Malcolm X: the moving account of his first and final Hajj, in April 1964
Placed under the sign of infinite devotion, accomplishing the Hajj and mingling with its unique procession in the world constitutes a supreme spiritual achievement, of such intensity that it can transform a man, upset his vision of the world and shake his certainties. .
Malcolm X, aka al-Hajj, Malik al-Shabazz, returned completely transformed from his great trip to the Holy Land in April 1964. He was strongly impressed by the planetary influence of Islam and its rainbow of origins shining in all latitudes. The extraordinary generosity and open-mindedness of his countless brothers in God, white and black, united by indestructible bonds of brotherhood, produced such an electric shock in him that his opinions on racism were turned upside down.
” After the spiritual enlightenment I was blessed to receive following my recent pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, I no longer subscribe to any generalized accusation against any race. I will now focus my energies on living the life of a true Sunni Muslim.”he repeated with insistence on his return to America.
He then displayed an unfailing serenity, a few months before experiencing a tragic end, on February 21, 1965.
Below is the moving detailed account he gave of his first and final Hajj, followed by the video that we dedicated to him.
The magnificent letter addressed by Malik al-Shabazz to his assistants in Harlem:
“Never have I known such sincere hospitality or such overwhelming fraternity as that of the men and women of all races gathered in this ancient Holy Land, homeland of Abraham, Mohamed and the other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. Throughout the week that has just passed, I have been both amazed and charmed by the kindness and kindness displayed around me by people of all colors.
I had the chance to visit the holy city of Mecca, I walked around the Ka’aba seven times, guided by a young man named Mohammed; I drank water from the Zam-Zam well, I ran back and forth seven times between the hills of Safa and Marwa. I prayed in the ancient city of Mina and I prayed on Mount Arafat.
There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, who had come from all over the world. They were of all races, there were blondes with blue eyes and black Africans. But we all submitted to the same rituals, in a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in the United States had led me to believe impossible between a white and a black man.
America needs to understand Islam, because it’s the only religion that ignores racism. Through my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to and even eaten with people who we would have thought of as white people in the United States – but the white mentality was missing from their minds and had been replaced by ‘Islam. Never before had I seen such brotherhood uniting people of all races.
You may be bowled over by these words, especially coming from me. But what I saw and experienced during this pilgrimage forced me to revise certain ideas that were mine, to reject certain conclusions that I had reached. It wasn’t very difficult either. Because, despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who knows how to face reality and who accepts it, who likes to live new experiences and learn new things. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary for the flexibility that goes with any intelligent search for truth.
In my last eleven days here in the Muslim world, I ate from the same dish, drank from the same glass, slept on the same carpet and prayed to the same God as my bluest eyed Muslim brothers, with the blondest hair and whitest skin. In word and deed, ‘white’ Muslims are as sincere as ‘black’ Muslims in Africa, whether they are from Nigeria, Sudan or Ghana. We are truly brothers. Because they believe in only one God, they exclude from their spirit, their actions and their behavior all racial considerations.
I thought, seeing them, that if white Americans admitted the Oneness of God, maybe they could also admit the oneness of man and they would stop fighting each other, harming others for reasons of color.
Racism being the real cancer of America, our white “Christians” should look to the Islamic solution to the problem. A tried and tested solution, which may be able to intervene in time to save America from an impending catastrophe – the very same one that befell racist Germany and ended up destroying the Germans themselves. themselves.
Every hour spent here in the Holy Land has given me a better understanding of the racial problem in the United States. The black cannot be blamed for his aggressiveness in this area: he is only reacting to four centuries of conscious racism on the part of whites. But if racism drives America to suicide, I believe that the new generation of white college kids will see the eye-opener, and many of them will opt for spiritual truth. It is the only way America still has to avoid the disaster to which racism inevitably leads.
Never have I been honored like here. Never have I felt more humble and more worthy. Who would have thought that a simple black American would be showered with so many blessings? A few nights ago, a man who would have been called a “white man” in the United States, a UN diplomat, an ambassador, a friend of kings, graciously gave up his suite to me. hotel, gave me his bed for the night. Never would I have even dreamed of being the object of such an honor, an honor which, in the United States, would have been reserved for a king, and not for a black man.
