The Hajj
... take some books such as: The Holy Quran Hajj Guides Documents Muslims usually take these documents with them to the Hajj: Passport with Hajj visa Hajj draft Health certificate 12 passport-size photographs To be a true Hajj or Hajjah the pilgrimage must take place during the last month of the Muslim year, however some Muslims go to Makkah at different times this pilgrimage is called Umrah and is not as important as the Hajj. So many Muslims go to Makkah for the Hajj that Muslims that have been before are encouraged to go at another time of the year. The Ka’bah The Ka’bah is the most important place of Muslim worship, it is where the Muslims perform tawaf, this is when the Muslims circle the ka’bah anti-clockwise 7 times whilst reciting prayers and say ‘Labbayka Allahumma Labbayk’ which means ‘Here I am at your service, O God, here I am’. The circling of the Ka’bah symbolizes that all human activity must have God at its center, it also symbols oneness. The Hajj lasts 5 days, during these 5 days Muslims must constantly think of God. The pilgrimage starts at Makkah, on the first day each Muslim walks around the Ka’bah seven times, they try to touch or kiss it as a sign of respect and the prophet kissed it aswell. The very start of the Hajj is when the Muslims change into the Ihram, this white cloth symbolizes purity and that they are against evil. Ihram is also worn so that everyone looks alike and that it doesn’t matter whether they are old or young, rich or poor, that they are all equal before Allah. Running between two hills Then the pilgrim goes to two small hills, this is the place where God ordered to leave his wife Hagar and his son Ishmael, when their water supply ran out Hagar ran up and down the hills desperately looking for water, the pilgrims run up and down the hills recreating the scene. Muslims believe that Ishmael found a spring whilst digging his toes in the sand, this is now called the Well of Zamzam and is in the courtyard of the great Mosque, all of the pilgrims try to drink the water from this well and they try to collect some of it to take back to their friends and/or family. Mina and the valley of Arafat On the third day of the Hajj the pilgrims travel twenty kilometres from Makkah to the plain of Arafat, they travel there to stand before Allah and to ask him to forgive their sins, they set up thousands of tents to protect them from the sun and then they stand there from midday praying and thinking about Allah to sunset, this is believed to be the most important part of the pilgrimage and that if the Muslims did not perform this then the Hajj would not be complete. At sunset, when the pilgrims have finished their prayers they travel back to Mudalifah for the evening and collect 49 small stones, they then set up camps and say their evening prayers, they spend the night there. At Mina-Driving away the devil On the fourth day the pilgrims journey to Mina, to a place where there are three stone pillars, the pilgrims get the forty-nine pebbles and throw them at the pillars seven times, they do this seven times because seven to them equals infinity, they will always protect themselves from evil, the pillars represent the devil, they remember how the devil came and tried to get Ishmael to disobey Abraham (his father) but Ishmael didn’t give into the temptations of the devil, Ishmael threw stones at the devil to drive him away, Muslims also do this to show that they reject evil and wish to follow God. The Sacrifice At the end of the pilgrimage there is a festival and animals are sacrificed, this reminds Muslims that Abraham had been willing to sacrifice his son for Allah, Allah spared Ishmael (Abraham’s son) and so Abraham sacrificed a ram instead, this showed that he was willing to give up everything for god, so this is what the pilgrims do, they sacrifice ither a cow, a sheep or a camel, the meat is divided between the pilgrims but most of it is given to the poor, this symbolises that they would also give up their lives and possessions for God. At the end of the festival they go back and circle the Ka’bah once again. The very end of the pilgrimage At the end, the men that have been on the pilgrimage shave their heads, or if they don’t want to, they just cut their hair. The women either cut their hair or just cut a lock off from it, the Muslims do this because this is what Muhammad did and it is a sign of purity, they then take off the white cloth Ihrams and change into their normal clothes. The pilgrimages camp at Mina for three days, they then travel back to Makkah to walk around the Ka’bah again...