Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Reuven Firestone, Journeys in Holy 

Lands: The Evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael Legends

(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990); 

Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Thalabi, Arais al-majalis fi 

qisas al-anbiya, or “Lives of the Prophets.” Translated by 

William M. Brinner (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002).

hajj

The fifth pillar of Islam is the annual pilgrimage 

to m

ecca

, called the hajj, which all Muslims are 

required to perform at least once in their lifetimes 

if they are able to. This religious journey, which 

is forbidden to non-Muslims, involves a series of 

ritual activities that pilgrims called hajjis must 

perform over a period of six days during the 12th 

month of the Muslim 

calendar

, Dhu al-Hijja 

(“pilgrimage month”). The rituals are performed 

in a sacred landscape that includes the Sacred 

Mosque in Mecca, the town of Mina (about three 

miles east of the Grand Mosque), and the plain of 

a

raFat

 (about seven miles east of Mina). In addi-

tion, many pilgrims visit m

Uhammad

’s 

mosqUe

 in 

m

edina

 on their way to or from Mecca.

The  q

Uran

 and 

sUnna

 provide authorization 

for the hajj rituals, which are believed to have 

been initiated by sacred figures in Islamic history: 

a

dam

,  a

braham

,  h

agar

 (Abraham’s wife), and 

especially Muhammad. The essential hajj rituals