Hajj and New Muslims- Muhammad Haroon
Circumambulating the Ka’bah along with a large multi-racial populace, and in the absence of a “common” language, communicating through “gestures,” the new reverts to Islam experience the joys of performing Hajj, for many of whom it is the first and possibly the last opportunity.
Women make for nearly 50% of the pilgrims. Noreen Moazzam of Sindh, Pakistan, says, “we heard that there are more than a billion followers of our religion, but we never realized that they came from so many countries and so many cultures,” like Judge David Shaheed, a US revert, who performed his second Hajj as the head of a group of 1000 US reverts who have been educated, guided, and led in to Islam by Imam W. D. Muhammad. He says, “at Jeddah airport, the processing was handled a lot better than before (i.e. in 1987, the year of my first Hajj).” The way Hajjis are treated made us feel wanted. Everyone tried to make the process move more smoothly.”He further says, “we are often in need of help, as most of us cannot speak Arabic although we really want to.” He continues, “In any case, now so many Saudis speak English they are opening the door of Islamic knowledge for us. We, nevertheless, realize that without knowing Arabic we are cut off from the higher levels of growth and development that the serious study of Islamic wisdom in Arabic conveys. That is why many in our association (American Society of Muslims) have become serious Arabic language students.” Noreen Moazzam continues, “I am simply amazed and am very happy that I belong to a religion which has world-wide acceptance.”“If Islam were about extremism, we would not have this many people in our fold,” says an Indonesian woman from Jakarta. “This is a proof of the fact that we are followers of a liberal religion. Its emphasis is on the emancipation of humanity. We should remove the word ‘hate’ from our lexicon.” Introduced into Islam by his record producer, Mikal Kamil, Gangsta rapper Napoleon, now Mutah Wasin Shabazz Beale, “… didn’t care about living or dying,” upon joining more than two million other Muslims in making the pilgrimage, at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East. “Now I recognize how beautiful life is. I love to have another day to pray to Allah.” “I found Allah, I’m not worried,” Beale said. “And I’ve been in many Jersey neighborhoods worse than any war.”Thomas W. Webber, an American, coming from a Western cultural background who after a long and thoughtful approach, embraced Islam over two and a half decades ago when he was living and working in Damascus. He says, “When I went on ‘Umrah (the lesser pilgrimage) in Ramadhan, I had a foretaste of the power of Hajj. The experience of Fajr (dawn) prayer with more than a million other Muslims in the Grand Masjid was overwhelming. I could feel the silence – the sense of unity and rightness was incredible.”“Even though Hajj is a duty, I don’t see it in the sense of just duty. I feel it is as natural and integral a part of my belief as daily prayer.” As his being a Muslim matures gradually, he intends to perform Hajj in the near future with his son, and further adds, “Hajj and other duties form part of the experience that is Islam and is the fabric of daily life.”
Last update : 20-01-2005 10:45
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