In all religions, there is some special ceremony or service that people must attend if they wish to be considered children of God.

With the Moslems or the followers of Mohammed, it is necessary that once in their lives they make the pilgrimage, or hadj as it is called, to Mecca.

It does not matter how many thousand miles of sea or land must be crossed to reach Mecca; once in his life every Mohammedan must make the pilgrimage, if he wants to reach paradise when he dies.

The Mohammedans believe that when they have made their pilgrimage, they are forgiven their sins, and can go back to the world as free from sin as when they were born.  All Mohammedans who have made this pilgrimage are given the title of Hadji.

There are about one hundred and seventy-six millions of Mohammedans who believe this, and who have been believing it, and making their pilgrimages, since and even before the year 620 A.D.

These people are scattered through Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceanica, which, as you know, is sometimes called the fifth division of the globe by geographers, and consists of Australasia and all the islands below Asia.  The Philippine Islands, where Spain’s second war is raging, are a part of Oceanica.

If you will take your map, and see what an enormous portion of the globe is inhabited by Mohammedans, and then find Mecca, which is in Arabia, close to the Red Sea, you will understand that the making of this pilgrimage is no easy thing to many of the Moslems, and that it must have a most serious meaning to them to make them undertake such terrible journeys.

These people must save a great deal of money, and have much difficulty in arranging their affairs, so that they can afford the time to make the journey, which their religion says must be made on foot wherever it is possible.

Forbidding the pilgrimage for one year means the disappointing of seventy thousand people, and it is thought that the Moslems may rebel against the Sultan’s decree.

Even if they thought that the pilgrimage might spread the fearful plague, and kill the millions of people who do not believe in the prophet Mohammed, they would persist in going, thinking they would in that way be doing a great work for their religion.

The Sultan has therefore this very difficult matter to deal with, and while Europe is wondering what to do with him, he is showing that after all he has a great deal of courage and common sense.

The pilgrimage is made to Mecca to perform there certain religious rites, but particularly to visit the Great Mosque, or Temple, to pass around the Kaaba, and to kiss the sacred Black Stone.

The Kaaba is the most sacred shrine or altar of the Mohammedans.  It was in existence before Mohammed was born, in 570 A.D., and was a place of worship even then.

In one corner of it is the sacred stone, which the Moslems believe was brought down from heaven by the angel Gabriel, and given by him to Abraham to make the corner-stone of the Kaaba.