Nearly four million Muslims have become Hajji in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.***
MECCA - Ercan Halici/Ismail Fidan
Among the millions of Muslims, there are nearly 100,000 Turks who also became Hajji.
Muslims were gathered in Arafat square, one of the requirements for being Hajji, on Saturday and AA made a live broadcast from Arafat which was aired by ten television channels simultaneously. AA also took sky view of Arafat square and showed the excitement of millions of Muslims to Turkish audiences. The views were displayed on AA's web-site.
On Sunday, Muslims performed their Eid al-Adha religious holiday prayer and became Hajji.
The "Hajj" or pilgrimage is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so. The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God.
The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, eleven days shorter than the Gregorian calendar used in the Western world, the Gregorian date of the Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the name given to the special spiritual state in which Muslims live while on the pilgrimage.
The Hajj is associated with the life of Islamic prophet Muhammad from the 7th century, but the ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca is considered by Muslims to stretch back thousands of years to the time of Abraham. Pilgrims join processions of hundreds of thousands of people, who simultaneously converge on Mecca for the week of the Hajj, and perform a series of rituals: Each person walks counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of prayer, runs back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinks from the Zamzam Well, goes to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, and throws stones in a ritual Stoning of the Devil. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate global festival of Eid al-Adha.
Eid al-Adha lasts for four days.
