Religious Affairs Office

Just as Eid al-Fitr, the Holiday of Breaking the Fast, celebrates the end of Ramadan, Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, celebrates the completion of the pilgrimage to Mecca. These are the only two holidays in the Islamic calendar, and each is related to one of the pillars of Islam. According to tradition, there are five pillars of Islam: professing faith in God and his prophet Muhammad, performing the five daily prayers, giving alms every year, fasting during the month of Ramadan and making the pilgrimage to Mecca. The pilgrimage is the only pillar that is carried out at least once in an individual’s’ life and only if health, time, money and other conditions allow.

The pilgrimage to Mecca is directly linked to the former temple of the Ka’ba (al-bayt al-ateeq). This cube-shaped building in the centre of Mecca represents the omphalos or navel of the world (surrat al-ard) for all Muslims, and determines the direction in which they pray (qibla). The iconic black stone is embedded in the southeastern corner of the Ka’ba, and a few metres away, we find two other major ritual elements: Abraham’s maqām and the zamzam well.

According to Islamic tradition, Abraham and his son Ishmael were the ones to rebuild the Ka’ba from its ancient foundations and bring back the tradition of pilgrimage to the site (Qur’an, II, 127 and 128). The Quraysh tribe, to which Muhammad’s family belonged, are among the descendants of Ishamel. This family’s responsibilities included taking care of the temple, organising the pilgrimage and looking after the pilgrims. It should be noted that the pilgrimage to the Ka’ba already took place long before the advent of Islam.

THE RITE OF THE ISLAMIC PILGRIMAGE

Muhammad established the definitive rite of Islamic pilgrimage the same year he died, 11 AH (632 CE), setting the dates of the pilgrimage as the 8th to the 13th of the lunar month of dhu al-hijja, one of the four sacred months of Islam. Bear in mind that dates on the Islamic calendar shift ten to eleven days backwards each year in relation to the Gregorian calendar.

There are two kinds of pilgrimage: the major, obligatory pilgrimage (hajj) and the lesser, voluntary pilgrimage (umra). The latter is an abbreviated form that only takes into account the initial rites at Mecca and can be carried out at any point in the year. Umra is not a substitute for hajj, but they can be combined, which means that there are three ways to perform the obligatory pilgrimage.

The first rite on the first day of the obligatory pilgrimage (yawm at-tarwiya) consists of entering into the state of ihram, which involves expressing a sincere intention (niyyah) and committing to a series of restrictions.

Those who intend to complete a combined pilgrimage begin an introductory umra with the following rites: circling the Ka’ba (tawaf al-qudūm) seven times, praying at Abraham’s maqām and running (sa’ee) seven times between the nearby hills of Safa and Marwa. The umra concludes with the rite of men completely shaving (halq) their heads and women trimming the tips of their hair.

The rite of running between the hills of Safa and Marwa is performed in honour of Hagar, Abraham’s wife, and their son Ishmael when they were running in search of water. It was then that, according to tradition, God caused the zamzam well to gush forth before Ishamel’s feet. The rite of running complements the rite of circumambulation. In both cases, we find three geometric elements playing the same symbolic role: central or starting point, radius of movement, and circular or arrival point.

This is when the great pilgrimage truly begins. The pilgrims declare that they are in a state of ihram and travel to Mina, an expanse with tents located twenty kilometres from Mecca, where they collect water and spend the night.

On the second day (yawm Arafa), they visit Mount Arafat, fifteen kilometres from Mina. It was on this hill that Muhammad received the confirmation of the excellence of Islam. After the sun goes down, the pilgrims travel nine more kilometres to Muzdalifah, where they spend the night.

On the third day (yawm an-nahr), the pilgrims collect pebbles from the ground in Muzdalifah and in the early morning return to Mina, where they perform the following rites: stoning (rami) of three stone pillars surrounded by a short wall (jamra), sacrificing or offering a lamb (qurbān or udhiya), another shaving of the head, and returning to Mecca to again circle the Ka’ba seven times (tawaf al-ifadah) and run seven times between Safa and Marwa.

Finally, the pilgrims come to the final three days of the pilgrimage (ayyam at-tashreeq), during which the sacrificed meat was traditionally dried. On the fourth and fifth day they return to Mina to complete two more days of stoning the pillars, and those who have not yet performed the tawaf al-ifadah have the opportunity to do so. On the sixth and final day, they finally leave Mina and travel to Mecca to perform the seven farewell rotations around the Ka’ba (tawaf al-wada).

Traditionally, the pilgrimage concludes with a visit to the Prophet’s tomb in Medina, approximately 450 km north of Mecca.

THE FEAST OF THE SACRIFICE

During the third day of the pilgrimage, the tenth day of the month of dhu al-hijja, the feast of the sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) takes place all over the Islamic world in communion with the pilgrims at Mina.  This celebration is also known as Eid al-Kabeer, the major festival, or festival of the lamb, even though this name is not strictly Islamic.

The two Islamic holidays are always celebrated with an early morning prayer, accompanied by a short address from the imam. These holidays last for three days so that people have time to visit each other and spend time with their families.

In northwest and central Africa, the feast of the sacrifice is also known as the tabaski festival. Several different explanations have been proposed as to the origins of this name, but most records suggest that it dates back to an ancient Egyptian holiday celebrating the sacrifice to Osiris. If this is true, the terms tabaski or tafaska and the Jewish Pessah would have the same etymological origin and would be a reinterpretation of a sacrificial rite with the lamb as the focal point. In Islam, the sacrifice of a lamb during the pilgrimage recalls the story, also recognised by the Judeo-Christian tradition, of how God tested Abraham by ordering him to sacrifice his own son; however, Muslims believe it was Ishmael, and not Isaac, who served as the sacrificial lamb.