By Patrick Mark
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| Kosser Sheik in Saudi Arabia |
Kosser Sheikh is being swept along in a huge tide of white-robed pilgrims.
Her first view of the Grand Mosque is almost too much to bear and
she's fighting back the tears. 'I'm lost for words at the moment',
she admits. "I've seen this in pictures but I'm face to face with
it now, so I'm full of emotion."
Just 28 hours ago Kosser said goodbye to her husband and two young children in Willesden, West London. Her arrival in Islam's holiest city follows six months of ever-increasing devotion to Allah. "It's as if I am being called", she says. "It's like a force pulling me."
Kosser is one of five pilgrims featured in Channel 4's week-long coverage
of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage. Another is Serfraz Qayyum,
a dynamic 22 year-old from Middlesborough who is having the time of
his life in Mecca. "When it's prayer time you're surrounded by people
from all over the world. White people, black people, Chinese. I've
even seen people from 'Rubanga' I don't' even know where Rubanga is
man!"
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| Serfraz Qayyum |
Channel 4 has four all-Muslim camera crews in Mecca. Their videotapes are rushed back to Jeddah where I'm part of a ten-strong editing team. For me as a Christian, it's frustrating not being able to visit Mecca itself. The closest I've been so far is the motorway checkpoint where a huge sign proclaims 'Moslems Only'.
Perhaps unexpectedly Iraq is not a subject on everyone's lips. But, "America should read its history books," says one of our Saudi contacts. "The Greeks, Romans, Arabs, British, all once had empires. They crumbled." In Mecca most Hajjis are concentrating on their devotions but occasionally there's a revealing comment. Gazing down on a massive expanse of prostrate pilgrims, an Indonesian visitor remarks, "When you see this you know that Islam will never be defeated."
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| Hallalah Hasam: not in Kansas anymore |
Accommodation in Mecca is booked months in advance and some of our pilgrims are sleeping ten to a room. Hallalah Hasam from Kansas City is more fortunate in her luxury hotel.
She's very conscious of being an American: "Other Muslims look at us and they say, 'America?' We nod and they say, 'Oh, America very good.' Then they ask us about Bush and they say, 'You have good people in America and then you have bad people.'"
A passing pilgrim from Nigeria also has bad people on his mind. "In the good old days people were honest but now some are criminal minded", he says. "Most people go to pray. Only the hardened criminals hang around."
Security for the pilgrims is a big issue for the authorities. Interior Minister Prince Naif has warned terrorist organisations wanting to disrupt the Hajj that they'll be countered "with an iron fist".
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| Channel 4 crew above the Holy Mosque, Mecca |
Although we're forbidden from visiting Mecca, our editing team in Jeddah is getting an unforgettably intimate view of the Hajj. Tapes are couriered back three times a day and the pictures are spectacular. Everyone 'oohs' and 'aahs' at monster wide shots of Al Haram, the Grand Mosque that accommodates one million pilgrims within its walls. For the last few days it's been full.
There's been some confusion over dress code among the female members of our team in Jeddah. Breakfast in the hotel on our first morning saw several mysteriously hooded figures eating cornflakes. "We've relaxed a bit now", says edit co-ordinator Kat Gros. "It seems to be okay to wear modest Western clothes inside the hotel. But I'm still getting some funny looks in the lobby."
The coming week will see the Channel 4 team going into overdrive. "It's been a huge challenge for us to get this project off the ground at all", says executive producer Mark Rubens.
"But now the heat's on. We'll have editors working round the clock and satellite transmissions every night."
The rest of us are looking forward to several glasses of orange juice
at the wrap party.
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Live at the Hajj