The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places, by F. E. Peters (HC, 1994, $4)
I thought I knew a fair amount about the Hajj, but there is always more to learn. At the beginning, commerce and pilgrimage were not combined. When you went to Mecca, there was nothing to do except pray and worship. But what to do about feeding and sheltering the pilgrims, and how to provide enough animals for sacrifice, and how to keep pilgrims safely on their way to and from Mecca... The Hajj soon became big business.
Technical progress brought change. The Suez Canal, ships with steam engines, and eventually the airplane, all speeded the trip and made it cheaper and easier. Protecting the pilgrims remained an issue, while keeping the the world safe from epidemics spread during the Hajj became one. Whoever controlled Mecca was concerned with the numbers of pilgrims dying in Mecca, as well as the issue of national sovereignty. The West was only concerned, so they said, with human rights and sanitation. They had a point. Who ever controlled Mecca had to deal with massive numbers of sacrificed animals. That meant a lot of trenches to dig, and a lot of lime to pour. Even so, many pilgrims would take the meat with them to eat later. Not such a good idea, but many thought God would keep the meat safe to eat.
The Hajj of 1925 was the first under the control of Ibn Sa'ud. The former ruler had abdicated, and change came faster and faster. "Under the Saudis, the Hajj was a safer and more secure enterprise; extortionate practices disappeared, and even the powerful guild of guides was curbed. But if the Saudis brought order, they also brought a new religious sensibility, that of Abd al-Wahhab and his creed of strict, almost puritanical Islam. From the beginning of the Saudi tenancy of Mecca, the pious accretions of shrine and rites that had grown up around the Hajj over many centuries were stripped away. What was thought to be the pristine ritual was restored." After WWII, oil money paid for improvements of the sacred area, and for facilities for the pilgrims. Peters reflects that the modern Hajj is so vastly changed that even pilgrims from the early 20th Century would not recognize it.
Peters uses copious quotes from both the Quran and pilgrim's observations. At times it felt like I was there, but at others I just felt bored. Still, I am very glad to have read this book. I was left with much to ponder. Look for this book on the new non-fiction table. (L-rel)
