Word: hajj
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...covered with primitive but happy paintings that depicted a ship loaded with people, and then a dark cube surrounded by birds and flowers. The entire frieze conveyed a kind of ecstatic vision. The old man explained, his wrinkled face breaking into a happy smile: 'I made the hajj [the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim is encouraged to make at least once in his lifetime]. And I wanted all my Bedouin brothers to share and value it with me. So I drew this, and when I am gone it will be here as part of the village...
Perhaps the most reliable barometer of Islam's revival is observance of the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that devout Muslims are expected to make at least once in their lifetime. Participation has been growing steadily since 1974. Last November's pilgrimage was the biggest in history. Nearly 2 million people converged on the arid Plain of Arafat near Mecca to live in tents and perform the arduous five-to seven-day ritual that has remained unchanged for 14 centuries. More than ever before, the pilgrimage was a spiritual kaleidoscope of races and faces and languages from 70 countries, from...
Some observers believe that the Muslims have more freedom than any other religious group in the Soviet Union to practice their faith. The mosques are full on Fridays and holy days, and small delegations have been allowed to leave the country to take part in the hajj. Muslim leaders, the muftis, have apparently worked out a kind of modus vivendi with the government; in exchange for being allowed to practice their religion they often support the government on major policy questions. Any kind of Islamic resistance to the Soviet system would probably emerge from a large network of Sufi brotherhoods...
...Allah, save Jerusalem." Assembled outside Mecca last week for the beginning of the annual hajj (pilgrimage), 1.6 million Muslims prayed in fervent unison for the "liberation" of East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. A few days earlier, Israeli Premier Menachem Begin had given a rousing speech at an election rally in Jerusalem for local candidates of his Likud Party. He declared that a united Jerusalem was as much the capital of Israel as Washington was the capital of the U.S. "The only difference is that Washington has been a capital for 200 years...
Still to be settled, however, were strikes by 400,000 schoolteachers and the Iran Air employees. The airline walkout stranded some 20,000 devout Muslims headed for Mecca on the annual hajj (pilgrimage). A plea by religious leaders failed to get the workers back on the job to enable the pilgrims "to perform their religious duties toward Allah." The Shah himself stepped in and ordered the Imperial Air Force to transport the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. Parents were growing impatient with the school closings, even if their offspring were not. Many schoolchildren took to the streets to join demonstrators...