Aerial View of the Masjid Al-Haram, Second Life

Hajj on Second Life

by Krystina Derrickson, excerpt from Second Life and The Sacred: Islamic Space in a Virtual World, Digital Islam, 2008. For the full article, click here.

Mecca is the holiest site in the Muslim world, the literal nexus of the Islamic universe, the direction towards which Muslims worldwide pray and are buried facing, and the figurative, spiritual, and philosophical nexus, flattening history, faith, practice, and praxis[41]. It is the home of the Ka’baa, a large cubical structure believed to have been built by Ibrahim and Isma’il. The Hajj is the pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith, required at least once by all able-bodied Muslims undertaken during the month long Hajj period.

The Hajj sim is sponsored by IslamOnline.net (IOL), a popular and comprehensive Islamic website run by Egyptian Islamic scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi which offers a multitude of services, from e-fatwas, halal business directories, news, and multimedia to matrimonial services and a “cyber-counselor”.[42] The Mecca sim was released in December of 2007, just prior to the 2007-2008 Hajj season with the purpose of educating Muslims about to participate in the Hajj and non-Muslims curious about the important ritual and the various steps that pilgrims take.[43] The Mecca sim is only one of several projects that IOL has undertaken on SL, although by far the largest in scope and design. One significant previous project was a popular Ramadan tent during the fasting period of 2007[44] which has been repeated for Ramadan of 2008, and upcoming projects include a learning center where Muslims will be able to send questions to imams through SL and search for fatwas in-world, with the goal of eventually providing all of the services offered on the website to SL residents[45].

The Hajj sim offers a recreation of Mecca, at least those parts of Mecca which attend solely to the performance of the Hajj, with a clearly delineated path marked by large chronologically-ordered numbers distributed throughout. These numbers, once ‘touched,’ activate a notecard that gives the virtual pilgrim specific information on their present station, and any instructions for that station, with choices for English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and Japanese. Teleporting to Mecca puts the avatar at the entrance to the Mecca sim, a large center with ample lounging space, ‘free tea’ which the avatar can sip in a large meeting space, and information on IOL [figure 2-3]. From there, the avatar progresses into a small building with areas designated for male and female, outside of which sit duffel bags filled with Hajj tools, including appropriate clothing and a tent, and inside of which are changing areas. While in RL, only men are required to wear the ihram clothing, two white unhemmed sheets, the upper sheet worn like a sash across the chest, women face no garment restrictions other than the hijab[46]. Nonetheless, women in SL are provided with a special ihram hijab, jacket, and skirt [figure 4].

From this point the avatar proceeds along the path to the Masjid al-Haram [figure 5-6] where he or she circumambulates the Ka’baa and kisses the black stone. Actions such as the latter, as well as prayer and du’a (repentance), are possible by clicking what is referred to as an ‘action ball,’ a small colored sphere hovering over the area in which the action takes place [figure 6]. By clicking the ball, the program receives the information and the avatar moves in the designated manner, in this case, by leaning forward and kissing the stone.

In his article on IslamOnline.net, Mohammad Yahia asks “Have you ever dreamed of being able to be part of the full Hajj experience without leaving your home?”[47] What is the significance of this experience, an experience that is meant to be deeply moving in RL, undertaken in an environment that is intended to mimic and even improve upon RL? SL Mecca is pared down to the Hajj, there is none of the intrusion of the profane that startles RL pilgrims upon arrival in Mecca, no need to dispose of trash, no nightmare of dealing with the millions of sacrificial rams necessitated by pilgrimage protocol.[48] Though intended to be purely educational, in what other ways can the SL Hajj experience, or any SL religious experience, be interpreted?

Yahia quotes a programmer involved in the production the SL Hajj who says “Walking through the Al-Masjid Al-Haram for the first time was a fantastic experience! It is very awe-inspiring and I believe it is the closest you can get to the real thing.”[49] Another article cites developer Walid Wahba, “We replicated the Hajj to educate both Muslims and non-Muslims about the journey. It shows people what the Hajj is and what we do when we’re there. They can check out the worship of God”[50].

For the full article, click here.