Hi Friend,
I first met Sheikh Adeyinka Mendes many years ago, pre-Pandemic, at the mosque in New Jersey where he was serving at the time. He was introduced to me by a former ReMembering participant. I was immediately impressed with his presence: calm, collected, gentle, deep, insightful. I could feel his years of spiritual discipline even in our initial conversation.
A year or so ago, I asked him to be on my podcast. He goes in between Nigeria and Texas, where he lives with his family, various interfaith and Muslim gatherings, especially around eco-justice and indigenosity and collective freedom movements for oppressed people. So it took a while for us to set up our call - but as can happen, the process of us trying to find a time for the call was itself rich - instead of it being just a logisitical back-and-forth, it was infused with ideas, questions, mutual book recommendations (he is a fellow Howard Thurman fan!) and a range of connection-points. We knew there was a lot to talk about! This episode is more of an introduction to the range of his thought and action and the multiple complex lineages he carries and is himself deepening into than an exploration of any one topic. We both thought we would go quite deep into Islam and animate traditions, but we ended up just briefly touching on it.... hopefully next time we will do more of a deep dive! Just so you know, it might sound a bit slow in the beginning - really we are both listening deeply, and letting that listening inform our conversation.
I often ask guests, 'what are you ReMembering' - and in this case, that question proved a great starting ground.
Thus, the conversation starts with him explaining the Arabic word tathakur—to remember—and how the practice of dhikr (chanting divine names like Al-Raheem, the eternally loving one) creates what Adeyinka calls "pathways to transcendent memory." It's a practice that costs nothing, requires no special substances: just "you and your heart and your tongue."
From there, we trace connections between his Nigerian Yoruba and Louisiana Creole roots and relationships, his love of Jesus, his studies of Quranic teachings about land as living entity, and the guidance he's received from teachers spanning Haiti to the Ojibwe nation, and the places of intersections between lineages - such as when his Haitian spiritual guide and an Ojibwe elder of his independently shared prophecies describing America as a "place of gathering for all tribes"—not for some kind of corporate unity, but for spiritual transformation that honors cultural distinctness while recognizing shared inner light.
This is one of our distinctly religious episodes, engaging in cross-cultural/cross-religious conversation, but it is hardly abstract theology.
The Healing Ancestry and Development Collective Mendes initiated helps Black Americans reconnect with land-based practices. We talk about justice for the people of Palestine, hoodoo traditions, the nonviolent resistance teachings of Sheikh Ahmad Bamba who faced French occupation in Senegal, and some practical questions about what it looks like to root culture in land cycles. We close with the story of Joseph—slavery, imprisonment, dreams, forgiveness—as a template for communities navigating trauma toward transformation. Sometimes our darkest experiences forge the very gifts needed for collective healing.
Regardless of your own religious/spiritual background, I hope you enjoy this episode.
Listen to the full episode to explore these intersections of Islamic spirituality, indigenous wisdom, land relationship, and the ongoing work of remembering who we've always been.
