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Pilgrimage (Hajj) |
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The ritual of hajj is performed in the
month of ZulHijjah, the twelfth and last month in the
Islamic lunar calendar. In Arabic, the word hajj
literally means going to a place for the sake of
visiting; and according to the terminology of the
Islamic Sharee'ah (jurisprudence), it implies to the act
of going to the Baitullah in Mecca to observe the
necessary devotions related to pilgrimage. The hajj is
mandatory upon all able Muslims, men and women, at least
once in a lifetime.
Apart from worship of Almighty Allah, the command for
hajj affords Muslims the opportunity to interact with
their brethren from around the globe. The command
concerning the hajj is found in several Qur'anic verses,
among them:
"And when We assigned to Ibraheem the
site of the Sacred House (Ka'bah), saying 'Do not
associate with Me anything, and purify My House for
those who circumambulate the Ka'bah, and those who stand
up and prostrate and bow in prayer. And proclaim the
Pilgrimage among men, and they will come to you on foot
and mounted on every kind of camel, lean on account of
journeys through deep and distant mountain highways."
[Al-Hajj: 26-27 ].
The verse above confirms that Prophet Ibraheem
worshipped at the Sacred House of Allah (Baitullah -
another name of Ka'bah) long before the advent of
Judaism or Christianity.
For that matter, some Bibilical historians say that he
lived in the first half of the second millennium B.C,
that is prior to the establishment of the Indus
civilizations of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro; hence, prior
to the birth of Hinduism. The hajj today is one of the
largest gathering of human beings on earth.
Besides this annual ritual, there is a lesser hajj known
as umrah that can be performed at any time during the
year except on the days of the greater hajj,
specifically from 9th till 13th of ZulHijjah.
On the benefit of hajj, Abu Hurairah (r.a.) narrates
that he heard the Prophet SAW say:
"Whoever performs Hajj and does not
commit any Rafath (obscenity) or Fusooq (transgression),
he returns (free from sin) as the day his mother bore
him. [Bukhari]
The most beautiful aspect of hajj is the uniformity. All
the pilgrims have to do exactly the same acts at the
same sites around Mecca on four days consecutively. All
wear the ihraam garb, a great majority of which is white
in color.
Once the ihraam is donned and the intention for hajj
uttered, male pilgrims are prohibited from wearing
stitched clothes, shoes that cover the anklebone, a hat
or turban or anything that covers the head. Women are
prohibited from wearing the veil that covers their faces
(burqaa) and also gloves.
Both men and women are prohibited from wearing any kind
of perfume or hair oil, cropping or shaving hair on any
part of the body, cut the nails, have sexual
intercourse, hunt and kill animals, or to be involved in
any form of marriage proposal
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(From VisionIslam) |
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