For Zainab Jamal, performing Hajj as a young teen not only
increased her connection with God, it exposed her to different
cultures of the world.
While fasting and praying during the month of Ramadan, which
began last week, several Muslims recall performing the sacred
ritual of Hajj, which occurred in January this year.
The Hajj, a series of religious rituals which take place over
the span of five days, attracts millions of Muslims from all over
the world to the holy city of Mecca. As one of the five pillars of
Islam, the Hajj is required of Muslims with the financial and
health capabilities to perform the pilgrimage.
As a duty which only has to be fulfilled once, many Muslims
choose to perform Hajj at an older age when they are in better
financial situation with enough money saved for the journey. But
some Muslims ““ such as fourth-year doctoral student Jamal
““ perform Hajj at young ages with their families.
Almoualem Murad, director of the Islamic Center of Los Angeles,
said as one of the five pillars of Islam, the Hajj is one of the
most important experiences in a Muslim’s life.
“Muslims can purify themselves from sins and a show piety
in the House of Allah during Hajj,” Murad said.
“The experience was amazing and the most striking thing
was the number of people that were there,” Jamal said.
“There were African Muslims, Pakistani Muslims and Chinese
Muslims. It was like a sea of humanity in some sense.”
Jamal who had previously only been exposed to Muslims in her
native country of India, was able to perform Hajj four times in the
’80s as a teen because her father worked for India’s
diplomatic service.
Jamal said though the experience was hard at times, as
temperatures rose to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during her Hajj
pilgrimages, the experience of “coming in touch with so many
people and trying to interact spiritually with God was
amazing.”
Though most young Muslims go on Hajj with their family, some
students, like second-year graduate student Habib Hamidi, take the
pilgrimage to Mecca by themselves out of a sense of urgency to
fulfill their duties.
“I felt like I would be incomplete until I did it,”
Hamidi said. “I wanted to make sure I did it before I
died.”
Hamidi said the experience which affected him most during Hajj
was the sacrifice of a goat at the end of the rituals.
After the completion of Hajj, an animal is sacrificed to
symbolize Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son at
God’s command. Many families will pay for an agency to
sacrifice the goat and the meat would be shipped to poor families,
but Hamidi chose to do this himself.
Hamidi had never killed an animal before. He said he was
surprised at how calm the goat was as a shepherd held the
goat’s neck out for him.
“It was really significant because the blood goes on your
hands and at that moment you realize that we actually kill these
animals. I forgot the details of a lot of other things, but this I
remember,” Hamidi said.
Hamidi said ever since then, he has been careful to never waste
meat and has been adamantly against war and violence.
Like Jamal, Hamidi was struck by the diversity of the pilgrims
during Hajj. Hamidi said he met pilgrims from all over the world
during Hajj and realized there was a sense of brotherhood and
tolerance among the pilgrims.
“I had never seen people from Iraq before. This was right
after the Gulf War, I thought people in Iraq were all crazy, but
you run into them and you realize they’re not. They’re
normal people. They have the same aspirations,” Hamidi
said.
Since all pilgrims are dressed similarly in two pieces of unsown
white cloth during Hajj, Hamidi said the pilgrim’s economic
and social status as well as their country of origin were less
apparent and also mattered much less.
“You would run into Africans that look 7-feet tall and you
realize this guy’s skin is really dark, he speaks another
language, but he offered you food. He’s wearing the same
clothes you are,” Hamidi said.
“We have diversity, but at the same time there is common
ground. The common humanity of wanting to help people out,”
Hamidi added.
During the trip, Hamidi said he became very sick and a family
helped him and gave him food.
“A complete stranger who has never seen me gave me food.
The family had two daughters. I was a young man and probably looked
intimidating, but they gave me help. That was the whole spirit of
Hajj. Everyone was helping each other out,” Hamidi said.
Despite the sense of brotherhood, Hamidi said there were many
difficulties he had to overcome during Hajj.
During times when Hamidi felt most sick, he said his
“trust was in God.”
“I crossed that point in which you put your total trust in
God. I got really sick, but luckily I made it through,”
Hamidi said.
“Sometimes you want to yell, but you can’t, you have
to control your temper. Hajj has its struggles. That’s why
it’s such a spiritual experience,” Hamidi said.