The Secrets of the Hajj | Travelling Light Lecture
U, 07-Jul-2016
Hajj is very much the final frontier for the Muslim; the only pillar of Islam that requires a single execution. Yet the journey to the House of Allah symbolizes man’s true end: a return to the Divine Creator. Dr. Ramon Harvey explores Imam Ghazali’s “The Secrets of the Hajj” explaining the pilgrimage’s essential elements, its properties, its merits, and its mysteries. The lecture is delivered from the Trebbus Mevlevihane in Germany.
Imam al-Ghazali’s master work The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya’ Ulum al-Din) is an unrivalled sourcebook of Muslim spiritual wisdom. Practical rather than abstract, the compelling force of this text has changed millions of lives – and continues to do so today.
The Travelling Light Project is a series of forty documentaries, consisting of lectures that cover each of the forty ‘Books’ of this Islamic classic. Speakers are chosen for their deep knowledge of the text, and for their continuity with ancient chains of transmission going back from teacher to teacher, to Imam al-Ghazali himself.
The locations chosen represent the diversity and beauty of the settings where the Ihya has been taught. They include historic mosques and tekkes which are showcases of Islamic art and architecture.
Each lecture begins with a recitation from the Holy Qur’an, and includes songs drawn from the indigenous spiritual culture which has flourished in the lands where the lectures are taking place. Some of the films include interviews with local experts and scholars who explain the impact of Imam al-Ghazali’s work in their communities.
All proceeds from the sale and broadcast of this series are donated to the Cambridge Central Mosque.