Mecca | Asif Khan | Roads & Kingdoms

Photo © Asif Khan- Courtesy Roads And Kingdoms

With the advent of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, I thought it timely to feature an interesting essay published by the eclectic journals Roads And Kingdoms as Mecca's Other Pilgrimage.

The rather tongue-in-cheek, but not irreverent, writing is by Asif Khan, a documentary photographer who is based in India. His description of the Umrah, the lesser version of the Hajj or pilgrimage that is demanded from every able Muslim will enlighten those who are unfamiliar (or even those who are familiar) with the Muslim rituals.

It reminded me of my own experience visiting Mecca many years ago when I was visiting the nearby Jeddah on a business trip. I worked for Citibank at the time, and it was suggested I spend a few days in that port city to explore whether a job there was for me. While the job dimensions were great, the social restrictions in Saudi Arabia on my family were difficult to accept, so I turned it down. 

Whilst in Jeddah's Citibank offices, I was approached by Said Hafez, a colleague from Egypt, who convinced me to visit Mecca before I flew home to New York.  The distance of 40 miles or so was covered very quickly and that evening, I found myself along with my companion in the very heart of Islam. It was before all the new glass-concrete monstrosities were built,  and the Haram Al Sharif was superb.

Not being up-to-date with the rituals of ablutions and prayer, I faithfully copied the actions of my devout companion who knew exactly what to do and when.  I mumbled the only verse of the Qur'an I knew, over and over like a mantra....hoping no one would ask me anything that could prove my religious inadequacy (at least in their eyes).

The Kaaba itself was not as large as I had thought it to be, and at this time of the evening few people were about. Consequently, I had ample opportunity to touch the black meteorite known as Al Hagar Al Aswad which surface was made concave by the millions who had touched it before me during past millennia. 

The whole area was calm, quiet and serene and I easily imagined how the atmosphere brought the devout to their knees, and tears of devotion streaming down the faces of the supplicants. But for fresher and more descriptive account of Mecca and the Haram, read Asif Khan essay.

Roads & Kingdoms is an independent journal of food, politics, travel and culture. In its second year of existence, it was voted the Gold Winner for Best Travel Journalism Site by the Society of American Travel Writers. “Roads & Kingdoms” is borrowed from The Book of Roads & Kingdoms, an early travelogue written in the 11th century by Abu Abdullah al-Bakri in Córdoba.

Toufic Beyhum | Mecca

Photo © Toufic Beyhum-All Rights Reserved

"...though neither Koran or Sultan enjoin the death of Jew or Christian intruding within the columns that note the sanctuary limits, nothing could save a European detected by the populace, or one who after pilgrimage declared himself an unbeliever."-A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Medinah and Meccah (1855)-Richard Francis Burton

Mecca...or more accurately Makkah, is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and a site of his first revelation of the Qur'an. It is regarded as the holiest city in Islam, and a pilgrimage to it (the Haj) is obligatory for all Muslims physically and financially able to make the journey. Mecca is home to the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site as well as being the focal point of Muslim prayer.

Photographer Toufic Beyhum had the inside view to the holy site when he undertook his own pilgrimage. While photography inside the mosque enveloping the Kaaba is forbidden, he was able to enter the site with his camera, and photograph almost at will.

A rather journalistic article in The Daily Telegraph has more background information on his photo shoot, and it may come as a surprise to some of my readers that the inside of the holiest of Islam's religious sites is the only place in Saudi Arabia where sexes are allowed to mingle freely. Yes, women and men stand, walk, pray, circumambulate the Kaaba shoulder to shoulder...with none of this ridiculous strict segregation of sexes which is currently en vogue in Islamic countries.

I had the opportunity of visiting the Kaaba some years ago while on a business trip to Jeddah, and it left a deep impression on me as a place of piety and peace. At that time, the hideous newly built monstrosities surrounding the mosque hadn't been erected, and the Meccan skyline was still unmarred by the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower, which is the tallest clock tower in the world.

According to the article, there’s a hotel nearby the mosque where rooms are $500 a night, along with a mall with a Starbucks and a Paris Hilton handbag shop.

Historically, it appears that in the 5th century, the Kaaba was a place of worship for the deities of Arabia's pagan tribes, and Mecca was an important trading destination of the caravans, carrying goods from Africa and the Far East passed through it including spices, leather, medicine, cloth, and so forth.

Toufic Beyhum was born in Beirut, and moved to London at a young age. He graduated from Art College and started a successful advertising career as an Art Director for multinational advertising agencies in New York, Dubai, London and Berlin. He exhibited his work in London, Berlin, Los Angeles and Dubai. He was featured in National Geographic Shot, The Independent, Esquire Russia, WIRED, BILD, Die Zeit, Der Tagesspiegel, Zeitung, Welt Am Sonntag, Complex art+design, Exberliner, Time Out Dubai, BMI and Emirates In-flight magazine.

Currently based in London, he's isworking on a film documentary called "After Tomorrow" filmed in Petra, Jordan.