“Inside Mecca”
Tonight at 8 on Ch. 13
*** (three stars)
AFTER 9/11, all the fol lowers of Islam – Muslims – became in the mind of many Americans an interconnected, international band of terrorists out to blow up the U.S.
Perhaps because we aren’t a country defined by religion ourselves, but tend to be more of a Judeo-Christian society rather than say, an Islamic one, many of us have only been exposed to the war-mongering radical Muslims.
Therefore, tonight’s National Geographic special on PBS, “Inside Mecca,” is a real eye-opener.
The filmmakers follow three Muslims as they make their first sacred Islamic pilgrimages (“the hajj”) to Mecca.
One is a female Irish/American former-Catholic, doctor of neuroscience from Texas, Fidelma O’Leary.
The two are men: One is a successful businessman from Malaysia, while the other is a religious radio host from rural South Africa.
After exhausting journeys, they reach the sacred city where they are joined by 2 million other Muslims, all in one small area, all there to reaffirm their faith during this five-day period.
The organization for such an event – including 2,000 ritual butchers who slaughter 800,000 animals (one sheep per person, or one camel per seven people!) to be distributed to the poor over the world, as well as the erecting of thousands upon thousands of fireproof tents, meeting areas for hundreds of different countries – is staggering.
What this special really teaches us however, is that Islam grew out of the biblical story of the Prophet Abraham.
It also shows us that Muslims – the fastest growing religion with 1.3 billion followers – consider both the Old and New Testaments as integral to their religion; that Jesus is a messenger from God, and the Prophet Muhammad is the final prophet.
On the downside, there is a bit of a whitewash.
For example, while the producers touch on the fact that the black South African radio host was discriminated against for his race during the hajj, and that O’Leary was hardly welcomed into Mecca, a “touch” is not nearly enough to give us a totally unbiased look at Mecca.