The Sacred Journey: the Pilgrimage to Mecca

book description: First published in 1961, this English edition of The Sacred Journey presents the traditions, dogma, and Islamic ritual that govern the lives and destiny of one seventh of mankind. For the more than five million who call themselves Muslim, this is the official guide to the Sacred Journey, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and for non-Muslims, it is a gateway to another world, the first full-scale picture of Islam as it appears to the followers of the Prophet Muhammad. Not since the early eighteenth century has any writer brought to the Western reader so profound a knowledge of Islam. A remarkable and stimulating contribution to scholarship, The Sacred Journey is also a work of literature that may well become a classic. Author Bio: Ahmad Kamal was born on a Colorado Indian reservation in 1914 of Turco-Tatar parents who were forced into exile by the Tsar for participation in the 1905 Revolution. Kamal's genetic makeup imprinted all his endeavors be they as deep sea diver, combat pilot, horseman, warrior, and as exponent of national self-determination. He commanded the Basmachi Rebellion in Turkistan in the 1920's and 1930's, supported the independence of Indonesia and Algeria, and was commanding General of the Muslim liberation forces of the Union of Burma into the 1980's. Though he devoted his entire life to the independence of his fatherland from the Russian and Chinese yokes, he died a month short of the collapse of the USSR. Japan's press, Asahi Shimbun marked his exsistence stating: "Ahmad Kamal lived like a Samuraiand died like a Samurai."