Justin Philip October 23 2014 Islam Professor Clinton Bennett Inside Mecca by National Geographic Inside Mecca is a National Geographic film produced by Anisa Mehdi in 2003. The productions attempts to educate its audience on the historical significance of mecca to Muslims and non-Muslims. Anisa Mehdi is half Iraqi and half Canadian decent. Her main focus when producing educational programs primarily rely around religious topics. Many of her works have been widely distributed. What makes this program unique is that she became the first Canadian women to cover the hajj for a broadcast in the United States. Her father is Dr. Mohammed T. Mehdi, a man widely considered to be the first Arab activist in the United States. What makes …show more content…
All pilgrims dress in simple, uniform attire—two white sheets for men, loose dresses, and head scarves for women. This is symbolic of becoming equal in the eyes of God. Khalil Mandhlazi,says "The most important thing to gain is brotherhood and sisterhood”. During the hajj, pilgrims spend five days performing rituals and rites that commemorate the trials of the prophet Abraham and his family and symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith. All pilgrims visit Islam's most sacred shrine at the Grand Mosque, home to the Ka'abah, Muslims believe God commanded Abraham and Ishmael to build over 4,000 years ago. Muslims believe Abraham was told by God to command all mankind to visit the place. When pilgrims arrive they say "Labbayka Allahumma Labbayk." Which means Here I am at your service, O God, here I am. While at the Ka'abah, pilgrims perform tawaf, the rite in which faithful circle the Ka'abah counterclockwise seven times. During the hajj pilgrims also hurry seven times between two small hills in a ritual known as the sa'y to reenact the story of the search for water and food by Abraham's wife Hagar. They spend an entire day on the Plain of Arafat outside the city of Mecca offering prayers of supplication and thanks in what's often seen as a preview of the Day of Judgment. They also stone three pillars at locations where Abraham pelted a …show more content…
Each have their own personal reason to undertake the hajj but their ultimate goal is honoring the covenant with god and declaring Gods glory. Fidelma O’Leary the physiology professor from Texas had to let go of her family and go against everything she grew up believing in order to convert to Islam. I really appreciated how the film comes from a place of authenticity. Fidelma admit one of the major questions she had about Christianity is “If Jesus was God, how could he worship God?” We also see that in order to undergo the hajj she had to go through special procedures to get into Saudi Arabia such as a letter from a male relative and permission from her son to go. She also faced a bit of discrimination as women in her living quarters questions the authenticity of faith. We also learn of Khalil Manohlazi hajj experience. We see him giving to the poor and really embracing the community around in and trying to immerse himself in the experience. However we find out that living quarters are separated by nationality and that there is a bit of resentment in the South African camp because Manohlazi is a darker skin tone. This is an emotional struggle for Manohlazi but his determined not to be overcome by emotion and let a couple people ruin his hajj experience. One of the weakness of the
It is important to note that Elizabeth Warnock Fernea herself is a brilliant writer, and her piece of Guests of the Sheik offers a very in debt analysis of an Iraqi village that would not be seen from most outsiders. How while Fernea concedes the fact that she is not an anthropologist she was married to one and the first two years of their marriage they lived in an Iraqi village called El Nahra. Since she lived in a village that has hardly any social contact between men and women, Fernea is able to give us a beautiful account of what the women’s life style, roles, and other aspects of a women’s life in an Iraqi village. While women are not treated incredibly badly there lifestyle was a lot different than the one an American woman would live. One of the primary directions of Fernea’s study are to show how the author could be credible in ultimately idealizing her culture and peoples in this ethnography. She uses her Self authority to convince the reader of that and her interactions with other women. The
The first is, testifying to God's One-ness: The declaration "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His prophet. " The second is, Prayer. Prayer must happen at least five times a day, and must be done by bowing and facing towards the Mecca. Also, everyone must stand in straight lines and if women do come, however not required, must stand behind the men. The third is, giving to charity.
The Hajj or pilgrimage to Makkah is one of the five pillars of Islam "arkan-al-Islam”- Its purpose is essentially to facilitate the act of submission to Allah which is pinnacle to all followers of Islam. "Perform the pilgrimage and the visit [to Mecca] for Allah" Surah 2:196. It has enormous significance, not only for the pilgrim undertaking the Hajj but also for the wider Muslim community, the Umma, as it allows for all individuals to gain unification of faith. Such purpose can be examined through considering various rituals; the stand before Allah "wuquf", the stoning of the pillars at Mina, the commemoration of the festival of sacrifice "Id-ul-Adha", the circling of the Ka'bah and drawing water from the well of Zamzam. Such rituals give example to a profound meaning of the Islamic faith and upon completion, the individual is fulfilling to the ultimate goal of Islam, a more perfect submission to Allah.
Tucker, Judith E., and University Georgetown. Arab Women: Old Boundaries, New Frontiers .Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Different religions have shaped the cultural landscapes throughout history. In most religions, they have what is known as a sacred site. Many of the sacred sites are near the founding of the religion or near a place where something significant had once occurred. The followers of these religions often build temples to worship their gods. One example, would be the Dome of the Rock, where Muhammad, a prophet of God in the Muslim culture, said to have ascended into heaven.The Dome of the Rock is a masterpiece of Islamic architecture and is the "Noble Sanctuary" by Muslims. The place of worship for Muslims is known as the mosque, but the Dome of the Rock is much more iconic and would be best identified as a Muslim shrine. The temple was originally made for pilgrims and took thirteen years to construct. This is also a significant place for the Muslim community
The head must be covered. Hair and nails should not be cut while in the state of ihram and finally no sexual intercourse is allowed. When these rules have been carried out, the pilgrim has entered a state of ihram, they must follow these rules to stay in ihram. As soon as Muslims arrive in Mecca for the hajj they should perform wudu in preparation to perform tawaf, once wudu is done they will begin tawaf and circle the Kaaba seven times. If it is the first time the pilgrim has performed the hajj the pilgrim will enter through a gate called Bab Al Salam which translates roughly as "the gate of peace".
Andeisha Farid was a refugee born in Afghanistan, in 1983. Her and her family needed to leave quickly, for her city was being attacked by Soviet airstrikes. She was forced to go to a refugee camp in Iran. The children there were treated harshly with no health clinic, school, or fresh drinking water. Her parents finally sent her to a refugee camp in Pakistan, where she could learn and be in school. She
The Grand Mosque is the first mosque in Islam also the greatest, and it is in the center of the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia." It is an area of 750,000 square meters and it can hold 4 Million people." It costs $11,316,818,165$ for the comprehensive restoration. In the center of the mosque, is Kaaba. Muslims believe that is a sacred spot. The meaning of Kaaba in Arabic is cube like structure. It is really based on a small room with marble and black basalt stones constructed brought in from the nearby mountains. According to the Koran, a man named Abraham and his son Ishmael built the Kaaba in response to God's command. Kaaba has been in the Grand Mosque for a long time however really a few people who saw the inside of it on the other hand millions saw the outside of the Kaaba but both of them who saw it from the inside and outside drank from Zamzam well which been running more than 1,350 years.
Religious Islamic architecture is intricately related to Muslim prayer which is an obligation to do every day. The Dome of the Rock was said to be the first great Islamic building. The Muslims had taken the city of Jerusalem in 638 created the shrine of worship to commemorate the event and the triumph of Islam. The Dome of the rock, similar to the Acropolis, was built atop holy ground. Called the Noble Enclosure, the site was where the Hebrews built the Temple of Solomon. As time went on, the site grew additional importance, as it was said to be the location of Adam’s Grave and the spot in which Isaac was supposed to be sacrificed by his father Abraham. The rock that gives the structure its name, which is at the center of the rotunda, was soon to be identified as the place where Muhammad began his...
3) Five Pillars of Islam- The Five Pillars of Islam are five important actions that all Muslims must complete during their life. Muslims must recite the profession of faith, pray five times a day facing Mecca, give alms, fast during the month of Ramadan, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Five Pillars of Islam are the base for the whole religion of Islam. The pilgrimage to Mecca is the only one that is not required; if a person is not able to go at all, they are not required to.
She shares how she was clearly shown that that God is triune, that Jesus is the only way to God, that the Bible is God’s true Word, and that God did, indeed, want to be her Father. She shares the heartbreak of being ignored and shunned by her family (the most important unit in Islamic society), but also the goodness of God in providing her with so much more spiritual family—brothers and sisters in Christ—than the natural family she lost. She tells how her relationships with her servants changed, and how she was led to give up her comfortable house, her lovely gardens, and her privacy and leisure time for the sake of
The Hajj is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith and it is mandatory that it must be undertaken at least once in the life of a mature able-bodied Muslim adult. The Hajj is said to mirror many of the journeys taken in the Qur’an that are important in the Islamic faith such as the journey taken by Adam and eve when they were expelled from Eden and the journey of Abrahams wife, Hagar, as she searched between the two hills of Safa and Marwa in search of water for her son and finally, it is thought that the journey is to trace the footsteps of the prophets Abraham and Ishmael during the journey that Allah sent Abraham to sacrifice his son. The importance of pilgrimage in the Muslim faith cannot be over looked and it is written in the
The Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam, and is required of every Muslim who has the means to go (Ahmed and Balaban). It is a pilgrimage to the Islamic holy land, a chance to walk in the footsteps of the Prophets Ibrahim and Muhammad. It is a statement of faith and dedication to Islam that thousands of Muslims experience each year that strengthens their connection to Allah.
...e by having a feast. Finally the last pillar requires a pilgrimage to Mecca. This pilgrimage is called a Hajj and each Muslim is required to make this journey once in a life time. Each year two million people make this trip. (Molloy 443) Like Buddhism Islam has broken into branches, the two major branches are Sunni and the Shiites Although all Muslims are supposed to get along Sunnis and Shiites often disagree on weather a leadership of Islam should be political or religious.
men and women to perform the hajj at least once in their lifetime, so long as they possess the means and their routes and transport are safe. The pilgrims must be able to afford the journey without causing... ... middle of paper ... ...throw pebbles at the three stone pillars which represent the three times the devil tried to tempt Isma'il. When doing so they shout "In the name of God in the name of God!