Hajj proves religion can inspire peace | Religion

Pilgrimage – the devotional practice of traveling to a site considered sacred and collectively engaging in acts of worship and faith – has been a fundamental part of the human experience since time immemorial. It is a widespread and important practice in many religions. Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews, Christians and Muslims all make a pilgrimage as part of their religious worship. The right and necessity to come together for common goals are indeed innate and intrinsically human. Even the US Constitution considers the right to assemble as a necessary legal and fundamental right in its First Amendment.

Pilgrimages, which bring together thousands – and sometimes millions – of human beings to the same site, are generally completely peaceful. Unlike participants in similarly large secular gatherings, such as sporting events and music festivals, devoted pilgrims rarely resort to violence or harm their surroundings. There are undoubtedly fanatics who round up people for supposedly religious purposes and incite them into violent campaigns, but their actions are not representative of pilgrimages or the core values ​​of a religion.

Our world today is plagued by war, violence, murder, rape, burglary, racism, domestic violence, child abuse, drug addiction, sex trafficking, hunger, homelessness, fraud across all sectors, institutional and government corruption, mental health crises and a growing climate emergency. The value of human life and work is forgotten as most services and industries have turned to automation and ended up being dominated by machines in Brave New World fashion. Meanwhile, most secular forms of gathering and organizing have proven to be recipes not for unity and peace, but for hatred, evil and chaos.

In this context, perhaps we should look to religious pilgrimages for a way to revive peaceful human interactions and open a new peaceful path for humanity.

As Patrick Deneen noted in his 2018 book, Why Liberalism Failed, the mission of modernity and liberal society to create a peaceful world based on individual liberation and freedom has proven to be a failure massive.

As such, a fresh look at conventions as old as Adam might just save the day. Perhaps modernity could and should be replaced by, literally, antiquity!

The right of human beings to assemble for worship and the right to protect places of worship are emphatically stated in the Quran:

“If Allah had not repelled (the aggression of) some people through others, destruction would have visited the monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques in which the name of Allah is often mentioned. Allah will certainly help those who help Him. Allah is truly Almighty and Almighty. (Surah al-Hajj (22): 40)

For Muslims, it is the month of Hajj, the universal pilgrimage. Hajj – which means expressing a firm intention – is the pilgrimage to the House of Allah in Mecca. This house called the Ka’ba was rebuilt by Abraham, who is considered the founding father of three important religions: namely Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Followers of these three religions all claim that they are representatives of the Abrahamic faith. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in uniting members of the Abrahamic faith. This seems like a noble initiative and it is indeed an initiative that the Quran calls for:

Say: (O Prophet,) “O People of the Book! Jews and Christians. Let us come to the saying which is common among us: that we will only worship Allah, that we will not associate anyone with Him and that we will not take one another as lords in the place of Allah…” (Surah Ali Imran (3:64)

Abraham was also the prophet who laid the foundations of the Hajj rituals known as “Manasik”. Abraham’s descendants long observed Manasik correctly, but eventually began to corrupt the rules and change many rituals. By the time of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the Hajj had lost its original beauty of worship and was barely recognizable. The Prophet Muhammad restored the Manasik to their original Abrahamic convention when he performed his Hajj – which is the Hajj that all Muslims perform today.

Uniting people of Abrahamic faith would require the faithful to adhere to the civilizational values ​​(known as Millah) promoted and practiced by Abraham. Most of the values ​​of the Millah are represented in the Muslim Hajj. Even though Muslims don their hajj attire, they are not allowed to argue, bicker or fight. In this state, they are not allowed to swat a fly, swat a mosquito, scratch so as to draw blood, or chase animals. They are not allowed to harm themselves or others; otherwise, they will have to pay a heavy penalty.

The Quran states that the area around the Kaaba – known as the Haram – is a sanctuary and a place of safety and security. Harm cannot exist there. More than two million Muslims respect this code each year. There are exceptionally few fights, thefts, or cases of abuse or harassment during the Hajj. There is an air of unity unequaled in any human assembly.

Recall what Malcolm X wrote in his Letter from Mecca in 1964:

“I have never witnessed such sincere hospitality and such an overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as that practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, of Muhammad and all the other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been completely speechless and fascinated by the kindness I see shown all around me by people of all colors.

There were tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to dark-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, demonstrating a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe could never exist between whites and non-whites.

Over the past eleven days, here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug – all while praying to the same God – with other Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blues. , whose hair was the blondest of blonds and whose skin was the whitest of whites. And in the words and deeds of white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity as among black African Muslims in Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.

Unity through worship of One God, unity of all people at all times, and freedom from prejudice are the essence of Muslim assembly during Hajj. It is the code of the Abrahamic faith that is embodied in the message of the Prophet Mohammad. Those who disapprove of religion and Islam may want to take a second look at this universal providence! Global influencers who wish to rid the world of its man-made ills and problems would do well to follow a code imbued with formulas revealed by the Divine who is most merciful and compassionate.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.