Hajji

Hajji (Persian: حاجی, Arabic: الحجّي‎ al-ḥağğī, Greek: Χατζη, Bosnian: Hadžija, Turkish: Hacı, pilgrim; sometimes spelled Hadji or Haji), or El-Hajj, is an honorific title given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca,^[1] and is often used to refer to an elder, since it takes time to accumulate the wealth to fund the travel. The title is placed before a person's name (For instance John Smith becomes Hajji John Smith). It is derived from the Arabic al-Hajj. In some areas, the title has been handed down the generations, and has become a family name. Such usage can be seen, for example, in the Bosniak surname Hadžiosmanović, which means son of Hajji Osman.

Women who complete the Hajj are referred to as Hajja.^[2]

Usage in the Balkan Peninsula

In Christian countries formerly under the rule of the Islamic Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, the title was also sometimes used by Jews despite the initial explicit reference to Islam.^[3] In the case of Eastern Orthodox Christians, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre is almost always meant and in particular the baptism of the pilgrim in the Jordan River. The title is rendered as хаджи (hadzhi) in Bulgarian Cyrillic, and хаџи (hadži) in Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic. In Greek — as the first part in a Greek family name — it is spelled χατζη- (khatzi-). It can often be found in family names, whether written together, hyphenated or separate, of people who descend from pilgrims, in Greek χατζής, plural χατζήδες; Bosnian hadžija, plural hadžii (Bulgarian/Macedonian) or hadžije (Bosnian), from the times of the Ottoman Empire.

Usage in the Iraq War (2003-Present )

Hajji has become a catch-all slang used by the U.S. military service members for any Arab person in Iraq. It can also be used as a descriptive word (such as "Hajji Shop" to describe the locals' stores) as well as a pejorative descriptive word (such as "Hajji Armor" to describe flak jacket-covered car bombers to provide ballistics protection).

The use of Hajji in this way can be seen throughout the news series Black in America and Generation Kill.

References