A Brief Glimpse at the Life of Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X)

"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.. 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 led me to believe never could exist between the white and the non-white." Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X)

He was born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of J. Early Little and Louise Norton 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

Malcolm's widowed mother, overcome by grief and the struggle to raise her children alone did eventually succumb to a nervous breakdown. Then young Malcolm was sent to live with various relatives, and, without direction, hope, or a sense of purpose in life, turned to drugs and a life of petty crimes. 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; and 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 teachings 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 March12, 1964. "I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under someone 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 was 38 years old when he left Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam. It is then that Malcolm reflects on events that happened prior to leaving. "At one or another college or university, usually in the informal gatherings after I had spoken, perhaps a dozen generally 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 notwithstanding, they felt I 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 newspaperman. 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."

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 on him was clear in his changed attitude, words, and actions.

Malcolm made the pilgrimage that every Muslim must make at least once in a life time to the holy city of Makkah. It is during this time that Malcolm reflects on his pilgrimage to Makkah. "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."

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 over whelming 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, a 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."

Malcolm returned from the Hajj with new spiritual incite as Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz. 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." Malik Shabazz was assassinated on February 25, 1965, at a rally.