The Hajj Collected Essays B-M

8/19/2019 The Hajj Collected Essays B-M

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The Hajj:Collected EssaysEdited by Venetia Porterand Liana Saif


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Published with the kind assistance of the

Arts and Humanities Research Council

and Professor David Khalili

Publishers

The British MuseumGreat Russell StreetLondon

Series editor

Sarah Faulks

Distributors

The British Museum Press Russell SquareLondon

The Haj j: Collected Essays Edited by Venetia Porter and Liana Saif

© The Trustees of the British Museum

Front cover: ‘Crossing the Sea of Oman’, from Anis al-huj jaj(The Pi lgrim’s Companion) by Safi ibn Vali (fol. b).The Nasser D. Khali li Collection of Islamic Art(© Nour Foundation. Courtesy of the Khalili Family Trust)

Printed and bound in the UK by edge Ltd, Hockley

Papers used by The British Museum Press are recyclableproducts made from wood grown in well-managed forestsand other controlled sources. The manufacturing processesconform to the environmental regulations of the country oforigin.

All British Museum images illustrated in this book are© The Trustees of the British Museum.

Further information about the Museum and its collection can

be found at britishmuseum.org


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Contents Preface v Nasser D. Khalili

Introduction vi Vemetia Porter

Religion, Early History and Politics

1. The Religious and Social Importance of Hajj 1

M. Abdel Haleem

2. The Hajj before Muhammad: Journeys to Mecca 6

in Muslim Narratives of Pre-Islamic History

Peter Webb

3. The Ofcial Announcement of an Umayyad 15

Caliph’s Successful Pilgrimage to Mecca

Harry Munt

By Land and Sea: Archaeology, Hajj Routes and Ships

4. The Lost Fort of Mafraq and the Syrian Hajj Route 21

in the 16th Century

Andrew Petersen

5. Trade and the Syrian Hajj between the 12th and 28

the early 20th Centuries: Historical and

Archaeological Perspectives

Marcus Milwright

6. Royal Ottoman Inscriptions on the Istanbul to 36

Mecca Pilgrimage Route (Darb al-Hajj al-Shami )

Mehmet Tütüncü

7. From Iraq to the Hijaz in the Early Islamic 44

Period: History and Archaeology of the Basran Hajj

Road and the Way(s) through Kuwait

Andrew Blair and Brian Ulrich

8. The Khans of the Egyptian Hajj Route in the 52 Mamluk and Ottoman Periods

Sami Saleh ‘Abd al-Malik (translated by Liana Saif)

9. ‘A Longing for Mecca’: The Trans-Saharan Hajj 65

and the Caravan Towns of West Africa Sam Nixon

10. Hajj Ports of the Red Sea: A Historical 74

and Archaeological Overview Charles Le Quesne

11. Ships that Sailed the Red Sea in Medieval and 84

Early Modern Islam: Perception and Reception

Dionisius A. Agius


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Travellers’ Tales and Colonial Histories

12. Travel to Mecca from Southern Oman in the 96

Pre-motorized Period

Janet C.E. Watson

13. The Rail Hajji s: The Trans-Siberian Railway 100and the Long Way to Mecca

Nile Green

14. The Colonial Hajj: France and Algeria, 1830–1962 108

Benjamin Claude Brower

15. The Hajj and the Raj: From Thomas Cook 115

to Bombay’s Protector of Pilgrims

John Slight

16. Pilgrim Pioneers: Britons on Hajj before 1940 122

William Facey

17. Eldon Rutter and the Modern Hajj Narrative 131

Michael Wolfe

The Material and Contemporary Culture of Hajj

18. Architectural ‘Inuence’ and the Hajj 136

Jonathan M. Bloom

19. Depictions of the Haramayn on 143

Ottoman Tiles: Content and Context

Charlotte Maury

20. Inscribing the Hajj 160Sheila Blair

21. Weaving for the Hajj under the Mamluks 169

Maria Sardi

22. Dar al-Kiswa al-Sharifa: Administration 175

and Production

Nahla Nassar

23. The Textiles Made for the Prophet’s Mosque 184

at Medina: A Preliminary Study of their Origins,

History and Style Muhammad H. al-Mojan (translated by Liana Saif)

24. The Mahmal Revisited 195 Venetia Porter

25. An Early Photograph of the Egyptian Mahmal 206in Mecca: Reections on Intellectual Property and

Modernity in the Work of C. Snouck Hurgronje Arnoud Vrolijk

26. The Islamic Pilgrimage in the Manuscript 214

Literatures of Southeast Asia Jan Just Witkam

27. Ottoman-period Manuscripts from the 224

Haramayn

Tim Stanley

28. Souvenirs and Gifts: Collecting Modern Hajj 228

Qaisra M. Khan

29. Organizing Hajj-going from Contemporary 241

Britain: A Changing Industry, Pilgrim Markets and

the Politics of Recognition Seán McLoughlin

Glossary 253

Contributors 256

Bibliography 259

Index 274


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Preface | v

Preface

Nasser D. Khalili

Mecca, during the month of Dhu al-Hijja, sees the largestannual congregation of people at any given place and timein the world. Towards it some three million Muslimsconverge from the four corners of the earth in order to fulfiltheir religious duty of Hajj. Dressed in their white ritualgarments, the pilgrims stand shoulder to shoulder equalbefore God, regardless of race, gender, wealth or rank. I amalways deeply moved by the sight of the mass of pilgrims

circumambulating the noble Ka‘ba chanting their prayers ina timeless ritual; one might as well be reading an account bya medieval traveller. The physical journey has obviouslychanged over the centuries: the camel has now beenreplaced by motorized transport and the pilgrim caravansby chartered flights. The spiritual journey, however, remains – in essence – unchanged.

It is curious that the subject of Hajj, the fifth pillar ofIslam and the one that lends itself most readily to artisticexpression, had not been seriously addressed in anexhibition before the Brit ish Museum’s recent Hajj: journey tothe heart of Islam. The huge success of this exhibition is a

tribute to the foresight and imagination of the Director, NeilMacGregor, in his enthusiastic promotion of world cultures,as well as the vision and tireless efforts of its curator, VenetiaPorter. In so eloquently relating this fascinating story fromits beginnings to the present day, the exhibition made thesubject of Hajj accessible to all, not least among those whoare unable to take part. For Muslims and non-Muslims alike,it presented a way of exploring what is common to all faithsand shared by al l. One should not forget that many of therites of Hajj revolve around the central figure of Abrahamwho is equally venerated by Jews, Christians and Muslims.There is, after all, far more that is common to these religions

than separates them.Since , The Khalili Family Trust has been actively

involved in assembling a comprehensive collection of Islamicart. Simultaneously, we have focused our attention onputting together a notable collection of objects relating toMecca and Medina and the arts of pilgrimage in general.We were therefore extremely proud to have been involved soclosely with the British Museum, and pleased that we couldplay a significant role in the presentation of this landmarkexhibition.

I am also delighted that we have been able to support thispublication which is the fruit of the multidisciplinary

conference associated with the exhibition. The essaysincluded in this book cover many aspects of Hajj. Theydemonstrate the depth and richness of the subject, from thereligious and social importance of Hajj to the ancientremains of its routes; from the personal accounts of pilgrimsto the experience of Hajj today; and from the remarkablegifts of textiles for the holy cities to the material andcontemporary culture of Hajj. I am certain that thepublication will be a vital source of information andinspiration for years to come.

Nasser D. Khalili

Founder The Khalili Collections


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This volume of essays comes out of a conferencesponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Councilthat accompanied the exhibition Hajj: journey to the heart ofIslam. The exhibition was sponsored by HSBC Amanahwith the King Abdulaziz Public Library as organizationalpartner. The intention of the conference, as with theexhibition, was to try to tell the story of the Hajj fromdifferent perspectives, from its early history to the present

day. This multidisciplinary approach is reflected in thewidely diverging subject areas that are represented by theseessays: history, archaeology, Islamic art, linguistics, religiousand social studies. The contributors evoke the lives of thepilgrims, the routes they took, the objects they left behind,the dangers of the journey and the strong sense of belief thatimpelled them to undertake the journey to Mecca. Alsohighlighted are the many objects associated with the Hajj:the lavish textiles, the beautifully painted tiles, the richlyilluminated manuscripts and the everyday objects made foror to bring to mind the holy cities and the Hajj.

The volume opens with an exposition of the rituals of the

Hajj expressing clearly what Hajj represents for Muslimsand closes with the experiences of the Hajj today by Muslimsfrom the United Kingdom. In between, the essays fall intoseveral groups. In the section ‘Religion, Early History andPolitics’, the contributors examine pre-Islamic Hajj and itsearly politicization under the Umayyad caliphs. The nextgroup of essays, under the heading ‘By Land and Sea: Archaeology, Hajj Routes and Ships’, concentrates ondifferent aspects of the routes. An Arabic text on Damascenecrafts sheds light on objects traded on Hajj; there are newdiscoveries about the Hajj route from Basra; the rediscoveryof an Ottoman fort at Mafraq along the Syrian route and the

reinterpretation of Ottoman royal inscriptions. A survey ofthe Sinai route looks at the extensive network of fort-khans ,while a discussion of the Trans-Saharan route focuses on thefascinating city of Tadmekka. The all important role andhistory of the Hajj ports on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean isexamined along with an analysis of the different types ofships used to make these journeys.

The third group of essays fall under the title ‘Travellers’Tales and Colonial Histories’. We start with pilgrims’accounts: one told in Mehri of a journey from Oman bycamel; and the second of hajji s who travelled on the Trans-Siberian rai lway. We then look at how colonialism affected

the Hajj, under the French in Algeria with the strictures theyimposed on pilgrims and in India during the Raj with afocus on the role played by Thomas Cook. The last twoarticles in this section highlight Britons who went on Hajj – some as genuine believers, others as imposters.

The essays in the last section are grouped under the looseheading ‘The Material and Contemporary Culture of Hajj’.Here the contributors look mainly at objects, and there is adeep analysis of the depictions of the holy sites on tiles, adiscussion of the inscriptions on the Hajj textiles and keys tothe Ka‘ba, an examination of the making of the Hajj textiles inCairo, a description of the textiles of Medina and, that

supreme political symbol of the Hajj, the mahmal , is consideredfrom a number of different perspectives. The role that the Hajjhas played in the transmission of architectural ideas is alsohighlighted, as are the literary and manuscript traditions of the

Introduction

Venetia Porter

vi | The Hajj: Collected Essays


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Introduction | vii

us to use their photographs: Professor David Khalili, Nurhan Atasoy, Newsha Tavakolian, Andrew Petersen, Sami Saleh‘Abd al-Malik, Sam Nixon, Marcus Milwright, Ann Parker,Sotheby’s, David Collection, Mehmet Tütüncü, LaurenceHapiot, Diana Danke, Bruce Wannell and Qaisra Khan.Thanks also to British Museum photographer DudleyHubbard for his beautiful photographs.

Finally I would like to express my deepest thanks to

Qaisra Khan and John Slight who organized the conferenceupon which this book is based and to the Arts andHumanities Research Council who sponsored it and helpedus in other ways. I would also like to thank my colleague Jeremy Hill for all his help and advice throughout this projectand to the Keeper of the Middle East department, JonathanTubb, for his ongoing support of the project.

Practical notes on the text

All the dates are unless a Hijra date is included in whichcase they are presented as: /–. We decided to keepthe transliteration to a minimum and therefore diacritical

marks are only included where essential, as in Janet Watson’sarticle. We apologize to those who may find this irr itating. All non-Western words are italicized unless they have formedpart of English vocabulary such as imam or sheikh. Turkishspellings have been used for the names of the Ottomansultans and other Turkish words. The references for eacharticle are treated as endnotes and an integratedbibliography is at the end of the book, alongside a basicglossary and an index. The translations of the Qur’an thathave been principally used are by Alan Jones () and M. Abdel Haleem ().

Notes The essays by Will iam Facey and Qaisra Khan are based on

lectures given at different times during the course of the exhibition.

Ottomans and southeast Asia. We conclude with the modern-day souvenirs that are brought back by pilgrims today.

The articles in this book develop and deal in depth withmany of the ideas that were touched upon in the exhibitionand the accompanying multiauthored publications Hajj:

journey to the heart of Islam and The Art of Hajj . They furtherdemonstrate how multifaceted and what a fruitful area ofresearch the study of the Hajj is. My thanks therefore go first

and foremost to the contributors of the excellent articles inthis volume. They have provided us with thought provokingnew material on a wide range of subjects and have trulyconfirmed that a new subject area called ‘Hajj studies’ hasbeen created.

My other main thanks go to my co-editor Liana Saif whoworked tirelessly with the contributors and translated thetwo articles by Sami Saleh ‘Abd al-Malik and Muhammadal-Mojan. I would also like to thank Sarah Faulks, our editorat the British Museum Press, for all her work, kindness andprofessionalism. Without Professor David Khalili this bookis unlikely to have seen the light of day, and to him and to

Nahla Nassar, curator of the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, whose enthusiasm for the subject of Hajj knows nobounds, I am extremely grateful. Nahla helped us with someof the texts, provided photographs and regularly offeredmuch needed support. Others who have provided assistanceand guidance in several ways are James Allan, Colin Baker,Will iam Facey, Annabel Gallop, Tim Insoll, Selin Ipek,Hugh Kennedy, James Piscatori, Tim Stanley, ArnoudVrolijk and Rahul Qaisar.

As far as the production of the book is concerned, I wouldlike to thank Matt Bigg at Surface and Martin Brown forthe maps, and at the British Museum Press, our picture

researcher Katie Anderson, Susan Walby, Head ofProduction, and Rosemary Bradley, Director of Publishing.I would also like to thank all those who generously allowed


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Cairo

Baghdad

MECCA

Aden

Mombasa

al-Rabadha

MEDINA

Jedda

Red

Sea

Persian

Gulf

Mediterranean Sea

Black Sea Caspian

Se a

0 250 miles

0 250km

N

Damascus

Isfahan

Tehran

Istanbul

Basra

Riyadh

Qusayr

San‘a

Mocha

Jerusalem

Timbuktu

Tadmekka

Rabat

Djenne

GhadamesAujila

Ceuta

Suakin

‘Aydhab

Aqaba

Kufa

N i l

e

E u p h r a t e s

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

H

I J A

Z

Map showing a number of the sites discussed in the book (artwork by Matt Bigg, Surface 3)


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Arabian Sea

Bay of Bengal

I N D I A N O C E A N

Surat

Karachi

Bombay

Malacca

Batavia

Calcutta

Nanjing

Liu JiaPort

South

China Sea

Singapore

Delhi

Kabul

Bukhara

Muscat


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The Religious and Social Importance of Hajj | 1

Undertaking the Hajj is really and truly making a journey tothe heart of Islam, to the Ka‘ba, ‘the first house’ set up forthe worship of the One God, the heart of the Islamic faith.

The pilgrimage to the Ka‘ba in Mecca is the fifth pillar ofIslam, after the declaration of faith (shahada ), ritual prayer(salat ), obligatory alms (zakat ) and the fast (sawm ) ofRamadan. Although it comes fifth, it is very special in itsimpact. Prayer is familiar to Muslims every day, but the Hajj

is required only once in a lifetime. It also involves anunforgettable journey which adds to its mystique and appeal.No one acquires a title for praying or fasting, but you doafter taking that journey to the heart of Islam.

The Hajj rites are, moreover, an obligation on allMuslims, attested by the Qur’an, the supreme authority inIslam; the Hadith (traditions of the Prophet), the secondauthority; the consensus of Muslim scholars, and thecontinued practice ever since the time of the ProphetMuhammad. From its institution as a pillar of Islam, theword ‘Hajj’ has applied only to the pilgrimage to Mecca; nopilgrimage to any other place is called Hajj.

The Hajj rites are fixed and have been handed downthrough the ages, and all Muslim pilgrims must fulfil therequired acts. In this way the Hajj connects Muslimshistorically through the generations, as well asgeographically to other Muslims around the world at anyparticular time. It is one of the most important unifyingelements in the Muslim community (umma ), and it is a journey that marks a huge change in the spiritual and sociallife of the pilgrims.

The origin of Hajj

According to the Qur’an, the Hajj did not start with the

Prophet Muhammad but thousands of years before, with theProphet Ibrahim (Abraham), the supreme example in theQur’an of dedication to the One God and submission (islam )to His will. Most of the Hajj rituals are actually based onthe actions of Ibrahim and his family, as stated in theQur’an:

The first House [of worship] to be established for people was theone at Bakka. It is a blessed place; a source of guidance for allpeople; there are clear signs in it; it is the place where Ibrahimstood to pray; whoever enters it is safe. Pilgrimage to the Houseis a duty owed to God by people who are able to undertake it. Ifanyone denies this, God has no need of anyone (Q.:–).

God says in the Qur’an: ‘We showed Ibrahim the site of theHouse’ (Q.:), relating how Ibrahim and Isma‘il(Ishmael) built up the foundations of the Ka‘ba and thebeautiful prayers they recited, and how God commandedIbrahim:

Do not assign partners to Me. Purify My House for those whocircle round it. Proclaim the Pilgrimage to all people and theywil l come to you on foot and on every kind of lean camel,emerging from every deep mountain pass to obtain benefits andmention God’s name on specified days. ( Q. :–)

When these verses are heard or recited by Muslims, whenthey repeat the prayers of Ibrahim, with their sentiments,

their words and the rhythm they have in Arabic, it movesthem to tears and deepens their longing to respond to thatcall made thousands of years ago and undertake the journey.

Chapter 1The Religious andSocial Importance ofHajj

M. Abdel Haleem


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2 | The Hajj: Collected Essays

Throughout the Hajj period and during the variousrituals, there are special du‘a prayers for pilgrims to say,many of which were spoken and recommended by theProphet Muhammad. There are handbooks of theseprayers, written in Arabic, and also transliterated withtranslations for non-Arabs. Pilgrims prefer to recite them in Arabic, in the words uttered by the Prophet himself, andconsider them more effective than any other prayer in any

language. Each group, large or small, normally has a guide(mutawwaf ) who chants, and they repeat the prayers afterhim, interspersed with the talbiya . All this intensifies thespirituality of the Hajj season and enhances the unity of thepilgrims.

When pilgrims arrive in Mecca they make their first visitto the Haram, the sacred precinct, with its grand mosque.The first glimpse of the minarets and mosque is anunforgettable experience shared with huge numbers ofpeople from all over the world, most of whom are seeing it inperson for the first time. It is recommended that as they go inthrough the Gate of Peace (Bab al-Salam) they recite in

Arabic, ‘Lord, open the gates of Your mercy for me. You arepeace, from You comes peace, give us Your greeting of peaceand admit us to Paradise, the land of peace. Glory be to You,Lord of Majesty and Honouring.’

On entering the mosque, it is the Ka‘ba that attracts thepilgrims’ eyes. There they will glorify Allah and repeat:

There is no god but Allah, alone with no partner. Dominionand praise belong to Him, and He has power over all things.Peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and on his fami ly andcompanions. Lord, increase this House in honour, glory,reverence and respect and increase those who glorify it and visitit, make pilgrimage to it and increase their respect andgoodness.

Pilgrims approach the Ka‘ba, happy to be at the actualbuilding that Muslims face in their daily prayers all theirlives and after death when they are buried. They go as nearas possible to the Ka‘ba and do the tawaf (circumambulation)seven times, anti-clockwise, starting from the eastern cornerin which the Black Stone is embedded, thus re-enacting theactions of the Prophets Ibrahim, Isma‘il and Muhammadand all succeeding generations of Muslims. Every time theypass the Black Stone, if possible they should kiss, touch or atleast point to it, saying ‘ Allahu akbar ’, ‘God is greater’. Whilewalking round the Ka‘ba, pilgrims continually recite prayers

as mentioned above, particularly: ‘Lord, give us good in thislife and good in the hereafter and protect us from thetorment of the Fire’.

Those near the Ka‘ba often lay their hands on the wall orreach for the velvet cover, praying most earnestly for theheartfelt needs of themselves, members of their families andthe many who have asked the pilgrims to pray for them.Later at home, when someone wants to ask the hajji earnestlyfor something, they may say, ‘I beg you by the Ka‘ba onwhich you placed your hand’.

The pilgrims do the tawaf together, men, women andchildren from all nations. The infirm are carried on litters

by strong men. This ritual continues night and day and aconsiderable number do it as many t imes as they can.Following this it is recommended to do two rak‘as (prayercycles) at the Maqam Ibrahim (the place where Ibrahim

Performing the Hajj

The Qur’an states that Hajj should take place ‘in thespecified months’. These are the last three months of theMuslim calendar and this period is known as miqat zamani (fixed time). In the past, pilgrims would start their journey toMecca early within this period, but the main acts of the Hajjitself take place in five days during the third (and last) ofthese months, th–th Dhu al-Hijja.

Hajj rituals start with consecration (ihram ) for Hajj, whichmust be made by the time pilgrims reach the specified fixedplaces, each known as miqat makani (the fixed place), on theroads to Mecca from the various directions. The closest miqat to Mecca (Yalamlam) is the one on the road from theYemen, km ( miles) away. The furthest one (Dhual-Hulayfa) is only a few kilometres from Medina, which isover km ( miles) from Mecca. In the days beforemodern transport this meant lengthening the period ofconsecration to include this arduous journey, but also toprovide further spiritual feelings and blessings.

When pilgrims enter into ihram, it is recommended that

they have a full body wash and perfume themselves, andmen must change into the ihram clothing, consisting of twopieces of seamless white cloth (such as towels), one fixedround the waist and the other covering the top of the body. These can be secured with pins or a belt. Footwear shouldalso be simple and not sewn. Women’s clothing for Hajj isnormal and can be of any colour, although usually theychoose white, but they should not cover their faces.

Once the pilgrims are in ihram they must not useperfume, shave, cut their hair or nails, or have sexualintercourse. Entering into ihram is a high spiritual moment,one the pilgrims have long anticipated. They leave behind

any luxury living, any social distinction and dedicatethemselves to worship. They begin the talbiya , chanting in Arabic ‘Labbayk allahumma labbayk ’, ‘Here I am, Lord,responding to Your call [to perform the Hajj]. Praisebelongs to You, all good things come from You andsovereignty is yours alone.’ This is constantly repeatedduring the Hajj, especially when meeting other pilgrims,moving from place to place, and after the daily prayers. Thepilgrims are unified by chanting in the same language andalso by their simple clothing, worn by people of every status,colour, language and background.

It is interesting to note here that although the Hajj ritual

takes only five days, within a km distance from Mecca,the consecration and consequent sense of security andpeace spread much further afield in time and place.Ibrahim prayed that God would make Mecca peaceful andsecure. Pilgrims must not hunt, kill animals or cut any plant – peace to all. They must also refrain from indecent speech,misbehaviour and quarrelling, jostling or rushing: all veryfitting, considering the huge crowds in the l imited spaces.The Prophet emphasized that those who performed theHajj without committing these forbidden acts would returnhome as free from sin as on the day their mother gave birthto them. These restrictions apply not only when the pilgrim

is in Mecca and its surroundings but also in the entire areabetween the miqat makani and Mecca. Such is the effect ofthe Hajj in establishing peace and good behaviour in thatland.


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commemoration of what Ibrahim did when Satan tried totempt him to disobey God. What the pilgrims do here isaffirm God, saying ‘ Allahu akbar’ (God is greater), and rejectSatan. Then the sacrifice of animals takes place, again in

memory of Ibrahim and the substitution of a ram for his son,whom he set out to sacrifice in obedience to God, fulfilling a vision he had experienced. The Qur’an states, ‘Eat some of[the meat] and feed the poor . . . It is neither their meat northeir blood that reaches God, but your piety’. That day(th Dhu al-Hijja) is Eid al-Adha, a great feast of sacrificethroughout the Muslim world, uniting the Muslims in theirhomelands with the pilgrims in Mecca.

Thus, the occasion of performing the rituals of Hajj is not just a matter that concerns the pilgrims who are actuallyengaged in Hajj. Muslim countries throughout the world areinvolved in many ways, particularly during the five central

days of Hajj, as lectures, talks and sermons about Hajj aregiven in mosques. This is further facilitated now with thespread of satellite television. The day of ‘Arafat is usuallyrelayed in full in most Arab countries – a unifying aspect ofHajj. This reflects the Prophet’s instructions during his lastpilgrimage in /, when he gave his Farewell Sermonemphasizing the unity of all believers. Pilgrims at that timecame from all over Arabia, which marked the extent of theland of Islam. At the end of his speech he said, ‘I havedelivered the message. God is my witness. Let those of youpresent here deliver it to those who are not present.’

Following the sacrifice in Mina, pilgrims shave or cut

their hair to mark the end of the consecrated (ihram ) state.

Then pilgrims go to Mecca to do the obligatory tawafal-ifada , the tawaf marking the departure from ‘Arafat, andgo to their accommodation in Mina to rest. They spend thenight there, and from midday on the th of Dhu al-Hijjathey cast more stones at the three jamarat pillars: sevenpebbles each. This is another very congested place, andgreat efforts are made to facilitate the ritual, most recentlyby replacing the pillars with large walls. There are now fivelevels of walkways to accommodate the large numbers ofpilgrims. The stoning is repeated on the th of Dhual-Hijja and some pilgrims stay for a further stoning on the

th of Dhu al-Hijja.

During their time in Mina, pilgrimshave more free time and opportunity to mix and ta lk, getto know each other and the countries from where theycome.

stood in prayer, now protected by a glass and gold case)near the Ka‘ba.

Near the Ka‘ba too is the well of Zamzam, nowunderground. Drinking from this is a special ritual whichreminds the pilgrims of Hagar’s search for water for herselfand her baby Isma‘il, and their relief when the well gushedout of that barren spot. This is commemorated further bysa‘i (hurrying) in the mas‘a (the place of hurrying), now

covered like a massive corridor, three storeys high, to helpaccommodate more pilgrims. This runs between the twohillocks of Safa and Marwa, about m (,ft) long. Thepilgrims walk along this corridor from Safa to Marwa andback seven times in total, continuously repeating traditionalor individual prayers. Part of the corridor is marked withgreen lights as a place for trotting rather than walking, againin commemoration of what Hagar did. For people unable towalk, there is a special track fenced off for wheelchairs.When I did sa‘i myself, I recalled that my parents took these very steps years ago, so did their parents and many ancestorsback to the time of the Prophet himself and earlier. My skin

quivered as I felt, ‘Now I am connected, I am fulfil led’. I had joined my ancestors. My children do the same. The callIbrahim made still resounds for more to follow and alwayswill.

On the th of Dhu al-Hijja, pilgrims go to Mina, a valleyabout five kilometres (three miles) from the Ka‘ba, to spendthe night there. On the morning of the ninth, they proceedtowards ‘Arafat, a plain .km (nine miles) from Mina,where the central rite of the Hajj, wuquf (standing) on ‘Arafat,takes place between noon and sunset, during which timemany heartfelt prayers are offered. The scene remindsMuslims of the gathering on the Day of Judgement. If any

pilgrim misses this event, his/her Hajj is not valid and has tobe done again another year. This does not apply to any otherrite, all of which can be done over a longer period orcompensated for with an offering. This is the time for thepilgrims to read the Qur’an, glorify God and pray mostearnestly for forgiveness and everything else they wish for.Particularly recommended for glorification and repetition isthis prayer, ‘There is no God but Allah alone, with nopartner. Dominion and praise belong to Him, who gives lifeand death. Goodness is in His hands and He has power overeverything.’ This just gives a succinct summary of theIslamic faith and connects the individual pilgrim to what

Ibrahim and Muhammad brought and uttered. Pilgrimsnormally face towards the Ka‘ba while reciting theseprayers, as they do for the five daily prayers, believing that,by doing this, their prayers are more likely to be accepted.

After sunset, the pilgrims pour away from the plain of‘Arafat and go to Muzdalifa, another plain nine km (.miles) from ‘Arafat on the way back to Mina, a tremendousmigration that continues throughout the night. In Muzdalifathey pray, read the Qur’an, talk to others from differentparts of the world and exchange food, or sleep under thestars. There they collect the pebbles they will need in themorning and the following days to throw at the jamarat (place

of stoning the devil): each individual throws at least pebbles, and those who spend an extra day in Mina throw afurther . In the morning they go to Mina to stone thebiggest pillar ( jamarat al-‘Aqaba ) using seven pebbles, in

Plate 1 Photograph by Newsha Tavakolian, Hajj 2009 (reproduced

in Tavakolian 2011, p. 11)


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Ahmad ‘Abd al-Jawwad, proverbial for being dictatorial athome, was a respectable merchant in society but dissolute inprivate. However he was overcome by high blood pressureand in bed ill for a period of time. His friends came to visithim when he had recovered slightly, the majority of whom,like him, had double lives: drinking, taking drugs andwomanizing in private. Now Ahmad realized that the timefor this was over and he had to listen to the doctor’s orders to

change his life or else become paralyzed. Many were saying,‘No, no, we still have a long life ahead of us and we mustkeep on enjoying it. There is nothing wrong with having fun.Our ancestors used to live long lives and would remarry intheir seventies.’ At this point an old religious man, SheikhMitwalli, to whom Ahmad had been kind and in whoseblessing he believed, came and said to him, ‘You must nowdecide to go on Hajj and take me with you’. Ahmad agreedto this. Sheikh Mitwall i, who lamented that such people hadcome to visit Ahmad and were still persist ing in their way oflife, exclaimed, ‘Can anyone tell me whether we are sittingin the house of Ahmed or in a den of vice?’ Then he said, ‘I

call upon you all to give up this life, repent and go on Hajj’. Sheikh Ridwan al-Husseini sought repentance for himselfand the people of his alley by going to the land of repentanceand returning with a pure heart.

The journey to the heart of Islam is arduous, but this initself makes it special and mysteriously more desirable.Those who experienced it long to do it again when theseason returns and may do it several times. Hajj connectspilgrims historically and geographically, enhancing thesense of one community and one God. In fact, the Hajj is theonly gathering open to all Muslims from all over the world,where they can pray, talk and have cultural and commercial

exchange.The Hajj has grown from only two people, Ibrahim and

Isma‘il, going round the Ka‘ba, to the present age with about million pilgrims every year. The fact that it is done at onefixed time, in a fixed small area, according to a fixed order ofrituals, and with an ever increasing numbers of pilgrims,creates perhaps the greatest logistical challenge of thepresent time, taxing the ingenuity of successive Saudigovernments, as can be witnessed just in the last fewdecades. They clearly consider it the peak of their glory andresponsibility to enable pilgrims to perform this fifth pillar ofIslam and hence the official title of the King is ‘Custodian of

the Two Holy Sanctuaries’.Whatever the numbers, the faith that drives the believersguarantees that the Hajj wi ll continue, even within therestrictions of space and time, as long as there are Muslims.It is this faith that underpins the Hajj and gives rise to all itsother aspects: archaeological, architectural, artistic, culturaland so forth, as shown in the British Museumexhibition. The phenomenon provides fertile ground for thecontinued proliferation of religio-historical, cultural andpolitical studies as exemplified in the present volume.

Notes Q.:. See Peter Webb in this volume. Q.:–. There is an agreement among Muslim exegetes that this Bakka is

an old name for Mecca. See Webb in this volume, esp. n. .

Q.:.

The pilgrims finally return to Mecca where they performthe tawaf al-wada‘ (the farewell tawaf ), the last rite of Hajj,and they are then free to go home.

In the intervals between the rituals, pilgrims are allowedto trade, ‘seeking some bounty from [their] Lord’. A vastindoor suq (market) surrounds the sanctuary. Pilgrims areexpected by their families and friends to bring somethingback as a blessing: prayer beads, prayer mats, clothing,

perfume or Zamzam water. Zamzam water is celebrated asproviding healing and great blessing. It is also drunk withothers when pilgrims return home. Many pilgrims make apoint of bringing back sealed containers of Zamzam waterto be kept to sprinkle on their shroud when they die, and intotheir grave. Other kinds of souvenirs are also available, andeven a head cap or a scarf from Mecca has great significancefor the recipient. All of these objects augment people’s desireand dreams to undertake the journey to the heart of Islam.

After the Hajj (or sometimes before it, according todictates of time) the pilgrims prepare to visit the burial placeof Muhammad usually expressed as ‘visiting the Prophet’ in

Medina rather than ‘visit ing his tomb’. Once again, their yearning reaches its height when they approach the mosqueand glimpse the green dome over the sacred spot. It is verymoving to face the gate to the Prophet’s tomb and greet himas if he were alive and could respond to the greeting (part ofthe normal daily prayers), ‘Peace be to you Prophet and themercy and blessing of God’. Visitors are recommended toadd, ‘I bear witness that you are the servant and messengerof God, that you have delivered the message and dischargedthe trust and advised the community’. They then pray toGod for whatever they need. As this is a very specialopportunity for spiritual recharging, pilgrims make a point

while in Medina of performing as many of the daily prayersas they can in the Prophet’s Mosque. Many also visit theadjacent cemetery which contains the remains of theProphet’s companions and relatives.

Having done the Hajj and visited the Prophet, pilgrimshave fulfil led all that they came for; they have nowcompleted all the pillars of Islam and can go home,hopefully as free from sin as the day they were born, full ofblessing and spiritually charged. They hope to haveachieved the merits of the accepted Hajj and ‘the reward ofHajj Mabrur (the one accepted by Allah) is nothing exceptParadise’. On completing the Hajj, pilgrims acquire a new

title: hajji for a man, hajja for a woman. Especially in therural areas of Muslim countries where the aspiration toperform the Hajj, the preparations for it and the follow-up isgreater than in the cities, it becomes a mark of the greatesthonour. Even dignitaries, such as the Sultan of Brunei,include the name Hajj among their official t itles.

The return of a pilgrim is an occasion for greatcelebration. He or she will normally relate in detail whatthey did on Hajj. Accounts can also add to the ever-growinggenre of Hajj travel books or songs by local bards whoperform ballads that emphasize the importance of Hajj andstir up the desire to go on that remarkable journey.

The prospect of having one’s Hajj accepted, and beingcleansed of sins, makes the Hajj more important to someonewho, having sinned for a long time, decides at last to turn anew leaf, like some characters in modern Arabic novels.


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have gone to ‘Arafat and stayed there. The Prophet Muhammadalso stayed there during his Farewell Pilgrimage and this is wherehe gave his Farewell Sermon, standing on the small hil l, Jabalal-Rahma.

Q.:, . Since the late th century, abattoir facilities havebeen provided where the meat is frozen or canned and sent later tothe poor in different countries. Before this, the excess meat wouldhave been preserved by drying it in the sun.

For a discussion of the Farewell Pilgrimage see Munt in this volumeesp. n. .

Only marital relations remain off limits, until after Tawaf al-‘ifada . One of the many ways of facilitating Hajj rituals for ever increasing

numbers of pilgrims, enabled by stronger economies and fastermodes of travel.

Q.:. Q.:. See Qaisra Khan in this volume. Sahih Bukhari, volume , book, Hadith number . Accessed online

( August ), http://www.hadithcollect ion.com/sahihbukhari.html.

For example, the character of Sheikh Ridwan al-Hussaini in Ziqaq Midaq Alley by Najib Mahfouz and that of Ahmad ‘Abd al-Jawwadin Qasr al-Shawq by the same author.

Qasr al-Shawq : –. Ziqaq al-Midaq : .

Pilgrims arriving by plane are alerted by the airline staff when theypass over these places if they have not done it earlier.

Pilgrims travelling by air should have this wash before boardingthe plane.

Q.:. ‘Narrated by Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Whoever performs

Hajj for Allah’s pleasure and does not have sexual relations with hiswife, and does not do evil or sins then he will return (after Hajj freefrom all sins) as if he were born anew.”’ Sahih Bukhari, vol. , book, Hadith number . Accessed online ( August ), http://www.hadithcollection.com/sahihbukhari.html.

Only two gates are mentioned in the Hadith literature: the Babal-Salam and the Bab Bani Shayba. More gates have been added insuccessive expansions of the mosque. In the King Fahddevelopment (–) many more gates were added, includingthe King Fahd gate to the new extension.

Sabiq al-Sayy id . Q.:. Many pray especia lly inside Hijr Isma‘il, a low semi-circular wall

adjacent to the side of the Ka‘ba following its door anti-clockwise.This is said to have been part of the area of the original Ka‘ba.

A legend says that Adam and Eve, after expulsion from the gardenand separation, met each other at ‘Arafat, and the name meansthat they knew (recognized) each other there. Ibrahim is said to


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The Hajj poses intriguing historical questions to students ofIslam. Most quintessential Islamic icons, such as the Qur’an,ritual prayer and the Ramadan fast are closely associatedwith Muhammad’s prophetic mission, but the Hajj isexplicitly ascribed a much more ancient history. AlthoughMuslim and non-Muslim scholars disagree over its preciseantiquity, there is consensus that Muhammad embraced apre-existing Hajj ritual. Several western scholars have

studied this ‘pre-Islamic Hajj’ to explore what they believeto be Islam’s syncretism, and they contend thatMuhammad’s Hajj incorporated rituals from Arabianpaganism, l itholatry (stone worship) and even Judaism. Muslims, on the other hand, maintain that the Hajj wasoriginally a divinely inspired monotheistic practice for theworship of Allah, which was gradually corrupted by Arabian polytheists, but then restored by Muhammad to itsoriginal intention and correct monotheistic significance.

The two camps of scholars make divergent arguments,but they are united by a common objective of proving the‘true history’ of the ‘actual’ pre-Islamic Hajj. Their work,

however, is confronted by evidential problems. The Muslimaccount relies on an oral tradition purportedly explainingall detai ls of the ancient origin of Hajj, but this tradition onlysurvives in sources from the Islamic era and lacks bothcorroboration from pre-Islamic texts and archaeologicalsubstantiation. Western academic theories for their partpose interesting questions and highlight inconsistencies inthe Muslim tradition, but they too lack the textual andarchaeological evidence necessary to establish cogentalternatives.

The debate continues, but the factual origins of Hajj areburied deep in time, and as a practical matter, the only

ready evidence of the early history of Hajj are Arabicnarratives written in the Islamic period. These texts cannottake us back to the primordial origins of the Hajj, but theycan be dated with some precision, and they do provide arecord of how early generations of Muslims understood theorigins of Hajj.

In this essay, I shall analyse the Arabic accounts asnarratives to decipher the layers of discourses in the earlyIslamic period which contributed to the development of acanonical account of the history of Hajj. I shall then applythe results of this analysis to explore how the Hajj storiesaffected the ways in which Muslim writers narrated the

pre-Islamic history of Arabia.My exploration of the Muslim portrayal of the history ofHajj starts at first principles with two related questions: first,when does the Muslim ‘tradition’ believe the first Hajj wasperformed; and second, precisely what texts constitute this‘tradition’? Identifying texts is relatively straightforward, butthey reveal complex discourses surrounding the history ofHajj.

Chronologically, the relevant texts fall into two groups:the first consists of texts from the very first generations ofIslam, namely the Qur’an and, to varying degrees, theHadith (most attributed to the Prophet himself and at first

primarily transmitted orally and then increasingly recordedin writing from the eighth century); and the second groupconsists of histories, Qur’anic commentaries, geographiesand other scholarly books written some to years

Chapter 2The Hajj beforeMuhammadJourneys to Mecca in

Muslim Narratives ofPre-Islamic History

Peter Webb


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The Hajj before Muhammad | 7

after Muhammad’s death by Arabic writers in Iraq. Thelater texts interpreted and expanded upon the older materialand produced the canonical version of the Muslim tradit ion,but they do not always dovetail neatly with the narratives ofthe Qur’an and Hadith . There are fissures and discrepanciesbetween the two, and these are fruitful sites for investigatinghow Muslim scholars in the first centuries of Islamdeveloped variant interpretations and even new accounts of

history. The story of the Hajj is one such example.Regarding the question of the first Hajj in history, the

later texts, particularly those written since the tenth century,assert that Adam, the first man, was the first hajji . This hasbecome well established in the Muslim tradition; however,early texts make a very different claim. We shall begin withthe earliest sources and chronologically trace the evolvinghistory of the first Hajj.

The rst Hajj (1): the Qur’an and the Hadith Our earliest source is the Qur’an. It makes several referencesto the Hajj and the Ka‘ba’s construction in verses which

invariably revolve around the figure of the prophet Ibrahim(Abraham) and his community of monotheists identified bythe adjective hanif (of pure faith/upright religion). TheQur’an portrays Ibrahim as the prophet whom God guidedto the holy site of Mecca (Q.:); the builder of al-bayt (thehouse i.e. the Ka‘ba) (Q.:); the first to call mankind toperform the Hajj (Q.:); and the earliest figure to blessMecca as a holy place (Q.:) (Pls , ). Ibrahim is alsodescribed as a God-appointed imam (Q.:), and in thefollowing verse, the Qur’an specifies the sanctity of al-bayt and Maqam Ibrahim (the ‘standing place’ of Ibrahim) whichMuslims are instructed to take as a place of prayer.

The Qur’an also describes Mecca as the ‘first house [ bayt ][of worship] to be established for people (Q.:). Inisolation, this verse could appear to bestow deep primordialroots on Mecca, but in the verse’s context (Q::–), theconnection with the Hajj and Ibrahim is palpable. Verse urges readers to ‘follow Ibrahim’s religion’ (described ashanif ), and verse orders mankind to perform the Hajj,here mentioning Maqam Ibrahim (Q.:–). The Qur’an’shistorical horizon of the Hajj is firmly fixed on Ibrahim withno reference to Adam (Pl. ).

The second group of extant early texts are the PropheticHadith , the corpus of reported sayings and acts of

Muhammad. Against the background of controversysurrounding the Hadith ’s authenticity, I survey thoseindividual hadith s which the Muslim tradition cherishes asthe most authentic: the hadith s preserved in the six canonicalcollections (al-Kutub al-sitta ) and in Ahmad ibn Hanbal’smore voluminous Musnad . As a group, these hadith s plainlycorroborate the Qur’an’s discourse, which evidences theircoherence and likely antiquity. Taken together with theQur’an, they elaborate upon what appears to be a genuinelyearly conception of the origins of Hajj.

The Hajj, its rituals (manasik ) and holy places (masha‘ir ) aredescribed as irth Ibrahim (the legacy of Ibrahim), mirroring

the Qur’anic depiction of Ibrahim as the original imam ofthe Hajj. The foundations of the Ka‘ba are described in theHadith as qawa‘id Ibrahim (the foundations of Ibrahim), againechoing the Qur’anic description of Ibrahim’s construction

of al -bayt . The Hadith cites ritual locations such as the well ofZamzam, Safa and Marwa and the original construction ofthe Ka‘ba in narratives about Ibrahim’s original settlementof Mecca with his son Isma‘il (Ishmael). Some hadith s evenreport that pictures of Ibrahim and Isma‘il were painted onthe walls of the Ka‘ba in pre-Islamic times. The specialconnection between Mecca and Ibrahim is also reinforcedthrough the notion that Mecca’s status as a holy sanctuary(haram ) was ordained by God ‘via the tongue of Ibrahim’.

The importance of Hajj as an act of monotheistic worship isthus portrayed in both the Qur’an and Hadith as beinginspired by God, but mediated through the person of theprophet Ibrahim (Pl. ).

We here encounter a model in which the early Muslimcommunity portrays holy sanctuaries as connected with thefounding person of their prophets. This model, and furtheremphasis on the Abrahamic origins of Mecca, appears inhadith s regarding Muhammad’s settlement of Medina afterthe Hijra . Muhammad is said to have declared that ‘eachprophet has a sanctuary (haram ), and my haram is Medina’. The hadith s describing Muhammad’s settlement of Medina

also expressly compare the two prophets’ establishment ofholy sanctuaries; Muhammad was reported to say, ‘I sanctify(uharrimu ) that which lies between [Medina’s] two stonyplains (labatayha ), just as Ibrahim sanctified (harrama )

Plate 1 Qur’an, Arabia,c . 8th century. British Library, London (Or2156, f.59b). Lines 13–17 record Qur’an 22:26–7, describing God’s

command to Ibrahim to inaugurate the Hajj. This may be the oldest

surviving document referring to the Abrahamic narratives of Hajjorigins (© The British Library Board)


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Mecca’. The specifical ly Abrahamic connection of Mecca’sholy sites and the Hajj ritual are thus embedded in aconstruction whereby Ibrahim, divinely inspired, representsthe foundation of Mecca’s sanctity.

The model in which sacred geography and ritual sites areperceived as the personal property of holy men was noted insouthern Arabia during the early th century. Whetherthe desert sanctuaries encountered by European researchersare the distant descendants of the belief in the propheticorigins of both Mecca and Medina is a matter for separateconsideration, but for our purposes, the specific emphasisplaced on Ibrahim’s connection to Mecca and the Hajj in

both the Qur’an and the Hadith and the continuation of theHajj in Islam with its distinctly Abrahamic connections arereadily explainable if we understand that, aroundMuhammad’s time, shrines were perceived as the holy spaceof specific prophets. The narratives support aninterpretation that Mecca was perceived as Ibrahim’s specialsanctum and the Hajj as his personal legacy to monotheism.Muhammad accepted Ibrahim as a major prophet, andupon triumphing in Mecca, Muhammad was in a position torestore Ibrahim’s rites and resurrect monotheism in thesanctuary of Ibrahim.

Mecca’s sanctity is occasionally described without

reference to Ibrahim, whereby some hadith s state ‘Mecca wassanctified by God’, and call the Ka‘ba the ‘House of God’(bayt Allah ). With one exception, these statements do notappear in hadith s concerned with the history of Mecca, but

rather its quality as a hallowed space. And the exception, areference to the Ka‘ba as ‘the House of God’, occurs in anaccount of Ibrahim’s construction of the sanctuary. Theassertion that Mecca’s sacredness ultimately derives fromGod does not affect Ibrahim’s historical role as the prophetwho invoked this status. These hadith s thus indicate that theearly Muslims believed Ibrahim to have been intimatelyinvolved with the establishment of a ritual site in Mecca, and

they provide no evidence that early Muslims believed Adamor any other person made a pilgrimage to Holy Mecca beforeIbrahim. As for Adam, the canonical collections of hadith sportray him, uncontroversially, as the first man, but are silenton his life after the fall from Paradise. Ahmad ibn Hanbaldoes record a hadith describing the purported burial of Adam(which is posited as the origin of several Islamic burialpractices), but there is no intimation that this occurred inMecca; and the Qur’an and Hadith , read on their own,consistently provide an Abrahamic focus for Mecca’sblessedness and the ritual significance of the Hajj.

The rst Hajj (2): ninth- and tenth-century textsThe Abrahamic aspects of the Hajj remain a fixture in thetradition to the present day, but from the third/mid-ninthcentury, history books and Qur’an commentaries begin toreport the story of the Hajj of Adam. There are some minor variations, but the story’s framework according to historianssuch as al-Azraqi (d. ), Ibn Qutayba (d. ), al-Ya‘qubi(d. –) and al-Tabari (d. ) is as follows. After his fallfrom Paradise, Adam is said to have landed in themountains in India. Dejected, Adam despaired hisseparation from God and the angels who circumambulateGod’s throne in worship. To console Adam, God instructed

him to leave the mountains and journey to Mecca.Why Mecca? Here, the historians explain that in their

cosmology, Mecca is directly aligned under the throne ofGod, and the path around the Ka‘ba is thus, spatially, theterrestrial equivalent of the angels’ heavenlycircumambulation of God’s throne, and, spiritually, thecentre of the world.

Upon arriving in Mecca, Adam, in imitation of theangels, performed the tawaf (circumambulation) andcompleted a Hajj under the direction of an angel whoinstructed him in some of its rituals. According to sometexts, Mecca is also where Adam was reunited with Eve (she

had landed near Jedda).

The historians continue thenarrative, stating that Adam established a tent where theKa‘ba currently stands, and there he placed a heavenly ruby(foreshadowing Ibrahim’s later placement of the Black Stonecurrently in situ ). Adam treated this space as an inviolablesanctuary (haram ) in which the historians tell us only hecould dwell and, where, in most versions, he spent the rest ofhis life. According to these sources, the first permanent baytof the Ka‘ba was erected by Adam’s sons after his death.

In light of this story, ninth-century historians began toreinterpret Ibrahim’s role in the Hajj. He was now cast asthe rebuilder of Adam’s Ka‘ba which was said to have been

washed away in the Great Flood.

The history of the Hajjwas thus shifted backwards. Whereas the Qur’an portraysMuhammad as restorer of Ibrahim’s Hajj and the hadith scall the foundations of the Ka‘ba qawa‘id Ibrahim (Ibrahim’s

Plate 2 Ishmael and his father Abraham pray after building the

Ka‘ba. Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (Diez A fol. 3, f. 46r)


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Khurdadhbih describes. Politically, he identifies it as theheart of the Sasanian Persian Empire which justifies itselevated importance, and ‘scientifically’, by using hiscontemporary technical terminology of the four elements(fire, earth, water and air) and states (hot, dry, cold and wet),Ibn Khurdadhbih explains that Iraq sits comfortably in themiddle, the ideal, balanced location for habitation. Al-Ya‘qubi’s geographical text Kitab al-buldan of the late ninth

century also commences with Baghdad for reasons similar tothose adduced by Ibn Khurdadhbih, and anothermathematical, neo-Ptolemaic approach to world mappinglaid out by Sohrab in ‘ Aja’ib al-aqalim also provides forBaghdad to fall in the precise centre.

By the tenth century, however, in the geographies ofal-Istakhri (d. ), al-Muqaddasi (d. ) and Ibn Hawqal(d. ), we find Mecca and the Arabian Peninsula takingpole position. The presence of Mecca and the qibla (directionof prayer) in Arabia are cited as just ification for its status asthe world’s most prestigious region, and al-Muqaddasi addsthat Mecca was the node from which the world ‘protruded

into shape’ (duhiyat ). The geographical privilege of Arabiaon account of Mecca’s religious significance, andparticularly the concept of Mecca’s spatial importance as thenodal point of the world since Creation marries well with thecosmological and historical privi lege of Mecca asserted byMuslim historians who portray it in the Adam stories as thefirst place of terrestrial worship, aligned underneath thethrone of God. But geographical texts seem to have adoptedthis position relatively late – i.e. by the mid-tenth century, bywhich time historical texts had been narrating Mecca’scentrality for about a century. Did the geographers taketheir lead from the historians? As a survey of a broader

range of Arabic writings wil l reveal, the geographers doappear to have been responding to a wider-scalephenomenon in Muslim intellectual circles in which the Hajjof Adam suddenly emerges in the mid-ninth century andrapidly asserted its primacy, generating wide-scaleramifications for the position of Arabia in the Muslimconsciousness.

Pre-Islamic Arabian history: ninth-century narratives

In terms of the history of the Hajj, the earliest extant booksof pre-Islamic Arabian history, written in the first half of theninth century, follow the Hajj narrative from the Qur’an

and Hadith . Ibn Hisham’s (d. ) biography of the Prophetdetails Muhammad’s genealogy from Adam and exploresthe religious history of pre-Islamic Mecca without makingany mention of Adam’s Hajj. Ibn Hisham also closely echoesthe Abrahamic emphasis of the Hajj, referring to thefoundations of the Ka‘ba as asas Ibrahim (the foundation ofIbrahim; compare with qawa‘id Ibrahim from the Hadith ), and he even calls the sanctuary itself bayt Ibrahim.

Adam is similarly absent in Ibn Habib’s (d. –)al-Munammaq (a history of Mecca and the Quraysh tribe) andal-Muhabbar (a compendium of anecdotes largely aboutpre-Islamic Arabia). Ibn Habib’s narratives are focused on

reconstructing the history of Arabia and his discussion of theHajj is centred on portraying it as the key pre-Islamic Arabian ritual. Hence, Ibn Habib relates various memoriesof the ‘pagan’ Hajj and even an account of a soothsayer who

foundations), from the mid-ninth century, histories portrayIbrahim as merely a restorer and Adam assumed themantle of the first hajji and the sanctuary’s first inhabitant.Mecca’s historical and theological significance was thustracked backwards to the beginning of time, but this ismanifestly at odds with the earlier Qur’anic and Hadith narratives.

The Hajj of Adam: sources and controversiesWhile extant texts referring to Adam’s Hajj date only fromthe ninth century, the historians who recorded the storyindicated through its isnad (chain of authorities) that it wastold originally by early scholars such as Ibn ‘Abbas (d. )and Mujahid (d. c. ). If such attributions are correct, thestory is almost as old as the Qur’an and Hadith , and itsappearance in ninth-century texts would not indicate such astark division in the community’s conception of the firstHajj. Close examination of the historians’ accounts of Adam’s Hajj, however, reveals that the narrative style ismarkedly different from accounts of Ibrahim’s Hajj.

Specifical ly, the Ibrahim stories, even in later histories suchas that of al-Tabari’s, are invariably cross-referenced withquotations from the Qur’an and Hadith whereas Adam’shave no external corroboration – we read them as purenarration of the historians. Is it possible therefore that Adam’s Hajj was inserted sometime between Muhammad’sdeath and the mid-ninth century, and so indicates changingopinions on the early Hajj? The fact that the historiansmarshal led neither Qur’anic nor Hadith texts to corroboratethe Adam story suggests this, and a survey of citations ofMecca and the first Hajj in ninth- and tenth-centuryliterature indicate this may indeed have been the case.

Geographical considerations

In a celestial cosmology, the claim that Mecca lies on ablessed trajectory directly beneath the throne of God is alogical and undoubtedly convenient means to explain whyGod directed Adam to Mecca, to highlight the parallelsbetween the hajji ’s circumambulation of the Ka‘ba and theangels’ worship of God in the Highest Heaven, and also tounderscore the significance of Mecca and the Hajj forcontemporary pilgrims. In terms of the Muslim tradition,however, the imputing of such spatial significance to Meccaappears to originate from historians and exegetes, the tellers

of akhbar (reports) who narrated stories of the Hajj of Adam.Early Muslim geographers, on the other hand, were slowerto adopt this paradigm.

Of the early geographers, Ibn Khurdadhbih’s (d. c. ) Al-Masalik wa-l-Mamalik plots a description of the worldwhereby Baghdad and the Sawad of Iraq (the arable landbetween the Tigris and Euphrates) are the central referencepoint. By Ibn Khurdadhbih’s time, historians commonlycited the narrative of Adam’s Hajj, and Ibn Khurdadhbihbriefly mentions it himself in his description of Mecca. ButMecca is merely part of the ‘Land of the South’ (Tayman ) inIbn Khurdadhbih’s worldview, whereas all regions of the

world converge on Iraq: the lands of the east, west, south andnorth all seem to commence from the gates of the Abbasidimperial metropolis of Baghdad. Not only is Iraq narratedas the centre of the world; it is also the first region Ibn


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falsely attributed them to the earlier narrators in an attemptto bestow ‘ancient authority’ on their forgeries. But not allstories attributed to Ibn ‘Abbas and others are latercounterfeits: genuinely old narratives are mixed with falseattributions and the extant texts attributed to these ancienthistorians are a perplexing jumble. From our perspective oftextual analysis, we can infer that al-Azraqi, by narrating thestories of Adam’s Hajj at the outset of his book, and by

expressly attributing the stories to old narrators, intended tomake the case for their authenticity to persuade his readers toaccept them. Whether his readers were initial ly convinced ofthe historicity of Adam’s Hajj, however, is another matter,and evidence from al-Fakihi’s contemporary text aboutMecca demonstrates that competing narratives existed withapparently better authority.

Parts of al-Fakihi’s text have been lost, including thenarrative chapters on Mecca’s history, but notwithstandingthe losses, his book is sti ll larger than al-Azraqi’s and histastes appear more catholic: al-Fakihi records anencyclopaedic array of sometimes contradictory anecdotes

which paint a varied picture of how Muslims in the ninthcentury remembered the history of the Hajj.

Amongst the thousands of preserved anecdotes, Adam’sHajj is mentioned by al-Fakihi, although the nature of itsrecording requires close analysis. In a chapter dedicated to‘the first occurrences’ of events in Mecca, Adam ismentioned six times: he was the first resident of Mecca andthe first to be buried there. This list also includes curiousclaims: al-Fakihi relates anecdotes describing Adam as thefirst man to mint coins in Mecca and also the first to cal l fora doctor there. The isnad s for these latter anecdotes areextremely weak according to the standards of critical

analysis developed by Muslim scholars to ascertain thequality of historical reports. This introduces a pattern inal-Fakihi’s work: the anecdotes he cites which mention Adam are either expressly doubted by al-Fakihi himself orrelated with questionable isnad s. This contrasts otheraccounts in al-Fakihi’s text which stand up to the mostrigorous isnad criticism.

Hence, al-Fakihi reports that ‘[t]he first to make the tawaf was Adam (peace be upon him); but contrarily, it is said theangels [were]’, and so through his editorial comment, hecasts doubt on the precise origins of the Hajj. Furthermore,in discussing the first Hajj, al-Fakihi relates one anecdote in

which it is linked to Adam, though its isnad is matruk (reprobate), whereas in the next anecdote he reports thatthe Hajj was started by Ibrahim and interprets the termMaqam Ibrahim from the Qur’an to mean ‘the wholeHajj’. The isnad of this ‘Abrahamic’ anecdote is rated sahih ,the highest standard of authority amongst Muslim scholars.In the succeeding pages, al-Fakihi relates more anecdotessuggestive of the Abrahamic origins of Hajj, including thestatement, ‘Everyone who makes the Hajj is responding tothe call of Ibrahim’. Similarly, when reporting the origin ofthe Black Stone, only three anecdotes (out of in thissection) report Adam’s placement of the stone (or ruby) in the

Ka‘ba, and two of them are da‘if (weak). Al-Fakihi’s writing style is common in ninth-century Arabic literature. Authors related an encyclopaedic arrayof anecdotes, both authentic and dubious, to produce a

inhabited the Ka‘ba. He mentions Arabian ritual siteswhich appear as ‘pseudo-Ka‘bas’ to which Hajj-likepilgrimages were reportedly made, but to highlight theprimacy of Mecca’s Ka‘ba, Ibn Habib calls it bayt Allah (God’s [sacred] House). He also relates an anecdote inwhich the Ka‘ba is called bayt al-‘Arab (the [sacred] House ofthe Arabs). This unusual name may be explainable in lightof Ibn Habib’s emphasis on portraying the Hajj as the

primary festival of the pre-Islamic Arabs. Given his focus on Mecca’s pagan Arab history

immediately before the Islamic period, Ibn Habib rarelycomments on the more ancient origins of the Hajj, but whenhe does, he returns to the Abrahamic narrative. Forexample, when listing the ritual locations of the pre-IslamicHajj, Ibn Habib notes that they were ordained by Ibrahim,and that Quraysh – the powerful Meccan tr ibe from whichMuhammad hailed – acknowledged their Abrahamicorigins. Ibn Habib, in short, narrates the pre-Islamic Hajjas an Abrahamic ritual partially corrupted by paganism andin need of restoration, once again paralleling the Qur’anic

conception of the history of Hajj.Ibn Hisham’s and Ibn Habib’s works with their

Abrahamic conception of the origins of the Hajj arecuriously silent on the Hajj of Adam which appears in thehistories of al-Ya‘qubi and al-Tabari written only ageneration or two later. In accounting for this silence, tworelevant factors are immediately apparent to distinguish IbnHisham and Ibn Habib from the later historians. The earlierwriters date from the first half of the ninth century, and theirhistories revolved around Arabia and Muhammad’sprophethood. The later historians, on the other hand, wroteafter the mid-ninth century and their books set out to

narrate universal histories of the world. Adam’s Hajj thusappears to have become in vogue some fifty years after IbnHisham and was endorsed by writers whose horizons ofhistorical enquiry expanded beyond Arabia andMuhammad’s lifetime, engaging broader visions of worldhistory. We shall consider the ramifications of these differingmotivations below, but first we shall explore the sourcematerial from which the later historians constructed Adam’sHajj.

Adam’s Hajj: rst stories, weak isnadsWe cannot determine for how long anecdotes of Adam’s Hajj

circulated before al-Tabari and likeminded historiansrecorded them, but even if they did exist in the early ninthcentury, the stories provoke questions of authenticity whichmay have negatively impinged upon their initial scholarlyreception. These issues emerge at the point of the narrative’sfirst iterations in two histories of Mecca written by al-Azraqiand al-Fakihi in the mid-ninth century.

Al-Azraqi provides a historical survey of Mecca’s historyfrom Creation to the early Umayyad period in which Adam’sHajj and details of his li fe in Mecca are reported on theauthority of the seventh-century Muslim narrators Ibn‘Abbas and Wahb ibn Munabbih, with additional anecdotes

from their contemporary Ka‘b al-Ahbar.

All threenarrators are frequently associated with fanciful or unusualhistorical anecdotes doubted by modern scholars who arguethat later Muslim historians concocted such anecdotes and


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cease hunting in the Haram, birds will not fly over it and therelative fecundity of rains in Syria and Iraq can be predictedby observing rain over the Ka‘ba. Al-Jahiz accepted thatMuhammad’s decree rendered Medina a sanctuary (whichresulted in the formerly foul-smelling location miraculouslyadopting a sweet scent), but he considered the sacredness ofMecca of a different order, not commensurate with the merehuman act of Ibrahim’s blessing. Hence, al-Jahiz argued

that Mecca must have been a sanctuary since the beginningof time. According to al-Jahiz’s text, the arguments aboutMecca’s eternal sanctity referred to the Qur’an’s descriptionof Mecca as ‘al-bayt al-‘atiq ’. ‘ Atiq can mean ‘ancient’ but also‘free/autonomous’, and al-Jahiz argues that the versedescribes the sanctuary (al-bayt ) as divinely protected fromearthly authority – an eternal sanctity from God notinaugurated by Ibrahim. Al-Jahiz mentions the opposinggroup of scholars would treat ‘‘atiq ’ differently to maintainthat Mecca’s Haram began with Ibrahim.

Moving ahead to the very end of the ninth century,al-Tabari’s commentary on the Qur’an reports the same

debate between ‘Ibrahimists’ and ‘Eternalists’ over themeaning of ‘al-bayt al-‘atiq ’. He also relates a similar debateover the interpretation of the Qur’anic phrase ‘MaqamIbrahim’. According to al-Tabari, one group of scholarsinterpreted the ‘Maqam’ as meaning the whole Hajj. Thesewere the ‘Ibrahimists’ – they maintained that Ibrahim wasthe original hajji and that the verse implies the entire Hajjoriginated with Ibrahim’s action in Mecca. On the otherhand, al-Tabari and a group of scholars he cites in supportargued that the ‘Maqam’ should only be read to mean onespecific place of prayer in Mecca and not the entire Hajjritual. Their interpretation portrays the Hajj as something

greater which predates Ibrahim. Al-Tabari’s evidence to support the ‘Eternalist camp’

included Adam’s Hajj. According to al-Tabari, the fact that Adam made a Hajj proves that Mecca’s holiness was olderthan Ibrahim. Remarkably, and demonstrating anapparent change in the tenor of the debate since al-Jahiz’sday, al-Tabari even went so far as to ca ll the ‘Ibrahimists’

juhhal (ignorants), extremely strong censure from theusually sober scholar, and demonstrating his avidpartisanship to the ‘Eternalist’ argument in what hadapparently become an acerbic debate. The contemptal-Tabari expresses for the Ibrahimists may harbinger the

eclipse of this discourse in later writings as the Eternalistnarratives of Adam’s Hajj became dominant from thetenth century onwards.

The shift from Abrahamic to Eternalist conceptions ofMecca was significant. Breaking through the Qur’anichistorical horizon of the Hajj, later Muslim historiansrendered Mecca a timeless sanctuary. As witness to this,al-Jahiz’s inference of timeless holiness became a factasserted with empirical statements: al-Tabari reports therock of the Ka‘ba floated on the primordial soup before theworld was created. The story of Adam’s Hajj clearlyreinforces the Eternalist discourse by unequivocally

demonstrating that the first act of human history on earthwas a Hajj. Mecca is no longer portrayed as the House ofIbrahim, but rather bayt Allah , the House of God alone (asobriquet noted, but not dominant in earlier narratives),

‘warts and al l’ version of history that expresses sometimescontradictory opinions. Authors generally leave the readerfree to interpret the evidence, and when authors do guidetheir readers, they employ subtle methods. To help readersdiscern the truthful from the doubtful, authors rarelyexpress their own opinion outright, but they commonlyrepeat their ‘preferred version’ more times and with‘stronger’ isnad s – in other words, anecdotes that would

stand up better to the contemporary standards of anecdotalcriticism. In the case of al-Fakihi’s Hajj anecdotes, therepetition and authenticity are with the Ibrahim stories. Al-Fakihi would, thus, seemingly suggest that the Abrahamic perception of the origin of Hajj was moreaccurate and more commonly held by authoritativescholars than the ‘Adamic’ perception which was evidentlypresent, but was supported by what would have beenrecognized as weaker authority according to contemporarystandards.

Additionally, al-Fakihi gives an interesting insight intothe traditions surrounding the origin of the names ‘Arafa

and al-Muzdalifa, two ritual locations of the Hajj, which inlater literature are usually associated with Adam’s Hajj andhis reunion with Eve in Mecca. Al-Fakihi does not relateanecdotes connecting Adam to ‘Arafa and instead offers fourstories with strong or even sahih isnad s that unambiguouslydemonstrate its Abrahamic ritual origins. Regardingal-Muzdalifa, al-Fakihi writes what may be his own opinionthat ‘al-Muzdalifa only received its name on account of thegathering (muzdalif ) of people around it’, effectively castingdoubt on the subsequent anecdote he relates that linksal-Muzdalifa to Adam which additionally has a weak isnad . Thus, contrary to later accounts, the material and structure

of al-Fakihi’s sections on ‘Arafa and al-Muzdalifa mitigateagainst the opinion that Adam visited them.

Al-Fakihi’s compendium therefore illuminates an arrayof varied opinions surrounding Mecca’s early history,mentioning both Adam and Ibrahim, though the manner inwhich al-Fakihi relates his material seems to favour the Abrahamic connections. His text does, however, shed lighton the early genesis of the Adam anecdotes which, from theirroots with seemingly weak authority, would over the nexttwo generations vie with the Abrahamic version to settle a‘canonical’ account of the origin of Hajj.

Ninth-century debate: ‘Ibrahimists’ versus ‘Eternalists’?If the stories of Adam’s Hajj represented an inauthenticexplanation for the origin of the Hajj, we should expect thatmid-ninth century scholars would object and argue for the Abrahamic narrative. Luckily, surviving texts from theperiod preserve traces of debate over the historicity of Adam’s Hajj as opposed to Ibrahim’s, but the weight ofopinion and the eventual outcome of the debate at the outsetof the tenth century turned in favour of Adam.

Al-Jahiz (d. ) informs us that scholars had becomepartisan to one of two camps: those who believed Mecca’ssacred status began with Ibrahim, and those who asserted

that Mecca’s sanctity was eternal, even predating Adam.The ‘Eternalists’, with whom al-Jahiz sided, argued that thesacrosanctity of Mecca’s Haram was a miraculous naturalphenomenon that transcended any human agency. Animals


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narratives of Adam’s Hajj as they bestowed timelessness tothe Hajj and affirm Mecca’s global importance, and socogently answer the question ‘why do we make the Hajj?’ fora wider audience.

Hajj before Muhammad and the ‘rise’ of Mecca

The establishment of Mecca’s timeless sanctity paved theway for a proliferation of Hajj narratives. Firstly, historians

began to ascribe the performance of Hajj to most if not allprophets, even Noah is said to have performed a kind ofHajj during the Flood when his Ark circumambulated thewaters over the Ka‘ba seven times. The ancient ‘Arab’prophets Hud and Salih are also said to have sought refugein Mecca after their communities, which did not heed theirwarnings of God’s punishment, were destroyed. Secondly,and more profoundly, this conception of Meccafundamentally coloured Muslim accounts of pre-Islamichistory. Mecca became an eternal beacon of virtue in themental map of Arabia in the jahiliyya (pre-Islamic times), andthe journey to Mecca became an act de rigueur for

praiseworthy figures in narratives of pre-Islamic history.Hence many communities in the Muslim Empire

incorporated Mecca and the Hajj into their own pre-Islamichistory. Sasan, ancestor of the Sasanian Persian dynasty,was said to have sent gifts to the Ka‘ba, and the Muslimportrayal of Alexander the Great reportedly included himperforming a Hajj (Pl. ). Yemeni historians ascribed Hajjperformances and other interactions with Mecca to theirmythical kings, the Tababi‘a , and one was even credited withinaugurating the now traditional rituals of adorning theKa‘ba in cloth (kiswa ) and making a feast for the pilgrims. The Hajj also became a regular activity in the stories of

pre-Islamic Arabian folkloric heroes. A factually minded critic may question the widespread

reference to the Hajj before Muhammad, but for ourpurposes, as students of the stories of Muslim historiography,the pre-Islamic Hajj is a prominent and very realphenomenon in our source texts. Somewhat analogous toMecca’s spatial position as the focal point of prayer andpilgrimage, Mecca acquired a similar literary gravitationalpull, attracting the limelight in stories of pre-Islamic history.‘Literary Mecca’ became the symbolic centre of bothmonotheism and the Arab world, as narratives of pre-Islamicprophets and pre-Islamic Arabian history came to revolve

around it. Mecca thereby provided a link between Arabsand the worship of Allah long pre-dating Muhammad andthe Qur’an. The narrative that the Arabs spread over all of Arabia and thence, via the Islamic conquests, into the NearEast was also portrayed as starting from Mecca.

Stories of pre-Islamic Mecca thus come to serve a dualpurpose for Muslim narrators: on the one hand, Mecca’s roleas a spiritual centre provided a means for differentcommunities to establish praiseworthy credentials forindigenous heroes such as the Persian Sasan. And secondly,Mecca’s role as a central Arab homeland permittednarrators to assert ‘authentic’ Arab credentials for their past

heroes via Hajj stories, for instance the frequent interactionbetween pre-Islamic Yemeni kings and Mecca allowedYemeni historians to fully integrate their pre-Islamic historyin an Arabian guise.

possessing eternal sanctity and cosmological spatial holinesslying directly under God’s throne. God’s order that Adamperform the Hajj is an integral part in establishing aportrayal of the Hajj as a universal expression ofmonotheism.

Therefore, we have seen that whilst the origin of thestories of Adam’s Hajj, according to the traditional methodsof isnad criticism, lies on weaker premises, within fifty yearsof al-Fakihi’s compendium Muslim scholars had come to

embrace it and even chastise those who would deny it. The veritable paradigm shift can perhaps be understood in thecontext of changing audiences in the Muslim world.Muhammad led a community where guidance wasexpressed through the person of the Prophet. The closeassociation of the Hajj with Ibrahim, a prophet himself,would emphasize and justify the ritual’s importance: theHajj was portrayed as Ibrahim’s personal guidance tomonotheists. But over the succeeding years, Islamexpanded and large numbers of new peoples in far-flungplaces entered the community. At this time, the historicalhorizons of Muslim writers commensurately broadened, and

by the ninth century, they began to write universal historiesof the world. No longer strictly a prophetic community, andpossessing a much broader historical consciousness, themore diverse audiences of later historians would appreciate

Plate 3 Alexander visits the Ka‘ba, from the Shahnama of Firdausi,

mid-16th century. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art(MSS 771) (© Nour Foundation. Courtesy of the Khalili Family Trust)


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This hadith is frequently cited, see al-Bukhari : al-Madina ,al-anbiya’ ; Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj : al-hajj –, ;Sulayman : al-manasik ; al-Nasa’i : al-hajj , , .

Sergeant : , –. The close parallels between Ibrahim and Muhammad are reflected

in many aspects of Muslim ritual texts and practices, for instance, inprayer Muslims invoke blessing on both prophets together.

Al-Bukhari : al-hajj , al-Tirmidhi : al-hajj ; Ibn Majah: al-manasik .

A l-Bukhari : al-anbiya’ , Jaza’ al-Sayd . Al-Bukhari : al-anbiya’ . Ibn Hanbal , V: . The following account is based on al-Azraqi , I: –,

al-Ya‘qubi [n.d.], I: – and al-Tabari [n.d.], I: –. Theirnarratives are remarkably consistent, differing only in minordetail s, such as the precise mountain upon which Adam landed(al-Tabari [n.d.], I: –), the exact nature of the Hajj rituals heperformed (al-Azraqi , I: –) and the number of pilgrimageshe performed (al-Tabari [n.d.], I: –).

Al-Tabari [n.d.], I: –. Some sources omit mention of the ruby and state that Adam

himself placed the Black Stone (which shone white at the time) inthe sacred precinct (al-Azraqi , I: ).

For the flood, see, for example al-Azraqi , I: – and

al-Tabari , I : . Al-Tabari [n.d.], I: –. Among the writers of history during the late ninth century, it

appears that only al-Dinawari’s Akhbar al-t iwal omits narration ofthe Hajj of Adam.

Ibn Khurdadhbih [n.d.]: . Ibn Khurdadhbih [n.d.]: , , where each of the Lands of the East

and West are traced via a route from Baghdad. Ibn Khurdadhbih [n.d.]: . Ibn Khurdadhbih [n.d.]: . Al-Ya‘qubi : –. Sohrab : . Ibn Hawqal [n.d.]: . Al-Muqaddasi : . A view earlier noted in al-Azraqi’s history

of Mecca (I: –).

Ibn Hisham , I: . Ibn Hisham , I: , , . The term ‘ Bayt Allah ’ (The Houseof God) which conjures images of more eternal sanctity does occur,but less frequently, see Ibn Hisham , I: .

Ibn Habib : –, –, –. Ibn Habib : –. Ibn Habib : –. Ibn Habib : . Ibn Habib : . The Qur’an expressly chastises the corrupted Hajj of the pagan

Meccans (Q.:). Al-Azraqi , I: –. Al-Azraqi , I: . Al-Fakihi , III: , . Al-Fakihi , III: , –.

The coins anecdote is described as ‘da‘if jiddan’ (very weak), whilethe doctor story is described as ‘mursal ’ – an anecdote with gaps inthe chain of transmission (al-Fakihi , III: –).

Al-Fakihi , III: . Al-Fakihi , II: . Al-Fakihi , II: . Al-Fakihi , II: –. Al-Tabari [n.d.], I: –. He relates ‘Arafa was so named as Adam

found Eve there, associating the name with the verb ‘arafa (to know)and al-Muzdali fa was named because both Adam and Eve wentthere, an association with the verb izdalafa (to gather).

Al-Fakihi , V: –. Al-Fakihi , IV: . Al-Jahiz , II: –. Al-Jahiz , II: .

Q.:. He argues linguist ically that the Qur’an’s placement of the definitearticle on ‘al-bayt’ demands the ‘Eternalist’ interpretation (al-Jahiz–, IV: ).

Adam’s Hajj thus did much more than posit a startingpoint for the pilgrimage and justify the ritual in Islam. Itfacilitated a major orientation of pre-Islamic historyportraying Mecca as the nodal point of the Arab people, andindeed world history, channelling the attention of Muslimscholars of pre-Islamic history to Mecca. Muhammad’sorigin was thus spatially aligned with the origin of the world,and temporally aligned with world history: in the Muslim

narratives Mecca became the site of the first act of history(Adam’s Hajj) and also the most important act of history (thebeginning of Muhammad’s mission). Accordingly, Mecca’sfootprint in the memory of pre-Islamic times was vastlyincreased to provide a bedrock upon which Muslimhistorians would reconstruct the history of the Arabs. Fromasas Ibrahim (the foundation of Ibrahim), Mecca became asasal-‘Arab (the foundation of the Arabs) and profoundlycoloured the telling of Arabian history.

Notes Research on this topic is vast and varied; some even deny that

Mecca was Islam’s original cult centre (originally in Crone ,and repeated very recently in Holland : –). Hawting: xvii, xxi–xxiii), Lazarus-Yafeh ; Peters a: –,b: – summarize the panoply of scholarship on the Hajj’sorigins and precedents.

The Hadith ’s authenticity is hotly debated. Schacht’s classicdeconstruction in The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence iscounterbalanced by Azami’s defence in On Schacht’s Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprude nce . It is perhaps imprudent to assert that agiven hadith records the Prophet’s speech verbatim, but many are ofconsiderable antiquity and do represent some of the earliest recordsof the Muslim community, if not from the time of the Prophet, atleast from the first few generations (Motzki ).

Pre-Islamic poetry includes references to Mecca and the Hajjprimarily preserved in the ninth-century histories of Mecca and

the Quraysh tribe. The authenticity of these is doubtful, and mypreliminary survey of the better established ‘canonical’ collectionsof pre-Islamic verse compiled in the eighth to ninth centuries(al-Mufaddaliyyat , al - Asma‘iyyat, al-Hamasa ) revealed no citations ofthe Hajj. The complex question of poetry and Hajj history requireslengthy analysis outside the scope of this essay.

Adam’s Hajj is thoroughly endorsed by al-Tabari (, I: –,Tarikh [n. d.], I: –), and repeated thereafter. See al-Qurtubi, II : ; Ibn Kathir [n.d.], I: ; Ibn al-Jawzi , I: .

It has been suggested that ‘al-bayt ’ does not mean the Ka‘ba asassumed by later Muslim exegetes (Hawting , III: ), but theclusters of verses describing al-bayt do have a lexical unity withwords associated with Hajj and Mecca such as Hajj , Maqam Ibrahim, Bakka , Masj id al-Haram and Bayt al-Haram (Q.:–, :–, :,:–, :–). Even without recourse to later exegesis, an

application of the verses to interpret each other strongly suggeststhat pilgrimage to Mecca is intended. The text reads ‘Bakka’ instead of ‘Mecca’. All Muslim exegetes

affirm that the Qur’an’s Bakka

The Hajj Collected Essays B-M

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