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Hajj In Islam |
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Hajj means an object and a desire. In shariah the literal meaning of hajj is to have a desire with the intention of worship in Makkah in the fixed days. The most important part of this worship is the stay in the land of Arafat. For which the date 9th of Zulhajjah is fixed.
This worship is an obligation once in the life for those well-off and wealthy people who have the means and resources to reach the house of Allah, and have both the expenses of journey and the ability to perform it. The obligation of hajj is evident from the Holy quraan and Hadith. In the Holy Quraan Allah has specially stressed:
In this worse it is told that the attitude of a person having the ability, if, avoids to perform Hajj, is that of a disbeliever. In an hadieht the holy prophet said, " O people, Hajj is ordained for you , so you must perform Hajj ."
Hajj is a combination of physical and fiscal worships. In it there is prayer
like namaz , hunger and thrust like fasts, abstinence from physical desires and fiscal
sacrifice like zakat. This is the reason that Holy Prophet PBUH) used hard words for those
who having the ability do not perform Hajj. The Holly Prophet Contrary to this there is a promise of such a great reward beyond expectations for that person who performs Hajj correctly, The Holy Prophet PBUH said, In the light of the Hadith the theologists have written that during Hajj a full opertunity is available for the purification of heart, and after performing Hajj the Hajji comes back purified;
When a pilgrim travels by sea, land or air for Hajj there comes a place about twenty (20) miles away from Makkah at which he makes an actual intention. Such a place is called Meeqat. It is a sin to proceed from this place with out the intention of Hajj. The meeqat of Pakistani Pilgrims who travel by sea is the station of "Yalamlam" when the ship passes from this place all the pilgrims start intending fop Hajj.
The steps of Iharam are these: For Men The pilgrim after taking Ghusal, puts off his clothes and putts on two sheets of cloth. One of them is folded round the loins; the other is thrown over the neck and shoulder. This is the garb of men. For Women The Ihram of women is this: besides the traditional garments a scarf is tied on the head so that her hair may not be seen. Then after performing two rakaats of Nafal the pilgrim prays that:
After assuming Ihram the Pilgrim goes ahead and his life is changed, clad in two sheets, day and night. Wearing of sewn clothes, perfumes, hunting, hair dressing, cutting of nails, nonsense talk, all are forbidden. With great devotion and concentration the pilgrim with intervals says these words of supplication (Du’a) called "Talbiya":
Reaching Makkah they first go to the Khana Kaba (Sacred House). You know that in a corner of Kaba there is a blessed stone which is called " Hijray asawad". From starting, their seven rounds are completed around Khana Kaba . Combination of these seven rounds is called "Tawaf". Around the Kahana Kaba there is a mosque called " Masjiday Haram". In Masjiday Haram there is aplace called the place of Ibrahim where the pilgrim. After tawaf, performs two rakkat of Namaz, and coming out of Masjiday Haram thet run in between two hills, ‘Safa’ and ‘Marwa’ seven times. This run is called ‘sayi’. After that the pilgrim remain in the same dress while living in Makkah and when ever he get a chance he earns the blessings by performing twaf.
On 8th Zulahaja , the pilgrims move to Minna situated at a distance of 41/2 Km away from Makkah, and spending their night . There they move to Arafat at a distance of 9 Km before Zuhar Prayer. And after performing the prayers of zuhar and assar in combination they listen the sermon of ameer of Hajj till night or they keep themselves busy in praying, or on reaching arafat on 9th of Zulhaja before night. They stay with the pilgrims called "Waquf’. This is the most important step of Hajj after assuming Ihram. There is no Hajj of a person with out his presence at this time.
After the sunset the pilgrim return from Araafat and reach Muzdalfa which is at a distance of 4 miles and perform their prayers of Maghrib and Ishaa combined at the time of Ishaa. The pilgrims spend the night, and on next morning at rising of the sun they move from Muzdalfa to Minna.
In Mina there are three up right stones at some distance from one another they are called Jamray. In there stay from 10 to 13 Zulhaja, the pilgrims throw pebbles at them. This is called rummy. On 10th only one is stoned, and on other days, the rest of them are stoned, with the performance of Rummy on the 10th of Zulahaja most of the bindings of Hajj, on the pilgrim are released. After rummy the pilgrims offer their Sacrifice ( Qurbani) , and then they can get their haircut , or shaved.
After offering Sacrifice the pilgrims reach Makkah on the same day and perform Tawaf of the Kahana Kaba as it is mentioned before. This twawf is the second important step of Hajj, with out which Hajj remains incomplete. On performing Twawaf and running in between Safa and Marwa the pilgrims again go back to Mina. After performing Rummy on 11. 12 & 13 of Zulhaja they come back to Makkah, and Last time they perform a farewell Twaaf. From the previous details you may have come to know that it is necessary to reach Makkah before 9th of Zulahaja and Hajj can only be performed on these dates. In Hajj Ihram, stay in arafat and Twafa Ziarat are the Three obligations, sai, running between safa and Marwa, rummy, Farewell Twaf, Shaving of hair, stay in Muzdalfa etc. are few steps which are compulsory, and the rest are either Sunnah or recommended .
Leaving the fixed days of Hajj (9th to 11th of Zulhaja ) there is short method of Ziarat of Khana Kaba in other days. In it after assuming Ihram the Twaf of Khana Kaba and Sai between Safa and Marwa are performed. It is called Ummera. Umerra can be performed at any time through out the year.
Madina is situated at a distance of about 448 Km from Makkah , here is the Tomb of the Prophet ( PBUH) All though the journey to Madina is not a part of Hajj, yet people afford to spend thousands of Rupees and travel miles and miles to reach there. They have the desire to avail the opportunity of the ziaarat of Madina. In this journey therefore the pilgrims either before the start of Hajj, or after completing the Hajj avails the opportunity of visiting Madina.
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The importance of Hajj 
said,