Illustrating Mecca and the Ka’ba

Immediately after this image of the great wall we get our destination. A semi-panoramic view of Mecca. This image is titled “House of Sacredness”. Drawn in the same structured style with broad and fluid use of an ink wash, the Kaaba is central to Mecca with the mountains framing the composition. Landscape is important here, it is through this landscape that hajjis (pilgrims) make their journey. Similar to the mountain ranges on our first map, look through the towering minarets of the city and pause to reflect on the harshness of the landscape outside its walls.

The Arabic script on the right of this image is written with greater clarity and a finer hand than the Chinese characters on the left. These titles, the difference between them, tells the reader about the makers of this object. A cultural hybrid which is made by a speaker and writer of Arabic as opposed to Chinese. The perspective of the writer(s) is important here with text being read from right to left in China. In this instance we can understand this as privileging the right position.

Mecca, tantalisingly close as only the third image in our scroll sets out the end goal of Hajj. What is important however, is the journey comes first. The scroll sets out the journey, the place of origin (the Qing Empire) and then the destination last (Mecca). Reading this as an order of priority tells us that for hajj it is the trial and test of the journey that remains crucial to the act of faith.

In this image landscape is both symbolic and descriptive. The harder and more treacherous hajj became, the greater the demonstration of faith would be. The height and density of the background’s mountains demonstrate this intensity. Muslims living in Qing territories hold an unusual perspective because they live so far from the epicenter of their religion.

While Mecca is central to the act of Hajj, this scroll prompts us to consider the journey as equally important in positioning ourselves and intrinsic faith among the wider ummah (Islamic community). The tenants of this journey are explicitly itemised in the following written chapter from the Quran.