Although Ahmad was raised as a Shia with a Shia priest father, he had not prayed for 20 years before his pilgrimage to Mecca. In April 1964 Ahmad set out on a three-week pilgrimage to Mecca with his family. Ahmad and his family were part of a large group of Muslims traveling to Mecca. Within this group, everyone referred to each other as “Hajji” to create equality. Furthermore, like all other pilgrimages to Mecca, all pilgrims wore their unstitched cotton and participated in the customary prayers and worship. More than three centuries after the Battuta pilgrimage, one can imagine how much easier traveling had become. Ahmad traveled in air conditioning and was adequately fed during his pilgrimage. Ahmad, unlike his family, was not seeking spiritual enlightenment, but was instead seeking information about his brother's death 13 years earlier in Medina. Having said all this, Ahmad still experienced unity and equality over this