The Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca

The Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam which are the five duties that every Muslim must follow in order to be a true follower of Islam. It is the pilgrimage to Mecca - the holiest city for all Muslims in the world. Every able bodied Muslim is supposed to make at least one trip to Mecca in his lifetime. However, if he can't do it himself, he could have somebody else go on his behalf. In fact, Islam says that an individual should not make the pilgrimage to Hajj if it causes inconvenience to his family members or friends. The Hajj pilgrimage begins from the 7th day of Dhu al-Hijja - the last month of the Islamic calendar, and ends on the 10th Day of the same month.

Origin of the Hajj
Kabah is the cube shaped holy building in Mecca towards which every Muslim must face while offering prayer. It is believed that God asked Ibrahim (Abraham) and his son Ismail to bulid the Kabah as the point where believers from all over the world would converge to show their faith in the Almighty. Before Muhammad, the Prophet made his pilgrimage in the 7th century, tribes from all over Arabia (some even following Christianity), are believed to have made annual pilgrimages to this holy site. Referred to as the Days of Ignorance, the Kabah contained numerous idols and totems of the different tribes during those times. However, when Muhammad, the Prophet, made his first pilgrimage from Medina to Mecca with his Muslim followers, he cleansed the site of all the idols, and reinstated the Kabah as the house of a single God. It is since then that the Hajj has become one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

How is the Hajj performed?
The rites of the Hajj celebrate the various acts of Prophet Ibrahim, his wife Hagar and their son Ismail, that signify their faith in God. However, the Hajj is also perceived as an act in which the Muslims from all over the world show solidarity with each other and for their faith in a single God, the Allah. The Hajj is marked by the following rituals:

• The Ihram: As soon as the pilgrims arrive at the boundary of Mecca, they enter the state of Ihram or purity. In this state men wear two white, seamless sheets of clothes covering their bodies and a pair of sandals. Women are expected to wear the modest hijab, that would leave their hands and faces uncovered. Not only does Ihram signify the purity of state in which the pilgrims enter during Hajj, but also reinforces equality of all in the eyes of God by removing any external indicator of cultural or financial differences.
• The Umrah: On the first day of the Hajj, the Hajjis (the pilgrims), offer their fist Tawaf, which is the act of walking around the Kabah seven times in anticlockwise direction and kissing the Black Stone after each round. After that the same day the pilgrims walk between the hills of Safa and Marwah seven times as an imitation of the act of Hagar frantically searching for water for her thirsty son. They also drink the holy water from the Zamzam Well that is believed to have been revealed to Hagar by an angel.
• Travel to Arafat and Muzdalifah: The pilgrims spend the second day in Mina. On the third day they reach Arafat where they recite the Holy Quran near Mount Arafat, from where Prophet Muhammad is supposed to have preached his last sermon. Known as the Wuquf, this ritual is believed to be the most important aspect of the Hajj. As soon as the sun sets, the pilgrims leave for Muzdalifah from where they collect stones for the next ritual in Mina.
• Ramy al-Jamarat: At Mina the pilgrims perform Ramy al-Jamarat also known as the 'stoning of the Devil' in which they throw seven pebbles at pillars erected in Mina. This act signifies the refusal of Abraham to listen to the Devil who tried to dissuade him from sacrificing his son to God.
• Eid al-Adha: After the Ramy al-Jamarat the Hajjis sacrifice an animal to God in remembrance of the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismael. It is believed that just as Abraham was going to behead his son, God replaced him with a ram.
• The Last Tawafs: On the 11th day the pilgrims perform another Tawaf az-Ziyarah at the holy mosque in Mecca. At afternoon, they again throw seven pebbles at the pillars in Mina. On the twelfth day before leaving Mecca the pilgrims perform the Tawaf al- Wada which is the last Tawaf.

For the last 14 centuries, Muslims from all over the world have been flocking in millions to the city of Mecca to make the holy pilgrimage of Hajj and the number seems to be increasing every year. Although it is necessarily a pilgrimage for the Muslims, it symbolizes the virtues like self sacrifice and faith in the Almighty that are preached by every religion in the world.