L'Institut du Monde Arabe - Hajj

Dear Brothers and Sisters and Dear You: It's about time for you to travel to Paris!
Whoever hasn't yet been there, should do it in the first place; and those who've been there - you already know why to return.
Not that I think the twinkling Eiffel-tower looks so magical by night (although it actually does) that you should immediately book the next flight to Paris to experience it. There is something even more remarkable to experience in this City of Love this time. Btw. I'm not promising you will find love there, but surely it will not harm if you try :)

The reason why I especially recommend travelling to Paris is a large exhibition about the Hajj (Pilgrimage to Makkah) in the Institut du Monde Arabe (The Arab World Institute). Immediately at my departure in Paris I noticed that the exhibition was widely advertised on the Paris Metro billboards. Approximately every third metrostation was decorated with gigantic posters. 

The Institute du Monde Arabe is located in the South-East of Paris but can be easily approached by Paris Metro. The line 10 and 7 bring you to the closest metrostation "Jussieu". When you see an original Orient Express-train standing on a huge square, you know that you have arrived at the Place Mohammed V which is surrounded by the Institute.

The Institute has a permanent exhibition, a library, a bookstore and museumshop such as an observation deck, located on the roof of the Institute (provides you with the best free view over Paris!). Additionally it has steadily changing temporary exhibitions. The entrance for the Hajj-exhibition is in the corner of the building located at the Rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard.

When I entered the exhibition space I was already moved by the beautiful adhan that accompanied three large screens on which photographs of the Masjid al-Haram were projected. From the entrance I had a clear view on an original piece of the kiswa, the protecting cloth of the Ka'aba, with its detailed embroidery with excerpts of the Qur'an out of gold and silver strings. Moving further into the space I could find all kinds of different examples of filigrantly decorated Qur'an, from Yemen, Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, Spain, Marocco, India and Persia. 

The walls were exhibiting colorful wallcloths from the Philippines and highly interesting contemporary artpieces like photography from Newsha Tavakolian (Tehran, Iran), Kazuyoshi Nomachi (Japan) or Arwa Abouon (Libya/Montreal). 
The second floor was showing installations and sculptures such as life videostreaming from the Haram (the exact same channel actually as in my post Tawaf of Mind, check it out!),  a miniature model of the Masjid al-Haram, large and epic photographies of oceans of pilgrims during Hajj, a documentary as an introduction into Islam (in french of course) and audio-stations where a bunch of returning pilgrims are telling their stories about Hajj and how it changed their life.

I am actually astonished byt the fact that I haven't been in an exhibition like this before. And it is not so much my lack of interest, but the lack of this kind of exhibitions. There are hundrets and hundrets of exhibitions around Europe which depicture the most exotic tribal traditions from all around the globe, starting from the paintings of the indogenius North-Americans to the tribal music of the South-West Pacific. I think it is typical for us so called Westeners that we are very well informed about Tibetian Buddhism and the Hieroglyphs of the ancient Egyptians but we are almost indifferent, or worse, reluctant to be informed about our own history and values and sadly of those other peoples that we share our countries, towns, buildings, working surroundings and daily lifes with. As it is for Paris, London, Berlin, Moscow, Madrid, Rome and other european major Capitals, it is also true for smaller ones like Helsinki: we are living with other people and we will be living with other people (thank God for that). So why not find out who those other people are, instead of judging them on their outer appearance or the existing preopinions that we unfortunately have formed?

I think in that sense this exhibition is very helpful. You don't have to actually step into a beduin-tent or the neighbouring mosque if it makes you feel awkward. And you can still be informed about what your fellow citizen is in fact believing, what is moving him, and why your working colleague chooses to spend her 2 weeks of vacation in the boiling heat of Saudi Arabia, when she could only wear her bikini and relax on the beaches of Tenerife. 

So, mashallah, well done! For more information about the Institut du Monde Arabe go to imarabe.org (in french bien sûr)!