Hajj is a unique experience. It is a trip unlike any other trip: it is physical and spiritual, horizontal and vertical; Hajj is a journey through different places but it is, first and foremost, a journey in the meandering twists and turns of the spirit.

 

Hajj starts on 8 Dhul Hajja and ends on 12 or 13. All the rituals are performed in Mecca and its neighbouring suburbs which lie within a radius of twenty kilometers or so. In such small space and brief time waves of men and women- around three million pilgrims follow the same route: Mecca, Mina, Arafat, Muzdalifa, Mina again, and back to Mecca again, causing one of the largest concentration of people in the world, if not the largest. This circular back-and-forth trip starting from Mecca and ending in Mecca is comparable to a race where the contestants' objective is not so much to win as to participate.

 

In this overcrowded environment, physical exertion is unavoidable. Whether you are young and sturdy or old and weak you are bound to come out of this experience emptied out and exhausted. Indeed, how can you help it when you have to inhale huge quantity of carbon monoxide discharged plentifully and ceaselessly by thousands and thousands of old buses, lorries and cars caught in interminable traffic jams, when you have to inch your way in the midst of indomitable human waves and walk on piles of litter, when you stumble and lose your balance, when you eddy around the Holy Kaaba like a grain of sand in a whirlwind, when you are squeezed, shoved, elbowed and bruised, when you sleep in the open shoulder to shoulder with a fellow-pilgrim with hardly room enough to lie down.

 

The expected and natural reaction is disappointment, disillusionment and repulsion. What happens is exactly the reverse: Not a single pilgrim- a real one, of course- would endorse such negative feelings. On the contrary, you can see and hear, on the farewell Tawaf, most pilgrims weeping, sobbing like bereaved children and imploring Allah Almighty that they might return to the Holy place.

 

This seemingly reason-baffling reaction is understandable: Along with the physical, horizontal route described earlier, there is a vertical upward spiritual path concomitant with it. The latter path generates such great spirituality that the tiredness, exhaustion, lack of sleep and discomfort suffered on the horizontal route are melted away and erased from the pilgrim's memory!

The spirituality of Hajj arises from the sanctity of the place and the cosmic and spiritual dimensions associated with the Hajj rituals.

 

As for the sanctity of the place, it arises from three facts. Firstly, the Kaaba is the first house of worship ever built on earth as stated in the Noble Qur'an:" The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka: full of blessing and guidance for all kinds of beings." III Ali  Imran 96

Secondly, the Kaaba was rebuilt by Abraham, the father of prophets and his son Ishmael , the grandfather of  Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings upon them all. Thirdly, it is the cradle of Islam and the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him, whose mission was a blessing and mercy unto mankind.

 

As for the cosmic and spiritual dimensions, they are associated with three outstanding facts: the first pertaining to Mecca's lying in the centre of the earth, a theory advanced by Professor Haseen Kamaleddeen according to which, Mecca is the focal point of the lines drawn from the furthermost spots of the continents, and is therefore the epicenter of the earth. This theory was corroborated by satellite pictures. Being the centre of mainland also implies that Mecca is the magnetic centre of the globe where all cosmic radiations meet.

  This fact lends Mecca an unrivalled position amongst places of worship in the world and enhances the pilgrims' belief in the meaningfulness of the rituals being performed, in that the pilgrims feel they are literally in the centre of the world and in direct connection with the cosmos.

 

The second fact is related to the anticlockwise movement of the circumambulation around the Noble Kaaba, fact that is of far-reaching significance: all movement in the universe, from the galaxy to the atom, is anticlockwise. The electron rotates around itself, then around the nucleus of the atom anticlockwise; the ovule journeying through the fallopian tube to find its way to the uterus moves anticlockwise; the earth turns around the sun anticlockwise; the moon turns around the earth anticlockwise; all planets and stars of the solar system rotate round the Milky Way galaxy anticlockwise. Thus, the anticlockwise movement is universal, and circling around the Kaaba is as it were like being caught in this cosmic 'dance' whereby pilgrims achieve perfect osmosis with themselves, the world and the cosmos at large.

 

This cosmic dimension of Tawaf is further highlighted by an authentic hadith of the prophet's which states that there is another Kaaba in heaven just above the actual one and that 70.000 new angels circle around it every day and every minute. With all this, one feels as though one was a note in a majestic symphony being performed not only by human beings and celestial bodies but also by angels in heaven!

 

No wonder that every pilgrim is overwhelmed and spellbound by the black-draped shrine as he/she casts his eyes on it for the first time. Indeed, the fascination is so compelling that some pilgrims shake with awe, while others burst into tears or look dumbstruck.

 

The third fact is the sheer number of pilgrims and the diversity of their colours, races and languages. Indeed, the 3 million pilgrims or so are a delegation representing the entirety of humankind (in total 187 nationalities attended this year). You would see the African pilgrim sitting next to the North American; the Asian next to the Australian; the European next to the South American- all united by the same faith and the same goal, facing the same direction, wearing the same garments, touring the same places, performing the same rites, chanting the same Talbia day and night: "Here we are our Lord. Here we are! No partner do you have. Here we are! Thanks and glory is to you And yours is the dominion of heaven and earth. No partner do you have. Here we are!"

 Very few know the language of their neighbours but, owing to the spiritual energy pouring out, an invisible chain of love binds all pilgrims together and,  even if their hands do not shake, their bloods commingle in a brotherly embrace. I remember seeing an old Arab lady sitting between Sai and the Kaaba, holding a small bag full of dates and ,any time a person sat near her, she would turn to him with a child-like smile and offer him some dates. Her smile and her brotherly gesture were more eloquent and communicative than all the words she would have uttered if she could.

 

The three spirituality-generating facts mentioned above are further consolidated by five rulings directly involved in the actual performance of Hajj:

 

1/ Entering a state of ritual purity – bathing and wearing a white seamless shroud (for men) - before reaching Mecca is a preparation for the spiritual journey at hand. The fact that the pilgrim is not allowed to clip his nails, cut his hair or engage in sexual activity is indicative of the incompatibility of these acts with the sense of immediacy triggered by the spiritual realm one is about to embark into.

 

2/ Not being allowed to hunt, argue, kill an insect or pluck a leaf from a tree- a lesson of respect for fellow human beings, animals, plants and insects!- is in keeping with the universal harmony one experiences while performing Hajj rituals.

 

3/ Drinking from the well of Zamzam quenches one's thirst- physical and spiritual. Indeed, Zamzam came into existence as the granting of the feverish prayers of Abraham's wife Hagar, who was left by him in the then arid, uninhabited valley of Mecca. Seeing, her baby boy, Ishmael, peace and blessing be upon him, writhe with thirst and hunger, she started walking between the two hills of Safa and Marwa in the hope of seeing somebody to help her. As she completed the seventh crossing, an angel struck the ground with his wing and the water of Zamzam gushed forth. The sevenfold crossing back and forth between the Safa and Marwa hills ,called Sai, is one of the pillars of Hajj and Omra. It reenacts the story of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael, immersing the pilgrims in the depth of history and anchoring them in the distant past. In brief, drinking the water of Zamzam is unlike drinking any water on earth: in addition to and along with the oxygen and hydrogen one takes in when drinking, the values of faith, righteousness and steadfastness associated with Hager, Ishmael and Abraham find their way to our hearts!

 

4/ Standing in Arafat on the ninth of Zhul Hajja from noon till sunset is the culmination of Hajj. All pilgrims- about three million of them- gather on that barren, rocky plain, clad (male pilgrims) in the same simple white seamless attire resembling a shroud. Outstretching their arms in prayer, their eyes are all turned heavenward seeking forgiveness from their Lord, forgetting their worries and relinquishing the vanities of the world. Riveted in contemplation, hardly anyone sees the person nearby. It is as though it was the Day of Reckoning and the pilgrims were standing before the Seat of Judgment. Infused with such spirituality, one understands the divine wisdom behind the choice of Mecca, Mina , Muzdalifa and Arafat as the setting for the Hajj rituals. Surrounded by ominous black and grey mountains, those arid, hot spots in the middle of nowhere are perfectly well-attuned to the ultimate goal of Hajj: heightening the pilgrims' awareness as to the reality of life and teaching them the values of forbearance, fortitude and contentment. Had a human chosen the setting for the Hajj rituals, he/she might have chosen a place on a flowing river with green pastures on both banks, but this would have been more in consonance with a pleasure trip, which hajj is not. Hajj, and particularly standing in Arafat, is a preparation to, a simulation and rehearsal of the Day of Reckoning. The ideal climate and landscape for such a glorious spiritual meaning are but those of Mecca and its surroundings.

 

5/ Casting stones at Satan is a symbolic gesture by which the pilgrim pledges to fight and overcome the evil in himself. That pledge is all the more solemn as it is taken before a multitude of people, in a sacred place and at a most honoured time.

 

All these factors combined infuse the pilgrims with an extraordinary spiritual charge and, if we take for granted what energy theorists affirm- there is no reason we shouldn't- namely that the energy emanating from us can be- and is- filmed and comes in the shape of a halo surrounding the body and varying in size and brilliance  according to whether the accompanying feelings are friendly or inimical, positive or negative, then we can say that Mecca, at the time of Hajj, is a huge reservoir of energy- energy for love, peace and amity.  And if we, too, accept one of the basic tenets of the energy theory, particularly that energy permeates the environment and that it is transmitted to the others even if they are at a great distance, then we may assert that the energy emanating from 3 million hearts and minds in a state of utter purity (the figure is not to be taken literally, for there are pilgrims who are nowhere near the state of purity required by the Islamic Sharia. So let's say hundreds of thousands of hearts and minds…)  - a state where one is not allowed to hunt, argue, kill an insect or even pluck a leaf from a tree- is indeed stunning and  immeasurable and that it would -if distributed all over the globe- suffice all living creatures and pervade them with peace and serenity.

 

Hajj is a festival of self-renewal and spiritual growth where dancing is circumambulating the kaaba, drinking, the spiritual ecstasy concomitant with every ritual, eating,  ,zamzam water itself and singing, chanting Talbia.

Hajj firmly anchors the pilgrim in the distant past and projects him into the remote future; it is a simulation of after-death and a consolidation of present life; it is the embodiment of singleness within diversity and diversity within singleness. The whole pointing out that hajj is indeed a unique experience.