The Hajj: Muslim Pilgrimage in a Geographic Perspective

National Geography Standards

Element	Standard ID	Standard
Element One: The World in Spatial Terms	1	How to Use Maps and Other Geographic Representations, Tools, and Technologies to Acquire, Process, and Report Information From a Spatial Perspective
	3	How to Analyze the Spatial Organization of People, Places, and Environments on Earth's Surface
Element Two: Places and Regions	6	How Culture and Experience Influence People's Perceptions of Places and Regions
Element Four: Human Systems	9	The Characteristics, Distribution, and Migration of Human Population on Earth's Surface

State Standards

Area	Target ID	Target	Indicator ID	Indicator
ESSENTIALS	3SS-E4	Demonstrate understanding of the characteristics, purposes, and use of geographic tools to locate and analyze information about people, places, and environments, with emphasis on:	PO 1	ways to display geographic information and characteristics through maps, charts, and graphs
			PO 2	purposes of, and differences among, maps, globes, aerial photographs, charts, and satellite images
	3SS-E5	Describe natural and human characteristics of places and use this knowledge to define regions, their relationships with other regions, and their patterns of change, with emphasis on:	PO 5	how culture and economics give a place identity and meaning and affect the perception of places and regions, including the role of media images
			PO 6	how places and regions serve as cultural symbols, including Jerusalem as a sacred place for Jews, Christians, and Muslims
	3SS-E6	Describe the economic, political, cultural, and social processes that interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, and cooperation and conflict, with emphasis on:	PO 2	the causes and types of human migration and its effect on places
PROFICIENCY	3SS-P1	Acquire, process, and analyze geographic information about people, places and environments by constructing, interpreting, and using geographic tools, with emphasis on:	PO 1	constructing and interpreting maps to infer geographic relationships, distributions, and features, including interpreting thematic maps of world population growth and United States and international time zones
	3SS-P2	Analyze natural and human characteristics of places in the world studied to define regions, their relationships, and their pattern of change, with emphasis on:	PO 4	how the character and meaning of a place is related to its economic, social, and cultural characteristics and why different groups in society view places and region differently
	3SS-P3	Analyze how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns and characteristics of human populations, interdependence, and cooperation and conflict, with emphasis on:	PO 2	the factors that contribute to human migration and the affect of migration on the character of places of origin and destination, including along the U.S.-Mexico border

Adapted or Modified
I wish to formally thank the Saudi Aramco Oil Company and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their generous support of this endeavor.

Overview
Religious pilgrimage worldwide seems to be a near universal phenomenon, be it on a local, regional or global scale. The Muslim Hajj, drawing perhaps as many as 2.5 million pilgrims in 2006, is one of the larger global pilgrimage phenomena. It brings Muslims from around the world to Saudi Arabia for a few days of religious solidarity each year in an otherwise very fractious world.

Purpose
The purpose of this lesson is to provide students with an understanding of the Muslim Hajj and the scale of the phenomenon. In doing so, it will also give students an understanding of the distribution of Muslims worldwide and by region.

Materials
Materials used in this lesson are:

1.) Background Information Sheet. One per student.

2.) Student handouts of Muslim population by country. Please note: I was unable to get the number of actual 2006 Hajj visas issued per country. While the sources do not reference this, the figures cited are in millions. In many cases this will result in listing Muslim population in a format such as 0.9 or 1.2. This is in millions and must be converted to 900,000 or to 1,200,000, respectively. Students then have to determine the number of Hajj visas using a ratio of 1 Hajj visa per 1,000 Muslims. A math connection! It is widely known that some countries do not use their full allocation, while others experience shortages and attempt to buy visa allocations from other countries. Our results here will therefore be only a rough approximation of actual Hajj numbers.

3.) World Map. One per team. Downloadable and copyright-free from Arizona Geographic Alliance website. Scroll the right-hand menu to "Maps." Green colored pencils or makers (green is the traditional color of Islam.).

Objectives
The student will be able to:

1.) Identify the religious basis for the Muslim Hajj.

2.) Identify the largest contributing countries of Muslim pilgrims. Place the U.S. within this framework.

3.) Place the Muslim Hajj into the larger worldwide perspective of religious pilgrimage.

Procedures
1.) Distribute and read the Background paper on the Hajj. Discuss how a pilgrimage differs from merely going to church, mosque, or synagogue.

2.) Pose the question on which countries might contribute most to the number of Muslim pilgrims.

3.) What difficulties might people experience making the Hajj, both now and in the past. How might the Hajj have changed over the last 1,400 years?

4.) What logistical problems might be posed for the host country by such a large, but temporary, concentration of people in such a relatively small area? To put this in perspective, the number of Hajjis is about 25% greater than the population of Houston (our 4th largest city) and about 10% less than the population of Chicago (our 3rd largest city).

5.) Distribute the handout on Muslim Populations by Continent and the handouts on Muslim Population by Country. Which continents and which countries are most strongly represented in the data? Which continents and which countries seem to be weakly represented? Does the data offer any special surprises?

6.) Analyse the data on the Population charts and list the 25 nations with the largest allocations of Hajj visas. Map these in green on the world map.

7.) Order all the nations with Hajj allocations from greatest to smallest. Where does the U.S. rank?

8.) Some countries do not apparently use their full allocation, while in others demand exceeds supply by a large margin. What factors might explain this situation?

9.) In the computer lab, have students do an internet search for other specific pilgrimage destinations or routes for various religions. Suggested search terms (paired with either the term pilgrimage or holy site): Christian, Catholic, Chimayo, Lourdes, Santiago de Compostela, Protestant, Muslim, Sunni, Shia, Shiite, Jewish, Buddhist, Zen, Tibetan Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Zoroastrian, animist, Native American, Hopi Salt "mines," indigenous, pagan. Plot these sites (and traditional routes, if found) on an appropriate map. See the AzGA website for a list of regional maps to map these findings. One option is to have pairs or triads of students research each of these pilgrimages, map their results, and share their results with the class. If possible, students should try to find information on numbers of pilgrims and images to print out and share with classmates.

Outcome
Students will be able to tell why Muslims make the Hajj and will be able to identify the 5 countries with the largest Muslim populations

Student Assessment
Students may be assessed by:

1.) Reviewing their map of the 25 largest Muslim countries.

2.) Reviewing their ranked list of the size of Muslim countries and the ranking of the U.S. on that list.

Extensions
These are several extensions that can be made:

1.) Use the percent Muslim data from the Student Handouts on Muslim Populations by Country and map the African and Asian countries that have certain ranges of Muslim population. For example, 70-100%, 50-69%, 30-49%, 10-29%, 2-9%, and less than 2% Muslim population; assign one color for each of the ranges of percent. This should allow the students to make regional generalizations within each of those continents. Teacher's note: a chloropleth map showing the general results can be downloaded from the Supplemental Files section of this lesson and can be used as a key for this exercise, or can be used independently.

2.) Some countries do not apparently use their full allocation, while in others demand exceeds supply by a large margin. What factors might explain this situation? One possible way to investigate this situation is to visit: www.nationmaster.com/index.php Analyse the data to see if there are correlations between countries with either very high or very low percentages of Muslim population and relative development level.

3.) For students wanting to get a more personal view of the Hajj, they might want to visit: www.musalla.org/Articles/hammy/index.htm for a Scottish Muslim's account of his Hajj.

Sources
www.islamicpopulation.com/index.html This source is what I used for the most recent Muslim population figures. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country This Wikipedia page is an alternative source for Muslim populations worldwide. islamicweb.com/begin/population.htm Another source for Muslim populations worldwide.

www.photoarchive.saudiaramcoworld.com/ This is a wonderful site for free downloading of images of the Arab and Islamic world, including the Hajj. Copyright-free for educational, non-commercial purposes. Site operated by the Saudi Aramco's award winning "Aramco World" magazine (free subscriptions!). www.arab.net/saudi/sa_visas.htm This source has a good overview of the different Saudi Arabian visa types, including Hajj and Umrah.

www.islamicity.com/mosque/hajj/ An American Muslim website with many interesting links.

Supplemental Files

File	Type	Description	Encoding	Size
muslims_population.gif	Map	Chloropleth map of Muslim populations of North Africa, southwest Asia, and South Asia	image/gif	14 K
Muslim_Population-by_Country--Oceania	Other	Muslim Population by Country--Oceania	application/msword	39 K
Muslim_Population_by_Continent	Other	Muslim Population by Continent	application/msword	28 K
Muslim_Population_by_Country--Africa	Other	Muslim Population by Country--Africa	application/msword	92 K
Muslim_Population_by_Country--Americas	Other	Muslim Population by Country--Americas	application/msword	67 K
Muslim_Population_by_Country--Asia	Other	Muslim Population by Country--Asia	application/msword	86 K
Muslim_Population_by_Country--Europe	Other	Muslim Population by Country--Europe	application/msword	74 K
The_Hajj_Background	Other	Background information on the Hajj	application/msword	35 K