Millions of Muslims will participate in the annual Hajj, a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage for all adult Muslims who have the physical and financial resources to make the journey between June 4 and August.
Have you, however, ever wondered how this ground-based journey would go?
The five-day process is illustrated in the animated video below. Prefer a detailed view? For a daily breakdown, scroll down.
preparing for the Hajj
Pilgrims must enter a ihram, a physical and spiritual state, before the Hajj begins. This includes wearing particular clothing for men and modest attire for women, such as two simple white cloths, according to the niyah, or intention to perform the Hajj. All pilgrims are equal before God, so these identical white garments remove any obvious distinctions between class, wealth, or nationality.
Day 1: Arrival Waff
Many pilgrims circumnavigate the Kaaba, a black stone structure at the center of Mecca’s Great Mosque (Masjid al-Haram), seven times in a counterclockwise direction after ihram. This represents the one God’s worship in unity. The pilgrims can then perform the sa’i, a seven-time ritual of walking within the mosque’s Safa and Marwa hills.
The Kaaba, or “cube,” is the religion’s most revered site and serves as the qibla, which Muslims travel in when they pray. According to Muslims, the Kaaba was constructed at God’s will and by Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) and his son Ishmaeel (Ismaeel) as a sign of the return to pure monotheism.
The Kaaba measures 13.1 metres (43 feet) high, 12.8m (42ft) in length, and 11.03m (36ft) in width. The kiswah, a black cloth known as the kaaba, is decorated with gold Arabic text with verses from the Qurans.
Mina on Day 1
Source: Aljazeera
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