The Hajj (Arabic: حج‎ Ḥaǧǧ "pilgrimage") is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and the largest gathering of Muslim people in the world every year.[1][2] It is one of the five pillars of Islam, and a religious duty which must be carried out by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so at least once in his or her lifetime.[3] The state of being physically and financially capable of performing the Hajj is called istita'ah, and a Muslim who fulfils this condition is called a mustati. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God (Allah).[4] The word Hajj means "to intend a journey" which connotes both the outward act of a journey and the inward act of intentions.[5] The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar used in the Western world, the Gregorian date of the Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the name given to the special spiritual state in which pilgrims wear two white sheets of unstitched cloth and abstain from certain things.[6] The Hajj is associated with the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from the 7th century, but the ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca is considered by Muslims to stretch back thousands of years to the time of Abraham (Ibrahim). Pilgrims join processions of hundreds of thousands of people, who simultaneously converge on Mecca for the week of the Hajj, and perform a series of rituals: Each person walks counter-clockwise seven times around the Ka'aba, the cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of prayer, runs back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinks from the Zamzam Well, goes to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, and throws stones in a ritual Stoning of the Devil. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate the three day global festival of Eid al-Adha.[7][8][9] History[edit] Ibrahim Ibrāhīm إبراهيم Abraham "Ibrahim" (Abraham) in Islamic calligraphy Family[show] Related[hide] Ḥaj Maqām Ibrāhīm 'Īd al-'Aḍḥá Category Islam portal v t e Depiction of Mecca in 1850 A 16th century illustration of Islam's holiest shrine, the Ka'aba. The Hajj is based on a pilgrimage that was ancient even in the time of Muhammad in the 7th century. According to tradition, elements of the Hajj trace back to the time of Abraham (Ibrahim), around 2000 BCE. Abraham's wife, Sarah, was unable to conceive, and upon her request, Abraham had taken their female servant, Hagar, as a second wife. Hagar bore Abraham a son, Ishmael. It is believed that Abraham was ordered by God to leave Hagar (Hājar) and Ishmael (ʼIsmāʻīl) alone in the desert. Looking for shelter, food and water, Hagar ran back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwa seven times with her son. In desperation, she laid the baby on the sand and begged for God's assistance. The baby cried and hit the ground with his heel (some versions of the story say that the angel Gabriel (Jibrail) scraped his foot or the tip of his wing along the ground), and the Zamzam Well miraculously sprang forth. In the Days before the mission of Moḥammad, tribes from all around the Arabian Peninsula would converge annually on Mecca in pilgrimage. The respective faiths of the tribes was not important at that time, and Christian Arabs were as likely to have made the pilgrimage as the pagan Arabs.[10] Muslim historians refer to the time before Muhammad as jahiliyyah, the "Days of Ignorance", during which the Kaaba contained hundreds of idols -- totems of each of the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, with idols of pagan gods such as Hubal, al-Lat, Al-'Uzzá and Manat. Muḥammad was known to regularly perform the 'Umrah, even before he began receiving revelation.[7] Historically, Muslims would gather at various meeting points in other great cities, and then proceed en masse towards Mecca, in groups that could comprise tens of thousands of pilgrims. Two of the most famous meeting points were in Damascus and Cairo, where the Sultan would stand atop a platform on the famous Zuweila Gate to officially see pilgrims off.[11] In 630 CE, Muhammad led his followers from Medina to Mecca in what was the first Hajj to be performed by Muslims alone, and the only one Muhammad attended. He cleansed the Ka'aba by destroying all the pagan idols, and then reconsecrated the building to Allah.[12] It was from this point that the Hajj became one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Performing the Hajj was a hazardous journey for early pilgrims; Ibn Jubayr noted the skeletons of the faithful who had died of thirst en route. In the 17th century, a group of Egyptian pilgrims lost over 1,500 people and 900 camels. In 1924 around one-fifth of a group of Syrian pilgrims died and two years later, 12,000 are thought to have died during the journey.[13]

• published: 03 Jul 2014
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