Born in the city of Riyadh 1377 ah, 1957 ac.
Raised in AlMadina AlMunawwara and Hijaz, and received his education in the schools of Jedda, then studied management and economics in King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda. Married with Children.

His outlook: The way of the people of Sunna and Jama'a in accordance with the understanding of the righteous predecessors, in total and in detail. From this emerges the necessity for armed struggle preceded by Da'wa and military preparation in order to repel the greater Kufr, and to cooperate with Muslims in order to unite their word under the banner of monotheism, and to set aside divisions and differences.

He began his interaction with the Islamic groups in 1393 ah (1973 ac) and continued with this until the commencement of Jihad in Afghanistan; he also participated, in the beginning of the eighties, with the Mujahideen against the Communist party in South Yemen, participating once again in the nineties until the downfall of the Communist party.
He established alongside Sheikh Dr Abdullah Azzam - May Allah bless his soul - the office for Mujahideen services in Peshawar; he also established along with Sheikh Azzam the Sidda camp for the training of Arab Mujahideen who came for Jihad in Afghanistan. His first visit to assist the Afghan Mujahideen was after the entry of the Russians by a few days in 1399 ah (1979 ac); he established "Ma`sadat AlAnsar" which was a base for Arab Mujahideen in Afghanistan. In 1406 ah (1986 ac) he participated in the battles of Jalalabad with the Arab Mujahideen as he also did in 1409 ah (1989 ac) which was one of the biggest battles which the Arabs engaged in, in Afghanistan. He migrated from the Arabian peninsula on 16 Shawwal 1411 ah (1991 ac), then he was asked by the Saudi government to return, however he refused, so they withdrew his citizenship, cancelled his passport, froze his assets, and then attacked him through the media by defaming his character both inside and outside Saudi Arabia.
He currently resides in Afghanistan, and has directed a call to the Muslims throughout the world to declare a Jihad against the Judao - Christian alliance which is occupying Islamic sacred land in Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula.

Name: El-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz

El-Hajj Malik's new universalistic message was the U.S. establishment's worst nightmare. Not only was he appealing to the black masses, but to intellectuals of all races and colors. Now he was consistently demonized by the press as "advocating violence" and being "militant," although in actuality he and Dr. Martin Luther King were moving closer together in outlook:

The goal has always been the same, with the approaches to it as different as mine and Dr. Martin Luther King's non-violent marching, that dramatizes the brutality and the evil of the white man against defenseless blacks. And in the racial climate of this country today, it is anybody's guess which of the "extremes" in approach to the black man's problems might personally meet a fatal catastrophe first -- "non-violent" Dr. King, or so-called "violent" me."

El-Hajj Malik knew full well that he was a target of many groups. In spite of this, he was never afraid to say what he had to say when he had to say it. As a sort of epitaph at the end of his autobiography, he says:

I know that societies often have killed the people who have helped to change those societies. And if I can die having brought any light, having exposed any meaningful truth that will help to destroy the racist cancer that is malignant in the body of America -- then, all of the credit is due to Allah. Only the mistakes have been mine.

It was during his pilgrimage that he began to write some letters to his loyal assistants at the newly formed Muslim Mosque in Harlem. He asked that his letter be duplicated and distributed to the press:

Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the House 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. . . .

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 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 in the same bed (or 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 actions 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.

They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. . . . I said, "The brotherhood! The people of all races, color, from all over the world coming to gether as one! It has proved to me the power of the One God. . . . All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the Oneness of Man under One God.

Malcolm returned from the pilgrimage as El-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz. He was afire with new spiritual insight. For him, the struggle had evolved from the civil rights struggle of a nationalist to the human rights struggle of an internationalist and humanitarian.

copyleft 1999 Nashir