Chapter on the Procedure of Hajj and Entering Mecca
Introduction

“The procedure of Hajj” refers to the words and actions that have been divinely prescribed for it. Central to this subject is the lengthy hadith of Jabir, recorded by Muslim, in which he describes the Prophet’s Hajj from the moment he left Madinah until he returned there after completing his pilgrimage. The discussion that follows will set out the rites of Hajj and their description by citing the portions of that noble hadith selected by the author, together with their explanation, God willing.

As for Mecca the Honored—whom Allah has ennobled with His Sacred House and consecrated sites—it is the inviolable land that Allah decreed to be the place of emergence for the Seal of His Prophets and the point of descent for His final revelation, a universal, comprehensive, enduring message. Allah has endowed it with the means of perpetuity and the elements of immortality that guarantee this message an everlasting life and a reach without limit. Its fountainhead was Umm al-Qurā (the Mother of Cities), which, by virtue of this message, became the world’s capital and the focal point of the Muslims’ prayer.

Professor Husayn Kamal al-Din Ahmad states: In the Makkī azimuthal projection, Mecca stands at the very center of the world. It has now become axiomatic that the earth is spherical and that it rotates about its own axis in a regular motion; necessarily, a fixed axis within this sphere determines the two constant points—the North Pole and the South Pole—while the circular line is the Equator. When the boundaries of the seven continents were plotted on this projection, we found that their outer limits can all be encompassed by a single circle whose center lies at Mecca. In other words, Mecca occupies a midpoint relative to the landmass of the earth’s surface. This new projection therefore grants Mecca a unique status among the world’s locations—and in Allah’s creation lie mysteries.