Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 6.djvu/80

ⅼⅹⅹⅳ On reaching Mecca he performs the legal ablutions, proceeds to the Sacred Mosque, and having saluted the ‘black stone,’ makes the tawâf or circuit of the Kaabah seven times, three times quickly and four times at a slow walk.

He then visits the Maqâm Ibrâhîm or Abraham′s station, and afterwards returns and kisses the black stone.

Passing through the gate of the haram leading to Mount Zafâ, he runs seven times between the summit of that hill and that of Merwah.

On the eighth day, called tarwî′h, the pilgrims assemble in the valley of Minâ, where they pass the night.

As soon as morning prayers are over they ‘rush tumultuously’ to Mount Arafât, stay there until sunset, and then proceed to a place called Muzdalifeh, where they again pass the night.

The next day is the ′Hîd al Az‘hâ, when the pilgrims again repair to the valley of Minâ, and go through the ceremony of throwing stones at three pillars, called Gamrah. This is in commemoration of Abraham, or, as some say, of Adam, who, meeting the devil at the same spot, drove him away with stones.

The next ceremony is the sacrifice of some animal, a camel, sheep, or goat, in Minâ; after which they divest themselves of the pilgrim garb and get themselves shaved, their nails pared, &c.

The pilgrim should then rest at Mecca for the three following days, the âiyâm et tasrîq or ‘days of drying up,’ scil. the blood of the sacrifices.

The sacrifice is said to have been instituted in commemoration of Abraham's proposed sacrifice of his son Ishmael (not Isaac as in the Bible) in accordance with the divine command.

The pilgrimage must be performed from the seventh to the tenth of the month u′l ‘Higgeh. A visit at any other time of the year is termed ′Homrah, ‘visitation,’ and though meritorious, has not the same weight as the ‘Hagg itself.