Many people in the world believe that calling yourself divine is blasphemous and that to believe you are a God or Goddess is the epitome of sin.

In fact, some would even say it is the worst sin of all.

However, there are moments in both the Bible and the Quran where God shows that not only are we able to be divine but that we are able to be very God.

Let us take as an example the famous High Priestly prayer of the Messiah. He said, “the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17: 22).

This is commonly interpreted as, that they may be one with each other even as we are one with each other; but it is more likely that he meant, that they may be one with us even as we are one with each other.

Being one with God in this sense has a definitive aspect.

We are not blaspheming in thus saying we are divine, we are showing the utmost respect to what the Messiah intended with his prayer.

We are declaring that we are one with the divine and therefore we are divine.

And if God and the Messiah intended for us to be divine all along then it is actually blasphemy to call one who is divine a profane thing, that is, less than divine or godly.

Obviously, it could be asked at this point whether it is correct to interpret John 17 as though the Messiah intended for us to be seen as one with God, or for us to be one with God.

At this point the apostle Paul helps us by stating, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8: 14-17).

If we are joint-heirs with the Messiah then every honour, every title, every power the Messiah had is available to us, the children of God, who are heirs of God and of Godhood.

And if we are heirs of God, in the eyes of the Truth, then to call ourselves less than God is blasphemy.

Even to be called less than God by someone else is blasphemy and puts that person in the position of having cursed God.

More important, however, is appreciating your own divinity.

Then again, certain Muslims may say that all these things are blasphemous, including the Scriptures, and that not only does God not have children, but he also has no partners who are one with him.

However, a careful reading of the Quran may show that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not say we could be one with God but did say, in no uncertain terms, that we can be very God ourselves.

That is, our actions can become those of God, thereby making us an embodiment of very God.

The Prophet (pbuh) said, “So you slew them not but Allah slew them, and thou smotest not when thou didst smite (the enemy), but Allah smote (him), and that He might confer upon the believers a benefit from Himself. Surely Allah is Hearing, Knowing” (Quran 8: 17).

All bringing us back to the same initial dilemma: if God commits an act through me and I claim it is my own or another’s I am dishonoring the God whose work it was, on the one hand.

But not acknowledging when, how, and that God works through me is also dishonoring God, on the other hand.

Or, on a more definitive stance: to claim that someone is not God when God is acting through them is to deny not only the signs of God but to blaspheme very God.

It is therefore more blasphemous to deny the Godhood of one who is working the works of God than it is to call them divine.

Indeed, the Prophet (pbuh) goes further by calling them Allah.

Again, one may ask the question as to whether this Quranic verse was simply stated concerning actions and not the person.

Whether God was simply saying that the action of smiting was his even though the person performing the action was not him.

In that sense, what they claim, is that God did this action through the person.

To those the Prophet (pbuh) continues, saying: “thy Lord is the goal” (Quran 53: 42), or said another way, God is the goal.

Or again, “He is with you wherever you are. And Allah is Seer of what you do” (Quran 57: 4).

Seeing that you are always with God wherever you are, becoming one with God is merely about having an intimate connection with him like the Prophet (pbuh) had.

Therefore our goal and destiny is divinity.

But while there are countless who fear the sin of blasphemy, there are countless more who fear the sin of sensuality.

Sensuality, while giving them so much pleasure, ends up giving them even more pain from fear of punishment or hypocrisy.

Yet, for those who do a thorough study of the Bible it becomes clear, first of all, that John the Revelator promised a resurrection of the soul (Revelations 20: 4-6).

And, second of all, that the word used for soul in this Scripture (psyche), coincides with the word used for sensual throughout the New Testament (psychikos).

Indeed, in our time there has been an explosion of sensual leanings due to the Afrosensual movement.

Afrosensuality is, more than anything, about reclaiming our own divinity as Black people even using the Bible.

What Black Divinity: Institutes of the Black Theocracy Shahidi Collection Vol 1 does is it presents the case, using a vast amount of biblical Scriptures, that the kingdom of God comes, not with the Messiah flying from the sky, but with Black people understanding their place in God and becoming a divine people.

The Shahidi Edition of Black Divinity presents those arguments in a more refined way.

Black Divinity is a compelling, unique and easy to understand exposition of the intricate beauty of the New York City street culture and its value.

It is primarily a philosophical work, but it also has elements of social science in it. The central philosophical premises discussed are radical biblical interpretations.

This radicalism draws it far away from religious views, whether Jewish, Christian, or Muslim.

In fact, though the Bible is used throughout the ideas and themes are those of the street life.

As a whole Black Divinity is unashamedly street and pushes for progress in street situations.

Black Divinity is also unapologetically Black and uses Black theology and anthropology references too.

Of these the most notable come from ancient Egypt and the ancient Egyptian apocalyptic tradition.

On an Egyptological basis Black Divinity, along with numerous Egyptologists, considers the ancient Egyptian pantheon to be psychological states, each with their corresponding characteristics.

Therefore, when Black Divinity relays certain ancient Egyptian philosophical and cosmological assumptions it does so recognising the impact these had on the psyche of the ancient people.

Not only so, but it also contains an outline of Black suffering and the Black struggle together with a redefinition of Black salvation.

Here Black salvation is not found in heaven-future but in Black men and women building a better world for themselves and their families, and the way we do that is by appreciating that our nature as Black people is actually divine.

This book is therefore an action plan written with the confident hope that once the Black youth of today know themselves and their potential they will be willing to put the work in to make their lives, and the lives of other Black people, far more effective in the world.

There is no doubt that large sections of the Black community are underprivileged, it will be up to them now to lay hold of that privilege.