In line with recent works and exhibitions on Hajj and its multiple facets, especially the transformation of the pilgrimage at the global scale, the workshop will bring experts working on different periods. We will focus on case studies based on primary sources, whether archival or material, throughout the long history of Hajj. Our aim is to offer a preliminary chronology, which might enlighten the evolution of Hajj on the long run and help to better understand its concrete conditions according to the various historical contexts.

Convenors

• Corinne Lefèvre (CEIAS, CNRS-EHESS)
• Aminah Mohammad-Arif (CEIAS, CNRS-EHESS)
• Alexandre Papas (CETOBAC, CNRS-EHESS)

Argument

In line with recent works and exhibitions on Hajj and its multiple facets, especially the transformation of the pilgrimage at the global scale, the workshop will bring experts working on different periods. We will focus on case studies based on primary sources, whether archival or material, throughout the long history of Hajj. Our aim is to offer a preliminary chronology, which might enlighten the evolution of Hajj on the long run and help to better understand its concrete conditions according to the various historical contexts. A periodization would explain how the fifth pillar of Islam inserted itself to the changing landscape of the Muslim world. Several points need to be discussed or reconsidered. While the holy journey to Mecca involved initially regional devotees, what was the impact of the medieval expansion of Islam on the pilgrims’ cosmopolis? Both the origin and the result of politico-religious stakes, what was the role of Hajj during the rise of the early modern and modern empires? Does the contemporary metamorphosis of the pilgrimage into a mass phenomenon mean a fusion of the Muslim community, or rather its fragmentation?

Program

• 9:00 : Welcome address: Corinne Lefèvre, Aminah Mohammad-Arif, Alexandre Papas

Chair: Pierre lory (EPHE)

• 9:15 : Francis Richard (BULAC): A « Classical » Treatise about Hajj, the Futûh al-haramayn, Poem of Muhyi al-Dîn Lârî
• 9:45 : Sanjay Subrahmanyam (UCLA, Collège de France): Gujarat, the Hajj and the Ottomans in the 1530s: The View from Mecca
• 10:15 : Discussion
• 10:45 : Break
• 11:00 : Andrew Petersen (University of Wales): The Syrian Hajj Route under the Ottomans
• 11:30 : Alexandre Papas (CNRS): The Migratory Hajj: Sufi Mujâwirs throughout the Ottoman Period
• 12:00 : Discussion
• 12:30 : Lunch

Chair: Marc Gaborieau (CNRS, EHESS)

• 14:30 : Anne Bang (CHR. Michelsen Institute): The Sufi Pilgrim: East African Hajj Narratives. Normative Islam and the Spiritual Journey
• 15:00 : Nile Green (UCLA): The Hajj in the Age of Globalization: Infrastructure & Non-Muslim Contact in the Steam Journey to Mecca
• 15:30 : Discussion
• 16:00 : Break
• 16:15 : John Slight (University of Cambridge): The European Empires and the Hajj
• 16:45 : Luc Chantre (Centre Français d'Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sanaa): Promoting the Empire. The Two Ages of French Colonial Pilgrimage to Mecca
• 17:15 : Leila Cherif-Chebbi (CETOBAC): Pilgrimage in PRC: Control and Reward vs. Uncontrolled Globalization?
• 17:45 : Discussion
• 18:30 : Cocktail