Pilgrimages are very important in every religion. Whether you are a Christian making a
pilgrimage to the Vatican, or a Muslim participating in the Hajj, partaking in the pilgrimage
deepens your faith. Today, I will be talking about the Islamic tradition of the Hajj. The Hajj is
still an important pilgrimage today as It is part of the very foundation of the Islamic faith. I will
talk about its origins; I will analyse it and discuss who and why people still go.

The Hajj dates back all the way to 2000 BC, during the time of Abraham. During this time,
Abraham, and his family were stranded in the desert. Hager ran back and forth between the
hills of Safa and Marwa to try to find water for Ishmael. She did this until the Angel Gabriel
appeared to her and sprung a spring of fresh water known as the Well of Zemzem. After this,
God ordered Abraham to build a monument which is known today as the Kaaba. The first
official Hajj was led by the prophet Mohammed in 630 AD to reclaim the site in the name of
Allah and destroy the idols placed there by the polytheistic worshipers. Mohammed walked
the same path that Abraham, and his family walked in the desert. He also climbed mount
Arafat, where he gave his last sermon. This is the path that modern Muslims follow today.
Terrence Lovat is a religious teacher who developed a program to analyse rituals. The
theory states: They leave the ordinary world and enter the ritual, they then engage in a
preparatory rite, they then perform the climax of the ritual, they then participate in a
celebration and then return to the world of the ordinary. This theory can easily be applied to
the Hajj. Entering the ritual is entering the state of Ihram. Ihram is the sacred state
of pilgrims when crossing the boundaries of Mecca. Whilst in Ihram, men must wear 2
unstitched pieces of cloth and women must wear something that covers the entire body and
they must wear their hijab. White signifies unity, and that everyone is equal. Most of the hajj
can be seen as a preparatory rite. After entering ihram, pilgrims will then walk to mina where
they spend the night praying. At dawn, the pilgrim’s hike to Arafat. They will spend the day in
prayer. At night, the pilgrims then move to Muzdalifah to sleep and collect pebbles. In the
morning the pilgrims walk back to Mina where they will partake in rami, which is stoning
three pillars. Stoning these pillars is symbolic of casting the devil out of your life, just as
Abraham did. After this the pilgrims have an animal slaughtered. Men will then shave their
head and change out of there ihram clothing. Then the pilgrims head to mecca where they
perform the climax. The climax is walking around the Kaaba 7 times which is known as
tawaf. Circling around the Kaaba 7 times is thought to be symbolic of the unity of believers in
the worship of one God. The celebratory rite is going back to stone the devil again. The
pilgrims then enter the world of the ordinary after performing a final “farewell” tawaf and then
leaving mecca. Why do pilgrims still take part in the hajj today, despite how the specificity of
the tasks.
Pilgrims still partake in this pilgrimage today, as it is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. The 5 pillars
of Islam are the most important rituals that Muslims practice. In the Quran, the holy text of
Islam it states that you are physically able, you must participate in the hajj once in your life. It
also goes very in-depth about how to do the hajj, and what you can and can’t do during the
hajj.
Out of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims, who goes? Due to the complexity of organizing such a
large mass of individuals, the Saudi Arabian government sets quotas every year of how
many Muslims from each country can participate in the hajj every year. Last year, the
estimated number of participants was 2.3 million Muslims. In 2012, after having 3 million
Muslims attend the hajj, the Saudi government started setting more strict quotas on the
number of participants. The reason that the pilgrims go is purely spiritual. In 2015, another
significant drop in participants occurred as an estimated 2000 Muslims were crushed in what
is now known today as the mina stampede.
The Hajj is still an important pilgrimage today as It is part of the very foundation of the
Islamic faith. This is because the hajj dates back to the very foundation of Islam, it is highly
ritualistic, it is highly spiritual, and millions of people still partake in it. The hajj is and will
always be an important part of Islam.
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Lovat Model. (2019). Retrieved, from
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Nast, C. (2019). The 10-Minute Mecca Stampede That Made History. Retrieved
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Soloway, Cook, Hannah, Toossi, Cook, Tooze, & Walt. (2019). Who Decides Who
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