalist theology) over the last century given the many doctrinal changes that have manifested in these groups as a reaction to Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Black Power movement and the emergence of hip-hop as a cultural phenomenon.

In addition, I have spent over a decade attempting to understand the evolution of Islamic theology, jurisprudence and culture in the United States prison system since incarcerated individuals began to embrace proto-Islam in the early 1950s. Why do convicted felons convert to Islam? Who sets the norms of Islamic law in prison? What accommodations are allowed, and how are they enforced in such a controlled environment?

Finally, as supplementary research I look at how the stylization of Islam in hip-hop music and culture has shaped the moral compass of Black youth. I also consider the influence that hip-hop music and culture has played in shaping Islamic norms for system affected Black Muslims since the advent of the Last Poets in 1968 until today.