I

may say that it was a privilege for me (as I, along with my wife, were among the 168,000 Indonesians chosen) to join and perform the haj pilgrimage to Mecca this year after three years of waiting. It was such a privilege indeed as we had to pass a series of tests, most importantly patience, but particularly health screenings, prior to being granted final endorsement by the Saudi government, as the host country, to be among the selected haj pilgrim candidates.

Performing the 40-day (the period may differ from one country to another) religious trip is the fifth pillar of Islam and the most significant manifestation of the Islamic faith and unity. Still, undertaking the haj is strictly a duty for Muslims who are physically and financially able to make the journey to Mecca.

The pilgrimage is obviously expensive for the larger part of the Indonesian population due to the costs and expenditures generated for participation in the religious trip. It is an extremely arduous religious journey because in some cases pilgrims have to walk, as part of the requirements, under the scorching sun (this year, temperatures reached nearly 50 degrees Celsius). The toughest ritual was indeed the wuquf (gathering) at Mount Arafat, where pilgrims spent half a day (from sunrise until sunset) and were only protected from direct exposure to the sun by tents erected specifically for the gathering.

However, it is the implementation of the overall rituals '€” which are considerably more relevant for pilgrims, and perhaps people in general, to pay attention and follow up '€” that matters the most.

The haj is essentially a form of individual religious worship, although some 3 million Muslims from across the world perform the rituals at relatively the same time. Therefore, the drive and spirit for each pilgrim to perform and complete all the wajib (compulsory) rituals, let alone the sunnah (recommended) ones, differ from one person to another in line with their religious knowledge and understanding '€” and obviously physical ability.

As a consequence, every individual pilgrim'€™s religious achievement (in this case, the quality of one'€™s worship) will then be reflected in one'€™s faith in God (according to Islamic belief); and one'€™s eventual '€œreligious and daily'€ behavior upon one'€™s return home from the pilgrimage will be different from one person to another.

Apart from its essential content, the religious trip in fact teaches us, the participants, lessons that are practical for our daily '€” not merely religious '€” behavior. These are '€” to a certain extent '€” indeed minor things that many, if not most, of us have failed to consistently put into practice.

As an example, the rituals around the Holy Kaaba encourage pilgrims to do their utmost to achieve the target, i.e. perform the compulsory rituals. Still, many of them frequently forget that their attempt to achieve their target must not come at a loss or harm to others. There were incidents when pilgrims forced their way through and ignored the safety of others while performing tawaf (walking around the Kaaba).

In other cases, pilgrims are required to queue in every activity during the pilgrimage. However, it was very common to see pilgrims, including Indonesians, reluctant to queue at toilets or whenever they were waiting for food to be distributed.

Another simple but very common and obvious transgression was pilgrims'€™ failure to discard of garbage in rubbish bins or dump sites; instead throwing it away anywhere, despite Prophet Muhammad proclaiming that cleanliness and hygiene are part of iman (faith). It is true that Saudi Arabia, as the host country, is more than rich enough to hire an abundance of sanitation workers to collect the garbage. Still, the pilgrims'€™ attitude clearly displayed their ignorance about health and discipline and, most importantly, of the Prophet'€™s proclamation, which is essentially an order from God.

Apart from individual performance in the rituals, the annual haj organized by the government is another aspect that obviously requires improvement. It would indeed be difficult to organize the movement of such a large number of people over such a lengthy period of time. And the Indonesian government, particularly officials in the field, has done its best in providing services and assisting Indonesian pilgrims during the haj season.

However, there is one aspect that the government could improve '€” the length of the haj pilgrimage.
A reduced length of stay during the pilgrimage would substantially reduce its cost, which would substantially increase the opportunity for Indonesians to go to Mecca on the religious trip. The case is rather a technical than a religious point as it involves the smooth flow of pilgrims at arrival and departure times. Perhaps the Indonesian government could negotiate with the Saudi government for more slots at the airports to increase the speed and smooth the flow of pilgrims.

Now that the haj season is over, the question is whether we pilgrims can maintain our '€œlevel of faith'€. As if to borrow a popular acronym here: '€œHaji Tomat'€, which literally means that one genuinely expresses tobat (repentance) during the pilgrimage and kumat (back to bad habits upon returning home).

And for the government, as the organizer, there is still ample room for improvements in its future
organization of the pilgrimage.