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The Islamic Bulletin
Issue 7
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The Islamic Bulletin
Issue 7
On May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm Little was born to
Reverend Earl Little and Louise Little. The Rev. Little, who believed
in self-determination, worked for the unity of Black people. Malcolm
was raised in a background of ethnic awareness and dignity, wherein
violence sprang from white racists to stop such Black people, like
the Rev. Little, from preaching for the black cause.
When Malcolm was six years old, his father was murdered by
white racists. The history of Malcolm’s family tree shows that his
dedication to Black people, like that of his father, may have been
motivated by the total oppression of his family. By the tender age
of six, Malcolm, his parents and brothers and sisters, had been shot
at, burned out of home, harassed, and threatened, culminating in
the death of his father.
Some years later, Malcolm became a “drop-out” from school at
the age of 15. Learning the ways of the streets Malcolm came to
know the hoodlums, thieves, dope peddlers, and pimps. Convicted
of burglary at 20, he was in prison until he was 27 years old and
was released in 1952 a changed man. During his prison stay he
attempted to educate himself. Just as important, it was at this time
of imprisonment that he came into the knowledge of the Black
Muslim sect.
Upon learning about the Black Muslims, Malcolm studied the teach-
ings fully. When released from prison he went to Detroit, joined
the daily activities of the sect, and was given instructions by Elijah
Muhammad himself. Malcolm’s personal commitment helped build
the organization nationally while making him an international figure.
Envy and other problems forced Malcolm to leave the Black sect
with intentions of starting his own organization on March 12, 1964.
“I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under some-
one else’s control. I feel what I’m thinking and saying now is for
myself. Before, it was for and by guidance of another, now I think
with my own mind.” - Malcolm X
Malcolm was 38 years old when he left Elijah Muhammad’s Nation
of Islam. It is then that Malcolm reflects on event that happened
prior to leaving. “At one or another college or university, usually in
the informal gatherings after I had spoken, perhaps a dozen gener-
ally white-complexioned people would come up to me, identifying
themselves as Arabian, Middle Eastern or North African Muslims
who happened to be visiting, studying or living in the United States.
They had said to me that, my white- indicting statements was sincere
in considering myself a Muslim--and they felt if I was exposed to
what they always called “true Islam,” I would “understand it, and
embrace it.” Automatically, as a follower of Elijah Muhammad, I
had bridled whenever this was said. But in the privacy of my own
thoughts after several of these experiences, I did question myself:
if one was sincere in professing a religion, why should he balk at
broadening his knowledge of that religion?
Those orthodox Muslims whom I had met, one after another, had
urged me to meet and talk with a Dr. Mahmoud Youssef Shawarbi...
Then one day Dr. Shawarbi and I were introduced by a newspa-
perman. He was cordial. He said he had followed me in the press;
I said I had been told of him, and we talked for 15 or 20 minutes.
We both had to leave to make appointments we had, when he
dropped on me something whose logic never would get out of my
head. He said, “No man has believed perfectly until he wishes for
his brother what he wishes for himself.”
The pilgrimage to Mecca, known as the Hajj, is a religious obliga-
tion that every Muslim fulfills, if humanly able, at least once in his
or her lifetime. The Holy Quran says it, “Pilgrimage to the Ka’ba is
a duty men owe to God; those who are able, make the journey.”
God said: “And proclaim the pilgrimage among them; they will
come to you on foot and upon each lean camel, they will come
from every deep ravine.”
It was after leaving the Nation of Islam that Malcolm became an
Orthodox Muslim, made a holy pilgrimage, traveled through the
Mid-East and Africa, and talked with many diplomats and heads
of state. The effects it had and his change was clear in his attitude,
words, and actions to the degree that many were confused as to
what his new program was. The Quran was his guidepost and his-
torical as well as personal experience made him the most dynamic
leader of the Black Revolution.
Malcolmmade the pilgrimage that every Muslimmust make at least
once in a life time to the holy city of Mecca. It is during this time
that Malcolm reflects on his pilgrimage to Mecca. “Every one of the
thousands at the airport, about to leave for Jeddah, was dressed this
way. You could be a king or a peasant and no one would know. Some
powerful personages, who were discreetly pointed out to me,had
on the same thing I had on. Once thus dressed, we all had begun
intermittently calling out ‘Labbayka! (Allahumma) Labbayka!’ (Here
I come, O Lord!) Packed in the plane were white, black, brown,
red, and yellow people, blue eyes and blond hair, and my kinky
red hair--all together, brothers! All honoring the same God, all in
turn giving equal honor to each other...”
“That is when I first began to reappraise the ‘white man’. It was when
I first began to perceive that ‘white man’, as commonly used, means
complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and
actions. In America, ‘white man’ meant specific attitudes and actions
toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But
in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions
were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been.
That morning was the start of a radical alteration in my whole out
look about ‘white’ men.”
“There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world.
They were of all colors, from blue- eyed blonds 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
the 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.”
“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 con-
scious 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 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.”
“...I believe that God now is giving the world’s so-called ‘Christian’
white society its last opportunity to repent and atone for the crimes
of exploiting and enslaving the world’s non-white peoples. It is ex-
actly as when God gave Pharaoh a chance to repent. But Pharaoh
persisted in his refusal to give justice to those who he oppressed.
And, we know, God finally destroyed Pharaoh.”
“I will never forget the dinner at the Azzam home with Dr. Azzam.
The more we talked, the more his vast reservoir of knowledge and
its variety seemed unlimited. He spoke of the racial lineage of the
descendants of Muhammad (PBUH) the Prophet, and he showed
how they were both black and white. He also pointed out how color,
and the problems of color which exist in the Muslim world, exist
only where, and to the extent that, that area of the Muslim world
has been influenced by the West. He said that if one encountered
any differences based on attitude toward color, this directly reflected
the degree of Western influence.”
Malcolm also took time to recognize the contribution that his sister,
Ella had on his life. “I couldn’t get over what she had done. She
had played a very significant role in my life. No other woman ever
was strong enough to point me in directions; I pointed women in
directions. I had brought Ella into Islam, and now she was financing
me to Mecca.
It was during his pilgrimage that he began to write some letters
to his loyal assistants at the newly formed Muslim Mosque in
Harlem. He asked that his letter be duplicated and distributed
to the press. “Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality
and the 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...”
“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 been
always 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 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 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 ac-
cept 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 even-
tually destroyed the Germans themselves.”
“....They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the
most...I said, “The Brotherhood! The people of all races, colors,
from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved
to me the power of the One God.” “...All ate as one, and slept
as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented
the Oneness of Man under One God.”
Malcolm returned from the Hajj pilgrimage with new spiritual
incite as Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz with the knowledge that the
struggle had increased from civil rights of a nationalist, to human
rights of an internationalist and a humanitarian. The question
had been raised concerning the support of African and Muslim
people even in the United Nations on the treatment of minori-
ties in America. Malcolm was Hajj Malik, a true Muslim and a
threat to the immoral establishment of America.
Malcolm in becoming Hajj Malik, called America (Black and
White) to the true religion of humanity. He saw Islam as the
answer to individual and national problems such as racism, and
perhaps the only hope for America.
“If I can die having brought any light, having exposed any
meaningful truth that will help to destroy the racist cancer
that is malignant in the body of America, then all of the credit
is due to Allah. Only the mistakes have been mine.” -Al Hajj
Malik Shabazz
Al Hajj Malik Shabazz was assassinated on February 25, 1965,
at a rally. Thanks to God, he performed the Hajj and was guided
to the true religion of Islam.
A
smaa
B
int
A
bu
B
akr
Asmaa bint Abu Bakr belonged to a distinguished Muslim family.
Her father, Abu Bakr, was a close friend of the Prophet (pbuh) and
the first Khalifah after his death. Her half-sister, Aishah, was a wife
of the Prophet. Her husband, Zubayr ibn al Awwam, was one of
the special personal aides of the Prophet (pbuh). Her son, Abdullah
ibn az-Zubayr, became well-known for his incorruptibility and his
unswerving devotion to Truth.
Asmaa herself was one of the first persons to accept Islam. Only
about 17 persons including both men and women became Muslims
before her. She was later given the nickname, Dhat an- Nitaqayn (the
One with the Two Waistbands), because of an incident connected
with the departure of the Prophet (pbuh) and her father fromMecca
on the historic hijrah to Madinah.
Asmaa was one of the few persons who knew of the Prophet’s plan
to leave for Madinah. The utmost secrecy had to be maintained
because of the Quraysh plans to murder the Prophet (SAW). On
the night of their departure, she prepared a bag of food and a water
container for their journey. She did not find anything though with
which to tie the containers and decided to use her waistband. Abu
Bakr suggested that she tear it into two. This she did and the Prophet
(SAW) commended her action. From then on she became known
as “the One with the Two Waistbands”.
When the final emigration fromMecca to Madinah took place soon
after the departure of the Prophet (pbuh), Asmaa was pregnant. She
did not let her pregnancy or the prospect of a long and arduous
journey deter her from leaving. As soon as she reached Quba on
the outskirts of Madinah, she gave birth to a son, Abdullah. The
Muslims shouted in happiness and thanksgiving because this was
the first child to be born to the muhajireen in Madinah.
Asmaa became known for her fine and noble qualities and for the
keenness of her intelligence. She was an extremely generous person.
Her son Abdullah once said of her, “I have not seen two women
more generous than my aunt Aishah and my mother Asmaa. But
their generosity was expressed in different ways. My aunt would
accumulate one thing after another until she had gathered what
she felt was sufficient and then distributed it all to those in need.
My mother, on the other hand, would not keep anything even for
the morrow.”
Asmaa’s presence of mind in difficult circumstances was remarkable.
When her father left Mecca, he took all his wealth, amounting to
some 6,000 dirhams, and did not leave any for his family. When
Abu Bakr’s father, Abu Quhafah heard of his departure he went
to his house and said to her: “I understand that he has left you no
money after he has abandoned you.” “No, grandfather,” replied
Asmaa, “in fact he has left us much money.” She took some pebbles
and put them in a small recess in the wall where they used to put
money. She threw a cloth over the heap and took the hand of her
grandfather-he was blind-and said, “See how much money he has
left us.” Through this stratagem, Asmaa wanted to allay the fears of
the old man and to forestall him from giving them anything of his
own wealth. This was because she disliked receiving any assistance
even if it was her own grandfather.
Asmaa had an attitude and was not inclined to compromise her
honor and her faith. Her mother, Qutaylah, once came to visit her