P erforming the annual five-day Muslim hajj, more ancient than Islam itself, is complicated and confusing even for those well versed in Islam, so it’s particularly intimidating for someone who’s hardly religious.
As a secular journalist covering the hajj, a central pillar of Islam, which began on Monday, I am determined to go through the rites with an open mind.
A major first hurdle is just learning what to do. Before leaving my hotel in Jeddah for the nearby holy city of Mecca, I took the first required steps. I bathed and put on the special clothes of a woman performing hajj: a white head scarf draping down to my stomach, a long shirt, a pair of loose pants and a white robe down to my ankles.
My colleague, Imad Saeid, coached me through the next step: announcing my intention to perform the pilgrimage. I repeated after him the formula proclaiming the start of my journey, Labeik, Allahuma, labeik (I am here at Your service, Lord, I am here). On Sunday, during the drive through the desert to Mecca — birthplace of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, about 80km east of Jeddah — the rest of the group gave me a crash course on the rituals, starting with the Kaaba, the black cube-shaped stone shrine that pilgrims circle seven times at the start and end of their hajj.
UNIFIED BY FAITH
Mokhtar Shehada, an Egyptian, wondered if he had to make amends for being aggressive the previous day to a pilgrim who pushed him as he was circling the Kaaba. Hajj rules warn against arguing or fighting during the pilgrimage. Shehada stressed that he had later apologized to the pilgrim.
Our guide from the Saudi Information Ministry, Mansour al-Sibiyani, told Shehada he should check with a cleric about whether he should pay for a goat to be slaughtered and given to the poor, a common penance for mistakes during the rites.
In Mecca, we hit the crowds: Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims massed around the Grand Mosque housing the Kaaba. Saudi officials said Monday some 2.5 million Muslims from around the world are attending this year’s hajj, along with another half million Saudis.
The mass of humanity is an awe-inspiring sight — and that is part of the point. The hajj is a deeply personal rite for the faithful, a chance to get closer to God, walk in the footsteps of Mohammed and Abraham and receive the forgiveness of sins. But it is also a communal experience, a symbol of the unity of the Islamic world.
“It is amazing to see Muslims united, no other activity in the world could bring so many people together for the same purpose, not even a rock band group,” said Eulalle Benichou, a Canadian pilgrim walking with her husband near the Grand Mosque.
Many pilgrims talk of the physical arduousness of hajj as a test of faith. But, as I found, it also makes keeping your mind on faith difficult.
I stopped to perform the noon prayers at the gate of the Grand Mosque, standing shoulder to shoulder with men in the ihram — the required menswear that consists of white pieces of terry cloth, one around the waist, another slung over the shoulder — as well as other women.
But it’s hard to concentrate — not only because I don’t really know how to pray, but also because of the shoving of other pilgrims trying to get to the front of the line.
The layers of white fabric around my head and neck were suffocating and distracting — I don’t normally wear a head scarf — and I looked with envy at the men praying next to me with their bare arms and necks.
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