Why haj pilgrims return to Mecca
Why haj pilgrims return to Mecca
By Santi WE Soekanto & Wisnu Pramudya
JAKARTA (JP): "There is an unexplainable feeling of longing, a yearning, to see the Baitullah (House of God) in Mecca again, and again, and again."
This was expressed by a person who has gone on pilgrimage to Mecca more than once. The pilgrimage to Mecca is a religious duty for Moslems who are able, as mandated by the last of the five tenets of Islam.
The first time usually provides a person with such an exhilarating spiritual experience that he will yearn for those moments of spiritual highs.
Dr. Umar Syihab, an ulema and legislator from the Golkar faction, is a case in point of a Moslem who feels the urge to go on pilgrimage again and again.
He has been on the haj ten times, and twice on umrah (minor pilgrimage), and is planning to go again this year.
Of the ten times, Syihab felt his first time was the most memorable.
"It's not only me. Everyone who has gone on pilgrimage will feel the desire to go again," he said. "It's probably also because pilgrims pray during their time in Mecca that Allah helps them return to the holy land for another pilgrimage."
The graduate of the Al Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, likened the urge to return to Mecca with a feeling of love that someone has toward a beloved.
"If you love someone, you want to see him again and again," he said. "That is exactly what happens to us who want to go to Mecca again and again."
He understood the government's reason for trying to impose a quota on the number of people going on pilgrimage. However, he believed the government's campaign would be more effective if it also encouraged people to go on umrah which can be done at other times of the year.
Moslems go on haj during the month of Dzulhijjah in the lunar Moslem year, which falls in May this year.
"Moslems try to go on pilgrimage more than once mostly because they feel a certain feeling, a yearning ... and the essence of this longing is actually toward the Kaaba (the Holy Shrine in Mecca), instead of toward the pilgrimage rite itself," Syihab explained.
"Prophet Muhammad went on pilgrimage only twice in his lifetime, but he suggested that people do more of the thawaf (the rite of circling the Kaaba seven times, as first shown by Abraham)," he said.
The ritual circling of the Kaaba automatically constitutes an umrah.
Moslem singer Neno Warisman has gone on the haj twice and on umrah five times. The graduate of the French program of the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Letters acknowledged the longing to see the House of God again and again.
"I definitely have those moments," said the pretty young mother of one who is known for her efforts to find suitable songs and entertainment for Moslem children.
"I feel this urge to go again, this longing ... but now I'm trying hard to control the urge. I tell myself this feeling is valid but I don't have to act on it."
Neno added that she can go on pilgrimage often, but understands that it could deprive someone else of an opportunity of a lifetime to go, given the quota. "Other people have the right to go too," she said.
She pointed out that going on pilgrimage is not "everything" in the life of a Moslem. "We have many things to deal with here, like poverty ... how can we go on pilgrimage many times over if one of our neighbors can't even afford to send a child to school?"
The feeling of love and longing toward Allah, she said, "could be channeled through other forms of worship," she said. And so she set a prerequisite for herself.
Despite the many offers she receives from various travel bureaus annually to go on haj for free, she vowed never to go on pilgrimage again until she masters Arabic.
Abdullah, a journalist, has gone only once on the haj but his father has gone 16 times and is planning to go again this year.
"I'd like to be able to go again ... but I can't stand the crowd, so I think I'd better go on minor pilgrimage instead," he said.