2020 has been extraordinary in many ways – also for Muslim pilgrims as this year’s hajj was cancelled for most of them.
Epidemic outbreaks are, of course, nothing new in history. How then did hajj organizers deal with these risks in the past?
Our MIDA researcher Rukayyah Reichling had a closer look at the first documentary about the pilgrimage to Mecca. Based on this valuable film material from the 1920s, Rukayyah sheds light on the health measurements undertaken by the colonial powers who were channelling the hajj almost one hundred years ago.
Powerful topic and film, Rukayyah!