The Hajj Today: A Survey of the Contemporary Pilgrimage to Makkah

by David Long

The Qu'ran admonishes Muslims that "the pilgrimage to the temple is an obligation due to God from those who are able to journey there." Today over one and a half million pilgrims annually fulfill this Fifth Pillar of Islam, the Hajj. Saudi Arabia conquered the Hijaz in part to protect Hajjis from abuses in the management of the Hajj. How does that country now administer the religious event that brings so many people, often poor and illiterate, into one small area to perform a variety of complex rituals? How does the government protect its visitors' health and safety, and ensure their proper guidance through the necessary rites? How does it move so many pilgrims in and out of what is essentially an out-of-the-way desert? David Long has set this thoughtful examination of the twentieth-century Hajj within its historical framework. He first provides a clear, concise description of the rituals either necessary or traditional to the proper performance of the Hajj; he then relates how the inhabitants of Mecca used to manage the pilgrimage and finally, relates how the new Saudi rulers gradually brought the Hajj service industry under government regulation. Today there is probably no agency of the Saudi government which is not at least tangentially concerned with the Hajj. Only in the area of health did there exist a history of public management. By the early nineteenth century it had become all too clear that the Hajj served to carry diseases endemic to the Orient to Europe, and by the end of that century health and quarantine procedures were under international control. Today the Saudi government has sole control of these matters. Oil revenue vastly exceeds Hajj revenues--once a major source of Saudi income--but the Hajj continues to play an enormous role in the religious, social, and political life of the country. And even in economics it structures the Saudi businessman's year and provides part- or full-time employment to more Saudi citizens than does the oil industry. This volume contains an extensive bibliography, appendixes containing statistical material on recent Hajjs, maps, and a glossary.

180 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1979

Reviews

[Sylvester Francis Alonz · Rating 5 out of 5]

While written from an outsider perspective, this analysis of the Hajj as an event and the administrative system behind it pays hommage to the efforts of the Saudis tasked with this safeguarding and faciliating this Fifth Pillar of Islam.

There is a unique observation of the blurred lines of religion and politics when it comes to Zionism and Communism as well as Arab Nationalism, but otherwise, rhetoric differs from action as non-Saudi Hajjis from all over the world and background continue to make this journey in the Prophet's footsteps (PBH). I would recommend this book for understanding the administration of the Hajj, the challenges, and evolutions of the system behind the facilitation of one of the largest pilgrimages in the world.

Sometimes, an outside perspective helps to make sense of pilgrimages, something every Hajji appreciates but few people get to digest, especially in reading.