Snouck (second from right) was a serious student in Leiden and lived with his mother and two of his sisters in the Hooigracht in Leiden. He maintained lifelong friendships with fellow students such as Herman Bavinck, Bastiaan van Dam and Pieter van Romburgh. After obtaining his master’s, Snouck decided to get his PhD. He studied the Qur'an and various Arab writers from the first centuries after Muhammad's appearance to find out the original nature of the religious ceremonies in Mecca. In November 1880, he obtained his PhD with the thesis Het Mekkaansche Feest. One of Snouck's conclusions was that, in the time before the advent of Mohammed, Mecca was mainly about the annual market and not about deep-rooted religious ceremonies.
Prayer around the Kaaba during the Hajj of 1889, in: C. Snouck Hurgronje, Bilder aus Mekka. Mit kurzem erläuterndem Texte, Leiden 1889, taf. I, inv.nr. HOTZ 2052