Marzieh Hashemi, senior journalist and documentary filmmaker
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raje’oon
“Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him do we indeed return”
(Holy Quran, 2:156)
Once known as the Minister of Justice, he has become the man who gave his life for justice, Imam Jamil al-Amin. This American freedom fighter, spiritual leader and anti-imperialist revolutionary has returned to Allah after being in American prisons for the last 23 years. He was a prisoner of war. The war launched by the United States against Black America. He gave his life first for the liberation of Black Americans and other minorities in a very racist country. And after studying and converting to Islam in the 1970’s, he became a very influential spiritual leader in Atlanta, Georgia. He guided people to the religion of Allah. The man who had been known as H. Rap Brown and could cause a tsunami of emotions with his words became an imam who could bring calm to a storm, as was seen in the neighborhood of his mosque. Southwest Atlanta, as so many Black neighborhoods in the US, in the 1980’s and 90’s, became crime-filled, dope-riddled and fatal for many. This was the result of targeted campaigns by the US government to prevent Black Americans from becoming revolutionary again, as they had become in the 1960’s during the Black Liberation Movement. Crack cocaine and guns were dumped into Black neighborhoods, causing disunity, greed and crime. But around the Community Masjed, which was established by Imam Jamil, it was a different reality. Even the dope pushers respected him and his past, and as an extension of the imam, they respected the Muslims of that community. They knew it was hands off of his people. The reason for that was multifaceted. First due to the man that Imam Jamil al Amin had become, after accepting Islam and two, for the man that he had always been, even when he was known as H. Rap Brown.
Hubert Gerold Brown (H. Rap Brown) was born on October 4, 1943 in Louisiana. This state is in the deep south of the U.S. He grew up during a very segregated era. He was very aware of the racist policies of the United States from a young age and became an activist when he was in high school. Brown was an eloquent speaker and adamant about the importance of equality for Black people and other minorities in the States. As a college student, he became part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). It was a non-violent, civil rights organization, run by college students, fighting against segregation and the oppression of Black people. They would coordinate sit-ins, demonstrations and various forms of non-violent protests to show their disdain for racism and discrimination and to try to create changes in the racist system.
However, by the mid 1960’s when White repression continued to escalate, H. Rap Brown, who by this time had become the Chairman of SNCC, simultaneously became a member of the Black Panther Party because it was more militant. He served as the Party’s Minister of Justice. The Black Panthers believed in educating Black people in order for them to learn their history. They created free breakfast programs and used this time, as an opportunity to feed the kids, as well as educate them. The Black Panthers also established health clinics and believed that Black people should police their own neighborhoods, due to police discrimination and brutality against them. They wanted the police out of their neighborhoods because the police were the actual threat to these Black neighborhoods.
H. Rap Brown was a dynamic speaker, thus the reason he became known as “Rap”. He could inspire his audience with his revolutionary speeches. He talked about the military industrial complex and how there was no way to reform the American system except for revolution. He said that because of the way the system was set up, even if a Black man was elected president, it would not change the status quo of Black people because that president would simply abide by that same system which allowed him to be president. Thus, the whole system must be changed. He said individuals do not make a difference in the political system of the United States because the whole system is an entity that it is run by the military industrial complex.
He was a charismatic and inspirational leader who could attract young and old. Thus, he was targeted by the White supremacist American government. A secret 1967 FBI memo, which was later revealed, called for "neutralizing" him. He was one of the main Black revolutionaries that the FBI targeted by various means. COINTELPRO was an illegal program by the FBI, which ultimately destroyed Black Liberation organizations, by assassinating the individual or assassinating their character, by imprisoning activists and basically doing whatever they could to destroy the individuals involved and destroying the overall liberation movements. In the 1970’s, Brown was sent to jail and it was there that he studied and ended up converting to Islam. He changed his name to Jamil Al-Amin and once released, established the Community Masjed, also known as the West End Masjed in Atlanta, Georgia.
His following grew and he asked the Muslims to live close to the mosue, establish businesses there and form a community, establishing Islamic lifestyle in the southwest neighborhood of Atlanta. Imam Jamil continued to teach, as he always had and he was very effective in countering crime and drugs in the area. One would think that such a religious and inspiring figure, would be considered the ideal citizen for police because he was against crime and the infestation of drugs in the community, but the reality is something else. He taught people that it was the corrupt American system which wanted the people to be on drugs, so they couldn’t think about the source of their oppression. The “powers that be” wanted the Black neighborhoods to be filled with crime. They never wanted to see that revolutionary nature which had taken place in the 1960’s to return. Imam Jamil inspired people to strive to be the best they could and he inspired many to turn to Islam and to counter their oppression. He taught them to submit to Allah (SWT). The American system ALWAYS saw him as a threat, making him one of the top Black revolutionaries under surveillance and disruption efforts by the FBI. He was repeatedly targeted by COINTELPRO, an illegal program by the FBI, to discredit and disrupt his activism and his call for people to reach their ultimate liberation and that is submitting to Allah (SWT).
Despite living an upright life and being an inspiration to many, he continued to be targeted by a system which could not tolerate a courageous, dynamic Muslim leader. In March of 2000, Imam Jamil al Amin was charged with the murder of a police officer and the wounding of another one, near his store. Imam Jamil always denied these charges. His fingerprints were not found on the gun. The wounded deputy said that Imam Jamil was the one who shot him, however there was another witness who said that Imam Jamil was not the person. Another man CONFESSED to the crime and gave details about what had happened, but the courts WOULD NOT ACCEPT his confession.
It was obvious that just as many former Black revolutionaries had been set up by the US system, so was Imam Jamil Al-Amin. Revolutionaries were targeted in many different ways, from misinformation campaigns to cause a split between them to being killed or incarcerated. All techniques were used to destroy the awakening and liberation of Black America. Imam Jamil gave his life to make others aware of the reality and his incarceration, the system slowly tortured him to death. He was in solitary confinement for 8 years with barely any human contact. Then he suffered from medical neglect as treatment for his cancer was delayed. On November 23,2025 at the age of 82, he finally attained the freedom that he never had while he was in this world.
What the US government did to him once again prove the emptiness of American government’s claims for human rights. As Imam Khamenei put it, “Those who claim to support human rights trample on the most basic human rights in their prisons, in different parts of the world, in their relations with other nations, and even in their own countries! These people are talking about human rights! They legitimize torture! Is this not a shame for a country? When a country legitimizes the torture of its prisoners, is it not a source of disgrace for that country? Yet, they claim to support human rights! They claim to defend human honor! When their audience throughout the world compare their claims with their behavior, they make fun of them. Who would believe such claims?”
He became a hero who gave his life while setting an example of what it means to be truly free. May Allah bless his soul.
(The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Khamenei.ir.)
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