The Hajj Is Traveling to Mekka

The hajj is traveling to Mekka, all healthy Muslims must carry out. Although this is a required journey, most Muslims would be honored to go. The hajj is one of the five pillars therefore being a basic part of a Muslims' faith and practice. Muslims travel to Mekka to remember the trials of Abraham and his son and his sacrifice to show loyalty to God.

Muslims only have to do hajj once in their lifetime yet many choose to go more times. For some Muslims it is not possible to go every year because of money, bad health or age. If a Muslim family is poor then they will save up for at least one member of the family to go. Right when they arrive at Mekka, Muslims wash and clean themselves and then change into white clothing called "Ihram". This is like a pure white cloth, it is slightly different for the males and the females. Females normally wear plain loose dresses that cover their whole body except their faces, hands and sometimes feet. Males wear two pieces of cloth, one gets wrapped around their shoulders and the other is from their waist to right above their feet. After performing this task Muslims recite certain prayers. it is something that Muslims have to call out while performing the hajj. When they are saying this, the men should shout and raise their voices, but women should just say the statement so that its only loud enough for them to hear.

From there on Muslims are not allowed to use any perfume or clone, or kill any living thing. When they do this, each Muslim should be in their correct state of mind to perform the hajj. When they circling The holy Ka'ba, it is called Tawaf. They start by raising their hands towards the black stone and recite different prayers. They then circle the Ka'ba seven times. The Ka'ba is covered by a cloth. In the Qur'an it says the Ka'ba was originally built by angels, and later adam but was broken down and re-built by Abraham and his son Ishma'il. The Ka'ba is positioned in the center so Muslims can find the center peace of their religion. From the Ka'ba they go to two small hills called Marwa and Safa.

It is allowed for parents to take their children on Hajj with them but this cannot count as the child's completing of Hajj. Pilgrims must also be able to afford to go on Hajj, no debts and get their money through fair means. Finally the Muslims should also be physically fit enough to perform the pilgrimage. Muslims believe that they should go on Hajj because of two important phrases in the Qur'an.

These two quotes show evidence of Allah's commandment for Muslims to go on pilgrimage. The word Hajj, means 'to set out for a definite purpose' this is telling Muslims that going on Hajj would be showing their loyalty and devotion to Allah. Muslims need to clean themselves to be pure. To enter this state Muslims rather have a full bath