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Hajj
- a pilgrimage for life Hanif is part of the T.H.O.M.A.S. team I am a 2nd generation Muslim, born in Blackburn. Six months ago I decided that I had the necessary funding to do Hajj. This is one of the 5 pillars of Wisdom of Islam. My wife and I decided to go, so as I knew very little of the rituals of Hajj I went on courses which are held at the local mosques. To prepare for this I had to visit my family and those to whom I owed respect and ask for forgiveness so that I could approach the pilgrimage cleansed from sin. We arrived at Mecca on the 5th of January and the first impression was of the sheer numbers of people, traffic and all the hustle and bustle, it was truly amazing. We arrived at 4am. and after the cleansing ritual came the circumvolution of the Ka’abah (the black stone) where the pilgrims walk round the Ka’abah 7 times following the rituals of Abraham. All of these rituals celebrate the submission of Abraham to the will of God when he was about to sacrifice his son. At the start of the ‘journey’ the male pilgrims dress in two sheets the Ehraam, garments which signify the equality of all people and represent the garments used at burial. We had a visit to Madina and spent 8 nights there, with no rituals just salaam, peace, salutation to God. This is not compulsory but is good to go there. The 5 days of Hajj which can be a bit awesome because you don’t know what to expect. You listen to stories which are a bit scary, but you just put your faith in God. On the 29th night we went to Mina which is called the Biggest Tent City in the world. Here in the tents you sleep on mattresses and it’s down to basics, it makes you realise just how fortunate you are living in the luxury of the Western World. Here we say prayers and rituals glorifying God and asking for forgiveness. The ‘Big Day’ is on Arafat which is where we celebrated Eid as Muslims all over the world would be celebrating Eid. The worship and meditation here starts at dawn and continues until sunset. It was here where we heard of the 250 people who had been on the pilgrimage who were crushed to death. Because of this the ‘stoning’ ritual was delayed. This is the ritual stoning of the pillars at Jamarat where pilgrims throw 7 pebbles at the pillars following the rituals of Abraham. Here also a goat is sacrificed and offered to the poor. After the men shave their hair but this is only compulsory for those doing the pilgrimage for the first time and this completes the daily ritual. The Tawaaf is the farewell and final circumvolution of the Ka’abah. The final two days of the pilgrimage are spent at Mina where the stoning of the three devils seven times on each day takes place. After this we returned to Mecca. |
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