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Event
Information:
Hajj
is expected to fall between October
24-29, .
The
Hajj (Arabic: حج Ḥajj)
is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca,
Saudi Arabia. It is currently the
largest annual pilgrimage in the
world, and is the fifth pillar of
Islam, a religious duty that must be
carried out at least once in their
lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim
who can afford to do so. The Hajj is
a demonstration of the solidarity of
the Muslim people, and their
submission to God (Allah in the
Arabic language). The pilgrimage
occurs from the 8th to 12th day of 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 state in which Muslims
live whilst 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 Ibrahim
(Abraham). 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 about the Ka'bah, 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
Stoning of the Devil. The pilgrims
then shave their heads, perform a
ritual of animal sacrifice, and
celebrate the three day global
festival of Eid al-Adha.
As of 2009, about two million
pilgrims participate in this annual
pilgrimage. Crowd-control techniques
have become critical, and because of
the large numbers of people, many of
the rituals have become more
stylized. It is not necessary to
kiss the Black Stone, but merely to
point at it on each circuit around
the Kaaba. Throwing pebbles was done
at large pillars, which for safety
reasons in 2004 were changed to long
walls with catch basins below to
catch the stones. The slaughter of
an animal can be done either
personally, or by appointing someone
else to do it, and so forth.[8] But
even with the crowd control
techniques, there are still many
incidents during the Hajj, as
pilgrims are trampled in a crush, or
ramps collapse under the weight of
the many visitors, causing hundreds
of deaths. The Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia's Ministry of Hajj has a
website, with the message, "Be
peaceful, orderly and kind. No
crushing"
Local
Weather:
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