In 2011, nearly 3 million Muslims made the pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca. Worshippers from almost every land traveled to this holy city in the Saudi Arabian desert: 222,600 from Indonesia alone; 99,000 from Nigeria; 13,800 from China. Yet to non-Muslims, Mecca is a mystery. One of the first to glimpse its wonders was the British explorer Richard Burton, who ventured there in 1853, disguised as an Afghan doctor. In his best-selling account, he recalled: "A blunder, a hasty action, a misjudged word, a prayer or bow, not strictly the right shibboleth, and my bones would have whitened the desert...
Pilgrim's Progress: The Hajj Revealed in a New Exhibition
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