Mumbo Jumbo Follow-Up

Here is an interesting excerpt from Mumbo Jumbo which shows a little bit of Ishmael Reed's discussion of Islam (Reed 35):

You are no different from the Christians you imitate. Atonists Christians and Muslims don't tolerate those who refuse to accept their modes. 

 Some of the people who were listening have decided that it's 1 of those discussions and have drifted away. 

Christianity? What has that to do with me?  

They are very similar, 1 having derived from the other. Muhammed seems to have wanted to impress Christian critics with his knowledge of the bible, LaBas continues.  They agree on the ultimate wickedness of woman, even using feminine genders to describe disasters that beset mankind. Terming women cattle, unclean. The Koran was revealed to Muhammed by Gabriel the angel of the Christian apocalypse. Prophets in the Koran: Abraham Isaac and Moses were Christian prophets; each condemns the Jewish people for abandoning the faith; realizing that there has always been a pantheistic contingent among the "chosen people" not reluctant to revere other gods. The Virgin Mary figures in the Koran as well as in the Bible. In fact, 1 night you were reading a poem to the Black woman. It occurred to me that though your imagery was with the sister, the heart of you work was with the Virgin. 

You'd better be careful with your critique Papa LaBas, Abdul replies. Remember "He that worships other gods besides Allah shall be forbidden to Paradise and shall be cast into the fires of Hell."  

Precisely, Black Herman replies. Intolerant just as the Christians are. 

This passage clashes completely with Reed's tendency to lump Islam in with this vague idealized conception of Afro-centric culture. Here, Reed presents the perspective that Islam shares many Atonist features, and that it deliberately mimics Atonist characteristics. This is in stark contrast with the part of the book where Reed sets up the Crusades as a battle between the Atonists and the non-Atonists, and makes the book a lot more interesting, because it highlights the overlap between Reed's dichotomy of the world. It leaves room for complexities and loop holes.

And Abdul seems to realize that it's because of the way his identity exists in the overlap, he has a special role to play. He tells Papa LaBas that people like him will live in seclusion and only a select few will read him and they will pride themselves in their selectiveness whereas Abdul's "chimerical art" will survive. He says it will be people like himself that will "get it across" in such a way that the masses will understand.