Sneaking a Camera into Mecca to Film Hajj: The World's Largest Pilgrimage with Suroosh Alvi

Summary

The script recounts a personal Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, the world's largest annual gathering. It details the journey from Medina, the rituals including Tawaf around the Kaaba, and the challenges of performing religious duties amidst millions. The experience is described as both spiritual and overwhelming, with the city's transformation during Hajj and the logistical efforts of the Saudi government highlighted.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Hajj is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, taking place in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
• 👥 Over 3 million pilgrims attended the Hajj last year, as estimated by the Saudi government.
• 🕌 The journey begins in Medina, where pilgrims prepare mentally for the Hajj at the Prophet's Mosque.
• ✈️ Pilgrims fly to Mecca and undergo a ritual cleansing before donning white garments to symbolize equality.
• 🙏 The Grand Mosque, or Masjid Al-Haram, is the holiest site in Islam and can hold over four million people.
• 🔁 The first ritual performed is Tawaf, seven counterclockwise laps around the Kaaba.
• 🏞️ Pilgrims also visit Mount Arafat for a day of prayer and contemplation.
• 💉 The Hajj is a massive logistical challenge, with the Saudi government investing heavily in crowd control and infrastructure.
• 🤝 The experience of Hajj is described as egalitarian, with people from all walks of life participating.
• 🔚 The Hajj concludes with Eid, where pilgrims celebrate by slaughtering an animal and shaving their heads.

Q & A

What is Hajj and why is it significant for Muslims?

Hajj is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world that takes place in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is a religious requirement for Muslims to perform at least once in their lifetime.

How many pilgrims attended Hajj last year according to the Saudi government's estimate?

The Saudi government estimated that over 3 million pilgrims attended Hajj last year.

What is the purpose of the white seamless garment that pilgrims wear during Hajj?

The white seamless garment symbolizes a renunciation of the life that pilgrims come from and is meant to put everyone on the same level, emphasizing equality among all participants.

What is the significance of the Grand Mosque in Mecca?

The Grand Mosque, also known as Masjid Al-Haram, is the holiest place in Islam and can hold upwards of four million people, making it the largest gathering of people in the world at any given time during Hajj.

What is the Kabeh and its importance in Hajj?

The Kabeh is a black box in the center of the Grand Mosque that has been a focal point for prayer since before the start of Islam. Pilgrims perform Tawaf, which involves walking seven times around the Kabeh.

What are some of the rules pilgrims must follow during Hajj?

During Hajj, pilgrims must adhere to several rules including no smoking, no sexual activity, no shaving, and no cutting nails.

What is the Tawaf ritual and how is it performed?

Tawaf is a ritual where pilgrims walk seven times counterclockwise around the Kabeh in the Grand Mosque.

What is the Sa'i ritual and how does it take place?

Sa'i involves walking and running back and forth between two hills. It has been turned into an indoor structure with two long corridors.

What happens at Mount Arafat during Hajj?

Mount Arafat is where the Prophet delivered his last sermon. Pilgrims spend the day in prayer, contemplation, and begging for forgiveness for their sins.

What is the significance of stoning the devil during Hajj?

Stone the devil is a ritual where pilgrims throw 21 stones, seven at three separate stations, symbolizing the rejection of evil.

How does the Saudi government manage the logistical challenges of Hajj?

The Saudi government has set up a Ministry of Hajj and invested billions of dollars in infrastructure and crowd control techniques to manage the large number of pilgrims.

Outlines

00:00

🕌 Journey to Hajj

The speaker, Suroosh Alvi, describes the Hajj pilgrimage as the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, required of Muslims at least once in their lifetime. He shares his personal experience accompanying his parents on their Hajj journey, capturing footage despite restrictions. The journey begins with a flight to Medina, where they spend six days preparing mentally for the Hajj. Alvi explains the significance of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina and the ritual of cleansing oneself before flying to Mecca. Upon arrival, he notes the transformation of Mecca during Hajj and the challenge of performing rituals amidst millions of pilgrims.

05:01

🌐 The Grand Mosque and Rituals

The speaker details the experience of visiting the Grand Mosque in Mecca, which can hold up to four million people during Hajj. He describes the Kabeh, a black box at the center of the mosque, as a site of prayer dating back to before Islam. The first ritual performed is Tawaf, involving seven counterclockwise laps around the Kabeh amidst a sea of people. He also mentions the ritual of Sa'i, walking and running between two hills, and spending a day at Mount Arafat in prayer and contemplation. The speaker reflects on the logistical challenges of Hajj, including the need for patience and strategy to complete the rituals on time.

10:02

💔 The Struggle and Conclusion of Hajj

The final paragraph covers the remaining rituals of Hajj, including stoning Satan at three stations, which used to result in accidents but have been improved by the Saudi government. The speaker emphasizes the repetition of rituals and the celebration of Eid, marking the end of Hajj. He discusses the challenges faced by the Saudi government in managing the Hajj, such as providing for the needs of millions of pilgrims and the incidents that have occurred in the past. The speaker concludes with his reflections on the unique experience of Hajj, feeling both connected and isolated among the crowds, and the contrast of returning to everyday life in New York after such a profound spiritual journey.

Keywords

💡Hajj

Hajj is the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which every Muslim is required to undertake at least once in their lifetime if they are physically and financially able. It is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people and their submission to Allah. In the script, Hajj is the central theme, with the narrator and his parents participating in the pilgrimage and describing their experiences.

💡Mecca

Mecca is a city in Saudi Arabia and is considered the holiest city in Islam. It is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and is home to the Kaaba, which is the most sacred site in Islam. The script describes the journey to Mecca and the significance of the city in the context of the Hajj pilgrimage.

💡Kaaba

The Kaaba is a cubical building at the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and is the most sacred Islamic shrine. Muslims are supposed to face the Kaaba during their daily prayers, no matter where they are in the world. In the script, the Kaaba is central to the Hajj rituals, with pilgrims performing Tawaf around it.

💡Tawaf

Tawaf is an Islamic ritual that involves walking counterclockwise around the Kaaba seven times. It is one of the key rituals performed during the Hajj pilgrimage. The script describes the experience of performing Tawaf amidst a large crowd of pilgrims.

💡Ihram

Ihram is a state of spiritual purity and consecration that Muslims enter when performing the Hajj or Umrah pilgrimages. It involves wearing simple white garments that strip away distinctions of wealth and status, symbolizing equality among pilgrims. The script mentions putting on the white seamless garment as part of entering the state of Ihram.

💡Mount Arafat

Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahmah, is a hill outside Mecca where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon. Pilgrims spend an entire day in prayer and contemplation on Arafat as part of the Hajj rituals. The script describes the experience of being at Mount Arafat and the significance of the day.

💡Sa'i

Sa'i is a ritual performed during the Hajj pilgrimage that involves walking and running between the hills of Safa and Marwah seven times. It commemorates Hagar's search for water for her son Ishmael. The script mentions the Sa'i ritual and how it has been adapted into indoor corridors.

💡Mina

Mina is a valley near Mecca where pilgrims perform the ritual of stoning the devil and where many stay in tents during the Hajj. The script describes Mina as a tent city that hosts a large number of pilgrims during Hajj.

💡Eid al-Adha

Eid al-Adha is a significant Islamic festival that marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage. It commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. The script mentions Eid al-Adha as the official end of Hajj, with the ritual of animal slaughter and shaving of the head.

💡Logistical Challenge

The logistical challenge refers to the immense planning and coordination required to manage the Hajj pilgrimage, which involves millions of people in a relatively small area. The script highlights the efforts of the Saudi government to manage the crowds, provide accommodations, and ensure safety during the Hajj.

💡Apocalyptic

The term 'apocalyptic' is used in the script to describe the overwhelming and chaotic nature of the Hajj experience, with the city of Mecca appearing to be at maximum capacity and the large crowds creating a sense of disorder and intensity.

Highlights

Hajj is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Muslims are required to perform Hajj at least once in their lifetime.

The Saudi government estimated over 3 million pilgrims attended the Hajj last year.

The narrator's parents, originally from Lahore, Pakistan, decided to perform Hajj.

The narrator joined his parents on their Hajj journey.

The journey began with a flight on Saudi Arabian airlines from JFK to Medina.

Medina, historically a resting place for desert travelers, now features shopping malls and hotels.

The Prophet's Mosque in Medina is the second-holiest site in Islam.

Pilgrims spend six days in Medina to mentally prepare for Hajj.

Pilgrims must wear a white seamless garment as a symbol of equality and renunciation.

There are strict rules during Hajj, including prohibitions on smoking, sex, shaving, and cutting nails.

The flight to Mecca from Medina involves a prayer led by the group guide over the PA system.

Upon entering the zone near Mecca, all passengers must start saying a prayer.

The flight to Mecca provided a unique perspective on the diversity of pilgrims.

Mecca transforms during Hajj, becoming a bustling city filled with pilgrims.

The Grand Mosque, or Masjid Al-Haram, is the holiest place in Islam and can hold over four million people.

The Kabeh, a black box in the center of the Grand Mosque, has been a focal point for prayer since before Islam.

The Tawaf ritual involves walking seven times around the Kabeh.

The Hajj experience includes a variety of rituals that must be completed within a strict timeline.

The Sa'i ritual requires walking and running between two hills, now housed in an indoor structure.

Spending a day at Mount Arafat involves prayer, contemplation, and seeking forgiveness.

The Valley of Mina is a tent city that hosts the majority of pilgrims during Hajj.

The stoning of Satan ritual involves throwing stones at three separate stations.

The end of Hajj is marked by Eid, a celebration that involves slaughtering an animal and shaving one's head.

The Saudi government has established a Ministry of Hajj to manage the logistical challenges of the pilgrimage.

Despite efforts, the large number of pilgrims creates complications and a dark side to the event.

The narrator reflects on the unique experience of Hajj, feeling both connected and alone among millions.

The return to New York after Hajj feels like a drastic change, highlighting the contrast between the pilgrimage and everyday life.

Transcripts

SUROOSH ALVI: And this is about as quiet as it gets.

Hajj is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world.

It happens in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

And for Muslims, it's a requirement that you have to

do once in your lifetime.

The Saudi government estimated that last year there were over

3 million pilgrims who attended, but the unofficial

number is much higher.

My parents are originally from Lahore, Pakistan.

They're practicing Muslims, and last year they decided it

was time for them to perform Hajj.

So I went with them to help them with their journey, but

also for myself as well.

It was the first time for all of us.

And I didn't go thinking I was going to make a VBS

documentary.

I just took the smallest handicam we had the office and

literally shot from the hip.

You're not allowed to shoot in most of the holy places.

So this is the footage I managed to sneak out.

We flew on Saudi Arabian airlines.

It was about a 10 hour flight from JFK to Medina, where we

spent 6 days getting mentally prepared for the Hajj that we

were about to embark on.

In pre-Islamic times, Medina was a place where the

travelers who were crossing the desert in camel caravans

would come to rest.

It was kind of like a desert oasis.

In modern times it's kind of the same thing, but there are

less camels and more shopping malls and hotels.

There's also stunning mosque there called the Prophet's

Mosque, which is the second-holiest site in Islam.

When you're there, you basically just go to the

mosque five times a day, for six days straight, to get into

a meditative state.

The mosque is huge.

It holds almost 700,000 people.

And when we were there for the Friday prayer, it

was pretty much full.

Flying to Mecca from Medina was really interesting.

Before we went to the airport, we cleansed ourselves in a

very specific way.

And then we had to put on a white seamless garment made

our of terrycloth that all the pilgrims have to wear.

And it's a renunciation of the life that you come from and is

supposed to put everyone on the same level.

There is no upper class or lower class.

Everyone's the same.

It's just you and the sheet, and that's it.

[PRAYING]

This is called getting into a state of Irham.

Besides the clothes, there are a lot of other rules.

You can't smoke.

You can't have sex.

You can't shave.

You can't cut your nails, and there are a

bunch of other no-no's.

So we got this charter, just for the pilgrims, and 10

minutes after the plane took off from Medina, the captain

announced that we'd flown over a designation, and we were in

the zone near Mecca.

And we all had to start saying a prayer.

And our group guide got onto the loudspeaker system of the

airplane and started yelling the prayer.

Everyone started chanting it.

And I had a moment where I looked around and saw all of

these men and women in their white robes, the men with

their beards, and just thought, if someone from the

West could see us right now, they would think we were a

bunch of fanatical Jihadis on some kind of an insane

mission, when in reality, it was just pilgrims excited to

go on this spiritual quest.

I think what was most odd about this flight were the

flight attendants, who were all Filipino, wearing their

normal Saudi flight attendant outfits, looking like they

would rather have any other gig in the

world than this one.

We landed in Jeddah and took a bus into Mecca.

And that ride into the city was one of the wilder scenes

I've ever seen in my life.

There were all these pilgrims coming from all directions in

all kinds of vehicles.

And you see them riding on the tops of cars,

and vans, and buses.

I remember seeing a pilgrim jumping from the roof of one

bus to another.

Everybody's just trying to get to the city.

Mecca is not a very big city.

And during the year, it's a relatively mellow place,

except during the week of Hajj.

The city completely transforms and half the challenge of

completing your Hajj is getting all these rituals done

in a very strict timeline, dealing with the fact there

are about three million other people there who try to do the

exact same thing at the same time.

After we checked into our hotel in Mecca we walked

towards the Grand Mosque, which is also

known as Masjid Al-Haram.

It's the holiest place in Islam.

And it's a massive structure.

This Moscow can hold upwards of four million people with

its outdoor and indoor space, which, during Hajj, is

technically the largest gathering of people in the

world at any given time.

This mosque is what Muslims pray towards from

all over the world.

And as you're walking towards it, you feel the

anticipation build.

People have been waiting their whole lives to

come to this place.

And once you enter the mosque, then you see the Kabeh.

The Kabeh is a black box in the center

of the Grand Mosque.

And it was built around 2000 BC.

And people have been praying towards it since

before Islam started.

And when Prophet Muhammad finally showed up, he cleaned

up the place, got rid of all the idols that the pagans had

been worshipping, and reordained the building as the

House of God.

So in the Grand Mosque, we had to do our first ritual, which

is called the Tawaf, which is basically doing seven

counterclockwise laps around the Kabeh.

And it's kind of like being in a mosh pit with hundreds of

thousands of people, but instead of it being full of

angry young punk kids, we were up against aggressive

Bangladeshi grandmothers.

I had my parents on each arm interlocked, and we held each

other as we went around the structure seven times.

You're staring at the Kabeh.

It's a very intense and heavy vibe.

But the one thing that's a total bummer is you look up

and all you see are these massive, luxury five-star

hotels for the super-rich Muslims who want to pray from

the confines of their room.

After running around the Kabeh seven times you have to do a

bunch of other rituals in order to complete your Hajj.

You have five days to get it done.

And it's kind of like being on a scavenger hunt.

You have a checklist.

You have to be smart.

And you have to use strategy in order to make this happen

on schedule.

You have to do the Sa'i, which is walking and running back

and forth between two hills.

Back in the day he used to be outdoors and now it's been

turned into indoor structure with two

very, very long corridors.

You have to spend a day at Mount Arafat.

It's where the Prophet delivered

his last sermon from.

And you spend the day in prayer, and contemplation, and

beg for forgiveness for all of your sins.

It's a very important day, and, after spending the

majority of it in a tent, I walked out and went in the

direction of the mountain.

And I walked through this wild scene with people everywhere

camped out with their animals.

And as I got closer to mount Arafat, it was such an

incredible sight because it had been completely

transformed.

It looked like a snow-covered peak.

Our tour group operators, before we went on this trip,

gave us some guidelines.

And the last point on the sheet said, be patient.

Be very patient.

Be very, very patient.

I fully grasped the meaning of this when we had to take a

three-kilometer bus ride, and it ended up

taking eight hours.

It was the middle of the night, and we had to collect

stones, it was one of our rituals, in a place called

[INAUDIBLE].

And so we got off the bus.

We navigated our way around sleeping bodies all over the

ground, found the stones.

And then it was time to pray, and so we just threw the

prayer rugs down on the side of the

highway and hit the mats.

After picking up the stones, we got back on the bus and

drove to Mina.

The Valley of Mina is where the majority of

the pilgrims stay.

It's a tent city that fills up with, essentially, the

population of Seattle for a week and then, after Hajj

ends, it clears out again and goes away.

It's tents as far as the eye can see.

[SINGING IN PRAYER]

From [INAUDIBLE]

we arrived in Mina, and that's where we had to stone Satan.

That's the next ritual.

And this one was actually a lot of fun.

You had to throw 21 stones, seven at three separate

Satan-stoning stations.

And I finally got to see what Satan looks like.

Up until a couple years ago, Satan looked like three big

pillars sticking out of a large pit.

But the space wasn't big enough, and there was a

stampede and people died.

So the Saudi government, they built three ramps the size of

a multi-lane highway, and there were three pillars

inside of it that represent the devil.

They're lit in shades of green.

And there's a strange rumbling loud sound coming out of them.

And as my dad pointed out, the whole thing made Satan look

quite surreal.

Before we finished the Hajj, we had to repeat some of the

rituals that we'd already done.

So we had to revisit Satan, throw rocks at

him two more times.

We had to go back to back to Mecca from Mina and do another

seven counterclockwise laps.

And then it was time for Eid, which marks the official end

of Hajj, which is a big celebration.

It's the end of the state of Irham that we've been in.

And we slaughter an animal to celebrate it.

And then the last thing you do is you shave your head.

This is the line for the barber shop.

This is the line.

Soon, they will all be bald, all of these men.

The barber shops in Mecca have these massive

lines outside of them.

And you see hundreds of thousands of baldos walking

around town.

And those people have all succeeded in

completing their Hajj.

And they're called Hajjis.

Dealing with the Hajj every year is a huge logistical

challenge for the Saudi government--

to the point where they've actually set up

a Ministry of Hajj.

In the past, there have been incidents where pilgrims were

trampled, when ramps collapsed and pilgrims died, and the

Saudi government has invested billions of dollars to create

an infrastructure to make this work, with complex crowd

control techniques.

And what I saw when I went last year was something that

somehow manages to work.

But it kind of goes without saying that bringing 3 million

people into such a small place is going to bring up some

complications.

There's a bit of a dark side.

This many people in such a small place,

it really gets unwieldy.

And despite the Saudi government's best efforts to

deal with this profound logistical challenge, the

bottom line is that there are too many people.

And people need things.

They need places to sleep.

They need food.

The need toilets.

And the poor people who were there, you see them basically

camped out on the side of the road for days on end.

It really felt like Mecca was maxing out by the end of Hajj.

And the whole scene starts looking and feeling rather

apocalyptic.

No matter where all these people come from.

No matter what they do.

And no matter how rich or poor they might be, during this

pilgrimage to Mecca it felt like everyone

was just the same.

It was unlike any place I've ever been and unlike anything

I've ever experienced.

I was there standing amongst millions of people, I was

there with my family, but, on some level, I felt like I all

alone, on a personal trek.

And everyday life felt like it was hundreds of thousands of

miles away.

We flew back to New York.

We landed in the morning, and I went straight back to the

Vice offices, which may not have been

the wisests of ideas.

I felt like I'd been catapulted from one end of the

universe to the other.