In-Class (video) 5/14

Notes from the Video (National Geographic: Inside Mecca)

- there are five pillars of Islam; one of them is the Hajj, which you must go if you are physically and financially capable
- at mecca, muslims circle the book and such
- the one god is worshipped, the god of abraham
- there is a particular season for the hajj
- the ka'aba is not worshipped, but what it represents is worshipped. it may have been built first by adam and later rebuilt by abraham after the flood
- the black stone may have fallen from heaven and been used by abraham
- Hajj rituals are very complex
- you must make Hajj in a group
- we're starting to get into stuff that Muslims say here
- Abraham instituted the pilgrimage and his story lies at the core
- for a while it became an idol worship place and people went to mecca for trade and then went to go look at the idols, but then a descendant of Abraham who lived in mecca threw out the idols: Muhammed, who saw himself as the restorer of Abraham's time
- new cover for the ka'aba was hand-sewn
- Hajj is a series of rituals performed at the end of the month
- pilgrims rest at a tent city
- pilgrims travel to the plains
- pilgrims take three days for a ritual stoning
- then they circle the ka-aba, which is the top priority
- the time for the hajj differs every year
- most pilgrims think it's essential to visit Medina, where Muhammed is buried
- men must wear two pieces of cloth similar to a funeral shroud
- circle the ka'aba seven times counterclockwise
- then Muslims speed-walk between two hilltops seven times, following the heroic desperation of Hagar, searching for water for her and her son Ishmael
- in the past, people came to mecca carrying goods to sell
- about 80% of Muslims today are non-Arabs
- once you're in a state of iram (something like that) you can't groom yourself and you can't argue
- then you go to the desert. woot?
- five miles east is the tent-city
- then you go to the plain of arafat
- arafat is where adam and eve met up again after being banished from the garden of eden, and the journey is a rehearsal for the day of judgement
- the mount of mercy is where Muhammed gave his last speech
- then you return to the tents and have a symbolic fight with the devil