There is a black stone enclosed in a silver ring in the eastern corner of the Kaaba. Muslims believe that the stone was given to Abraham by the angel Gabriel. Participants touch or kiss the stone to end the ceremony around the Kaaba.
People who have completed the pilgrimage may add the phrase al-Hajj or hajji pilgrim to their names. April - A fire in Mina, Saudi Arabia, tears through a sprawling, overcrowded tent city, trapping and killing more than pilgrims and injuring 1, February 1, - A stampede kills Muslim pilgrims and injures more at a stone-throwing ritual which has been the source of deadly trampling in the past.
January 5, - A small hotel in Mecca collapses, killing at least 76 people. The hotel, Luluat Alkheir, is occupied by Asian pilgrims when it collapses. January 12, - A stampede kills at least people. The stampede, like others in the past, happens during the stone-throwing ritual in which the pilgrims stone a symbolic devil.
September 11, - Days before the start of the Hajj, people are killed when a powerful storm topples a construction crane, sending it crashing through the roof of the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
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. On the second day of hajj, pilgrims wake at dawn and walk a short distance to Mount Arafat, where they spend the remainder of the day on or near the mountain in quiet worship and contemplation of God. Although Christians and Jews believe in the God of Abraham, they are not allowed to perform the hajj.
Indeed, the government of Saudi Arabia forbids all non-Muslims from entering the holy city of Mecca at all. The Saudi government takes this very seriously, so the odds that a non-Muslim would be able to slip in unnoticed among the throngs of pilgrims undetected or pretend to be Muslim and get in that way are extremely small.
Legal entry into the country is extremely tightly controlled, and the paperwork required to get a hajj visa is incredibly detailed. Pilgrims must book their hajj trip through a Saudi government—approved hajj travel agent. For a Western Muslim convert to be allowed to go on hajj, he or she must present documentation from an imam Muslim religious leader.
The imam must testify in writing that he knows the person in question and that the person is a true convert. Trying to come in on a regular tourist visa and then stealthily making your way to Mecca is also a nonstarter.
Getting a tourist visa as a Westerner is notoriously hard, and the likelihood of you being able to just slip away from your Saudi government minder and travel undetected all the way from the capital Riyadh to Mecca — more than miles away, on the other side of a vast desert — is basically laughable. That has happened before: In , WND published a three-part series written pseudonymously by someone who claimed to be a white British non-Muslim man who successfully fake-converted to Islam and went on hajj.
Women are also allowed — indeed, required, just like every other physically and financially able Muslim is — to perform the hajj. However, they have to be accompanied by an appropriate male guardian called a mahram.
Here are the rules, per the US State Department:. Women must be met by their sponsor upon arrival. Women who are traveling alone and not met by sponsors have experienced delays before being allowed to enter the country or to continue on other flights.
Women over 45 may travel without a mahram in an organized group, provided they submit a notarized letter of no objection from the husband, son, or brother, authorizing travel for Hajj with the named group. It is a physically demanding journey that Muslims believe offers a chance to wipe clean past sins and start anew before God. Despite the physical challenges, many people rely on canes or crutches and insist on walking the routes.
Those who cannot afford the hajj are sometimes financed by charities or community leaders. Others save their entire lives to make the journey. While following a route the Prophet Muhammad once walked, Muslims trace the rites of hajj back to the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are named in the Bible.
Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son. In the Christian and Jewish version of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac. Tradition holds that God then brought forth a spring that runs to this day.
Then a sacrifice called a Qurbani should be made in which a lamb or sheep is slaughtered and the meat distributed among the poor. After this, men's heads are shaved and women cut a lock of their hair. Then return to Mecca and make a Tawaf this is the ritual of walking around the Ka'aba seven times.
Then it's back to Mina for 3 or 4 days, stoning the pillars each day. Finally do a farewell Tawaf in Masjid-al Haram on the twelfth day of the month of Dhul Hijjah, ask Allah's forgiveness, make du'a and the Hajj is finished.
A man who has completed the Hajj is called a Hajji, a woman who has completed it is called a Hajjah. At the end of the Hajj, Muslims from all over the world celebrate the holiday known as the Eid ul Adha or Festival of the sacrifice.
This festival commemorates the obedience of the Prophet Ibrahim when he was ordered to sacrifice his son Is'mail. Ibrahim proved his love and devotion to Allah by showing his willingness to kill his beloved son if Allah wished it.
In the end Ibrahim did not have to kill his son as Allah gave him a ram to sacrifice instead. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.
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Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca Last updated Introduction Hajj Once a year, Muslims of every ethnic group, colour, social status, and culture gather together in Mecca and stand before the Kaaba praising Allah together. History History of the Hajj Four thousand years ago the valley of Mecca was a dry and uninhabited place. Many pilgrims fly to Jeddah, and then travel to Mecca by bus. Being pure To carry out the pilgrimage rituals you need to be in a state of Ihram , which is a special state of ritual purity.
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