Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland

THE WORSHIPFUL ACTS t 225
desacralization. As already noted, the pilgrim must sacrifice an animal—this
is the id al-adha celebrated by the entire Muslim
world—though some Muslim legal experts permit, on the basis of
Quran 2:196, ten days of fasting (three on the hajj, seven later) as
an acceptable substitute for this blood sacrifice.
Note: Sacrifice, precisely animal sacrifice, which was the primary
form of worship in temple Judaism and, in its eucharistic transformation,
is still at the liturgical heart of Christianity, was a feature of pre-
Islamic ritual at Mecca. Although it was given to humankind by God
through Abraham, and the ritual is even described in its pages, the
Quran expresses certain reservations regarding animal sacrifice (22:
32–36; cf. 5:106). The practice was nonetheless imposed on Muslims
(sura 108), principally in the performance of the now prescribed pilgrimage.
At the “festival of the sacrifice” (id al-adha or id al-qurban)
that occurs at Mina on the tenth day of the hajj month, the offering
must be a herd animal—it is possible to share the expenses of offering
a large animal—whose head is turned toward the Kaaba and whose
throat is slit, much in the manner and intent of Jewish temple sacrifice,
so that the blood drains out on the ground. Though it is permissible
to eat its flesh afterward (Quran 22:33), it is regarded as meritorious
to give it as food for the poor. At the same time this is being
done at Mina, other Muslims around the world join in the celebration
of the id al-adha by making, if they wish, their own animal sacrifice,
sharing the food with neighbors and the needy.
After the sacrifice the men’s heads are shaved, the women’s locks
lightly clipped, to signal the end of the ihram state—the sexual
prohibitions remain a short while longer. The pilgrims return to
Mecca, perform another tawaf, are sprinkled with water from the
well of Zamzam, and then bathe. The next three days, the eleventh,
twelfth, and thirteenth of the month, complete the desacralization.
The pilgrims return to Mina, now entirely freed of all taboos.
On each of the three days the pilgrims again stone the great
pillar there, as well as two smaller ones. The hajj is then complete,
and though it is in no sense part of the ritual, many pilgrims pro-