Follow-Up To Mr. Hanif's Presentation & Looking Ahead

I trust that all of you learned something about the Hajj and some other Muslim rituals from Mr. Hanif who experienced this first-hand. In this brief follow-up, I'd like to underscore a few broad points from his talk which are especially pertinent to understanding Malcolm X's (or Malik Shabazz's, as Mr. Hanif often referred to him) experience in Mecca.

1. First and foremost, as Mr. Hanif tried to impress on you throughout his talk, this is an INTENSE, PHYSICALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY DEMANDING EXPERIENCE, WHICH CAN HAVE PROFOUND EFFECTS ON THE PERSON WHO GOES THROUGH IT.

a.) Mr. Hanif talked a lot about the physical demands which one has to endure with patience -- all the walking, running, sleeping in tents and in the open, dealing with the heat and cold, sickness, even death for some, which, as he noted, was a common occurence and seen as guaranteeing one's place in heaven.

2. When you go on the hajj you have to be ready financially, have no debts, make sure your family is provided for, make out your will. You go as if you are going to die; you leave everything behind, especially material possessions. Letting go of material possessions, of this world, prepares one to be alone with God (Allah) as on the plain of Arafat.

3. Mr. Hanif also noted how this experience with so many other Muslims from all corners of the globe breaks down barriers between people and forces you to be dependent on your fellow Muslims. He noted that this brotherhood aspect had a great impact on Malcolm X which led him to change his views on other ethnic groups, especially whites. And Mr. Hanif felt Malcolm X was very sincere in expressing his changed beliefs.

4. One can imagine that just as Mr. Hanif noted how he had changed as a person after the hajj, that Malcolm X experienced something similar -- but in Malcolm X's case he was under such pressure when he got back to the U.S. due to assassination threats, trying to get his fledgling OAAU organization off the ground, among other things, that he never really had the chance to become the new person the hajj experience may have given rise to.

PLEASE COPY OR PRINT OUT THE ABOVE POINTS. IF I ASK YOU ANYTHING ABOUT MR. HANIF'S PRESENTATION ON THE FINAL EXAM IT WILL COME FROM THESE POINTS.

As Mr. Hanif closed his presentation, he was also sincere in his open invitation to anyone in the class to ask him any further questions. Although he works mostly in a back room in the library, you will find him occasionally manning the Reference Desk on the first floor.

Finally, at our next meeting, I will hand out a couple brief articles Mr. Hanif shared with me several years ago which highlight some of the serious differences between the NOI ideology and orthodox Islam.
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LOOKING AHEAD: I believe next week (March 9th) I am going to go ahead and show that documentary I mentioned briefly in class, "Malcolm X: Make It Plain". It runs 2 hours, and we will do it in the latter half of our class. It is a nice summation of his life and philosophy. I assume that all or most of you have finished the Autobiography by now, so you should be ready for this.

Also next week, your second set of 5 journal entries are due. And Frances, Annie, Michaela, Sami will be called upon to present one of your entries to the class. I assume that this second set will focus on passages and events later in the Autobiography. Of course, you are also welcome to comment on some aspect of Mr. Hanif's presentation.

The first essay assignment I handed out yesterday will not be due until Tuesday, March 16th, but you certainly can begin to work on that at any time.

Since I probably won't have much time to wrap up my comments on the Autobiography next time (due to the video presentation), I will do my wrap up on the 16th and perhaps also make the transition to talking about Malcolm X's assassination. After this, we will then get into Between Cross and Crescent.

Finally, I hope to have a write-up of the paper assignment (which will be due near the end the semester) next time as well.

See you then.