A post shared by Euronews Travel euronewstravel. For thousands of years, Muslims have been taking part in the day observance, with the 6-day pilgrimage at the heart of the holy period. Usually, Muslims will spend the 6 days walking between key locations, such as Mina, Muzdalifa and Mecca, during which they will perform religious rituals, prayers and fast on the Day of Arafat.
However, with the uncertainty of Coronavirus still prevalent, all Muslims outside of Saudi Arabia will not be able to travel to the kingdom to take part in the pilgrimage.
Whilst travel is restricted, there are still many ways that you can reap the benefits of this time and draw closer to Allah. Muslims are encouraged to fast from sunrise to sunset during any if not all 10 days of Hajj if they cannot attend the pilgrimage.
How do they handle all those people? And what is inside that big black box? We've got you covered: Here are the most basic answers to the most basic questions about the hajj. It is one of the five pillars, or duties, of Islam, along with the profession of faith in the one God and Mohammed as his prophet, prayer, charitable giving, and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
The hajj takes place only once a year, in the 12th and final month of the Islamic lunar calendar; pilgrimages to Mecca made at other times in the year are encouraged but do not count as the hajj. Because the Islamic lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the days of the standard Gregorian calendar, the timing of the hajj moves backward each year. Over the five days of the hajj, pilgrims perform a series of rituals meant to symbolize their unity with other believers and to pay tribute to God.
On the last three days of the hajj, pilgrims — as well as all other Muslims around the world — celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice. This is one of the two major religious holidays Muslims celebrate every year. The other is Eid al-Fitr, which comes at the end of Ramadan. People may be surprised to learn that the hajj has very little to do with the Prophet Mohammed.
Rather, it mostly commemorates events in the life of the Prophet Ibrahim — that is, Abraham. Yes, that Abraham. He is perhaps best known for being willing to personally kill his beloved son when God commanded him to do so.
In the Judeo-Christian narrative, the son Abraham almost sacrifices is Isaac. There is another event involving Ismail and his mother, Hagar, that looms large in the hajj. The story goes like this: God commanded Abraham, as a test of faith, to take Hagar and the infant Ismail out to a barren desert area located between the two hills of Safa and Marwah in Mecca, and leave them there alone with only basic provisions.
Eventually the water ran out, and the increasingly frantic Hagar ran back and forth from hill to hill seven times searching for water for her parched child.
Then a miracle occurred: A well, later called the Zamzam well, sprang from the ground, saving both of them. Other accounts hold that the angel Gabriel Jibril in Arabic tipped his wing into the dirt to reveal the well. Abraham and Ismail later went on to build the Kaaba, the black cuboid structure in Mecca that Muslims face when they pray, together, as a place of worship of the one God.
Abraham eventually came back and retrieved his family from the desert, evidently. Soon after they built the Kaaba, tradition holds, God commanded Abraham to proclaim a pilgrimage to the site — in other words, the hajj — to all mankind well, all monotheists so that they can come together in one place to show their devotion to God. Rather, it is a place of worship of the one God.
It is also a focusing mechanism, a central point on the globe toward which all Muslims, in a symbol of unity, direct their thoughts and prayers to God.
According to Islamic tradition, the site of the Kaaba was originally a sacred place where angels would worship God in the days before man was created. Later, Adam yes, that Adam, partner to Eve built a shrine to God on that spot, but it too was destroyed by the ravages of time. The structure consists of four walls and a roof, all made from stone from the hills surrounding Mecca.
The four corners roughly face the four points of the compass. To be a true geometric cube , all its edges must have the same length, and every corner in the cube must have an angle of 90 degrees. This cloth is known as the kiswah, and it is replaced yearly, on the second day of the hajj.
While Abraham was building the Kaaba, so the legend goes, the angel Gabriel came down and gave Abraham the famous Black Stone, which he placed in the eastern corner of the structure. There is another squarish stone on the ground a few feet away from the Kaaba with what look like two footprints in it.
This is known as the Station of Abraham and is said to be the stone where Abraham stood while watching over the construction of the Kaaba. Today it is encased in a beautifully ornate golden glass-and-metal structure.
There is a famous story in Islam about Mohammed and the Black Stone. The story goes that when construction was finished and it came time to place the Black Stone back in the eastern corner, the final step, the tribes of Mecca argued fiercely over who would get to do the honors. They decided to ask the next man who walked by to decide for them, and that man happened to be Mohammed.
His solution was to put the stone on a large cloth and have each of the leaders of the four tribes hold a corner of the cloth and carry the stone to its place. Mohammed himself then placed the stone into its final position. This was back before Mohammed had received his first revelation from God. The next time Mohammed was involved with the Kaaba, though, would prove to be much less One particularly popular idol was a figure of Hubal, a moon deity worshipped by many in Mecca at the time.
Access to the Kaaba and thus the idol was controlled by the powerful Quraysh tribe, of which Mohammed was a member, and they basically capitalized on this to get rich, charging fees and selling wares to pilgrims coming to worship the idol. When Mohammed began receiving revelations from God he received his first one about five years after the incident with the Black Stone and preaching his message of monotheism, the rich Qurayshi merchants started getting a little antsy.
Worried that the growing popularity of his decidedly anti-idol worshiping message could potentially hurt business, they ran Mohammed and his small band of followers out of town. Ten years later, Mohammed and his now much larger and more powerful army of followers defeated the Quraysh tribe and took control of Mecca. Today, the Kaaba is kept closed during the hajj because of the overwhelming number of people, but those who visit the Kaaba during other times of the year are sometimes allowed to go inside.
There is very little inside it, though — just three tall stone pillars, a small table, some hanging lamp—looking things, and a staircase to the roof. Seven is also a prominent number associated with the divine in many religions, including Christianity and Judaism.
Other rituals include a ceremony where pilgrims throw small pebbles at three large stone walls, called jamarat, to symbolize the stoning the devil that tempted Abraham to defy God, and the slaughtering of an animal usually a sheep to honor the animal Abraham slaughtered instead of his son. The meat is then given to feed the poor and needy.
These days, pilgrims frequently elect to purchase tokens to have an animal slaughtered for them. Today, both hills are enclosed within the Masjid al-Haram Sacred Mosque complex which also houses the Kaaba , and the path between the hills is a long, beautiful indoor gallery with marble floors and air conditioning.
Many also drink from the Zamzam well located there. The only ritual that is solely related to Mohammed is the climbing of Mount Arafat, which is where Mohammed preached his last sermon. Arrival TV Clients For companies.
All Travel Guides. Tourist Information Mecca. Tourist Information Historical destinations. Can I visit Mecca as a Tourist?
Mecca is the holiest city in Islam and Saudi law strictly forbids non-Muslims from entering it. Documents will be checked upon entry at dedicated checkpoints, and non-Muslims will be redirected to a motorway that bypasses the city.
Pilgrims must show proof of being Muslim a certificate is needed for those converted to Islam and women must be accompanied by a Mahram male guardian. The Saudi Arabian government issues special Hajj or Umrah visas to simplify the process but the sheer amount of paperwork makes many pilgrims rely on specialised travel agencies to handle that.
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