Pilgrims return from hajj weary but amazed

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer

SARAMAH

After performing hajj, the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage and one of the five pillars of Islam, Anwar Kazi, Karim Khan and Jad Saramah spent the week coughing and fighting off a cold that sent at least one of their group home to the sickbed, but still amazed by the 21-day adventure.

"I've never seen anything like this before," said Saramah. "We come from Hawai'i, a melting pot, very tolerant and diverse. This is even more diverse — people from almost every country, coming for the same reason."

The size of the crowds completing parts of the rituals astounded them, and business executive Kazi said good timing at their 5,000-person camp may have saved their lives.

They knew it would be crowded the day they decided to complete the "stoning of the devil" ritual, in which Muslims throw stones and fling insults at three stone pillars representing the devil. Instead of leaving at the appointed hour, they took their time over breakfast. On their return to camp, they heard that a deadly stampede had occurred, though they saw no evidence of it. The toll: 244 pilgrims killed, hundreds injured.

Kazi said he could see how such a thing could happen.

"The crowd was unbelievable," he said, "everybody stoning in a five-square-feet area, stoning from all directions. When we moved up there, every human being is body to body. If one person goes down, if not rescued by the next person, he will be stepped (on) by the next person."

Khan quoted CNN saying the hajj pilgrims make up "the largest crowd of humanity on planet Earth."

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Hajj highlights Jad Saramah's "greatest moments" list ("These three were moments I'll remember forever and tell my kids about"): 1. The first time the group started circling the Kaaba. "This is the first house of worship ever built. How many prophets of God have touched it? Every single Muslim faces this place when they pray." 2. Standing before the grave of the Prophet Muhammad. "Seeing people crying, it really touches your heart, to be before such a great man." 3. Standing on Mount Arafat, "where Adam and Eve met after they descended from heaven," he said. Also called the Mount of Mercy, this is where Muslims repent on the day of forgiveness and are cleansed of sin.

Even with a crowd so massive, Saramah said, you ebbed and flowed like an ocean current, but the feeling was of camaraderie, not fear. "If anybody looks behind, you just smile. There was just so much tolerance."

That dovetailed with Kazi's favorite part of the trip: realizing that people from all over the world ("Look to the right, left! So many nationalities," he said), all were calling out to Allah with one voice.

"Whatever race you are, you are searching for the one thing," Kazi said. "That makes it so beautiful. Regardless how you die, you'll be returning to the same place."

Such nourishment for the soul helped them put up with one-hour bathroom waits, 12-hour delays at the airport, buses that didn't arrive for hours because of traffic jams, sleeping four to a room in a hotel ... and the crowds. Always the crowds.

Kazi and Saramah took a trip to another holy site to complete a one-hour climb to the Cave of Hera, where Muhammad is said to have received his first revelation from the angel Gabriel.

Scaling the granite rock, "I realized how much hard work this Prophet did for the sake of religion," said Kazi.

It was rough going, Saramah agreed.

"We're young, and so anxious to go and climb," said the 27-year-old electrical engineer with Spirent Communications. "But when we got halfway to the mountain, we wanted to take a break.

"Then we saw people over 80, and they were walking. So we had to carry on, just go. You'd be surprised how many old people made it to the top, not complaining."

While theirs will be treasured memories and a trip all three hope to take again, Khan, the Leeward Community College teacher who went with his wife, told his daughter later: "We have to be very realistic. It's not an easy journey, not an easy task. That could be the reason Allah wanted people to do it (just) once in their life."

Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at 525-8035 or mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com.