20th April 1997

Seeing a sea of compasssion

Mecca was beautiful. I never really appreciated the full force of the experience in my first week there. But the place was growing on me, like an infection. At least it was the best human effort I've witnessed at creating a Utopia. Visiting during the month of Ramazan was intrinsic to the experience, a chance to recharge one's batteries and address life in a meaningful way.

People could unashamedly focus on their spirituality: acknowledging and respecting the value of their soul. Giving their inner being a haven in which to revel and indulge. At the glimmer of dawn a tidal drift would encroach on the vicinities of the mosque, an endless horizon of heads dipping and lulling as the crowds nudged to find a space within which each soul could prostrate before god. Like the droplets of water held tightly together in a fluid an elastic form, so the bodies poured down the undulating and binding ravine like streets, on a journey towards the expanse of spiritual wealth that awaited them.

Each minute droplet of god's quintessence was welcomed by a sea of compassion and mercy. The long rigorous journey had ended. The colourful regalia of fez caps, kaftans, saris, shalwar kameez, sarongs, jupta's, shirts, faded away like the final echoes of a physical world dissipating from the cave of a mind in pursuit of the more subconscious. The muezzin's calls to prayer pierces into the consciences of every believer and by some unfathomable force the spines of millions of humans bend in submission to the will of Allah. The rich Arab oil sheiks, the poor Indian street vendor, the Nigerian entrepreneur, the Malaysian teacher, the group of Pakistani school girls, all blend into this one ordained unity. Barefoot next to barefoot, shoulders against shoulders, the gaze lowered, the thoughts heightened and the uniformity grows more apparent as the mind focuses.

In one huge sweep the bodies drop to the floor. Every available square inch of ground covered by flesh, a landscape of humility and unity. A blanket that protects and is protected. An endless circle of foreheads within endless circles of foreheads, firmly fixed on the cool marble flooring.

-A worshipper

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