A Research on the Challenges of the Islamic Maghreb Hajj

The Islamic Maghreb refers to the countries bordering from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean, including Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Andalusia. This vast land is important in many aspects and about one hundred million Muslims live there. Their pilgrimage in different periods faced natural, social, economic, and political as well as external challenges especially colonialism. This descriptive-analytical article responds to the question of what challenges the Hajj pilgrimage of the Maghreb people faced in the countries of origin, during the journey, and during the Hajj season including the political, internal and external in different Islamic periods, besides the Hajj pilgrimage challenges of Muslims of Andalusia. The findings of the article indicates that despite the challenges for the pilgrims of the Sacred House of God, they performed their divine duty except at certain times. Of course, the restrictions imposed on the Muslims by the colonialists in some Islamic Maghreb countries, like Algeria and Libya, led to major problems for their pilgrimage. The contacts among the emirs of Mecca and the rivalry of the powerful governments for sovereignty over the two holy shrines were also other challenges of the Islamic Maghreb Hajj.