PILGRIMS TO MECCA

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 26, 26 October 1926, Page 9

PILGRIMS TO MECCA

WHAT THEY SUFFER BAREHEADED UNDER PITILESS SUN One-seventh of the human race arc Moslems, and every one of them should make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once. ■ '■ ■■ As I stood looking through the porthole of my cabin of a pilgrim boat in Bombay, I could sec a shed packed full of devotees, of all ages, ranks, and nationalities (says Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah in the “Daily Mail”). The medical examination was not free from certain humours. Close by the shed where the pilgrims were being vaccinated was a water-tap; and as soon as the average pilgrim was granted his vaccination certificate it was a curious sight to see him rush to the water-tap, wash his vaccinated arm to rid himself of the serum, suck the wound, and spit out the blood. One of them washed his arm in filthy water and caused painful poisoning. “This is what comes of vaccination,” he lamented. Once small-pox and cholera killed so many pilgrims that half never returned to their homes, their relatives deriving some consolation from the fact that to die on the pilgrimage is a passport direct to Paradise. Now conditions are much better. The medical examination over, there was a ruslr to the gangway, and, amid cries of “Allaho-Akbar” ’(“God is Great”), the pilgrim boat moved away. Some of the pilgrims took very badly to the sea. Specially do 1 remember one from Persia, who, when in the grips of sea-sickness, rolled ’on the deck calling the Twelve Disciples .. to his aid. ’He thought an evil genius possessed the waves! The best that can be said of the’pilgrim’s life afloat is that one manages to live, not by virtue of the comfort provided on the boat—for there is no such thing on a Haji (or pilgrith) steamer—but by. sheer spiritual . longing to get to Mecca and not die on the way.

Fourteen days after leaving Bombay I landed at Djeddah wearing my pilgrim costume. It consists of two white sheets—one to be wrapped round the upper part of the body and the other for the lower. My head was shaved—for despite the pitiless sun one must go bareheaded to Mecca—and I was wearing sandals. As we left Djeddah for Mecca, the heat of the desert rose until the temperature was about 133 degrees in the shade; and when the tar got stuck in the soft sands in the middle of the desert our agony was indescribable. But at last, surrounded by hills of sun-baked rocks Mecca suddenly came in view. With a great wonder in my heart I reached the Grand Mosque —the Haram—standing in the centre of the city and with prayer on my lips I entered the Shrine towards which I had turned my face in prayer all mv life five time's a day.

Deep-arched colonnades surround this quadrangle of 257 paces by 210 paces and in the centre cf it is the Kaaba the Holy of Holies—a stone erection entirely draped in a khaki coloured tapestry. This is the House of God, which Mahommedans believe was first built bv Adam and rebuilt by. Abraham.'

1 encircled it seven times, according to custom, and drank the water cf Zam Zam sanctified by the association of Hagar. I offered my prayer and sat watching a spectacle which I shall never forget. The heat of the day being at its greatest, I could see pilgrims in the deep arches in various postures of prayer—standing, kneeling, and finally touching the ground with the forehead. Many swayed to and fro intoniilgthe Koran, others listened to the religious discourse of a doctor of theology

With the steady increase of the heat the crowds began to thin cut, the hum of life dies away. . Hear and there a devotee reclines against a pillar in deep slumber, his mouth wide open; others, overcome by fatigue and heat, have fallen asleep oh the ground. For half an. hqur or so the'scene in the deep colonnades remains unchanged ; then the “callers of the prayer” appear with small canes in their hands and strike the ground near the sleeping pilgrim. Gently, ever so gently, they say: “Rise, my brother, rise; prayer is better than sleep.” Through the whole corridor they go in this fashion ; till the call of “AllahoAkbar, Allaho-Akbar” strikes upon the ears, and we range ourselves in rows after rows and are are once again at praver facing the Holy of Holies. The heat was unbearable, the marble path around the Sacred Kaaba was burning- hot. yet the faithful continued to encircle it seven times or more. Arabs. Persians, Chinese, Indians, and Afghans give a kaleidoscopic effect to the whole scene.

Like others, I had no occupation in Mecca save prayer, but at times T launched forth into the bazaars of the. city, not for amusement—for there is no’hotel, cinema; or other place of entertainment—but , to purchase some necessaries of life. The streets arc very clean and wide for. an Oriental town, almost pleasant in the evening, and large houses of six or seven sfories rise on both sides. ' , ;

Life in the bazaar is at its best during the evenings, when people drink the bitter coffee ,of the desert in the cafes, of which there are hundreds. There conies the constant’jingle of a moneychanger’s .silver coins—he can exchange anything up to a thousand pounds on the . spot, One carinqt' Jpfssthe rosary shop without purchasing a string to count one’s prayers upon, and the soupseller- is always hanging round you offering a good drink for a penny It is lemon coloured but lias no acid to its taste. Camels and donkeys share the road with pedestrians. During the time of the pilgrimage as many as a hundred thousand new-com-ers enter the citv. and it has'been the rule that nracticallv every one falls ill This is still true, but excellent inedjcqV arrangements are being made by the present ruler, the Sultan Ibn Saud. But perhaps the greatest achievement of the present Wahabi Government of Mecca is a complete suppression of bri"andage. During the 'reign of Kino Hussein poor pilgrims were freely looted and killed if they put up any defence.