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      In   the   name  of   ALLAH,   the    Beneficent,   the    Merciful



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             I N F O R M A T I O N    &   N E W S    N E T W O R K

                        MUSLIMS @ ASUACAD.BITnet
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                             IINN ARCHIVE

 File Name: 20.malcom.x
 Lasted Updated: Sept 11, 1994
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______________________________________________________________________________

Date: Sun, 28 Aug 1994 16:19:18 -0600
From: mahmed@xnet.com (M. Ahmed)
Subject: 20. Malcolm X

III&E Brochure Series; No. 20
(published by The Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E)
and reproduced with permission)
----------------------------

==================================
AL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ: MALCOM X
==================================

Twenty-five years after his death, Malcolm X, Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz,
still towers above the statue of liberty.  He refuses to die.  Wherever
injustice and oppression takes place, his smiling face and uncompromising
message fill the atmosphere.

Yes, they killed the body but not the spirit.  When he was alive, Brother
Shabazz was the most feared man in America.  And, the most loved.  The
situation hasn't changed.

For the deprived and the oppressed African-Americans, Brother Shabazz
continues to be the hero, the inspiration that makes it possible for them
to maintain their sanity and dignity in a vile society which can't stop
despising them.

We, as Muslims, are often angered to see Br. Shabazz identified as a Black
Nationalist rather than a Muslim.  While the anger is justified, we must
understand that people generally emphasize the aspect of a leader's life
which is in harmony with their own aspirations.  While some
African-Americans will continue to invoke the nationalist side of Br.
Shabazz, it is for us to see that his Islamic personality is projected to
the world!

THE PILGRIMAGE TO MAKKAH
========================

When he was in Makkah, Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz wrote a letter to his loyal
assistants in Harlem... from his heart:

"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 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 the Zam Zam.  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 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 El-Shabazz"  (Malcolm X)
(From the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X with assistance from Alex Haley, the
author of ROOTS)

Malcolm X saw and experienced many positive things.  Generosity and
openheartedness were qualities which were impressed on him by the welcome
which he received in many places.  He saw brotherhood and the brotherhood
of different races and this led him to disclaim racism and to say: "I am
not a racist...  In the past I permitted myself to be used... to make
sweeping indictments of all white people, the entire white race, and these
generalizations have caused injuries to some whites who perhaps did not
deserve to be hurt.  Because of the spiritual enlightenment which I was
blessed to receive as the result of my recent pilgrimage to the Holy City
of Mecca, 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."

Malcolm X was vehemently anti-White.  That's the way he was taught as a
'Black Muslim.'  But his trip for Hajj changed all of that.  He came to see
that all men are equal, regardless of their color.  True anti-racism is
color blindness.  That is what he preached on his return to the United
States.  And that is why he was assassinated.  While he preached
separatism, keeping people aware of color differences, that was OK.  Blacks
vs. Whites is an acceptable dialect.  But when Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
started to preach the Oneness of God and the equality of races, and was
prepared to act in any lawful (halal) means necessary, he had to go: Truth
vs. Falsehood is an unacceptable dialect.

Islam believes in the unity of the human race.  Islam says that all mankind
are the creatures of One God, they are all equal.  Division of color,
class, race or territory are sheer illusions; and ideologies which are
based on such distinctions are the greatest menace on earth.  Humanity is
one single family of God, there can be no sanction for these barriers.  Men
are one and not White or Black, Aryan of Non-Aryan, Occidental or Oriental.

Islam is based on the universal brotherhood of man and practices universal
brotherhood of man.  But the importance of this concept is of great value
as it is the only solution to national and international problems.  This is
said to be the age of freedom and restoring unto every man his dignity, and
despite all the phenomenal changes in the political stage of the world, our
age is still unable to think in terms of human dignity, and this is the
dark specter of social concern of our time.  For, despite man's conquest of
space and mastery over the forces of nature, man has not been able to rid
himself of the primeval prejudice of race and color.  The stark reality of
our time has brought in its trail a great desolation and frustration as we
find ourselves face to face with chaos, wars, the miserable conditions of
living of the masses of mankind and the exploitation of one nation by
another, and this leads to selfishness, fear, hatred; class, tribe and race
discrimination; and subsequently the division of man against man is the
order of the day, even in the so-called Socialist countries.

Islam's greatest contribution to mankind was the abolition and extinction
of distinction based on race and color.  The Holy Qur'an declared:

"Mankind were one community, then they differed among themselves, so God
raised Prophets as bearers of good tidings and as warners..."  (Al-Qur'an
2:213)

"O mankind!  We have created you from a male and a female; and made you
into nations and tribes, that you might get to know one another.  The
noblest of you, in the sight of God, is he who is the most righteous.  God
is All-Knowing and Wise."  (Al-Qur'an 49:13)

>From the above verses, it is clear that the whole of humanity from its
diverse races, was originally one, deriving its existence from One Creator
and that all barriers that separate humanity by race and color must vanish
and the superiority of a person be judged by his conduct only.  A good
Muslim considers himself a fusion of all races.  Anyone who enters into the
fold of Islam becomes part and parcel of this fraternity, forgetting all
pride and prejudice.  On the basis of this principle, Islam seeks to build
an intellectual, moral, ideological and international society, as against
the existing tribal, racial, linguistic and national societies, which have
turned the world into a racio-color holocaust.

ISLAMIC BROTHERHOOD
===================

"No other society has such a record of success in uniting in an equality of
status, of opportunity and endeavour so many and so varied races of
mankind.  The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and Indonesia,
perhaps also the small community in Japan, show that Islam has still the
power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and
tradition.  If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and
west is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an
indispensable condition."  (H.A.R. Gibb, WHITHER ISLAM, p. 379)

"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the
outstanding achievements of Islam and in the contemporary world there is,
as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue..."
(A.J. Toynbee, CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, New York, p. 205)

"How, for instance, can any other appeal stand against that of the Moslem
who, in approaching the pagan, says to him, however obscure or degraded he
may be 'Embrace the faith, and you are at once equal and a brother.'  Islam
knows no color line."  (S. S. Leeder, VEILED MYSTERIES OF EGYPT)

THE LEGACY OF MALCOLM X
=======================

Malcolm X was born into Christianity as Malcolm Little and died in Islam as
Malik Shabazz.  This is something to think about and is an expression of
his legacy.  Malcolm X went through the transition period of the religion
of the "Nation of Islam," a religion of American origin borrowing some
terms from the Muslim culture of the East.  For information about
differences between Islam and the so-called "Nation of Islam" request the
brochure "Islam and Farrakhanism Compared" and the booklet "Islam or
Farrakhanism" (donation $3.00) from III&E, P.O. Box 41129, Chicago, IL
60641-0129.

It appears that Malik Shabazz went through five stages in his short life.
The first stage was his childhood under the shadows of his religious
parents.  The second stage was his adolescence to youth until his moving
out to Harlem, NY.  This was a rowdy and irresponsible stage of his life
which eventually landed him in prison.  The fourth stage of his life was in
the "Nation of Islam" which was not real Islam.  In the "Nation of Islam,"
on one side, Malcolm was a very disciplined man; on the other side he
became a black racist, a separatist and a demagogue.  In the fifth and
final stage of his youthful life, Malik Shabazz reached the apex which he
could only achieve in real Islam, not in the cultist "Nation of Islam."
Malik Shabazz entered the real Islam as a result of his journey to Makkah
(Mecca is a misspelling).  In Islam he became moderate and conciliatory.
He shed his racism.

The legacy of Malcolm X is the real Islam taught to us by the Prophet
Muhammad of Arabia, not the racist cult of the "Nation of Islam," presently
lead by Louis Farrakhan and others who branched out of the old following of
Elijah Muhammad.  However, Elijah's son, Wallace D. Muhammad, now known as
Imam Warith Deen Muhammad, moved away from his father's religion.  He is
coming to the real Islam adopted by Malik Shabazz for which Malcolm was
assassinated.  Malik Shabazz shall be remembered by all Muslims as a martyr
for the cause of Allah.

If you want to know more about the real Islam followed by Malik Shabazz in
his last days, call or write to the following address and phone:

Published by:
The Institute of Islamic Information & Education
P.O. Box 41129
Chicago, IL 60641-0129

Tel. (312) 777-7443
Fax. (312) 777-7199