Hajj Journey Through The Ages

Hajj Journey Through the Ages

The exhibit is on display at the Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 13 Dec 2019 through 13 Mar 2020. It presents a series of paintings by Reem Nazir based on archive photographs and first-hand accounts of the Hajj experience both ancient and modern. The work of Reem Nazir, a Saudi artist, by exhibition and publication, highlights the voyage to the Hajj through forty-four large oil paintings along side historical photographs that recall the important stops and sites along the routes to performing the Hajj. I have provided for your viewing two of several photos I took during my visit to the museum on 9 Feb 2020.

Hajj Routes, 1883 A.D. (1300 A.H.)

The pilgrims traveled to Makkah from all corners of the Islamic world transported by land and sea. Those traveling overland were by caravans, the main routes being via Damascus, Jabal Shammar, Najd, Jeddah, and Cario. The first and fifth of these routes are the most important.

The first caravan via Damascus has been the official Turkish route since the 16th century.
The second caravans via Jabal Shammar and Najd are mainly composed of Persians, and normally meets up with the great Syrian caravan at Al Sufayna and Al Kaar.
The third caravan through Najd also leaves from Mashad Ali or from the port of Bushire, and is the quasi-official one for the Persians. The distance covered is less than that of the Jabal Shammar route lasting from twenty-nine to thirty-five days.
The fourth caravan is that called Hajj Al Qasbi that starts at Sanaa where previously pilgrims of Yeman and Asia were also joined by those of Oman and Hadhramaut, Africans from the Red Sea Coast and interior. Final assembly is at Saada, from where it travels by way of Taif for a forty-three day journey to Makkah.
The fifth route, via Jeddah, is more frequented because it is shorter, being only eighteen hours. Its here that pilgrims arrive from the eastern coast of Arabia, Musqat and other points along the Arabian Gulf, Bombay, other ports of India, Afghanistan, Into-China, and Malaya. The interior and west coast of Africa provided a contingent sailing from Zanzibar, Zailah, Massawa, and Suakin. But it is from Suez that the greatest number arrive, this port being the gathering point for all those from Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli, and Fezzan. The pilgrims coming from these regions are called Maghrebins, and sometimes undertake the pilgrimage by land.
Those taking the above route are now few in number and gather in Cairo to join the Egyptian caravan. This caravan, the sixth route, being the official one of the Khedive, was once very important with its starting point along the banks of the Lake of Birkat. This journey last thirty-seven days.

Bab Assalam, Gate of Peace

Located in El Medina, this structure forms the main gate of the Mosque. Those Muslims entering for the first time will invariably enter at this gate. To read more click here: BAB ASSALAM.

The Seven Mosques

Al Fath Mosque, and all other mosques around it and facing its Qiblah (direction of Makkah in Prayer) are all known today as Al Fath Mosques. The first stands high on Jabal Sela. To the west of it is Wadi Bathan, which is also named: Al Ahzab Mosque and the Higher Mosque. To read more click here: THE SEVEN MOSQUES.

The Hajj, Pilgrimage to Makkah

Below, I have provided more information in an attempt to convey to the reader the extent of effort as well as the spiritual significant for those of the Islamic faith to undertake the Hajj journey to Mecca.

From West Africa to Mecca and Jerusalem: The Tijāniyya on the Hajj Routes.
Author: Irit Back. Published online: 08 May 2015 | Pages 1-15.
Abstract
Pilgrimage routes from West Africa provided channels for cultural and spiritual exchange between West African and Middle Eastern Muslims, and facilitated religious exchanges. Some of these exchanges were orthodox in nature; others, such as Sufi beliefs and practices, were more popular in their appeal. This article examines the ways that Tijāniyya tāriqa leaders and disciples spread their beliefs and practices along the hajj routes during the colonial period. Since this period saw the transformation of boundaries and borders, the hajj could be perceived more as a “state affair,” as its routes moved within the boundaries of the new empires or fluctuated between the new colonial empires. The article focuses on the Tijāniyya tāriqa, mainly because this tāriqa was relatively new (established around the beginning of the nineteenth century) and as such serves as a good case study for the spread of tāriqa affiliations through the hajj routes from West Africa during the colonial period. This article also examines the role of the hajj for Tijāni West African Muslims who settled in Jerusalem in the same period.
Read More: The Tijāniyya on the Hajj Routes.

The Hajj From West Africa From a Global Historical Perspective (19th and 20th Centuries).
Author: Baz Lecocq. Published Online: 01 Jan 2012. Vol. 5: Issue 2. Article Type: Research Article.
Abstract
Over the last years, in average, 2,1 million people per year performed the hajj. These millions stand in contrast to the numbers visiting Mecca half a century ago. On average, until 1946 a rough 60,000 pilgrims visited Mecca annually, with at least half of these coming from the Arabian Peninsula. Today Saudi nationals make up about a quarter of all pilgrims. The explanations for the staggering thirtyfold increase in total pilgrims, and the even more spectacular growth of the number of foreign pilgrims in slightly more than half a century are quite simple. First of all, the increasing world population in general led to larger numbers of pilgrims. Second, the journey became safer and better organised during the 20th century. In those parts of the Muslim world where it was not already (the Ottoman Empire), the organisation of the hajj became a state affair, organised first by the colonial authorities, and by the postcolonial states afterwards. Third, despite growing disparities in the distribution of global economic wealth an increasing number of Muslims could afford to pay for the journey. And finally the availability of cheap mechanical mass transport increased over this time period. This paper will look at these interconnected reasons for the spectacular growth of the hajj in the past half century from a world historical perspective, focussing on the West African Sahel in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this paper I hope to sketch how state rule, changing economies, motorised mass transport, and religion are interconnected phenomena, which are all shaped by and giving shape to world historical events in the Muslim world. The focus will be largely on the changing demography and social geography of the pilgrimage journey to Mecca as performed by pilgrims from the Sahel, and the changing significance of this journey in their lives.
Read More, PDF File: The Hajj From West Africa From a Global Historical Perspective (19th and 20th Centuries).

Of particular interest is the pilgrimage of Musa I (c. 1280 – c. 1337). Mansa Musa was the tenth Mansa, which translates to “sultan”, “conqueror” or “emperor”, of the wealthy West African Islamic Mali Empire. Musa I, a devout Muslim, made his pilgrimage to Mecca between 1324 and 1325.
Read More: Mansa Musa: Pilgrimage to Mecca.

Mansa Mūsā left a realm notable for its extent and riches—he built the Great Mosque at Timbuktu—but he is best remembered in the Middle East and Europe for the splendour of his pilgrimage to Mecca (1324).
Read More: Mūsā I of Mali: Emperor of Mali.

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