The pilgrims spend the night at Mina. At sunrise on the following day, they go to the valley of Arafat. It is about 20 km from Makkah. They hold the afternoon and evening prayers there, before leaving to spend the night at Muzdalipah. Part of the evening is spent hunting for 49 stones for the next part of Hajj.
On the morning of the tenth day, they travel to Mina, where there are three stone pillars. They mark the places where the devil tried to get Ishmael to disobey Abraham.
Pilgrims throw stones at the pillars seven times because Muslims believe that Ishmail drove away the devil by throwing stones at him. It is a way of showing that they reject evil and wish to follow God. After the first pillar is stoned, an animal is sacrificed. This is part of the festival of Eid ul Adha.
Modern pilgrims sacrifice a sheep, goat, cow or camel. This is a symbol of how willing they are to give up their lives and possessions for God. Pilgrims eat some of it, but much of it is given to the poor. Afterwards, they circle the Ka’bah once more. During Eid ul Adha, the pilgrims either shave their heads or cut their hair. Then they take off their special pilgrim cloth and put on their normal clothes. In the following days, the other two pillars are stones in the same way. The pilgrims usually stay two or three days in Mina before travelling back to Makkah. the pilgrims walk round the Ka’bah again. Then their pilgrimage is over. Men who have completed the pilgrimage are called Hajji, and a woman is called a Hajja. Some houses of those who have been on the pilgrimage will be painted with pictures depicting the journey, to let others know that they have completed the journey.
Bi) Hajj has a long historic background. It goes back to when Adam and Eve were on the earth. According to tradition, Adam and Eve were forgiven for their sins on the mountain in the Plain of Arafat, which is known as Jabal or Rahman, or the Mount of Mercy. Adam and Eve are thought to have been brought back to God’s love and protection.
After they had given in to the devil’s temptation they were banished from their paradise and lost each other. They wandered the earth in confusion and terrible unhappiness. God watched over Adam and Eve, waiting for them to exchange their defiance for a desire for forgiveness from Him. When they finally understood that they were separated from God, they prayed to be restored to grace, and the Lord of Compassion was able to forgive them. Their reunion took place at the mountain of Arafat. Today, the mountain is used for meditation by the pilgrims. They stand on it for a day and hope for religious enlightenment, or a message from God.
In gratitude, Adam and Eve built a simple shrine near to the mountain, the first building on earth constructed for the worship of God. It was later rebuilt by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael. It is known as the Ka’bah, and is seen by Muslims as God’s house. It is a simple, cube-shaped building, covered by black cloth.
The second moment of significant to Hajj is the occasion when the loyalty of Ibraham was put to the test.
Ibrahim had vowed to sacrifice everything in his life to God. He was a devout man, even though he was the wealthy owner of vast herds of sheep and goats.
He lived with his wife Sarah and a second wife – an Egyptian woman called Hajar – who had given birth to his son Isma’il.
One day God decided to test Ibrahim’s faith and loyalty. Ibrahim had a vivid dream in which he was asked to sacrifice that which he loved most, his only son. Isma’il was terrified, but replied: ‘Oh, my father. Do what you are commanded to do, and do not worry about me.’ They accepted that if it was God’s will it had to be done.
The family set out for Mina, the place of sacrifice. On the way, the devil appeared in human form and used various reasonable arguments to persuade Ibrahim the dream was not genuine. Ibrahim ignored him and picked up stones to throw at the devil and drove him away. This is why Muslims throw stones at the three columns.
In a barren, waterless desert, God tested Hajar and Isma’il, Ibrahim’s second wife and son. They were dying of thirst. Hajar ran between the tops of two hill, Safa and Warwah, seven times to see if she could spot a camel train that had water. At last, when all of her hope had gone, except that of God, the angel Jabrill appeared and showed her a spring at the feet of her suffering child. This is the spring now known as the Zamzam well. Pilgrims now run backwards and forwards seven times between the two mountains, and then drink from the well and give water from it to their friends and families.
When Muslims perform their prayers, they always face in the direction of the Ka’bah. Wherever they are, they will stop to pray and they will know which way to face. If they are near a mosque, there is a special place in its walls to show them which way to face. Away from a mosque, some Muslims use a prayer mat with an inbuilt compass.
The spiritual meaning of Hajj is to make the pilgrim feel at one with God. When they perform the tasks, they know they are repeating the actions of significant people in their belief. When they are on the mountain, meditating for a day, they feel especially close to God.
Bii) Nowadays, there are several problems that arise from taking Hajj. When it was established, there were fewer Muslims in the world. Now there are millions more. About 2 million people visit Makkah in the twelfth month. When it comes to ‘stoning the devil’, everybody squashes round the three columns, and it would be easy for a stone to hit a person instead of a column. There was a case recently of six people being crushed to death while taking Hajj, when they were crowding around to stone the devil.
Part of Hajj is to stand on a mountain for a whole day without food or water. This in itself is a problem, due to overcrowding. It would be hard to have a deeply religious experience when surrounded by people. But it is also dangerous to the pilgrim’s health. A person who was native to Saudi Arabia would be able to survive, because they are dark-skinned and their bodies are adapted to intense sunlight and dehydration. however, a northern Muslim, with fair skin, who was not used to the intense heat, would probably die within eleven hours. When Hajj first started, this was not a problem because all Muslims were native to Saudi Arabia.
But there are also practical problems in taking Hajj. It costs a lot of money in air fares to transport a Muslim family from where they live to Mach. Many people would not be able to afford the fares. if they can, the man in the family would have to take time off work. This may not be convenient to the employers.
When the family is there then they may have had to bring small children with them. They could very easily get lost, or even crushed to death in the circling of the Ka’bah or the stoning of the devil. Even if they are safe, they would not keep quiet during the prayers and would probably become bored of the whole experience.
There are many more problems with Hajj today than when it was first established. It is probably a bigger test of faith now, because although it is easier and more comfortable to get to Makkah, using air travel, people live further away and have to give up more in order to take Hajj.
Biii) Taking Hajj will greatly affect the life of a believer. Muslims have to go on Hajj at least once, but they only go when they feel a calling to go. This means that the person going on Hajj expects it to be a life-changing experience.
Spiritually, going on Hajj will, hopefully, make the pilgrim believe, more than ever, in God. To go to all of the places connected with God, including miracles like the spring created by the angel Jibrill to save Isma’il’s life, should make the pilgrim aware of the greatness of their God and the miracles He is able to achieve.
Physically, Hajj could be very bad for you. Conditions are very crowded, and people have been known to die. When people are packed together really closely then they could get really hot and find it hard to breathe. If they were to faint, they could easily be trampled.
The other part of Hajj that is really dangerous is the meditation on the mountain. It is most dangerous for fair-skinned Muslims. They could die within eleven hours. They could get dehydration, sunstroke or heatstroke. Some Muslims faint, or start to hallucinate. There are some theories that those who do have messages from God, or who see visions, are just hallucinating. Pilgrims could need hospital treatment.
Financially, Hajj also has a damaging effect. Many Muslims have large families and they would have to pay for everyone to go. Not only does the family have to pay for flights, they also have to buy tents and white robes. Altogether, Hajj can be very expensive, for an experience that may only change the pilgrim’s life by dramatically reducing their bank balance.
C)
‘A true Pilgrimage is really a journey within’
Some people may disagree with this statement. They will see a pilgrimage as a test of a person’s faith. Only the truly devoted would go to such lengths to worship the God they believe in. To make it a true pilgrimage, they have to go to some effort to prove their faith. People who go on a Pilgrimage may want to ask forgiveness and say sorry for doing wrong. They may want to gain strength to face the future, ask help for someone else, feel at peace, or simply to show their faith in God. Some go on a Pilgrimage to be cured of an affliction. For example, millions of Christians go to Lourdes to Bathe in the Holy Spring that appeared on the same spot as an apparition of the Virgin Mary. It has, in the past, cured people of illnesses, and the curing of those who bathed in the spring has been accepted as a miracle. This would not be able to happen on a mental pilgrimage. Although a Pilgrimage to Makkah is compulsory to their faith, Muslims go on Pilgrimages when they feel a calling to go. They go because it helps reaffirm their faith, and they expect to have religious enlightenment when they meditate on the mountain. Those who return from a pilgrimage to Makkah describe it as a wonderful experience, and they proudly display on their houses the fact that they have gone to Makkah. When they are at Makkah, they know that everyone there is a devoted Muslim, and they could be anyone, from a King to a beggar. To know that everyone around you is there because of his or her love for the God you worship must be an enlightening and comforting experience. You will not feel that you are following the wrong religion, or that you are alone in your worship. To use the old saying, ‘Two Million Muslims can’t be wrong’!
However, some may agree with this statement. God is supposed to be all around you, so you should not need to travel hundreds of miles to prove your faith, God should be aware of your devotion already. Pilgrimages are not such a big test of faith anymore anyway. Before the invention of air travel and cars, Pilgrims would have to walk miles and miles to prove their faith, now they can just catch a plane and take a car. Pilgrims at Makkah can now use a car to move between religious spots. That has not always been possible, and it is taking the easy way. Some Muslims still walk between place of worship. By exploring the way you feel inside about your faith, you know that is how you truly feel about a religion, without being swayed by others, or by looking at a ‘holy spring’ or some such other miraculous object, and thinking ‘well, if this is truly a miracle then there must be a God’, you will feel how you do and it will be an honest belief. Many people, of all religions, feel that Pilgrimage has got too commercial and overcrowded. One reporter described going to Bethlehem as ‘Like going to Disneyland.’ An inner pilgrimage would be free of commercialism and overcrowding, but may still have the same positive effect on a person.
I agree with aspects of both of these arguments. Pilgrimage literally means a 'journey to a holy place'. This could mean a country far away, or it could mean a journey to your chosen place of worship, which is a holy place in itself. However, it does not necessarily have to be a journey to an actual place, it could be a journey inwards, or a journey through life. The word ‘Pilgrimage’ was created with both a mental and physical journey in mind. If people feel they should go on a Pilgrimage to be cured of an illness, or forgiven for a sin, or to help reaffirm their faith, then they should. However, if they know that they don'’ need to go, they feel devoted enough already, then that should be accepted. I don’t agree with Pilgrimage being compulsory, like it is in the Muslim faith, because it should be up to the individual to decide if they need to go. If it were not compulsory, then Makkah would be less crowded, and therefore feel more holy to those who do feel they need to go on a Pilgrimage. Many people, of all religions, feel that Pilgrimage has got too commercial and overcrowded. One reporter described going to Bethlehem as ‘Like going to Disneyland.’
