The difficult physical and spiritual journeys of Hajj
The Hajj pilgrims will be flowing into Saudi Arabia this weekend. Last year nearly two million people made the journey to Mecca from all corners of the Earth. In some previous years, this number has reached more than three million, with more than 180 countries represented.
The size of the Hajj pilgrimage is second only to India’s epic Kumbh Mela, which attracts up to 80 million people over a 55-day period. But there is one huge difference with the Hajj – it is the world’s most diverse human gathering, with almost every ethnicity represented.
This diversity, while often talked of and in which Muslims take huge pride, can come as a shock. Most famously, reeling from the headiness of this huge ocean of humanity, Malcolm X wrote: “There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colours, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood.”
The ethos of Hajj is that everyone is equal, everyone dresses the same. There is no distinction between black and white, rich and poor, male and female. The simple white clothing worn by pilgrims is a symbol of paring back each person from their worldly trappings to their spiritual core, each human being of equal value to the next.
This erasure of discrimination and the celebration of equality are fundamental to the difficult physical and spiritual journeys of the pilgrims over the next 10 days.
Sadly, human behaviour too often falls short of the discrimination-free utopia we dream of. And while it is heartbreaking to say this, it is no different during Hajj.
Insidious, normalised, and, even when raised, easily dismissed discrimination persists during the Hajj and by extension it continues among the rest of us around the world. This includes racial discrimination, misogyny and privileging those who are wealthier against those suffering poverty. Sometimes this is wilful, sometimes it is a result of the total lack of awareness of how our own actions contribute to the disparities.
We don’t talk about it. After all, who likes to confront their failings? But we must. When discrimination persists in a place where every ritual and meaning is pointed at its erasure, then we know we must confront it head on.
I have witnessed how those of darker skin are treated with disrespect.
In fact, I have experienced it myself. There are far too many stories of assault and abuse against women.
The greatest irony is that it is the grave of Hajar, a black woman, once a slave, and therefore the epitome of all these forms of discrimination that persist today, which forms the core of the Hajj rituals. Her grave lies close to the Kaaba and must be encircled in every circuit each pilgrim performs.
It is her footsteps that each pilgrim replicates as they run between the two mountains of Safa and Marwa. Yet if Hajar were alive today, we must ask ourselves quite honestly, would she enjoy that level of respect?
Those who are wealthy can buy themselves a more
The ethos of Hajj is that everyone is equal and dresses the same; there is no distinction between rich and poor
comfortable Hajj experience too. This disparity is harder to identify as often it is small, perfectly legitimate actions that lead to the inequalities. Those who are wealthy fill up the accommodation closest to the Haram in Mecca, pushing those who are poorer way into the suburbs, far away from the holy sites, a de facto rich-poor divide. The end result is a reflection of the wealth inequalities of the Ummah.
We do not talk about these facts publicly, but if ever there was a time to openly confront them, then that time is now.
Tackling racial discrimination, misogyny and poverty are firmly on our global agenda at the moment and that means we must talk about it even in the most uncomfortable of places, and in the ones that are most symbolic.