What is Umrah and Hajj or Pilgrimage ?
The
Umrah or (
Arabic:
عمرة)
The
Umrah or (
Arabic:
عمرة) is a
pilgrimage to
Mecca,
Saudi Arabia, performed by
Muslims that can be undertaken at any time of the year. In Arabic, Umrah means "to visit a populated place". In the
Sharia, Umrah means to perform
Tawaf round the
Kaaba and
Sa'i between
Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, after assuming
Ihram (a sacred state), either from a
Miqat like Zu 'l-Hulafa, Juhfa, Qarnu 'l-Manāzil,
Yalamlam, Zāt-i-'Irq, Ibrahīm Mursīa, or a place in Hill. It is sometimes called the 'minor pilgrimage' or 'lesser pilgrimage', the
Hajj
being the 'major' pilgrimage and which is compulsory for every
able-bodied Muslim who can afford it. The Umrah is not compulsory but
highly recommended.
(source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umrah)
The
Hajj (
Arabic:
حج
Ḥaǧǧ "
pilgrimage", also spelled
haj
The
Hajj (
Arabic:
حج
Ḥaǧǧ "
pilgrimage", also spelled
haj) is one of the largest annually occurring pilgrimages in the world,
[1][2] and one of the
five pillars of Islam, a
religious duty that must be carried out by every able-bodied
Muslim who can afford to do so at least once in his or her lifetime.
[3] The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to
God (
Allah in the Arabic language).
[4]
The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th
Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the
Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a
lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the
Gregorian calendar used in the Western world, the Gregorian date of the Hajj changes from year to year.
Ihram is the name given to the special spiritual state in which Muslims live while on the pilgrimage.
The Hajj is associated with the life of
Islamic prophet Muhammad
from the 7th century, but the ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca is
considered by Muslims to stretch back thousands of years to the time of
Abraham (
Ibrahim).
Pilgrims join processions of hundreds of thousands of people, who
simultaneously converge on Mecca for the week of the Hajj, and perform a
series of rituals: Each person walks counter-clockwise seven times
around the
Kaaba, the cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim
direction of prayer, runs back and forth between the hills of
Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinks from the
Zamzam Well, goes to the plains of
Mount Arafat
to stand in vigil, and throws stones in a ritual. The pilgrims then
shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate
the four day global festival of
Eid al-Adha
Note :
- ^ Hajj pilgrimage 2011: by numbers
- ^ Hajj 2012: Muslims Embark On Pilgrimage To Mecca
- ^ Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs - Islam See drop-down essay on "Islamic Practices"
- ^ Dalia Salah-El-Deen, Significance of Pilgrimage (Hajj)
- ^ a b Karen Armstrong (2000,2002). Islam: A Short History. pp. 10–12. ISBN 0-8129-6618-X.
- ^ a b c d e f Anisa Mehdi, John Bredar (writers) (2003). "Inside Makkah" (video documentary). National Geographic.
- ^ a b "BBC - Religion & Ethics - Eid el Adha". Retrieved December 2007, December 30, 2012.
(source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj)
