the word hajj is explained by moslem divines to mean “kasd,” or aspiration, and to express man’s sentiment that he is but a wayfarer on earth wending towards another and a nobler world. this explains the origin and the belief that the greater the hardships the higher will be the reward of the pious wanderer. he is urged by the voice of his soul: “o thou who toilest so hard for worldly pleasures and perishable profit, wilt thou endure nothing to win a more lasting reward?” hence it is that pilgrimage is common to all old faiths. the hindus still wander to egypt, to tibet, and to the inhospitable caucasus; the classic philosophers visited egypt; the jews annually flocked to jerusalem; and the tartars and mongols — buddhists — journey to distant lamaserais. the spirit of pilgrimage was predominant in mediæval europe, and the processions of the roman catholic church are, according to her votaries,1 modern memorials of the effete rite.
every moslem is bound, under certain conditions,2 to pay at least one visit to the holy city. this constitutes the hajjat al-farz (the one obligatory pilgrimage), or hajjat al-islam, of the mohammedan faith. repetitions become mere sunnats, or practices of the prophet, and are therefore supererogatory. some european writers have of late years laboured to represent the meccan pilgrimage as a fair, a pretext to collect merchants and to afford arabia the benefits of purchase and barter. it would be vain to speculate whether the secular or the spiritual element originally prevailed; but most probably each had its portion. but those who peruse this volume will see that, despite the comparatively lukewarm piety of the age, the meccan pilgrimage is religious essentially, accidentally an affair of commerce.
moslem pilgrimage is of three kinds.
1. al-mukarinah (the uniting) is when the votary performs the hajj and the umrah3 together, as was done by the prophet in his last visit to meccah.
2. al-ifrad (singulation) is when either the hajj or the umrah is performed singularly, the former preceding the latter. the pilgrim may be either al-mufrid b’il hajj (one who is performing only the hajj), or vice versa, al-mufrid b’il umrah. according to abu hanifah, this form is more efficacious than the following.
3. al-tamattu (“possession”) is when the pilgrim assumes the ihram, and preserves it throughout the months of shawwal, zu’l ka’adah, and nine days (ten nights) in zu’l hijjah,4 performing hajj and umrah the while.
there is another threefold division of pilgrimage:—
1. umrah (the little pilgrimage), performed at any time except the pilgrimage season. it differs in some of its forms from hajj, as will afterwards appear.
2. hajj (or simple pilgrimage), performed at the proper season.
3. hajj al-akbar (the great pilgrimage) is when the “day of arafat” happens to fall upon a friday. this is a most auspicious occasion. m. caussin de perceval and other writers, departing from the practice of (modern?) islam, make “hajj al-akbar” to mean the simple pilgrimage, in opposition to the umrah, which they call “hajj al-asghar.”
the following compendium of the shafe’i pilgrim-rites is translated from a little treatise by mohammed of shirbin, surnamed al-khatib, a learned doctor, whose work is generally read in egypt and in the countries adjoining.
