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RELIGION
and science are two awe-inspiring phenomena. And for
days, I have been awestruck by two presentations from
Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel. These
two networks have consistently raised the bar for all
documentaries and, this time, they attempt to challenge
viewers about the position of humankind in the matrix of
huge imposing structures created out of the power of
faith and the ever-growing strength of the scientific
perspective.
From
Discovery Channel comes this documentary centering on
the Hajj, the massive annual pilgrimage made by Islam
believers to Mecca. I speak for Christian audiences
basically when I say that the pilgrimage to Mecca must
be the most exotically unknown practice of the Muslim.
The documentary Revealed: The Hajj is a journey
to that land we can only perhaps make through
conversion. The presentation is thus rare.
Even as
the philosophical aspect of any religion is enough to
captivate any outsider, the presentation decides to show
us how one of the greatest—in terms of fervor and the
number of participants—gathering of human civilization
is truly one that baffles the pilgrim, as well as the
people, making sure everything turns out well. Making
things turn out well also is the greatest understatement
one can make while contemplating the 2 million pilgrims
from the estimated 1.2 billion Muslims all over the
world who converge in one territory.
The
figures are staggering. One truth distinctly makes Islam
a religion to contend with: the pilgrims expected to
come to Mecca each year compose one-fifth of the world
population. Out of that huge population, not everyone
gets to make the pilgrimage, with about 990,000 rejected
for some reason or another. For those who secure the
necessary papers, they will come from 150 countries and
are seen as passing through the Hajj Terminal at Jeddah
Airport, the fourth-largest air terminal in the world.
And partake of 1 million goats to be slaughtered.
A
special access granted to Discovery Channel yielded this
journey that allowed us to travel virtually with Matthew
Nelson, an Australian who has recently converted to
Islam. This is his first Hajj. First-timers, too, we go
with Matthew. We are several notches outsiders to this
religion as we watch this new convert go through the
steps that retrace the journey of major figures in Islam
religion, from Mohammed and even back to Ibrahim or
Abraham.
Hajj is
a ritual that is considered to be 1,400 years old, but
for this sacred trip, we are allowed to look at how the
technology of this century is working miracles to create
order in a celebration that is a stunning task for the
organizers.
The
movement of Matthew—through whose eyes we see the
mystery unfold—ushers us through places and points: the
convergence in Makkah, or Mecca, the shepherding of
pilgrims to buses, and the counterclockwise walk done
seven times around the Kaaba, the cubical building
wrapped in rich black silk and the center of the Muslim
prayers. At the corner of the Kaaba is the sacred Black
Stone, which some Muslims date to the times of Adam and
Eve. Pilgrims perform the ritual kissing of the stone
but because of sheer number of pilgrims, they just point
to the sacred object to indicate awareness and respect.
From the
city, we are with Matthew and other pilgrim as they make
their way to the vigil in
Mount Arafat, then to
Muzdalifah to gather pebbles to be used in Mina for the
ritual called Stoning the Devil. In between the events
attending Hajj, the documentary introduces us to the
Command and Control Center with their logistics
software, satellite imaging and computer modeling.
Technology is attempting to correct the human errors
that have caused some misfortune of death and accidents
in the past. In 1994 and 1998, there were deaths in the
chaos and the crowd. In 2001, 2002 and 2003, there were
deaths, too. In January last year, at least 346 were
killed and 289 injured in the Jamarat Bridge approaching
the ritual stoning, the place which the narrator calls
the world’s greatest gridlock.
There
are two miracles in Revealed: The Hajj. One is
found in the group of daring men working together to tap
science so that chaos and disorder could be managed.
This year, they succeeded. The other is in the panoramic
shot of thousands and thousands of pilgrims moving as
one in a rhythm that is as old and perfect as the
ancient religion that compels this population of
believers to gather and to believe.
The
documentary Revealed: The Hajj premieres on
December 16 at 9 pm, with encores on December 17 at 12
midnight, 8 am and 2 pm. The documentary can be seen
also on December 22 at
2 pm, and December 23 at
8 am.
The
vigor of science is behind the mystery of earth’s
evolution and its earliest inhabitants in National
Geographic Channel’s Dino Autopsy. This is the
second of a two-part episode that began with a look into
the Dino Death Trap. In the first episode, the
question was the preponderance of dinosaur fossils
placed on top of one another. It is the Gobi Desert and
the site presents once more a puzzle of how these huge
creatures went extinct.
In
Dino Autopsy, we follow the top paleontologists from
the University of Manchester as they dig the rocky tomb
to discover one of the most complete dino remains ever
found.
The
scientists call the fossil Dakota. It is intact after
millions of years. It even has the fossilized skin and
other parts, which would aid the team to reconstruct
muscle proportions.
The
67-million-year-old dinosaur turns to be a Hadrosaur, a
duck-billed dinosaur. A CT-scan is done on the 3,600-kg
fossil, the biggest scan ever done, and gives back an
image of a dinosaur whose backside is imagined to be so
huge, it would have been able to run at a top speed of
45 km per hour. In that speed, Dakota would be able to
run 16 km faster than the king of them all, the
Tyrannosaurus Rex.
In the
Gobi Desert, the paleontologists did not only find a
very strong reason to ascribe to prehistoric cataclysm
the disappearance of dinosaurs but also a chance to
consider a missing stage in the evolution of these
creatures: from small to medium to supersize, and then
to the gargantuan animals that their image in our minds
remain to be. In the mummified Dakota, the experts will
push those scanned images further to get into the skin
of the dinosaur, which could be a treat of a lifetime.
Dino
Autopsy premieres this Sunday, December 16, at 9 pm,
with repeats on December 19 at 8 pm, December 20 at 7
am, December 29 at 1 pm and 5 pm. |
