Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland

THE WORSHIPFUL ACTS t 223
paganism, we have no real reason to think that Muhammad did
not participate in the hajj before his call to prophecy in 610, nor
indeed even after that date, at least until his departure for Medina.
He made the umra at Mecca in 629 and 630, and there were Muslims
on the hajj of 631, though not Muhammad himself. His first
and last Muslim hajj occurred in 632, the so-called Farewell Pilgrimage.
It was on that occasion that by word and example—his
sunna—he made whatever modifications were deemed necessary
to purify this ritual that in Muslim eyes had originally been instituted
by Abraham himself (Quran 22:27).
The hajj was not, at any time we can observe it, a single, unified
ritual act in the manner of a drama but a concatenation of barely
connected activities spread over a number of days. Or so it appears
to us since whatever etiological myths the Arabs once possessed to
explain these now baffling rituals are entirely lost. Perhaps they
had already disappeared by Muhammad’s own day. The Quran
provided the believers with their own properly Muslim explanations.
The hajj rituals were now understood in reference to Abraham
and his sojourn in Mecca. Here at Arafat Abraham stood and
prayed before God. Here at Mina he was bidden to sacrifice his
son and then given an animal in substitution. Here too Abraham
was tempted by Satan, and so the three “Satans” in the form of
pillars are stoned. And so on.
Besides the Haram or sanctuary area in the middle of town,
Mecca is surrounded by a larger taboo area that is marked by
points or “stations” along the main roads leading into the Holy
City. At or before he or she reaches one of those points, the pilgrim
must enter a taboo state, ihram or “haramization,” by undergoing
a complete ablution, donning a special garment made of two simple
white sheets, one tied around the waist and reaching the knees
and the other draped over the left shoulder and tied somewhere
beneath the right arm. Head and insteps must remain uncovered.
This is for the men; no particular dress is prescribed for the
women, though most are fully covered, head to toe, in white. This
garment and this alone is worn throughout the pilgrimage, and no
further washing or grooming is permitted. Nor are sexual relations:
any indulgence in the latter renders the hajj void.