Historical views of the hajj – in pictures

This image shows the Ka'bah and sanctuary at Mecca. Pilgrims surround the Ka'bah; all are facing it while some are performing the tawaf – the ritual of circumambulation of the Ka'bah. Buildings line the foothills of the sacred mountain Jebel Abu Qubays in the background. At the summit the whitewashed walls and minaret of the Bilal Mosque can clearly be seen
Photograph: HA Mirza & Sons/British Library

This image shows the tents of the Ottoman Turkish troops at their camp at Medina. A detailed examination of the image shows the soldiers going about their day-to-day activities, such as cooking and eating. The method by which the pitch would have been prepared before a tent was erected is indicated by the empty low circular foundation in the lower left corner of the image. In the distance, in the right-hand background of the image, beyond the dry-stone wall delineating the camp, palm groves and permanent dwellings can be identified
Photograph: HA Mirza & Sons/British Library

The City of Medina the Radiant. This image shows the haram (sanctuary) of the Masjid al-Nabawi or Mosque of the Prophet at Medina from an elevated position. Many of the semi-inhabited structures in the foreground are likely to have been constructed in a manner indigenous to the region; tapering walls constructed from black basalt coated with mud plaster for the lower storeys and similarly coated mud brick for the upper storeys
Photograph: HA Mirza & Sons/British Library

Mount Arafat. This image shows pilgrims camping at the Plain of Arafat. In this image, the relatively slow shutter speed captures the ghost images of figures ascending the lower steps to the right of the image. However, many other individual figures are in sharp focus. Most of the pilgrims – male and female – are wearing the two-piece garb, consisting of two white seamless sheets, associated with being in the state of ihram
Photograph: HA Mirza & Sons/British Library

The Mosque of Khaif and Mina. Mina is a station of the hajj, where pilgrims camp out on the eighth, 11th, 12th (and some on the 13th) of Dhul-Hijjah (the twelfth month of the Muslim calendar), as can be seen in this image. Among the varied tents pitched before the mosque in the middle ground are a wide variety of beasts of burden, such as horses, camels and donkeys, some of which are carrying litters – often used to carry women on long journeys throughout the Arabian peninsula Photograph: British Library

The Paradise of al-Ma'ala. This image shows the cemetery known as the Paradise of al-Ma’ala or Jannat al-Mualla, north-north-east of the Masjid al-Haram, in which several of the prophet Muhammad's relatives were buried
Photograph: HA Mirza & Sons/British Library

This image shows the Ka'bah and sanctuary at Mecca from an elevated position, due east of the Grand Mosque. Parts of the north-west of the city of Mecca are visible in the background. Due to the relatively slow shutter speed, the movement of the pilgrims is captured here as indistinct blurring
Photograph: HA Mirza & Sons/British Library