solved The Hajj: Spiritual PilgrimageThe Five Pillars form the basis of

The Hajj: Spiritual PilgrimageThe Five Pillars form the basis of Muslim faith and practice:Shahadah: declaration of faithSalat: daily prayerZukat: almsgivingSawan: fasting during RamadanHajj: pilgrimage to MeccaThe National Geographic records three people’s holy pilgrimage to Mecca inSaudi Arabia, fulfilling a requirement of the faith (for those who are physicallyand financially able). As you will see in the Youtube video, the two millionfaithful who make this pilgrimage in the final month of the Islamic calendarexperience an intense connection to God and humanity during the hajj. Inside Mecca:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWhPSk5pfHgPilgrims leave behind indicators of their social and economic status to entera state of ritual purity, though the Saudis like to keep them organized innational groups. Everyone who attends is equal, and there are a numberof prescribed ritual acts recalling events in the life of Abraham and hisfamily members (Hagar and Ishmael) and includes circumambulatingthe Ka’ba seven times and ends with the Feast of Sacrifice. (The filmrecounts the logistics of preparing the sacrifices and feast for 2,000,000pilgrims). {There’s also a film on the Kumbhala Mehla in India where20,000,000 people gather on the Ganges).Questions:What do you observe about Society and the Sacred from watching this film?How is the faith of Islam re-enacted in the ritual?How are the pilgrims prepared, purified, regenerated and reborn?What is the significance of this rite for the maintenance of Islam?How have the Saudis “modernized” to make the experience of the hajj more palatable for the pilgrims and to accommodate world Islam?How do race, class, and gender figure into National Geographic’s choice of Hajjis? Do these people have the same experience?What was your personal response as a participant-observer in seeing the hajj in this film?Has anyone one read AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X and his Hajj experience?