About our Pilgrimage Journey to Mecca  - PART I

Published in November 30, 2019

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

Firstly: last week, we have performed pilgrimage in the last days of the four sacred months of Hajj:

1- Years ago, we have received a phone call from a Quranist man from Saudi Arabia; among his questions posed to our person was why we have not performed Hajj to the Kaaba yet? We wept bitterly once we received this question; the tone was filled with reproach as if we made a terrible mistake for not trying to enter into Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj/pilgrimage in Mecca; most of the time, we assumed that the Saudi authorities might desire to take revenge on our person for having severely criticized Saudi Arabia, the Saudi royal family, and Wahabism. We told the Quranist Saudi person, in an agitated manner, that our circumstances at the time did not allow us to perform the pilgrimage journey. We vowed never to lose our temper ever again when talking to someone whom we do not know. In fact, pilgrimage seemed an impossible wish; our political and religious stance against Wahabism and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia made us feel that traveling there was too risky; we might lose our life. Besides, in the past years, we could not afford the journey to Mecca; we are now over 70 years old; the pains in our body joints restrict our movement; this adds to the list of reasons preventing our person from performing pilgrimage to Mecca.

2- Our wife performed pilgrimage, both Hajj and Umrah, at one time among a group of American pilgrims; she performed Umrah once on her own. She ardently wished that she and her husband (i.e., ourselves) would perform Hajj together. When she reached the age of 60 in 2019, and after a lifetime of struggle to help our person and our sons, her birthday presents were special as our sons have decided to reward her. Our third son, Amir, made her wish come true and he accompanied her to a trip into France and Italy. Our fourth son, Hossam, offered her a journey to Mecca to perform Umrah for the third time; yet, she wished she would perform Hajj with our person anytime convenient within the four sacred months of Hajj. At this point in time, we were in the first week of the lunar month Rabei Awwal; Hajj is possible in the rest of this fourth and last sacred month of Hajj. The question was raised: would we risk traveling to Saudi Arabia despite our known stance against this kingdom and its cursed Wahabism? Saudis never tolerate critics of Wahabism. Would Saudis allow our person into Mecca, and then back to our homeland, the USA, unharmed?

3- A heated debate ensued; our first-born son, Mohamed, strongly opposed the idea of our setting foot into Saudi Arabia as he feared for our life; he reminded our person of the assassination of Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia and of a young Egyptian lawyer who, as he came for pilgrimage, was framed by the Saudis who arrested him in the airport of Jeddah by the false accusation of being a drug dealer who sought to smuggle illegal drugs. Our first son, Mohamed, told our person that Saudis may take revenge on us by framing us and his mother (i.e., our wife). Our third son, Amir, insisted on accompanying us in Saudi Arabia and so did our fourth son, Hossam, who entirely covered the pilgrimage journey expenses for our person and our wife (i.e., his father and mother). Our sons and our wife feared very much for our life; in fact, our wife told our person that if there was any degree of risk or if our life would be in danger there, she was ready to sacrifice her wish of performing Hajj with her beloved husband.

4- We allayed their fears by asserting the fact that the case of the assassinated Saudi journalist Khashoggi – may the Lord God rest his soul – does not apply to our person; he was a Saudi man; in the Saudi culture, any 'Saudi' citizen is 'owned' by the Saudi royal family which owns the Saudi State. Of course, Khashoggi belonged to the deep-state of the Saudi regime; i.e., he was expected to blindly obey the king; if he joined any of the opposition movements, he deserved to be punished as per the Saudi mentality; Khashoggi defied the king and the royal family members as he declared his opposition defiantly outside Saudi Arabia; i.e., in the West and elsewhere. That Saudi tyrants punished him by planning his assassination is a strategy applied by any enthroned Arab tyrants who go into extremes in tyranny; e.g., Saddam Hussein, Kaddafi, and Al-Sisi. Each of the enthroned Arab tyrants assumes that he owns the nation and the country/homeland; these tyrants assume that those who oppose and disobey them deserve to be punished or to die along with their innocent family members who are punished as well. We told our wife and our sons that our case of opposing the Saudi kingdom differs a great deal from the case of Khashoggi; we also oppose Wahabi clergymen and all types of clergymen and tyrants in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and all Arab countries and all Middle-East countries. Besides, our own Quranism-based opposition to Saudi Arabia and Wahabism is a peaceful, overt type of opposition which never aims at gaining money, possessions, or fame or reaching power. We seek only to introduce political and religious reform; besides, we hail and encourage in our writings any steps (inside Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or elsewhere) taken forward to achieve any measure of reform. This is done as enthusiastically as our vehement opposition to all types of injustice committed anywhere. We reminded our wife and our sons that we are an independent Muslim thinker who never sides with anyone against anyone else and never seeks rewards, remuneration, or praise from anyone. We reminded them that we have written in the past about demanding the elimination of Saudi Arabia as the axis of evil which is Wahabi terrorism; yet, we have changed our point of view because we realized the fact that if Saudi Arabia is removed one day from the Middle-East map, Iran will control and invade the Gulf monarchies in Arabia and bloodshed will spread there; hence, we have declared our new stance of supporting the gradual reform of the Saudi kingdom; i.e., gradual installation of the culture of democracy and democratic transition; this will take decades until Arabians there imbibe democratic culture within introducing radical reform to the legislative, religious, and educational sectors in Arabia. We told our wife and sons that the crisis of Saudi Arabia regarding Khashoggi has made Saudi authorities learn a lesson (in the hard way) of never to assassinate any Saudi opposition figure however dangerous he might be; hence, since we are a peaceful American citizen coming to Mecca for pilgrimage, the Saudi authorities are entitled to protect all pilgrims of all nationalities; this is implied when they give pilgrims the entry visa. If Saudi Arabia would give our person the entry visa, this means that the Saudi authorities will have to protect us as an American pilgrim; for sure, if any harm would befall our person, the scandal will be grave for Saudi Arabia more than the one caused by the assassination of Khashoggi, especially that the Saudi crown-prince, M. Ibn Salman, builds stronger ties with the USA. We told our wife and sons that the men of the Saudi authorities are not foolish to try to assassinate our person; we never pose any veritable threat to the Saudi kingdom. if we may get killed inside Mecca, the outcomes will be enormous regarding the American-Saudi relations, especially that our second son, Sherif, works at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPS) which is the organization focusing on urging Washington to punish Riyadh for the assassination of Khashoggi. Our second son, Sherif, is like his father; i.e., very strict in his stances and, as an activist, is never bought or sold.            

5- After a long discussion, we reached a solution; once we get the entry visa (easily available for American Muslims in return for certain fees), our second son, Sherif, and his wife the professor and activist Dr. Negar Razavi (the mother of our first granddaughter, Thuraya Mansour) will notify their contacts/friends at the Department of State (and will contact the U.S. consulate in Jeddah) to take the measures necessary to protect our person inside Saudi Arabia since we are an American citizen. Days later, we were happy to receive a phone call from an old friend who works in the U.S. Department of State; he asked us about our very near pilgrimage journey; he gave us very useful pieces of advice about entering the Saudi kingdom; he told us he contacted his friends who work at the U.S. embassy in Riyadh to tell them about our journey to Mecca; he gave us their phone numbers to call them in cases of emergency. As far as we know, this meant that the men of Saudi authorities knew beforehand (from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh) about our intention to perform pilgrimage; they will do their best to protect our person inside Mecca; there is no need to worry about anything; we took the plane to Jeddah on the 21^st of Nov. 2019 and it was planned we will return home in VA, the USA, on the 28^th of Nov.

6- There were some enough days left in the lunar sacred month, Rabei Awwal, and as we have mentioned in our subtitled-into-English YouTube (Quranic Moments) episodes about pilgrimage and in our book, in English, titled "Pilgrimage between Islam and the Muhammadans" (found on this link:         http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/book_main.php?main_id=90), Hajj is possible within any days of the four successive sacred months of the lunar calendar; namely, Zu Al-Hijja, Muharram, Saffar, and Rabei Awwal. This is inferred from what the Lord God says in the Quran: "The Hajj is during specific months. Whoever decides to perform Hajj - there shall be no sexual relations, nor misconduct, nor quarrelling during Hajj..." (2:197); "When the Sacred Months have passed, kill the polytheists..." (9:5). The opening season of pilgrimage (i.e., the first days of Zu Al-Hijja) is mentioned here: "And a proclamation from God and His messenger to the people on the day of the Greater Pilgrimage, that God has disowned the polytheists, and so did His messenger..." (9:3). Ease/facilitation in Hajj by the Lord God is mentioned here about making 2 days after and before the four sacred months as part of the Hajj season: "And remember God during the designated days. But whoever hurries on in two days commits no wrong, and whoever stays on commits no wrong - provided he maintains righteousness. And obey God, and know that to Him you will be gathered." (2:203). In several articles of ours, we call for applying this in our modern era in order to lessen the over-crowdedness inside Mecca during Hajj. Of course, the fact that Hajj can be performed anytime within the four sacred month was known within the monotheistic religion of Abraham; this fact is asserted in the Holy Quran which was revealed when pilgrims were tens of thousands only; this proves that Quranic sharia laws of Islam are based on ease/facilitation. Of course, applying 2:203 is a must now; it is gravely unjust to gather millions of people in Mecca in one week; many victims die in stampedes especially during the devilish practice of throwing pebbles at a pillar of stone representing Satan. Hence, the fact that we have performed pilgrimage in the last days of Rabei Awwal, the fourth and last sacred month of Hajj, is an application and practice of what we preach and what we believe in and call for; we hope that Saudi Arabia would apply this Quranic sharia law during Hajj in the future.     

7- Of course, pilgrimage or Hajj never includes visiting Yathreb and its devilish abomination known as the Yathreb-mosque mausoleum dedicated to Muhammad. We believe in the fact that the Lord God will never accept the pilgrimage to the Kaaba, in Mecca, of those who visit and worship such pagan abomination in Yathreb. To visit an worship such abomination is a devilish invention in religion which has nothing to do with Islam of course. Muhammad never visited his own tomb during his lifetime as part of Hajj rituals of course. Likewise, the Pre-Umayyad caliphs and the Umayyad caliphs never did so as part of pilgrimage rituals; such a tomb never existed at all in Yathreb; Muhammad was never buried in a tomb or a cemetery; history tells us he was buried in the chamber of his wife Aisha, where he died and where she lived. When the Yathreb mosque was widened and rebuilt several times decades after the death of the wives of Muhammad, no one knew exactly where the chamber of Aisha was; a spot was chosen randomly, by polytheists who deify Muhammad, to build a mausoleum dedicated to him as his tomb. This turned the Yathreb mosque into a sanctuary (equal to or even surpassing the Sacred Kaaba Mosque in Mecca!) for polytheistic pilgrimage performed by those who deify Muhammad. This falsehood is asserted and invented by Malik in his book of hadiths titled (Al-Mowata') authored by him during the Abbasid Era. Of course, to venerate and worship at such abomination is sheer polytheism and sign of utter disbelief. The existence of this pagan abomination known as the Yathreb-mosque mausoleum indicates clearly that the Muhammadans deify, sanctify, and worship an imaginary, false deity named as (Muhammad) which has nothing to do with the mortal prophet, Muhammad, whose true history is mentioned exclusively in the Quran. To deify Muhammad is the worst type of polytheism and disbelief; those who die as polytheists will enter into Hell since their good deed will be nullified and rendered void; the Lord God pardons all sins except polytheism. This is inferred from the following Quranic verses: "God does not forgive of polytheism of ascribing partners to Him, but He forgives anything less than that to whomever He wills. Whoever ascribes deities to God has devised a monstrous sin." (4:48); "God will not forgive that partners be associated with Him; but will forgive anything less than that, to whomever He wills. Anyone who ascribes partners to God has strayed into far error." (4:116); "They disbelieve those who say, “God is the Messiah the son of Mary.” But the Messiah himself said, “O Israelites, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever associates others with God, God has forbidden him Paradise, and his dwelling is the Hell-Fire. The unjust ones will have no supporters.”" (5:72). Thus, we never talk/write in void; we infer our ideas from criticizing the status quo in everyday life of the Muhammadans; sadly, the greater aim of pilgrims is to visit, venerate, and worship the abomination known as the Yathreb-mosque mausoleum supposedly housing the buried false allegedly immortal deity of the Muhammadans which salutes them, judges their deeds, and acts as their intercessor. This means that most Muhammadans assume that pilgrimage to het Kaaba in Mecca is a mere preliminary step preceding their 'true' pilgrimage to Yathreb. This means that they mix a good deed (i.e., Hajj in Mecca) with a sinful act of polytheism (i.e., pilgrimage to the Yathreb mausoleum ascribed forcibly and falsely to Muhammad). The outcome is that their disbelief and polytheism will lead them to Hell for eternity if they die without repentance. This is why in our writings, we warn and preach those polytheistic Muhammadans. The Lord God has said the following to Muhammad and to the prophets/messengers before him: "It was revealed to you, and to those before you, that if you adhere to polytheism, your works will be in vain, and you will be of the losers." (39:65); this is about nullifying the good deeds of polytheists: "We will proceed to the works they did, and will turn them into scattered dust." (25:23); "As for those who disbelieve, their works are like a mirage in a desert. The thirsty assumes it is to be water. Until, when he has reached it, he finds it to be nothing, but there he finds God, Who settles his account in full. God is swift in judgment. Or like utter darkness in a vast ocean, covered by waves, above which are waves, above which is fog. Darkness upon darkness. If he brings out his hand, he will hardly see it. He to whom God has not granted a light has no light." (24:39-40). After they are made to enter into Hell, the polytheists will regret their nullified good deeds and will feel sorry after it is too late for them; they will never be made to get out of Hell: "Those who followed will say, “If only we can have another chance, we will disown them, as they disowned us.” Thus God will show them their deeds, as regrets to them, and they will not come out of the Hell-Fire." (2:167). Sadly, the Muhammadan, polytheistic pilgrims pay large sums of money to worship the Yathreb-mosque abomination, an act which will earn them Hell for eternity.