Hi, I'm LeVar Burton, and this is LeVar Burton reads.

In every episode I hand pick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you. The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

If you practice any major religion, there's going to be a right or ritual that's

expected of you at some point or another. In Catholicism, just from my own experience, that might be a First Communion or confirmation.

Now those are rights of passage, but there are of course rights that aren't tied to a specific age.

They're more about when you're ready for them, about where you are in your life and whether you're up for the challenge physically, mentally, spiritually.

Today's story, The Pilgrim and the Angel, is about a man Farid who goes on the Islamic pilgrimage and ritual of

hudge to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The only issue is he is not ready for this right. You might even

say he's dragged there, not quite kicking and screaming but he's definitely doing a lot of protesting.

The being dragging Farid is actually the angel Gabriel.

And although the story is about a religious experience, it's actually a lot funnier than it sounds.

If you're unfamiliar with the journey and the ritual of The Hudgeudge it's one of the five pillars of the Islamic

faith part of the legacy of the prophet Abraham every Muslim who's physically and financially capable of making the trip is expected to go at some point in their lives.

If the person does it right and with intention.

It's supposed to be a moment of transformation.

There are many steps to the journey and the ritual,

and I'll talk about a couple that you'll hear about in the story.

There's the invocation of the Telbia, which marks the intention to go on hudge.

Male pilgrims wear the Ihram, two pieces of white cloth. Pilgrims must circle

the kaba seven times. Then, remembering Abraham's wife, Hadjar, and her desperate search for water in the desert

for her child, pilgrims must run or walk seven times between Safa and Marroa before drinking water from the well Sam

Sam. When I read this story it got me thinking about the intentionality and purpose behind ritual.

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