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University of Groningen Mecca in Morocco Al-Ajarma, Kholoud DOI: 10.33612/diss.132290623 IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2020 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Al-Ajarma, K. (2020). Mecca in Morocco: Articulations of the Muslim pilgrimage (Hajj) in Moroccan everyday life. University of Groningen. https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.132290623 Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 23-09-2021 Mecca in Morocco Supervisor Prof. M.W. Buitelaar Co-supervisor Dr. C.E. Wilde Assessment Committee Prof. S. Coleman Prof. J.T. Sunier Prof. T.H. Zock Mecca in Morocco Articulations of the Muslim pilgrimage (Hajj) in Moroccan everyday life PhD thesis to obtain the degree of PhD at the University of Groningen on the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. C. Wijmenga and in accordance with the decision by the College of Deans. This thesis will be defended in public on Thursday 10 September 2020 at 11.00 hours by Kholoud Ahmad Mohammad Al-Ajarma born on 26 May 1986 in Bethlehem, Palestine Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ vii Note on Transliteration ................................................................................. xi Prologue: Memories of the Pilgrimage to Mecca ................................. xiii Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 The rites of Hajj ............................................................................................................ 6 A brief history of the pilgrimage to Mecca from Morocco ....................... 14 Organization of chapters ........................................................................................ 19 Chapter One: Theoretical Framework and Methodology .................. 25 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 25 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................... 25 The Anthropology of pilgrimage ....................................................................... 26 Islam as a lived religion ........................................................................................ 32 A methodological narrative .................................................................................. 42 Why Morocco? ........................................................................................................... 45 Fieldwork: first encounters ................................................................................. 49 The question of my identity(ies), expectations, and roles ...................... 52 Participant observation and multi-sited fieldwork .................................. 56 Visiting Mecca ........................................................................................................... 66 Writing and analysis .............................................................................................. 68 Identity within the research process and fieldwork ................................. 68 Ambiguities of position: tensions between integration into family structures and researcher detachment / independence ........................ 69 Researcher status and identity as a fellow Muslim .................................. 71 My position as a researcher, claiming acceptance in Moroccan academic circles ....................................................................................................... 73 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 76 Part One: The Pilgrimage to Mecca: A Tripartite Process of Preparation, Pilgrimage and Aftermath ................................................. 79 Chapter Two: Before Departure: Motivations for Hajj Performance and the Creation of a Muslim Moral Habitus ......................................... 81 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 81 Between the quota and the qurʿa: managing desires and hurdles ...... 85 A pilgrim’s trajectory: administrative procedure and a test of faith .. 90 Avoiding the qurʿa procedure .............................................................................. 93 iii ʿUmra as an alternative pilgrimage to Hajj .................................................... 98 The pilgrimage process and motivations, encompassing the religious and the mundane ................................................................................................... 100 A pilgrimage lesson in Fes .................................................................................. 105 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 110 Chapter Three: In the Hajj: A Sensory Experience that ‘Cannot Be DescriBed in Words’ .................................................................................... 113 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 113 Pilgrimage as a sensory experience ............................................................... 117 Sight and the pilgrimage experience ............................................................. 119 Soundscapes and feelings ................................................................................... 127 Smell ............................................................................................................................ 131 Taste and touch ....................................................................................................... 132 The Rawḍa: experiencing a piece of Paradise ........................................... 135 Expected sensations and feeling in the holy spaces ................................ 143 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 146 Chapter Four: After Hajj: Refashioning of the Self as al-Ḥājj /al- Ḥājja ................................................................................................................. 149 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 149 Selfhood: a religious ethos, its cultivation and the moral quest of a pilgrim ..................................................................................................................... 158 Return and questions of life and death ......................................................... 161 A new person? A pilgrim’s religious and social life after Hajj ............ 165 Social capital and a ‘new status’: expressions of public religiosity .. 168 Flaws in perfection: the ambivalences of everyday life ........................ 171 Straying from the right path .............................................................................. 174 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 177 Part Two: Identity and Politics ................................................................ 181 Chapter Five: Hajj and Moroccan National Identity ......................... 183 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 183 National identity and religion in Morocco .................................................. 187 The official discourse on the Hajj and the role of the King .................. 196 Moroccans’ reflecting on the Hajj experience and national identity 208 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 215 Chapter Six: Saudi Hajj Management through Moroccan Eyes ..... 217 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 217 Contestations of the sacred in Saudi Arabia ............................................... 223 iv The expansion of the Grand Mosque and the contraction of equality ........................................................................................................................................ 225 Costs of Hajj and ʿumra: issues of access ..................................................... 233 Destruction of graves and historical sites ................................................... 235 Preserving the safety of pilgrims between stampedes and disasters .......................................................................................................................................