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50,000 Saudi Pilgrims Watch LIVE as Mecca Scholar Shares His Testimony: “Jesus Is the Messiah”
50,000 faces stared back at me.
50,000 pilgrims gathered in the courtyard outside the Grand Mosque of Mecca, the Mashid al-H Haram, the holiest site in Islam.
They had come from every corner of the earth from Indonesia, from Pakistan, from Morocco and Malaysia and Egypt and Turkey.
They wore the simple white garments of Hajj, the pilgrimage every Muslim dreams of making at least once in their lifetime.
They had come to hear a respected Mecca scholar speak.
They had come to hear me, Dr. Rasheed al-Qashi, descendant of the prophet’s own tribe, educated at the Islamic University of Medina, author of three books on Islamic juristprudence, a man who had led countless pilgrims through the rituals of Hajj, a teacher who had memorized the Quran before his 10th birthday.
They expected me to speak about the pillars of faith, about the beauty of submission to Allah, about the blessing of standing in this holy city during this sacred season.
Instead, I was about to say words that could get me executed before sunset.
My hands trembled as I held the microphone.
Behind me, the massive clock tower loomed, the Abraj Albate, its face visible for miles, marking the time for prayer, for ritual, for the precise schedule of Hajj.
Everything in Mecca operates on Islamic time, Islamic law, Islamic authority, and I was about to shatter all of it.
The religious police, the Mutoen, stood at the edges of the crowd, their distinctive white robes and red checkered headdresses marking them as enforcers of Sharia law.
They had approved my talk.
They trusted me.
I was one of them after all, a guardian of Islamic Orthodoxy.
I saw my brother in the crowd three rows back.
He smiled at me with pride.
He didn’t know what was coming.
This is just a brief introduction to the story. The full story and the thrilling ending are available via a link in the comments below. 👇
