The Encyclopedia of World Religions

meditation S 287

hood and brotherhood of all human beings. After making pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, the Black Muslim leader, M ALCOLM X, began to teach that not all white people were devils, as he had previously thought. Further reading: Ann Parker and Avon Neal, Hajj Paintings: Folk Art of the Great Pilgrimage (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995); F. E. Peters, The Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994); Michael Wolfe, ed., One Thousand Roads to Mecca: Ten Centuries of Travelers Writing about the Muslim Pilgrimage (New York: Grove Press, 1997). meditation Quieting the mind in order to focus deeply on religious experience and religious real ity. For some people, meditation just means to think deeply and seriously about something. In a religious context, however, it is more likely to indi cate either visualization of a religious topic, such as a symbol or a scene from the scriptures, with appropriate feelings and thoughts, or a stopping of the activity of mind altogether in order to experi ence religious reality directly. The former method, visualization, is particu larly associated with R OMAN C ATHOLICISM in the Counter-Reformation period (16th–17th centu ries) and in the writings of such SAINTS as Ignatius Loyola and Francis de Sales. Devotees were asked to picture in their minds scenes from the life of C HRIST or church teaching. Visualization is also found in BHAKTI (devotional) H INDUISM in relation to its gods, and in B UDDHISM , especially T IBETAN RELI GION , wherein one’s patronal BUDDHA or BODHISATTVA is evoked before one’s inner eyes through a com bination of MANTRA (chant), MUDRA (hand gesture), and mental concentration. In J UDAISM , meditation has particularly been associated with KABBALAH and concentration on Hebrew letters and words. Quieting the mind in order to go beyond all forms and concepts in the mind, sometimes called contemplation or contemplative prayer rather than meditation in the West, is found in older versions

times, in imitation of the ANGELS , who are continu ally circling G OD ’s heavenly throne. During the cir cling, pilgrims also kiss or at least gesture in the direction of a black stone built into the corner of the Kaaba. It is said that the angel Gabriel brought this stone down from heaven as a sign of God’s favor to Abraham when he built the Kaaba. The next act consists of running back and forth seven times between two hills, then drink ing water from the well of Zamzam. This action recalls the plight of Abraham’s wife Hagar and her son Ishmael. Abandoned by Abraham at this spot in the desert, Hagar frantically ran to what she thought were pools of water at the foot of the hills. When in desperation she returned to her son, she found that in playing he had kicked open an arte sian well. Pilgrims recall that all human beings, like Hagar and Ishmael, depend upon God’s gra cious gifts to sustain life. The most important ritual of the pilgrimage takes place from noon to sundown on the ninth day of the month. Pilgrims stand at the Mount of Mercy and the Plain of Arafat in front of it. Here they beseech God for forgiveness. Islam teaches that at this spot God reconciled A DAM and E VE when they quarreled. It also teaches that at this spot all of us will appear for the final judgment at the end of time. On the tenth day pilgrims hurl stones at three pillars. Then, if finances permit, they sacrifice a goat. In doing this, they recall the faithfulness of Abraham and Ishmael. When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael, the devil appeared to Ishmael and urged him not to cooperate. In response, Ishmael threw stones at the devil. At the last minute, God rewarded Abraham and Ishmael by substituting the sacrifice of a goat. At Mina, too, pilgrims leave the special state of pilgrimage by having at least three of their hairs cut. They may also visit Mecca and circle the Kaaba again. Many pilgrims take the opportunity of their journey to visit other sacred sites, such as the town of Medina where the prophet Muhammad is buried. Over a million Muslims make pilgrimage to Mecca every year. It is a powerful, visual demon stration of the universality of Islam and the sister