Pilgrimage in other Religions
There is no religious group or community which may not have
its holy shrines and places of pilgrimage. In every faith
there are some sacred places to which its followers travel at
a certain time and as an act of religious devotion. This is so
because it fulfils a great human need and satisfies a basic
spiritual urge. Man, as we have said already, is always in the
quest of an object through which he can gratify his inborn
feelings of love and fidelity. He needs a profound event, a
prolonged ceremony through which he can make amends for
serious transgressions and obtain release from the stinging
reflections of his conscience and the reproach of society.
Within him there is a persistent desire for an impressive
congregation which may be solely inspired by religious and
spiritual motives and free from all other considerations. When
we look at history we find that no nation or society has ever
been without its shrines or places hallowed by memory where
people have got together for offering up oblations and making
entreaties to the Almighty (or gods and goddesses of their own
creation). In the words of the Quran:
“And for every nation We have appointed a ritual that they
mention the name of Allah over the beast of cattle that He
bath given them for food: and your God is One God, so,
surrender unto Him. And give good tidings (O Muhammad) to the
humble. (-xxii : 34)
“Unto each nation We have given sacred rites which they are
to perform; so let them not dispute with thee of the matter,
but summon those unto thy Lord. Lo! Thou indeed followest
right guidance. (-xxii : 67)
Excavators and archaeologists have unearthed
incontrovertible evidence in support of this contention.
History also tells that the institution of pilgrimage has
always been present among the various peoples and communities
of the world. But it is very difficult to get to the bottom of
these rites and obtain an adequate knowledge of the rules and
ceremonies governing them. What we have so far been able to
learn is only of a fragmentary and speculative nature on the
basis of which no precise picture can be drawn.
The Jewish and Christian faiths are nearest to us in the
matter of the pilgrimage. Both of these have seen long
stretches of history and enlightenment, and chroniclers, too,
have done full justice to them. Even now their adherents make
two of the most advanced peoples of the world, culturally,
educationally and politically. Ancient monuments and other
sacred places in Jerusalem are still the objects of veneration
and they have been making a pilgrimage to that eternal city
from the days of old. But when we compare it with the Islamic
Hajj the image of the Jewish or Christian pilgrimage that
emerges in the mind is, at least, weak and hazy.
We will now reproduce a summary of what appears about the
pilgrimage in Judaism in the tenth volume of the Jewish
Encylopaedia.
The pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which was called Re’iyah
(meaning the appearance) used to take place on one of the
three festivals of Passover, Shabn’ot and Sukkot. The Mishnah
says that all were under obligation to appear, except minors,
women, the blind the aged and the sick. A minor, in this case,
was defined as one who was too young to be taken by his father
to Jerusalem. According to the Mosaic Law everyone was to take
an offering, though the value of it was not fixed. While the
appearance of women and infant males was not obligatory, they
usually accompanied their husbands and fathers in all public
gatherings.
Gesius Florus, who lived in Jerusalem from 64 to 66 A. D.,
counted that 256,500 lambs were sacrificed at the one Passover
Festival, and allowing ten persons to one lamb this would make
2,565,000 pilgrims. The Tosefta records that on one occasion
1,200,000 lambs were offered in sacrifice which would make a
total of 12,000,000 pilgrims. These figures are evidently
exaggerated.
The pilgrimage to Jerusalem did not cease with the
destruction of the temple. The Turkish conquest under
Salahuddin (1187) secured to the Oriental Jews the privilege
of visiting Jerusalem and the sacred places. Among the Eastern
Jews, specially those of Babylonia and Kurdistan, it has been
the custom from the 14th Century onward to go on pilgrimage at
least once a year, many of them actually walking the whole
distance. The era of the Crusades evidently encouraged
pilgrimage of Jews from Europe.
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the
consequent settlement of many exiles in Turkish territory
largely increased the number of pilgrims. The goal of their
journeys was chiefly the tomb of Samuel the Prophet at Ramah
where they held annual communions and celebrations.
The Jews of Palestine complain of the lack of interest on
the part of the co-religionists elsewhere as compared with the
thousands of Christians who avail of themselves of modern
opportunities to visit the Holy Land
Pilgrimages are made usually on fixed days in the year,
called by the Oriental and North African Jews as 'days of
Zi'arah.' On such days it is customary to visit the tombs or
relics of certain personages who in early or medieval times
were famous as kings or Prophets for their holy lives. The
days of pilgrimage are celebrated by prayers, rejoicings and
popular festivals.
In Jerusalem a crowd of Jews gathers before the western
wall of the Temple of Solomon every Friday evening and on the
eves of the feast days, as well as on 23 successive days from
the eve of the 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Ab. On the latter
date the religious service occurs at midnight.
As for the institution of pilgrimage among the Christians
an outline of it is reproduced on the next page from the 10th
volume of the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.
"A pilgrimage", says it "is a journey undertaken to visit
sacred places, such as, the scenes of our Lord's earthly life
in Palestine, the 'threshold of the Apostles' at Rome or the
shrines of saints and martyrs.
"It was natural for a Christian to wish to tread again the
paths treaden by the Saviour, though the first generations of
Christians did not seem to feel as strongly as their
successors. From the 3rd Century certainly the sacred places
were visited. Many Christians have felt far greater attraction
to the scene of their Lord's passion and resurrection than to
those of His earthly ministry.
"From the 13th Century pilgrimages to the Holy land, though
still frequent, were less numerous than those to Rome. Next
after Jerusalem, Rome was the city which drew the largest
number of pilgrims. The causes which contributed to the rise
of the Papacy made Rome a pilgrim resort; more specially the
tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul exalted it into the goal
whither Roman Catholics flocked.
"One centre of interest was the catacombs. At first used as
burial places, they afterwards became sacred places, hallowed
by the bones of martyrs and visited by thousands of pilgrims.
The pilgrims have never ceased to visit Rome; the large number
of Churches have been continuous sources of attraction."
This was only about a few places of pilgrimage. There is a
bewildering abundance of relics, tombs and shrines not only in
Palestine but in all the countries inhabited by Jews and
Christians. A detailed account of the graves of saints and
martyrs and other sacred places is given in the two monumental
works we have referred to above. In them the contributors
have, further, mentioned the days on which the pilgrimage was
to be made and the different rituals that were considered
necessary on such occasions.
When one looks at the excessive attachment of the Jewish
and Christian peoples (the 'People of the Books') to shrines
and the exaggerated religious fervour with which they
undertook long and tedious journeys to them and which had,
ultimately, pushed them into the lap of Polytheism it becomes
apparent why the holy Prophet had taken such great pains to
put an end to the custom. He was apprehensive of the unholy
practices becoming rampant among the torch-bearers of
Monotheism and the last of the Divinely ordained communities
with which rested the responsibility of lending guidance to
mankind till the day of the Last Judgement. He ordered his own
grave to be kept free from all Polytheistic ways and
performances. It was his chief anxiety during his last
illness.
It is related by Hazrat Ayesha and Abdullah-bin-Abbas that
"when the Prophet fell ill he would cover his venerable face
with the sheet and when he became restless he would cast the
sheet away. In this condition he said, 'The curse of God be
upon the Jews and Christians who have converted the graves of
their Prophets into places of performing the prostration’. He
was, in this way, warning his followers against such customs
and practices".'
It is, further, related by Hazrat Abu Huraira that the
sacred Prophet once said, "May God destroy the Jews. They have
made the graves of their Prophets into places of worship".
It is related by Hazrat Ayesha that once Umm-i-Salma was
talking to the Prophet about the Synagogue of Maria she had
visited in Abyssinia. She spoke of the paintings she had seen
in it. The Prophet, thereupon, remarked, "These are the people
who, when a good or pious person died among them, built a
temple on his grave. They are the worst of the creatures of
Allah."
Yet another Tradition reads: "O Allah : Let my grave not be
an idol to which worship may be offered. Allah is severely
displeased with those who have made the graves of their
Prophets into places of worship".
The Prophet has forbidden his followers to make a journey
specifically with the object of visiting a tomb or shrine. He
said, "A journey, with intention and preparation, is
permissible only to three mosques Masjid-Haram, Masjid-i-Nabwi
and Masjid Aqsa".
He has, thus, made the Muslim Millet safe against the
perverting influence of tombs and shrines which had led many a
community into Polytheism and idolatry.
Unfortunately, however, some sections of Muslims failed to
abide by the Prophet's advice and went astray although it was
what had kept him worried even on the death-bed. They, too,
succumbed to the spell of tombs and shrines and began to visit
them out of religious devotion covering long distances and
undergoing all sorts of difficulties. They took to prostrating
themselves before the graves of holy men and making their vows
and petitions to them and showing reverential respect in many
other ways, as was the habit of the Jews and Christians. The
prophecy of the sacred Prophet has been fulfilled to the very
letter that "you will wholly go in the same direction as the
earlier peoples did. If they will move by a span you, too,
will move by a span and if they will move by a cubit you, too,
will move by a cubit".
The tombs and shrines (many of which were false and
fictitious) not only encroached upon the right of the mosques
but, sometimes, also took the place of Masjid-i-Haram and the
House of Ka'aba. The ignorant and the unknowing began to
gather around them in large numbers and soon it gave rise to
the practice of celebrating the Urs and holding fairs in
commemoration of the death of the holy men with whom these
were associated. The condition of these people has been
eloquently depicted by Ibn-i-Taimiyah in these words, "The
tombs among them are crammed with people while the mosques are
empty and deserted."
A traveller going round the Muslim World will witness, from
place to place, the depressing spectacle of Polytheistic
practices being performed at tombs, shrines and Imambaras (to
which large properties are endowed) and dialogues carried on
with the religious divines buried in them in a manner most
revolting to the spirit of Islam.
Among the religions of India, namely, Hinduism, Buddhism
and Jainism, there is a profusion of temples and other places
of pilgrimage that are held sacred owing to their association
with some special incident like the receiving of enlightenment
by a saint or holy man or the appearance (according to the
belief of their adherents) of a god or goddess in a manner
outside of nature. The number of religious fairs and bathing
festivals in these communities is very large.
The places of pilgrimage are mostly situated on the banks
of River Ganges where tens and thousands of persons collect
for a dip in its holy waters. Some of the bathing festivals
are held once or twice a year and others once in two years.
There are also bathing festivals and fairs whose turn comes
after many years like the Kumbh Mela at Prayag which is held
every twelfth year and attracts millions of pilgrims from all
parts of the country. The rituals also vary from one place to
another reflecting the conceptual differences of the sects
that go to make these communities.
These fairs are tied to mythological lore and legends
relating to deeds and relationships of the deities. On seeing
them one is amazed at the miracle of the Quran which, at the
time of the construction of the House of Ka'aba, took care,
first of all, to deal a deathly blow to Polytheism, mythical
lore and fairyism in which the rites and ceremonies of
Pilgrimage in other communities have got steeped. It says :
That (is the command). And whoso magnifieth the sacred
things of Allah, it will be well for him in the sight of his
Lord. The cattle are lawful unto you save that which have been
told (to) you. So shun the filth of idols, and shun lying
speech. Turning unto Allah alone, not ascribing partners unto
Him. (xxii : 30-3 1)
This was a description, in passing, of the form and
formalities of Pilgrimage in some of the leading religions of
the world whose adherents run into millions.
Remarks Hazrat Shah Walliullah: "The foundation of
Pilgrimage is present in all communities A place which might
be sacred in their eyes as a landmark of God or on account of
its association with the deeds, sacrifices and penances of
their precursors was needed by all of them so that it could
be helpful in reviving the memory of the favourites of the
Lord and their achievements. The House of Allah enjoys a
preference over such places because clear signs of Allah can
be seen there and it was built by Hazrat Ibrahim who is the
spiritual progenitor of most of the nations. He built the
First House at a barren and deserted place at the command
Allah for His worship and the Hajj Pilgrimage. If, aside of
it, anything exists at any place it has definitely got
polluted with Polytheism, perversion and innovation".
It is impossible to disagree with what Hazrat Shah
Waliullah has said. The following verse of the Quran will come
automatically to the mind of anyone who compares the Islamic
Haj with the Pilgrimage in other faiths.
“Unto each nation have We given sacred rites (of worship
and sacrifice) which they are to perform; so let them not
dispute with thee of the matter, but summon thou unto thy
Lord. Lo! Thou indeed followest right guidance. (-xxii : 67)