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Hajj Facts: Pilgrimage To Mecca Facts, Definition & Introduction

Hajj Info by Editorial Staff (March 03, 11:53 AM)

Definition and Introduction to HAJJ


First of all I would like to define ‘HAJJ’ it is a prayer offered by Muslims to Allah and is a fifth pillar of Islam, hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca in Islam, it is the largest gathering of peoples in the world in which around 3 million Muslims perform their religious duty.
The prerequisites which must be fulfilled to perform the hajj and after which the hajj must be performed by the Muslims who attain that criteria, every person who is financially and physically capable of doing hajj should must have to perform the hajj, if meets the criteria of istita’ah.


Prerequisites


There are many more things which must be maintained and should be observed strictly during the hajj which may be included in the facts about HAJJ and must be known to every Muslim going to pilgrimage to Mecca.

  • All men must have to wear a special dress ‘Ihram’ before performing hajj.

  • He must not shave after wearing ihram.

  • He must observe the rule of not cutting the nails after dressing up in to the special dress of hajj named as “Ihram”

  • He may not swear or quarrel during the performance of hajj.

  • He must assure that he may not harm the plants or animals and also he is also not eligible to maintain a sexual relationship during his hajj.

  • During hajj one cannot wear shoes which covers the ankles and cannot carry weapons.

  • Men are not allowed to cover their heads while women are not allowed to cover their face and hands.

  • Women are dressed in their common social dress in Islam which is also known as ‘Hijab’.

Hajj Facts


Here are the facts about the latest hajj held recently which includes many things which would be explained below, people normally find facts about the ‘Hajj’ I am sure that they will find it helpful in finding the facts of hajj.

  • Hajj is held in the last month of Islamic calendar, named as ‘Dhu-al-Hijja’.

  • Hajj is ends with a festival celebrated by all of the Muslims in the world while they are performing hajj or not and gives the state of happiness and calmness to all of hajjis.

  • There is a repetition of the digit seven in the whole procedure of hajj which includes the date of 7th dhu-al-hijja at which hajj tends to start its performance, 7 times of tawaf-e-Qabba, seven times round of all hajjis between the hills of Safa and Marwa etc.

  • More than 3 million people perform hajj this year in Mecca and the number is increasing year by year, this has been seen that a greater percentage of people perform hajj from big economies and small number of people from small economies of the world.

  • This year record shows that around 64 percent of the whole people were men and remaining were women in the hajjis.

  • Around 55 percent of the whole crowd of 3M comes from within Saudi Arabia while remaining 45% came from outside of countries.

  • The cost of performing hajj is quite enough and can goes up to $4000 per person, major portion of this cost shows the travelling and stay expense.

  • The black stone enclosed in the silver ring which is placed at the eastern side of Qabba was broken into pieces by some people and was joined together with the silver ring in it. Some people believe that some of the pieces are still missing from this stone, which was given to Hazrat Abraham (A.H) by the angel Hazrat Gabriel.

  • Performing hajj is one of the five basic pillars of Islam, and must be attempted by a person which falls on the criteria (discussed above) of performing hajj.

  • Hajj is the largest and most ancient Islamic prayer to Allah offered by muslims annually.

Timeline Of Incidents Occured During Hajj

  • 1987:   Around 400 people attain ‘Shahdah’ in the clashes with Saudi Arabian security forces, (Mainly Shiite Pilgrims) during the protests in Mecca focusing anti-Western campaigns.
     

  • 1990:   Approximately 1426 pilgrims from different countries trampled to ‘Shahdah’
     

  • 1994:   270 Pilgrims ‘Shahdah’ due to stampede near Jamarat Bridge
     

  • 1997:   340 Pilgrims ‘Shahdah’ while 1,500 injured due the fire in Mina. This got uncontrolled due to tents of cotton. But now Teflon tents are used in Mina, which can resist to a temperature of 700 degree Celsius.

  • 1998:   At the end of Hajj Stampede near Mecca leads to ‘Shahdah’ of 180 people.
     

  • 2004:   At the Ritual of stone throwing, stampede ‘Shahdah’ 251 pilgrims while 244 injured.
     

  • Jan 5th, 2006:   76 People leads to ‘Shahdah’, due to collapse of a hotel building.
     

  • Jan 12th, 2006:   363 people ‘Shahdah’ by a stampede, during the stone throwing ritual.




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