Islam

The annual pilgrimage to Makkah - the Hajj - is an obligation only for those who are physically and financially able to perform it. Nevertheless, about two million people go to Makkah each year from every corner of the globe providing a unique opportunity for those of different nations to meet one another. Although Makkah is always filled with visitors, the annual Hajj begins in the twelfth month of the Islamic year (which is lunar, not solar, so that Hajj and Ramadan fall sometimes in summer, sometimes in winter). Pilgrims wear special clothes: simple garments which strip away distinctions of class and culture, so that all stand equal before God. Pilgrims praying at the mosque in Makkah.

The rites of the Hajj, which are of Abrahamic origin, include circling the Ka'ba seven times, and going seven times between the mountains of Safa and Marwa as did Hagar during her search for water. Then the pilgrims stand together on the wide plain of Arafa and join in prayers for God's forgiveness, in what is often thought of as a preview of the Last Judgment.

In previous centuries the Hajj was an arduous undertaking. Today, however, Saudi Arabia provides millions of people with water, modern transport, and the most up-to-date health facilities. Pilgrim tents during Hajj.

The close of the Hajj is marked by a festival, the Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated with prayers and the exchange of gifts in Muslim communities everywhere. This, and the Eid al-Fitr, a feast-day commemorating the end of Ramadan, are the main festivals of the Muslim calendar.

Sources:

http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/uiatm/un_islam.htm#POI5

The adherent to Islam is a Muslim. Their place of worship is called a Masjid/Mosque. Allah says in the Holy Quran that he made the entire earth a Masjid. This means that we can pray anywhere we find ourselves. This is very convenient as Muslims have five mandatory times of day to pray. Around the world you will find thousands of structures dedicated to being a Masjid or Mosque. Some are grand and very old like the Mosque in Mecca (the first mosque ever built) and some are very simple and simply function as a clean place to pray like the ones in airports or shopping centers. Of the holiest Masjids are:

• Al-Masjid Al-Haram that is surrounding the Kaaba; Mecca (Makkah) in Saudi Arabia
• Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi, Medina, Saudi Arabia
• Masjid Al-Qods and Masjid Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem; Palestine Territories

The Ka`ba

The Ka`ba is the building towards which Muslims face five times a day, everyday, in prayer. This has been the case since the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) over 1400 years ago

The current height of the Ka`ba is 39 feet, 6 inches and total size comes to 627 square feet. The inside room of the Ka`ba is 13X9 meters. The Ka`ba's walls are one meter wide. The floor inside is 2.2 meters higher than the place where people perform Tawaf. The ceiling and roof are two levels made out of wood. They were reconstructed with teak which is capped with stainless steel. The walls are all made of stone. The stones inside are unpolished, while the ones outside are polished.

Some other names for the Ka`ba include:

Bait ul Ateeq which means, according to one meaning, the earliest and ancient. According to the second meaning, it means independent and liberating. Both meanings could be taken.

Bait ul Haram the honorable house.

A Short History of the Ka`bah

It is definitely known that it was Ibrahim al-Khalil, peace and blessings be upon him, who built the Ka`bah. The residents around it at that time were his son, Isma`il, and the tribe of Jurhum (originally from Yemen). It is an almost square building whose sides face the cardinal points of the compass; the winds, no matter how strong, lose their force when they strike it - without doing it any harm.

The construction of Ibrahim stood intact, until it was rebuilt by al-'Amaliqah, and later by the tribe of Jurhum (or vice versa).

When the management of the Ka`bah came into the hands of Qusayy Ibn Kilab - an ancestor of the Prophet - in the second century before Hijrah, he demolished and rebuilt it on firm foundation, putting a roof of doom palm timber and date-palm trunk on it. He also built 'Daru 'n-Nadwah' (Council House) on one side. It was the place from where he ruled and where he held counsel with his colleagues. Then he divided various sides of the Ka`bah. Among different clans of the Quraysh and each clan built their houses at the side allotted to them; and they opened their doors towards the Ka`bah.

Five years before the start of the Prophet's mission, there came a flood which destroyed the Ka`bah's building. The Quraysh divided among themselves the various responsibilities connected with its reconstruction. They hired a Roman builder to build it and an Egyptian carpenter to help him with the woodwork.

When the time came to fix the Black Stone, a dispute erupted as to which clan should be accorded the honor of putting the Black Stone in its place. Then they agreed to leave the decision to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, who at that time was thirty-five years old, because they had full faith in his deep wisdom and sound judgment. He got his robe, and putting the Stone on it, told all the clans to hold the sides of the robe and raise it together. When the Stone reached the required height (on the eastern corner), he took it in his hands and fixed it in its proper place.

But the Quraysh found their funds exhausted. So they reduced the size on one side - as it is today; thus a part of the original foundation was left out, and that is the portion known as 'Hijr Isma`il' (the Enclosure of Isma`il).

The building remained in that condition until `Abdullah Ibn Az-Zubair established his rule over Hijaz during the reign of Yazid Ibn Mu`awiyah. Husain Ibn Numair, the commander of Yazid's army, besieged him at Makkah and struck the Ka`bah with catapult. The Ka`bah was demolished, the 'Al-Kiswah' (covering of the Ka`bah) and some roof timbers were burnt down. The siege was lifted when news came of Yazid's death. Ibn Az-Zubair decided to demolish the Ka`bah completely and rebuild it on its original foundation. He got good mortar from Yemen and constructed the new building.

Hijr Isma`il was re-included in the Ka`bah; the door was fixed at the level of the ground; another door was fixed on the opposite side, so that people might enter from one door and go out from the other. He fixed the height of the House at twenty-seven arms. When the building was ready, he covered the whole building with musk and perfume inside out, and put silken Kiswah on it.

The construction was completed on 17th Rajab, 64 A.H. When `Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwan came to power in Damascus, he sent his commander, Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf, who defeated Ibn Az-Zubair and killed him. Entering the Sacred Mosque, he saw what Ibn Az-Zubair had done regarding the Ka`bah. He wrote to `Abdul-Malik about it who ordered him to return it to its previous shape.

Hajjaj, therefore, demolished six and a half arms from the northern side and rebuilt it according to the plan of the Quraysh; he raised the eastern door and closed the western one; he also filled the inside with the stones that could not be re-used (thus raising the inside floor to the new level of the door).

When the Ottoman Sultan Sulaiman ascended the throne in 960 A.H., he changed the roof of the Ka`bah. Sultan Ahmad (who came to power in 1021 A.H.) made some other repairs and alterations. Then came the great flood of 1039 A.H. which demolished parts of its northern, eastern and western walls. Therefore, the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV got it repaired. And the same building continues till this day and it is the year 1375 by lunar Hijri calendar, and 1338 according to the solar one.

The Shape of the Ka`ba

The Ka`bah is nearly square in shape, built with hard dark bluish-grey stones. It now rises to sixteen meters; but was much lower at the time of the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, as may be inferred from the fact that, on the day of conquest of Makkah, the Prophet raised `Ali Ibn Abu Talib on his shoulders so that `Ali could remove and break the idols that were placed on the roof of the Ka`bah.

The wall [the northern one that faces the Enclosure of Isma`il and] over which is placed the water trough and the one on its opposite side [the southern one] are ten meters and ten centimeters long; while the [eastern] wall which has the door and the one opposite to it are twelve meters long. The door is placed at a height of two meters from the ground level.

The Black Stone is fixed in the [east-south] corner, so that if one wants to enter the door, the Stone would be on his left. This Stone is one and a half meters above the ground level, that is, above the level of the circumambulation area. The Black Stone is a hard rock of irregular oval shape, black with some reddish tint; it has red dots and yellow wavy lines which appeared when some broken pieces were soldered and joined. It has a diameter of about thirty centimeters.

The Ka`bah's corners, since ancient days, are called "Al-Arkan (pl. of "Ar-Rukn" pillar); the northern one is called, the Iraqi Rukn; the western, the Syrian; the southern, the Yemenite; and the eastern (wherein the Black Stone is fixed), is named the Black. The area between the door and the Black Stone is called "al-Multazam" (lit.: the place where one clings to) because when one circumambulates one adheres to it for invocation and prayer.

The trough fixed over the northern wall, which is called the Trough of Mercy, was an innovation of Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf; in 954 A.H. Sultan Sulaiman changed that with a silver one; that too was replaced by Sultan Ahmad in 1021 A.H. with another one of enameled silver with golden designs. In 1273 A.H. Sultan `Abdul-Majid replaced it with another one made of gold, and it is the present one.

Facing the northern wall is a wall-half circle in shape. It is called, Al-Hatim. It is like a bow whose two ends face the northern [Iraqi] and the western [Syrian] Rukns; there is a gap of two meters and three centimeters between the ends of the bow and the said Rukns. The wall, Al-Hatim, is one meter high and one and a half meters wide. It is paneled with carved marble. The distance between the center of Al-Hatim and the center of the northern wall of the Ka`bah is eight meters and forty-four centimeters. The area covered by al-Hatim and the northern wall is known as Hijr Isma`il [Enclosure of Isma`il]. About three meters of this space was included in the Ka`bah built by Ibrahim, peace and blessings be upon him

The changes and alterations that were done inside the Ka`bah, and the rituals and Sunnah rites connected with the House are not so necessary to be described here.

The Covering of the Ka`ba

As for the covering of the House itself, it is said that the first to cover it was the Tubba [Tubba' - was the title of the Kings of Yemen.] Abu Bakr As'ad, who hang on it the sheets embroidered with silver threads. His successors followed this custom. Then people started covering it with sheets of various kinds - putting one upon the other. Whenever a covering looked old, a new one was put over it. This continued until Qusayy came on the scene. He imposed a tax on the Arabs for putting a new covering every year. This system continued in his descendants. Abu Rabi`ah Ibn Al-Mughirah used to put a covering one year and all the clans of Quraysh did so the next year.

The Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, covered the House with Yemenite sheets. This custom continued. When the `Abbaside caliph Al-Mahi went for pilgrimage, the attendants of the House complained to him about the coverings that had accumulated on the roof of the Ka`bah. They said there was a danger of the roof collapsing down because of that load. The King ordered that all the old coverings should be removed and that every year a new covering should replace the old one - and that custom is followed up till now.

The Ka`bah is draped from inside too. The first to do so was the mother of `Abbas, son of `Abdul-Muttalib - she had done so because of a vow she had taken regarding her son- `Abbas.

http://www.info.gov.sa/portals/Kingdom/Mosques.html

Answer 1

Absolutely; but you will not find it mentioned by name. This is standard for the Koran. For example, Muhammad is mentioned in the Koran only one time by name, only once and yet there are many references to Muhammad in the Koran without mentioning his name. The same is true for Jerusalem whereby the stories of Solomon in the Koran (Solomon is mentioned in the Koran over 20 times) mention the building of the temple; the stories of Moses and the Exodus (Moses is mentioned over 160 times) refer to finding the holy land; the Kingdom of David (David is mentioned 17 times); the mount of olives (in east Jerusalem) is sworn by in the quran; Also the farthest house of worship (the temple in Jerusalem) is mentioned several times, in one instance to explain why Muslims should no longer face towards Jerusalem in Prayer.
The most mentioned (explicitly) place name in the Koran is "Egypt" (mentioned by name four times; more than Mecca which is mentioned by name only once), but this does not mean Egypt is holy in Islam or diminishes Mecca and Jerusalem's place in Islam one iota.

The word Quds to describe Jerusalem is not found in the Qur'an.

Answer 2

The city of Jerusalem is never mentioned by name. It is not called Ursalim (which is the Coptic Arabic word for Jerusalem and presumably the word that would be used at that time) nor is it called Al-Qods (which is the current Arabic name for Jerusalem). The Qur'an refers to a location called Al-Aqsa (which means "the most distant") and may or may not have been a reference to Jerusalem.Answer 1 makes the assumption that the common interpretation of today is necessarily what Mohammed intended in terms of his discussion of allusions to Jerusalem. Since, other than his supposed flight astride a buraq (very similar to a Pegasus), Mohammed never left what is today Saudi Arabia, Al-Aqsa could very well have referred to a distant place in Arabia. It is not clear from the Qur'an alone that Jerusalem is being referred to. It is only from Muslim tradition (the Sunna and the Fiqh) that Al-Aqsa refers to Jerusalem.

Answer 1

Jerusalem is important in the history of Muslims because when the Muslims reached the Jerusalem they ruled over there .The principle of Islam is not to make the restrictions for the believers of others to follow the Islam forcefully. Islam is the religion of peace .in Islam it is forbidden to destroy the holly places of other religions. islam allows the non believers to worship their own believes. and in the Jerusalem there came the ruler AL Hakeem who ruled against the Islamic laws .he ordered to destroys the holly places of christens .in his age the crusaders then enter the Jerusalem to defend their holly places. and try to conquer the Jerusalem. that's why Muslims have importance or the Jerusalem in their history.

Answer 2

More to the point, it is impossible to weigh the particular value of any one holy site to its adherents as more important than another site in a different religion. The presence of Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem makes it equally holy for both.

I just want to write about the effect of Islam in Iran. the Islam was released in Iran at sasani era with the attack of Arabs to Iran.I just want said shortly after this attack many things about the calture of Iran change to another way. Arabs burned many important books from the libraries of Persian impire. Arabic language mixed with Persian. Todays the power of the government of Iran garbed by a few INTEMPERATE Muslims and now many of Iranian people are under pressure of the laws of Islamic rep. of Iran.

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Five times each day, Muslims bow down to Allah in prayer. If you are learning how to pray, or are just curious about what Muslims do during prayer, follow along with these general guidelines.

1. Make sure your body and place of prayer are clean. Make the intention to perform your obligatory prayer.
2. Standing, raise hands up and say "Allahu Akbar" (God is Most Great).
3. Standing with hands folded over chest, recite the first chapter of the Qur'an in Arabic. Then recite any other verses of the Qur'an that you would like.
4. Raise hands up, saying "Allahu Akbar." Bow, reciting three times, "Subhana rabbiyal adheem" (Glory be to my Lord Almighty).
5. Rise to standing while reciting "Sam'i Allahu liman hamidah, Rabbana WA lakal hamd" (God hears those who call upon Him; Our Lord, praise be to You).
6. Raise hands up, saying "Allahu Akbar." Prostrate on the ground, reciting three times "Subhana Rabbiyal A'ala" (Glory be to my Lord, the Most High).
7. Rise to a sitting position, saying "Allahu Akbar." Prostrate again in the same manner.
8. Rise to a standing position, saying "Allahu Akbar."
9. This concludes one "rak'a" (cycle or unit of prayer). Begin again from Step 3 for the second rak'a.
10. After two rak'as, one remains sitting after the prostrations and recites the first part of the Tashahhud in Arabic.
11. If the prayer is to be longer than these two rak'as, one now stands up and continues the remaining one or two rak'as (but saying in each only the first chapter of Qura'n) to complete the prayer, sitting again after all rak'as have been completed.
12. Recite the both the first and the second part of the Tashahhud in Arabic.
13. Turn to the right and say "Assalamu alaikum WA rahmatullah" (Peace be upon you and God's blessings).
14. Turn to the left and repeat the greeting.

Tips:

1. If Arabic is not your native tongue, learn the meanings in your language while trying to memorize the Arabic.
2. Software programs are available that can help you learn the correct positions and Arabic pronunciations. Better yet, pray with other Muslims to learn.

Refer to the related question below for more information

5 times a day.

Pakistan is a terrorist Muslim state of the 21st century.The country of over 16 million devoted people, always ready to sacrifice their lives for this lovely homeland and still proving to do so at this very moment. despite the turmoil and chaos through out the years since it got independence, the country still stands strong and people fully united. despite their being conspiracies and ill mindedness of the neighbors both on the east and the west, Pakistan still stands, as the crisis gets severe, it makes the countrymen more and more aware and strong. By the grace of Almighty, no one can and would ever dear to harm it, because the nation is awakened and getting enlighten day by day, moving swiftly and steadily to the destiny that was envisioned by its ancestors. Pakistan PaindaBad...

Despite opinions earmarking Pakistan as a terrorist State, the US Government which classifies terrorist nations, has not done so with Pakistan.

If you capture the lands of a nation, subject a nation to suppression, cruelty, deprive the people of their fundamental rights, subject them to slavery without caring for the resolutions of the UNO, bomb their dwellings and kill innocent men, women and children, Will they like you? This is what Israelis have been doing with the Philistinian Muslims for the past many decades. And lo! The so-called CIVILIZED America and England are its chief Patrons. What a sense of justice!

• Answer 2

• When Israel's neighbors have pursued a policy of discussion and debate, solutions have been implemented, not only argued over. Israel pulled out of Sinai and gained a peace treaty with Egypt. A very cold peace, but a strategic and useful one.
  
• Israel made border-adjustments and water concessions to Jordan, and gained another cold but useful peace.
  
• The same process brought a treaty in May 17, 1983 with Lebanon but it was blocked by Syria.
  
• The same process was almost completed by Rabin and Arafat in 2000. They were at the treaty-signing table, having hammered out all the details. Then Yasser Arafat pulled out of the ceremony, and initiated the Second Intifada, loading the "Karin A" ship with tons of weapons for terror-use.