This is my 2nd historical content here and as a new teacher in steemit. I want to put great contents for this platform to expound more knowledge to the readers. I hope you enjoy!

Pilgrimage to Mecca

It is the duty of every Muslim, at least once in a lifetime, to make the hadj - the pilgrimage to Mecca. Crowds of the faithful, clad in penitential white, converge from from the far corners of the globe, eager for a sight of the Kaaba- the holy meteorite cast down to Adam by God, on which the Old Testament prophet Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac.

Today, the pilgrims arrive in the chartered jets, but in the Middle Ages, getting to Mecca was rather more difficult. In 1325, Ibn Battuta, the great Arab travel writer, set out from Tangier- in what is now Morocco- on his first pilgrimage to Mecca. He reached Tunis in time to join the annual caravan.

Staying out of the war zones

At Cairo, other pilgrims joined the flow. Some had got there by sea, usually in Genoese merchant ships. From here the numbers would be too great to travel in one company and parties were only allowed to depart by the Egyptian authorities at 24-hour intervals. Each elected a caravan-master whose authority was absolute, including the power of life and death. During the crusades, the favoured route included an 18-day voyage up the Nile and across the eastern desert to the Red Sea. On the desert leg, a pilgrim could travel in relative comfort in one of the two sides of a double pouch called a saqadif, slung over a camel's back. A traveller could snooze in the oppressive heat, or, if he cosiders chess lawful, play a game with his makeweight.

Danger on the Red Sea

According to Ibn Jubair, a writer who made the pilgrimage in 1183, the crossing of the Red Sea was a terrible danger, save for the few whom our God in His power and greatness, preserves, owing to the winds that might drive them south to arid or hostile coasts. The shipowners, moreover, 'treat pligrims like demons', seating them one on top of another like chickens packed into o a cage.

The pilgrims had to arrive in Mecca on foot, but sometimes the feet could be those of bearers. Ibn Battuta was able, by the favour of an old friend who was high official, to secure a half-share of a palanquin- a covered litter carried by four men from Baghdad, with four men's rations of food and water all for himself. He suffered from diarrhea all the way.

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Happily Yours,

Sammy