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The Harvard study concluded that hajj bolsters the pilgrims’ sense of tolerance towards non-Muslims. (Reuters Photo) |
CAIRO — Muslims embarking on the holy journey of hajj return not only with a cherished memory of the ultimate spiritual experience, but with a greater sense of tolerance that bonds them with people of different genders, race and faith, a study by America's famed university of Harvard has concluded.
"We found from pilgrims accounts that hajj leads to a feeling of unity with fellow Muslims and outsiders, whether from different race, color or even different faith," Asim Ijaz Khwaja, associate professor of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, told IslamOnline.net in a phone interview.
The study, published by researchers at the HKS in April, shows pilgrims come back from hajj with a new spirit of peacefulness and tolerance.
Researchers Khwaja, Michael R. Kremer of the HKS and David Clingingsmith of Case Western Reserve University compared attitudes of applicants to Pakistan’s hajj visa allocation lottery in 2006.
"We surveyed about 1,600 applicants, 800 of them were successful applicants randomly selected to go to hajj and 800 were unsuccessful," Khwaja recalls.
After 5-8 months of surveying the two groups, researchers found the group that went to hajj has gained more positive feelings towards ethnic groups and other Islamic sects.
They also found that the hajj journey led to "more favorable attitudes toward women, including greater acceptance of female education and employment."
Millions of Muslims from around the world embark on hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, every year.
Every able-bodied adult Muslim — who can financially afford the trip — must perform hajj at least once in a lifetime.
Tolerant Muslims
But most importantly, the Harvard study concluded that hajj bolsters the pilgrims’ sense of tolerance towards non-Muslims.
"We find no evidence that by raising cohesion within the Muslim community, hajj threatens non-Muslims," it says.
"On the contrary, hajj makes pilgrims more peacefully inclined, and increased tolerance extends to adherents of other religions."
Researcher Khwaja says the study managed to compare two widespread, opposite theories about hajj.
"The first theory goes that hajj makes you more tolerant, and the other theory goes that people get less tolerant and more violent after hajj," he explained.
The results of the Harvard study came to support the first theory.
Researchers explained the impact of exposure to and interaction with other pilgrims from around the world.
"In hajj you meet other people from anywhere in the world," notes Khwaja.
"The way people in hajj wear the same white ihram garb, doing the same rituals makes people come to the idea that we all the same after all, even if we have different colors, races or faiths," he explains.
"We are all humans."
Hajj consists of several ceremonies meant to symbolize the essential concepts of Islam and commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.
The Harvard researchers also cited the case of late American civil rights leader Malcolm X.
Malcolm X, who embraced Islam in the 1950s, has attributed his change of heart on race in the US to a much gentler perspective after performing hajj.
Stereotypes
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"There is this old saying, 'bridges help and walls hurt'.In hajj people build bridges across their group and other groups, and this helps them," Khwaja says.
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Khwaja believes the study is unique in the sense of being the first to have a closer look on the impact of pilgrimage.
"Hajj is a very important institution of Islam and no one has really studied it systematically," he told IOL.
"Pervious efforts were no more than personal accounts of pilgrims."
The researcher hopes the study and its findings will help wash away misconceptions in the West.
"It’s all about stereotypes. People have their fears in Western countries on whether Muslims should or should not assimilate," he notes.
"They believe Muslims’ separate identities would mean that they are against them. We just proved that wrong."
Khwaja believes hajj is one excellent example of how Muslims could strengthen their identity but not at the expense of others'.
"People can have separate identities and still like and accept every one else. You can just have broader tolerant views towards everyone," he contends.
"There is this old saying, 'bridges help and walls hurt'.
"In hajj people build bridges across their group and other groups, and this helps them."
Read the study in full.
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