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The Hadj: An American's Pilgrimage to Mecca, by Michael Wolfe
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Review
"Wolfe has perhaps provided the clearest statement of an American Muslim since Malcolm X." —Journal of Near Eastern Studies"The most engaging of travel books . . . his pilgrimage will move people of all faiths—and of none at all, because it describes a universal journey for meaning, transcendence and peace." —The Literary Review"Wolfe lifts the veil on this ancient and sacred duty, simultaneously presenting a lively and sympathetic picture of Muslims." —Publishers Weekly"It requires a special sensitivity to write well about the Hadj. . . . Michael Wolfe’s tone is exactly right." —The Times Literary Supplement
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From the Back Cover
The hadj, or sacred journey, is the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims are enjoined to make once in their lifetimes. Its purpose is to detach human beings from their homelands and, by bringing them to Mecca, temporarily reinstate the equality of all people before God. One of the world's longest-lived religious rites, the hadj has continued without break for fourteen hundred years. It is, like most things Islamic, shrouded in mystery for Westerners. In his new book, Michael Wolfe, an American-born writer and recent Muslim convert, recounts his experiences on this journey, and in the process brings readers closer to the meaning of Islam. Wolfe's book bridges the high points of the Muslim calendar, beginning in April with the annual month-long fast of Ramadan. In Morocco, he settles into daily life with a merchant family in the ancient quarter of Marrakesh. During his three-month stay, he explores the intricate traditional life of Muslim Morocco. His accounts of this time deepen our feeling for Islam, a faith that claims one-sixth of the world's population. As summer approaches, he travels north to Tangier, where he visits Western writers and Moroccan mystics. In June, he arrives in Mecca, a city closed to all but Muslims. The protean experience of the hadj, and the real Mecca, that most religious and mysterious of cities, are captured in the last half of the book. Inevitably, the buildup to the Gulf War hovers in the background - the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait is just weeks away. Yet it is the author's participation in the age-old rites of the hadj that most preoccupies his thoughts, strengthening his bond to the faith he has embraced as an outsider, developing and transforming it, makingit personal and alive.
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Product details
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (September 2, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802135862
ISBN-13: 978-0802135865
Product Dimensions:
6.2 x 0.9 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.6 out of 5 stars
11 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#911,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
So clearly written! I knew Michael Wolfe when we were teenagers. He was already a brilliant poet. He was very deeply longing for knowledge and meaning back then. This is a journey. It continues. For someone who dwells on the negative aspects of religion, he helps me understand some of the reasons people --smart people-- embrace it.
An exceptionally well written travel book first and foremost, Wolfe's The Hadj also provides a thought provoking introduction to Islam from the perspective of a new American convert to that religion.
On the strength of a travelogue alone, I would give Wolfe's book a 4 star. It has all the ingredients of a piece written by a well-read traveler: historical contexts, quotations from predecessors who have traveled the same path, descriptive passages concerning both landscape and human figures, and most importantly, a show of restraint by withholding ethnocentric judgments that fly all too easily when cultures collide.The Hadj is a good primer for stateside readers whose only education about Islam consists of shouting pundits on fair and balanced news stations. It shows that there is a majority of Muslims who are not concerned with violence and are not preoccupied throughout the day with terrorist thoughts.The problem begins when readers approach the book expecting either a political angle or a spiritual angle. We don't expect a travel journal about London to delve into a detailed commentary about imperialistic regimes achieved through naval superiority, so why should the author of the Hadj need to impose Western concepts of egalitarian societies onto his observations? I found that as long as I read the Hadj as nothing but a travelogue, it was quite satisfying.Every person has their reasons for embarking on a spiritual journey, so I won't question Wolfe's true reasons. I will confess that at the opening of the book, when I read these lines "I was looking for a framework I could live with, a vocabulary of spiritual concepts applicable to the life I was living now. I did not want to 'trade in' my culture. I wanted access to new meanings," and later on, "The more I learned about Islam, the more it appeared to conform to what I was looking for"; I almost put down the book and stopped right there.An Assyrian friend of mine once said: "Many Americans have an odd way of treating religion: They pick and choose as if they were at a spiritual buffet. They pluck what they need from each culture to meet their conveniences." It's true. We drop Zen when we're too lazy to provide an explanation; we pull out the Kaballah when we have lost our mystery; we get a bit of relaxation from the Hindu yogis after a hard week at work, and confess to being a Christian when there's a sale on red wine.Islam is not on the menu. Islam means "obedience, submission to god, surrender of the self."So when Wolfe prefaces his book about a spiritual journey by announcing that Islam appeals to his personal needs, it pretty much sets the stage for one's expectations from the book in terms of spirituality. I felt that there were moments when the author was more intent on observing his surroundings, seeking comfort and relief from the heat and exhaustion, and completing a business deal involving the sale of used cars, then embarking on a spiritual journey. At the height of the Hadj for example (at Mount Mercy) when colleagues of the author busied themselves with reading the Qu'ran, he goes off to look for drinks, friends, shelter, and a better view. I was continually befuddled at why a novice wouldn't try his hardest to seek enlightenment when standing on the spiritual center of his new religion. It's these moments I felt the book should really be read as a travelogue about the Hadj, and not as one man's personal spiritual journey. I won't rule out the fact that as a novice convert at that time, Wolfe may still have some time before coming into his own. So there's no judgment made here. Just sharing an observation for those who expect to gain insight on the spiritual angle.A bibliography of further reading and a helpful glossary completes this book. A breezy read for us Kafirs who need a bit of education about our Muslim brothers and sisters.
In this book Michael Wolfe, an American convert to Islam has described his personal Hadj to Makkah beautifully. The pilgrimage to Makkah, Saudi Arabia, that is a principal religious obligation of adult Muslims. He has described the Hadj in steps, ritual by ritual and by giving their meanings, as well as his own thoughts, ideas, emotions..etc at that point in time.His journey starts from Morocco, where he went before Hadj, to gain some knowledge and to live in the Islamic environment. He has given a lot of information about Moroccon people, their life, culture and relationship with each other. He gives a lot of information about Muslim people and their culture in general, such as Brotherhood in Islam for example. Where ever he went he was accepted as one of the family member - a brother. This he says was one of the beautiful things that Islam has gives to people and which is specific to Muslims only, which Malcolm X has noticed too when he made his own Hadj.I bought this book because I wanted to know, a Westerner's opinion on Islamic topics such as Hadj, from Western perspective.I must say this book was a wonderful read for me, and I am sure it will be the same for you.
Readers expecting insights into Islamic spirituality will find this a different kind of book. Its first half describes a long visit to Marrakesh during which the author is the house guest of an old friend who is a shop owner in the Old City's bazaar. A recent convert to Islam in California, Wolfe discovers how the teachings of Muhammad infuse the daily life and culture of this Moroccan city.The second half of the book describes his own hadj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, where millions of the faithful gather once each year from around the world for a week and more of religious ritual and visits to sacred sites as guests of the Saudi government. Rather than the recounting of a spiritual experience, however, Wolfe's narrative is a detailed report of things seen, heard, and felt, much like a travelogue. The decision may have been to reserve comment on the impact of hadj on his own faith, but it's an unexpected choice.More curious is Wolfe's uncritical acceptance of the male-dominated culture he describes. Men and men only go together to mosque for prayers, and the pilgrims he travels with are all male. Except for his friend Mostopha's wife, who seems always to be cooking and keeping house, women hardly figure in his book, even his own wife back home, who gets scarcely a mention. Meanwhile, he praises the classless and color-blind egalitarianism of hadj as it's observed, while failing to make note of his privilege as an American, able to afford rooms in the comfort of air-conditioned hotels while the poor sleep rough at night, sometimes in tunnels only inches from passing traffic. The shortcomings of other religions notwithstanding, these are odd oversights, even for the 1990s, when it was first published.Still, for non-Muslims, this is as close as one can get to an experience of pilgrimage to Mecca. And Wolfe does readers a service by observing so closely and sharing so much. For an account of hadj from a woman's point of view, read Asra Nomani's "Standing Alone in Mecca."
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