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Searching... | 30000000011506 | BP187.3 L66 1979 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000000584726 | BP187.3 L66 1979 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
The Qu'ran admonishes Muslims that "the pilgrimage to the temple is an obligation due to God from those who are able to journey there." Today over one and a half million pilgrims annually fulfill this Fifth Pillar of Islam, the Hajj. Saudi Arabia conquered the Hijaz in part to protect Hajjis from abuses in the management of the Hajj. How does that country now administer the religious event that brings so many people, often poor and illiterate, into one small area to perform a variety of complex rituals? How does the government protect its visitors' health and safety, and ensure their proper guidance through the necessary rites? How does it move so many pilgrims in and out of what is essentially an out-of-the-way desert?
David Long has set this thoughtful examination of the twentieth-century Hajj within its historical framework. He first provides a clear, concise description of the rituals either necessary or traditional to the proper performance of the Hajj; he then relates how the inhabitants of Mecca used to manage the pilgrimage and finally, relates how the new Saudi rulers gradually brought the Hajj service industry under government regulation. Today there is probably no agency of the Saudi government which is not at least tangentially concerned with the Hajj. Only in the area of health did there exist a history of public management. By the early nineteenth century it had become all too clear that the Hajj served to carry diseases endemic to the Orient to Europe, and by the end of that century health and quarantine procedures were under international control. Today the Saudi government has sole control of these matters. Oil revenue vastly exceeds Hajj revenues--once a major source of Saudi income--but the Hajj continues to play an enormous role in the religious, social, and political life of the country. And even in economics it structures the Saudi businessman's year and provides part- or full-time employment to more Saudi citizens than does the oil industry.
This volume contains an extensive bibliography, appendixes containing statistical material on recent Hajjs, maps, and a glossary.
Author Notes
A specialist on the Middle East, David Long spent three years in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, with the U. S. Foreign Service.
Table of Contents
Tables |
Preface |
Part 1 The Religious Aspects of the Hajj |
1 The Origins of the Hajj |
The Pre-Islamic Origins of the Hajj |
The Islamization of the Hajj |
The Farewell Hajj |
2 The Rites of the Hajj |
Eligibility for the Hajj |
The Departure |
Ihram : The Rite of Consecration |
The Arrival Tawaf |
The Sa'y |
The Hajj Rites |
The Closing Ceremonies |
The Visit to al-Madinah |
Part 2 The Administrative Aspects of the Hajj |
3 The Hajj Service Industry: From Laissez Faire to Government Regulation |
The Hajj Service Industry Before 1924 |
From Laissez Faire to Government Regulation |
Contemporary Regulatory Procedures |
The Internal Hajj Transportation Industry |
Complaints Procedures |
4 The Public Administration of the Hajj |
The Development of Governmental Institutions |
The Overall Supervision of the Hajj |
Saudi Administrative Services for the Hajj |
5 The Health Aspects of the Hajj |
The Period of International Control |
The Development of Saudi Health Institutions for the Hajj |
The Health Administration of the Hajj |
Part 3 The Impact of the Hajj on Saudi Arabia |
6 The Social, Economic, and Political Significance of the Hajj |
The Sociological Impact of the Hajj |
The Economic Impact of the Hajj |
The Political Impact of the Hajj |
7 The Hajj Today |
A Period of Change |
Hajj Administration: A Balance Sheet |
Looking to the Future |
Appendixes |
A Hajj Statistics |
B Glossary |
C Maps |
Bibliography |
Notes |
Index |