Before you travel for Hajj or Umrah it is recommended that you:. Comprehensive travel insurance is strongly recommended for all pilgrims.
Please see the travel insurance page for more information. If you are older or have a known health condition, you might benefit from having a general health check up with your GP. Any health conditions that you have should be well controlled before you travel. You should also consider having dental and eye health check-ups before you go. For further information see the travelling with medicines page. If you want to delay your period menstruation during Hajj, this can be done by taking hormonal medication.
Wash your hands frequently, especially before eating and drinking and after using the toilet to minimise your risk of becoming unwell. If you are very young, older or have underlying health problems, then you can dehydrate very quickly. Further information can be found on the travellers' diarrhoea page. You can reduce your risk of catching and spreading respiratory infections by following the advice on the Respiratory Hygiene page.
It is important to try and prevent mosquito bites. When mosquitoes bite, they can spread diseases such, dengue fever , leishmaniasis , chikungunya and Rift Valley fever. A visit to the holy shrine of Kaabah in Mecca has a remarkable history. It is believed that Prophet Ibrahim or Abraham, the dearest friend of God and father of prophets, was instructed by God to leave his wife Hajara and son Ismail in the desert of Mecca. Ibrahim left the family well-flourished but in due course of time, it all diminished.
His wife Hajara and son Ismail faced lots of trouble. On one occasion, Hajara travelled seven times between the hills of Safa and Marwah but was unable to find any source of water. However, when her little son Ismail rubbed the ground with his foot, a water fountain sprang up at the spot. This spot was then marked sacred and God ordered Ibrahim to build Kaabah at that place and to invite people to perform pilgrimage there. Ibrahim and Ismail did as instructed and the Quran even narrates how the archangel, Gabriel, brought the Black Stone from heaven to be attached to the Kaabah.
He was another messiah and the last prophet considered in Islam. After cleansing the Kaabah, he reconsecrated the building to Allah and performed his first and last pilgrimage there in CE.
Hajj facilitates and tends to bring together Muslims across the world in a spirit of unity and brotherhood without any discrimination based on caste, culture and colour, an unmitigated representation of equality. Eid al-Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice, is celebrated on the third day of Hajj and lasts for three days. This year Muslims worldwide will celebrate Eid on July. Eid al-Adha is the second major Muslim festival after Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.
It is a central pillar of the Islamic faith meant to cleanse followers of sin and bring them closer to God. Minister says the government will not allow Indonesians to travel for the Hajj due to coronavirus pandemic.
By Mohammed Haddad and Alia Chughtai. In addition to Hajj, the other important acts are:. Mecca is the place where the Islamic religion started. It is where the Prophet Muhammad was born and received the first revelations from Allah Allah is the Arabic word for God that went on to become the Koran - the holy book read by Muslims.
The city is home to the Ka'bah, built by prophet Abraham and his son prophet Ishmael. Muslims pray in the direction of this sacred building, which is found within the Great Mosque of Mecca. The Ka'bah is the holiest site in Islam and symbolises the oneness of God. Muslims carry out a number of important rituals while they are on the pilgrimage. Men are required to wear two sheets of white cloth, which are worn in a specific way.
Women wear traditional clothing and must cover their head, but not their face. These clothes symbolise the equality of all Muslims before Allah. During the first stage of Hajj, Muslims walk around the Ka'bah in an anti-clockwise direction seven times. This is known as Tawaf and is done to show that all Muslims are equal. The next ritual requires Muslims to run between two hills, Safa and Marwah, seven times. Muslims believe that the prophet Abraham's wife Hagar did this when she was in search of water for her infant son Ishmael.
Ishmael is believed to have struck his foot on the ground and this produced a spring of water known as Zamzam.
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