Hajji Cosmopolitanism
No religious festival or ritual around the world quite compares to the Hajj, so one must be very cautious, when reading sociological research on the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, not to go too far in universalizing.
So when we read a working paper on the Hajj’s impact on Pakistani pilgrims (published by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government), we should not underestimate the religious angle.
The authors in sum:
Our results tend to support the idea that the Hajj helps to integrate the Muslim world, leading to a strengthening of global Islamic beliefs, a weakened attachment to localized religious customs, and a sense of unity and equality with others who are ordinarily separated in everyday life by sect, ethnicity, nationality, or gender, but who are brought together during the Hajj.
The authors go to great lengths to demonstrate benefits of the Hajj along secular values: Participation leads to “greater acceptance of female education,” and “increased belief in peace, and in equality and harmony among adherents of different religions.”
I am not Muslim, but I would be surprised if the Hajjis themselves would place such worldview changes farther down the list of benefits from their pilgrimage than straightforward spiritual ones. Indeed,
Participation in the Hajj increases observance of global Islamic practices such as prayer and fasting while decreasing participation in localized practices and beliefs such as the use of amulets and dowry.
But:
These changes are more a result of exposure to and interaction with Hajjis from around the world, rather than religious instruction (…).
My question: can these two experiences—exposure to a bigger world of believers, and religious instruction—be untangled, in the minds of the participants?
Thanks go to the Economist for the link; SXC.hu user gmfarooq for the picture.
Disclaimer: These blogs are the words of the writers and do not represent InterVarsity or Urbana. The same is true of any comments which may be posted about any blog entries. Submitted comments may or may not be posted within the blog, at the bloggers' discretion.
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