Voice of British Muslim Women

Zujaja Khan, London

In 1964, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, went to Saudi Arabia to undertake Hajj. When he arrived, his passport was confiscated and he had to wait for his authenticity as a Muslim to be confirmed. As he sat in a room waiting to be seen by officials, he was shown how to say formal Prayer correctly, and later completed his first salat in Arabic: “After that, I may not have been mumbling the right thing, but I was mumbling”. Having spent years advocating for the separation of white and black people in America, Malcolm X now felt a transformation taking place within him during Hajj.

Throughout his lifetime, Malcolm X spoke about his anger at injustice. Attending Hajj deepened his understanding of racial issues; he began to comprehend that race superiority was truly a political construct, and that with the right foundation of universal love for mankind, skin colour could be transcended as a social barrier. Islam gave him the opportunity to connect with people that he hadn’t been ready to connect with before.

Malcolm X saw that Islam is a bridge between people of all backgrounds. He saw that Muslims of all races and nations could live in harmony if they were guided by Islamic principles of equity and compassion. Hazrat Bilal’s (Allah be pleased with him) status in Islam is a perfect example of this, as is his well-documented closeness to the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be on him).

Hazrat Bilal (Allah be pleased with him) was an Abyssinian slave who was brutally tormented by his slave-master for accepting Islam. He was laid down on the boiling hot ground on the hills of Makkah, and heavy stones were placed on his chest to torture him into denouncing Islam. But Hazrat Bilal (Allah be pleased with him) would only say ‘Ahad, Ahad’ (One, One) that is, there is only One God. He endured these inconceivable cruelties with steadfastness in his heart, and this was eventually brought to the attention of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be on him). After being freed, Hazrat Bilal went on to become one of the Holy Prophet’s (peace and blessings be on him) most trusted and well-respected Companions.

In his three volume study ‘The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets’, Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad, highlighted the connection between Hazrat Bilal (Allah be pleased with him) and the commencement of the azan (Muslim call to Prayer). Hazrat Bilal (Allah be pleased with him) had a beautiful voice, and when it was decided that Muslims would be called to Prayer through words, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be on him) asked him to carry out this duty. Hazrat Bilal’s (Allah be pleased with him) importance in Islam is enshrined by his appointment as the first muezzin, the person who calls to Prayer.

Equity is a central component of justice in Islam and this is highlighted in the Holy Qur’an:

“And for every people there is a Messenger. So when their Messenger comes, it is judged between them with equity, and they are not wronged.” (10:48)

Muslims from every nation are worthy recipients of Allah’s benevolence and mercy. God’s Messengers were sent to all corners of the Earth.

While Western historiography has reduced Africa’s rich history and culture to brief overviews in textbooks on slavery and poverty, as Muslims we have a duty to unlearn this historical whitewash. To do this, we need to understand the contributions of black Muslims tracing back to the very beginning of Islam with Hazrat Bilal (Allah be pleased with him) and his contemporaries.

Being black did not afford Hazrat Bilal (Allah be pleased with him) a lower status amongst the Companions of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be on him). Indeed, Hazrat Bilal was so well-regarded that after he died, Hazrat Umar (Allah be pleased with him) is reported to have said, “This day a chieftain of the Muslims has passed away.”

Given the Islamic principles of equity and love for mankind, it is no surprise that only the profound experience of Hajj could transform Malcom X from being an advocate for segregation to someone sharing food, water and brotherhood with blue-eyed, blond-haired white people in Makkah. He realised that as a Muslim, he did not have to live within the confines of black-white dichotomies and that, with the right foundation of universal love, our differences can be beautiful.

References:

1. The Holy Qur’an, 10:48
2. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X & Alex Haley, The Ballantine Publishing Group (1965), p. 335.
3. https://www.alislam.org/library/books/Seal-of-Prophets-Vol-1.pdf
4. https://www.alislam.org/library/books/Seal-of-Prophets-Vol-2.pdf
5. https://www.ancient.eu/article/1382/the-spread-of-islam-in-ancient-africa/