Today I read both the How to Perform Salah and the step by step guide to Hajj articles that Dr. McGrath posted on the schedule. Hajj is the Muslim pilgrimage following the actions of Muhammad nearly 1,377 years ago. It occurs in the 12th month of the Islamic calendar between the eigth and thirteenth days. All healthy and financially capable Muslims feel the obligation to take part in this pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. One shocking part to me is the large amount of people who attend. Millions of Muslims from all over the world gather to attend. With all of the travel restrictions with the coronavirus I was curious to see if it had been postponed or cancelled. I did some research and if it were to be cancelled it would be the first closure of the event in Mecca since 1798. Obviously no one wants an event such as this one to be cancelled, but with how many people who attend I feel like it is necessary.
As I continued to read the article it gave a more detailed description of what each day looks like. For example, on day 2 the spend the day at Arafat. Mount Mercy at Arafat was where Muhammad had his final sermon. After sunset, they travel 9 km to Muzdalifah. I was very interested in the details of each day and how they relate to their religious beliefs.
In the other article, I learned more about Salah. To start you have to make sure you are clean and in the right attire. For males, it is anything that covers from the naval to the knees, and for women it is covering the whole body except for the face and hands. The article was very descriptive on what to say and what positions to say it in. It was very fascinating to learn about how they pray compared to how my family prays.