{"id":253099,"date":"2019-07-29T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T10:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=253099"},"modified":"2019-07-29T16:57:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T19:57:35","slug":"brazilians-go-on-hajj-the-worlds-largest-pilgrimage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/brazilians-go-on-hajj-the-worlds-largest-pilgrimage\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazilians go on Hajj, the world\u2019s largest pilgrimage"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Born in S\u00e3o Paulo, Luiz Henrique Souza converted to Islam six years ago. A son of Christians from the Northeast Region of Brazil, he started practicing the religion in 2013, while he was studying history at S\u00e3o Paulo State University (UNESP) in Franca. \u201cI started studying it as a way to reaffirm who I was and what I believed in,\u201d he told ANBA. \u201cAnd also because of Malcolm X, who was a Muslim; I also started being around Muslims that lived in the periphery of Embu das Artes.\u201d The 26-year-old teacher, historian and artist will go on Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, this year. Malcolm X was one of the most important American activists against racism in the 1950s and 1960s.<\/p>\n

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Luiz Henrique Souza will go on Hajj this year<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Souza says that, in his conversion process, he gradually started a series of practices while studying the Quran in mosques in Santo Amaro and Embu das Artes. He says that, in order to convert to Islam, it\u2019s enough to utter the words: \u201cThere is no true deity but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you must believe it,\u201d he stressed. To apply for a visa to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Souza asked a sheikh, a Muslim religious authority, for a certificate of Islam conversion. Only Muslims can go into Mecca.<\/p>\n

Souza discovered the social work performed by the Federation of Muslim Associations of Brazil (FAMBRAS), which offers trips to Hajj, around three years ago, registered, got into the waiting list, and was selected to go this year. \u201cI started preparing for the ritual and understood the meaning of the pilgrimage, I got a clear idea of what it is; I believe it\u2019s a very intense, unique, personal experience.\u201d For Souza, this trip is the only one that matters in the life of a Muslim. \u201cIt\u2019s the world\u2019s greatest pilgrimage and being there is like the material recalling of monotheism, it\u2019s like going back to the religion\u2019s origin, and it\u2019s also a manifestation of the strength and diversity of Islam,\u201d he declared. \u201cI\u2019m going with a religious perspective, but also a historical one because of my education. Everyone that goes there invited by God. Many people make plans and can\u2019t go. There\u2019s a calling,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He says that, both for academic and religious reasons, he tries to address Islam history and Middle East issues in a fact-based approach in his history classes at Col\u00e9gio 24 de Mar\u00e7o<\/a>. \u201cI believe that, this way, I end up expanding my students\u2019 worldviews and removing prejudices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He says that the school he works at have a good relationship with the Islamic community in the region, since it\u2019s next to the Mesquista Santo Amaro. For him, however, his mosque, the Mesquita Sumayyah Bint Khayyat in Embu das Artes is special. \u201cBecause it was founded by Brazilians converts to Islam in a very poor region, and that\u2019s where I could get along well. It\u2019s a personal joy going on Hajj, but it\u2019s also a joy for my community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Carla Eldin went on the pilgrimage in 2012<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Female experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 42-year-old administrative assistant Carla Sanches Taky Eldin converted 19 years ago and went on the pilgrimage to Mecca in 2012 with her husband. She tells a little about her experience as a Muslim woman on Hajj. She says the pilgrimage is made together and men and women are only separated in hotel rooms and inside the mosques, as it’s the Islamic tradition. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel any separation. Actually, I felt a protection and a special treatment towards women,\u201d she told ANBA. Most of the women use the \u201cabaya,\u201d a long black vest, or white prayer clothes, as well as the hijab, Eldin said. \u201cOn the Day of the Sacrifice, the men shave their heads, while the women only trim their hair a little bit,\u201d another difference in the women\u2019s pilgrimage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an unbelievable experience! It\u2019s a unique emotion being so close to God. Many stretches that are pure emotion. Mecca is definitely a spectacle of grandeur: Kaaba, the first house on Earth, going around it seven times takes between two to three hours, with millions of people, all of them in a perfect circle. I loved everything that my eyes saw. It\u2019s the true faith in one place, the one and only Islam,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Muslim Arab<\/strong><\/p>\n

The heat, the calm, the security, the millions of people and the infrastructure were factors that caught the Egyptian-born Brazilian Amro Awad\u2019s attention during his first pilgrimage last year. Awad is 28 and has been in Brazil for seven years and is responsible for consulate issues at the United Arab Emirates\u2019 Consulate in S\u00e3o Paulo. \u201cThere were over 2 million people visiting the holy places under a 118 to 125 degrees, but you get used to the heat and almost everywhere there is an air-conditioner, in mosques, hotels, bathrooms, and there are huge sunshades and water vapor outside to fresh up,\u201d he said. Awad was able to go on Hajj thanks to the assistance of a Dubai charity linked to FAMBRAS.<\/p>\n

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Awad on Hajj last year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Awad said that, during the pilgrimage, they do everything as happened to the prophet Abraham. He went around Kaaba seven times but couldn\u2019t reach the black stone in the middle, which is almost impossible to reach amid so many people. \u201cWe\u2019re all the same there, wearing the \u2018ihram\u2019, which is like a big, white towel divided in two parts, one covering the legs, and another the torso,\u201d he explained. He walked seven times between the two mountains. He stood in the Mina camp for some hours before going back to the hotel. \u201cYou aren\u2019t obligated to spend the night there, but you must keep watch during the night, and each person decides for how long they want to stay,\u201d he said. He performed the stoning of the devil and, on the Day of the Sacrifice, he donated a lamb, shaved his head and took the white cloth off. \u201cYou have to do it in this order,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt was amazing to experience that, to live what they lived. You can\u2019t imagine how it feels being in that sacred place. I went where Ismael stepped on Kaaba, there I could reach,\u201d he told.<\/p>\n

Awad said that, when arriving in Saudi Arabia, a Ministry of Hajj and Umrah inspector retains the pilgrimages\u2019 passports and only return them at the end of the trip. \u201cFor organization and security purposes, I guess, to avoid conflicts,\u201d he said. Umrah is a lesser pilgrimage, performed at another time of the year.<\/p>\n

Awad was impressed with the country\u2019s infrastructure to receive the pilgrims. \u201cAt the walls of the stoning, they made a USD 5 billion project to build three towers in order to increase the space and make it more organized and avoid accidents. He also mentioned the high-speed railway<\/a> that takes the pilgrims from Mecca to Medina, a city that is not part of the Hajj but is visited by many Muslims after the pilgrimage, since that\u2019s where the Prophet\u2019s Mosque is situated. The train started operating last October and rides at 300 km\/h. The construction costed approximately USD 1.8 billion.<\/p>\n

Zamzam water<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carla Eldin and Amro Awad drank the holy water from the Zamzam wells, which supplies Mecca and Medina through fountains for the pilgrims. It\u2019s possible to take home up to five liters of the water on the plane. \u201cThe airport has a store that sells the water for pilgrims to take home,\u201d Awad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe holy water answers the prayers. What you ask for does happen, and it has healing properties for skin diseases,\u201d Awad said. He didn\u2019t want to tell what he asked for, but he said that \u201cpeople usually ask that God guide us until the end of the line and that we don\u2019t steer away from the right path, and our heart and physical body are protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medina<\/strong><\/p>\n

Medina was mentioned by one of the interviewees as a place that, despite not being a part of Hajj, has a special energy. \u201cI was all tears while visiting the Prophet\u2019s Mosque in Medina. I was so grateful God gave me the chance to be there; it\u2019s a white and gold mosque, it’s a completely different feeling to pray there among thousands of people from several cultures and countries, all together in one mission!\u201d Eldin said.<\/p>\n

Despite the 125 degrees, even hotter than Mecca, where it was 118-122 degrees during the day, Awad reported having felt \u201ca peace that doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The kindness was another factor that impressed Awad in his religious trip. \u201cPeople are so kind in Mecca and Medina. Many strangers on the street offering everybody water and dates to help pilgrims. The generosity of those living there caught my attention. They even offer you rides. They are all volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the Hajj<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fifth sacred pillar of Islam is the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca and Mina between the 8th<\/sup> and 13th<\/sup> day of the final month in the Islamic calendar, the Dhu al-Hijja. The pilgrimage must be taken at least once in a lifetime by Muslims who are financially and physically able to do it.<\/p>\n

ANBA spoke with Egypt\u2019s sheikh Khaled Taky Eldin to find out more about the processes and history involved in the Hajj. Khaled is secretary-general of the Superior Council for Islamic Theologists and Affairs in Brazil. The husband of Carla Eldin, he\u2019s served stints at mosques in Brazil and Latin America.<\/p>\n

The first pillar of Islam is faith in one God only; the second is prayer; the third is Ramadan, or fast from sunup to sundown during the 9th<\/sup> month of the Islamic calendar; the fourth is charity; and the fifth is the Hajj.<\/p>\n

Mecca, according to Khaled, is the holy house of God, and the first house of God ever built on Earth. The prophet Abraham was sent to Mecca with his first wife Hager \u2013 or Hagar \u2013 and his infant son Ishmael. Abraham left his wife and kid in Mecca with a little food and water. When the water ran out, Hager went out for more between the mountains of Al Safa and Al Marwa \u2013 the second part of the pilgrimage \u2013 and found the well of Zamzam, which held holy water, next to the Kaaba.<\/p>\n

(story continues after photo gallery)<\/em><\/p>\n

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