REFORMATION FROM THE TOP:

In Mecca, a King Is Giving Lessons in Peace: A survey among pilgrims to the Muslim holy sites shows that they return home with sentiments of greater tolerance. Meanwhile, in Madrid, the Saudi king dialogues with Christians and Jews. Cardinal Tauran is there to represent the pope. An important document (Sandro Magister, 7/16/08, Chiesa)

[T]he Muslims who every year go as pilgrims from Pakistan to Mecca do not for this reason return more inclined to violence and more hostile toward the West and Christianity. The opposite happens. The pilgrimage instead increases sentiments of peace and tolerance, not only toward those of the same faith, but also toward non-Muslims.

About 2 million Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca each year, from the eighth day until the twelfth day of the last month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Their number is fixed in advance, and set in proportion to the populations of the various countries. In Pakistan, one must participate in a public lottery in order to be allowed to make the voyage. Those whose numbers are chosen will go to Mecca, the others will not.

The three scholars at Harvard – David Clingingsmith, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, and Michael Kremer – conducted the study on a twofold sample of Pakistani citizens: 800 who made the pilgrimage, and 800 who remained at home.

The survey reveals that the pilgrims are more devout when they return from Mecca. They pray more, they go to the mosque more often, they observe fasting more faithfully. They also tend to abandon the use of amulets and the practice of customs that are not genuinely Islamic.

Men's attitudes toward women also improve. On the pilgrimage, they find themselves side by side in equal numbers, carrying out the same rituals. And this has increased the number of those in favor of more education for girls, and their admission to professional life.

A positive impact is also shown from the encounter with Muslims from other countries with other ways of interpreting and living Islam, Shiite and Sunni. At their return from Mecca, many maintain that it is possible to live in harmony with everyone. And this sentiment is also extended to non-Muslims. Pilgrims to Mecca are clearly more willing than those who remain at home to consider the believers of other religions as worthy of equal respect.

On recourse to violence and hostility toward the West, pilgrims to Mecca are more inclined to peace than those who remain at home. When asked whether the goals for which Osama bin Laden is fighting are correct, the pilgrims answer no twice as often as the others. And when asked whether the methods used by Osama bin Laden are correct, the 'no's of the pilgrims are almost one third as numerous.

The most famous example of the moderating effect of the pilgrimage is Malcolm X, who was tragically murdered just as he and Martin Luther King were trading places.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 17, 2008 8:47 AM