Bi ismillahir rahmanir raheem
assalamu alaikum
http://www.africawithin.com/malcolmx/letter_from_mecca.htm -
Letter From Mecca
"The
following letter was sent from Malcolm to his assistants, new Muslim
Mosque, press and his wife, during the conclusion of his pilgrimage to
Mecca. The content is reproduced from The Autobiography of Malcolm X as
told to Alex Haley".
------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------
Never
have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit
of true brotherhood as practiced by people of all colors and races here
in this Ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all other
prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly
speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all
around me by people of all colors.
I have been blessed to visit
the Holy City of Mecca. I have made my seven circuits around the Ka'ba,
led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad. I drank water from the well of
Zem Zem. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt.
Al-Safa and Al-Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I
have prayed on Mt. Arafat.
There were tens of thousands of
pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue
eyed blonds to black skin Africans. But we were all participating in
the same rituals, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my
experiences in America had lead me to believe never could exist between
the white and non-white.
America needs to understand Islam,
because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race
problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked
to, and even eaten with people who in America would have considered
'white' -- but the 'white' attitude was removed from their minds by the
religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true
brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their
color.
You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on
this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to
re-arrange much of my thought patterns previously held, and to toss
aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for
me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to
face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experiences and
new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is
necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form
of intelligent search for truth.
During the past eleven days
here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from
the same glass, and slept in the same bed, (or on the same rug) --
while praying to the same God -- with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were
the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose
skin was the whitest of white. And in the same words and in the actions
and in the deeds of the 'white' Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that
I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.
We
were truly all the same (brothers) -- because their belief in one God
had removed the 'white' from their minds, the 'white' from their
behavior, and the 'white' from their attitude.
I could see from
this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God,
then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man --
and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their
differences in color.
With racism plaguing America like an
incurable cancer, the so-called 'Christian' white American heart should
be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem.
Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster --
the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually
destroyed the Germans themselves.
Each hour here in the Holy
Land enables me to have greater spiritual insights into what is
happening in America between black and white. The American Negro never
can be blamed for his racial animosities -- he is only reacting to four
hundred years of conscious racism of the American whites. But as racism
leads America up the suicide path, I do believe, from the experience
that I have had with them, that the whites of the younger generation,
in the colleges and universities, will see the handwriting on the wall
and many of them will turn to the spiritual path of truth -- the only
way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably
must lead to.
Never have I been so highly honored. Never have I
been made to feel more humble and unworthy. Who would believe the
blessings that have been heaped upon an American Negro? A few nights
ago, a man who would be called in America a 'white' man, a United
Nations diplomat, an ambassador, a companion of kings, gave me his
hotel suite, his bed. By this man, His Excellency Prince Faisal, who
rules this Holy Land, was made aware of my presence here in Jedda. The
very next morning, Prince Faisal's son, in person, informed me that by
the will and decree of his esteemed father, I was to be a State Guest.
The
deputy Chief of Protocol himself took me before the Hajj Court. His
Holiness Sheikh Muhammad Harkon himself okayed my visit to Mecca. His
Holiness gave me two books on Islam, with his personal seal and
autograph, and he told me that he prayed that I would be a successful
preacher of Islam in America. A car, a driver, and a guide, have been
placed at my disposal, making it possible for me to travel about this
Holy Land almost at will. The government provides air conditioned
quarters and servants in each city that I visit. Never would I have
even thought of dreaming that I would ever be a recipient of such
honors -- honors that in America would be bestowed upon a King -- not a
Negro.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds.
Sincerely,
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)
http://www.africawithin.com/malcolmx/letter_from_mecca.htm - source.
-------------
Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.
|