Keywords:聽Ka鈥榖a, Mecca, bayt Allah (House of God),听masjid聽al haram (sacred mosque), Prophet Muhammad, Islam, haram, pilgrimage (hajj), umra (minor pilgrimmage), pilgrim, worship, Black Stone (al hajar al aswad), tawaf, Well of Zamzam, Abraham (Ibrahim), Hagar, Ismail (Ishmael), Abrahamic tradition, maqam,听qiblaThe direction of Muslim prayer towards the Ka士ba, indicated in a mosque by a niche called a mi岣膩b..
罢丑别听碍补鈥榖补
The structure and its immediate precincts in Mecca that also house a large mosque are referred to in the聽Qur鈥檃n聽and subsequently in Muslim tradition as the House of God (bayt Allah) and the sacred Mosque (masjid(mosque; pl. masajid) Arabic derived from the root s-j-d, meaning 鈥榯o prostrate鈥. In the early Islamic era, the word masjid meant a place of prayer which could be any clean… al haram). 罢丑别听碍补鈥榖补聽is the point of orientation for Muslims when they pray, and it is also the focal point of the Pilgrimage (HajjThe word Hajj usually refers to the annual pilgrimage by Muslims to the Ka士ba in Mecca, also called the Great Pilgrimage, in contrast to the 士Umra, the Lesser Pilgrimage. More) as well as the umra (minor pilgrimage).
The聽Hajj聽takes place over a fixed period in the prescribed month, whereas the umra may be undertaken at any other time. During pre-Islamic times, the聽Ka鈥榖a聽served as a shrine and a sacred space (haram). Arab tribes and others made annual pilgrimages to the site and visit颅ed it to honor tribal and ancestral deities that included several gods and goddesses. Representatives of these deities were kept in the聽Ka鈥榖a, and the ritual visits were often accompanied by music, dance, and the recitation of poetry.
Author
Professor Azim Nanji
Azim Nanji is currently Special Advisor to the Provost of the聽, and a member of the Board of Directors of the聽聽in Ottawa, a joint partnership between His Highness the Aga KhanA title granted by the Shah of Persia to the then Ismaili Imam in 1818 and inherited by each of his successors to the Imamate. and the Government of Canada. He has held many prestigious academic and administrative appointments, most recently as Senior Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at聽, where he was also lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies. From 1998 to 2008, Professor Nanji served as Director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London.
Professor Nanji has published numerous books and articles on religion, Islam and Ismailism, including:聽The Nizari Ismaili Tradition听(1976),听The Muslim Almanac听(1996),听Mapping Islamic Studies聽(1997) and聽The Historical Atlas of Islam聽(with M. Ruthven) (2004) and聽The Dictionary of Islam聽(with Razia Nanji), Penguin 2008. In addition, he has contributed numerous shorter studies and articles in journals and collective volumes including聽The Encyclopaedia of Islam,听Encyclopaedia Iranica,听Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Modern Islamic World, and聽A Companion to Ethics. He was the Associate Editor for the revised Second Edition of聽The Encyclopaedia of Religion.
Within the聽, he has served as a member of the task force for the聽聽(AKU-ISMC) and Vice Chair of the Madrasa-based Early Childhood Education Programme in East Africa. He served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998, 2001 and 2016.鈥嬧
