Change Your Image
rauanamangeldiyev
Reviews
Inside Mecca (2003)
Main concepts of Islam
The film describes the main concepts of the Islam religion. The video achieves this goal by showing the "Hajj" (Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca) from the inside and taking as main characters of the plot three different people from various parts of the world with their own nation, wellbeing, skin color, race. The plot of the film describes the concepts of Islam like monotheism; the importance of taking care of the less fortunate people than you; the existence of evil and good; equality of everyone before Allah.
Firstly, the core concept of Islam, monotheism, is explained in the movie. It is explicitly shown that people do not worship Kabba, they worship what it represents - one God. All rituals of "Hajj" such as Tarwiyah day, the path to Mecca and Mina, Arafat, Feast of Sacrifice, haircutting, and Tawaf are mainly purposed to worship only one creature along the journey. However, according to lecture materials, Five Pillars of Islam states there is no God but Allah. Thus, we can understand the first main concept in Islam, that Muslims have only one Allah and no other divines.
Secondly, in Islam, there is not any priority, and all are equal before Allah. In the film, the equality of people was significantly highlighted by showing three different Muslim pilgrims from different countries and who have no similarity except the faith. According to the film, no matter who you are: woman, man or child; what is your nation; what is your skin color, no matter, there are Islamic brotherhood and sisterhood, which brings all Muslims together. Thus, by delving into the daily life of each character, the viewer can see how they are different in terms of well-being, profession, lifestyle and etc., however, when we see them with other millions of people in Mecca, who pray without any distinction (in two pieces of the towel), the viewer can grasp that in Islam all people are equal in front of Allah. On the other hand, there were some critics, which was mentioned in the video, about racism and discrimination. For example, Khalil from South Africa was disappointed when he was not treated well with other South Africans because of his skin color. Also, we can see some class discrimination in Mine's tent city where they rely on the rule that there is not any prohibition on comfort as long as pilgrim may pay for it. These incidents provide information about some de facto exceptions of rules in certain real-life situations and it was clearly shown in the film.
Moreover, the movie emphasizes the next concept of Islam implicitly, which is the "Sharia", the unique set of rules. According to lectures, the Quran is not taken from third-party narration about prophet Muhammad, instead, the Quran and Sharia are direct instructions of Allah to people. Therefore, in the video, all rituals of "Hajj" were shown explicitly, sequentially, and in details, because it was said that "pilgrims actually have to be within the clearly marked boundaries of Arafat or their Hajj may not be counted". Hence, we can understand that in Islam, rituals must be followed strictly, because there exist Allah's direct will and directions as a set of rules (Sharia).
Furthermore, the film highlights the concept of good and evil. It was clearly discussed in the part about "jamarat", where believers did stone Satan. It could give a clear understanding that for Muslims there exists the concept of "good and evil; justice and injustice; righteousness and sinfulness". By the "jamarat" ritual pilgrims seek forgiveness and reject evil. The concept of good and evil can be considered as one of the cores in Islam because everyone must distinguish them without any gained knowledge: avoid the action, which brings suffering for others and approach to good.
As a next point, the helping of poor and less successful people than you is described in "the feast of sacrifice" part of the film. The plot of the film revealed that with the largest ritual sacrifice, pilgrims help poor people all over the world by supplying them with food, because each pilgrim must sacrifice one sheep, or seven pilgrims must give one camel at the end of the Hajj. It can be clear that the film plot is bounded with the topic of Hajj and Kaaba, thus the plot does not describe the concept of "help" fully, for example: by showing the ritual of Sadaqah or by showing the content of Surah, where Allah says about his/her/it love to gentleness and love.
To sum up, the film could clearly highlight the main aspects of Islam such as monotheism or worshipping one God, social equality, the concept of good and evil, and supporting vulnerable parts of the society by showing the main rituals of Hajj and experiences of main heroes. Also, the film could convey all core concepts of Islam in giving a framework of Hajj.