Haj & Umra

Hajj & Umra
"..And Hajj (pilgrimmage to Makkah) to the House
(Ka`abah) is a duty that mankind owes to Allah,
those who can afford the expenes (for one's
conveyance, provision, and residence)..."
Al-Quran:Surah 3 (Al-Imran); Verse 97
Hajj in Islam, the major pilgrimage to Mecca, a city
located near the Red Sea coast in Saudi Arabia. The term hajj means
“standing before a deity in a sacred place” or “voyage to a sacred place,” and
Mecca is considered month the most scared Muslims city.
Only Muslims are permitted access to the region of
the pilgrimage—that is, to the holy places of Mecca,
Mina, Muzdalifa, and Arafat, all located in Saudi
Arabia. During the hajj pilgrims must enter a state
of ritual purity before they reach Mecca by
performing ritual bathing and wearing the ihram, a
white seamless shroud they keep for the rest of their lives as their
burial garb. While in the state of ritual purity the pilgrim is denied
various activities, such as sexual relations. After arriving in Mecca, the
pilgrim carries out a set of rites as an individual. These rites culminate
in the circling seven times, or tawaf, of the Kaaba (a rectangular
building that contains the sacred Black Stone) and the quick, sevenfold
crossing back and forth, or say, between two hills, Safa and Marwa. In
addition to these rites, which make up the umra, the hajj includes
certain other rituals performed by pilgrims collectively. Among these
are the stopping on a hill in the valley of Arafat from noon until sunset,
the symbolic stoning of the devil in the valley of Mina, and the sacrifice
of sheep and goats.
Once Muslims have carried out the hajj, they may use the title Hajji if male
and Hajjah if female. During the first half of the 20th century about
30,000 Muslims annually made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Today, the number is
closer to 2 million.
Nadia,COM UE Jauharabad 1

Kaaba, the central shrine of Islam, a cube-shaped, one-room stone structure
in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It already attracted
pilgrimages as the most important sanctuary (haram)
in pre-Muslim Arabia, and the traditional belief that
it was built by Abamrah and Ishmael (to whom the
Arabs trace their descent) was confirmed by the
Qur'an (Koran). The annual pilgrimage to the Kaaba takes place in the first
ten days of Dhu al-Hijja, the last lunar month of the Islamic calendar. The
Black Stone set on the outside of one corner of the structure is solemnly
kissed by all pilgrims who can gain access to it. Lesser pilgrimages are
performed throughout the year.
For Muslims, The Kaaba is the “House of God,” where the divine touches the
mundane. It is washed annually and covered with a dark silk cloth. The Kaaba
has been greatly expanded since Muhammad's times, a mosque-court having
been built around it; recently a gate of solid gold was added.
.
Only Muslims are permitted access to the region of the
pilgrimage—that is, to the holy places of Mecca, Mina,
Muzdalifa, and Arafat, all located in Saudi Arabia. During the
hajj pilgrims must enter a state of ritual purity before they reach
Mecca by performing ritual bathing and wearing the ihram, a white seamless
shroud they keep for the rest of their lives as their burial garb. While in
the state of ritual purity the pilgrim is denied various activities, such as
sexual relations. After arriving in Mecca, the pilgrim carries out a set of
rites as an individual. These rites culminate in the circling seven times, or
tawaf, of the Kaaba (a rectangular building that contains the sacred Black
Stone) and the quick, sevenfold crossing back and forth, or say, between two
hills, Safa and Marwa. In addition to these rites, which make up the umra,
the hajj includes certain other rituals performed by pilgrims collectively.
Among these are the stopping on a hill in the valley of Arafat from noon until
sunset, the symbolic stoning of the devil in the valley of Mina, and the
sacrifice of sheep and goats.
Once Muslims have carried out the hajj, they may use the title Hajji if male
and Hajjah if female. During the first half of the 20th century about
30,000 Muslims annually made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Today, the number is
closer to 2 million.

Mecca
Mecca, also Makkah (ancient Macoraba), city in western Saudi Arabia,
located in the Al Ḩijāz (Hejaz) region, near Jiddah. Mecca is the
birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad (the founder of Islam), the
center of pilgrimage for Muslims, and the focal point of their daily
prayers. In Arabic, the city is known as Makkah al-mukkaramah
(“Mecca the blessed”). Pilgrimage to the city is one of the Five Pillars
of Islam and is required of all able adult Muslims at least once in their
lifetimes. The pilgrimage (hajj in Arabic) is the defining factor in the
growth and life of the city. The influx of close to 2 million pilgrims each
year during the last month of the Islamic calendar is a grand human
spectacle as well as one of the largest logistical and administrative
undertakings in the world
a Located in an arid valley surrounded by rocky hills, Mecca has had
religious and commercial significance for centuries. Muslims believe
that one of the city’s sacred sites, the Kaaba, was built by the Old
Testament patriarch Abraham and his son, Ishmael (to whom Arab
people trace their descent), and that a nearby well, Zamzam, was
used by Ishmael’s mother, Hagar. The city stood at the crossroads of
two major trade routes: one connecting southern Arabia (present-day
Yemen and Oman) with the lands of Egypt and Syria, and the other
linking the Red Sea with the Persian Gulf coast and Mesopotamia
(roughly present-day Iraq). By the time
Muhammad was born in about 570, Mecca
had become an important trading center;
Muhammad himself came from a merchant
family. After the spread of Islam and the
growth of the Muslim community, the
fortunes of Mecca rose and fell with the
yearly ebb and flow of pilgrims. To this day, the
economy of the city depends to a great
extent on accommodating, feeding, transporting, and otherwise caring
for large numbers of pilgrims.
Mecca was led by local sharifs, rulers who claimed descent from
Muhammad, from 966 until the 20th century. In 1517, however, the
sharifs of Mecca came under the authority of the expanding Ottoman
Empire. During World War I (1914-1918), Sharif Husein ibn Ali, with
British support, declared an Arab revolt against the Ottomans,
expelling them from the city in 1916. In 1924 central Arabian ruler
Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia, defeated Husein’s

forces and added Mecca and the Al Ḩijāz region to his domain.
Population (1995 estimate) 770,000.
Summry
There they perform a number of spiritual rituals, including circling seven
times the small sanctuary known as the Kaaba, or House of God. Only
Muslims are permitted access to the holy sites of the pilgrimage, which
every healthy and financially able adult male and female Muslim must
perform at least once in a lifetime 1978 National Geographic article,
Muhammad Abdul-Rauf recounts a pilgrimag. In this November e he and his
family made to Mecca.
July 5, 2007

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