Resources > Engaging Muslims > Engaging as individuals > Why do our Muslim friends go to Mecca?
Making the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia once in a lifetime is a religious duty for all Muslims “who have the means”. There is a specific time of year to make the Hajj, as the pilgrimage is known, and it involves a detailed programme of required activities. In these days of prosperity and easy travel, people often go multiple times, so the religious obligation alone does not account for every trip. So why do people go?
In addition, there is something called Umra. That is a visit to all the same sites - and a few more besides - but at a different time of year and it doesn’t count as Hajj. It is not a religious requirement at all, but many still go. True, it is cheaper and less crowded, but why do they make the trip?
If you know someone who is going or has gone, it is perfectly reasonable to ask about it in a friendly way. “That is interesting – what is the attraction? What were you hoping for?” I have known people go because they feel they are at a crisis point and they want to get their lives in order. Others go simply because they want to connect with something holy, something more spiritual than everyday life. Some go because somebody else wants them to go but more interestingly some go on behalf of someone who cannot.
If you ask directly how it went and whether it was worthwhile, they are unlikely to say it was disappointing even if it was – and for many it isn’t – but listen carefully to what they do say and what they don’t say. Often they go to spend time in a place of blessing, but their experience of the people who live there all the time, the Saudis, is far from positive.
One young man I know who went on Umra to get himself sorted out, went with a strong awareness that others had come back full of a new zeal for virtuous living and then within a month they were back to their old selves and he didn’t want that to happen to him. Maybe we should be thinking about how God intends to meet the needs they feel and we could talk about that in w way that they would appreciate. And if we know someone travelling in the hope of an encounter with God let us pray that they really have one. It has been know to happen.