Hajj, 'Umrah & the Islamic Calendar

Before the Hajj is complete, pilgrims must return to Mecca to perform a "farewell tawaf" around the Ka'bah. Image by Fadi El Binni [CC BY-SA 2.0]

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. May peace and blessings be upon the Chief of the Messengers, Muhammad.

Indeed it is a great favour and blessing from Allah that He has made for His righteous servants periods of time within which they can increase in good deeds to attain great rewards and one of these opportunistic periods is the first ten days of Dhu'l-Hijjah (the final month of the Islamic Calendar, in which the Hajj is performed).

A group of men praying at Arafah (picture by Al Jazeera English)

The ninth day of Dhu'l-Hijjah (the 12th and final month of the Islamic calendar) is the Day of 'Arafah. It is the day when pilgrims stand on the plain of 'Arafah to pray. On this day, Muslims all over the world who do not witness the annual Hajj should spend the day in fasting, in preparation for the three days festivity following 'Eid ul-Adha (the celebration marking the end of the Hajj commemorating the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness of sacrifice).

Bottled Water Macros December 02, 20106 by Steven Depolo [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)], via Flickr

Praise be to Allah.

Imam ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "Zamzam water is the best and noblest of all waters, the highest in status, the dearest to people, the most precious and valuable to them. It was dug by Jibril and is the water with which Allah quenched the thirst of Isma'il."

Most Muslims who travel from the West in order to perform Hajj will perform Hajj Tamatt’u, or the Separated Hajj (i.e. the 'Umrah and Hajj will be performed separately, and Ihram will be removed in between the two). This method of performing Hajj also means that the pilgrim does not have to bring a hadiye (sacrificial animal) with him from the point of miqat, and so is often the choice for pilgrims travelling from outside of the Arabian Peninsula.

Reading from a prayer book by Omar Chatriwala [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Flickr

The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, "He who performs Hajj and does not speak obscenely or commit evil will return clean from his sins just as the day his mother gave birth to him." [Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. 2, p. 347, no. 596] If he did so, his Hajj would be righteous (mabrur). Allah's Messenger sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, "The righteous hajj has no lesser reward than Jannah (Paradise)." [Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, p. 680, no. 3127]