Hajj

 

Hajj - Pilgrimage To Mecca

The fifth pillar of Islam is to make a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, at least once in one's lifetime. The other four pillars of Islam are faith, prayer, Zakat (Mandatory charity by those who have the means) and fasting.  

The pilgrimage is for those Muslims that are financially and physically able. Nearly two million Muslims from all over the world meet one another from the 8th to the 12th day of the last month of the year (on the Islamic calendar).  Pilgrims wear special clothing (Ihram), two very simple unsown white garments, which take away all distinctions of wealth, status, class and culture, making everyone equal in the eyes of Allah (God).

The Hajj pilgrimage has its roots in the time of Prophet Abraham. He constructed a building in Mecca called the Kaaba with his son Ishmael as a center of worship for mankind. Since then, pilgrimage to this holy city has been occurring annually for thousands of years. The Hajj rituals are performed in the premises of the Kaaba.

BBC News Describes it best when they explain what happens during the 5 days of Hajj:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4180965.stm
Published: 2006/12/27 20:56:39 GMT------See Below.

Once in Mecca pilgrims enter the Great Mosque and walk seven times round the Kaaba (a cube-like building in the centre of the mosque) in an anti-clockwise direction. This is known as Tawaf. Pilgrims also run seven times along a passageway in the Great Mosque, commemorating a search for water by Hajar, wife of the Prophet Abraham. 

DAY 1: FIRST STEP

Pilgrims travel to Mina on 8 Dhul Hijjah (a date in the Islamic calendar) and remain there until dawn the next morning. 

DAY 2: STANDING AT ARAFAT

Pilgrims then travel to the valley of Arafat and stand in the open praising Allah and meditating.
At the end of the day, pilgrims travel to Muzdalifa where they spend the night. Pilgrims gather up stones to use the next day.

DAY 3: STONING THE DEVIL

In the morning, pilgrims return to Mina and throw seven stones at pillars called Jamaraat. These represent the devil. The pillars stand at three spots where Satan is believed to have tempted the Prophet Abraham.
Pilgrims sacrifice an animal (usually a sheep or goat). This commemorates the incident related in the Old Testament when the Prophet Abraham was about to sacrifice his son and God accepted a sheep instead. Nowadays many pilgrims pay someone to slaughter the animal on their behalf.
Pilgrims shave their heads or cut some hair from it and return to the Great Mosque at Mecca for a further Tawaf, walking around the Kaaba. They then return to Mina, where they spend the night.

DAYS 4 & 5

Pilgrims spend time in Mina, continuation of the ritual of stoning the pillars.
If a pilgrim has been unable to return to Mecca to walk around the Kaaba, he or she does so on the fourth or fifth day. 

 

Thousands of Muslims in front of one the the mosque gates.