The Haj: A symbol of Muslim unity and equality
ISLAMABAD: Millions of Muslims from across the world converge every year at Islam’s holiest city of Mecca and nearby sites in Saudi Arabia to perform the Haj pilgrimage.
The Haj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is a mandatory duty for all Muslims to make once in a lifetime if they possesses enough financial resources and are physically capable to undertake the journey to the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Men don seamless white clothes, and women wear loose garments and must refrain from wearing make-up and jewellery.
They perform the same rituals in a demonstration of religious unity, equality and pursuit of spiritual renewal. Muslims perform the Haj following in the footsteps of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), but the pilgrimage to Mecca can be traced back thousands of years to the time of the prophet Ibrahim, known as Abraham in the Old Testament.
According to Islam’s holy book, the Quran, Ibrahim and his son Ismail built the Kaaba, or House of God, as a house of monotheistic worship. Muslims face the Kaaba during their daily prayers.
Each Haj pilgrim walks seven times in a counterclockwise direction around the black, cube-shaped Kaaba, runs back and forth between two hills, drinks from a holy well and throws pebbles at symbolic pillars of Satan in the holy town of Mina just outside Mecca.
Having finished the stone-throwing ritual on the first day of the Eid al Adha festival, which fell on Thursday this year, male pilgrims traditionally change out of their seamless robes, shave their heads and slaughter a sacrificial animal. Women cut a lock of their hair.
Male and female pilgrims then go to Mecca again to circle the Kaaba.
Later in the day, they return to Mina to stay overnight and throw stones for two more days. The pilgrimage occurs from the eighth to the 12th day of Dhul Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar.
The date is different each year according to the Georgian calendar because the Islamic lunar year has 354 days.
The Haj this year began on Tuesday. — dpa