Was Jesus Christ Black?

I have question this idea for a long time. Although I do not currently partake in any religious practices (outside of my home), I was raised Christian and later converted to Islam. As I have grown older, I have grown jaded by the politics and underlying racism involved therein. However, I continue my quest for spiritual grounding, as well as uplifting. Yet the question still rises.

No matter what religion or spiritual endeavors I’ve undertaken I am continually redirected or reminded of the life of Jesus Christ. Be it Christianity, Judaism or Islam; all recognize Christ as (at least) a divine prophet. That I can fully accept. The imagery of Him, however, has always been a thorn in my Crown (pun intended).  I have heard many arguments for and against the idea of a “Black” Christ. But, just based on earthly science (or rather geography) and my own life’s travels, I find it impossible to (any longer) accept the notion of a “White” Christ.

With that said, I humbly add that is not my intention to enrage, nor convert, nor accuse any one of practicing racism; contrary I am only attempting to educate and offer a realistic Spiritual history for your own Spiritual process. If you’re praying to a false God, how will your prayers be answered. My beliefs are; that I AM a God. For the Spirit of the Most High is in us all. It is our duty, however, to recognize the incorrect and false portrayal of Actual prophets. Jesus Christ being amongst, if not, the most celebrated. Whether Christ was/is Black is just the beginning of my spirit driven questions about life. Either way, I think it’s a marvelous start and a thought provoking question that should be answered for all mankind, particularly those that call themselves Christians.

I recently uncovered a compelling blog argument written by author Marcus Allgood based on historical geography and that of, Biblical and Islamic texts and teachings (A link to Mr. Goodall’s original blog post can be found at the bottom of this page.).

Here is my version, of his argument (slightly rearranged and with at touch of new art and supporting evidence).

 

Here’s Why, Jesus Christ had to be Black.

What does the Bible say about Jesus’ Ethnicity?

According to Genesis 9:19 and the Table of Nations in Genesis 10, all mankind is descended from the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham’s descendants became the various black peoples who settled the African continent and parts of the Arabian peninsula. His sons were Cush, whose descendants settled in Ethiopia. Mizraim, whose descendants settled in Egypt. (Phut) Put’s descendants settled in Libya. And Canaan’s descendants settled in Palestine and founded the cities of Sidon, Tyre and Carthage (among others). They were the ancestors of the Phoenicians.  Collectively, in ancient times the descendants of Cush formed a large ethnic group and were the main populace of the Cushite Empire. Which, extended from present-day western Libya to Ethiopia and Nubia (south of Egypt). Which is all of present-day Egypt, and the Arabian peninsula  into the mountains of Turkey. They spoke a variety of languages and had skin pigmentation ranging from dark black to medium brown.

Revelation1:13-15

“And in the midst  of the seven candle sticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.”

 The Ancient Hebrews (The Semites or Original Jews) were a people of COLOUR.

The original Jews, in Africa, were Black African people. There are still many in northern Africa, such as the Falasha Jews of Ethiopia. A New York Times editorial (3/2/84) described them as “a lost tribe that has kept its identity for more than 2,000 years in a remote corner of Africa.” Abraham, ancestor of the Hebrews, was from Chaldea; the ancient Chaldeans were Black. In fact, Africa takes it name from Ophren, a son of Abraham by his wife, Keturah (Whiston: The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus p50) Like Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the lineage of Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie also goes back to Judah -through Solomon/Queen of Sheba and King David.

Roman historian Tacitus wrote that many of his time believed that the Jews “were a race of Ethiopian origin.” The Bible classifies the Ethiopians & Jews together, “Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord.”(Amos 9:7) Black Paul is mistaken for an “Egyptian” and declares himself to be a “Jew.” (Acts 21:37-39, 22: 2,3)

The fact that the Jews got their language, religion & culture from the Canaanites & Sumerians through Babylon, is well documented by historians. The original ancient Hebrew alphabet was identical to that of the Phoenicians. “Semitic languages” are really just dialectical variants of African languages.

The word “Semite” originates from the Hebrew word Shēm which; I stated earlier, was also the name of one of  Noah’s three sons and means: a member or descendant of any number of peoples, of ancient southwestern Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs.

[This according to  and roughly translated from Encyclopedia Britannica, Dictionary.com, Merriam-Webster, Wikipedia, and New Advent.org – a Catholic online encyclopedia]

Semite

noun.

Person speaking one of a group of related languages, presumably derived from a common language, Semitic (seeSemitic languages). The term came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, some Ethiopians, and Aramaean tribes including Hebrews. Semitic tribes migrated from the Arabian Peninsula, beginning c. 2500 BC, to the Mediterranean coast,Mesopotamia, and the Nile River delta. In Phoenicia, they became seafarers. In Mesopotamia, they blended with the civilization of Sumer. The Hebrews settled at last with other Semites in Palestine.

The word Semite’s first usage, as we use it today, dates/traces back somewhere between the late 1780’s-1850’s according to sources.

Consider for a moment, the Latin language make up of the word as used today.
(Prefix) Semi = Half
(Suffix) ite = a descendant of a specified historical person
or a native or resident of a specified place

Latin and Asiatic cultures were not yet indicative of the region during the era of Christ, thus leading us to the reality that the “Halves” must be half Black and half White…therefore, in essence and literally, he was Black (since Black genes are genetically dominant as pointed out by Dr. Cress Welsing’s “Cress Theory Of Color“).

Historian, Cheikh Anta Diop also points out that the “Semitic” arises in the 4th millennia B.C. from crossbreeding between Black inhabitants of the holy land and white northern invaders. While many Semites (such as Jews & Gypsies) have mixed so much with whites that they’ve forgotten or deny their African roots. Racism (namely white supremacy) will never let them forget this, no matter how light-skinned they become. As proved by Hitler, who mandated their destruction because they were classified by whites as “non-white” people originating in Africa. The very word Gypsy means “out of Egypt.”

The Israelites were in Egypt 430 years, 400 of which in captivity. The group of over 600,000 men, women and children that left Egypt under Moses were of a darkened “mixed multitude”. Ethnically, their ancestors were a combination of Hamitic Egyptians and Semitic Israelites. Although the Bible lays out Jesus’ ancestors through Shem, it does not mention that His ancestors would have had Hamitic blood from this intermixing.

In other words Jesus has Black ancestry in his Blood. We know that Noah’s son, Ham, was a Negro. Jesus descended from a number of Ham’s ancestors, including Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Naomi, Bathsheba and Jezebel. The Jews were from the Middle east, mostly in the Iraq region, the seat of ancient Cush, and the people from this region range in color from light brown to blue black.

Cush-African in his blood?

Jesus descended from the line of Shem; His lineage from Noah through Abraham is shown in Genesis 11:10-27 and Luke 3:34-38: Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Cainan, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abram a.k.a Abraham. Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, who came from the Sumarian city of Ur of Chaldes, which was a black civilization. Likewise for many, if not most,of the societies described in the Bible.

The Sumerians referred to themselves as ùĝ saĝ gíg-ga, phonetically uŋ saŋ giga , literally meaning “the black- headed people”.

Jesus’ lineage from Abraham through David is shown in Matthew 1 and Luke 3: Matt 1:[2] Abraham, of Ur of the Chaldees &; Sarah,Isaac &; Rebekah, Jacob &; Leah, [3] Judah &;Tamar [Canaanite] ,Perez, Hezron, [4] Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, [5] Salmon &; Rahab [Canaanite], Boaz &; Ruth [Moabite] , Obed, [6] Jesse, David &; Bethsheba.

Rahab was a contemporary of Joshua, successor to Moses. Seventy Israelites went into captivity in Egypt. During the 400 years the Israelites were in captivity in Egypt, they and their descendants intermarried with non-Israelites.

 

Yes! Jesus Christ WAS Black.

If you take into consideration, the perspective, that he was brought to Africa when he was a baby (Matthew 2:13-23) and he did not appear to be odd. There were no Caucasians in Egypt or the surrounding areas at the time. Look also from the angle that he was a Jew and some Jews are black (in color), and may Jews during Jesus time had some sort of Cushite/Hamitic mixture. The evidence is conclusive. In fact, most of the people mentioned in the Bible were of races of dark complexion. And the region that Jesus came from featured only people of the Negroid and Mongoloid races. Thus, modern scholarly opinion refutes the theologians who argued against a black presence in the Bible. Compound this with new evidence, being revealed more and more frequently, about the origin of man. But sadly, the past Euro-centrist interpretation of the Bible, which did recognize a black presence in the Bible, was deliberately used by some in the past to justify the subjugation and enslavement of peoples of color.

What is the significance and why should we care?

According to Islam, Jesus was always known as a Brown man of color (Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 4, Book 55, No. 649). However, for Muslims globally it plays no significance, because he is not deified in Islam. Some (Christians) say, however, the color of Jesus is not important as long as he died for our sins.

This idea undermines the clear Semitic Biblical teaching that, no one can die for another’s sin, nor can someone inherit sin, thus disrupting the whole basis for Jesus dying for our sins in the first place (Deuteronomy 24:16, Ezekiel 18:20, Jeremiah 31:29-30) . If Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:16-18) then he could not violate these laws while fulfilling them.

That is why, in Islam; God, or any of his prophets are not represented in a physical image or in a picture.

Because He begets not nor is he begotten and there is none like unto him (Quran 112:1-4).

 

The BIG Question: What are the psychological effects on Black people that worship a White God?

To answer this question, we must first understand the importance of religious symbols and rituals in human life and consider the effect of male symbolism of God on women and people of color. According to anthropologist Clifford Geertz, religious symbols shape a cultural ethos, defining the deepest values of a society and the persons in it.

Geertz writes; “Religion is a system of symbols which act to produce powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations” in the people of a given culture.

“Mood” equates to attitude such as awe, trust, and respect, while a “motivation” is the social and political trajectory created by a mood that transforms a Religious symbol system into social and political reality. Symbols have both psychological and political effects, because they create their inner conditions (deep-seated attitudes and feelings) that lead people to feel comfortable with or to accept social and political arrangements that correspond to the symbol system.

Religions centered on the worship of a White-male God create “moods”and “motivations” that keep women and people of color in a state of psychological dependence on White men and male authority, while at the same time legitimating the political and social authority of white fathers and sons in the institutions of society.

In Islam, God (Allah) is neither male nor female, thus subjection and servitude is not to any person (Black, White, Male or Female) but only to God.

“Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem”

“In (or with) the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.”

Original post: “What if Jesus Christ was Black?“ By Marcus Allgood

Another worthy read by Marcus Allgood | “Can you just be “Spiritual”, with no RELIGION?“