April 1965 coincides roughly with Dhu-al-Hijja in the year 1384 A.H. (after the hegira). It is the last month of Islam's lunar calendar, and the season to perform the hajj, the pilgrimage to the holy places of Mecca that for devout Moslems is both spiritual duty and lifetime dream. More than 1,200,000 pilgrims entered Mecca to carry out the prayers and ablutions of Islam's most sacred ritual (see following color pictures of last year's hajj). Luckily, this year there were no outbreaks of typhoid or cholera like those that have sometimes turned the hajj into a pilgrimage of death rather than spiritual rebirth.
The pilgrims came from all over the world. The King and Queen of Malaysia chartered a plane for the hajj; from the U.S. came the widow of Malcolm X. Also on hand was a group of Senegalese who in January began a 3,400-mile walk across the African desert to the Red Sea. At Jeddah on the Red Sea, gateway to Mecca and starting point for the pilgrimage, hajj flights landed every ten minutes round the clock at an airport that normally sees only a dozen commercial flights a day. In and near Jeddah's harbor, more than 100 pilgrim-bearing steamers anchored among hundreds of bobbing, high-pooped dhows.
Hajj Before Trial. Not all who wanted to make the hajj this year could do so. Egypt's President Nasser, who made the pilgrimage himself in 1955, allowed only 17,000 hajj passports for his people; there were fist fights in Cairo as devout Moslems elbowed their way into queues to get the necessary documentation. In Jordan, airline space to Jeddah was at such a premium that one group of rich pilgrims flew to London, caught a BOAC flight to Dhahran near the Persian Gulf, then chartered a bus to cross 780 miles of desert.
Some, of course, came to prey as well as pray. Sixty Nigerian Moslems were arrested for smuggling kola nuts, an illegal stimulant, into Saudi Arabia; police thoughtfully escorted the offenders through the hajj ritual, then brought them back to Jeddah for prosecution.
The number and variety of pilgrims on this year's hajj were living proof of the fervor that burns within the youngest of the world's universal faiths, second in size only to Christianity. According to Islam's mission-minded Ahmadiyya movement, there are 647 million Moslems around the world; less partial statisticians lower the figure to a still impressive 465 million. Today, 35 countries in Africa and Asia have Moslem majorities. In much of West Africa, Islam now gains converts at a 9-to-l ratio over Christianity.
A Way of Life. What explains the prosperity of Islam? One reason, certainly, is its simplicity. Islam has neither hierarchy nor organization: its creed is a simple affirmation that there is no god but God, and Mohammed is his prophet. Undemanding in doctrine, Islam calls upon its adherents, if they wish to be rewarded at the Last Judgment, to praise God five times a day while kneeling toward Mecca, fast during the holy month of Ramadan, abstain from alcohol and pork, give alms, and, if possible, make the hajj. Man's sexual nature is amply served by Islam, which permits four wives—providing they are treated equally—and unlimited concubines.