Good Grief
Posted on July 21st, 2008
by Daniel Larison |
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My suggestion to Obama: forget Berlin, go to Mecca. ~Tony Campbell
If non-Muslims were allowed to enter Mecca, that would at least be possible, if not very desirable. Of course, what this suggestion accomplishes is to link Obama’s “unique heritage” (as Campbell calls it) with a trip to Mecca, which is permitted only to Muslims. Even if the Saudis were inclined to grant an exception, which they almost certainly wouldn’t be, in the eyes of a great many Americans going there would be like carrying around a placard saying, “Yes, I am a Muslim.” The fewer people who try to help Obama with this sort of advice, the better off he will be.
As an orthodox traditionalist Sunni Muslim (and conservative) I should inform you that there is not unanimity by Muslim jurists and classical Islamic jurisprudence upon the point that “non-Muslims are not permitted into Mecca.”
Indeed, there is unanimity that non-Muslims cannot take up permanent residence in Mecca as holy land, yet many classical schools of Islamic jurisprudence (such as the Shafiite school for instance) did permit non-Muslim entrance into Mecca.
While About.com does serve as an interesting resource sometimes - like Wikipedia - I would recommend Tim Winter’s Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology as a useful, erudite, and handy English language resource. Winter, a practicing orthodox traditionalist Sunni Muslim, gives justice to his subject.
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate the clarification. As a practical matter, though, a journey to Mecca would be extremely difficult for a non-Muslim under the current government, would it not?
I apologize for the late response.
Yes, the current government led by Wahhabi Islam (denounced as a heresy by the Grand Mufti of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century as well as the Sheikh al-Azhar of Egypt) does not allow any non-Muslims into Mecca.
Yet the Wahhabis do allow Shiite Muslims to Hajj - which are recognized as heretics and non-Muslims by the overwhelming majority of Wahhabis.