Friday

 Five Days - Five Pillars

This is one of my all-time favourite radio scripts! So I'll tell you why.

It is extremely dense with information for a non-muslim audience. It tells them we pray facing Makkah, why Makkah is important, and that the Ka'abah is not a 'Black Stone muslims worship' (a common misunderstanding). 

It links the Ka'abah with Abraham and places him historically. It gives a pragmatism and symbolism to the description of the Ihram, and links it and the Hajj to the profundity of the end of life.

It ties the name (from its orientalist history) to the way that Mecca is now a part of our language with the meaning of longed for destination, and how the western version proposes an ideal of our ultimate goal to be one of gaining a large sum of money through a game of chance. 

I love the way that the winner's cry of 'House' in the bingo hall echoes the Ancient House, and then it comes back around to the value of money when seen from the perspective of the end of life. And it keeps it light by doing that with a joke.

Islamic information and understanding, politics, philosophy and consideration of the meaning of life, a familiar non-threatening context for the listener, making them feel better about their life situation - and laughter. That's the stuff I try hard to get into all the things I write, and I was utterly gleeful when I managed to squeeze the whole lot into under a minute. And I still love it.

Like all other muslims, when I pray I face in the direction of Makkah. Even non-muslims have usually heard of Makkah, but they rarely know why we find it so important. It's not the town of Makkah itself, but a building at its centre sometimes called the Ancient House.

It was built by Abraham in the dawn of mankind, long before the temple of Solomon, a house for the worship of the One God. When muslims make pilgrimage to worship God together at this place you can't tell rich from poor. All men are dressed the same, in two simple sheets of white cloth, which most will expect to be used as winding sheets wrapping their bodies in their graves.

Of course, there's another Mecca much closer to the mosque. In fact the Bingo hall is just around the corner, and a house there gives massive cash prizes. That's not something you can take with you when you die, however. Remember the question asked about the rich man when he died. "How much did he leave?" And the answer, of course, was "He left it all!"