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God belong the East and the West. He guides whom He will<br />
unto a straight path. / Thus We have appointed you a middle<br />
nation, that you may be witnesses over mankind, and that the<br />
messenger may be a witness over you. And We appointed the<br />
qiblah which you formerly observed only that We might know<br />
him who follows the messenger, from him who turns on his<br />
heels. In truth it was a hard (test) save for those whom God<br />
guided. But it was not God’s purpose that your faith should be<br />
in vain, for God is Full of Pity, Merciful toward mankind. /<br />
We have seen the turning of your face to heaven (for guidance,<br />
O Muhammad). And now verily We shall make you turn (in<br />
prayer) toward a qiblah which is dear to thee. So turn your face<br />
toward the Inviolable Place of Worship, and you (O Muslims),<br />
wheresoever you may be, turn your faces (when you pray)<br />
toward it. Lo! Those who have received the Scripture know<br />
that (this revelation) is the Truth from their Lord. And God<br />
is not unaware of what they do. (<strong>Al</strong>-Baqarah, 2:142–144; see<br />
also <strong>Al</strong>-Baqarah, 2:149–150)<br />
This also explains why during the Hajj ordinary actions like travelling<br />
(to Mecca); walking (when circumambulating the Ka‘bah);<br />
running (between the rocks of Safa and Marwah); merely looking at<br />
the Ka‘bah; touching (the Black Stone); throwing pebbles (at Iblis);<br />
standing (on Mount ‘Arafah); drinking (water from Zamzam); shaving<br />
one’s head (marking the end of the Ihram); sacrificing an animal<br />
(a garlanded sheep at the end of the pilgrimage); putting on and<br />
wearing certain ritual garments (the Ihram), and, above all, <strong>com</strong>ing<br />
to and being in a certain sacred place (that is, Mecca)—all be<strong>com</strong>e<br />
fully fledged sacred rites.24 They be<strong>com</strong>e rites because during the<br />
24 One can distinguish, in the realm of religion, between acts that are merely consecrated to<br />
God and acts that themselves constitute a religious rite, either through spiritual contemplation<br />
of that act or due to the intrinsically holy content of the act itself. For example, in Islam<br />
one may consecrate the act of reading a (necessarily noble) book to God by starting it with<br />
the Basmalah (In the Name of God, the Infinitely Good, the Ever-Merciful), but reading<br />
the Qur’an is in itself an actual prayer or religious rite, due to its being God’s Word.<br />
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