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    1964 Letter From El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

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    Malcolm X wrote this letter to his followers in Harlem after completing his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. He describes experiencing true brotherhood and unity between people of all races and colors in Mecca, which contrasted greatly with his experiences facing racism in America. Malcolm X discusses how Islam erases racial problems and creates sincere brotherhood by removing racial attitudes from people's minds. He believes that if white Americans accepted the oneness of God as Muslims do, they could overcome racism and the destruction it is causing in America.

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    1964 Letter From El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

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    kyo_9
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    Malcolm X wrote this letter to his followers in Harlem after completing his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. He describes experiencing true brotherhood and unity between people of all races and colors in Mecca, which contrasted greatly with his experiences facing racism in America. Malcolm X discusses how Islam erases racial problems and creates sincere brotherhood by removing racial attitudes from people's minds. He believes that if white Americans accepted the oneness of God as Muslims do, they could overcome racism and the destruction it is causing in America.

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    Malcolm X wrote this letter to his followers in Harlem after completing his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. He describes experiencing true brotherhood and unity between people of all races and colors in Mecca, which contrasted greatly with his experiences facing racism in America. Malcolm X discusses how Islam erases racial problems and creates sincere brotherhood by removing racial attitudes from people's minds. He believes that if white Americans accepted the oneness of God as Muslims do, they could overcome racism and the destruction it is causing in America.

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    162 views2 pages

    1964 Letter From El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

    Uploaded by

    kyo_9
    Malcolm X wrote this letter to his followers in Harlem after completing his Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. He describes experiencing true brotherhood and unity between people of all races and colors in Mecca, which contrasted greatly with his experiences facing racism in America. Malcolm X discusses how Islam erases racial problems and creates sincere brotherhood by removing racial attitudes from people's minds. He believes that if white Americans accepted the oneness of God as Muslims do, they could overcome racism and the destruction it is causing in America.

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    of 2

    Letter from el-Hajj Malik el -Shabazz (Malcolm X) Page 1 of 2

    Letter from Malcolm X


    Letter from Malcolm X
    to his followers in Harlem 1964

    What follows is a letter (in part or in whole) from Malcolm X, known here as Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, to his
    followers in Harlem. It was reprinted in The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley.

    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.

    file://D:\Letter%20from%20Malcolm%20X.htm 7/29/2006
    Letter from el-Hajj Malik el -Shabazz (Malcolm X) Page 2 of 2
    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

    file://D:\Letter%20from%20Malcolm%20X.htm 7/29/2006

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