By Faiza Rizvi
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — As the annual pilgrimage ended successfully, with millions smoothly completing the rituals at the Holy Sites, social media was flooded with updates from pilgrims expressing an array of emotions of their spiritual journey.
Over the years, social media has given the world an unprecedented view of Haj, where users across the globe are more aware of the Haj rituals and witness this extraordinary pilgrimage through updates from those lucky ones who experience the journey of a lifetime.
“I’m still in awe of how the Saudi authorities manage millions of pilgrims who have to carry out rituals at the same time and the same place,” a pilgrim posted on Facebook, sharing a picture of worshipers swarming the Mount of Mercy on Youm Arafah (Rafat day).
Abdul Aziz, an Indian, posted a picture of volunteers spraying water to provide relief to pilgrims in the sweltering heat. “Look at their dedication to serve us. These are the real heroes of Haj,” he wrote. Several others shared photos of security forces guiding, feeding and helping Haj pilgrims while a picture showing a security officer carrying an exhausted elderly pilgrim captioned “May Allah reward them”, went viral on Facebook, with users expressing gratitude over their selfless service to the guests of Allah.
Asif from UAE, posted a picture of the stoning ritual, expressing his gratitude to the authorities for the smooth and comfortable completion of the ritual. “No words can express the efforts of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to serve the pilgrims. Stoning was a breeze and Haj was the best experience of my life. May Allah Bless them for their endless efforts,” he wrote.
Last year, Snapchat featured rare glimpses of Makkah using Live Story feature of the popular app, which was an astounding success as more than a million people tweeted ‘Mecca live’. While Muslims celebrated the video clips, non-Muslims also appreciated the beautiful portrayal of Islamic faith. This year, Snapchat featured Haj pilgrimage capturing emotions of worshipers featuring videos of prayer in congregation in Makkah to shaving head as a sacrifice, including clips of heartwarming unanimous chanting of Takbeer by pilgrims.
Abdul Sami, a young Egyptian pilgrim who is an active Snapchat user, said that sharing spiritual and emotional experiences of this extraordinary pilgrimage through social media gives them an opportunity to the show the world the unity of Muslims. “We are a united global Muslim nation who gathers from different parts of the world to worship Allah in the same place, wearing the same clothes, irrespective of status, caste, race, or language. Ours is a religion with no sense of superiority and social media is the best platform to educate people of this amazing concept of Islam,” he said.
