Mr Salahuddin had been in the States for his studies. He had a good friend in the form of a black American, Mr. Brian. Mr. Brian was very impressed by Mr. Salahuddin’s religion. After some guidance from Mr. Salahuddin, Mr. brian accepted Islam.
In his first year as a Muslim, Mr. Brian expressed his desire to visit the Holy Land. He requested Mr. Salahuddin to come along and guide him, as Mr. Salahuddin had been to Mecca many a times. All the preparations were made and both of them reached Mecca safely. The two were conversing in English which caught the attention of a local Guard.
The guard grew suspicious, and after some spying he made out that the man couldn’t have been a Muslim. The Guard brought some men with him, grabbed Mr. Brian by the collar and kicked him out from the Holy premises, despite Mr. Salahuddin’s desparate attempts to inform them of Mr. Brian’s conversion.
Mr. Brian came back to the US with a bitter experience. Mr. Salahuddin had to return to his native land. When he returned to the US after 5 years, he met his buddy Brian, who was in a hurry that day. Mr. Brian was getting late for the Church Service. He was not a Muslim anymore.
There are no such 'spies' moving around in Makkah or Medinah. And there are more white, black and english speaking muslim folks taking the pilgrimage to Makkah every year than one could count.
When travelling to Makkah or Medinah, your passport is stamped with a validatory name that signifies you as a muslim. You are mandated to keep that in your possession all the time while travelling. Even the locals have ID cards and documents signifying them as muslims.
I presume that if the man in question managed to enter Makkah, he very likely had those documents. Why didnt he produce those documents is beyond me. Because if the documents were produced, noone would have any further recourse on this.
Unless the guy was smuggled into Makkah by his Muslim friend, which i find hard to believe as well, but could happen.
Who the hell gave the holy land to these stupids anywayz ?
What have you done for me lately?
Shouldnt be that quick in jumping to conclusions. Maybe there is more to this story than meets the eye. Or maybe the guy wasnt able to produce the required documents......something for which u will be treated similarly, whether you are in Saudi Arabia, or New york.
yeha...i agree with akif.....like my uncle....white man...converted.....lives in arabia for like 23 yrs.....goes to do his first umra....poilce give him a hard time....but then they let him in.....u got the papers....ure getting in....no matter what.
Well, its true that on arrival your travel document (passport) is stamped to declare you a muslim, which allows you to travel to holy cities of Mekkah and Medina. And the passport must be kept in your possession at all times.
However, I have been told many times, that their plainclothes police, shurtas, do roam around these places and investigate any suspect activity. Spying is definitely very much present in KSA.
The only thing I can think of is that a convert's passport still showed him as a christian, or something like that, and he never bothered to get certificate from any authentic religious authority in USA about his conversion. That will be the reason for KSA authorities to assume he is not a muslim.
...Plus they have a separate religious police force (I forgot its name), whose sole responsibility is to implement islam in everyday lives of people. They take actions like forcing people to go to masjid at prayer times, ensure no one eats during roza times, and other such rules.
Pristine....actually, they dont look at your passport front page.
When you go for Umra or Hajj, you get a visa at your local Saudi embassy. Now, if you are going for the sole purpose of Umra or Hajj, or to conduct business in the holy cities, you HAVE to be a muslim. And that fact will be verified before they even grant you a visa.
And on your visa, to prove u as a muslim, they will pen down your name, and precede it with 'Muhammad', whether or not Muhammad is part of ur name. And thats a certification of u being a muslim. The religious police only checks that. They dont know how to check passports from around the world, since in most cases, they dont know how to read english or any other language. And besides, not all passports carry the religion of a person :)
Don’t they know what kind of things the Prophet (pbuh) been through?
He was treated like that for not looking/speaking like a Muslim, but in this world Muslims go through so much because they are Muslims. Compare that to this is nothing.
We are the Taleban-Resistance is Futile Sin: Osama Bin Junior
Akif: Well I am not sure if the spies exist. I think Mr. Brian didn't find it necessary to carry his verifications and whatever. I think Mr. Salahuddin should have informed him of this aspect.
YoungBrat: you are quite right, but u wouldn't expect a person who has just canged his religion to have such a strong faith. He knew he would be accepted back by his former community. The things about Islam that forced him to convert (tolerance, brotherhood kindness, mercy) seemed fake to him after the incident.