Sacred Infrastructure - by Humzah Khan - Anchovy House

What is this Hijaz? I learned that it referred to a historical region of the western Arabian Peninsula, encompassing Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, and the port city of Jeddah. But growing up, I had no imagination for it as a place with its own character. I only knew the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Hijaz meant nothing to me, and I wasn’t sure what it could have meant to Iqbal in 1909 that Saudi Arabia in 2019 did not. But now, with Silicon Valley eyes, I see the Hijaz more as a system optimized for throughput.1 The Hijaz region is shaped more by the movements of material goods—pilgrims, goods, disease. Long before oil or the modern Saudi state, the region functioned as a logistical interface between the Indian Ocean and the wider world beyond it. Modernity arrived early in the Hijaz, with people and goods brought in via the latest technology and policy innovations. In the mid-19th century, Jeddah, halfway between Suez and Aden, became a critical node for steamships heading out

What is this Hijaz? I learned that it referred to a historical region of the western Arabian Peninsula, encompassing Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, and the port city of Jeddah. But growing up, I had no imagination for it as a place with its own character. I only knew the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Hijaz meant nothing to me, and I wasn’t sure what it could have meant to Iqbal in 1909 that Saudi Arabia in 2019 did not. But now, with Silicon Valley eyes, I see the Hijaz more as a system optimized for throughput.1 The Hijaz region is shaped more by the movements of material goods—pilgrims