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Triumph of the Irrational
Choreographing the Irrational - The Hajj
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3:96 The first House founded for mankind is truly that
at Bakka (Mecca), blessed and a guidance to all the nations.
3:97 Therein are clear signs and the sacred site of Abraham. Whoever enters it will be secure. It is the duty to Allah incumbent on those who can, to make the pilgrimage to the House. But with respect to those who disbelieve, Allah has no need of all mankind.
The Hajj, for the vast majority of Muslims, is the impossible pillar because, as mentioned in the previous chapter, there is a limit to how many believers can perform the pilgrimage in any given year. Failing to perform the Hajj pilgrimage once in your lifetime, if you were healthy and had the means, was once a sin that would see you condemned to an eternity on fire.
Muhammad expected that the end of the world would occur during his lifetime, or shortly thereafter when there was plenty of room for everyone at the Hajj. As it became obvious that the anticipated Judgement Day was not imminent, and the success of Islam as a religion meant that it was impossible for many to perform the pilgrimage pillar, in spite of meeting the criteria, the grave sin of not doing the Hajj was downgraded to “considering the Hajj insignificant.”
If a taciturn god is okay with the downgrade, then it is mothers, not Hajj no-shows, who will remain the largest contingent of Muslims to be denied Paradise. Pray that Allah agrees or that suggestions made here are adopted.
There are normally seven steps to performing the Hajj, but only four rituals that seriously impact a Muslim’s hope of being able to get a permit from the Saudis to perform the pilgrimage. The most important of these major rituals are the two mentioned in the Koran: the seven circles of the Ka'ba and Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.
22:26 And [remember] when We appointed for Abraham the site of the (Sacred) House [saying]: “You shall not associate with Me anything and purify My House for those who circle around, those who stand up, those who kneel and those who prostrate themselves;”
22:27 And proclaim the pilgrimage to the people, and then they will come on foot or on every lean mount, coming from every deep ravine,
22:28 To witness benefits of theirs, and mention Allah’s name, during certain numbered days, over such beast of the flocks as He has provided them with. Eat, then, from them and feed the wretched poor.
22:29 Then, let them complete their self-cleansing and fulfill their vows and circle round the Ancient House (the Ka'bah).
The other two significant rituals—the re-enactment of Hagar's frantic search for water and the stoning of the devil—to my knowledge, are not mentioned in the Koran.
Bible stories in the Koran tend to become Mecca-centric, with biblical heroes such as Abraham making near impossible treks across the length of the Arabian Peninsula to pay homage to God at Mecca (Revelation 22:26).
There is no historical or archaeological evidence of major biblical figures crossing the deserts of Arabia to spend time in Mecca which, at the time of Abraham, if it even existed, would have been nothing more than a nomadic settlement. In the 1st century, the Romans maintained a garrison at the port of Jeddah about 50 miles from Mecca and catalogued much of the area without reference to Mecca, though they did take notice of Medina.
Circling the Ka’ba
Muhammad’s choreography of the circling of the Ka’ba is a simple and as unoriginal as it can be, he simply, has mentioned in the previous chapter, had his followers circle the Ka’ba counter clockwise. The Hajj before Islam was not the somber ritual you have today. It was combination of a poetry competition and worship festival where you did your own thing. Some even circled the Ka'ba naked in a sort of commemoration of one aspect of the story of Adam and Eve.
7:27 “O Children of Adam, do not let Satan lead you astray as he drove your parents out of Paradise, stripping them of their clothes so as to show them their private parts. He and his host (army or tribe) see you from a place where you cannot see them. We have made the devils the friends of those who do not believe.”
7:28 When they commit an indecency, they say: “We have found our fathers doing it, and Allah commanded us to do it.” Say (O Muhammad): “Allah does not command indecencies. Do you impute to Allah what you do not know?”
Except for Allah, who described the pagan Hajj as "nothing but whistling and clapping", nobody at the time seem to mind.
8:35 Their prayer at the House (the Ka’ba) is nothing but whistling and clapping; so taste the punishment for your disbelief.
Surprisingly, it was Muhammad's successor as leader of the believers, Abu Bakr, who made the announcement that forthwith, none would be allowed to circumambulate the Ka'ba naked.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
In the year prior to the last Hajj of the Prophet when Allah’s Apostle made Abu Bakr the leader of the pilgrims, the latter (Abu Bakr) sent me in the company of a group of people to make a public announcement: 'No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year, and no naked person is allowed to perform Tawaf (circumambulation) of the Kaba.'
Bukhari 26.689
A Rational Solution to an Irrational Ritual
The rational cannot defeat the ingrained irrational that you find in adults mindlessly circling a rock they believe to be a relic from Paradise. It can, however, make it less foreboding for believers who, through no fault of their own, will not be able complete a ritual that is a foundation of their faith because their god failed to take into account an astronomical increase in followers as He delays bringing an end to His Creation.
The Hajj could welcome millions more pilgrims if the Hagar search for water re-enactment and the stoning of the devil add-ons were relegated to the Umrah, the lesser pilgrimage that can be performed at any time, and the more drastic changes Muhammad contemplated making to the pagan Hajj were implemented.
Directly above the Ka’ba in Mecca there is the Ka’ba in the sky, the Bait-ul-Ma’mur. Except for an entrance and an exit door, Bait-ul-Ma'mur is almost an exact replica of the Ka’ba in Mecca and is situated directly above it, somewhere above the clouds. Muhammad, in Sahih Muslim’s account of his meeting with God to set the number of prayers, was shown the Bait-ul-Ma’mur where, every day, seventy thousand angels make the pilgrimage to this Ka’ba in the sky never to return.
Then I was taken up to the seventh heaven.
Gabriel asked the (gate) to be opened. It was said: Who is he?
He said: Gabriel.
It was said: Who is with thee?
He replied: Muhammad (may peace be upon him).
It was said: Has he been sent for?
He replied: He has indeed been sent for.
(The gate) was opened for us and there I found Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him) reclining against the Bait-ul-Ma'mur and there enter into it seventy thousand angels every day, never to visit (this place) again.
Sahih Muslim 1.309
Unlike earth-bound pilgrims, angels do not circle their Ka'ba but enter by one door and exit by another. Much more efficient, which may explain why Muhammad considered remodeling the Mecca Ka'ba on the one in the sky. He did not do so because most of the converts to Islam were from the age of ignorance, the time before Allah sent down His book of revealed truths to replace empirical ones.
Narrated Aswad:
Ibn Az-Zubair said to me, "Aisha used to tell you secretly a number of things. What did she tell you about the Ka'ba?"
I replied, "She told me that once the Prophet said, 'O Aisha! Had not your people been still close to the pre-Islamic period of ignorance! I would have dismantled the Ka'ba and would have made two doors in it; one for entrance and the other for exit."
Bukhari 3:128
Believers who lived during the age of ignorance are long dead. Therefore, there are no scriptural impediments to reconsidering Muhammad solution to an overflowing Hajj. A Hajj stripped down to its essential, a Ka’ba with an entrance and an exit door, with the stone from Paradise set to one site, with pilgrims entering by one door and exiting by the other, just like the angels do, could save billions from Hell’s fire because of the limitation of the current configuration. It would not be that big of a reno:
Only very high-level delegations are allowed in the Kaaba, and not often. There are blurry videos online that seem to show it mostly empty save for two pillars, an altar, incense lamps and plaques on the wall.
What we can say for sure is what is not there: images of the gods that pre-Islamic Arabs once worshiped and kept inside the Kaaba.
New York Times, Postcard from the Hajj, Diaa Hadid, Sept 10, 2016
The Ka’ba was burnt to the ground during the 2nd of three civil wars that followed Muhammad’s passing. This may explain the spartan interior (see Appendix: Three Murders and Two Desecrations).
Re-enactment of Hagar's Frantic Search for Water
Hagar, in the Bible, is a slave/maid of Abraham’s wife Sarah whom she gives to her husband so that she could bear him a child. Hagar's relationship to Abraham, let alone her name, is not mentioned in the Koran. This should not come as a surprise as the only woman who has any significant role in the Koran, and is the only female mentioned by name in the entire book, is Mary, the mother of Jesus, as she has an essential role to play in the discrediting of the divinity of her son. As you read the following about Hagar and a well, keep in mind that the story told here is not in Allah’s Book.
After Abraham’s wife Sarah became pregnant, God instructed him to take Hagar and Isma`il (also spelled Ishmael)—Islam considers Hagar a legitimate wife of Abraham and Isma`il, not Isaac, the Patriarch’s first-born son—from their home in Palestine to the desert wilderness of Arabia and leave them there. When their water ran out, Hagar ran frantically between the hills of Safa and Marwa until she collapsed next to her son, who struck his foot on the ground causing a spring to gush forth, the famous well of Zam Zam.
Narrated Ibn Abbas:
The Prophet said, "May Allah be merciful to the mother of Ishmael! If she had left the water of Zam-Zam (fountain) as it was, (without constructing a basin for keeping the water), (or said, "If she had not taken handfuls of its water"), it would have been a flowing stream.
Jurhum (an Arab tribe) came and asked her, 'May we settle at your dwelling?'
She said, 'Yes, but you have no right to possess the water.'
They agreed."
Bukhari 40.556
During the Hajj, pilgrims recreate Hagar’s frantic search for water by moving back and forth in unison between the two hills—you guessed it—seven times. Safa and Marwa are mentioned in a revelation meant to reassure pilgrims on their way to the pilgrimage not to be apprehensive about traversing the area around the hills—this was after Muhammad ordered the destruction idols found there. .
2:158 Surely Safa and Marwa are beacons of Allah (His Religion). He who performs the proper or the lesser pilgrimage commits no sin if he goes around them. And those who volunteer to do a good deed will find Allah Rewarding, All-Knowing.
The above is the only verse in Koran about the hills, and the book contains no reference to Hagar’s frantic search for water. This was entirely the master choreographer’s idea, along with the stoning of the devil. Perhaps he added these additional routines to make his Islamic Hajj more than a circling of the Ka’ba followed by dinner.
Stoning of the Devil
Islam is a religion which in both its sacred text (the Koran and Book of Hadiths) and in banal rituals promotes hatred and violence. The ritual stoning of Satan every year at Mecca is not simply a re-enactment of a superstition. Its impact is anthropological. It is a ceremony to which every Muslim is encouraged to participate, and which sanctifies and encourages violence.
Le Figaro
The stoning of the devil is spread over three days during which pilgrims will throw 49 stones at a pillar representing the devil. This ritual remains the most difficult choreography with more than a thousand pilgrims trampled to death in 2015 while rushing to have their go at the devil. Abraham stoned the devil not once, not twice, but three times with seven stones reaching their target on each occasion, as must the stones of the pilgrims who launch their pebbles at pillars representing the Devil.
When he [Abraham] left Mina and was brought down to (the defile called) al-Aqaba, the Devil appeared to him at Stone-Heap of the Defile. Gabriel said to him: 'Pelt him!' so Abraham threw seven stones at him so that he disappeared from him. Then he appeared to him at the Middle Stone-Heap. Gabriel said to him: 'Pelt him!' so he pelted him with seven stones so that he disappeared from him. Then he appeared to him at the Little Stone-Heap. Gabriel said to him: 'Pelt him!' so he pelted him with seven stones like the little stones for throwing with a sling. So the Devil withdrew from him."
Al-Azraqi
Narrated Abdur-Rahman bin Yazid:
When Abdullah, reached the big Jamra (i.e. Jamrat-ul-Aqaba) he kept the Ka'ba on the left side and Mina on his right side and threw seven pebbles (at the Jamra) and said, "The one on whom Surat-al-Baqara was revealed (i.e. the Prophet) had done the Rami similarly."
Bukhari 26.804
Just like the re-enactment of Hagar's frantic search for water, the stoning of the devil ritual is not mentioned in the Koran.
Festival of Eid al-Adha
The stoning of the devil may sanctify and encourage violence, but it is the Festival of Eid al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice celebrated worldwide, not only at Hajj, that literally brings that violence home in the way animals are tortured to death. At the Hajj alone, one animal is butchered for every two pilgrims, meaning that in a normal year around a million head of cattle, sheep, goats and camels have their throat cut while fully aware and left to slowly bleed to death in commemoration of Abraham’s willingness to do the same to his son.
37:102 Then, when he attained the age of consorting with him, he said: “My son, I have seen in sleep that I am slaughtering you. See what you think.” He said: “My father, do what you are commanded; you will find me, Allah willing, one of the steadfast.”
37:103 Then, when they both submitted and he flung him down upon his brow;
37:104 And We called out to Him “O Abraham,
37:105 “You have believed the vision.” Thus We reward the beneficent.
37:106 This, indeed, is the manifest trial.
37:107 And We ransomed him with a large sacrifice.
37:108 And We left him for later generations:
37:109 “Peace be upon Abraham.”
The private and public slaughter—where permitted—of animals that occur during the festival is not only an excellent way of demonstrating a killing method easily transferable to people, but also to desensitize the observer and the person doing the killing to the pain and suffering. It may even kindle a love of killing in the cruelest way, whether it is an animal or an unbeliever.
Children mastering the skill during the Festival of Eid al-Adha that will make them excellent recruits for ISIS and its imitators when they grow up. Image may be subject to copyright.
Combine all that with the Koran’s rampant hatred and sadism and you have the making of the unperturbed killers in the next photograph about to slice the throat of the people kneeling before them prior to decapitation. Notice their composure.
An image grab from propaganda video released on November 16, 2014 by al-Furqan Media allegedly shows members of the ISIL jihadists preparing the simultaneous beheadings of at least 15 men described as Syrian military personnel. AFP Photo
An Irrational Solution to an Irrational Ritual
The ritual slaughter of animals by pilgrims at the Hajj is today largely outsourced, meaning that the ritual has been largely compromised. A testament to its irrationality.
Usually, the post office is where you send mail or pay your bills. In Saudi Arabia during the hajj, it’s where you pay for your animal sacrifice.
It costs 460 riyals, or about $120, to have a sheep slaughtered. The sacrifice, known as the hadi, is incumbent on all pilgrims, who must donate at least two-thirds of the meat to the poor.
Modern pilgrims usually have a slaughterhouse near Mecca do this for them, via the local post office.
How do you know your animal was sacrificed? By text message, of course.
New York Times, Postcards from the Hajj, Diaa Hadid, Sept 10, 2016
That compromised includes not garnishing the animal, as God commanded, before a pilgrim, not an employee of a slaughterhouse, cuts its throat.
5:97 Allah has made the Ka’ba, the Sacred House, a foundation of religion for all mankind, together with the Sacred Month and the sacrificial offerings and their garlands, so that you may know that Allah knows what is in the heavens and on the earth, and that Allah knows everything very well.
How it’s actually done at the Hajj:
[In] sweaty slaughterhouse on the edge of Mecca: Men in stained robes hauled flailing sheep into the building. One man dragged his prey by its leg, and another carried one of the animals on his back.
New York Times, Postcards from the Hajj, Diaa Hadid, Sept 10, 2016
Western slaughterhouses that have not been instructed by their governments to torture animals to death when asked, like in Canada, use a stun gun to render the animal unconscious before being bled to death. Why not make that a universal practice and also outlaw individuals from ritually slaughtering animals. I think God would approve.
Allah once destroyed an entire city. He just leveled Thamud (believed to be Petra) killing countless men, women and children because some jerks had the temerity to cut the hamstring of a favourite camel after one of His messengers, the mythical Arab prophet Salih, told them not to.
91:13 Then Allah’s Messenger said to them: “Beware of Allah’s she-camel and her drinking time.”
91:14 They called him a liar and hamstrung her; whereupon their Lord destroyed them for their sins and settled the matter;
91:15 And He does not fear its sequel.
God's resounding merciless response to the pain caused to a camel has to be the strongest evidence we have that He does not like animals to suffer needlessly.
The pagan at their Hajj used to set animals free as a tribute to their gods.
Narrated Said bin Al-Musaiyab:
As-Saiba was an animal which they (i.e. infidels) used to set free in the names of their gods so that it would not be used for carrying anything.
Abu Huraira said, "The Prophet said, 'I saw Amr bin Amir bin Luhai Al-Khuzai dragging his intestines in the (Hell) Fire, for he was the first man who started the custom of releasing animals (for the sake of false gods).'"
Bukhari 76.723
Islam tortures animals to death as a tribute to their deity. Islam is very much a synthesis of Jewish beliefs and pagan traditions, but not necessarily the benign ones as Amir bin Luhai Al-Khuzai dragging his intestines in Hell will attest.
Except for surah Repentance, which is mostly about war, all other chapters of the Koran begin with the ubiquitous formula-invocation “in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.” Why not extend this compassion to animals on whom we depend. It would not necessarily impede Islam’s inevitable triumph but it might make it a less cruel and bloody one.