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Article: The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places.
- Article from:
- Sociology of Religion
- Article date:
- June 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Association for the Sociology of Religion. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Hajj draws people from all over the world to a bare valley in the Arabian desert each year for a religious event unparalleled among the religions of the late 20th century. Non-Muslims have been barred from Mecca for most of the last millennium, but a few inquisitive unbelievers have infiltrated the Hajj and returned to tell the tale. There are also accounts by Muslims in many languages. Readers who want to know what the Hajj was like in the pre-modern period, based on such sources, will find this book useful.
The book includes vivid accounts of the caravans which crossed the deserts from Baghdad and Damascus, and of the rites performed in Mecca and at the nearby ...