Mecca
On the evening of May 6, accompanied by the Grand Mufti and his followers from Damascus, Kyotaro Deguchi, Yoshitaka Nishino, and Masamichi Tanaka made a pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God in Mecca, the Ka’bah.
All the pilgrims wore only two large pieces of white cloth. They made seven circuits around the Ka’bah, kissed the Sacred Black Stone (Rukn Yamani), drank the holy water from the Zamzam well and poured it over their heads, made seven circuits between the hillocks of Safa and Marwah and had their hair cut.
Recalls Mr. Tanaka, “During the pilgrimage, I was in another world. I was carried away, lost in rapture.”
Medina
On the evening of May 7, the group visited the Medina Holy Mosque and joined the night prayer, and early morning prayer on May 8. Afterwards, former Saudia Arabian Minister of Petroleum H. E. Yamani invited the group to lunch at his residence in Jeddah, and gave pictures of the Holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina to Kyotaro Deguchi.
The Aftermath
Three months later, on August 21, 1991, Sheikh Kuftaro participated in Oomoto’s Summer Grand Festival, offering a pine branch at the altar as well as addressing the congregation. The Sheikh returned in November 1993 as participant in the Prayer Offering and World Religious Forum held in Ayabe. Thanks to Sheikh Kuftaro, Oomoto has a solid bond with Islam on which to build for the future.
The pilgrimage made by the people from Oomoto in 1991 to the Holy Mosques through the goodwill of Islam and the Grand Mufti remains today a milestone on the path to interreligious understanding.
