6 rites of Hajj and what they mean

Every act of worship begins with niyya, the resolve in the heart to perform it for God. The Prophet said, “Actions are by intentions.”^[2] Hajj begins when the pilgrim forms the intention at the boundary and says Labbayka Allahumma labbayk (Here I am, O God, at Your service).^[3]

The boundaries, called mawāqīt, were fixed by the Prophet for pilgrims coming from different directions, so the place where a pilgrim enters the state of ihram depends on the road he or she travelled. The pilgrim can choose among three forms of the journey: the hajj alone, the hajj together with the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumra) in one state of ihram, or the ʿumra first and the hajj afterwards. The Quran refers to the combined form when it says to complete the hajj and the ʿumra for God (2:196).^[4]

A reader may ask why the intention matters when the rites are visible. The jurists answered that the intention is what makes an action worship and not travel or exercise. The words of the talbiya declare it aloud, and the heart holds it.

Men wear two unsewn white cloths and women their ordinary modest dress. The Quran states the conduct of the pilgrim: no sexual relations, no wickedness and no quarrelling during the hajj (2:197), and hunting is forbidden while in ihram (5:95).^[5] The pilgrim also avoids perfume, cutting hair and nails.

The reports add that a man in ihram does not wear sewn clothing or cover his head, and that a woman in ihram does not wear a face veil or gloves.^[6] The equal dress removes marks of rank, so that kings and labourers stand alike.

A fair objection is that the equal dress is visible only among the men, since women dress in ordinary modest clothes. That is correct. The levelling of rank in clothing belongs to the men, and the rules of conduct in 2:197 apply to men and women alike.

Ismail al Faruqi reads the plain white cloth as a statement of equality: wealth, class, office and learning are set aside, and every pilgrim stands before God as one creature among others.^[7]

Pilgrims circle the Kaaba seven times, counter-clockwise, with the House on the left. The Quran commands the pilgrims to circle the Ancient House (22:29) and says it was raised by Abraham and Ishmael (2:127).^[8]

Circling is not worship of the building. Umar, kissing the Black Stone, is reported to have said, “I know you are only a stone, which can neither harm nor benefit; had I not seen the Prophet kiss you, I would not.”^[9] The Kaaba marks the direction of prayer and the place of the first house built for the worship of God (3:96).

Critics point out that the Arabs circled the Kaaba before Islam, and some conclude that the rite is a pagan survival. Muslim scholars reply that the Quran presents the House as Abraham’s, that the pagans had placed idols around it, and that the Prophet removed those idols. The act was restored to its purpose and did not change in form.

Pilgrims walk seven times between two small hills, as Hagar did in search of water for her infant son Ishmael, until the spring of Zamzam flowed.^[10] The rite keeps a woman’s anguish and trust at the centre of the pilgrimage.

The Quran does not tell Hagar’s story. It says that Safa and Marwa are among the signs of God, and that there is no blame on the pilgrim who goes between them (2:158).^[11] Aisha explained the wording of the verse: some of the Ansar, the Prophet’s helpers in Medina, had hesitated to perform the walk because in the pre-Islamic period idols had stood on the two hills, and the verse removed that hesitation.

The story of Hagar comes from a long report of Ibn Abbas in al-Bukhari. The jurists also differ on the rite’s weight: most hold it a pillar of the pilgrimage, while the Hanafis count it obligatory and allow a sacrifice to make up for a lapse.

On the ninth of Dhu al-Hijja the pilgrims stand on the plain of Arafat from noon to sunset, praying and asking forgiveness. The Prophet said, “Hajj is Arafat.”^[12] A pilgrim who misses the day has not completed the Hajj. The schools differ on exactly how much of the afternoon and night counts, though all agree the standing must fall between noon of the ninth and dawn of the tenth.

The Quran tells the pilgrims to remember God when they pour out from Arafat and to ask his forgiveness (2:198–199).^[13] The plain is the place the Prophet gave his Farewell Sermon, which declared life and property sacred, and said that no Arab is superior to a non-Arab, nor a white man to a black man, except in God-consciousness.^[14]

The sermon is the clearest answer to the charge that the pilgrimage is a tribal or national event. It was addressed to the whole community and set equality as its own standard, a standard the pilgrims restate each year by standing together on one plain.

Al Faruqi notes the practical consequence. A pilgrim prevented from some rites by sickness or accident still completes the hajj, while one who misses the standing at Arafat does not, which marks Arafat as the core of the pilgrimage.^[15] The pilgrims gather there around the place where the Prophet delivered his farewell sermon in the year 632.^[16]

On the tenth, the festival of sacrifice, pilgrims throw pebbles at three pillars at Mina, recalling Abraham’s rejection of Satan’s temptation, and then sacrifice an animal in memory of Abraham’s offering of his son, which God replaced with a ram.^[17] The meat is given to the poor. After shaving or trimming the hair, the pilgrim leaves the state of ihram.

The Quran tells the story of the vision and the ransom with “a great sacrifice” (37:102–107) and does not name the son. Classical commentators differed over whether he was Ishmael or Isaac, and many, including Ibn Kathir, held that it was Ishmael, whose home was Mecca. The stoning is tied to Abraham in a report attributed to Ibn Abbas, while the Prophet’s own practice, throwing seven pebbles, is recorded in the report of Jabir.^[18]

Some people find animal sacrifice troubling. The Quran says that the flesh and blood of the animals do not reach God, and that what reaches him is the piety of the giver (22:37), while telling the pilgrims to feed the poor and the needy (22:28). The Prophet ordered that slaughter be done with kindness and a sharp knife.^[19]