Mecca

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Mecca

Makkah al-Mukarramah, or “Mecca the blessed,” as it is called by the government of Saudi Arabia, is the holiest city in Islam. Its unique status derives from its links to the rise of monotheism and the triumph of Islam in Arabia, and its role as a pilgrimage destination for all Muslims.

The pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj )—once in one’s lifetime—is a religious duty for Muslims who can afford it. Pilgrimages to the vicinity predate the founding of Islam (there were evidently pre-Islamic pilgrimages to nearby Arafat and Mina, and the Kaaba was a religious site before it became a focus of worship for Muslims), but the Islamic Mecca hajj is more than 1,300 years old. Muhammad himself completed the pilgrimage in year 10 of the Muslim calendar (632 CE). In modern times, several million Muslims converge on Mecca each year during the last month of the Muslim calendar (Dhu al-Hijjah, literally “Lord of the Pilgrimage”) to perform the necessary rituals, demonstrate and renew their faith, and seek forgiveness for sins. This huge annual gathering of believers from every continent is unique among contemporary religions. Located about 80 kilometers inland from the Red Sea in a desert valley, Mecca could be reached by pilgrims only after extraordinary travels and hardships before the rise of modern transportation in the twentieth century, but now it is serviced by an international airport at nearby Jeddah.

The experience of the pilgrimage combines obedience to prescribed rites, some unavoidable discomfort or even suffering, and, frequently, the exhilaration of religious renewal. As with all major historical pilgrimages, commerce and services have always flourished within and around the hajj. In the contemporary world the hajj also strengthens the sense among Muslims of a worldwide community of believers. The hajj is a leveler: men and women wear the same simple forms of clothing for the rituals (for men, two white cloths wrapped around the body; for women, a simple dress with a head covering). Differences of wealth and status are temporarily put aside as the worshippers submerge themselves in a sea of believers who are—as pilgrims—equal before God. In addition to wearing these simple white clothes, pilgrims must also refrain from anger, disputes, and sexual relations so that they may focus on obedience and devotion to God.

The specific rituals of the hajj cannot be understood without reference to ancient traditions about Ibrahim (Abraham), his wife Hagar, and his son Isma‘il (Ishmael), the supposed progenitors of the peoples of Arabia. Some of the rituals reenact the struggles of Hagar and Isma‘il to survive in the desert: for example, pilgrims walk and run seven times between the sites of two ancient hills near Mecca, as Hagar did to seek water for her son. The rituals also include stoning a pillar representing the devil, to commemorate Ibrahim’s attempts to fulfill what he believed to be his mission to sacrifice his son. This sacrifice proved to be unnecessary, and Ibrahim was allowed to substitute the sacrifice of an animal. Subsequently, Ibrahim and Isma‘il established a holy shrine in the desert that became the cubical structure known as the Kaaba, in Mecca. Although that shrine incorporated icons used for polytheistic worship in pre-Islamic times, these elements were removed after the conquest of Mecca by the Muslim army, led by Muhammad, in 630 CE.

Some elements of the hajj have been modernized. For example, the sacrifice of animals by small groups of worshippers in the traditional hajj (for piety and the sustenance of believers, as the Qur’an asserts, not as offerings sent to God) has been replaced by a sanitized industrial slaughter, after which the meat is packed and shipped to developing Muslim countries overseas. However, the hajj remains an extraordinary demonstration of adherence to ritual traditions as worshippers reenact and remember the struggles and piety of the founders of an ancient and still vibrant monotheism.

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