15 Inspirations from Mecca and the Hajj Pilgrimage
A Reading and Watch List for The Billion of us at Home
As 3 to 5 million Muslims gather in Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage, the rest of the Muslim Ummah, roughly 1.7 billion of us sit at work and at home wishing that we were with them, and praying that we can be there in the future. We wanted to gather some quick inspirations for those of us at home from photos, to film as many of us spend these days fasting as the Eid holiday quickly approaches.
1. Mecca of a Different Time, “Circling the House of God.”
Today’s Mecca is filled with hundreds of cranes and endless construction, one of the most striking things we have seen recently about the sacred precinct is the film, “Circling the House of God.” This incredible documentary with rarely seen footage, transports us to Mecca for the Hajj in 1948. As footage of the Hajj goes by, the British Muslim convert Martin Lings describes his experience, then in his twenties, on his first pilgrimage. Using unique archive material, Martin Lings recollects his experience of the Hajj, along with his insight into its historical background. The original beauty and simplicity of the Hajj is brought to the viewer through the sheer presence and eloquence of Lings’ narrative.
2. Short time Lapse from the film “Samsara” showing the true beauty of Mecca (watch the end especially)
Or the entire Hajj pilgrimage in time lapse
Or a 360-degree tour of Hajj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49xdCEsDDx4
3. Hajj in Virtual Reality
Check out these incredible Hajj films, best viewed on mobile, in virtual reality from Al Jazeera and the New York Times
4. Watch the Hajj on a Livestream
5. Watch one of the most beautiful films we have ever seen from Hajj, the story of Jordan Richter from Oprah Winfrey’s documentary “Belief”
6. Check out the “Big Picture” photo essay series from Boston.com
The Big Picture 2010, and 2011
7. Watch a Hajj Documentary
Beautiful 2014 documentary from the PBS series Sacred Journeys that looks at pilgrimage’s from throughout the world.
For a quick overview of what the Hajj looks like on the ground, check out Vice News reporter Suroosh Alvi journey to Hajj with his parents.
National Geographic’s film “Inside Mecca” following the many different journey’s of pilgrims from all over the world is also a good option.
8. Remember a time when people had to travel across the world riding a horse or walking to go on the Hajj. Watch “Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta”
9. There is at least one living person today who made the pilgrimage on foot, walking from Mauritania to Mecca over a period of 3 years — Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj
“After studying in the school of his father, he decided to make the trip to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage at the age of about nineteen. A total journey of about three years deserves a book to chronicle his experiences.
He traveled by foot crossing Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan and then by boat to Yemen where he then made his way to Mecca, spending time along the way teaching in many areas, and he was offered a position of teaching in Mecca. Although he had a great love to live in the city of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he did not think he could assume the right of being a neighbor to the Best of Creation (peace and blessings be upon him), and therefore he made his return journey home. It was after his journey to Hajj that his mother gave him the title “al Hajj.”” — Shaykh Rami Nsour
10. Wondering what Mecca looked like when Murabit al-Hajj visited? This film footage from 1930 gives us a good idea
11. What did the pilgrims look like in 1880? Head over to ilmfeed.com to see
12. Looking for a little travel literature on the Hajj— Try these classics
Or check out this series of video’s on what the experience of the Hajj is like from pilgrims themselves
13. Read Malcolm X’s Letter from Mecca to Alex Haley — Believe in the power of transformation that Hajj brings about annually for millions of people.
“Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures.
For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.
I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca, I have made my seven circuits around the Ka’ba, led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad, I drank water from the well of the Zam Zam. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. Al-Safa and Al Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat.
There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.
America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white — but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.
You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.
During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug — while praying to the same God — with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.
We were truly all the same (brothers) — because their belief in one God had removed the white from their minds, the white from their behavior, and the white from their attitude.
I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man — and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their ‘differences’ in color.
With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called ‘Christian’ white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster — the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.
Each hour here in the Holy Land enables me to have greater spiritual insights into what is happening in America between black and white. The American Negro never can be blamed for his racial animosities — he is only reacting to four hundred years of the conscious racism of the American whites. But as racism leads America up the suicide path, I do believe, from the experiences that I have had with them, that the whites of the younger generation, in the colleges and universities, will see the handwriting on the walls and many of them will turn to the spiritual path of truth — the only way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably must lead to.
Never have I been so highly honored. Never have I been made to feel more humble and unworthy. Who would believe the blessings that have been heaped upon an American Negro? A few nights ago, a man who would be called in America a white man, a United Nations diplomat, an ambassador, a companion of kings, gave me his hotel suite, his bed. Never would I have even thought of dreaming that I would ever be a recipient of such honors — honors that in America would be bestowed upon a King — not a Negro.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds.
Sincerely,
Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)
14. The History of Mecca
There are a number of great recent books that look at the history of Mecca, if you are looking to go deeper into the study of what has always been a place of spiritual pilgrimage and one of the most cosmopolitan cities on this earth, then check out these titles.
15. Le Grande Voyage film — A drive from France to Mecca
The 2004 French film by director Ismael Ferroukhi is a powerful story about a father and son as they drive from France to Mecca for Hajj. The father is insistent that he make the journey by car, and despite his secular son’s protestations they set out on a journey that neither of them will ever forget. Le Grand Voyage is a hidden gem of a film that is as much about the journey as it is the father and son coming to know and understand each other across deep generational and cultural divides. A link to the full film in French without subtitles is here.
16. “The Hajj is Arafat”
As the famous Hadith (saying) of the Prophet Muhammad makes clear for us, “The Hajj is Arafat.” While we may not be physically present on that day, the benefits of fasting Arafat are immense and it is the most powerful way to connect ourselves to the Hajj. For more information on the virtues of the day of Arafat, see this article by Imam Zaid Shakir.
Watching this prayer by Habib Umar bin Hafiz at Arafat will surely get you in the necessary spiritual mood.
17. Make the intention to go on Hajj next year, if you don’t think it’s possible ask God to transform your situation to make it possible. AMEN!
Start preparing for next year
Are you serious about going? Best to plan in advance for a journey like this. For a powerful spiritual overview on the internal meanings of Hajj and why you need to begin preparing now, check out these notes from a class with Shaykh Mokhtar Magrouri.
Want to see any of the historical sites before they are all gone do your research with Shaykh Abdullah al Kadi’s book Mecca to Medina a Photographic Journey of the Hijrah Route and download the GPS enabled app Ziyara GPS which will help you find the often hidden historical sites on the ground in Mecca and Medina.
And remember to always shine your light
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