Hajj – Greater Pilgrimage to Mecca
A Muslim is obligated to perform Hajj once in his or her lifetime if he/she has the financial and the physical means to do so. Hajj is the only obligatory act of worship in Islam which requires financial, physical, and emotional sacrifice. It is a journey following in the footsteps of the prophet Abraham and Muhammad. Muslims abandon their ‘normal’ lives and undertake this duty proclaiming, “Here I am. O Allah, here I am. You have no partners. All praise and blessings are Yours…” Men and women, rich and poor, black, white, brown and yellow, literate and illiterate, all adopt the same clothing, walk the same road, and perform the same acts, all asking the same thing: “O Allah, forgive us our sins and enter us into Your mercy.”