Islam is one of the most rapidly growing religions in the modern world. Of course, there is Christianity, which has the largest number of followers; there is Confucianism, where the religion successfully transformed into the lifestyle. However, Islam, undoubtedly, deserves the right to be taught and demonstrated since so many people turn to Islam every single day.
Today, in the era of digital technology, people can not only follow the religion but, also, with the help of media, play an important role in the expansion of religions. One of the examples of media informing people about Islam, more specifically, about the pilgrimage to Mecca, is a documentary "Inside Mecca", directed by Anisa Mehdi. By the time, a person finishes watching "Inside Mecca", he or she learns the experience from the trip to Capital in Islamic traditions. Throughout the movie, we see how pilgrimage to Mecca becomes an important, life-changing lesson in Muslim's life on the example of three different people. It demonstrates that worshippers of Islam are submitted to one God, value equality with tolerance, and strive for patience. This essay would expand on these three aspects, but it is worth to mention that there are other observations a spectator of "Inside Mecca" could have highlighted.
One of the obvious characteristics of Islam we may learn from the movie: God in Islam is the absolute one, strictly singular. In fact, it is like Christianity and Judaism, where people believe in one God, as well, God of Abraham. Historically, some Christians and Jews converted to Islam, when the prophet Muhammad established the new religion ("How Islam Began", Fred Donner). Anyway, the movie clearly highlights the fact that Muslims are submitted to one God, but it does not explain the roots of such a belief. Thus, to explain, Adam was created by God to "establish 'a vicegerent on earth'", which means creating the social moral order (Rahman, p.17-18). Muslim believe in the story of Adam and Eve, which is well known among Christians and Jews, yet the main contribution of Islam regarding that story is that Adam's religion was monotheistic: there is only one God. In the movie, we see that pilgrimage to Mecca includes a ritual when Muslims circle the Kaaba 7 times. Here, Kaaba is a representation of one God, since it is 'House of God' and Muslims worship not the Kaaba, but the idea behind it. Another ritual from the movie that highlights the all-powerful ruler and creator of the universe is "The standing at Arafat". Pilgrims pray and ask for forgiveness at the place, where Prophet Mohammed delivered his last sermon. This realm of forgiveness is shown as an extremely emotional experience, where people connect with God. I believe that the physical meaning of the place plays an important psychological role. Since the God does not have human-like nature or representation, it is impossible to convey the connection with God to a specific place, except Kaaba. However, Muslims worship Prophet Mohammad because he attracted people's trust ("Authority in Islam"), thus stepping on the ground where Prophet once walked is a solid experience, which allows Muslims to physically connect with the God, thus boosting the mind connection.
Apart from the demonstrating total submission to one God, Muslims, who come to Mecca in the Hajj period, challenge their tolerance. In Islam, God's mercy "comprehends everything", one implication of which is tolerance towards every other religion. When Leo Byzantine Emperor, for instance, commanded to destroy all icons repeating after Islamic traditions, ironically, Muslims protected defender of iconography, demonstrating the teachings of tolerance of other faith ("Eastern Orthodoxy"). Apart from tolerance between religions, Muslims should be tolerant within themselves. One of the main characters in "Inside Mecca" is a female neurosurgeon from US, another one is an African-American man from South Africa named Khalil. While watching the documentary, the idea of diversity among Islam worshippers is shown. There are women and men, elderlies and children; as in "The Life of Muhammad': "a man ... stood up and prayed. Then a woman ... stood up and prayed. Then out came a youth ... stood up and prayed" (p. 113). It is important to mention that women can enter Mecca only if provide the legal permission from male member of the family. Despite that, women are equal during the Hajj; in fact, women played an important role in collecting Hadith, which is the source of law in Islam ("Formation of Islamic Law and Hadith"). There are, also, rich, and poor, yellow, black, and white skinned people but everyone is equal in the face of God because He looks at the heart only. "God can ensure the essential unity of the human race as His creation", meaning that everyone is equal (Rahman, p. 38). During Hajj, 2 million different people from different countries gather to share the experience, which requires philosophic tolerance.
However, fair attitude towards everyone is not as difficult as inside struggles of pilgrims during the Hajj. The journey, shown in the documentary, tests both body and soul of pilgrims. The ritual that physically represents the mind struggle Muslims experience is 'The Stoning of the Devil'. In "The Formation of Islam", Berkey defined jihad as the 'holy war', which means struggle against evil. In Islam, jihad refers to any striving in the path of God and stoning the devil represent how people fight temptations and expel Satan from their lives. While the ritual is great in helping pilgrims to physically fight the evil, the whole journey tests their patience. In Q 48 'Victory' of Qur'an, a win of good over evil is said to be attained through courage, devotion, faith, and patience (McAuliffe, p. 168). Muslims struggle between wrong and right but with the help of God they stay on the 'middle way', the right path. Thus, failing to demonstrate respect, patience, and courtesy, will make the Hajj not count for a pilgrim, since they are highly valued abilities in Islam.
All in all, the documentary "'Inside Mecca" excellently showed the process of pilgrimage to Mecca by highlighting the important aspects of Islam. It should be suggested to both believers of other religions, atheists, and Muslims. Apart from worshipping one God, tolerance, and patience, we learn that Islam do not value material wealth, instead values necessities, such as water. Of course, spectators of the movie make their own conclusions and focus on different things but, overall, the documentary transfers the basic spirit of Islam.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
(2011)
For those who did not understand Jiro
19 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This film is interesting: the audience with no background in Japanese culture or religion may choose to spend one evening watching the story of Jiro's life. They will not regret it because Jiro is a unique example of highly dedicated to his job person. On one side, Western audience may find Jiro weird or too looped or simply wrong example of how one should live. On the other side, however, "Chinese cultured" people will feel deep respect towards Jiro and, possibly, learn important lessons to apply in their real life. Thus, after watching the movie, it is advised to think of religion - I know that this is an unexpected recommendation since the movie is not religious at all but believe me - and think of your opinion about Jiro again.
Jiro has wasted his whole life being too strict with himself, not experiencing joy of living and complicating life for people around him. As you have seen in the movie, Jiro was not the best father or husband. He admits it. Also, we learn that Jiro's passion is to make sushi. He is a great sushi master. From these two facts, it is reasonable to think that Jiro invested his time irrationally, by extremely prioritizing job over family. However, Jiro is in Japanese society, where Confucianism and Daoism are main religions. And Kristofer Schipper said that, you will not see religion, but you will experience it everywhere in Chinese culture. In case of "Jiro's Dream of Sushi", screenwriter could have included information regarding Jiro's religion and explain it to help audience understand Jiro better. Anyway, even though religion is not present directly in the movie, one of the main themes may be "how Confucianism built society where everyone is seeking to be a perfect worker for no financial benefit". To explain, for Confucianism, everything we do is sacred, everyday should be celebrated as if it is the most special day on our life. It is important to be best you can because Highest Emperor is concerned with daily activities of people, even though people do not have direct connection to Him. So, your fortune - whether it will be good or bad - depends on your everyday behavior, since Highest Emperor may reward or punish you. In the case of Jiro, we see that he was impeccably the best he can be at work: starting from small details like choice of tuna meat and massaging octopus, moving on to broader terms, like treating menu as a concert which can be served best by following specific order of "components". So, it is reasonable to assume that Jiro did not pursue mastering sushi but was naturally trying to bring good fortune to his house, his family. In that way: Jiro has worked hard his whole life being extremely concerned about his family's fortune, experiencing joy of living in constant improvements and wisely mentoring people around him.
Jiro is crazy about sushi in an unhealthy way. That conclusion is the most obvious one an audience may make. By numerous examples of behavior, Jiro demonstrated his dedication to sushi making. However, remember the words Jiro said at the beginning of the movie: "Once you have chosen your profession, you have to fall in love with it, never blame it". There is no evidence that Jiro, in fact, dreamt of sushi: he started working as a sushi maker and then, by his logic and with the help of self-discipline, learnt to love it. In addition to that rule, Jiro, also said that there is never point in life, where you can say that it is the end, there is no way someone can make sushi better. That total belief in constant learning, upgrade, and positive changes is explained in Confucianism, as well. For Confucianism, future is always emerging, but it is simply about "changes" to which people may be prepared by taking experience of the past. So, little small changes that Jiro does every day in sushi-making are his lessons from the past. He does not pursue money, which is called "contentedness with having little" in Daoism, instead, he naturally joined the flow of constant change. Thus, Jiro is life-learner, which is a healthy trait everyone should develop.
People around Jiro - his sons, tuna dealer - are in vain repeat Jiro's behavior One of the interviewees said that Jiro is Shakunin (master) and possess all 5 qualities: serious approach towards a job with high-caliber performance, willing to improve skills, cleanliness, impatience, and fury. In Confucianism, there are 5 virtues: caring for humanity, appropriateness, good habits, wisdom, and honesty. Jiro is not only sushi Shakunin, he also followed 5 virtues of Confucianism. In Confucianism, that means that Jiro understood "the way" (dao). By obsessing over improvements for sushi, Jiro was caring for humanity, so that people, who reserved a table one year in advance, could have the best possible sushi at that moment of time. By mentoring people, Jiro demonstrated a skill of telling the right thing in the right place to the right person. By repeating one thing for many years, doing everything the best way he can do it, he demonstrated his sacred approach to everything, everyday life. By learning from his experience/past and inventing new changes, Jiro shows wisdom. And, finally, by his whole life, Jiro proved that he stays by what he says ("fall in love with your job" / "never blame it" / "pursue perfection always"), which is honesty. So, based on Confucianism, Jiro's life is a great example and people around Jiro - his sons, tuna dealer - should learn from Jiro.
Overall, after watching the movie, I got a feeling that I need to experience living in Japan for a year or two, at some point I my life, to learn how to work. I got the feeling that their culture is deeply interconnected with religion and that is why everything they do is sacred and to the highest possible caliber.
Jiro has wasted his whole life being too strict with himself, not experiencing joy of living and complicating life for people around him. As you have seen in the movie, Jiro was not the best father or husband. He admits it. Also, we learn that Jiro's passion is to make sushi. He is a great sushi master. From these two facts, it is reasonable to think that Jiro invested his time irrationally, by extremely prioritizing job over family. However, Jiro is in Japanese society, where Confucianism and Daoism are main religions. And Kristofer Schipper said that, you will not see religion, but you will experience it everywhere in Chinese culture. In case of "Jiro's Dream of Sushi", screenwriter could have included information regarding Jiro's religion and explain it to help audience understand Jiro better. Anyway, even though religion is not present directly in the movie, one of the main themes may be "how Confucianism built society where everyone is seeking to be a perfect worker for no financial benefit". To explain, for Confucianism, everything we do is sacred, everyday should be celebrated as if it is the most special day on our life. It is important to be best you can because Highest Emperor is concerned with daily activities of people, even though people do not have direct connection to Him. So, your fortune - whether it will be good or bad - depends on your everyday behavior, since Highest Emperor may reward or punish you. In the case of Jiro, we see that he was impeccably the best he can be at work: starting from small details like choice of tuna meat and massaging octopus, moving on to broader terms, like treating menu as a concert which can be served best by following specific order of "components". So, it is reasonable to assume that Jiro did not pursue mastering sushi but was naturally trying to bring good fortune to his house, his family. In that way: Jiro has worked hard his whole life being extremely concerned about his family's fortune, experiencing joy of living in constant improvements and wisely mentoring people around him.
Jiro is crazy about sushi in an unhealthy way. That conclusion is the most obvious one an audience may make. By numerous examples of behavior, Jiro demonstrated his dedication to sushi making. However, remember the words Jiro said at the beginning of the movie: "Once you have chosen your profession, you have to fall in love with it, never blame it". There is no evidence that Jiro, in fact, dreamt of sushi: he started working as a sushi maker and then, by his logic and with the help of self-discipline, learnt to love it. In addition to that rule, Jiro, also said that there is never point in life, where you can say that it is the end, there is no way someone can make sushi better. That total belief in constant learning, upgrade, and positive changes is explained in Confucianism, as well. For Confucianism, future is always emerging, but it is simply about "changes" to which people may be prepared by taking experience of the past. So, little small changes that Jiro does every day in sushi-making are his lessons from the past. He does not pursue money, which is called "contentedness with having little" in Daoism, instead, he naturally joined the flow of constant change. Thus, Jiro is life-learner, which is a healthy trait everyone should develop.
People around Jiro - his sons, tuna dealer - are in vain repeat Jiro's behavior One of the interviewees said that Jiro is Shakunin (master) and possess all 5 qualities: serious approach towards a job with high-caliber performance, willing to improve skills, cleanliness, impatience, and fury. In Confucianism, there are 5 virtues: caring for humanity, appropriateness, good habits, wisdom, and honesty. Jiro is not only sushi Shakunin, he also followed 5 virtues of Confucianism. In Confucianism, that means that Jiro understood "the way" (dao). By obsessing over improvements for sushi, Jiro was caring for humanity, so that people, who reserved a table one year in advance, could have the best possible sushi at that moment of time. By mentoring people, Jiro demonstrated a skill of telling the right thing in the right place to the right person. By repeating one thing for many years, doing everything the best way he can do it, he demonstrated his sacred approach to everything, everyday life. By learning from his experience/past and inventing new changes, Jiro shows wisdom. And, finally, by his whole life, Jiro proved that he stays by what he says ("fall in love with your job" / "never blame it" / "pursue perfection always"), which is honesty. So, based on Confucianism, Jiro's life is a great example and people around Jiro - his sons, tuna dealer - should learn from Jiro.
Overall, after watching the movie, I got a feeling that I need to experience living in Japan for a year or two, at some point I my life, to learn how to work. I got the feeling that their culture is deeply interconnected with religion and that is why everything they do is sacred and to the highest possible caliber.
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