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Reviews
Inside Mecca (2003)
Credible? Clear?
The movie "Inside Mecca" explains Islamic rituals, by showing journeys of pilgrims with various backgrounds. Particularly, the movie highlights information about the hajj, pilgrimage of Muslims. I think that the movie does not effectively explain the hadj and other related Islamic rituals, since it lacks explanations of some crucial Islamic concepts. Moreover, not all descriptions and explanations of religious rituals in these movies are credible and reliable.
First of all, the movie begins with a description of Kaaba's importance. It says that "..before creation, there was a holy place, celestial house of God, called Kaaba". The narrator continues saying that Kaaba's replica on Earth is located in Mecca. However, reliable theologists' papers do not confirm it, in other words, there is no information about the existence of God's celestial house in documents related to Islam.
Secondly, the movie includes some important facts. For instance, the movie presents that although the majority of the Meccan pilgrims are Muslims, also Jews and Christians go on pilgrimage to Kaaba. Professor Fred Donner agrees with it, saying that even from early ages Muslims considered some jews and Christians "their society", i.e. Muslims defined "people of Books" as one society with them. Additionally, when the movie offers some history behind the Kaaba and the black stone, the narrator highlights that the stories are myths. Since there is no reliable evidence for such stories as Abraham using the black stone in construction work, it is important to mention that stories are mythical. Mainly, the information from the movie mentioned above are important, and the narrator effectively presented it.
Mainly, Dr Umar in the movie claims that Kaaba is the centre of Muslims' religious mentality. There is no enough evidence to claim it, as the central concept of Muslims' mentality is worshipping God, which should not necessarily be done near Kaaba. Although all Muslims pray in the direction of Kaaba, their mentality's centre is the concept of taqwa, which can be translated as piety and fear of God (Rahman, 28). In addition, it is noted in the movie that Islam propagates wearing the modest clothing and that in Saudi Arabia female modest outfit includes covering hair. There is no clear evidence to claim that covering a woman's hair should be done only according to Saudi Arabian standards of modesty. Covering hair is also practised in other countries, so it is not about standards of modesty of certain society, and majority Muslim scholars states that it is obligatory (azan.kz, umma.ru).
Additionally, the narrator refers to Muslims' verbal praise of God as songs, which is not a linguistically suitable word for describing this. It is important to note that at the beginning of the movie they tell about travelling rules of Saudi Arabia, especially the requirement for women to bring the permission document by a male relative. They say that it is illogical, and also the narrator does not explain this requirement. Rahman states that, according to Islam, men are responsible for their female relatives. Particularly, he says that economic sufficiency of woman reduces the superiority of her husband over her and that such male superiority over women has purely functional nature. Rahman refers to Qur'an's 4:36 verse on this matter (Rahman, 49).
Although, the movie clearly described every stage of the hajj process, and offer several theories about their historical basis; the movie failed to completely explain the importance of hajj. The reason is that pilgrims in hajj aim to not only "relive" the experience of prophets, and this worship has its mental philosophy.
Rahman says that "wholistic view of Islam" is an inseparable part of Muslims' salvation, and only physical movements of prayer are count as full worshipping process. I think that movie should have added more information about religious terms, such as jihad or taqwa. For instance, jihad is considered the main obligation of a Muslim, and this term means total endeavour to please God, which is written in Quran as "with your wealth and lives...to make God's cause succeed" 9:40 (Rahman, 64). So, I think that the lack of explanation of such spiritual concepts in Islam is the main disadvantage of the movie since these spiritual concepts are a crucial part of hajj and other Islamic rituals.
In conclusion, the movie described all stages of hajj in some historical details, mentioning that some of these historical theories are mythical. The move showed hajj, pilgrimage, of 3 Muslims with different backgrounds, which lead to differences in the hajj experience. Generally, some Islamic ideas and certain parts of its religious practice were shown and explained. However, since some claims do not have credible evidence, and the movie did not include an explanation of some crucial concepts of Islam, the movie does not effectively explain and describe the hajj and other Islamic rituals.