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Portrait of The Hajj

General knowledge · Religion & belief

The Hajj

8th to 12th of Dhu al-Hijjah, the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar

Islam — the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, and the fifth pillar

The annual pilgrimage to Mecca, required once in a lifetime of every Muslim with the health and means to make it, and the fifth of the Pillars of Islam. It is performed over five days in the last month of the Islamic year and follows a fixed sequence of rites, most of them understood as re-enactments of episodes in the lives of Ibrahim, his wife Hagar and their son Ismail. Around two million pilgrims attend in a normal year, making it one of the largest annual gatherings of people anywhere.

How to spot them

  • ▸Two seamless white cloths for men — the state of ihram, entered at a boundary called a miqat
  • ▸Seven anticlockwise circuits of the Kaaba, and seven passages between Safa and Marwa
  • ▸The standing at Arafat on the ninth day is the rite without which it does not count
  • ▸The lesser pilgrimage, which may be made at any time of year, is the umrah

Key facts

Two unstitched white cloths, put on at a boundary point before the sacred precinct

Ihram, entered at one of the mawaqit; the uniform erases distinctions of wealth and rank

Seven anticlockwise circuits of a cube-shaped building draped in black silk

Tawaf around the Kaaba; the covering is the kiswah, rewoven each year

Seven passages between two low hills, retracing a mother's desperate search for water

The sa'y between Safa and Marwa, recalling Hagar; the water she found is the well of Zamzam

Standing from noon to sunset on a plain outside the city — miss it and the whole thing is void

The wuquf at Arafat on 9 Dhu al-Hijjah, by the Mount of Mercy

Pebbles gathered in the dark at Muzdalifah and thrown at three pillars the next morning

The stoning of the jamarat at Mina, rejecting temptation

A West African king gave away so much gold on the way in 1324 that Cairo's market was depressed for years (1324)

Mansa Musa of Mali

An American activist came home from Mecca in 1964 with his views on race transformed (1964)

Malcolm X, who took the name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; his letter from Mecca describes pilgrims of every colour sharing the same rites

The shorter version, which may be made at any time of year and omits the standing on the plain

The umrah

Key ideas

  • Almost every rite is a re-enactment. The running between the hills is Hagar's search for water, the stoning is Ibrahim driving off the devil, and the sacrifice at Mina recalls the ram substituted for his son.

Quick-fire facts

  • •It takes place from the 8th to the 12th or 13th of Dhu al-Hijjah, the twelfth month of the Islamic lunar calendar
  • •It is obligatory once in a lifetime for Muslims who are physically and financially able
  • •Pilgrims enter ihram at a boundary point called a miqat; men wear two unsewn white cloths, women ordinary modest dress with the face uncovered
  • •Tawaf is seven anticlockwise circuits of the Kaaba, beginning and ending at the Black Stone
  • •Sa'y is seven passages between the hills of Safa and Marwa, recalling Hagar's search for water for Ismail; the well of Zamzam is said to be the result
  • •The standing at Arafat on 9 Dhu al-Hijjah is the essential rite; without it the pilgrimage is invalid
  • •Pilgrims spend the night at Muzdalifah and then stone three pillars, the jamarat, at Mina
  • •The pilgrimage coincides with Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice; men then shave or trim their hair
  • •The Kaaba is draped in the kiswah, a black cloth embroidered with gold Quranic calligraphy and replaced annually
  • •Mansa Musa of Mali made the pilgrimage in 1324 with so much gold that he disrupted Egyptian markets; Malcolm X's pilgrimage of 1964 changed his views on race

Drill it — 8 cards

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Sources