Haj tragedies: Time for a look in the mirror

Azwar Hasan, Contributor, Jakarta

As I took an early morning walk, I stopped to pick up the paper and was startled by the front-page headline: At least 244 pilgrims killed in stampede.

How could it be happening again? My memory flashed back to the ghastly image of lifeless bodies of pilgrims, lying in the tunnel after what became known as the "Tragedy of Mina" in 1990. More than 1,400 pilgrims, mostly Indonesian, died in that terrible tunnel stampede.

The greater tragedy is that these are not isolated incidents, but repeated almost every year; 343 pilgrims died when a tent blaze spread in Mina in 1997, and the following year 180 died in another stampede. In 2002, during the stone-throwing ritual to chase away the devil, 35 were trampled to death.

Why does this happen in the first place and why must it continue to happen? It is unthinkable that these deaths should be caused by fellow pilgrims. The local authorities or those who believe that this is not unnatural will defend themselves by saying that these lamentable accidents happen in crowded conditions. So how do these conditions come about? Is it not obvious that a space such as a tunnel has clear dimensions and it is known how many people it can safely accommodate at any given time.

It is not possible that a tunnel or a certain space, in Mina or Jamarat, of all a sudden shrinks or expands to accommodate all the pilgrims wishing to go through at any given time. It is quite rational, meaning that it must be possible to predict what may happen so that the conditions where such tragedies can happen can be prevented. It may be that the Saudi Arabian authorities have already thought about it, or maybe not. However, we cannot discard the uncontrollable behavior of the pilgrims as one of the reasons for putting many lives at risk.

I remember when I went to Mecca and I wished to kiss the hajar aswad (black stone) in one of the corners of the Ka'bah. The corner is the holiest place on earth where a blessing can be had and a prayer can be answered. I could not understand why people had to push and shove left and right to get close to the stone and kiss it.

I decided to move away to the edge of the Ka'bah and observe the behavior displayed by my brothers in faith. How could the tall, strong pilgrim without any apparent guilt, elbow his way to the stone by cutting through the lines of people, studiously oblivious of the fact that other people also wished to get close. And no, this was not an isolated occurrence.

Around the Ka'bah I saw no queuing, no patient waiting for one's turn and others seemingly waiting for a miraculous event to bring them naturally before the stone. What I saw was people, of course not all, sticking their elbows into the sides of weak, elderly people and women, forcing their way ahead in a quest to reach the stone and kiss it or touch it. Obviously, it is this sort of self-centered determination that will cause others to become victims.

Does it mean that by kissing the Hajar Aswad or while throwing stones to chase away the "devil" and saying, for example, "God, let me go to heaven, bring happiness to myself and my family in this life and in the next", we can then smile and be convinced that we will go to heaven, that we shall be happy in this life and the next, that there will be no more strife, no more sadness at the end of our pilgrimage.

How can we smile on our way to kiss the Hajar Aswad with the consciousness that to do so we have hurt others, perhaps a little old woman, by pushing and shoving to get to our desired position. Of course, the little old woman also desires to kiss the stone or throw the stone away and send to God her special prayer too. So, should we really smile proudly because we have succeeded in praying for our own happiness in this world and the next in the holiest place on earth as we believe?

And then return to our place of origin, proudly displaying our newly acquired haji or hajjah title and proceed to indulge in corrupt practices or other harmful behavior because we believe we have been cleansed and we have guarantees of an entrance to heaven and unending happiness through having kissed the stone or succeed in pelting the devil.

Or perhaps we might become even wilder and feel that our newly found haji or hajjah condition has made us immune to all our sins including the dubious way by which we might have obtained the funding to go on the haj. Or we might feel we have been successful by chasing away the devil by throwing stones so that we forget how many people have been trampled to death and, maybe, even by our own feet.

Is it right to return to our homes and announce to all and sundries that we have received a miracle in the Holy Land, that we were able to kiss the stone just in the space of ten minutes although we are aware that to do so we hurt others who perhaps had been waiting patiently for hours to come close to the stone and that, because of us, have returned home disappointed because our selfishness has prevented them from sending up their prayer in that holiest of places.

And so we also proudly tell our families that we have prayed at the Hajar Aswad and that because of it, the whole family will gain happiness in this life and the next and we believe that will happen. Then on the strength of that prayer we will not proceed to become better people but instead we will become even more selfish, more corrupt, more forceful so that we can go on Haj again, seven or eight times if possible, to pray in the holiest of places and to chase away the devil, year after year.

An accumulation of these attitudes might be what causes pilgrims to die by being brutally stomped upon by fellow pilgrims. We should give this some thought. Also, we should take a good, hard look at our own selfishness, our own self-interest and the motivation for going on the Haj pilgrimage might need to be rethought.

It is impossible to obtain the happiness we ask for in that special prayer, if our behavior and mental attitudes do not change. The egoism that prompts us to put our needs above those of all others will not bring happiness to anyone in this world, irrespective of what religion, what frame, or what language we use for the prayer, or where we say it.

Let us look into our hearts and hope that we are not part of that group of people who hurt others to have their prayer answered or those who derive personal benefits in the name of God.