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Text: Zhang Runchen
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introduction
The pilgrimage to Mecca is the largest religious activity of Muslims in the world, and it is also one of the largest religious activities in the world. Every year, millions of Muslims travel from all over the world to Mecca, the holy land of Saudi Arabia, which makes Saudi Arabia as many visitors as any other country every year, even if it is only a desert.
So how did the pilgrimage to Mecca come about, how much revenue did the pilgrimage bring to Saudi Arabia as a country, and what was the process of the pilgrimage to Mecca?
(Pilgrimage to Mecca)
1. The origin of the pilgrimage to Mecca
The Kaaba in Mecca is said to be the world's first mosque, founded by Islam's first emissary, Ibrahim, and his son Ismaili. Ibrahim was born in Iraq to a carpenter who was responsible for building idols, and once when he was a child, Ibrahim broke into his father's workshop and smashed all the idols, leaving only the largest one.
(Pilgrimage to Mecca)
When asked why Ibrahim smashed the idols, Ibrahim replied that the big idol did it, which also indicates that Ibrahim has monotheistic tendencies and opposes idolatry. Later, Ibrahim fled to Palestine to escape the idolaters, and then to Egypt.
In Egypt, the king tried to snatch Ibrahim's wife, but Ibrahim was hunted down. With God's help, Ibrahim came to Mecca. Here, Ibrahim's family received help from the Gilhaimu tribe, and many years later Ibrahim and his son thanked God for saving their lives, and built the Kaaba here, which is the origin of the Kaaba.
Although Ibrahim was not the founder of Islam, Ibrahim was indeed the first person in the Arabian Peninsula to advocate monotheism, so Islam has always respected Ibrahim. After Ibrahim established the Kaaba, he began to call for pilgrimage to Mecca.
(Devout Believer)
In order to ensure that all people have the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, there is even a so-called "forbidden month", during which no fighting or killing is allowed. Of course, this is a religious statement, but in fact the ban moon gave the lords and commoners a chance to trade safely, and greatly promoted the development of commerce in the Arabian Peninsula, so everyone was happy to abide by this rule.
Before Muhammad came to Mecca, Mecca was in fact a place of pilgrimage for polytheistic and monotheistic adherents. The religious activities they carried out were basically the same, the only difference was in fact the object of worship. When Muhammad came to Mecca, he removed all 365 idols from the Kaaba.
The following year, Muhammad forbade all polytheists to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, which became an exclusive place of pilgrimage for Muslims. Later, Islam became the religion of the entire Arabian Peninsula, and the original polytheistic beliefs of Mecca became the dust of history.
(Holy Mecca "Kaaba")
Unlike the troubled Jerusalem, Mecca has at least always been under Muslim control, and to this day the pilgrimage site of Mecca has not been greatly vandalized. The meaning of Mecca is written in the Qur'an, the classic of Islam, so Mecca has a natural sanctity for Muslims, which is why all Muslims want to visit Mecca once in their lives.
2. The largest pilgrimage in the world
According to the Qur'an, a Muslim should complete the "five exercises" in his life, which are recitation, prayer, fasting, prayer and pilgrimage.
(Muslim)
To recite the Qur'an is to recite the Qur'an with a complete understanding of the rights and wrongs of all things and to receive the only messenger of Muhammad, and to pray five times a day.
Doing homework is a tax, and when a Muslim's wealth reaches a certain amount, he should give generously. Fasting is fasting on time, and Hajj is a Muslim who must make a pilgrimage to the holy place of Mecca once in his life, if circumstances permit. Therefore, the pilgrimage to Mecca has become the goal of many Muslims in their lives.
(Pilgrimage to Mecca)
However, participation in the pilgrimage to Mecca is not unconditional, first of all, all pilgrims should be "adults" in the religious sense, specifically men at least 12 years old and women at least 9 years old. In addition, all pilgrims must be in good health and able to undertake religious duties. Persons who are old and infirm, incapacitated and unfit to travel long distances are not obliged to make pilgrimages.
However, those who are unable to make the pilgrimage can also pay for someone else to do the pilgrimage on their behalf. Thirdly, women are not allowed to make pilgrimages without the company of their husbands or immediate family members. Fourth, if the pilgrim's journey to Mecca is too dangerous, then the person will be relieved of the pilgrimage obligation. Fifthly, all pilgrims should have basic financial means and should not make a pilgrimage in the event of indebtedness or financial disputes.
(Asaku)
And when all of the above does not exist, a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime is a religious obligation imposed on all Muslims by Islam.
The Qur'an says: "Whoever is able to walk this route should go to the Ka'aba for Allah." "If a person meets all the conditions, but he dies before he can make the pilgrimage, it doesn't matter if his family can make the pilgrimage on his behalf.
(Pilgrimage to Mecca)
The process of pilgrimage is also very complicated, first of all, it is necessary to "take an ordination" on the periphery of the forbidden area, that is, to bathe and change clothes, and then wear the prescribed precept clothes, that is, a piece of white cloth that has not been sewn. Those who have been ordained must be careful in what they say and do, and must not cut hair, kill, cut down trees, etc.
The second step is "Feast," which is to look at the Kaaba and praise Allah. The third step is to circumnavigate the Kaaba, circumnavigating the Kaaba seven times. After circumambulating the Kaaba, it is necessary to travel back and forth between the two hills on the outskirts of the Kaaba, Melwa and Safah, which commemorates Ibrahim's deeds of searching for water for his son.
The fourth step is to stop at Mount Arafat, where pilgrims leave Mecca headfirst for the Mina Valley and then spend the day on Mount Arafat after dawn. The fifth step is "shooting stones", which is to hit three places that symbolize the location of the devil with gravel at a place called Agbai, to express that human beings are not tempted by the devil and evil.
(Pilgrimage to Mecca)
The sixth step is the slaughter of animals, also known as "Eid al-Adha", a day when Muslims all over the world slaughter animals and sacrifice them to God, partly for themselves and partly for the poor in their neighborhoods. After completing these six steps, the pilgrim has to walk around the Kaaba for another seven laps before leaving Mecca to end the pilgrimage.
This series of processes takes place in the twelfth month of each year in the Islamic calendar, which is also the annual pilgrimage day in Islam.
(朝圣队伍)
And every year during the Hajj, millions of Muslims from 100 countries around the world make the pilgrimage to Mecca, and today there are 1.9 billion Muslims in the world, so every Hajj Day in Mecca is crowded...
This is all the result of the Saudi government's restrictions on the number of pilgrims, which now require 1,000 pilgrims per million Muslims in the world to make the pilgrimage to Mecca each year. The reason for this provision is that the pilgrimage to Mecca has already triggered large-scale mass stampedes on more than one occasion.
(Pilgrimage to Mecca)
It can be seen that the pilgrimage to Mecca is really very "market", and the Saudi government can get various benefits from the pilgrimage to Mecca every year...
3. The benefits of the pilgrimage to Mecca
Saudi Arabia has the highest oil reserves in the entire Middle East, not one of them. This also means that Saudi Arabia is the kind of traditional Arab energy country we stereotype, and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf energy countries have been trying to open up other revenue channels over the years, after all, "it is difficult to make money from luxury".
Saudi Arabia has an inherent advantage over neighboring countries such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, that is, Saudi Arabia controls two holy Islamic sites, Mecca and Medina. Today, the pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the main ways the Saudi government is trying to replace energy revenues. According to the Saudi side, the number of Muslims who make the pilgrimage to Mecca can reach at least 2.7 million per year.
(Pilgrimage to Mecca)
These more than 2 million people contribute at least $22.6 billion a year to the Saudi government, which is not only the income they contribute during the annual pilgrimage, but also the income from the "Umrah", which can be visited at any time of the year, and there is no specific time. Of this income, 40% is from accommodation, 15% is from gift purchases, 10% is from food costs, and the rest is from other value-added services.
Mecca and Medina are both thousand-year-old cities that have not been properly planned, so the Saudi government sees more potential for pilgrimage revenues to be tapped. In addition, the benefits of the pilgrimage to Mecca for the Saudi government are not only economic, but also political.
Mecca is the holy place of Islam and the "land of peace", which also gives Saudi Arabia a very transcendent position among Muslim countries in the world. If any country, organization or even individual wants to attack Saudi Arabia, it will inevitably suffer the wrath of the world's 1.9 billion Muslims.
(Pilgrimage to Mecca)
This is one of the reasons why Saddam Hussein was isolated by Muslim countries around the world after he invaded Kuwait and threatened Saudi Arabia. If Saddam Hussein directly attacked Saudi Arabia, I am afraid that Muslim countries around the world would have to declare war on Iraq.
After all, once Saudi Arabia is caught in the flames of war, normal pilgrimages will definitely not be possible, which is "devastating" for Muslims all over the world. Even if it is just to realize their self-worth, Muslims do not want Saudi Arabia to be involved in any war, and you don't see that the United States has always been polite to Saudi Arabia, and this is not entirely due to Saudi Arabia's status as an energy power.
(Morning Guest)
Every pilgrim is an irreproducible resource for Saudi Arabia.
Resources:
Saudi Arabia will increase "pilgrimage" services to increase income and reduce dependence on oil.lizhi.2016-03-28
Encyclopedic Knowledge,2014,(21):49-51.
Shen Hao.Pilgrimage to Mecca, which shook the world[J].Science Grand View Garden,2013,(19):72-73.