Malcolm X's journey from crime and the Nation of Islam to worshiping God alone, drawing on his autobiography and his Hajj experience of brotherhood across races, and urging readers to abandon their own idols. The issue also outlines the steps of Hajj and Umrah and the four Sacred Months, with a short poem on character and verses from Isaiah and the Quran affirming one God.
It has been more than ten years since I wrote
the article “The Man Behind the X” for Submitters’ Perspective.
Over time, sincere individuals who seek to worship God alone change for
the better. Insincere individuals remain fixed with their “mental
and spiritual feet” in the harden “concrete” of false
ideologies and spiritual beliefs. Millions of people choose not to move
and grow. Malcolm X got out of the “concrete” and invited
others, regardless of color and religion, to do the same. Yet, there will
always be those who prefer the “stability” of firmly planting
their spiritual devotion in distorted religion. This is God’s system.
The need to know what Malik Shabazz and people like him throughout the
world really stand for is critical. God willing, make sure you know the
difference between ‘popularized religion’ and the true worship
of God.
A couple of weeks ago, I was driving in my
car and heard a radio announcer commenting about newly released movies.
I could tell by his voice that the announcer was a white American. Joking
about Spike Lee’s new movie “Malcolm X,” he said: “That
one is not for us!” I asked myself (although I knew the answer)
who is “the us” he is referring to? Frankly, I found it quite
interesting to hear someone unwittingly “broadcast” their
group exclusiveness, denial, and fear of the legacy of Malcolm “X”
with such a strong sense that the listening audience was in agreement.
Despite the fact that the man behind the “X” genuinely denounced
all forms of racism near the end of his life, I also hear some African-
Americans espouse hatred of whites in his
name. Regardless of their reasons, it seems that many people currently
cannot see or do not choose to see the man behind the “X.”
But, the “X” is in fashion—on hats, shirts, posters,
mugs, just about anything that can hold impression and sell. But, the
“X” cannot invite you to think and reflect on the man. Although
no holiday has been set aside in his name, the man is and has been a hero
to many minorities in this country and people from third world countries.
There are also whites in America and abroad who recognize his contributions
to the struggle for human rights and freedom for all people.
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Malcolm X
Who is the real man behind the “X”?
The man behind the “X” journeyed from abject conditions
of racism and poverty, coupled with crime in his early life to the
attainment of the purpose of life. Enraged by racism and social
injustice, and propelled by a drive to get “his share,”
he pursued idols along his journey that he thought would bring dignity
and happiness— money, drugs, women, and expensive clothes.
The man behind the “X” hated what was passed off as
“religion.” So much so that he was nicknamed “Satan”
during his prison days. By denouncing falsehoods, distortions, and
hypocrisy of Christianity while in prison, the man was relieved
of the group pressure to follow the practices of a misguided ethnic
or religious majority and minority. Yet, his thirst for spiritual
direction did not die. He was invited and sought refuge in the Nation
of Islam—a large group of self-supporting African-Americans
who taught a combined doctrine of distorted teachings of Islam and
reverse racism to nullify their imposed inferiority complex. Malcolm
literally revered the organization and its leader Elijah Muhammad
until he realized Elijah’s ongoing hypocritical practices.
This was the biggest idol of them all, the toughest test for him
in his journey.
His trip to Mecca to observe the Hajj pilgrimage had a dramatic
effect on him. The following quote was taken from his autobiography
as told to Alex Haley (Ballantine Books, New York, 1973):
“My pilgrimage broadened my scope. It blessed me with a
new insight. In two weeks in the Holy
Land, I saw what I never had seen in
thirty-nine years here in America. I saw all races, all colors,—blue-eyed
blonds to black skinned Africans—in true brotherhood! In unity!
Living as one! Worshiping as one!”
He had promised himself never to follow any individual or teachings
that proved to be false. Early on, he committed himself to the truth
and sought it wherever he could find it. At any given time, the
man behind the “X” tried to adhere to the truth as he
understood it. But, when he realized that some practices are false,
Malcolm would readily give them up.
“In Mecca, too, I had played back for myself the twelve
years I had spent with Elijah Muhammad as if it were a motion picture.
I guess, it would be impossible for anyone ever to realize fully
how complete was my belief in Elijah Muhammad. I believed in him
not only as a leader in the ordinary human sense, but also I believed
in him as a divine leader. I believed he had no human weaknesses
or faults, and that, therefore, he could make no mistakes and he
could do no wrong. There on a Holy World hilltop, I realized how
very dangerous it is for people to hold any human being in such
esteem...”
One rule of human behavior is that the more a person commits himself
to another person, an organization or belief, the harder it is for
the person to separate from the other person, group, or belief.
The person who makes such a commitment often feels that he or she
has sacrificed so much in the name of the other person, group, or
organization. Most people simply deny any newfound negative information
about the organizations, individuals, and people they admire. Ignoring
“uncomfortable” information about individuals and groups
they
have been loyal to, such people strengthen
their attachment and commitment. In short, they are unwilling to
kill their egos. The ego does not like to feel that it has more
to learn, has made a mistake, or is on the wrong or twisted path.
A person cannot be a submitter to God alone (i.e., Muslim) and ‘feed’
their ego. Some people preserve their commitments to false allegiances
and teachings for a brief material gain. Some fear others instead
of God alone. By the grace of God, the man behind the “X”
passed this test.
“I only knew what I had left in America, how it contrasted
with what I had found in the Muslim world. About twenty of us Muslims
who had finished the Hajj were sitting in a huge tent on Mount Arafat.
As a Muslim from America, I was the center of attention. They asked
me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. One of the several
who spoke English asked; they translated my answers for the others.
My answer to that question was not the one they expected, it drove
home my point.
“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.”
“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.
Page 3
Malcolm X
“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 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
is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every
form of intelligent search for truth.
“Every free moment I can find, I did a lot of talking to
key people whom I knew around Harlem, and I made a lot of speeches,
saying: “True Islam taught me that it takes all of the religious,
political, economic, psychological, and racial ingredients, or characteristics,
to make the Human Family and the Human Society complete.
“Since I learned the truth in Mecca, my dearest friends have
come to include all kinds—some Christians, Jews, Buddhists,
Hindus, agnostics, and even atheists! I have friends who are called
capitalists, socialists, and communists! Some of my friends are
moderates, conservatives, extremists—some are even Uncle Toms!
My friends today are black, brown, red, yellow, and white!
“I said to Harlem street audiences that only when mankind
would submit to the One God who created all—only then would
mankind even approach the “peace” of which so much talk
could be heard... but toward which so little action was seen.”
At birth, the man behind the “X”
was named Malcolm Little, later known as “Detroit Red,”
“Satan,” “Malcolm X,” and “El-Hajj
Malik El-Shabazz.” Like you, me, and millions of our kind,
he is a descendant of Adam placed in this world to recover the purpose
of his life—submission to God alone. Malcolm’s “X”
is really a question for us all. Are you ready and willing to sever
your commitment to your “idols” –be they individuals,
groups, false beliefs, and material objects? How can a person be
a submitter (i.e., Muslim) and worship other than the One God who
created all of us and all things? (22:15) To worship God alone is
to reject falsehood, regardless of who promotes it.
“Every morning when I wake up, now, I regard it as having
another borrowed day. In any city, wherever I go, making speeches,
holding meetings of my organization, or attending to other business,
black men are watching every move I make, awaiting their chance
to kill me. I have said publicly many times that I know that they
have their orders. Anyone who chooses not to believe what I am saying
doesn’t know the Muslims in the Nation of Islam...
“I know, too, that I could die in the hands of white racists.
Or I could die at the hands of some Negro hired by the white man.
Or it could be some brain washed Negro acting on his own idea that
by eliminating me he would be helping out the white man, because
I talk about the white man the way I do.
“Anyway, now, each day I live as if I am already dead, and
I tell you what I would like for you to do. When I am dead—I
say it that way because from the things I know, I do not expect
to live long enough to read this book in its finished form—I
want you just watch and
see if I am not right in what I say:
that the white man, in his press, is going to identify me with “hate.”
“Yes, I have cherished my “demagogue” role.
I know that societies often have killed the people who helped to
change those societies. And 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.”
Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925. He was 57 days shy of his
40th birthday when he was assassinated on February 21, 1965.
The soul and Him who created it. Then showed it
what is evil and what is good. Successful is one who redeems it.
Failing is one who neglects it. (Quran 91:7-10)
Dr. Douglass Brown
BE CAREFUL
Be careful of your thoughts,
For they become your words.
Be careful of your words,
For they become your actions.
Be careful of your actions,
For they become your habits.
Be careful of your habits, For they become your character.
Be careful of your character, For it becomes your destiny.
Author Unknown
A good man out of the good treasure of his
heart brings forth good things; and the evil man out of evil
treasure brings forth evil things. (Matthew 12:35)
Page 4
Pilgrimage: Hajj & `Umrah
The stoning ceremonies symbolize rejection of Satan's
polytheism and are done by throwing seven pebbles at each of three stations,
while glorifying God (15:34). The pilgrim then returns to Mecca and observes
a farewell circumvolution of the Ka`bah seven times.
Once in a lifetime, Hajj and
`Umrah are decreed for those who can afford it. Pilgrimage commemorates
Abraham's exemplary submission to God (Appendix 9), and must be observed
during the four Sacred Months—Zul-Hijjah, Muharram, Safar, &
Rabi` I (12th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd months) (2:197; 9:2, 36). `Umrah can be observed
any time. Like all other duties in Islam, Hajj has been distorted. Most
Muslims observe Hajj only during a few days in Zul-Hijjah, and they consider
Rajab, Zul-Qi'dah, Zul-Hijjah, and Muharram (7th, 11th, 12th, 1st months)
to be the Sacred Months. This is a distortion that is strongly condemned
(9:37).
The pilgrimage begins with a bath or shower, followed
by a state of sanctity called "Ihraam," where the male pilgrim
wears seamless sheets of material, and the woman wears a modest dress
(2:196). Throughout Hajj, the pilgrim abstains from sexual intercourse,
vanities such as shaving and cutting the hair, arguments, misconduct,
and bad language (2:197). Cleanliness, bathing, and regular hygiene practices
are encouraged.
Upon arrival at the Sacred Mosque
in Mecca, the pilgrim walks around the Ka`bah seven times, while glorifying
and praising God (2:125, 22:26-29). The common formula is: "Labbayka
Allaahumma Labbayk" (My God, I have responded to You). "Labbayka
Laa Shareeka Laka Labbayk" (I have responded to You, and I proclaim
that there is no other god besides You; I have responded to You). The
next step is to walk the half-mile distance between the knolls of Safa
and Marwah seven times, with occasional trotting (2:158). This completes
the `Umrah portion of the pilgrimage.
The pilgrim then goes to `Arafat to spend a day of worship,
meditation, and glorification of God, from dawn to sunset (2:198). After
sunset, the pilgrim goes to Muzdalifah where the Night Prayer is observed,
and 21 pebbles are picked up for the symbolic stoning of Satan at Mina.
From Muzdalifah, the pilgrim goes to Mina to spend two or three days (2:203).
On the first morning at Mina, the pilgrim offers an animal sacrifice to
feed the poor and to commemorate God's intervention to save Ismail and
Abraham from Satan's trick (37:107, Appendix 9).
[For more details, please refer to the
English translation of the Quran by Dr. R. Khailfa, Appendix 15—Religious
Duties: A Gift From God].
* * * *
There is no other god
besides GOD
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, And His Redeemer,
the Lord of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no god.
And who can proclaim as I do?
...Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time,
And declared it?
You are My witnesses,
Is there a god besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’ (Isaiah 44:6-8)
Your god is one god; there is no god but He, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful. (Quran 2:163)
About this work
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International Community of Submitters
Publisher
International Community of Submitters / Masjid Tucson