Malcolm X's Letter from Makkah

[Majestic_Islam]

Malcolm X's (al-Hajj, Malik al-Shabazz) Letter from Makkah


The following is Malcolm X's (al-Hajj, Malik al-Shabazz) letter to his
assistants in Harlem during his pilgrimage to Makkah in April of 1964:

Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit
of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races
here in this ancient holy land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all
the 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 Makkah; I have made my
seven circuits around the Ka'aba, led by a young Mutawwaf (guide) named
Muhammad; I drank water from the well of the Zamzam. I ran seven times
back and forth between the hills of mount al-Safa and al-Marwa. I have
prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on mount Arafat.

There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They
were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans.
But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit
of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led 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 been 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 rearrange 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 experience 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 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 words 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 the conscious racism of the
American whites. But as racism leads America up the suicide path, I do
believe, from the experiences that I have had with them, that the whites of
the younger generation, in the colleges and universities, will see the
handwriting on the walls 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. 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,
al-Hajj, Malik al-Shabazz (Malcolm X)

* Taken from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, co-authored by Alex Haley.

Editor's Note: The compassion, selflessness, brotherhood, and
generosity that Malcolm encountered in Makkah during his Hajj opened his heart
to the true spirit of Sunni Islam. He writes in his autobiography,
"Because of the spiritual enlightenment which I was blessed to receive as
the result of my recent pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah, I no
longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of any one race. I am now striving
to live the life of a true Sunni Muslim.
I must repeat that I am not a racist nor do I subscribe to the tenets
of racism. I can state in all sincerity that I wish nothing but freedom,
justice and equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for
all people."


May Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala Grant this brother a lofty hereafter inshaAllah. He sought the truth, and Allah subhaanahu wa ta'ala brought it to him - may he be of the shuhadaa inshaAllah - and may we also be of the shuhada, wa saliheen, wa siddiqeen inshaAllah. Ameen ajma'een.

[Musa]

May Allaah accept the brother as a Shaheed and grant him of the highest of levels of Jannah.