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| At Mount Arafat, Water Fights and Prayers — for Peace and, Yes, for a Husband | At Mount Arafat, Water Fights and Prayers — for Peace and, Yes, for a Husband |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The pilgrims’ chants of “Here I am, O Lord” were barely audible over the crunch-crunch of plastic water bottles squashed underfoot as we jostled toward Mount Arafat on Sunday, the greatest day of the annual hajj. Muslims believe it is when God will answer all sincere prayers offered there. | |
| As the sun blazed, men and boys splashed the crowds gleefully with the last ounces from their bottles. Some ducked their heads under gushes from a supply tower, and a few kind souls offered to turn their spray bottles onto strangers’ faces. | As the sun blazed, men and boys splashed the crowds gleefully with the last ounces from their bottles. Some ducked their heads under gushes from a supply tower, and a few kind souls offered to turn their spray bottles onto strangers’ faces. |
| At first I was disappointed to see the mess of bottles and mud, a cleaning man in bright yellow and green looking on helplessly: I had thought Arafat would be austere and clean. But the pilgrims’ cheery mood brightened my own. | At first I was disappointed to see the mess of bottles and mud, a cleaning man in bright yellow and green looking on helplessly: I had thought Arafat would be austere and clean. But the pilgrims’ cheery mood brightened my own. |
| Of course it was dirty. Two million people were walking together on a hot day to a rocky hill and sucking down bottles of water. Of course the cleaner couldn’t sweep it up — yet; he could cause a deadly crush if he got in the way of that river of pilgrims. So I, too, crunched the bottles, tried not to slip, let people spray with me water. I even prayed. | Of course it was dirty. Two million people were walking together on a hot day to a rocky hill and sucking down bottles of water. Of course the cleaner couldn’t sweep it up — yet; he could cause a deadly crush if he got in the way of that river of pilgrims. So I, too, crunched the bottles, tried not to slip, let people spray with me water. I even prayed. |
| At the end of the hajj, men are required to shave their heads, and women to cut a lock of hair. At the busy barber complex near the Grand Mosque, they’ll buzz you with a razor (disposable) or scissors for $4; a machine cut is $2.70. Signs around the mosque warn pilgrims not to cut hair inside the complex — it turns out some people like to D.I.Y. at Islam’s holiest site. | At the end of the hajj, men are required to shave their heads, and women to cut a lock of hair. At the busy barber complex near the Grand Mosque, they’ll buzz you with a razor (disposable) or scissors for $4; a machine cut is $2.70. Signs around the mosque warn pilgrims not to cut hair inside the complex — it turns out some people like to D.I.Y. at Islam’s holiest site. |
| I mean no disrespect when I say Mecca is, well, a mecca for shopping. People have come here to pray, but even five times daily leaves time for the glittering gold shops that line Ajyad Street. | I mean no disrespect when I say Mecca is, well, a mecca for shopping. People have come here to pray, but even five times daily leaves time for the glittering gold shops that line Ajyad Street. |
| This year’s big sellers: lightweight rings and white, rose and yellow bracelets so finely spun that they feel like cotton candy on the wrist. Traders, as they do, lament that last year was better — instability throughout the Middle East has left fewer buyers for the higher-priced bling. | This year’s big sellers: lightweight rings and white, rose and yellow bracelets so finely spun that they feel like cotton candy on the wrist. Traders, as they do, lament that last year was better — instability throughout the Middle East has left fewer buyers for the higher-priced bling. |
| For those with lighter wallets, children hawk velvet prayer rugs decorated with images of the Kaaba for $2.60. People sell flip-flops for the inevitable pilgrim who has lost her shoes somewhere around the Grand Mosque, calling out the prices in Urdu: “Panj! Panj! Panj!” Five! Five! Five! The pharmacy on Ajyad Street is constantly packed, doing a roaring trade in antibiotics — hajj flu again — and anti-diarrhea pills. | For those with lighter wallets, children hawk velvet prayer rugs decorated with images of the Kaaba for $2.60. People sell flip-flops for the inevitable pilgrim who has lost her shoes somewhere around the Grand Mosque, calling out the prices in Urdu: “Panj! Panj! Panj!” Five! Five! Five! The pharmacy on Ajyad Street is constantly packed, doing a roaring trade in antibiotics — hajj flu again — and anti-diarrhea pills. |
| Sitting next to a group of Saudi women who resembled large black crows in their billowing robes, double face veils and gloves, I noticed they all wore little rings that looked like miniature pedometers. When I asked how many miles one woman had walked that day, she laughed. | Sitting next to a group of Saudi women who resembled large black crows in their billowing robes, double face veils and gloves, I noticed they all wore little rings that looked like miniature pedometers. When I asked how many miles one woman had walked that day, she laughed. |
| It turned out the rings were electronic prayer counters. Muslims often keep track of individual prayers like “I seek God’s forgiveness,” believing that they earn credit for a good deed, or hasana, with each supplication. Prayers uttered at the Grand Mosque are said to be worth 100,000 times those said elsewhere. | It turned out the rings were electronic prayer counters. Muslims often keep track of individual prayers like “I seek God’s forgiveness,” believing that they earn credit for a good deed, or hasana, with each supplication. Prayers uttered at the Grand Mosque are said to be worth 100,000 times those said elsewhere. |
| One of the women, Hanan, showed me her counter: 266, and it was only noon. Then she thrust the device into my hands and told me to “keep it, so you can always count your prayers.” I politely declined. | One of the women, Hanan, showed me her counter: 266, and it was only noon. Then she thrust the device into my hands and told me to “keep it, so you can always count your prayers.” I politely declined. |
| The big and the small. For Syria. For refugees to find homes and acceptance. That children would go to sleep with full stomachs and mothers able to love and care for them. I prayed for my friend’s mother who has cancer, and tried to remember all the other friends, most of them secular, who shyly asked me to sneak in a word for them. | The big and the small. For Syria. For refugees to find homes and acceptance. That children would go to sleep with full stomachs and mothers able to love and care for them. I prayed for my friend’s mother who has cancer, and tried to remember all the other friends, most of them secular, who shyly asked me to sneak in a word for them. |
| Right before we had to leave Arafat, I remembered Mum making me promise to pray for a husband, and so I did. | Right before we had to leave Arafat, I remembered Mum making me promise to pray for a husband, and so I did. |
| My mum, of course, has instructed me to pray for a husband as I make my first hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca required of every Muslim. Also: the health of her best friend and the release, from jail in Egypt, of the son of my aunt’s maid. | My mum, of course, has instructed me to pray for a husband as I make my first hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca required of every Muslim. Also: the health of her best friend and the release, from jail in Egypt, of the son of my aunt’s maid. |
| On the second day of the hajj — this year, Sunday, Sept. 11 — pilgrims will clamber onto Mount Arafat to ask for God’s forgiveness and make specific requests by prayer. Muslims believe that a supplication at that place at that time will be answered. | On the second day of the hajj — this year, Sunday, Sept. 11 — pilgrims will clamber onto Mount Arafat to ask for God’s forgiveness and make specific requests by prayer. Muslims believe that a supplication at that place at that time will be answered. |
| Along with Mum’s list, I’ll be praying for the health of a friend’s mother who is fighting cancer, and the continued happiness and health of my family and friends. A few friends who are secular Muslims like me asked that I throw in a word for them, and I will. God, if you are listening, peace would be really nice. I’m not so sure about the husband. | Along with Mum’s list, I’ll be praying for the health of a friend’s mother who is fighting cancer, and the continued happiness and health of my family and friends. A few friends who are secular Muslims like me asked that I throw in a word for them, and I will. God, if you are listening, peace would be really nice. I’m not so sure about the husband. |
| I have been asking all the people I meet in Mecca what they’ll be praying for on Mount Arafat: | I have been asking all the people I meet in Mecca what they’ll be praying for on Mount Arafat: |
| ■ Mervat, a 30-year-old cardiologist from Yemen, said she would ask “to go to paradise with my parents” and that her war-torn country might find peace. | ■ Mervat, a 30-year-old cardiologist from Yemen, said she would ask “to go to paradise with my parents” and that her war-torn country might find peace. |
| ■ Hassan Abbas, a doctor from Nigeria, hopes that his war-torn country might find peace. | ■ Hassan Abbas, a doctor from Nigeria, hopes that his war-torn country might find peace. |
| ■ Sayida Bakri, 68, seeks for terrorism to be defeated and “for Egypt to stand on its feet” after years of instability. | ■ Sayida Bakri, 68, seeks for terrorism to be defeated and “for Egypt to stand on its feet” after years of instability. |
| ■ Abd Aziz Hj Johari — who is 18 and from Brunei, and who wore a T-shirt proclaiming, “I Love the Prophet” — shrugged at my question. His mother, Siti Hayun Hj Abdul Qadi, patted him affectionately and said she would ask that her son “become a good boy in the future, a good husband, especially, a good son.” | ■ Abd Aziz Hj Johari — who is 18 and from Brunei, and who wore a T-shirt proclaiming, “I Love the Prophet” — shrugged at my question. His mother, Siti Hayun Hj Abdul Qadi, patted him affectionately and said she would ask that her son “become a good boy in the future, a good husband, especially, a good son.” |
| There are no pockets on the ihram that men wear during the hajj — the traditional dress consists of just two white sheets draped around their bodies. And it’s difficult for men and women to carry bulky bags in tight quarters. So the air rights above their heads become valuable personal real estate. | There are no pockets on the ihram that men wear during the hajj — the traditional dress consists of just two white sheets draped around their bodies. And it’s difficult for men and women to carry bulky bags in tight quarters. So the air rights above their heads become valuable personal real estate. |
| I’ve seen people carrying canteens of Zamzam water on their heads; others balancing their prayer mats like hats; and men from Afghanistan, Sudan, Oman and Egypt top themselves with carefully arranged turbans that seem to delicately float above their heads. | I’ve seen people carrying canteens of Zamzam water on their heads; others balancing their prayer mats like hats; and men from Afghanistan, Sudan, Oman and Egypt top themselves with carefully arranged turbans that seem to delicately float above their heads. |
| When I was a little girl and we traveled from Australia to Egypt to visit my mum’s family, I remember the enchanting women with large baskets perched on their heads, walking casually down crowded market streets, their empty arms swaying freely. I see some Palestinian women doing the same thing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where I work as a correspondent in The Times’s Jerusalem bureau. | When I was a little girl and we traveled from Australia to Egypt to visit my mum’s family, I remember the enchanting women with large baskets perched on their heads, walking casually down crowded market streets, their empty arms swaying freely. I see some Palestinian women doing the same thing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where I work as a correspondent in The Times’s Jerusalem bureau. |
| A good idea knows no borders. | A good idea knows no borders. |
| The hajj is hot and grueling, and pilgrims flock to the Aesra ice cream shop near the Grand Mosque, where there are separate lines for men and women. “After worship, there’s a treat,” said Arar Hafsi, 51, an Algerian pilgrim, giggling. | The hajj is hot and grueling, and pilgrims flock to the Aesra ice cream shop near the Grand Mosque, where there are separate lines for men and women. “After worship, there’s a treat,” said Arar Hafsi, 51, an Algerian pilgrim, giggling. |
| I met one young woman in a niqab, her face and body covered in heavy black cloth, clutching a plastic cup filled with swirls of mango and strawberry. She said, laughing, that maybe she had one after every prayer — that’s five times a day. | I met one young woman in a niqab, her face and body covered in heavy black cloth, clutching a plastic cup filled with swirls of mango and strawberry. She said, laughing, that maybe she had one after every prayer — that’s five times a day. |
| “Is it good?” I asked. “Well,” she said, “it’s all there is.” | “Is it good?” I asked. “Well,” she said, “it’s all there is.” |
| I know you want to know, so: A woman wearing a niqab eats ice cream by filling the spoon, then raising her veil just a bit and sticking the spoon in her mouth. | I know you want to know, so: A woman wearing a niqab eats ice cream by filling the spoon, then raising her veil just a bit and sticking the spoon in her mouth. |
| Qasim, 16, a worker I interviewed at the shop, gave free cups to me and Abdul-Rahman, the Saudi minder who follows me everywhere under the government’s rules for journalists covering the hajj. The ice cream tasted good. Also: It’s all there is. | Qasim, 16, a worker I interviewed at the shop, gave free cups to me and Abdul-Rahman, the Saudi minder who follows me everywhere under the government’s rules for journalists covering the hajj. The ice cream tasted good. Also: It’s all there is. |
| So as I made my first hajj, joining millions of Muslims from around the world on the annual pilgrimage to our holiest places, I did not have the antibiotics or disinfectant gel my family had insisted I carry to ward off what we call “the hajj flu.” I did not have a proper head scarf or even a prayer mat. | So as I made my first hajj, joining millions of Muslims from around the world on the annual pilgrimage to our holiest places, I did not have the antibiotics or disinfectant gel my family had insisted I carry to ward off what we call “the hajj flu.” I did not have a proper head scarf or even a prayer mat. |
| As the call to prayer sounded, I stood in a line of women on the street leading to the Grand Mosque and realized I would have no clean place to put my head during the full prostrations we make in a symbolic act of submission to God. I figured, never mind, this is the hajj, once in a lifetime. Then the woman standing next to me said, “I’ve made space for you.” We had to pray very close together, our heads were touching on that tiny mat. | As the call to prayer sounded, I stood in a line of women on the street leading to the Grand Mosque and realized I would have no clean place to put my head during the full prostrations we make in a symbolic act of submission to God. I figured, never mind, this is the hajj, once in a lifetime. Then the woman standing next to me said, “I’ve made space for you.” We had to pray very close together, our heads were touching on that tiny mat. |
| Afterward, I thanked her. Her name is Samira, and she is a professor in Algeria. She kissed me on the cheek and said that was the way a Muslim should behave, and that I was her sister. | Afterward, I thanked her. Her name is Samira, and she is a professor in Algeria. She kissed me on the cheek and said that was the way a Muslim should behave, and that I was her sister. |
| One of the main hajj rituals is to walk seven times around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site. My brother and sister, who did the hajj years ago, had told me about the pigeons that circle, seemingly in sync with the pilgrims, overhead. A sign from God? Perhaps, but helped along by the women selling bird feed to people who flung it joyously into the air around the Grand Mosque. | One of the main hajj rituals is to walk seven times around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site. My brother and sister, who did the hajj years ago, had told me about the pigeons that circle, seemingly in sync with the pilgrims, overhead. A sign from God? Perhaps, but helped along by the women selling bird feed to people who flung it joyously into the air around the Grand Mosque. |
| A group of Nigerian teenagers stood in a corner, calling out “Zamzam, Zamzam, Zamzam!” and passing out plastic cups of water. Zamzam is a well located within the Haram, the mosque that surrounds the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site. Muslims believe God made it bubble up as the second wife of Ibrahim (Abraham in the Judeo-Christian bible), tried to soothe her thirsting child. A half-liter bottle sells for $4.95 on the internet. | A group of Nigerian teenagers stood in a corner, calling out “Zamzam, Zamzam, Zamzam!” and passing out plastic cups of water. Zamzam is a well located within the Haram, the mosque that surrounds the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site. Muslims believe God made it bubble up as the second wife of Ibrahim (Abraham in the Judeo-Christian bible), tried to soothe her thirsting child. A half-liter bottle sells for $4.95 on the internet. |
| I was spooked after reading an article saying Zamzam water had high levels of arsenic. But in the heat and exhaustion of the hajj, it tasted refreshing. I even stopped in front of an Egyptian man spraying people’s faces with the water as a small good deed — he said he did the same during the 2011 uprisings in Cairo. But I was worried when I saw pilgrims returning their empty cups to the Nigerians — this is how hajj flu spreads! | I was spooked after reading an article saying Zamzam water had high levels of arsenic. But in the heat and exhaustion of the hajj, it tasted refreshing. I even stopped in front of an Egyptian man spraying people’s faces with the water as a small good deed — he said he did the same during the 2011 uprisings in Cairo. But I was worried when I saw pilgrims returning their empty cups to the Nigerians — this is how hajj flu spreads! |
| My favorite passage of “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” was when he described the pilgrims being of all races and colors. It’s still like that. | My favorite passage of “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” was when he described the pilgrims being of all races and colors. It’s still like that. |
| A Chinese woman showed me her Mandarin Quran. I saw women from Uzbekistan who had their national flag sewn onto their head scarves, and men with “Kurdistan” emblazoned on their jackets. There were Pakistanis with beards dyed a cartoonish red, and one guy, who knows from where, in a gold sequined hat. He looked fabulous. | A Chinese woman showed me her Mandarin Quran. I saw women from Uzbekistan who had their national flag sewn onto their head scarves, and men with “Kurdistan” emblazoned on their jackets. There were Pakistanis with beards dyed a cartoonish red, and one guy, who knows from where, in a gold sequined hat. He looked fabulous. |
| It reminded me of the little mosque of my childhood in multicultural Canberra, Australia. I grew up thinking it was normal to worship next to Muslims from Bosnia and Vietnam, Afghanistan and Jordan. | It reminded me of the little mosque of my childhood in multicultural Canberra, Australia. I grew up thinking it was normal to worship next to Muslims from Bosnia and Vietnam, Afghanistan and Jordan. |
| Walking around the Kaaba was like Canberra, writ large. There was something very incredible and lovely about being a tiny little human among tens of thousands of other humans, saying the same prayers and doing the same rituals. | Walking around the Kaaba was like Canberra, writ large. There was something very incredible and lovely about being a tiny little human among tens of thousands of other humans, saying the same prayers and doing the same rituals. |