...performed by practicing Muslims and are a unifying force in Islam. * The five pillars of faith: * Shahada - declaration of faith * Salat - daily prayer * Zakat - obligatory (religious) almsgiving * Hajj - pilgrimage * Sawm - fasting in Ramadan The Hajj: Overview: * 5th pillar of Islam. * Hajji for males and Hajjah for females. * A pilgrimage to the Ka’ba in mecca * A symbolic house of Allah dedicated to the belief and devotion of one God. * Must be undertaken at least once in a lifetime by Muslims that can afford it. * Performed during the period 8 – 13 Dhu’l–Hijja * Twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. * During this period all the barriers of language, territory, colour, race and culture disappear. * What is left in its place is the bond of faith. * Muslims go on the journey to: * Reflect on lives. * Collectively ask for forgiveness. * Be in his presence and worship him. * Fulfill one of the pillars. * Express their Islamic beliefs. * Share the experience with a worldwide community of Muslims. * Approximately 2 million Muslims take part on the journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia every year. * Hajj Journey: 1. Ihram: a. Clean yourself (ghusl) b. Wear ihram (remove their worldly clothing and put on the simple, white attire) garments c. Make intension for ‘umra (A set of religious and devotional rites performed...
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...Hajj Essay Hajj is an integrated part of the life of a Muslim because of its position as one of the five pillars of faith. This pillar expresses the obligatory pilgrimage to the Ka'ba in Mecca that all followers are expected to take at least once in their lifetime. This experience has great effect on the Hajjis that partake in the pilgrimage as it unites the Muslim community, the umma, and bring them closer to Allah and the core teachings of their religion. The community also receives positive effects from this significant practice due to its unification. Hajj is composed of many rituals that symbolize important events in the history of Islam which are represented in the Quran. As Hajjis perform these rituals, they are reinforcing their belief in the Quran and their submission to Allah. "Perform the pilgrimage and the visit [to Mecca] for Allah" Surah 2:196. Hajj takes place on the 8th to the 13th of the last month of the Islamic calendar, Thul Hijjah. Before undertaking the pilgrimage, Muslims should pay debts and correct past wrongs as Hajj is seen as an opportunity for new beginnings. When the pilgrims arrive in Mecca, they travel to a Meequat where they dress in two pieces of white cloth known as an Ihraam. This is part of the significance of Hajj as boundaries felt in everday life such as culture, ethnicity and race are removed be similar dress, uniting the umma. There is also variation seen here as women are permitted to wear any colour they please as long as their...
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...explain how the hajj affects the lives of both individuals and the Muslim community. The Hajj is the obligatory six day annual pilgrimage by approximately 2 million Muslims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia every year. The Hajj is a significant practice of Islam as it is one of the 5 pillars of Islamic faith and involves a spiritual, mental and physical journey. It is an obligation which must be undertaken by all Muslims if they are financially, mentally and physically fit enough to pursue the once in a lifetime journey. Muslims go on the journey to; commune with god – be in his presence and worship him, to wash away their sins, to fulfil one of the pillars and to express their Islamic beliefs and promote equality and share the pleasing experience with a global community of Muslims all there for the same reason. The importance of the hajj is also emphasised in the Quran as “a duty owed to Allah”. The implication of the intensity of Hajj is one of which individuals learn skills such as determination, perseverance, patience and control of human will In fulfilling this service, man expresses his devotion to Allah, not only by performing rites which need physical effort, but he expresses also his deep spiritual devotion to Allah and spends of his money for His sake. The Muslim community is also affected through the local communities who involve themselves in the preparation for the Hajj. International media coverage is also gained from the enormous gathering of the Hajj encouraging the...
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...that claims there is no other gods accept God and that the last messenger is Muhammad. One universal God is what the main idea is centralized on. It is imperative to realize that the first pillar only represents the beliefs, while the following four are practices and rituals of the Islam belief systems. The five pillars are the declaration of devotion, the five prayer’s, fasting during Ramadan (as well as other things), charity (giving Zakat or "Tithing), and hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca). With the exception of the declaration of faith, the remaining pillars are based on action based. Each of the pillars of Islam are concentrated on making one, more conscious towards the above beliefs. By professing one’s faith to embarking on the pilgrimage to Mecca, where as this is meant to be a sign of a life of submission to Allah's Will. Individuals have a tendency to find the declaration of faith the easier to fulfill as no action is required. The hardest of these to fulfill would more than likely have to have been the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Taking into consideration that not all Islam’s would have the resources of time or funds to embark on such an endeavor, it may very well have been a rather hard task for the...
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...Christianity and Muslims: More alike than different HUMN250-Phase 5 Individual Project November 12, 2012 To start things off, this is totally against my beliefs to compare different religions. It’s something that I will not engage in discussion because I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Ever since I first read this assignment back at the beginning of this course, I haven’t been looking forward to completing this paper. From the beginning of time many religions have come to exist. The two that are under discussion here are Christianity and Muslim. Like all religions, they have to start with a way we all came about or our creation. For Christians, we have been taught from childhood that God created Earth and everything in and around it in 6 days. He created man from his own image and created women from the ribs of man. He created all animals, birds and fish and taught man whom he named Adam, all their names. (unknown, http://www.crystalinks.com/judeo.html, 2012) For Muslims, there are the same ways but God created man from clay, earth, sand and water and breathed life into which created man. This from what has been written in the Quran and the Bible is the only difference. (Circle, 2007) For both, God placed Adam and Eve in a special place, the Bible calls it The Gardens of Eden, and the Quran calls it Paradise. These are described in both books as the same, but with just different meanings. (Circle, 2007). For the Bible and the Quran, both...
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...Halal Vaccine for Hajj Pilgrims Even before few years, the fully Halal meningitis vaccine was a dream for the Muslim world but now it’s a reality. The long waited Halal meningitis vaccine named ‘Menveo’ is now available worldwide. Many Muslim countries including the Saudi Arabia has approved it and many have instructed to replace the previously used one with this Halal vaccine. According to the available information meningitis vaccine earlier produced, contained materials of bovine or porcine origin. Due to this reason the Muslims had been complaining against those vaccines and pressuring for producing completely Halal vaccine from Halal ingredients. Due to this demand from the Muslim world an ‘apparently Halal’ vaccine was produced named Mencevax. It is alleged that Mencevex even used porcine ingredients at manufacturing stage but the finished product could be made porcine free with the blessings of latest scientific technologies. Nevertheless to say that Bangladesh is still using this ‘apparently halal’ vaccine though completely halal vaccine is available in the market. However, the government is under pressure to use halal vaccine especially for the hajj pilgrims. The Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) has recently forwarded a letter to the ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 19 March 2012 (Ref.: nve/ ¯^vcKg/†gwbbRvBwUR/cÖ`vb/2012/137) and urged the government to take necessary measures to collect halal meningitis vaccine for the hajj pilgrims. It should...
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...Religious Holiday In the morning of Friday 26/10/2012, I attended an Islamic holiday called Eid Aladha. At the end of an annual pilgrimage to Mecca, called Hajj, Muslims throughout the world celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). After prayers were over, we proceeded to eat a lamb that was sacrificed purposely for the festive. The meaning behind sacrificing is that you have a lamb and you have to kill it in an HALAL way meaning that the animal has to be killed so fast with no pain. I spent my first Islamic holiday in Syracuse and it was pretty interesting. Coming from an Islamic country, Saudi Arabia, I was very agitated to experience the holiday with non-Islam people not from Saudi Arabia and worse off could not speak Arabic the last holiday. I’m actually very happy that I tried something different this time round. I really wished my family were here so I can be able to see my dad and brothers sacrifice to God. However, I was with them through Skype the following early morning around 4 a.m. and was able to see things from a different perspective as they celebrated Eid al-Adha. All my siblings were so excited for the holiday because my grandfather was supervising what my uncle used to do; making sure that the sacrifice is done the Halal way. Then my father handed over the knife to my brother Mamdouh who sacrificed one lamb for my mother who passed away. When all this process was done, they gave much of meat away to poor people, neighbors and far family...
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...Social Impact Paper: Hajj assisting the poor There are five pillars of Islam, we will engage with two of them: Hajj and Zakah. Ishaq Zahid describes the Hajj as “a pilgrimage to Mecca It is one of the five pillars of Islam. The Hajj was made obligatory in the 9th year of Hijra. The Holy Prophet sent off 300 Muslims under the leadership of Hazrat Abubakr Siddique (may Allah be pleased with him) to Mecca so that they could perform Hajj.” He further states,” This pilgrimage is an obligation only for those who are physically and financially able to do so. Nevertheless, over two million people go to Mecca each year from every corner of the globe providing a unique opportunity for those of different nations to meet one another.” Hajj has been made a pinnacle of worship in order that Muslims who gather to perform Hajj can praise their Lord and Master, be thankful for His blessings, and humbly pray to Him for the removal of their difficulties. Muslims living in various parts of the world get to know each other, lay the foundation of social culture, give advice to each other, and provide opportunity for collective struggle (Zahid). Next we will examine another pillar, Zakah. This is the is the compulsory giving of a set proportion of one's wealth to charity. It is regarded as a type of worship and of self-purification. Zakah does not refer to charitable gifts given out of kindness or generosity, but to the systematic giving of 2.5% of one's wealth each year to benefit the...
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...Judaism and Islam: Not So Different After All Unfortunately today, Islam and Judaism are seen as two conflicting religions that will forever be in turmoil and conflict. Little do many people know the many similarities between the two religions. Of course, the two faiths have many major, distinct differentiations. If they didn’t, they would be the same religion. However the two religions share many of the same principles and beliefs, both through the written teachings themselves and the practice and implementation of the religion throughout the world today. Specifically, Islam and Judaism share similarity points of view when it comes to the personification of G-d and the number of G-ds, Pilgrimages to holy lands, and the requirements for giving charity. Judaism and Islam’s interpretations of G-d are similar to each other, and both together are different than the way Christianity interprets G-d and its major figures. Both Judaism and Islam started among communities whose majority population and leaders came from polytheism. It is said that Abraham was the son of an idol salesman, where he went in and destroyed all of the idols claiming it to be ridiculous. Mohammed was in Mecca, a religious center for polytheistic Arabian religions. Mohammed was visited by Gabriel, and was told to proclaim Allah and that there is only one Allah. Both religions are against the personification of G-d. A major theme of Islam is the rejection of G-d being part of the Holy Trinity. The reason for this...
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...knows all, he is the creator, they believe in the Angels of God, the Qur’an, which is God’s book; his teaching and no other book expresses that, Day of Judgment, the afterlife, and the supremacy of God’s will. The Five Pillars are reflection of the beliefs because the focus is about professing the unity of God and the messenger of Muhammad. The faithful are expected to tell others of Allah so they can make inform decisions in their lives. They have to practice the religion through the Five Pillars of Islam, doing so allows them continuous insight into what the religion is teaching. Each pillar. The Five Pillars of Islam consists of daily prayers, fasting, belief and witness, Zakat or spiritual tithing and almsgiving, and hajj, which is the pilgrimage to Mecca. All of these are aimed toward having a closing walk or relationship with God. Although adhering to the Five Pillar of Islam is an essential part of the Islamic faith, I find that prayer five times a day is not an easy task. You really have to be committed and faithful in your spiritual journey to practice this ritual. You would also have to know the Qur’an extremely well because you have to recite prayers and passages from the Qur’an in order to do the daily prayers. The other issue I would have is finding a place of solitude when praying. This is not an easy thing to maneuver especially when working in busy offices and especially when working in a health institution. The easiest would be the...
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...the Mecca. Prayers are usually recited from the Qur’an. To Muslims, remembrance of God is an everyday obligation. The Third Pillar and belief is Zakat. This belief is to prevent greed and is to basically “share the wealth”. Muslims must donate at least 2 1/2% of their wealth to people in need. It’s usually done at the end of each year. The Fourth Pillar and belief is fasting. Technically the only required fast is during Ramadan. Many Muslims fast several times a year. When fasting, one must give up smoking, sex, food and drink. All Muslims do participate except children, pregnant women and women who are nursing their children. Fasting is believed to cleanse the body from impurities. The Fifth Pillar and last belief is the Hajj – the pilgrimage to Mecca. This is a ritual designed to bring Muslims closer to God. All Muslims are expected to make the trip at least once on their lifetime. There is a series of rituals that are incorporated in the pilgrimage. It’s considered the core of the Muslim community. Of the Five Pillars, I would find the Second Pillar – praying the easiest to do. Praying is something probably everyone should do. To most of us, it usually happens before you go to sleep. However, I do believe that I could take time out of my day to meditate and pray to God several times. The hardest of the Five Pillars to fulfill...
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...wash themselves (Fisher, 2005), face toward Mecca, and recite the prayer they learned as children. 3. The Zakat or almsgiving is the pillar that helps remind followers to help those who are less fortunate (Fisher, 2005) with two to ten percent of one’s income and is expected to be given voluntarily. 4. Sawm or Fasting takes place during the month of Ramadan during which time no food, drink, smoking, or even sexual intercourse is to take place during daylight hours. Daylight hours are currently determined using a computer, however prior to the use of computers it was generally understood among followers the day began when there was enough light to distinguish between a black and white thread (Fisher, 2005). 5. The last pillar known as Hajj or the Pilgrimage is the one that requires all Muslims to make the trip to their holy city of Mecca located in Saudi Arabia. According to this pillar the trip is to be made during the month of Dhu-al-Hijjah which translates to “The month of pilgrimage” (Fisher, 2005) and may be the only trip a follower makes to Mecca in their entire life. After researching this topic I believe the easiest pillar to...
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...fortunate. Many Muslims have a belief that the more they give, the more they will be rewarded spiritually. Prayer- it is the Muslim belief to pray 5 times a day. These prayers are to be done at specific times of the day; dawn, noon, afternoon, at sunset and finally, nightfall. They can be conducted in any place, as long as it is clean, but the preference would be in a mosque with others as a reminder that all Muslims are equal and that any color or social status have no importance to God. Fasting- during the Muslim month of Ramadan, each Muslim must not drink or eat and abstain from sexual activity, from dawn to sunset In addition to strengthening a person’s will, it allows the body needed rest, increased a person’s commitment to God . Hajj- the journey to Mecca Muslims believe that followers must make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least one in their lives in order to get closer to God, provided a person can do so physically and financially able to . This is also a reminder that...
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...FESTIVAL 1) EID UL FITR 2) EID UL ADHA Eid is a Arabic word it means festival. There are two big festivals in Muslim culture 1) Eid ul Fitr and 2) Eid ul Adha. These two Eids festivals we celebrated in two different Islamic Lunar months all around the world. On the day of Eid people enjoy and express happiness and offer prayers in the form of group.....usually they gather in an Open land or in a Mosque and tonnes of people join together and pray in congregation and ask Allah ( The God ) for His blessing, forgiveness of all sins and ask for success in this life and hereafter that is good life. Also they ask for the true path to live in this life and get forgiveness for all sins and get destination that is heaven, which Muslims believe will bring success in this life and hereafter only if they lead this life on true path, never lie, never harm to others with their hand and with their tongue and believe uniformity in all human beings and are never proud on themself and we think God has blessed us with this quality and we are always thankful to our god and try to help others especially the poor, before all should have faith in the Oneness of God. So it is clear that Eid celebration is not only an expression of our happiness but also it express the spiritual happiness. After Eid prayers and meeting on the occasion of Eid , people hug eachother. Eid is the time to spread happiness, love and triumph thereby creating enthusiasm among all the family members. EID UL FITR festival...
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...Islam and the direction in which all Muslims should offer their prayers. The Ka'ba is believed to be the first place that was created on earth and the place at which heavenly bliss and power touches the earth directly. Mecca is located in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. The city lies inland seventy-three kilometers (forty-five miles) east of Jeddah, in the narrow, sandy Valley of Abraham. The Journey to Mecca The Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Every Muslim is told that they must go at least once in their lifetime if they can afford to do so. The pilgrimage occurs every year on dates that vary because the Islamic calendar has never been updated from a lunar base (Draper, J. 2009). In Mecca, there is a mosque, with a central building called the Ka’bah. This building is said to have been built by Abraham, around 2000BC. Everyone who visits the Ka’bah walks counter-clockwise around it seven times. Muslims walk around Kaaba holding hands as a show of solidarity among themselves and their submission unto God. The pilgrimage or the Hajj is performed, because this is what Mohamed did in the 7th century. During peak times there are as many as 2 million pilgrims walking around the temple and they each kiss a “Black Stone”, which is said to possibly be an old meteorite, which is positioned in the corner. There are other ceremonies that each pilgrim must perform, and these ceremonies are meant to commemorate the trials of the Prophet Abraham and his family, but...
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