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Columns by AutumnSky, by newest first

  • An American’s Journey to the Heart of Islamic Spirituality (Part 1) by AutumnSky
    For two weeks in June – July 2007, I traveled with an American Muslim tour group to perform the ‘Umrah, or the Visitation (lesser pilgrimage) to the holy city of Makkah (Mecca, Saudi Arabia). As is traditionally done, we also visited the city of Madinah, the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I am an American Muslim, and it occurred to me that my experiences might be of interest to some of you. I also thank Pari Ali for putting that seed in my head. Feel free to comment or ask questions. However, if you simply want to bash me for my choice of religion, or my faith directly, don’t bother. It’s regrettable if that comes across as nasty, but there are lots of nasty people out there, as I’ve learned.

    Our tour group, of about 40 people, was an interesting mix of men, women and children. Most of the adults were working professionals, including several of the women, myself included. Several of the ladies were traveling without their husbands. The group included people of African-American, and Latino-American backgrounds. We also had American Muslims of immigrant backgrounds, some born in the U.S., some not - Egyptian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Palestinian, Afghani, Eritrean, Somali and South African. Most tour groups visiting Makkah and Medinah were comprised of people of one nationality or ethnicity, ie, groups from Turkey, groups from Malaysia, etc. They dressed in uniformity. Our American group didn’t necessarily dress alike. We were this unique rainbow collection. Our common language was English. Other people could never quite figure out our origin. It was a sort of uniqueness we all got used to.

    Here is some basic information you may or may not know.

    The journey to perform the rites of pilgrimage to Makkah, known as the Hajj, is incumbent on every adult Muslim who is physically and financially able. The Hajj has an appointed date when it is to be performed in the Islamic calendar, which is lunar-based. The date for Hajj occurs annually in the month known as Dhul Hijjah. The lunar calendar has 12 months, each of which has 29 or 30 days. Because of this, the lunar calendar is about 10-14 days shorter than our Western solar calendar. Thus, the Islamic months eventually change times of year, ie, they come “earlier” every year by about two weeks.

    When a Muslim visits Makkah anytime not during the time of the Hajj (ie, outside that week of Dhul Hijjah), he or she performs what is called the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage). The rites of the Umrah are much fewer, and a brief version of the actual Hajj. So, what our group performed was the Umrah, not the Hajj. The Umrah itself takes less than a day to perform. The actual Hajj takes about 5 days, and includes rites that must be performed at locations just outside Makkah. All of the rites of Umrah are performed at the grand mosque within Makkah. The Umrah is not a religious requirement the way that the Hajj is.

    Due to the number of pilgrims who perform the Hajj every year (usually 2 to 3 million) and the fact that everyone has to perform the same rites at the same time, the experience requires endurance, focus and vast amounts of patience. The Umrah lets you “relax” a bit more, and take in the environment, and process everything, because there is nowhere near that amount of people, and there are no required times for the rites. However, that is not to say that there aren’t tests and difficulties. During our stay in Madinah, there would easily be at least 10,000 to 20,000 worshippers for the 5 daily prayers in the Prophet’s Mosque. Even though it’s a gigantic mosque (I was told the mosque and its huge courtyard can accommodate 500,000 worshippers at one time), there were still oceans of people to navigate. This is one area that I personally had to make huge adjustments on. I’m very American with my personal space. But the adjustment was not as difficult as I thought. More on that later...