O-Block to the Bricks: Muslims Push Back Against Senseless Violence

“Ye are the best of Peoples, evolved for Mankind, Enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, And believing in Allah.”
-Holy Qu’ran Surah 3 Al Imram (The Family of Imran) ayat (Arabic word for verse) 110

On Saturday, February 22, 2025, the Brotherhood Without Borders: O Block to the Bricks program took place at the The Silver Stars Multimedia Complex and Learning Community center in East Orange, New Jersey at 60 Franklin Avenue. This institution was founded by Henry Hakim Muhammad-the former assistant Minister of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Mosque #25 in Newark, NJ in the 1980s and 1990s. He is now a licensed social worker and therapist. It was the Islamic faith tradition that evolved Muhammad from prison to a productive human being and gave him a successful professional career in the mental health profession. The Brotherhood Without Borders: O Block to the Bricks program was an anti-violence event sponsored by The Bureau of Indigenous Muslims Affairs, Masjid Darul-Islam of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Muslimatic based in Chicago, Illinois. This forum discussed the way in which Muslim community activists and violence interventionists are using their faith, their talents, their skills, and the knowledge of self to stop the violence in Chicago, Illinois.

The event attracted many people from Black and Muslim communities in Jersey, such as Keesha Eure-Newark, NJ’s Deputy Mayor on Violence Prevention and Intervention, Dawn Haynes-Brick City Peace Collective and the Vice President of the Newark Board of Education; Sharif Amenhotep-Brick City Peace Collective and a Co-Founder of the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, Tut-New Direction, Bashir Muhammad Ptah Akinyele - Weequahic High School’s Africana Studies (Black Studies) teacher and community activist, One Hood, Akbar Pray, and many others.

The speakers included the following: Keesha Eure-Newark, NJ’s Deputy Mayor on Violence Prevention and Intervention, Akbar Pray, Imam Muhammad Jaaber-the former resident Imam of Masjid As Habul Yameen in East Orange, NJ and the son of legendary Sheikh Heshaam Jaaber (a mentor of Malcolm X), Ibrahim Jaabir-Muslim activist, Mustafa Brent-former councilman in East Orange, NJ, Imam Abdullah Madyun of Masjid Al-Ihsan in Chicago, Illinois, Yusef Ismail-Breath Work Facilitator, and many other community leaders.

But the program centered on the Da’wah (Arabic word for the invitation to Al-Islam) program by Muslim brothers Kanoya Ali and Sadiq Ali. Their efforts are bringing peace and unity to the O-Block neighborhood in Chicago. They brought with them 27 newly converted Muslims from O-Block to the Newark, New Jersey; East Orange, New Jersey; New York City, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Maryland; and Elizabeth, New Jersey areas in the Northeast.

However, Muslimatic spent some extensive time in the Newark area to share their peace and unity work experiences with Muslim and Black communities that have been extremely supportive of the Da’wah program in Chicago.

When asked how did their Da’wah efforts successfully reduce senseless community violence in O Block, Sadiq said, “reflecting Al-Islam.” Sadiq went on to say, “the Da’wah effort started by the example of simply, and consistently, making Salaat (Arabic word for prayer) right between gang centered neighborhoods on O-Block and the positive character change the people saw in him that he drew from following the Holy Qu’ran’s good deeds rubric of being a good Muslim, kind to your neighbor, helping the poor, helping the needy, helping the wayfarers, helping the liberation of the oppressed, and setting slaves free.” Their change from a negative character to a positive character, and the Islamic based Da’wah program, inspired gangs to stop the violence for peace and unity. Then, many people from O-Block began converting to Al-Islam. With the help of Youtube, Kanoya Ali and Sadiq Ali began broadcasting the Da’wah to the world. This began to spread all over Chicago and around the country. Now, they get calls from gangs and neighborhoods in the US wanting them to pray in their territories to bring peace and unity to the people. But they also get calls from hundreds of people in various neighborhoods expressing an interest in converting to Al-Islam.

Watch the Muslim Dawah program in Chicago, Illinois:

But Kanoya Ali and Sadiq Ali did not limit Da’wah to the American soil. Showing the unity of billions of Muslims in the world, Ali and Siddiq have taken newly converted Muslims from O-Block to Umrah-the lesser Hajj to Makkah, Saudi Arabia which is offered voluntarily any time of the year.

Sadiq Ali was a former major gang leader in Chicago himself. He converted to Al-Islam. Sadiq Ali said, “Al-Islam helped him find a way out of the vicious cycle of miseducation, violence, despair, death, family dysfunction, and destruction.” He went on to say, “Al-Islam Is showing O -Block peaceful alternatives to violent conflicts in the neighborhood.”

Kanoya Ali, a respected leader from the O-Block neighborhood, converted to Al-Islam as well to find peace for his soul, his consciousness, and to help the people discover a way out of senseless community violence. He is now a violence intervention and prevention specialist. He broke down what Muslimatic means. Kanoya Ali said, “Muslimatic means that since your nature is to be Muslim (Arabic words for one’s complete submission to do the will of God), you are automatically born Muslim. We combined the two words automatic and Muslim. Hence, we get the name Muslimatic.”

The Islamic Dawah program by Kanoya Ali and Sadiq Ali is supported far and wide by many Muslims in the Islamic Ummah (Arabic for community) and Masajid (Arabic word for Mosques). For example, Imam Muhammad Jaaber of the Bureau of Indigenous Muslims Affairs, Masjid Darul-Islam in Elizabeth, NJ, and Imam Madyun of Masjid Al-Islam in Chicago are helping with the Dawah effort initiated by Kanoya Ali and Sadiq Ali.

Even various peace and community activists from around the country have jumped on board to give their help and support.

O-Block is the most violent neighborhood in America. Most people and organizations are too afraid to go to O-Block to lend a hand to empower the community against crime and senseless community violence. This neighborhood is predominantly poor and Black. The world has written this neighborhood off as damaged goods. It is filled with gangs, murder, despair, and despondency. O-Block is the birthplace of Drill rap music, Chef Keef, Lil Durk, and First Lady Michelle Obama

According to Chicago Sun Times journalist Frank Main, “The most dangerous block in Chicago isn’t in Englewood or on the West Side. It’s a stretch of South King Drive where a young Michelle Obama once lived. They call it O Block.
On maps, it’s the 6400 block of South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. But it’s just O Block to people there and in frequent references to the street in the blood-drenched lyrics of Chief Keef and other Chicago rappers. Gang members gave O Block the name. The O was for 20-year-old Odee Perry, a gang member gunned down just around the corner on a summer’s night in 2011. His killer? A 17-year-old female gang assassin named Gakirah Barnes, police sources say. Barnes later was shot to death not far from here. Perry was one of 19 people shot on O Block between June 2011 and June 2014. That makes it the most dangerous block in Chicago in terms of shootings in that three-year period, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found. Two of the victims were killed. None of the shootings has resulted in criminal charges.”
(https://chicago.suntimes.com/2014/11/2/18458059/o-block-most-dangerous-block-in-chicago-michelle-obama-chief-keef-parkway-gardens-south-king-drive)

However, these conditions are changing rapidly due to Muslims brothers like Kanoya Ali, Sadiq Ali, Imam Muhammad Jaaber, the Muslims from Masjid Darul-Islam in Elizabeth, NJ, Imam Abdullah Madyun of Masjid Ihsan in Chicago, and the Muslims Ummah (Arabic word for community) in 2025. Out of the ashes of O Block, they are making Black humanity once again whole in the city of Chicago and in the world.

-Bashir Muhammad Ptah Akinyele is a community activist, essayist, a member of the Muslim community in New Jersey, and a member of ASCAC (the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations). He is also a history and Africana Studies (Black Studies ) teacher at Weequahic High School in Newark, NJ.

As Salaamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh Arabic words for May God’s Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be Upon You)! Hotep! Peace!