All three of them resisted the temptation and each time the devil came near Abraham threw stones at it to drive him away. When they got to Mina, Abraham put Isma’il on the altar face down but at the last moment God stopped him and rewarded him for his obedience; his other wife Sarah, who until now had had no children, was pregnant with a child. This was to reward him his faith and Muslims believe that when they die their faith will be rewarded too. This is a part of Hajj as the Muslims throw stones at pillars in Mina that represent the devil.
Hajar’s thirst
Sarah was jealous on behalf of her son and because of that God ordered Abraham to separate from Hajar and Isma’il and leave them in Gods care. Abraham left them beside the remains of an ancient shrine. It was a wasteland with no water. They were dying of thirst and Hajar ran between two hills to see if she could spot a camel train carrying water but she could not see one. At last when she had no hope left an angel appeared and showed her a spring at her dying sons feet. This story tells you that God will provide. This also is a stage in Hajj as the Muslims walk between the same two hills that Hajar walked between.
Mecca
The family was reunited later and Abraham and Isma’il built a square sanctuary out of rough stone laid dry. The walls were just higher than a man, to lay the top stones Abraham stood on a large rock (the Maqam Abraham) the cube shaped building became known as the Ka’ba and is a very special place of worship. Allah is worthy of worship and much more.
Mohammed
Mohammed’s parents died when he was very young and he lived with his grandfather for a while after that but a few years later he died and Mohammed went to live with his rich uncle. Mohammed’s first job was as a shepherd, then he started helping his uncle on trading trips. When he was 25 married a woman called Khadijah who owned a camel caravan. They were happy together and had six children - two sons and four daughters - unfortunately the two boys died at birth. He looked after his uncle’s son when his uncle fell into hard times and also adopted a slave boy.
Mohammed spent his entire life searching for spiritual guidance to bring him closer to God. When Mohammed was forty, something happened that changed his life forever. He was in a mountain cave praying when he heard a voice calling his name and the command ‘Iqra’ which means recite. He saw a scroll with writing on it but the writing was in fiery letters that he could not read. Three times the voice told him to recite and each time he replied that he couldn’t. Suddenly he knew in his heart what was written on the scroll and he started to mutter them. After the vision had faded Mohammed was left on his own feeling scared and excited. He wasn’t sure whether what he’d seen was a message from God or a trick of the devil. Mohammed managed to get home to Khadijah, he was trembling with the shock. He told Khadijah what had happened and about his doubts of what it could mean and she went to her cousin (Waraqa Ibn Nofal) for guidance. He told her that he thought Mohammed had been given a vision by God. With that Khadijah became Mohammed’s first convert, she was the first to accept what he said was true.
A few months later Mohammed had another vision, he again heard the voice but this time he saw a huge pair of eyes, which became a huge figure sitting on the horizon. He closed his eyes and turned away but whatever he did he could see the angel. He rushed home to Khadijah who wrapped him in a cloak but she noticed he began to sweat and breathe deeply. He was seeing the angel again, It said: -
‘O you who lie wrapped in your cloak- arise and warn! Glorify God! Make yourself pure! Give up all uncleanness. For the sake of your Lord, endure with patience!’
Mohammed’s faith was now put to a test as he didn’t see another vision for two years. He became fearful about what it may mean but at last an angel came and said: -
‘Your lord has not forsaken you, and he is not angry with you.’
After that Mohammed got messages from God for the rest of his life and each time he got one his friends and family would write down exactly what was said. Mohammed was ordered by the voice to go out and preach in public so he did. Soon people were getting worried about him as the tribe made a lot of profit from selling idols around the Ka’ba and Mohammed was telling people not to buy them and to worship only one god. The tribe didn’t like this and they did everything they could from threatening Mohammed to bribing him and still he refused to stop preaching. Mohammed’s followers became known as Muslims.
Ten years later his uncle died and soon after that his wife did too. This made him feel very vulnerable and his enemies were trying to make the most of his feeling bad. Mohammed had a vision, while sleeping by the Ka’ba one night, he met all the prophets of the past including Jesus, Moses and Abraham. This was probably the beginning of his career as a prophet.
Mohammed returned to preaching in Mecca and then one day some pilgrims from a town called Yathrib heard him and were impressed and asked him to visit them. He decided to go there and eventually left Mecca. When he arrived in Yathrib he was welcomed as an honored and respected prophet. Everybody wanted to let him go to their house so, not wanting to cause offence, he let his camel choose and he bought the bit of land it went to and built a house there. The Muslims that had come with Mohammed were refugees, they had left everything behind and had no homes or money so Mohammed asked the people of Yathrib (Now known as Madinah) to share there homes and belongings with the Muslims. They did so willingly. Many people ‘adopted’ a stranger or a complete family. Mohammed became the city’s political advisor as well as its religious advisor. For 10 years he aimed at getting all of the tribes to unite under God. He told them that loyalty before God comes before to loyalty to the tribe.
Mohammed was still in danger because the Meccans wanted him back so that he could pay for what he did and some of the Jews were annoyed because the revelations that Mohammed talked of were contradicting their beliefs. He tried to please both the Jews and the Muslims but when something contradicted the Jewish way he had to say that the Jews were wrong, as he believed that what he was told was the solid truth. Mohammed was now the ruler of Madinah but even though he could have lived as a king with riches and servants and taken taxes from his people, he didn’t. Instead he lived as a poor man; he mended his clothes, did the shopping and milked the goats. Mohammed’s life was very simple he had only one change of clothes, which he patched every time they were broken.
The Meccans still wanted to get their hands on Mohammed. They tried everything including bribing the Mahdinans and persecuting the relatives of Muslims left in Mecca. In 623CE a small group of Muslims raided a camel train. Unfortunately this provided the Meccans with a reason to attack Madinah. In624CE an army of 1000 men marched out to fight against Mohammed who only had a force of 313 warriors many of who were young boys. To the amazement of basically everyone the Muslims won. The Meccan army fled leaving only 70 people dead and taking 70 prisoner. After that the Muslims changed from being hated and persecuted group into a military power. The Meccans were longing for revenge and a year later there was another battle but this time the Muslims lost because of lack of discipline and confusion.
After many battles Mohammed had a dream telling him to go on an unarmed pilgrimage to Mecca he did so and when the Meccans saw he was unarmed a treaty was made. The next year Mohammed returned and the treaty was broken by the Meccans. In 630CE Mohammed took Mecca and rode in on his camel. He rode around the Ka’ba 7 times and touched the stone in the corner. He destroyed all of the Idols and soon after taking the city most people became Muslim and followed the word of Allah.
He began to realize he was nearing the end of his life and went on one last pilgrimage to Mecca about 140000 people went with him He went up to the Mount of Mercy and gave them a sermon that was very emotional. After that he returned home to Madinah where he fell ill and died. In his last days he still tried to struggle out and pray with everybody else.
The importance of the Ka’ba
The Ka’ba (pictured on the right) is a cube shaped building with a black cloth hung over it for preservation. The Ka’ba is very important today as it is the central place for Muslims, it contains the entire history of Islam and all Muslims pray in the direction of it. The Ka’ba brings all of the Muslims in the world together. It gives them a feeling of unity because everybody prays towards it and once a year thousands of Muslims go on Hajj. They are all part of a brotherhood they are all one big family going back to Adam and Eve.
How do the different religious practices of Hajj affect people’s lives.
There are many ways that the experience of Hajj can affect people both physically and mentally. The fact that there are so many Muslims in the world is very well known to everyone. But when there are thousands of them all in the same place at the same time for the same reasons it has a really different impact. I think that everybody being there wearing the white robes that stand for equality makes everybody feel the same there are no designer trainers or clothes everybody is equal there is no rich or poor because for the trip they are all the same. The white robes are for Ihram, which means equality before God this means that there is no racism and there is no sexism nothing like that.
Seeing the Ka’ba must be quite an amazing sight for a Muslim who has heard about it and prayed towards it all his/her life to them it must have been more like a legend until that moment when they first see it and try to touch it. When people go on Hajj they live a simple life for a few days. There is no greed lust or evil. With no money or anything like that to bother them life is simple. Going home to a world where nothing is simple must be quite a shock to them. Going on something like Hajj would make a Muslim feel Amal-Action. It might make them feel as if they are acting on what they believe not just saying they believe they are showing everybody they have Imam-belief. When they have donned their Ihram garments the Pilgrims circle the Ka’ba 7 times as Mohammed did before them. This must be quite a special feeling to be walking in the same steps as their prophet did long ago. The next thing they do is run between two hills as Hajar did when looking for water. This is a great physical test for most of the pilgrims as it is quite along way in blistering heat and some people can’t do it. To do something like that must have quite affect on your fitness as if you weren’t fit before you would quite possibly want to be after would. They travel to Arafat where Mohammed gave his last sermon and there they get preached to much as the people did when Mohammed preached to them. This may have a very spiritually moving affect on people. The next stage is the stoning of the pillars at mina this would probably make the pilgrims feel clean and free of sin. It would affect the way they live when they get home as they may try harder to give to charity or be kind to people.
“Religious practices such as pilgrimage have no practical value”. Do you agree?
No I do not agree with that statement because it unites Muslims around the world however expensive it may be the feeling some one would get from that experience is invaluable you cannot experience something like it anywhere else in the world. You may be able to worship God at home without going to Mecca but when you worship at home, do you meet Muslims from every country in the world? Do you touch and see the thing you’ve worshipped towards all of your life? No you don’t, it is not the worshipping God that is spiritually moving it is being in the place where Mohammed stood and taught thousands of years ago, the same place that Adam and Eve stood at the beginning of time. You can not even begin to imagine what it must feel like unless you have been on Hajj your self.
