01-08-2005, 04:25 AM
As the Muslim world came under attack from the west, Hajj was a centre for Muslims from all over the world to meet, brainstorm, and draw strength and inspiration from each other to tackle the challenges facing the Ummah. Thus the short-lived jihad movement of Sayyid Ahmed of Rae Bareli against the British in India was initiated shortly after he returned from Hajj in 1822. Five years later Imam Shamil of Daghestan and Shaikh Abdul Qadir al-Jaziri met at the Hajj, discussed their struggles against the Russians in the Caucasus and the French in North Africa respectively, and appealed to fellow Muslims for support. Such episodes are commonplace in our history.
For a modern example, one might look to the experience of Malcolm X (al-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz), who returned to the US from Hajj in 1964 with a better understanding of the state of the Muslim world. Hajj was an eye-opener for Malcolm X; it persuaded him to deviate from the stand of the so-called Nation of Islam, which advocated an anti-white racism. In his autobiography he admits that he discovered universal brotherhood in Makkah, where American "blue-eyed blonds" and African "Negroes" would embrace each other freely and willingly, sincerely and joyously. "This brotherhood, the people of all races, colors from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved to me the power of one God. The color-blindness of the Muslim world’s religious society and the color-blindness of the Muslim world’s human society: these two influences had each day been making a greater impact, and an increasing persuasion against my previous way of thinking".
Malcolm X lived no longer than a year after his Hajj. Malcolm X, the most electrifying Muslim activist of the last century, absorbed the message of the Hajj and Islam, and became the greatest martyr of Islam in the cause of eradicating racism. In the concluding passage of his autobiography he writes, "Yes, I have cherished my ‘demagogue’ role. I know that societies often have killed the people who have helped to change these 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."
Where are the Malcolm X’s of today? Why has America not produced another Malcolm X in the last 40 years, despite thousands of American Muslims performing the Hajj every year? Why has India not produced a Malcolm X, in spite of thousands of Muslims performing Hajj every year, and in spite of more than 250 million Dalits ("Untouchables") living under humiliating conditions of ‘sanctified apartheid’ in the "world’s largest democracy"? Do these hujjaj return home only with touristy, tacky souvenirs of the Hajj and of the homeland of Allah’s beloved Messenger (saw)?
The enemies of Islam realized the significance of Hajj long ago. In the early 1850s Sir Richard Burton visited Makkah and Madinah and reported on their potential as a focus for anti-British sentiment and activities. A few years later the British consul in Jeddah clarified further: "The point of real importance to England politically, I believe, is the Hejaz as the focus of Muslim thought and the nucleus from which radiate ideas, advice, instructions, and dogmatical implications... Certain persons proceed to Hajj for political reasons. Makkah, being free from European intrusion, is safe ground on which meetings can be held, ideas exchanged... Up to the present time we have kept no watch on those who come and go... thus meetings may be convened at Makkah at which combinations hostile to us may form without our knowing anything until the shell bursts in our midst... If this consulate could have a trusty Muslim agent at Makkah, I believe a great deal of valuable information could be obtained."
This early western insight is central to understanding every subsequent political development in the region. If the British reached this understanding of the importance of the Haramain and the Hajj 150 years ago, there can be no doubt that western decision-makers – in London, Paris, Washington, New York, Moscow and Tel Aviv alike– have been aware of it ever since. Their puppets in the Middle East, and in ‘Saudi Arabia’ in particular, cannot just be ignored because they are ‘only’ playing an ‘Oil Game’. Their interest is in much more than oil reserves. They have occupied the Haramain. The Saudis’ control of the Haramain and the Hajj on behalf of their western sponsors prevents the Hajj from serving a crucial function for the global Islamic movement. To understand the west’s recognition of the political importance of the Haramain and Hajj, and therefore the Saudis’ history and record, is incumbent upon Muslims everywhere. The usurpers of the Haramain are not just illegitimate and corrupt rulers, but are also conspirators plotting to distort or destroy the significance of the Hajj forever.
