Brazilians Join 3 Million Pilgrims Reenacting Abraham's Journey to Mecca

The tradesman Nagib Smaidi and his wife Soraia, from the city of Taubaté, in the interior of the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo, traveled to Saudi Arabia just before Christmas.

In the suitcase Nagib took large and light colored towels and Soraia the long dresses worn by Muslim women. As is the asked by the Islamic religion, Nagib is going to wrap himself in the towels and Soraia will cover her whole body, except for the face and hands, to visit the holy places in Saudi Arabia where the prophet Abraham went in the past.

The couple is part of the group of Brazilian Muslims who are going to make, at the beginning of next year, the pilgrimage to Mecca, holy city in Islam.

Every year between two and three million people from the whole world travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. The next Hajj will be on the 7th of January, followed by a four-day holiday. On these days the Muslims repeat the rituals made by Abraham about two thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Brazilian Muslims normally travel in groups. The sheikhs Mohamad Amame and Yasser Hussein, from São Paulo, for example, organized a group of about 40 people. The majority of the members of the group are travelling to Mecca for the first time and are about 50 years old or more. This is the first time the sheiks organize the trip.

The pilgrimage is a re-enactment of the journey made by Abraham after building, where Mecca is located today, the Kaaba. According to the Muslim religion, the Kaaba was erected by the prophet by divine order to become a place of adoration.

It is still in the original place, but was rebuilt many times throughout the years. The peregrines, as well as praying before the Kaaba, go to other holy places such as Mount Arafat, visited by Abraham in his time for being the place where, according to Islam, Adam and Eve met.

"The peregrination is a form of coming closer to God, to turn yourself to God," said sheikh Jihad Hassan Hammadeh, vice-president at the World Assembly of Muslim Youth.

This, according to the sheikh, is the second holiday in the year for the Muslims. The other is at the end of Ramadan, period in which the followers of the Islamic religious fast from sunrise to sunset.



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Mohammed Ali on Islam and his pilgrimage

"I have had nice moments in my life. But the feeling I had while standing on Mount ‘Arafaat on the day of 'Hajj' (pilgrimage), was the most unique. I felt exalted by the indescribable spiritual atmosphere there, as over a million and a half pilgrims invoked God to forgive them of their sins and bestow on them His choicest blessings. It was an exhilarating experience to see people belonging to different colors, races and nationalities, kings, heads of states and ordinary men from very poor countries all clad in two simple white sheets praying to God without any sense of either pride or inferiority. It was a practical manifestation of the concept of equality in Islam." Cassius Clay (Mohammad Ali).

Muslim pilgrims retrace prophet's path as haj starts

By Nael al-Shyoukhi

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Muslims began the haj pilgrimage on Saturday, heading to a tent camp outside the holy city of Mecca to follow a route Prophet Muhammad took 14 centuries ago.

Muslim Pilgrims circle the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca December 5, 2008. (REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah)

Over two million Muslim pilgrims arrived this week in Mecca, where authorities have mounted a vast security operation to avert any militant attacks, deadly stampedes or political activities that could embarrass Saudi Arabia.

"It's a beautiful feeling, very beautiful, especially when you see the Kaaba," said a Moroccan woman called Sanna after visiting the ancient cubic shrine at the centre of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. "I hope I can return again, with God's help."

Some pilgrims walked, carrying their bags, while others took buses moving slowly through the crowds to the Mina area east of Mecca. Men were dressed in simple white robes, marking a state of ihram, or ritual purity.

The pilgrims will all have arrived by Sunday morning at Mount Arafat, about 15 km (10 miles) east of Mecca. The Eid al-Adha, or feast of the sacrifice, begins on Monday, when pilgrims begin three days of casting stones at walls in a symbolic renunciation of the devil.

Authorities have made renovations over the past year to ease the flow of pilgrims inside the Grand Mosque and the disaster-prone Jamarat Bridge. In January 2006, 362 people were crushed to death there, the worst haj tragedy since 1990.

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