THE HAJJ & UMRA (Umrah)

[Peter]

Upcoming video when I get a chance to further edit and parse a 10 minute summary of these subjects that I learned mostly from Dr. Rafat Amari's papers and book.
http://www.petewaldo.com/hajj_umra.htm

THE HAJJ & UMRA

Performing the Hajj is obligatory for all Muslims. This "pilgrimage" or "major pilgrimage" is to be performed at least once in a Muslim's lifetime and requires travel Saudi Arabia. The dates for the Hajj vary from year to year because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar which is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendar. Hajj is conducted on the 7th to the 13th day of the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. The Umra, or small Hajj, may be performed at any time of year.

The rituals of Hajj and Umra include such things as ablution or ritual washing, repetitive prayer, walking around the Kaaba seven times while kissing the black stone or at least pointing to it on each round, running between Safra and Marwah seven times, drinking from the well of Zamzam, sacrificing animals, visiting the hills of Arafa and Mina, crying out loud, throwing stones at the devil, and cutting hair or shaving heads.

Since about two million pilgrims showed up in 2009, the affair does not go without incident, and so even the Saudi Kingdom's website pleads "Be peaceful, orderly and kind. No crushing."



In Islamic tradition Abraham was ordered by Allah to leave Hagar and Ishmael alone in the desert. The story goes that Ishmael was dying of thirst and so Hagar ran frantically back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah seven times in search of water. Then Ishmael was supposed to have cried out, and hit the ground with his foot (some variations on that), and water sprang forth from the ground. This is how the source of the well that is known as Zamzam is said to have appeared, from which Hagar was able to give water to Ishmael.

While scripture indicates that Abraham did indeed send his wife Sarah's Egyptian handmaiden Hagar, and Hagar's son Ishmael away, and that Ishmael did nearly die of thirst, the first difficulty with the tradition as taught in Islam arises when we consider the geographical location of Abraham's home, and where Hagar and Ishmael wandered, once they were sent out.

Genesis 21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave [it] unto Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

To suggest that Hagar and Ishmael wandered their way from Beersheba to what eventually became Mecca, would require them to have crossed a thousand miles of - at that time - unpopulated, uncharted, unknown, barren, desolate desert, on a single skin of water.



When we consider Abraham's travels, we find that they were in the opposite direction of Mecca, and within the fertile crescent.




An additional difficulty with the tradition as taught in Islam, is that there is not a single shred of archaeological or historical  evidence, that suggests that Mecca ever existed before the 4th century AD when immigrants from Yemen settled it, or that the Kaaba existed before it was built by Asa'd Abu Karb in the early 5th century A.D. Please see the "Mecca" page for more on this history.

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So where did the Islamic traditions of the Hajj and Umra come from?

Let's explore the recorded history of Arabia to see if we can find out a little more about the origins of these Islamic traditions. Much of the following is credited to the 20 year, full-time study of Islam accomplished by Dr. Rafat Amari, that is expounded in his heavily footnoted book, "Islam: In Light of History".

It's no secret to Muslims that pagans controlled the Kaaba before Mohammed started Islam, and that the Kaaba contained some 360 idols. Later on Mohammed protested the polytheism, and eventually gained power, and removed all the idols ..... except one. The black stone that remains to this day is the same that pre-Islamic pagans went on pilgrimage to, kissed, and circumambulated, as the idol that represented their moon god, which they considered to be the most powerful deity in Arabian Star Family worship.

Making the pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam and thus is obligatory for all Muslims to perform at least once in their lifetime. This of course places a severe financial burden on poor Muslims all around the world that don't live near Mecca. Even as it's a requirement of Mohammed's religion millions of Muslims die before they are ever able to afford to travel to Mecca. Would a good God place a financial burden that falls most harshly, against the least advantaged, of His followers?

The Hadith indicates that performing the Hajj provides remission from sin.
Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 26, Number 596:
    Narrated Abu Huraira:
    The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "Whoever performs Hajj for Allah's pleasure and does not have sexual relations with his wife, and does not do evil or sins then he will return (after Hajj free from all sins) as if he were born anew." (more)

So Muslims are taught that walking around the Kaaba seven times, kissing the black stone former moon god idol, traveling from hill to hill near Mecca, casting stones and cutting their hair may provide remission of sin, while at the same time they are taught to reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His shed blood, that saves everyone from sin - rich or poor - who have faith in that blood. (more)

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The Kaaba

Sahih Muslim Book 007, Number 3078:
   'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Messenger may peace be upon him) said to me: Had your people not been unbelievers in the recent past (had they not quite recently accepted Islam), I would have demolished the Ka'ba and would have rebuilt it on the foundation (laid) by Ibrahim; for when the Quraish had built the Ka'ba, they reduced its (area), and I would also have built (a door) in the rear.

When Mohammed credited the Quraish with building the Kaaba he even said he would have added a rear door. However as mentioned on the "Mecca" page the history of Arabia suggests that the Kaaba was built by the tribe of the Khuzaa'h from Yemen who founded Mecca in the 4th century, and whose Himyarite leader Abu Karb Asa'd built the Kaaba in the early 5th century AD for Arabian Star Family worship. (more)

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Twaf - Circulambulation of the Kaaba and the black stone

Twaf, or circumambulating the Kaaba and kissing the black stone, and Hajj in general, were pagan rituals that preceeded Mohammed by centuries. Besides that bequeathed to us through the actual historical record of Arabia, the Hadith indicates that Muslims performed Hajj right alongside the pagans, until the year before Mohammed's last Hajj, when the pagans were finally prohibited from attending.

Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 26, Number 689:
    Narrated Abu Huraira:
    In the year prior to the last Hajj of the Prophet when Allahs Apostle made Abu Bakr the leader of the pilgrims, the latter (Abu Bakr) sent me in the company of a group of people to make a public announcement: 'No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year, and no naked person is allowed to perform Tawaf of the Kaba.'

Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 8, Number 365:
    Narrated Abu Huraira:
    On the Day of Nahr (10th of Dhul-Hijja, in the year prior to the last Hajj of the Prophet when Abu Bakr was the leader of the pilgrims in that Hajj) Abu Bakr sent me along with other announcers to Mina to make a public announcement: "No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year and no naked person is allowed to perform the Tawaf around the Ka'ba. Then Allah's Apostle sent 'All to read out the Surat Bara'a (At-Tauba) to the people; so he made the announcement along with us on the day of Nahr in Mina: "No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year and no naked person is allowed to perform the Tawaf around the Ka'ba."

The details of "Twaf around the Kaaba" are further discussed on the "Mecca" page.

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Al-Safa and Al-Marwah

The ritual of running between Safa and Marwa is called the "Sa'ee". As mentioned earlier Muslims are taught that this ritual has something to do with Hagar and Ishmael. Besides the geographical impossibility of that view as pointed out above, the pre-Islamic Umra was a ritual of the Arabian Jinn religion that was devoted to the veneration of four idols.

In Islam Jinn are recognized as devils or demons. The idols that were placed on the two stones Safa and Marwa were two statues of Asaf and Naelah. They were the most venerated priests of the Arabian Jinn religion. Asaf was male and Naelah was female. Arabian mythology claims they committed fornication together inside the Kaabah and the gods transformed them into stone statues. (more) Though the idols were removed by Islam, to this day Muslims still run between Safa and Marwa, when practicing Sa'ee. (more)

Safa and Marwa were located on two hills near Mecca, close to the place where Abdel Mutaleb, the grandfather of Mohammed, dug the well of Zamzam and erected the two statues of Asaf and Naelah as the deities of the well. (more) As with much of Mohammed's contacts and family, his grandfather was very much into the Jinn religion and the occult. (more)

Marching around Safa and Marwa, was a ritual hated by most of Mohammed's companions because they well knew that the Hajj to Safa and Marwa was a pagan rite from Jahiliyah, or the pre-Islam period. In the Sahih Bukhari Hadith we read:

Asem told us that he said to Uns bin Malek, a companion of Mohammed, "You were hating to encompass around the Safa and Marwa."  He answered, "Yes, because it was one of the pagan rites of Jahiliyah until Allah gave a verse that the Safa and Marwa are the rites of Allah. If one makes the Hajj to the Kaabah, he must encompass them. The person has no sin when he encompass them. (Sahih al-Bukhari, 2, page 171)

Perhaps the reason that Allah "gave a verse" continuing this pagan ritual, is because Mohammed wanted to appease the two tribes who most practiced the Jinn religion, and whom Mohammed had pressed into picking up the sword, in the service of his "Allah". Their reward of course, was the property, wives, and children of the vanquished, as "spoils of war - booty". (the title of chapter 8 of the Quran) (more)

"Even Ibn Abbas, the cousin of Mohammed, and the most authoritative reporter of his Hadith, speaks of encompassing the Safa and Marwa as was the custom of the people of Jahiliyah, meaning the pagan Arabians before Islam. His speech is reported in Sahih al-Bukhari." [xl][40]  (more)

The tribes of Oas and Khazraj began their Umra Hajj by kissing copies of the statues which were placed on the shore opposite Mecca. They were to walk seven times between these two rocks, then return to Mecca to kiss the two statues of Asaf and Naelah.

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Ritual Cleaning or Ablution

Both the Hajj and Umra begin with ritual cleansing, or ablution, and include repetitive prayer. Muslims pray five times a day, and wash before doing so, because Mohammed told them that is what he was instructed when he took an overnight trip on a flying animal to Jerusalem, heaven, and back to Mecca by morning.

Far more likely, however, is the fact that Mohammed and four of his relatives had been deeply involved in the second century occult cult of the Sabians. This cult had so much impact on Mohammed's daily life that some folks referred to Mohammed as "the Sabian" and Mohammed mentions Sabians right along with Christians in the Quran. No surprise to discover then, that the Sabians, prayed five times a day and performed ablution.

The source of inspiration for ritual cleansing in Islam is discussed on the "Mohammed's Night Journey" page.

Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

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The Cutting of Hair

Quoting Dr. Amari - "The cutting of the hair was a habit practiced by some Arabian tribes after a pilgrimage to honor their gods. One of their gods was an idol named al-akyaser. They conducted a pilgrimage to the idol where they cut their hair, mixed it with flour and threw it in the air.  The same celebration was also observed by many pagan Yemeni tribes.  Tribes which emigrated to Medina, and the area around Mecca, came from Yemen after the collapse of the dam at Ma'rib, about 150 A.D. This helps us understand why the cutting of hair was the ritual which ends the Hajj." (more)

"After they performed the Hajj to their gods, they would come to Manat, cut their hair and present their animal sacrifices. Stations of the pre-Islamic Hajj included Arafa, the place where they would stop to worship the sun, and Muzdalifah, where they would stop to worship the moon. Then the Hajj would conclude at Mina, called Muna, the place dedicated to Manat, where they cut their hair and presented their animal sacrifices. In Mohammed's time, this same Hajj was transferred to Islam with the same rituals, including the ritual of cutting the hair at Manat. (more)

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Animal Sacrifice

"The statues of Asaf and Naelah were placed on the well of Zamzam. Ibn Hisham, who edited the oldest book on the life of Mohammed, says these statues were worshipped at the well of Zamzam. He tells us the worshippers sacrificed their animals to the statues there. [v][5] This suggests to us that the well of Zamzam was dedicated to the worship of the two priests of the Jinn, which the statues represented. It was Abdel Mutaleb, the grandfather of Mohammed, who dedicated the well of Zamzam to the two venerated Jinn priests and their statues. We draw this conclusion for many reasons. First, Abdel Mutaleb dug the well of Zamzam.[vi][6]  Second, Abdel Mutaleb was one of the worshippers of the statues of the two Jinn priests. He was so consumed by occult worship that he wanted to sacrifice one of his own sons at the feet of the two statues at Zamzam. That son was Abdullah, the father of Mohammed. When Abdel Mutaleb was at the point of  killing Abdullah with his knife, Abdel Mutaleb's brother rescued the boy." (more)

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The Well of Zamzam

"Arabians used to dig a well for each temple to which they went to sacrifice to the gods they worshipped. This would build Hajj around the statues of the gods. Among the ceremonies, they drank water from the well which was dedicated to the deity. The worshippers in the Arabian Jinn religion erected two statues on the well of Zamzam in honor of the two statues they represented." (more)

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Drinking from the Well of Zamzam

"After Abdel Mutaleb, the grandfather of Mohammed, dug the well of Zamzam near Safa and Marwa, visiting the well and drinking of its water became part of the small Hajj called Umra'. We must, therefore, conclude that the well of Zamzam was dug explicitly to honor the deities for which the Hajj was called in the first place, namely to honor the Jinn and his famous and devoted servants, Asaf and Naelah." (more)

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The Hill of Mina/Muna/Manat

"On the second day, [of Hajj] the 8th of Du al-Hijjah, the pilgrims depart for the hill Arafa, located east of Mecca. It takes more than four hours to reach this hill by camel. In the middle of the journey to Arafa, there is a place called Muna, currently known as Mina", where they pray the prayer of noon time. Muna is an important place in the Hajj. Both the words Muna and Manat have the same Arabic meaning, "to wish or aspire." Manat was the daughter of Allah. This indicates Muna was dedicated to the worship of Manat." (more)

"Manat was the deity to whom the Arabians would plead when they needed rain. At the end of their Hajj, they presented animal sacrifices to Manat.

Manat, originally a planet, was represented by a rock on which sacrifices  to the various gods were made during the Hajj ceremonies. According to many narrators,  this was due to two factors connected with Manat. First, the word Mana means "to shed blood" suggesting to some narrators that the rock of Manat received its name because of all the sacrifices made on the rock of Manat.[xxxv][35]  Second, because Manat means "wish or aspiration," it was a place where many tribes came to present their animal sacrifices, which represented their own aspirations and pleading for rain.[xxxvi][36]" (more)

"After they performed the Hajj to their gods, they would come to Manat, cut their hair and present their animal sacrifices. Stations of the pre-Islamic Hajj included Arafa, the place where they would stop to worship the sun, and Muzdalifah, where they would stop to worship the moon. Then the Hajj would conclude at Mina, called Muna, the place dedicated to Manat, where they cut their hair and presented their animal sacrifices. In Mohammed's time, this same Hajj was transferred to Islam with the same rituals, including the ritual of cutting the hair at Manat. (more)

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"Allah are them, I am here."

On the third day, [of Hajj] the 9th of Du al-Hajj, pilgrims continue to the hill called Arafa. They all wear white, showing they are in a state of consecration, according to tradition. They stand in a plain near a mount called the "Jabal Al-Rahmah," which means the "mountain of mercy," and they cry in loud voices from afternoon until sunset "Labeik Allahumma Labeik." Allahumma means "Allah, are them," so their cry is translated, "Allah are them, I am here."

"The same cry was spoken by Arabians before Manat. They said:

Allah are them, I am here. Without the prayerful who come early before you, people will fail and abandon you, but they will still come to you in one pilgrimage after another."

"We find that when the Hajj was transferred to Islam, it presented the same religious words. When they came to the hill dedicated to the worship of the moon, they cried "Allah Akber," which means "Allah is greater."   This is because the moon, who was Allah was viewed as head of the Star Family and was greater than the other members, Ellat, the sun, and Manat and al-'Uzza, two of the planets. The cry "Allah is greater" is not an Islamic cry but, rather, a pagan cry which the worshippers of the Star Family used to say. Pre-Islamic Arabian poetry often honored members of the Star Family by emphasizing Allah as the head of the Star Family by repeating the words "Allah Akber."  For example, Loas Bin Hagar, the Arabian poet of Jahiliyah, which was the pre-Islam period, said:

I swear by Ellat and al-Uzza and all who follow their faith, and in Allah, Allah is greater than they." (more)

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Moon god Worship

Since the moon god was considered to be the most powerful deity in Arabian Star Family worship it would seem it's no coincidence that the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar. Muslims all over the world bow toward the black stone that was the moon god idol, five times a day, as crescent moons adorn the top of their mosques and decorate national flags, while fasting is done during the month which begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon in the sky. Even the favorite shout of Mohammedan suicide murderers - ALLAHU AKBAR - means "Allah is the greatEST", which for centuries of Arabian moon god worshipers, meant that the moon god was the most powerful of all of the Arabian Star Family deities.

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Casting stones

"We already mentioned that at Muna, or Mina, the pilgrims cast seven stones at a hill. Islamic tradition claims this locality is where Abraham met with the devil and threw stones at him."

"Further, striking the devil with stones is an illogical myth because the devil is a spirit, not affected when material things are thrown at him. The devil does not have a material body to be injured by the stones. The same is true when stars are thrown at him. The Qur'an claims that meteorites were stars which Allah used to strike the devils. Rather, the casting of stones at the devil was a pagan ceremony practiced by various pagan sects in the Middle East.[lviii][60] Casting the stones was a ritual initiated in Muna by the tribe of Sofa who led the ceremonies on the hill of Arafa. The tribe of Sofa did not allow anyone to walk from Arafa to the next Hajj station before all the tribe had done so. No one was allowed to cast stones before they did."

"Zoroastrians also cast stones on the water and in bull's urine. The water and urine were prepared for ablutions and the purification of bodies and objects. Once they were cast, these stones, or pebbles, were deposited in holes in the ground, evidently to strike the insects and worms in the ground which were considered devils by the Zoroastrians. We read about this ceremony in many chapters of the Epistles of Manuskihar, part of the Pahlavi Texts, traditional literature for the interpretation of the Avesta, which are the sacred writings of Zoroastrianism." (more)

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The Wind Jinn-Devil

 "Al-Ya'akubi, the famous Arabian historian and geographer of the 9th century who wrote about the life of Arabia before and after Islam, records that two idols were placed over the Safa and Marwa. The idol placed on the Safa was named Mujawer al-Rih', which means in Arabic  "the shelter or place of sanctuary for the wind."  The wind at Mecca was considered as a Jinn-devil. We know this from the writings of many people. Many biographers of the life of Mohammed mentioned that Mohammed was visited by a priest of the Jinn-devils who came to embrace Islam. The name of the priest was Thamad al-Azdi. The book of Halabieh says:

The delegation of Thamad al-Azdi who came to Mohammed was reported by Ibn Abbas: 'Thamad came to Mecca and he was from Izd Shina't, which is the name of his tribe, and he used to cast spells or conjure through the wind which was a devil of Jinn. He greeted Mohammed embracing Islam.'"

"Arabian authors, such as al-Azruqi, who wrote about Mecca before Islam, mentioned the wind was worshipped at Mecca, and there was an idol there named Nahik who represented the wind. People used to make a pilgrimage to see this idol[xxxiv][34]. The idol of the wind on Safa  was called "the shelter or place of sanctuary for the wind." The idol of the wind was worshipped as part of a ritual for the worship of the Wind-devil on the hills of Safa and Marwa." (more)

A Word to Our Muslim Could-Become Brethren

Will you continue to reject the 1600 year record of God to mankind, as revealed through all of the prophets and witnesses of that record, to instead follow the 23 year 7th century record, of a single "prophet" that had no fulfilled prophecy, that never performed a single miracle, and that not a single person ever heard Gabriel or Allah's voice give a "revelation" to? A man that was a murdering, pillaging, plundering, prisoner raping thief, as revealed through Islam's own books. Do you believe that is the kind of man God would send, to nullify His prior 1600 year record through all of the prophets, apostles and witnesses, that was closed 500 years before Mohammed was born? Would God send a man to present a message that is the exact opposite of the Gospel? A man that led his followers in the rituals of the Arabian Jinn religion and Star Family worship?

[Peter]

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