The pirate attack by Henry Every in 1695 on a Mughal ship carrying pilgrims returning from Mecca has received some attention by historians trying to fit this incident into a larger history of European piracy using mainly the English sources related to the incident. Drawing from this literature the aim is to combine it with the Mughal Persian material available to demonstrate what this incident reveals about the early modern hajj and our understanding of ships carry pilgrims and goods between Ottoman and Mughal Empires. A previously unstudied Mughal letter related to the incident, by the captain of the Mughal ship in question, reveals the ways in which the Mughal Empire understood this encounter with European piracy and provides important context for our understanding of this incident and the Mughal relationship with Islam's holy cities.