Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

H i s to r i cal Introduction and Overv i e w 9munity in Islam that ideally transcends differences of language, race, or ethni c i t y. When the African American Muslim Malcolm X performed the h a j j i n1962, he perceived it in this way. As he relates the experience in his autobiogra p h y, on his journey to Mecca he was powerfully impressed to see that his fellowpilgrims were “white, black, brown, red, and yellow people, blue eyes andblond hair, and my kinky red hair—all together brothers! All honoring thesame God Allah, and in turn giving equal honor to each other” (Malcolm X1964, 323). However, other accounts of the modern hajj stress not Islam’s universalitybut, rather, the marked differences between the different groups ofMuslims gathered there, such as in the published Letters and Memories from theHajj by the Indonesian author A. A. Navis: 1Looking at the women from various countries here on the h a j j , one sees thateach nation has its own style of dress. In general, they cover almost their entirebody except for their faces. When they don their special pilgrim’s garb, thewomen cover their entire bodies except for their faces and the palms of theirhands. However, even in this they do not all look the same. Some wear socks, andsome do not. City girls, especially those from the chic Jakarta set, really pay attentionto their looks. Their clothes are always something special, even whenthey are dressed as “humble” pilgrims. They wear special gloves that cover theirwrists, while the palms of their hands are bare, and these gloves can be lacy.Young women from other countries, even Arabs, just wear simple clothes, whichare not lacy or fancily decorated. Turkish or Iranian women wear cream-coloredblouses with long sleeves, and they also wear a triangular scarf as a form-fittinghead-covering so that no hair can become exposed. Women from central Africatend to wear colorful clothing. (Navis 1996, 40–41)Mecca is a sacred place for all Muslims, regardless of where they comefrom or what they are wearing. It is the place toward which they direct thedaily prayers of s a l a t and the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. Moreover,the rituals of the hajj point to even more ancient associations betweenthis Arabian town and the missions of God’s prophets, for most of the majorrites of the hajj serve as reenactments of the drama of Muslim sacred historiesof Abraham and his family, including the binding and near-sacrifice of his sonand the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael. According to Muslim tradition,the proper performance of the rituals associated with these prophetic narrativeswere “reinstated” by Muhammad after he purified Mecca of its pagan religiouspractices from the pre-Islamic “Age of Ignorance” (Jahiliyya). As will bediscussed below, the sense of difference constructed between Jahiliyya and Islamhas become a powerful rhetorical device wielded by some modern Muslimreformists.