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A journey to Mecca to perform special rites. A Muslim makes it once in a lifetime if able.

The Hajj is a journey to Mecca, where Muslims perform known rites, such as circling the Kaaba and standing at Arafat. Whoever is able to make the way makes it once in a lifetime.

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The journey to the Sacred House at Mecca to perform prescribed rites, one of the five pillars of Islam. The Qur'an makes it a duty for those able to make the way there, and tells of the call to proclaim it to the people. The Hajj includes the state of ihram, circling the Kaaba, running between Safa and Marwa, standing at Arafat, spending the night at Muzdalifa and at Mina, and throwing the pebbles. The books of sira tell of the Prophet ﷺ's pilgrimage and the Farewell Sermon. This entry presents the Hajj as a global journey where Muslims gather from many countries, and refers the details of the rites to the entry on the Hajj in law.

Overview

Hajj is purpose — or purpose toward a great object — and in usage the purpose of a specific place, the Sacred House and 'Arafa, at a specific time, the months of hajj, to perform specific acts: the standing at 'Arafa, tawaf and sa'y for the majority, under specific conditions. ¹

Its relation to 'umra

'Umra is the purpose of the House for tawaf and sa'y; hajj contains its acts and adds to them. ¹

Ruling

Hajj is an individual obligation on every legally capable person once in a lifetime, a pillar of Islam established by Book, Sunna and consensus — "owed to God by the people is hajj to the House, for whoever can make his way to it; and whoever disbelieves — God needs nothing of the worlds" — the phrasing of obligation itself, and disbelief placed opposite the command, proves the obligation. ¹

From Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's Tafsir lectures (episode 2)

The Sheikh explains the word thajj as pouring forth, and cites a hadith he relates from the Prophet ﷺ that the best Hajj is al-'ajj and al-thajj, al-'ajj being the raising of the voice with takbir as he puts it, and al-thajj the shedding of blood (needs_source) ².

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Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.6836

Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Tafsir Al Quran Al Qareem, episode 2, at 00:57:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)

Sahih al-Bukhari

Tanzil Project, Qur'an text v1.1

Muwatta, Book of Pilgrimage (hajj)

The Book of Pilgrimage, sixth book of the Muwatta in Yahya ibn Yahya's recension (ed. Ma'ruf 1997): 385 reports (898–1282) in eighty-three babs, PDF pp. 433–570 of volume 1, from the rules of the state of ihram through the hady, the standing at Arafa and Muzdalifa, the stoning, the expiations, to the pilgrimage of a woman without a mahram and the fasting of the tamattu' pilgrim.

Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca)

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