{"id":661,"date":"2010-07-10T13:34:54","date_gmt":"2010-07-10T13:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2010\/07\/photo-mike-tyson-at-mecca.html"},"modified":"2010-07-10T13:34:54","modified_gmt":"2010-07-10T13:34:54","slug":"photo-mike-tyson-at-mecca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2010\/07\/photo-mike-tyson-at-mecca.html","title":{"rendered":"PHOTO: Mike Tyson at Mecca"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Here<\/a><\/p>\n

I had no idea that Mike Tyson was a muslim until I heard last week that he had traveled to Mecca for umrah<\/em><\/a> (the minor pilgrimage, identical to the Hajj except that umrah<\/em> can be performed anytime during the year and does not fulfill the muslim’s religious obligation to perform Hajj at least once in a lifetime). <\/p>\n

I didn’t give it much further thought until I saw via Twitter<\/a> that Tyson had actually posted a picture<\/a> of himself (at right, click to enlarge) in front of the Holy Ka’aba using Twitpic. The contrast of ancient tradition and modern social networking is actually old hat by now<\/a>; what really blows my mind is that this is Mike Tyson. The mere fact of him being there is sufficient to essentially erase any notions or opinions I had of him prior. <\/p>\n

I hope that the experience not only stays with him but also triggers the same deep self-reflection that it did for Malcolm X<\/a>. Mike Tyson has just entered a larger universe; I hope he finds it suits him, and decides to stay. <\/p>\n

Hat-tip to @jstrevino<\/a> for the photo and London Muslim<\/a> for the story. Also, this essay about Hajj from last year by my friend Aamer<\/a> is probably my favorite thing written about Hajj, ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}