Inside Mecca is a documentary film directed by Anisa Mehdi, who tried to show one of the five pillars of Islam, the spiritual process of a lifetime and sacred pilgrimage of the Muslim people to Mecca known as a hajj. In general, the documentary film has focused on showing the process of pilgrimage of 3 different people from 3 different countries, the difficulties they faced during that time, the way of how the Islam brings the people from different geographical and even social positions together. Of course the main idea probably was to introduce and allow the viewer to look at the process of pilgrimage and the fundamental principles of Islam from different point of views. However, it could be argued that any documentary film or speech regarding the hajj could not fully show the sacred pilgrimage unless someone will not do it by themselves. So this essay will try to show that despite the fact that the film could not fully convey the feeling of doing the sacred pilgrimage, it could give the viewer the idea about the universal principles of Islam, show and be prepared to the difficulties which could be faced during the pilgrimage and help the viewer to look at the hajj from different perspectives.
First of all, everything starts from planning, especially if it is one of the most important things in the life of Muslim people - hajj. From the documentary film it can be clearly seen that difficulties could appear even in this stage. For example, one of the main characters was Fidelma O'Leary from Texas, who had to ask written permission from her son or husband in order to be able to go to the Mecca and do the hajj. This could be explained by the fact that women in the Islam are usually considered as a weak segment of a community. It was clearly illustrated in the Major Themes of Quran (p 46), where it was written that "Quran aimed at strengthening the weaker segments of the community: the poor, the orphans, women, slaves, those chronically in debt" or ""Men are in charge of women because God has given some humans excellence over others and because men have the liability of expenditure (on women)." (p 49). However, by considering Fidelma's situation it could be seen that she has divorced, although she has a son, it was not clarified if he was working and consequently it could be assumed that she is the only breadwinner of the family. Moreover, as it was stated in the Major Themes of Quran as long as women becomes economically sufficient and starts contributing to the household expenses, the male's excellence over the females will be reduced to that extent. As a result, Fidelma has divorced, it was assumed that she is the only person in the family who works and earns the money, so it could be concluded that she has 100 percent contribution to the household expenses. Logically she should be completely independent from male's in her family and be able to travel alone. Hence, it was not clear to the Fidelma to what Islamic rule was based this request from the Saudi government.
Another thing that could be seen from the documentary film is the equality of people in the Islam. In the film it could be seen that all Muslims who go to the hajj, should enter the sacred state called ihram. In order to do so, they wear a special clothing, while male's clothing consists of two parts and could leave some parts of the body naked, female's body have to be completely hidden, except their faces and arms. This clothing has to be wore by everyone, it does not matter if he or she is wealthy or poor, is in the high position or just a laborer. Hence it helps people to look identical during the hajj and serves as an equalizer. The idea about the equality is also supported by Rahman in the Major Themes of Quran where it was written that Quran's goal is "egalitarian social order", which is generally the idea of equality of all human beings , and that it criticizes "the gross socioeconomic disparities that equally rested on and perpetuated a pernicious divisiveness of mankind"(p. 38). As a result, despite the fact that in the documentary film there could be found some minor differences in the attitude of the Saudi government to the main characters, it could be concluded that they were equally considered by the Saudi government and more important by other Muslims.
To sum up, it could be said that "Inside Mecca" documentary film have successfully illustrated the universal principles of Islam, the importance of hajj and city of Mecca to the Muslims, the relationship between Muslims from different races/social positions/regions and three different viewpoints from the main characters to the hajj.
Review of Inside Mecca
