The Hajj mystique

The volume contains fantastic Hajj narratives, illustrations and 200 colour images.

The much-derided coffee table book is now pass. In its place has emerged a book as rich, if not richer, in illustrations but enriched further with erudite essays by acknowledged authorities. That is what one has come to expect of Roli Books. This fantastic volume more than lives up to one's expectations. Its editor, Venetia Porter, is curator of Islamic and Modern Middle Eastern Art at the British Museum in London. She herself has contributed an essay on The Modern Art of Hajj and Textiles of Mecca and Medina. It is fascinating; but without detracting one bit from its interest and worth, far more urgent is an exposure of the architecture that has grown in the surroundings of these two ancient and holy cities. Assisting the editor is a formidable team of famous scholars Karen Armstrong, Ziauddin Sardar, M.A.S. Abdul Haleem, Robert Irwin and Hugh Kennedy. They have provided major contributions. Fifteen others have made additional contributions. An advisory board oversaw the entire project.

The book is an offshoot of the exhibition held in the British Museum from January 26 to April 15. The title is drawn from its theme. It is the result of a close and very fruitful cooperation between the British Museum and the King Abdulaziz Public Library in Riyadh, which coordinated the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's participation in this unique exhibition.

More than 10 million Muslims perform the Hajj and the Umrah (minor Hajj outside the prescribed term) annually. More than 1.6 billion Muslims turn to it five times a day daily during the namaaz (prayer). The facilities provided by the kingdom are enormous and very considerate to the pilgrims. The book has ample annotations, references for further reading, Hajj travel narratives, a chronology and a map. The list of exhibits cites the source for each of the over 200 colour images printed in the volume. This great heritage accumulated over 14 centuries includes paintings of great historical significance, pictures of objects and rare maps. At page 101, for instance, you get an aerial view of the Darb Zubayda route, which an Abbasid prince (d. 783) first established. The journey then, and for long thereafter, was harsh and perilous at times. There is a painting from Shahnama of Firdausi of mid-16th century and of Alexander visiting the Kaba (page 131). There is a picture of the copper key for the Kaba of 1364. The sheer range of exhibits and the illustrations are awesome.

The essays cover various aspects of the pilgrimage religious, spiritual, historical and modern. Why do they perform the pilgrimage, asks Karen Armstrong, and proceeds to answer the question with learning. A. Faizur Rahman deserves credit for drawing attention, in his excellent review of the book in The Hindu, to an aspect which is glossed over, bar the odd reference in some Muslim journals in India. He deserves to be quoted in extenso.

But modern day pilgrims have a different story to tell like for example, Basharat Peer. His article Modern Mecca published in the April 2012 issue of The New Yorker, gives an eyewitness account of the destruction of the classical Islamic architecture of Mecca and its replacement with drab high-rises and shopping malls. Citing Peers jaw-dropping disclosure, Will Heaven of the Telegraph Blogs accuses the British Museum of hiding these facts in its blockbuster exhibition.

Why is the Muslim world silent on this outrage?