The Hajj: one journey that links communities across the world
Grade 6 · Social Studies, Grade 6 · 60 min · intro
Mapped by the museum, not endorsed by the Ministry.
A Grade 6 lesson on the Hajj as a global network: what pilgrims do in Mecca, where they have come from for centuries, and how a Muslim community in Canada today is linked to the world through this journey.
Curriculum mapping
- Ontario, Canada
- Social Studies, Grade 6 G6-SS
- Grade
- 6
- Strand
- A · Heritage and Identity: Communities in Canada, Past and Present
- Overall expectations
- A2, A3
- What the lesson does, in the museum's words
- The lesson supplies the historical and geographical matter of a practice that defines a contemporary religious community in Canada: the Hajj. The museum provides the journey, its stages and its history; the teacher adds the experience of a local Muslim community (a neighbourhood mosque, a family, a guest), so that students investigate that community's perspective and aspects of its life, as the strand asks.
- Curriculum document consulted
- The Ontario Curriculum: Social Studies, Grades 1 to 6; History and Geography, Grades 7 and 8, 2023 (dcp.edu.gov.on.ca)
- Codes checked on
- 23 October 2026 CE · 12 Jumada I 1448 AH†
Mapped by the museum, not endorsed by the Ministry.
Lesson goal
Students explain the stages of the Hajj and show how one journey links communities in many countries, including their own in Canada.
Sixty minutes: fifteen for the stages on a map, twenty for the two historical steps, twenty-five for the local-community step and the worksheet. The museum has no records yet on Muslims in Canada; that step belongs to the teacher and the guest.
Print the pack: teacher page, worksheet and answer key Classroom quiz Walk this pathway
Lesson steps
Walk this pathway
9steps · 60min · teacher · student · intro
What is the Hajj?
A journey to Mecca once in a lifetime for those who are able, on set days of the year.
Mecca and the Kaaba
The city Muslims face in prayer, and the House they walk around.
Tawaf, circling the Kaaba
Seven circuits around the Kaaba: what the pilgrim does and says.
The day of Arafat
The most important day of the Hajj: standing on a wide plain from noon to sunset.
Mina and the Eid
The tent days at Mina, and Eid al-Adha, which Muslims across the world celebrate on the same day.
A king from Mali goes on Hajj
Mansa Musa travelled from Timbuktu to Mecca in 1324 with a great caravan: the Hajj seven centuries ago.
A traveller from Morocco
Ibn Battuta set out for the Hajj and travelled the world for thirty years, writing down what he saw.
A calendar the world keeps
The Hijri calendar fixes the days of the Hajj and the Eid for every Muslim in any country.
From Canada to Mecca
The teacher's step: how does a Muslim community in your town prepare for the Hajj and the Eid? Invite someone to tell it.
What you now know
Mastery check
Five questions on what you walked through. Marked on your device; nothing is kept but the stamp in your passport when you pass.
Marking needs JavaScript; the questions and their key read and print without it.
Answer key (for the teacher)
- How many times must an able Muslim perform the Hajj? — Once in a lifetime(Learn it at step 1: What is the Hajj?)
- What is tawaf? — Walking around the Kaaba seven times(Learn it at step 3: Tawaf, circling the Kaaba)
- Where do pilgrims stand on the most important day of the Hajj? — At Arafat(Learn it at step 4: The day of Arafat)
- Where did Mansa Musa come from for the Hajj? — From Mali in West Africa(Learn it at step 6: A king from Mali goes on Hajj)
- Why do Muslims in many countries celebrate Eid al-Adha on the same day? — Because they follow one calendar(Learn it at step 8: A calendar the world keeps)
Tell it back
Tell what you learned in your own words. What you write stays on this device only, and no one else reads it.
- I can put the main stages of the Hajj in order.
- I can give two historical examples of pilgrims who came from far away.
- I can explain how a community in Canada is linked to the world through one journey.
Writing here needs JavaScript; the prompts read and print without it.
Write at least two sentences, or tick that you told it, to earn the stamp in your passport.
Worksheet
Answer in your own words after each step; every question points back to a museum page.
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Draw the route: from the pilgrim's home to Mecca, then Arafat, then Mina. What happens at each place?
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Mansa Musa and Ibn Battuta: where did each come from, and in which century?
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Why do Muslims in Canada, Indonesia and Egypt celebrate the Eid on the same day?
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Write one question you would ask a pilgrim from your community.
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What links your local community with a city thousands of kilometres away?
Free and open: print, quote and adapt, with no account and no student data.