The History Of Haj Travelogues

Author Hassan Reza-Rafiei who has written the travelogues Dark City of Lights and a Mosque without Mihrab”is convinced that Iranians are the most active people among the nations of the world in writing travelogues on the Haj pilgrimage that contain in-depth analysis of the pilgrimage. According to him Iranians have made significant efforts in writing literary works on the central theme of the Haj which originates in historical literature and spans to the present. He provides the example of a travelogue written by the Persian poet and philosopher Naser Khosrow (1004-1088). He suggests the translation of all the major works into English and Arabic from Persian. Among contemporary writers Ali Shariati and Jalal Al-e Ahmad have produced major works on the Haj. In the article Women as Pilgrims: Memoirs of Iranian Women Travelers to Mecca by Amineh Mahallati is also of the opinion that the neglected aspect of the Iranian women's lives and activities is their traveling and travelogues. A number of Iranian women pilgrims to Mecca and the Shiite holy shrines of Mesopotamia during the past four centuries have left behind memoirs of their travels. They recorded interesting details about their spiritual experience as pilgrims to the holy lands of Islam and of the difficulties of the journey, especially the notoriously dangerous land route from Iran to Mecca through the Arabian Desert. The oldest Haj travelogue is from the early eighteenth and the other three from the late nineteenth centuries. The authors were all members of upper class families: one was a princess, another a former queen and the other two were also affiliated with the ruling families in one way or another. They all wrote about their spiritual satisfaction but also of the disadvantages and the extra burden that a woman experienced in her pilgrimage journey, simply for being a woman.

The first Iranian woman pilgrim to Mecca who left a written record from her trip was the wife of Mirza Khalil, the raqam nevis (secretary) of the Safavid court. The author, whose name has not been recorded, was a member of an aristocratic family, some of whose other members were also in top local administrative positions at the time. Her travelogue is in the form of a 1200 line long poem in which she recorded her observations and thoughts during the long journey. It is an important and oldest known work in the genre of travelogues by an Iranian woman. The second Iranian woman pilgrim to leave a travelogue behind was a member of the Iranian Qajar royal family, Mehrmah Khanom Ismat al-Saltanah, the eldest daughter of Prince Farhad Mirza Mu’tamad al-Dawlah (d. 1305/1888), uncle of Nasir al-Din Shah, the Qajar king of Iran from 1848 through 1896. Her parents had already gone on pilgrimage in 1292–93/1875–76 and her father left a detailed account of that trip.

She began her journey from Tehran on Tuesday 24 Ramadan 1297/31 August 1880. She was accompanied by a couple of other women of note and two slave girls. Like most other travelogues of Qajar Iran, this text is a testament to the incapacity, failure and indifference of the central government towards the poverty of its subjects, and the injustice and unfair treatment that the population received from local authorities sent from Tehran. Her travelogue includes interesting information on the natural and cultural particularities of various places she visited or passed through on her journey, as well as valuable descriptions on the conditions of the Iranian state and population at the time. Equally interesting is her narration of the difficulties, dangers and mistreatment that the Iranian pilgrims faced on their road to hajj. This latter is, however, a common theme among all Iranian travelogues to hajj that have survived from the period.

The third Iranian woman pilgrim to Mecca who left a record of her journey was an unnamed upper class woman from Kerman in southern Iran. She belonged to a locally powerful group in the region called the Sheikhis which upheld a distinctive system of creed and practice within the larger tradition of Shiite Islam. She began her journey with a small group of acquaintances from Kerman on Saturday 25 Ramadan 1309/23 April 1892going southeast toward Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf.

This is a more detailed travelogue compared with the previous two and at times offers useful descriptions of localities. The account about Bombay: its botanic garden, zoo, museum, textile factory and water facilities is exceptionally colorful. However, the emphasis throughout the text is on the difficulties and dangers of the road to Mecca, all of which are described with bitterness and disappointment. The entire work is in fact about fear, concerns, suffering, harm and hardships that this specific pilgrim experienced during her long journey. The fourth among the Iranian women to leave a record of her journey to Mecca was yet another member of the Qajar royal family: Sakina Sultan Khanom Isfahani Kuchak, a wife of Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848–96) whom he married and widowed at young ages, though her exact age at the time of the marriage, as well as the date of the marriage, and her age at Nasir al-Din Shah’s assassination on 17 Dhu ’l-Qa’da 1313/1 May 1896 are not known. She was given the honorary title of Waqâr al- Dawla by the next king, Muzaffar al-Din Shah (r. 1896–1907), who treated her as well as other former wives of his father with dignity and respect. Compared with others of her class, time and gender, she was a fairly literate woman and demonstrated familiarity with literary works of her time and the ability to write not only prose but also poetry signing her poems as Waqâr. Her trip to Mecca that began in Tehran on Saturday 1 Rajab 1317/5 November 189977 ended almost a year later in Borujerd, a city in Western Iran where on Tuesday 15 Jumada I, 1318/10 September 1900, she joined her husband who was living there at the time on a government assignment, returning finally to Tehran on Monday 4 Dhu ‘l-Hijja of the same year/25 March 1901.80 The trip took her first to Iraq, where she visited the Shiite holy shrines in Kazimayn, Karbala and Najaf, and then through Aleppo to Iskandarun, where she took a boat to Jeddah and then Mecca on Jum’a 6 Dhu ‘l-Hijja 1317/6 April 1900, in time for the annual pilgrimage, and then Medina. On the way back home, she took the land route through the Arabian Desert to Najaf, and then went to visit other Shiite holy cities of Karbala, Kazimayn and Samarra, finally setting out for the Iranian border and arriving in Borujerd where she joined her husband, as noted above.

The travelogue offers useful insights into the life of the Iranian people at the time, including numerous references to the insecurity of the roads and the widespread dissatisfaction with and complaints about the government, a phenomenon that in a few years would lead to Iran’s Constitutional Revolution.

Haj Travelogues from Japan

The Hajj by Japanese Muslims in the Interwar Period: Japan's Pan-Asianism and Economic Interests in the Islamic World by Mikiya Koyagi. Journal of World History, Vol. 24, No. 4 (December 2013), pp. 849-876. Published by: University of Hawai'i PressThis article analyzes Japan's efforts to reach out to the Islamic world, particularly the Middle East, in the first half of the twentieth century. It pays particular attention to the Haj by Japanese Muslims from the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of the 1930s. Existing works on Japanese-Islamic interactions before 1945 have provided detailed analyses of Japan's strategic and geopolitical interests in facilitating its interactions with Muslims. Building upon these works, this article stresses the significance of economic motives and the need to strengthen commercial ties in the cross-cultural encounters. In fact, Japan's economic motives in the Middle East were closely intertwined with its strategic motives, and the two motives supplemented each other in fostering Japan's desire to reach out to the Islamic world.

In 1938, Suzuki Tsuyoshi, a Japanese convert to Islam, visited the holy city of Mecca during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, when Muslim pilgrims from across the world flock to the city for the Haj. This pilgrimage was to be Suzuki's last one before he died in World War II after establishing Hezbollah against the Allies in Java. Having performed the Haj in 1935 and 1937, Suzuki had become familiar with the procedure of the pilgrimage. Upon his return to Japan, he was going to introduce his experiences to his audiences in conferences and symposiums, the most notable among them being the Islamic World Exhibition held in Tokyo and Osaka in late 1939. Along with the sudden proliferation of Islamic organizations and scholarly works about the Islamic world, Suzuki and his fellow pilgrims contributed to the increased interest of the general public in Islam in the 1930s. Japanese Muslims like Suzuki were by no means a large group in interwar Japan. The Religious Organizations Law of 1939 recognized only Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity as official religions while it categorized Islam as "other religions" due to the small number of Muslims among the Japanese. The vast majority of Muslims in Japan during the interwar period were non-Japanese like Tatars, Bashkirs, and Indians. Unlike the process of Japanese conversion to Buddhism and Christianity, the few Japanese who became Muslims were often exposed to Islam abroad as they interacted with Muslims as traders and translators in such areas as Qingdao, Celebes, and Bombay. Japanese Muslims who performed the Haj were even fewer. The statistics slightly differ from source to source, but approximately eight Japanese Muslims attempted to perform the Haj between 1934 and 1938, five of whom sailed for Mecca twice or more. Despite the small number of Japanese pilgrims, their Haj encapsulates broader changes that occurred in the relationship between the Japanese Empire and the Islamic world.

Early Japanese pilgrims to Mecca not only lacked knowledge of Islam but were devoted subjects of the Japanese Empire and understood Islam in a nationalist framework. Yamaoka exemplifies this trend. Even more striking when compared to later pilgrims in the interwar period is the complete absence of commercial issues in Yamaoka's account. His travelogue reveals much about his dichotomous view of race and a Japan-centered understanding of Islam. Yamaoka started his journey as a non-Muslim, but he was forced to convert when his being a non-Muslim became controversial among Indian Muslims. Thus, the first part of Yamaoka's travelogue before his conversion lacks discussions of Islam. Yamaoka's understanding of Islam was equally influenced by the logic of Japanese expansionism. He managed to memorize the five pillars of Islam and basic greetings in Arabic before reaching Jeddah, but he understood fundamental concepts of Islam in the only way that was fathomable to him. In his travelogue, Yamaoka explained the meaning of Allah upon his arrival at the Ka'ba: "(Allah) is the only God and it means Amaterasu Omikami.

Haj Travelogues from Pakistan A Hajj Pilgrim's Travelogue and Manual: The Sea Traveller 1676-1677 by Iftikhar A.Khan . Academic Journal Article, Pakistan Historical Society. Journal of the Pakistan Historical SocietyMuin Safi bin Wall was a tutor of Awrangzeb's daughter Zaib-un Nisa.He belonged to an academic circle, hailing from Ardabil in Iran. In the year 1087 A.H. (1676-1677) the author was favored by his patroness to proceed to Mecca. During his journey he kept a record of his travel and this he made into a book, the Anis-ul Hujjäj (the Pilgrims's Companion).The Anïs-ul Hujjäj, a report primarily meant as a companion or guide for sea-going pilgrims and merchants to Mecca is the outcome of the first hand observances and experiences of the voyage which was undertaken during his first pilgrimage to Mecca.

Haj Travelogues from America

Amongst Americans, the most widely known account of a Haj is that of the Nebraskan-born African American Malcolm X who completed his first of two pilgrimages in April 1964. In his autobiography, published one year later, and turned into a movie in 1992 by Spike Lee. He writes how this ritual of unity, equality and brotherhood enabled him to redress the key social challenges he and his community were facing. He writes that America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem.

Another Haj travelogue from America is The Hadj, written by Michael Wolfe, an American who converted to Islam.

Haj Travelogues from India

The first Indian account is thought to have been composed by the scholar Mevlana Refi‘eddin Muradabadi, who went on the hajj in 1787. Metcalf (1990: 86-87) states that the tradition of travel and pilgrimage account writing in the Indian sub-continent developed gradually from the nineteenth century. The tradition of Indian Haj narratives followed a rather different trend after the nineteenth century taking shape initially in the period of British rule. ‘Several dozen’ of pilgrimage accounts were published between1870-1950. ‘Since then, ever more people have written accounts, probably as many in the last four decades as in the eight de- cades before’. Having pointed out un published and undiscovered accounts and private letters, Metcalf concludes that hajj narratives seem ‘a modern phenomenon’ having common scope with other writings. Despite women going on hajj, and in some cases even bequeathing endowments to the people of Mecca while there, one of the first autobiographical accounts of a female pilgrim does not appear until 1863. The account by Nawab Sikandar, Her Highness the Begum of Bhopal, is also the first known account written by a regent. The Begum was the first Indian monarch to attend hajj and she was accompanied by a large entourage of close to a thousand people, most of them women. Nawab Sikander, Begum of Bhopal (Performed Hajj in 1864).She travelled to Bombay by train, and went by steamship to Jedda with a vast quantity of luggage and gifts. The Begum’s pilgrimage account, which she dedicated to Queen Victoria, reflected her forceful character and intelligence. Despite her bitter experiences of discomfiture, corruption and uncivilized manner of the people of Mecca, the Begum remained deeply committed to the Haj. She sponsored her subjects to go on Haj, and funded mosques and hostels for them in Mecca and Medina.

Amir Ahmed Alwai wrote Safar-I-Sadaat in Urdu based on his daily accounts of his Haj experience. He undertook the Haj journey that spanned more than four months, beginning January 31, 1929.He has meticulously recorded his daily experience and encounters in minute detail. As is to be expected, the narrative runs into five/six pages on days that were eventful, while it is brief containing in some cases not more than 50 words on other days. His diary notes carry fascinating insights into cultural, political, and economic aspects of contemporary life. They also reveal his personal view on several global issues of tremendous significance. He writes about the status of women in the Arab world of those times, that he found Arab women in Western attire, while the young were roaming without the veil. Another interesting account is the role muallims (guides) played in making Hajj arrangement she found them irresponsible and exploitative. This is documented during his visit to Medina. He writes: “May my countrymen have the foresight to stay clear of those muallims who are not present in Mecca during the time of the Hajj and leave their clients to fend for themselves!” His travelogue is suggestive of the fact that Muslims of his time had their own perceptions of Muslims of other regions. Afghans or Punjabis were considered aggressive and having a stronger sense of self-respect as opposed to Bengali Muslims. He narrates one such incident that took place on February 13th where a British sergeant assaulted the Bengali hajjis who constituted a sizable section of 1200-strong contingent in his ship. He was enraged to see his fellow hajjis humiliated. He notes: “Had they been Punjabis or Afghans, this ill-tempered Englishman would have got his just deserts”.