Historical Hajj Pictures
Pictures of the hajj and life in the holy city of Mecca have been unearthed at the British Library as part of the British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership, which is digitising half a million pages of content related to the Gulf as part of the development of a brand new online portal, which will be ready next year. These pictures are from an album of Views of Mecca and Medina by HA Mirza & Sons, containing 13 photographic prints of historical and architectural views of Mecca and Medina, bound into one volume, c. 1907 
This image shows the Ka’bah and sanctuary at Mecca. Pilgrims surround the Ka’bah; all are facing it while some are performing the tawaf – the ritual of circumambulation of the Ka’bah. Buildings line the foothills of the sacred mountain Jebel Abu Qubays in the background. At the summit, the whitewashed walls and minaret of the Bilal Mosque can clearly be seen.
Tents of the Ottoman Turkish Troops.
This image shows the tents of the Ottoman Turkish troops at their camp at Medina. A detailed examination of the image shows the soldiers going about their day-to-day activities, such as cooking and eating. The method by which the pitch would have been prepared before a tent was erected is indicated by the empty low circular foundation in the lower left corner of the image. In the distance, in the right-hand background of the image, beyond the dry-stone wall delineating the camp, palm groves and permanent dwellings can be identified.
The City of Medina the Radiant.
This image shows the haram (sanctuary) of the Masjid al-Nabawi or Mosque of the Prophet at Medina from an elevated position. Many of the semi-inhabited structures in the foreground are likely to have been constructed in a manner indigenous to the region; tapering walls constructed from black basalt coated with mud plaster for the lower storeys and similarly coated mud brick for the upper stories.
Mount Arafat.
This image shows pilgrims camping at the Plain of Arafat. In this image, the relatively slow shutter speed captures the ghost images of figures ascending the lower steps to the right of the image. However, many other individual figures are in sharp focus. Most of the pilgrims – male and female – are wearing the two-piece garb, consisting of two white seamless sheets, associated with being in the state of ihram.
The Mosque of Khaif and Mina.
Mina is a station of the hajj, where pilgrims camp out on the eighth, 11th, 12th (and some on the 13th) of Dhul-Hijjah (the twelfth month of the Muslim calendar), as can be seen in this image. Among the varied tents pitched before the mosque in the middle ground are a wide variety of beasts of burden, such as horses, camels, and donkeys, some of which are carrying litters – often used to carry women on long journeys throughout the Arabian peninsulaMount Arafat. This image shows pilgrims camping at the Plain of Arafat. In this image, the relatively slow shutter speed captures the ghost images of figures ascending the lower steps to the right of the image. However, many other individual figures are in sharp focus. Most of the pilgrims – male and female – are wearing the two-piece garb, consisting of two white seamless sheets, associated with being in the state of ihram.
The Paradise of al-Ma’ala.
This image shows the cemetery known as the Paradise of al-Ma’ala or Jannat al-Mualla, north-north-east of the Masjid al-Haram, in which several of the prophet Muhammad’s relatives were buried.
This image shows the Ka’bah and sanctuary at Mecca from an elevated position, due east of the Grand Mosque. Parts of the north-west of the city of Mecca are visible in the background. Due to the relatively slow shutter speed, the movement of the pilgrims is captured here as indistinct blurring.
