EGYPT: Double Pilgrimage

The lot of the good Moslem—and nearly all of the 350 million people of Islam are accounted good Moslems—is not an easy one. Five times a day, the true believer must turn toward Mecca and pray; and before each prayer session, he must wash his face, arms, feet, ears and nose three times. At least once in his life, if he can, he must make the hajj, the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca. In the holy city during the hajj, rich & poor alike mingle in dense throngs under the cruel sun.

This year, for the second time in his life, Egypt’s President Mohammed Naguib made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Dressed in a ceremonial robe of unstitched white cloth, the earnest, personable chief of Egypt’s military junta left Cairo by air with an entourage of 75. In Jidda, the Arabian seaport by which most pilgrims enter, the Naguib party was met by Crown Prince Saud and eleven emirs, all sons of ancient, wily King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud.

Kissing the Kaaba. The focus of the hajj is the Kaaba, an almost cubical block of stone 45 ft. high, which Moslems believe was built by Abraham. This year, for the first time, it was illumined by neon lights. Mingling with the devout, Naguib performed the seven traditional circuits of the Kaaba, and managed to get close enough to kiss it, as millions had done before him. Outside Mecca, on the plain of Arafat, he arrived at the immense tent city which springs up for one day and vanishes again at nightfall. He sacrificed two rams and made the all-day “stand” on Arafat’s hill, half-naked and barefoot, reading the Koran and chanting prayers.

In the Moslem world, religious and political actions are often so closely intertwined as to be inseparable. Naguib did not forget politics in the swirling fervors of the hajj. On the hill of Arafat, surrounded by his followers, he uttered this prayer: “Almighty God, give us victory in driving the British out of Egypt, and deliver Morocco from the French. We beseech you to help Arab and Islamic countries to fulfill their aims. May the religion of Allah be strengthened, and may those who support it emerge victorious.”

“Glad to See You.” From Mecca, Naguib went southeast to Taif. There, King Ibn Saud, sitting in a wheelchair, greeted Naguib with a cry of “Marhaba, marhaba!” (Welcome, welcome). Said Naguib: “Glad to see you, Your Majesty.” Naguib gave Ibn Saud a huge (6½-by-5-ft.) photo of himself in a gilded frame; Ibn Saud gave his guest a gold sword, three Persian rugs, a fragment of holy carpet from the Kaaba. Later the two heads of state dined together and talked privately for 20 minutes. About Arab solidarity? Almost certainly.

Old Ibn Saud, who last year got $200 million in royalties from U.S. oilmen, had been on friendly terms with Egypt’s deposed King Farouk and called him “brother.” Saudi delegates to the U.N. were under instructions to follow Egyptian policy. After Farouk’s exile, relations between the two countries had cooled, and Saudi Arabia had withdrawn substantial sums from Cairo banks. Perhaps things would now warm up a little.