Making the haj is one of the five pillars of Islam and believers are obliged to perform it, if they are able to: something that depends on health and money.

In Leiden, The Netherlands, the Volkenkunde Museum is presenting '€œLonging for Mecca'€, an exhibition combining numerous narratives and perspectives of those who have made the pilgrimage.

The rooms holding the exhibition each engage with the haj in a different way.

The first room relates the experience of the haj from the perspective of a participant. The area is softly lit.

A number of voices emanate from video screens, voices intermingling, as several Dutch Muslims recount their experience on the haj and the feelings that the pilgrimage evoked.

The exhibition that emphasizes feelings and practices, rather than staid and moribund artefacts. What counts in '€œLonging for Mecca'€ is the position of the haj and the city itself as things that are changing and that are in constant transition.

Alive: It is clear that this is an exhibition that emphasizes feelings and practices, rather than staid and moribund artifacts.

The pilgrimage is approached as something inherently religious, or at least framed in Korannic terms '€” and also as something shaped by political, social and cultural contexts.

As described in a video interview with Umar Ryad, an academic from Leiden University, the pilgrimage has been used a pivotal gathering for Muslims throughout the world. In the past, it was also used as a means to discuss and foment strategies against colonial powers.

One of the short documentaries of the exhibit shows the final preparations of Mas'€™ud Mualim, a resident of Jakarta, before he departs for the pilgrimage. It is a solemn and loving experience.

The 63-year-old Mualim is shown endearingly with his family '€” wife, daughters and grandchildren, among others.

Mualim gives them a small sermon at what seems to be his farewell dinner, asking them to pray for him and not forget their prayers and to perform them on time.

Then Mualim'€™s extended family takes him to the airport to have their photographs taken with him.

This is, no doubt, a landmark event for all involved. He states that those who take him to the airport also have one eye on their own possible pilgrimages. Perhaps they too will be blessed and be able to make their own pilgrimages one day.

Mualim, sits in a bus '€” curiously decorated with a portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven '€” and peers out ponderously at his family as they wave goodbye.

His daughters cry: Making the pilgrimage, after all, is not without its dangers '€” stampedes and disease happen. It is, after all, a coming together of some 3 million people from all corners of the globe with all sorts of backgrounds, habits and traditions.

However, making the pilgrimage is both a privilege and an obligation '€” not all Muslims are able to carry it out. Mualim can go to Mecca with an awareness that to die while performing the haj is blessed.

In contrast to the first room, presenting the perspective of participants and pilgrims, the second room provides a broad array of statistics to characterize the experience of the haj.

Information is presented in a variety of ways to illustrate the logistics and infrastructure supporting the pilgrimage. The haj is also an industry. No doubt some are doing well out of this religious obligation.

In 1930, for example, there were only 30,000 pilgrims. By 2011, that number had increased to just under 3 million.

Changes in transport have facilitated this rapid growth and the city of Mecca is shown in numerous photographs to be rapidly expanding to accommodate the pilgrims. Some 200,000 pilgrims from Indonesia alone made the haj in 2011.

The exhibition also presents statistics that state the kinds and variety of medical treatments needed for the pilgrims. All of this information is necessary and vital for showing a balanced representation of what makes up the haj.

Diverse: The items on display come from the museum'€™s own collection and from over 20 museums and private collections.

Together: The exhibition shows a unity of purpose in coming to one place at a specific time for a particular reason.

Observing: '€œLonging for Mecca'€ takes on board the perspectives of pilgrims while also showing the haj'€™s historical, political and cultural context.

The room'€™s walls are blue with the data written in bold. At least this makes the statistics easy to read. It is a stark contrast to the gentle lighting and the semi-transparent lilting curtains of the other rooms, which
emphasize the refined qualities of the calligraphy and textiles on display.

The exhibition shows a unity of purpose in coming to one place at a specific time for a particular reason.

According to the exhibition'€™s catalogue, it also features photographs by the Leiden scholar Snouck Hurgronje, the first European to take photographs in Mecca, in the 19th century.

Meanwhile, the items on display come from the museum'€™s own collection and from over 20 museums and private collections in Europe and the Middle East, including the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art in London and the Special Collections of the University of Leiden.

The exhibition takes on board the perspectives of pilgrims while at the same time as show the historical, political and cultural context of what makes the pilgrimage subject to change throughout history.

'€œLonging for Mecca'€ is an exhibition that invites repeated visits. The curators have created a space for viewers to imagine the attraction of the pilgrimage.

This is a magnetism, of course, that rests on one of the main narratives of Islam.

For more information visit volkenkunde.nl/en/longing-for-mecca.

 

Photos Courtesy/Volkenkunde Museum