Dawn in Mecca it is a legendary City made famous by the generations who have longed to reach it Mecca is a year-round destination for Muslims but the numbers will surge dramatically months from now during HJ season the lives of Mecca's more than 1 million permanent residents and the city itself are utterly defined by the presence of the Kaa and preparations for the hjj sometimes I have a hard time convincing people that we never stop preparing for hjj we prepare for HJ every single hour you know during HJ immediately after HJ before HJ hajes are our customer and we cater for them in a customized manner if you can imagine having 20 super bows in one Stadium where 2 million people will come to the same stadium and if you add to that that these two billion people will actually be taking part in in playing the game as well it may give you a glimpse of the preparations needed for help part of Mecca's Mystique stems from the fact that only Muslims are allowed to come here Mecca sits in the western mountains of Saudi Arabia in a sanctuary roughly 100 m Square since long before Islam it has been considered sacred territory where no one could hunt cut trees or fight at the heart of the city is a great mosque called al- Masjid al-h Haram and at its Center is the Kaba all religious faiths have a center this is probably an essential part of the religious mentality of human spirituality in Islam that Center is there in the city of Mecca centered on the house towards which all Muslims pray Muslims don't worship the cabba they worship what it represents the one God beneath its cover the cabba is a simple stone building that stands 50 ft High inside its golden doors is an unadorned room according to one Muslim tradition the Caba was built by Adam based on a cosmic plan handed down from God and then rebuilt by Abraham after the great flood on its Southeast Corner framed in silver rests something called the black stone some believe that it fell from the heavens and that it was one of the building stones used by Abraham many pilgrims tried to touch or kiss the stone but most would be happy to Simply lay eyes upon the Kaa fidelma oi is about to travel far from the Heart of Texas to Mecca to make her pilgrimage and this will be driven by watch but first she has a little physiology to take care of can give you an insight into your own physiology Dr oir is a professor of neuroscience at St Edward's University in Austin the O and oir may tell you fidelma wasn't born in a Muslim family she was raised Catholic and by the time she was in college she was already questioning her faith many I was listening to a Callin radio show and and some guy called in and said well what I don't understand is this if Jesus was God how could he worship God it's get amazingly inconsistent for fidelma the caller gave voice to a yearning and questioning turned to conversion this is what I think of as my light bulb moment this was the moment when all the pieces finally locked and clicked and I knew that Islam was the religion for me I just embraced it and loved it and I was the only Muslim I knew fidelma prepares to embark on hjj having fully embraced the faith but she may be surprised that some pilgrims May struggle to embrace her a world away South Africa in the Lush Countryside outside Petoria radio commentator khil mlazi takes to the air every week inviting people to Islam you don't need to tell the people that you are repenting for shaped by the racial Strife of South Africa Hajj is a chance to see an Ideal World of Islam in actioning God accept me the most important thing to gain is Brotherhood and Sisterhood God doesn't look to your face God doesn't look to your body God doesn't look whom you are millionaire or what God is looking for what your heart going toool KH seeks a world of Tolerance but in Mecca he'll find some of the ghosts he thought he'd Left Behind Maya to the east in Malaysia Isel mob is about to find out what he's really made of but in a desert not in a fairway wrapped in towels not a golf shirt bearing his soul to the almighty it's more like a spiritual tree yeah it's more like forgetting what backgrounds that I have or what I'm used to in the office in the golf course in the home and just be near to God ism is an executive with all the trappings of success he's making the hjj with his wife Asma sure put something they'll be gone for nearly 7 weeks leaving behind four children and a long list of dos and don'ts no no no no going on hge will be a challenge for Is SM a man used to satisfying most of his material needs but the Hodge is about the Ethereal the only thing he really needs to bring is the aeer clothing of a pilgrim as far as the heart is concerned the dresses that we wear so simple just these two pieces of cloth yeah this two pieces of cloth that we wear one down and one up the hjj is a quest for Redemption but no matter how well he prepares ismile doesn't know what he's in for that's sit I'm set for almost 1,400 years Muslim pilgrims have been bringing their private pleas to this place but pilgrimage to Mecca is far older than Islam how old it is there you get into the question of Legend and history but definitely the pre-islamic Arabs practiced the pilgrimage to Mecca the Islamic belief is that the prophet Abraham instituted the pilgrimage Abraham father of monotheism father of the Jews Christians and Muslims it is Abraham's story that lies at the core of the pilgrimage many of the rituals of the Muslim practice were established by Abraham most notably the submission to the one God and the hjj which is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca According to Islamic tradition Abraham came to Mecca with his wife hag and their son Ishmael God commanded Abraham to take Hagar and his infant son and abandon them in a desolate Valley in what is current day Mecca in Saudi Arabia he returned to see them from time to time on one of those visits God asked him to build up the cabba and call the people to pilgrimage for Generations after Abraham those who worshiped the one God answered his call but over time idol worship came to dominate the Caba then in the early 7th Century everything changed a new Prophet emerged from the line of Abraham he was a meccan named Muhammad in the year 630 the prophet Muhammad cleared the ca of Idols returning people to the worship of the one God the prophet Muhammad saw himself as a restorer of the pilgrimage as as it had been in the days of his father Abraham and although the pilgrim imitates Muhammad in his pilgrimage the pilgrim believes that is a restoration of the steps of Abraham many steps of the Hajj connect to traditions of the past one is the creation of the new cover for the Caba it is called the kiswa a 7,000 ft silk drape the black cloth is handed embroidered with verses from the Quran in goldplated thread and costs nearly $5 million to make at the height of the hodj the new cover weighing about a ton is draped on the Caba in this remarkable footage shot by National Geographic in 1967 King fisel arrives to perform the ceremonial washing of the cobba today one doesn't refer to the king as his majesty but rather as the custodian of the two holy mosques at the end of the annual ceremony the new kiswa hangs in place its golden letters visible to all who Circle the Caba but to see it up close you have to get to Mecca first at 2: a.m. in koala Lampur 12-year-old AFA maob offers a traditional Malaysian send off to his parents this scene plays out on doorsteps around the world as it has for more than a millennium it was an epic journey requiring months or even years of travel because of Bandits and disease it was filled with Peril when people said goodbye to loved ones they didn't know if they'd ever see them again today in Malaysia going on Hajj means participating in a highly organized government program a model of efficiency but there will be obstacles because the logistics of Hajj are staggering more than 20,000 pilgrims will travel from Malaysia alone a fraction of the nearly 1 and a/2 million flooding into Saudi Arabia and although Mecca boasts thousands of rooms for higher most pilgrims will still have to share many of them tend to a room for people like isma and Asma this is the easy part once process they'll get a police escort straight to the Clank not everyone's journey is so carefully choreographed on the main road outside the village KH hops a public bus to the airport for the first time in his life he'll not just face toward the taba and pray he'll actually go there Hajj takes place in and around Mecca it is a series of rituals performed between the 8th and 13th days of the last month of the Islamic calendar first pilgrims travel a few miles from Mecca into the valley of mina where they find a massive Tent City there they rest the next day pilgrims continue to the plain of Arafat this is the most important day of the Hajj A Day of Reckoning one-on-one with God then they return to mina to perform a ritual stoning of Satan that continues for two more days in the epilogue to their great journey they returned to Mecca to circle the Caba while circling the Caba is the Final Act of the pilgrimage it is also the top priority for pilgrims when they first get to Mecca fidelma and her group have just arrived after spending a week in the holy city of Medina most pilgrims feel it's imperative to visit Medina where the Prophet Muhammad is buried fidelma is now aching to get to the ca but the mental and physical Trials of her pilgrimage are just just beginning it was 11 hours in a bus we had to adjust our attitudes and just be very patient with everything because I guess they're moving so many people into the City and having to keep records on everybody and so on I'm sure it's a nightmare especially on Hajj I think because we know that we have to be patient we're in a state ofam we have to be patient the state ofam is essential to performing Hajj Iram is a pure frame of mind that places a premium on patience courtesy and respect men are required to change into special attire that is also called Iram two pieces of cloth similar to the Islamic barrial shroud in this outfit rich men and poor educated and illiterate all look alike the clothes pair the body down to the basics and put the soul on Center Stage by bus and on foot pilgrims pour toward the symbolic Center of their faith they chant their commitment to worship and serve the one God this is the theme song of the hjj theia and pilgrims will chant it hundreds of times in the coming out at your service here I am at your service there is nothing worthy AB worship but you here I am olola at your service for Muslims who have prayed in this direction every day for years seeing the Kaba for the first time is almost overwhelming I can't believe it every day five times a day let's go from here let's go I can't believe this I'm here fidelma joins tens of thousands of worshippers circling the Caba in a right called tawa they go around seven times as did the prophet Muhammad all Races all nationalities all people in one place concentrated All in One Direction worshiping the one God this has to be very powerful then on aching legs and swollen feet pilgrims perform another ritual called the SA or striving in this right pilgrims walked between two hilltops seven times reliving the heroic effort of Hagar searching for water in the desert Ismael and Hagar were left behind by Abraham in this desolate Valley and Hagar started getting desperate because her son was very thirsty so she started running back and forth between these two Hills to look for this water up until the 1950s pilgrims walked between these Hills right out on the street today they are enclosed within the massive structure of the great mosque they hustle between these two hills called Safa and Mara they're not supposed to walk they're supposed to fast walk so that they can replicate this urgency this need this striving this desperation that Hagar had for water our faith paid off Big Time angel Gabriel appeared and took the tip of his wing and struck the ground and out came this beautiful gushing water which is called the zum water pilgrims still drink this water today the markets of Mecca have long made the journey good for the wallet as well as the soul in the past pilgrims came from Far Corners of the globe carrying spices silks books and carpets to trade 10 for all of these he didn't want to break the set so now I have 11 or 12 years so all my shopping is done kids I'm coming home everyone's getting fa be it's a carnival mood so to speak so you just become part of a crowd you about 80% of Muslims today are non-arab people are here from more than 170 countries steeping the city in ever more International flavors still when it's time for prayer everything stops shops close streets become places of worship on the Eighth Day crowds circling the ca have diminished to nearly hundreds the multitudes are on the Move now to the valley of mina where the Prophet Muhammad stopped and rested on his Hodge nearly 14 centuries ago KH has chosen to walk in spite of the desert heat I can afford to walk it is how Prophet Muhammad is be upon Him taught us how to perform the ha and he was a man of 60 something years why not me that I'm now only 40 years that I can walk I can jump I can even run I think I can afford to do so Mina is about 5 miles east of Mecca as recently as a decade ago when it wasn't Hodge season it was an almost empty Valley but over the past few years the Saudi government has put up nearly 44,000 fire resistant tents to house the pilgrims this is a town that grows from virtually zero to 2 million people overnight ever since she landed in Arabia a week ago fidelma has been on the run today she's taking it easy in the tradition of the Prophet pausing before tomorrow's trial of the Soul begins it's not a vacation because there are stresses and the time schedule is totally Topsy Turvy and everybody's off their sleep pattern I don't know anybody that's had a good night's sleep for seven or eight days tall Fair fidelma catches the eye of many people here yet it isn't the gawking that puts her off a beautiful woman may also be noticed in Texas but comments are harder to ignore I had some women in my group and some women who are strangers to me Tred to tell me what it's like to be a Muslim and ask me are you really Muslim I think they forgot for a moment that you can only be here if you're Muslim it gets a little bit tiresome day after day it it it can be upsetting still since she's in a state of ritual sanctity she must be patient and persevere KH too has had his patients tested KH I think is he walking yeah he's gone he's gone he's gone it seemed to he wasn't being treated the same as other South African pilgrims because he's black it's not at all what he expected on the HJ it is very painful to see this condition happening during the H since we are here always in one Community not looking to the color and not looking to the rest all whether you are rich or you are poor when we are here indeed we need to respect the human being Hal is shaken his vision of Brotherhood seems Under Siege yet he's in a state of ritual sanctity if he loses his temper he will violate Iram so Hal moves on he joins up with another group from Malawi at dawn on the next day the camps stir with anticipation for the greatest day of the HJ 2 million people are off to the plane of aravan some 50,000 Vehicles Clogg the roads they may be air conditioned but often it's faster to walk Arafat is 8 mes east of mina it's the place Muslims believe Adam and Eve found each other after Exile from Eden and it's seen by many as a rehearsal for the day of judgment hundreds of thousands approach in a great wide wave of humanity singing the anthem of the H the CH embodies what the pilgrimage is all about it's the Fulfillment of a covenant and it is the Declaration of the Oneness of God and the glory of God pilgrims actually have to be within the clearly marked boundaries of Arafat or their Hajj may not count the prophet Muhammad was even more direct when he said Haj is Arafat we are now getting inside the boundary of AR that mean any time we can have a rest we can sit it real estate is at a premium here thousands are lost in the confusion babies are born elderly people die yet in the middle of the chaos the inner search goes on KH finally finds a patch of ground to rest like others more affluent Isel is in a tent with mattresses and tea fidelma leaves the security of her tent to climb the Mount of Mercy jabal rahma this is where the Prophet Muhammad gave his final sermon in the year 632 many pilgrims are drawn here seeking a nearness to the prophet but the essential search on the day of Arafat is for absolution the important thing is the utter mercy of God God loves people he is able to obliterate everything that they've done that is wrong and he's able to give them Grace it's Judgment Day all the trappings of Life start to fall away and you see these people in front of God Almighty and that's all there is a strange quiet descends in the afternoon as people turn inward it's called the standing at Arafat in this realm of forgiveness khil finds a semblance of the equality he six it can remind you the day of judgment when God is going to gather all the nation together no discrimination if you look left and right you found women men are standing up crying to God to show that all of us we are one in front of God Ismael who has all he needs in the material world tackles a poverty of spirit most of our uh Dua or prayers to God will be heard and hopefully you know will be granted by him all depends on how strong is your asking from him and how real is it you know or is it just hypocritical things like that so how sincere are you you know when you ask for forgiveness from him and ask for some good tidings from him surrounded by millions Ismael finds himself utterly alone before God pleading for relief from an unspoken burden on his soul just now I feel very lonely just being go I got emotional wor you know you're are actually communicating with God okay and then one more time so so is only God knows what is in my heart so at that moment of time I'm alone our Lord forgive us and relent toward us for you are the ever relenting the compassionate I ask God to have mercy on my father who passed away and to ease my mother's life cuz she has Alzheimer's and from the outside in her life looks very hard thank you God for responding I'm like looking for you thank you for coming to find me prise God hold on to me you can't just sort of live life confess and be forgiven and then go back and live life the the real point is that you improve yourself wow are leaving I think the sun is set it's fine sure only when the sun has set can pilgrims leave araa nearly 2 million people stand poised to move as soon as the sun dips below the Horizon the pilgrims move back toward the white t of mina where tomorrow they will engage in a symbolic battle with the devil here Muslims believe God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son but the devil challenged him not to one story says Abraham pelted the devil with stones three separate times chasing him away three stone pillars Mark the spots where Abraham stood his ground at a place called musela on the way to the pillars pilgrims pick up Pebbles to Stone Satan themselves I'm going to use these stones to cast Satan out of my life and cast Temptation and obsessions out of my life 3 and a half million people here that's the estimate and everyone's getting 47 Stones so 3 and2 million 10 47 equals two bazillion and that's a lot of stones 49 49 I thought I was getting 49 cuz I was getting two extra 21 * 2 + 7 49 is enough there's a bit of confusion about just how much punishment Satan should get 70 you get all together 21 + 21 42 + 7 49 though the guid may be a bit Arcane the goal is clear defy Temptation I figure I'll I won't it do it's quite far you know it's like a Fel you put it there and like they have in the malls in Dallas and somewhere you put a coin and it rounds rounds rounds and goes in the bottom fidelma prayed at arat for forgiveness and for those she loves now she asks her friends to pray with her whatever I pray for right here tonight I'll gu so I'm planning something really good she's divorced and she'd like to meet a man who is her equal who would be very compatible with me in this life and who will share Paradise with me in the next life someone who's very good who loves God who loves Islam and loves me so what do you think can you pray me up one of these it's tradition to sleep under the stars as the prophet did at muifa but fidelma and Amina don't sleep at all they want to stay ahead of the crowd so just past midnight wearing masks to keep up the dust they head back to mina they know that in the next 24 hours 2 million pilgrims will converge at one of the most dangerous intersections of the hjj the largest of the three stone pillars when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son most Muslims believe it was Ishmael the Elder son in the Bible story it was Isaac either way it would have been agonizing for Abraham he started having some doubts and he realized that these doubts were really coming from the whisperings of Satan we don't know exactly what Satan would have said but it was something like what do you think you're doing killing your son are you crazy he gets very angry and he throws a stone at Satan and gets rid of him one time and Satan comes back again because it's his job to misguide people and the third time he comes again he threw another Stone so there are these three stoning points that during hjj people reenact the ritual is called the jumat in days to come they'll Stone all three pillars this is now a moral statement that the believer affirms that there is good and evil there is Justice and Injustice there is righteousness and sinfulness I loved the jamas I thought as a ritual it has tremendous power and my training is in Neuroscience the more ways physically mentally spiritually verbally the more ways that you try to contain the evil and the Temptation and I think the more effective it's found to be I thought from a scientific point of view that that was a really good ritual over the last 48 hours pilgrims have sought forgiveness and rejected evil now in a show of humility they cut their hair some men even shave their heads I have to read some prayer it's a tradition of our Prophet our Bel Prophet that we must take out our hairs and take a bath and take out our clothes a around after days in a state of ritual sanctity everyone now reverts to normal clothing but by cutting their hair they make a physical show of their new state of being even as hair is cut Stones continue to fly the ritual stoning of Satan is often dangerous people have been crushed and killed by the surging crowd to ease access to the pillars the Saudis built a two-tiered pedestrian walkway a kind of spiritual superhighway pilgrims can now attack Satan from above and below allahar Allah with only a day remaining to finish their obligations pilgrims crowd the pillars with growing intensity and there's a wildness in the air why do Muslims go to HUD and cast stones and throw slippers and turbin and all manners of things that they have what is that really signify they're trying to get rid of those inner urgings that they have towards evil and not doing good the battle with the devil marks the beginning of a cele celebration for Muslims on the Hajj and around the world it's called The Feast of the sacrifice and it too is directly connected to the story of Abraham as Abraham is getting ready to now Slaughter his only son Angel Gabriel appears to him and says you have fulfilled your mission and replaces Ishmael with a ram and then Abraham sacrifices the ram in place of fish SM bring the Sheep here and he sayb has a symbol of all Muslims over 2,000 Muslim butchers have been recruited to undertake the largest ritual sacrifice of animals on the planet May reach to 7 uh to 800,000 animals rules govern what each Pilgrim must offer in sacrifice it's one sheep per person seven people can go in on a camel by the time it's over millions of pounds of meat will be processed packaged and shipped the name of the pilgrims to poor people around the world with all other rights complete pilgrims returned to mecca for a grand parting visit they have all earned an honorific title [ __ ] for the men haah for the women for fidelma the last few days have been cathartic joyful and sometimes sobering Muslims come from everywhere from every place and from every Walk of Life perhaps the Muslims who are from you know majority Muslim countries need to realize that a little bit more there's going to be a lot of REI Irish Muslims coming here and Bluey British Muslims coming here here and Muslims from the US there's going to be all sorts of looks more and more I think hajis now bid farewell to the house of God it is a final climactic call on the ca it's a time of sadness of farewell it's saying goodbye to a place that you love and a place that you probably don't want to leave with the thought that you may never see it again I would doubt that any Pilgrim comes home the same each Pilgrim will go home with a clean slate and the chalk to write their lives a new I want to be a better person it's just a general statement but I know what it means I want to be a better father better worker better leader better subordinate I want to play a better role of what ever that I'm supposed to be in though sorely tested Kal's ideals remain intact bolstered by his time at the Caba where he witnessed a kind of Islamic brotherhood people different colors women men children being together with the love I said God great you are so great I thank you to bring me this place to see the place where all this event happened here I am indeed I thank you God in his final turn around the Caba KH comes so close that he can brush the golden doors with his cap when I return back at home I must give away what I learned fidelma is swept into the taah at one with her fellow Muslims when you really want to go in hand you feel you've been invited God wants me and it's a really good feeling and then you get here and you look around and you see there's millions of other people and you're like an ant and your significance is suddenly down to zero it's a paradox but it's a good paradox pilgrims arrive alone in a current of a million strangers and go home riding a spiritual wave of rebirth a very happy moment for me was when this large African man helped me find a space and then he looked at me and said American and I said yes he said you Muslim I said yes and he said alhamdulillah praise be to God and I really felt welcome la