A writer from Brooklyn makes the Hajj:
On the buses to Mecca, Wessam led us through the Talbiya, a chant that signals a pilgrim’s arrival in the holy land. “I respond to Your call Lord, and I am obedient to Your command.” Our coach filled with the prayer as night fell.
Two sites have always captivated me on the hour-long drive from Jeddah to Mecca: the first is a simple green-and-white traffic sign. As you approach the holy city, it directs non-Muslims towards a slip road with a firm exhortation: “Non-Muslims Exit Here.” The other site is more picturesque: a stone sculpture of an open Koran straddles the highway. Pilgrims must pass under it to enter or leave the city. At night, when floodlights illuminate the petrified pages and the arid landscape has sufficiently numbed you, the incandescent book becomes a revelation in itself. The dual messages of these two signposts, the authoritarian and the inviting, seem to summarise the state of modern Muslim life.
Read it all in the Financial Times.