Abusharif wrote this piece after returning from Hajj in January, 2007.
It is a Muslim’s sacred duty to live for a few days as a pilgrim, a reasonable requirement for a lifetime. The pilgrimage or the Hajj is a composite of rites that are essentially reenactments of events of the distant past and, at one point, a grand dress rehearsal for what is to come. Adam, Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael (peace be upon them), and the Prophet Muhammad 
are the names most closely associated with this rite, and what is asked of the pilgrim is simply to emulate them, for the reason that their deeds, however ordinary they may appear, were connected to a higher realm. The response to this call remains a marvel, especially in an era in which there is enormous pressure to be devotees of the material world and to succumb to the spiritual sloth this engenders. Despite this, each year millions of people drop everything in order to make the pilgrimage, which has difficulty and expenses. All are partners in a ritual that remarkably still matters. One of life’s principal struggles is to pierce outer forms and imbibe the interior meanings.
But the struggle is magnified when living in a context in which unexamined information is constantly available and when personal quiet and retreat are becoming oddities to pursue…
To read entire article, purchase: Seasons Vol. 3, No. 2 | Spring 2007
