Hajj – Notes

I never quite had it in me to write about my Hajj experience, but lately, I’ve felt the need to place it in context—particularly around my religious life and the anxieties of that period. This reflection was prompted by an argument I heard recently: that the current ulema have created a myth that Hajj is for everyone, when it is, in reality, only for the elite. My answer to that is simple. My father-in-law was a car electrician. I was a software engineer. Both of us had limited means, but we had enough to cover the trip, and neither of us had many dependents at home. Hajj, for us, was not a luxury; it was a spiritual experience rooted in sacred texts, an obligation that is mandatory when one can afford it, regardless of social standing. …