What do you observe about Society and the Sacred from watching this film? How is the faith of Islam re-enacted in the ritual?
Learning Goal: I’m working on a religion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.
The Hajj: Spiritual Pilgrimage
The Five Pillars form the basis of Muslim faith and practice:
- Shahadah: declaration of faith
- Salat: daily prayer
- Zukat: almsgiving
- Sawan: fasting during Ramadan
- Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca
The National Geographic records three people’s holy pilgrimage to Mecca in
Saudi Arabia, fulfilling a requirement of the faith (for those who are physically
and financially able). As you will see in the Youtube video, the two million
faithful who make this pilgrimage in the final month of the Islamic calendar
experience an intense connection to God and humanity during the hajj.
Inside Mecca:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWhPSk5pfHg
Pilgrims leave behind indicators of their social and economic status to enter
a state of ritual purity, though the Saudis like to keep them organized in
national groups. Everyone who attends is equal, and there are a number
of prescribed ritual acts recalling events in the life of Abraham and his
family members (Hagar and Ishmael) and includes circumambulating
the Ka’ba seven times and ends with the Feast of Sacrifice. (The film
recounts the logistics of preparing the sacrifices and feast for 2,000,000
pilgrims). {There’s also a film on the Kumbhala Mehla in India where
20,000,000 people gather on the Ganges).
Questions:
What do you observe about Society and the Sacred from watching this film?
How is the faith of Islam re-enacted in the ritual?
How are the pilgrims prepared, purified, regenerated and reborn?
What is the significance of this rite for the maintenance of Islam?
How have the Saudis “modernized” to make the experience of the hajj more palatable
for the pilgrims and to accommodate world Islam?
How do race, class, and gender figure into National Geographic’s choice of Hajjis? Do
these people have the same experience?
What was your personal response as a participant-observer in seeing the hajj in this film?
Has anyone one read AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X and his Hajj experience?
Answer preview for What do you observe about Society and the Sacred from watching this film? How is the faith of Islam re-enacted in the ritual?
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