Return To Mecca Pdf Printer
The Black Stone at Mecca!! The goddess mother was represented by a METEORITE STONE.
MECCA — The Hajj is no longer an old person's ritual as a new generation of youthful Muslim pilgrims has transformed both the annual rites and Mecca itself. 'The younger you are, the easier it is,' says Saniah, a British pilgrim who, at 25, was on her second trip to Islam's holiest site in Saudi Arabia. 'Twelve years ago my family and I came for umrah,' the lesser pilgrimage which can be performed throughout the year, she says, elegantly veiled in green and black. This year, Saniah returned for the Hajj because it is a religious obligation and 'a radical change of life', said the Briton, preferring not to give her last name.
Saniah is among roughly 1.5 million people from across the world attending the Hajj which formally began on Saturday. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which capable Muslims must perform at least once, marking the spiritual peak of their lives. A can of soft drink in one hand and a cone of French fries in the other, Saniah eats with her husband at one of the many modern commercial centres dotted around the Grand Mosque in Mecca after performing Friday prayers. 'In early generations young people waited to be old before doing the pilgrimage,' Saniah says. 'But the new generations, we're more aware of our religious obligations.' 'Spending on the spiritual' Smiling, she adds that the long Hajj marches and prayers under a burning sun 'are easier to bear when you're young'.
Omar Saghi, author of 'Paris-Mecca, Sociology of the Pilgrimage', says the Hajj is no longer 'the mystical horizon of an entire life but a rational event' which has become almost routine. Mohammed, 33, who travelled to the Hajj with his wife from Paris, says a number of their friends have already performed the Hajj. Their travel agency told them it is also sending many other young couples. 'The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam,' says Mohammed, a physical education teacher. 'It's an obligation and so, as soon as we had the means and while we're healthy, we decided to do it,' he says, waiting in line at a luminous fast food counter with his wife Madiha, 28, a student of education science. 'Rather than buy material things like a car, better to spend our money on something that is going to benefit us on a spiritual level,' she says.
Mohamed Khazma, who works on the security team at a hospital in Tripoli, Libya, is searching for a table to eat his fried chicken. At 27, he says he is delighted he was able to gather enough money to come to Mecca, because 'it's an opportunity that not everybody has'. 'Far from Abraham' The rising number of such young people, 'more educated and already used to tourism and mass consumption', has slowly helped to change the face of Mecca, the author Saghi says.
'The big [advertising] signs, the big companies, capture this new clientele that the classical market of hotels and family restaurants can't satisfy,' he says. Saniah recalls that, during her first visit to Mecca 12 years ago, they ate in the street. 'It's a lot better [now]. We have the option of five-star service.'
Khazma, however, wants nothing to do with the shopping centres, their air conditioning, restaurants and shops. 'I forget all of that,' says the young man with a short trimmed beard and long grey jalabiya robe. 'I take my Koran, some dates and some water and I stay in the Grand Mosque from afternoon until the middle of the night,' says Khazma.
Mohammed also says he is sometimes uncomfortable with all the modern conveniences which are 'very far from the time of Abraham and the harshness of the desert' thousands of years ago. He says he and his wife were obliged to accept their travel agent's plan and hotel to perform the pilgrimage in the footsteps, they believe, of the Prophet Mohammed and Abraham before him. 'But we often wonder if all of that is in line with our spiritual quest,' Mohammed says.
'The shops, the luxury, the commercial centres, it clouds the spiritual aspect.'
MECCA, Saudi Arabia — More than 2 million Muslims from around the world began the Hajj pilgrimage at Islam's holiest sites Wednesday, a religious duty and an epic multi- stage journey. This year sees pilgrims from Shiite Iran return to Mecca in Saudi Arabia after a hiatus following a diplomatic spat between the regional rivals and a deadly stampede in 2015.
On the esplanade of Mecca's Grand Mosque, the excitement was palpable as crowds from all four corners of the world gathered for a pilgrimage that all able Muslims are required to perform at least once in their lives. Tidjani Traore, a public service consultant from Benin, said he was on his 22nd pilgrimage at the age of 53. 'Every time, there are new emotions,' he said. 'There are new innovations for organising and hosting the pilgrims. Now, for example, the tents are air-conditioned.' Wearing the simple garb of the pilgrim, the faithful waited at dawn with their suitcases for buses to take them to Mina, five kilometres to the east. There, hundreds of thousands will gather before setting off on Thursday at dawn to climb Mount Arafat, the pinnacle of the Hajj.
First, however, they must perform a ritual walk known as the tawaf seven times around the Kaaba, a black masonry cube wrapped in a heavy silk cloth embroidered in gold with Koranic verses at the centre of Mecca's Grand Mosque. The shrine is the point towards which Muslims around the world pray. 'I still have to finish the tawaf!' Said a breathless Nour, 30, from Saudi Arabia as she rushed past without stopping. Sitting on a folding chair in the middle of the esplanade, Risvana cradled her six-month-old baby who is accompanying her on the pilgrimage. 'I've planned everything for him,' said the young mother, pointing to a bottle of water in her bag. Tight security Saudi authorities have mobilised vast resources including more than 100,000 security personnel to avoid a repeat of the stampede in 2015 in which nearly 2,300 people were killed.
Iran alone reported 464 deaths — the highest toll among foreigners. Riyadh and Tehran cut ties months later, after the execution of a Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia sparked attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.
Iranian pilgrims were absent from last year's Hajj for the first time in decades after the regional rivals failed to agree on security and logistics. This year’s pilgrimage comes amid a diplomatic crisis between a Saudi-led bloc of Arab countries and Qatar, accused of supporting extremist groups and being too close to Riyadh’s arch-rival Tehran. Although Saudi Arabia relaxed entry restrictions across its land border with the emirate two weeks before the Hajj, Qatar said only a few dozen of its nationals were able to join the pilgrimage. This year the colossal religious gathering comes with the Daesh terror group under growing pressure having lost swathes of territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria. But the extremist group continues to claim attacks in the Middle East and Europe. Years of anticipation On the esplanade of the Grand Mosque, Saudi authorities had placed misting fans to take the edge off the intense heat.
On the eve of the first rites of the pilgrimage, the walkways thronged with people and the smell of musk wafted through the air. Sitting in the shade of trees or reinforced concrete bridges, the faithful waited patiently for the next call to prayer. Others continued their march, protected by a prayer mat or a small umbrella fixed on the head with an elastic band. Several times throughout the day, well-run teams of employees, mostly Asian, cleaned the esplanade with jets of water. As the hour for prayer arrived, a young woman sat at a table in an ice cream shop and prayed, her hands crossed on her knees. A few paces from the Kaaba, Egyptian pilgrim Fatiya Taha could not hide her joy.
At 67 the oldest in her group, she sat in her wheelchair in Islam’s holiest spot. “I’ve been looking forward to this pilgrimage for four years,” she said.