The structure consists of four walls and a roof, all made from stone from the hills surrounding Mecca. The four corners roughly face the four points of the compass. To be a true geometric cube , all its edges must have the same length, and every corner in the cube must have an angle of 90 degrees.
This cloth is known as the kiswah, and it is replaced yearly, on the second day of the hajj. While Abraham was building the Kaaba, so the legend goes, the angel Gabriel came down and gave Abraham the famous Black Stone, which he placed in the eastern corner of the structure. There is another squarish stone on the ground a few feet away from the Kaaba with what look like two footprints in it. This is known as the Station of Abraham and is said to be the stone where Abraham stood while watching over the construction of the Kaaba.
Today it is encased in a beautifully ornate golden glass-and-metal structure. There is a famous story in Islam about Mohammed and the Black Stone. The story goes that when construction was finished and it came time to place the Black Stone back in the eastern corner, the final step, the tribes of Mecca argued fiercely over who would get to do the honors. They decided to ask the next man who walked by to decide for them, and that man happened to be Mohammed. His solution was to put the stone on a large cloth and have each of the leaders of the four tribes hold a corner of the cloth and carry the stone to its place.
Mohammed himself then placed the stone into its final position. This was back before Mohammed had received his first revelation from God.
The next time Mohammed was involved with the Kaaba, though, would prove to be much less One particularly popular idol was a figure of Hubal, a moon deity worshipped by many in Mecca at the time. Access to the Kaaba and thus the idol was controlled by the powerful Quraysh tribe, of which Mohammed was a member, and they basically capitalized on this to get rich, charging fees and selling wares to pilgrims coming to worship the idol.
When Mohammed began receiving revelations from God he received his first one about five years after the incident with the Black Stone and preaching his message of monotheism, the rich Qurayshi merchants started getting a little antsy. Worried that the growing popularity of his decidedly anti-idol worshiping message could potentially hurt business, they ran Mohammed and his small band of followers out of town.
Ten years later, Mohammed and his now much larger and more powerful army of followers defeated the Quraysh tribe and took control of Mecca. Today, the Kaaba is kept closed during the hajj because of the overwhelming number of people, but those who visit the Kaaba during other times of the year are sometimes allowed to go inside.
There is very little inside it, though — just three tall stone pillars, a small table, some hanging lamp—looking things, and a staircase to the roof. Seven is also a prominent number associated with the divine in many religions, including Christianity and Judaism. Other rituals include a ceremony where pilgrims throw small pebbles at three large stone walls, called jamarat, to symbolize the stoning the devil that tempted Abraham to defy God, and the slaughtering of an animal usually a sheep to honor the animal Abraham slaughtered instead of his son.
The meat is then given to feed the poor and needy. These days, pilgrims frequently elect to purchase tokens to have an animal slaughtered for them. Today, both hills are enclosed within the Masjid al-Haram Sacred Mosque complex which also houses the Kaaba , and the path between the hills is a long, beautiful indoor gallery with marble floors and air conditioning.
Many also drink from the Zamzam well located there. The only ritual that is solely related to Mohammed is the climbing of Mount Arafat, which is where Mohammed preached his last sermon. On the second day of hajj, pilgrims wake at dawn and walk a short distance to Mount Arafat, where they spend the remainder of the day on or near the mountain in quiet worship and contemplation of God.
Although Christians and Jews believe in the God of Abraham, they are not allowed to perform the hajj. Indeed, the government of Saudi Arabia forbids all non-Muslims from entering the holy city of Mecca at all.
The Saudi government takes this very seriously, so the odds that a non-Muslim would be able to slip in unnoticed among the throngs of pilgrims undetected or pretend to be Muslim and get in that way are extremely small. Legal entry into the country is extremely tightly controlled, and the paperwork required to get a hajj visa is incredibly detailed. Pilgrims must book their hajj trip through a Saudi government—approved hajj travel agent. For a Western Muslim convert to be allowed to go on hajj, he or she must present documentation from an imam Muslim religious leader.
The imam must testify in writing that he knows the person in question and that the person is a true convert. Trying to come in on a regular tourist visa and then stealthily making your way to Mecca is also a nonstarter.
Getting a tourist visa as a Westerner is notoriously hard, and the likelihood of you being able to just slip away from your Saudi government minder and travel undetected all the way from the capital Riyadh to Mecca — more than miles away, on the other side of a vast desert — is basically laughable.
That has happened before: In , WND published a three-part series written pseudonymously by someone who claimed to be a white British non-Muslim man who successfully fake-converted to Islam and went on hajj.
Women are also allowed — indeed, required, just like every other physically and financially able Muslim is — to perform the hajj. Contact us: admin newstracklive. Friday, Nov 12, News Track Hindi. Trending Now. Farmer Protest. Narendra Modi Live Updates. Today's Birthday Special. IPL Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter into Mecca; know the intresting facts here. By Padma Subba Rao. May 06 PM. Horoscope 12 Nov: Today will be an auspicious day for these three zodiac signs.
Our reader is wondering whether the fact that his parents are now suffering because he has reduced what he sends them will nullify his good deeds. The answer is that dutifulness to parents is one of the most important deeds a person does in life after believing in God and Islam. But I understand that he was in the habit of sending them every last riyal he earns, retaining only what he needs for himself and his wife.
That is extremely dutiful. Nothing nullifies his past, exemplary kindness and dutifulness. He also asks whether he has to pay zakah on his salary. What zakah? According to what he says, he does not own anything. Therefore he is not liable to any zakah. Zakah is payable only when a person owns the threshold of zakah, which is around riyals.
If he saves this amount then when he has saved it, that date becomes his zakah date. He should make a note of it. The following year, and every subsequent year, on the same date he calculates what he has. If it is above that amount, he pays zakah on what he owns at the normal rate of 2. But according to the information he has written, he is not liable to zakah at the present moment. Private answer to Mr. What you have asked about is permissible between a man and his wife.
Needless to say, if it is outside marriage, then both actions are strictly forbidden. When Islam is not known to people. What is the position of people who do not get to know about Islam, and as such die non-Muslims, such as those tribes in the middle of jungles in Africa or Latin America? Are they still punished for not adopting the Islamic faith?
Some people argue that Islam has addressed these people, and perhaps was known to their ancestors who might have rejected it. Now the present generation may not have known about it at all, due to the decline in the fortunes of the Muslims all over the world. By definition, Christians and Jews are not polytheists, then why are they not allowed to enter Meccan and Madina?
The answer is given in the Holy Quran. In other words, the Jews and Christians also come under the category of Mushriks. It shows that the entry of Non-Muslims to Madina was not banned at that time. Later on, due to security concerns, the Muslim governments stopped the entry of all Non-Muslims to both Makkah and Madina. The practice has been continuing for centuries. Islam is not the only religion that restricts the access of Non-believers to its holy sites.
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