Performing Hajj in 2008

Insh’llah my wife (Bisharah ‘Ali) and I will be leaving to perform the other rites of ‘Umrah and Hajj on the 22^nd of November 2008

We are the first of the House of “Ali which began this journey in 1960 in Elizabeth, N.J.(Masonic Lodge) onto Newark, N.J.(Temple #25) New York City, (Harlem) N.Y.(Temple #7). Four generations later we are in Miami FL, Jacksonville FL, Orlando FL; Lawrence Kansas, Atlanta GA, Forest Park GA, Dallas GA.(and others in the Atlanta Metro area ) Oxon Hill MD, Mitchellville MD, Silver Springs MD, P.G. County and Baltimore MD.; Pocono Summit, PA.; Leeds England back to Newark, N.J. and it’s suburbs.

Knowing this many people for this amount of time I know I have injured many, knowingly or unknowingly, whether you are related by blood or faith. At this time, I ask Allah to put it in your hearts to forgive me for the wrongs I have committed against you or your family members (of which I know and of those of which I am ignorant). I am not speaking perfunctorily.

We will keep in mind our family members who have returned to Allah. They are Mustainu Abdullahi Samad Shabazz, Sayyidah Shakoor (mother), Abdul Shakoor (Stepfather), Rajan Tariq Shabazz, Karim Hasan’Ali, Majied ‘AbdusSamad ‘Ali and our late father, Mr. William Holiday. We did not find out he had accepted Islam in the late ‘40s’ (three months before he passed) until 1986. May Allah forgive all of them their sins and grant them His Paradise.

Allah is The Determiner of All Ends. We are grateful to our Lord. We will make dua’ on ‘Arafat (insh’llah) for all of humanity we ask you all who make the Eid prayer here to make dua’ for us.

We will make dua’ for our Imam, W. Deen Mohammed his family and his community throughout the world.

We will make dua’ for our courageous and valiant forerunners who worked as well as prayed for this day.

We will make dua’ for all of you that have made intention to go next year that Allah makes it easy on you.

Bisharah will be the second in her bloodline to make Hajj (insh’llah)

Lastly, I want to let the public and many in our family to know why we refer to our family as the House of ‘Ali. My five brothers and I did not wait for “Our Savior” or The Hon. Elijah Muhammad to name us. Our stance was ‘The Savior can give us another good name when he returns’. This was actually, what thousands of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad’s followers did throughout the country. This was a particularly strong practice in Newark, N.J.

We named ourselves with the best knowledge we had available. Our reasoning was an X means unknown. We knew something about desires and ourselves. We knew what ‘Ali meant. Four of my brothers agreed on ‘Ali. ‘Samad ’ passed away before he could officially change his family name to ‘Ali. We started this process in 1965. How were we to know ten years later Imam Muhammad would name my sister Phyllis 3X and her husband (Captain) Charles 12X Hanan Karim ‘Ali and Karim ‘Ali.? Therefore, we are certain, as we can be that, we did the right thing.

Our Lord Give us Good in this life, in the akhiraat, and save us from the torment of the fire. Amin.

As salaamu ‘alaikum,

Ahmad Jamal ‘Ali