What’s the difference between going to the stadium and watching the game on a flat screen at home

in an air-conditioned room, lying on a recliner, with all the snacks you need around you? One thing: the people.

Even if you have a huge family at home, there is nothing like feeling united with tens of thousands of people, chanting in unison.

It’s a phenomenon worth thinking about. The innate need inside all humans to be in one place, with lots of people, serving one purpose, does that remind you of something?

If you are a Muslim, it would remind you of the fifth pillar of Islam. The Pilgrimage. (Arabic: Hajj)

Islamic pilgrimage is a very interesting activity, you see people from all over the world, of all colors, nationalities, and ages, praying for the one true God in absolute unison. The average number of Hajj performers every year is 1 million Muslims, all in one spot.

But wait, they would still be able to tell who’s rich and who’s poor from their appearance, it’s the thing that matters the most these days.

During Hajj, no one is allowed to wear anything other than two white pieces of cloth, not sewn, stitched, or buttoned. Just wrapped around their body covering what’s necessary to cover.

For once people become aware of the fact that the cliché that we are all humans, is true, you can have a billionaire from Russia and a janitor from, say, Argentina, standing next to each other and you will never be able to tell them apart. You can’t know anything about them other than the fact that they are both the same species.

The feeling of being united with people on the most basic of levels, the human level, is a cathartic experience. Islam understands that need in humans and rewards you in the afterlife for satisfying it.