Muhammad Maruf Hasan

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐚’𝐛𝐚𝐡 – 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐛𝐞-𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡.

But the picture above is not of that swirling scene in Mecca, but of a bar magnet surrounded by iron filings. While familiar to anyone who has studied magnetism at school, the picture also reminds us of the metaphorical magnetic essence of the pilgrimage. This idea of being pulled in. Of letting one's heart revolve around God. Circumambulation (or tawāf) is an essentially cosmic movement — it's what the planets and the stars do, it's what the sun and the moon does, it's what electrons do, what the earth does, it's what everything in the universe is doing.