HAJJ AND THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT:
TOWARDS A CLEAR AND SUSTAINABLE POLICY ON HAJJ-1

[ Preamble ]    [Hajj in West African History]   [Hajj and European Imperialism ]    [Hajj Policy in Independent Nigeria ]   [Towards a Clear and Sustainable Policy ]    [Concluding Remarks & References ]  Preamble Hajj is a fascinating phenomenon the profound meaning of which may yet remain unfathomable. Distance, deprivation, and the travails of travelling, not the least of which was insecurity, never seemed to have been an obstacle to the movement of Muslims from every corner of the globe to the House of God, situated though it is in the desolate valley of the mountains of Safa and Marwa. No sooner did Islam spread into a region, it triggers this continuous movement of people heading to and returning from hajj, a movement which for certain regions has continued unbroken for over a millennium now. This astonishing centripetal effect of hajj cannot be explained in terms of economics, political gains or even social prestige, as many non-Muslim scholars have attempted. One has to look beyond the temporal plain to fathom this no doubt intriguing quest of a Muslim pilgrim, but this is not the subject of this paper.(1) The impact of hajj on the pilgrim is equally astonishing, rare as it may be in these perverted days of ours. Spiritually, hajj cleanses the smudge that clouds his perception and the tint that taints his vision of reality and rejuvenates the pilgrim in to the creature God had meant him to be. This is precisely why the prophet said a successful pilgrim emerges at the end of the rituals as sinless as the day his mother delivered him. The process starts with the very act of Ihram at the Miqat, where the pilgrim does away with his cloth, and with it his social standing and pride, thus freeing himself of all the superficiality that he had acquired since his birth. He then dons the humble white cloth and melts into the crowd whose only distinction is that they are the guests of God. He then begins a series of rituals which are essentially a re-play of the struggle of the great Imam, the prophet Ibrahim, symbolising the conquest of ones ego and a total and unconditional submission to God, to Whom is the ultimate return. Having cursed and dissociated himself with the Satan, in the way Ibrahim did, he resolves not to submit to the temptations of the cursed one. He thus emerged a different person, a true servant of his Lord and Creator. Socially, hajj levels everybody, high and low, old and young, men and women, black and white in a way that no event in human history has ever done. In a world full of all manners of discrimination this seemingly simple event has a profound meaning, which those who have been victims of these injustices have never failed to see. For Malcom X and indeed many, before and after him, this was inconceivable and it understandably occasioned the most dramatic change in his perception of life and his life was never the same thereafter. The individual suddenly finds himself united with his brethren drawn from different lands and climes made up of different shades of pigmentation, speaking variety of languages, eating variety of cuisine and yet worshipping the same God in the same way at the same time, sharing the same emotions, the same aspirations and indeed the same prayers. It affords him the opportunity to educate himself about the world he lives in, to broaden his horizon, deepen his perception, enriched his culture and become the international citizen he is suppose to be, for whom the whole world is a mosque as indeed a constituency. This mental liberation, not only from ego, self delusion and selfish desires but also from parochialism, seems to strengthen the pilgrim’s moral resolve and sharpens his vision. This tends to enrich the meaning of life and often brings to sharper focus the mission of man on this temporary abode. Too often people returning from hajj have influenced, engineered and sometimes lead major transformations of their societies. Indeed the region of West Africa had undergone some of the most dramatic transformation either in the hands of or through the agency of these pilgrims returning from hajj. The case of Yahya b. Ibrahim the patron of the Murabitun movement, the case of Mansa Musa of Mali, Askia Muhammad of Songhay and Hajj Umar al-Futi of Sene-Gambia are some of the more well known cases. For the region of West Africa, as indeed many other parts of the Muslim world, hajj has been the primary source of thoughts and ideas, moral and social regeneration as well as political and economic transformation.