The Hajj: the Pilgrimage—from the FFHS Islam Rising Series— is organized to allow the viewer, to the extent possible, to "experience" the great Pilgrimage by watching scenes of those who are there as they participate in the various actions that hajj entails. The video thus follows a time line that begins with arrivals (pilgrims from Africa, by boat in the Jidda port, and voyagers from elsewhere, by car or bus in Mecca) and ends with the ritual feast commemorating Abraham’s sacrifice that officially closes the pilgrim’s visit in Islam’s holiest city.
As the film wends its way from the Great Mosque to the plain of Arafat to the pillars at Mina, to "stone the devil," number of interviews take place with those who have come to participate. Visitors are shown purchasing the white garb (ihram clothing) that so effectively effaces economic and social distinctions, shopping in Medina (yes, even a little commerce is permitted), fixing meals in the huge "tent city" the Saudi government arranges, and—especially—walking from here to there.
Interspersed, also, is some background information. We learn, for example, that the Plain of Arafat, where Muhammad gave his "farewell sermon," is believed to be where Adam and Eve were reunited after their banishment from Eden, and we are shown the new kiswah, the black cloth that covers the Ka’ba, as it is being made. The film also touches on the spring of Zamzam: its origin, its significance, and its waters that pilgrims take home as a souvenir of the trip.
Some may be distracted by the occasional pilgrim that looks at the camera as he (or she) is walking by on this spiritual journey; I felt like this added a human dimension to the film, which necessarily had to be shot under "real life" conditions. What is missing for me is a sense of the spiritual. The film covers all the essential aspects of the most visible of Islam’s "pillars," as well as a number of tangential details and activities. The views of families in the tent cities, for example—clothes hanging on makeshift lines, cooking beside a van—add a nice human dimension to the event. but the deep spiritual core of the experience does not get transmitted effectively. Despite this, The Hajj: the Pilgrimage, does give the student a sense of the chronology and activities of the official visit to the city of Muhammad’s birth, and it makes a nice addition to a classroom unit on the pillars of Islam.
review ©2003 by David Streight and RSiSS
