JEDDAH, 15 February 2003 — Amir Muhammad from Charleston, South Carolina, has no doubt.
“One of the things that Haj means is paying one’s debts,” he says. “It is a debt that every Muslim has with Allah. Whether there is a war or not, we have to fulfill our obligation.”
Muhammad’s ticket was paid for by an Islamic organization.
“If I hadn’t come this year, I might have missed a great opportunity,” he explains.
While his Haj is to a certain extent a response to what he says is George W. Bush’s attitude toward Islam, he points out that he has more important concerns.
“Bush doesn’t really figure in my plans on a daily basis,” he adds.
Several African-American Muslims who spoke to Arab News during this Haj expressed similar views. They feel that mainstream America and its politicians have little to offer them. Many experience a sense of solidarity with the Arab world borne out of first-hand experience of what it means to be sidelined in America.
Muslim immigrants to the US often give up important aspects of their belief to blend in, from changing their names to adapting the way women dress.
Not so African-American reverts, who make up the largest group of the Americans who are drawn to Islam.
Their response to the anti-Islamic rhetoric in the US media is to go on Umrah or Haj — partly to find out more about the Muslim community America is attacking.
Repeatedly, African-American pilgrims told Arab News that their community had a long history of being sidelined and discriminated against. They therefore felt they understood well what Muslims were currently suffering at the hands of the US media campaigns.
Some African-American pilgrims said that they did not feel in any way represented by the Bush government. If anything, they said their loyalties lay with the Muslim community, which is international and takes no account of racial or ethnic backgrounds. “Allah is in charge of all matters,” as Amir Muhammad puts it. “Not Bush.”
