You South Africa – 08 August 2019

MATAF

Thematafisthe

openwhitearea

wherepilgrims

circletheKaaba

duringthehajj.

TheKaabaisa windowlessbuildingconstructedofgreystoneandmarble.

It’s15mhighand10-14mwideandhasonlyoneentrance.Insidearethree

pillarstosupporttheroofaswellassilverandgoldlamps.Mostoftheyear

theKaabaisdrapedina blackclothwithgoldembroiderycalledthekiswah.

AnewoneismadeeachyearandbroughtfromEgypttoMeccabypilgrims.

Duringthetawaf(“goingabout”)ritual,MuslimpilgrimscircletheKaaba

seventimesanticlockwise.Theydothisatleasttwice,onceaspartofthe

hajjandthenasthelastactivitybeforetheyleaveMecca.

THEBLACKSTONE(al-Hajaral-Aswad), setintheeasterncorner

oftheKaababyMuhammad,isthoughttobetheonlyremnantof

Ibrahim’soriginalstructureandwasgiventohimbyJibreel.It’s

beendamagedandbrokenintopiecesduringvariouswarsandis

nowmountedina silverframe.Duringthehajj,pilgrimsstopand

kissthestoneiftheycan,mimickingthekissMohammedissaidto

havegivenit.Ifa pilgrimcan’tgettoitbecauseofthecrowds,they

pointatiteachoftheseventimestheycircletheKaaba.

GATES

More than 200 gatesoffer

entry to theGreatMosque.

Each gate isnamedaftera

significantperson,eventor

place fromIslamichistory.

Many of theentrancesare

situated betweentwo

minarets.

MARWA

SAFA

SAFAANDMARWA

Thesetwohillsarenow

withinthemosquewalls.

TheQuransaysAllah

commandedIbrahimto

leavehiswifeHajar(Hagar)

andtheirbaby,Ishmael,

inthedesertandshe

searchedbetweenthese

twohillsforwater.

Allahmiraculouslycreat-

eda watersourceandthis

iswhereTheWellofZam-

zamislocatedtoday.

Waterfromthewellis

relayedviapipelines,from

whichmillionsofpilgrims

drinkduringthehajj.

TocommemorateHajar’s

courageandfaithinAllah,

pilgrimswalkseventimes

betweenthetwohills–

a distanceofabout450m

• duringthehajj.

THE KAABA

KAABA

CK;AKKAH.ACCORHOTELS.COM; NEWSWEEK.COM; KHANACADEMY.ORG; LEARNRELIGIONS.COM; MOULANA SAALIM EUTERS.COM; WIKIHOW.COM; ISLAMICLANDMARKS.COM; ISLAMICITY.COM; BLOG.REALESTATE.CORNELL.EDU; OURCES: WIKIPEDIA.ORG; BBC.COM; BRITANICCA.COM; NEWWORLDENCYCLOPEDIA.ORG; THEGUARDIAN.COM;

ANCIENT.EU; HAJJ & UMRAH FROM A TO Z, BY MAMDOUH N MOHAMED, 1996; THE COMPLETE

ONTEMPORARY ISLAM, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN; SAUDIGAZETTE.COM; STATISTA.COMNCYCLOPEDIA OF SIGNS & SYMBOLS, BY MARK O'CONNELL AND RAJE AIREY, HERMES, 2006; CENTRE FOR

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