This is the first English translation of Amir Ahmad Alawi's Safar-i-Saadat, an intimate account of the quintessentially Muslim journey, the hajj. While focusing on the soul-stirring effects of his first hajj, Alawi also catches the anomalies of Saudi life, especially the malpractices, monopolies, and misdeeds that had crept in the name of commerce. Not only an intimate account of what the individual saw and heard in the course of his travel, the work...