The Hajj, Now and Then: Hajj 2022
This article is part of a series entitled “The Hajj, now and then”, started last year and presented by Samaa Elibyari. In what follows, Samaa reflects on the rigours of the journey to reach the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
“Announce to the people the pilgrimage. They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every deep and distant highway that they may witness the benefits for them and celebrate (praise) the name of Allah (God) in the well-known days over the sacrificial animals He has provided for them. Eat thereof and feed the poor in want. Then let them complete their rituals and perform their vows and circumbulate the Ancient House”. Quran, Surat 22:Ayat 27-29
Such was the injunction to Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) to call for the Hajj. And every year Muslims, men and women, from all over the world respond by undertaking the journey to Mecca and Medina (Saudi Arabia) although by aeroplanes not going on foot or camelback in modern times. If this year, air travel has been fraught with long delays, missed connections, and lost luggage, we just have to recall what this endeavour entailed at one time
Some pilgrims were literary travellers and recounted their journeys into books, among the most widely known, are Ibn Jubayr (Hajj of 1184) and Ibn Battuta (Hajj of 1326). All of these authors were obviously interested in the Holy Cities, Mecca and Medina and other big cities of the Muslim World and gave us an estimate of the distances between them.
For instance, we find that “From Kufa (in Iraq) to Medina is about twenty stages”, the same distance as from Damascus. A stage is presumably, the distance covered by a caravan in one day. In terms of time, it is estimated that considering the pace of a Hijazi camel, laden and walking in caravan line, under ordinary circumstances, the traveler was in the saddle – or litter- for twelve hours out of every twenty-four.
At this pace the nine-hundred mile trek from Kufa to the Holy cities of Arabia would take about 40 days. A Google search returns the air travel time between Toronto and Saudi Arabia under 14 hours at the average cruising speed.
Both Ibn Jubayr and Ibn Battuta left panoramic views of Iraqi caravans after their departure from Mecca for Medina. Here is Ibn Jubayr’s description:
“This assemblage of people of Iraq, Khurasan and Mossul, as well as those of other countries who have joined them to accompany the Amir of the Hajj, made up a crowd whose number is known to Allah alone. The vast plain (at Khulays) was filled with them, and the flat immensity of the desert was too narrow to encompass them. You could imagine the earth attempting to maintain its balance under the crowd’s heaving and waves streaming from the force of its currents; you could picture in this crowd a sea swollen with waves, whose waters were the mirages and whose ships were the camels, their sails the lofty litters and round tents. They all went forward gliding in and out of a great rising of clouds of dust, their sides colliding as they passed.
Who has not seen with his own eyes this Iraqi caravan has not experienced one of the genuine marvels of the world.
This caravan travels at night to the light of torches, which people on foot carry in their hands, and you will not see one litter which is not preceded by a torch. Thus, people travel as it were among wandering stars which illuminate the depth of the darkness and which enable the earth to compete in brightness with the stars of heaven”.
From the statistics provided by the government of Saudi Arabia, over the period from 2009 to 2018, the largest number of pilgrims was 3,161,573 in 2012 and the least was 1,862,909 in 2016. Can we imagine how Jeddah, the main port of entry for the holy cities can cope with the surge of pilgrims, as about 95% of them arrive by plane in a span of a few days?
As to the daily routine during the trek, Ibn Battuta gives the following details of the Iraqi caravan he joined getting out of Mecca: “Included in this caravan were many water-carrying camels for the poorer pilgrims, who could obtain drinking water from them, and other camels to carry provisions (for distribution) as alms and to carry medicines, potions and sugar for those who should be attacked by illness. Whenever the caravan halted, food was cooked in great brass cauldrons, called dasts, and supplied from them to the poorer pilgrims and those who had no provisions.
This caravan contained also animated bazaars and great supplies of luxuries and all kinds of food and fruit”.
With such huge numbers, tight planning is crucial as it was now and then. Services offered by Saudi authorities to 2,371,675 pilgrims in 2018 (1439 hijri), were reported as follows:
Health: 32,579
Supervision and follow-up services 7,310
Public services: 192,254 (includes security services at and around Holy sites)
Transportation: 47,765
Communication: 7,411
The total amounts to 274,704 men and 12,615 women
As we know it, the word “Hajj” still conjures huge numbers, congestion and delays at every stage. Performing the Hajj requires patience, forbearing and physical fitness. It would be wise to head the call of Prophet Ibrahim’s (Peace be upon him) sooner rather than later in life. For this year, the number of foreign pilgrims (i.e. those arriving from outside the country) has been restricted to one million.
Insha Allah, the rewards will be plentiful in this life and thereafter. Ameen.
Wishing you a Eid Mubarak, with family, friends and loved ones.
Your sister in Islam,
Samaa
References:
Saudi Arabia official websites
The Hajj, by F.E. Peters