Basic HTML Version
X
THE QURAN
10. Pilgrimage and Its Rites
Pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is a duty which
has to be performed once by everyMuslim who is physically and
financially able to undertake it. Should he be only physically
unable to perform it, he must send a person to undertake it for
him. Such a person, however, should have performed the
pilgrimage for himself.
The requirement and rites of pilgrimage have to be carefully
observed. Failure to observer any part of them calls for the
expiation of ransoming or fasting or feeding the poor or spending
the equal value of feeding.
The pilgrimage is not complete without standing on '
Arafat
even
for a while during the period from the noon of the ninth of the
month of
Dhul-Hijja
to the dawn of the tenth day of the same
month.
Sexual intercourse during the
ihram
(i.e., the state in which the
pilgrim is held as from the moment he takes up the dress of
pilgrimage until he lays it off) invalidates pilgrimage. Should it
be committed after laying off the special dress and before the
ifada
circling of Ka'ba, it calls for the expiation of offering a
ransom. However he who commits a violation of pilgrimage by
intercourse during the
ihram
should carry on with the other rites
until the end.
The menses and childbirth should not stop women who are on
pilgrimage from performing all its rites, except for the circling of
the Ka'ba which, like prayer, becomes invalid with menstruation
and childbirth. And while such women are exempted from
circling the Ka'ba upon arrival, they are required to perform it