Belonging to the whole

The reality of the Islamic world is not only confined by certain geographical lands and its followers who live in those lands. Although not at the desired level of consciousness, as Garaudy put it, there is an Islamic world perpetuated in the hearts of millions of Muslim men and women, and there is an ideal that points to this world.

It is possible to best witness this reality while performing the hajj in the holy lands of Islam. Muslims coming from all over the world unite in order to fulfill a divine command. Women and men, old and young, black and white, northerners and southerners, all side by side, together… Mecca, home to the holiest sanctuary of Islam, the Kaaba, and Medina, home to the mosque and tomb of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, bring together people who have never seen or met one another before. The reason for their coming is, of course, not a simple one. These people, who endure many physical challenges and expenses, not only visit all the sacred places but also participate in a spiritual experience. It’s as if they all drink from the same spring to cool off.

This spiritual experience allows for a brand new dimension of consciousness to surface in them. Everyone understands that they are brothers and sisters of one another; they feel this reality de facto. They suddenly realize that being members of different races, having been born and raised in different lands, speaking different languages and earning one’s living through different professions are not important at all. They gather on Arafat Mountain like white pigeons, flow toward Muzdalifa like floodwaters and vent one’s frustrations in Mina (where the stone pillars representing Satan are stoned). When they circumambulate the Kaaba, they appreciate the fact that they are each a meaningful and valuable part of a whole. While waiting for the time of prayer at the Mosque of the Prophet, you suddenly see an African, Chinese, Kazakh or Syrian Muslim waiting right next to you. Even if you don’t speak the same language, the language of worship and the prayer are your common language. While saluting and returning salutations, visiting the graves of the Prophet’s companions (in Jannatu-l-Baki and Jannatu-l-A’la), and while visiting important historical mosques, you all share the same feelings. Not only the history of Islam, but also humanity’s beginning adventure and the reality of creation are shared.

Members of the Islamic world resemble one another very much; no Muslim country can claim to have any difference from or superiority to another. All superior points and differences are relative and have to exist. Muslims, so to speak, don’t live in a cauldron where all their differences and distinctive qualities melt. They have various colors and lines. Therefore, no other ideology could be more averse to the spirit of Islam than totalitarianism. When the hajjis (pilgrims) leave their ihrams (the two-piece seamless clothing; one wrapped around the lower half of the body, one hanging from the left shoulder; representing one’s burial shroud), you see so many different clothes; it’s as if a global fashion show begins in the streets of the two cities. At that moment, you understand how totalitarian and paranoid the Western lifestyle is in a sophisticated way, how it cannot tolerate differences and lifestyles other than the one it imposes and how it calls for an aggressive attitude at the level of official policies to eliminate all the different colors and lines out there. While the faces of the modern world are like photocopies of an original copy, the faces during the hajj are all real and original.