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

2 9 4Islam i n World Cult u r e sstances, they criticized what they saw as the assimilation of immigrant Muslimsinto U.S. culture. Many of these students were also influenced by the rise of Islamas a vehicle of social and political protest against the often-oppressive socialistand nationalist regimes of the “old country.” In 1963, some of these studentsformed the Muslim Students Association at the University of Illinois,Champaign-Urbana. Among the founders were representatives of Egypt’s MuslimBrotherhood, a politico-religious organization that opposed the Nasserregime by calling for an abandonment of Arab socialism in favor of an Islamicallyoriented political system.Also during this time, Saudi Arabia began to fund Islamic missionary effortsin both Muslim and non-Muslim nations around the world. Attempting tosoften derogatory images of Islam abroad and to support its own claims toleadership of the Muslim community, the Saudi government engaged in anumber of different missionary activities. For example, in 1963 it establishedthe University of Medina, which offered Muslim religious authorities and missionariesa Wahhabi interpretation of Islam—a particularly conservative versionof Sunni Islam. It also established the World Muslim League, whichbrought together Muslim leaders from around the world to discuss Islamic religionand contemporary politics. In addition, the Saudis funded institutionsand Islamic centers in the United States, helped distribute literature about Islam,and even sought to train some Americans as Muslim missionaries. As a result,most Americans even today are far more familiar with the Wahhabi versionof Islam than with other interpretations.P e rhaps the most famous student of the Saudi-financed missionary activitywas Malcolm X, who left Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam in 1964. DuringM a l c o l m ’s famous pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) that year, he renounced ElijahM u h a m m a d ’s teachings, rejecting the claim that all white people were blueeyeddevils. And he shared the news that he had felt spiritual kinship withsome fellow Muslims on the h a j j who happened to be white. What is often lessnoted about his trip was that he also became an official guest of the Saudi government.In fact, he developed several relationships with Muslims who were atthe center of the missionary activity funded by the Saudi government. Laterthat same year, he was invited back to Mecca to be trained as a Muslim missi o n a ry by the World Muslim League. In the last year of his life, he proudlyproclaimed his religious identity as an “orthodox” Muslim.It is important to note, however, that his political agenda did not always parallelthat of his sponsors. By financing various missionary efforts, the Saudigovernment did not only hope to spread the truth of Islam to faraway lands;they also hoped to rally Muslim support in their cold war with Egypt, whoser e v o l u t i o n a ry socialism and nationalism threatened to spread throughout theArabian peninsula. Legitimating their regime by touting its explicitly Islamici d e n t i t y, the Saudis at least implicitly criticized any sort of communal affilia-