From Macy's to master class
 Luqman
Hakeem is probably not the first person to find his life's work
in a department store.
But how many people discover a martial art at Macy's?
"It was the first time I saw an aikido move," said Hakeem. "Macy's
was having a Japanese festival, and the teacher, T.K. Lee, used
a nikyo [an often painful wrist technique] on me. I had taken jujitsu,
so I knew what it was."
From that beginning more than 38 years ago, Hakeem, 69, would
come to devote his life to the study and practice of aikido - a
Japanese martial art created in the early days of the last century
- with much success.
Among local African-American martial art practitioners, Hakeem's
name is as well-known as that of Moses Powell and the late Dr. Vee.
Hakeem has operated or taught martial arts schools, or dojos,
here and in Casablanca, Morocco, where he has lived since 1985.
Last week, he was one of 15 instructors from around the world
who taught classes at the New York Aikikai's 10-day, 40th anniversary
summer camp at Colgate University in upstate Hamilton.
More than 1,000 people (including this writer) from dozens of
countries - including Japan, Brazil, Colombia, France and Great
Britain - attended the event.
"It was a great camp," Hakeem said. "All those people working
out together in such harmony, it was really beautiful."
Hakeem was born in Cleveland. His family moved to Flushing, Queens,
when he was an infant, then to Bayside, where he graduated from
Bayside High School in 1952.
He went on to New York Technical University for a few months before
enlisting in the Navy, where he stayed for two years.
"I tried school, but at the time I didn't have a sense of direction,"
he said. "I didn't get that direction in the Navy either. I never
left the country or served onboard a ship.
"You know what they say about the service: you ask for one thing,
and they give you the exact opposite. Well, I asked for ship duty
and ended up in Springfield, Mass., and Glencoe, Ill. - on the land
the entire time."
He moved to Brooklyn when his hitch was done, and by 1966 was
studying jujitsu and aikido.
"I studied under Prof. Charles Elmore and Dr. Naraki Hara," Hakeem
said. "I was 31 when I started. Some friends of mine were taking
jujitsu classes and told me I should come with them. I had been
boxing before that, so I went along and liked it."
At his instructors' advice, Hakeem quit jujitsu to devote himself
to aikido full time. He trained under Yoshimitsu Yamada, chairman
of the United States Aikido Federation, host of the just-completed
summer camp.
Hakeem would rise through the ranks to become an instructor -
he taught a 6:45 a.m. class at the federation's 18th St. offices
in Manhattan for 17 years.
"Sometimes I would have 50 students in that class," Hakeem said.
"I think people liked it because I taught what I learned. A lot
of instructors would be creative and teach things they came up with.
But I taught traditional movements, the movements my teachers taught
me.
"What I like about aikido is its harmony and beauty, as well as
its utility and effectiveness. I like that it's not competitive
- the only person you are competing against is yourself.
"Anyone who has spent any time in an aikido dojo knows that eventually
the people there regard each other as family. When someone you are
used to seeing doesn't show up, people are concerned and try to
find out what's going on with that person.
"Aikido is medicine for the mind, body and spirit."
Hakeem joined one of his brothers in converting to the Islamic
faith in the early 1960s. By the mid-1980s, he was considering moving
to an Islamic country as a way of bringing up his children within
the faith.
He chose Morocco because of its California-like weather, stability
and short (6-1/2 hours) flight time from New York.
"I have visited 25 countries in my life and still feel Morocco
is one of the best places to live," he said. "I moved there in January
1985. The people are friendly, the streets safe."
Hakeem maintains a dojo in his hometown, Casablanca, and regularly
teaches at his former students' schools in the cities of Asafi,
Essaouira and Tarouadant.
"The aikido students tend to be younger in Morocco because people
love sports there," he said.
He has two wives, six sons and four daughters in Morocco and five
other children living in the states.
Hakeem said he teaches six days a week and works out or stretches
every day, a schedule he plans to keep until he "can't anymore."
"You have to stay active to enjoy life," he said.
Peace for all; no enemies need apply
Aikido was created in Japan by Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969). Before
creating aikido, Ueshiba trained extensively in several varieties
of jujitsu, and in swordsmanship. Ueshiba also immersed himself
in religious studies and developed an ideology devoted to universal
socio-political harmony. He incorporated these principles into his
martial art.
Aikido has no tournaments, competitions, contests or sparring.
Instead, all aikido techniques are learned cooperatively at a pace
commensurate with the abilities of each trainee. According to the
founder, the goal of aikido is not the defeat of others, but the
defeat of the negative characteristics which inhabit one's own mind
and inhibit its functioning.
One reason for the prohibition of competition in aikido is that
many techniques would have to be excluded because they can potentially
cause serious injury. By training cooperatively, even potentially
lethal techniques can be practiced without substantial risk.
Exerpted from "Aikido Primer" by Eric Sotnak.
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