ABSTRACT
The annual pilgrimage of the hajj comprises three different types of ritual—Tamattu’ (minor:ʿumra), Qirān, and Ifrad (Narāqī, Mustanad al-Shīʿa, vol. 11, p. 208). The latter two are reserved for Muslims living in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, while the first, Tamattu’, is what is normally thought of as the hajj, a practice that is considered to be among the five pillars of Islam for Sunnis, one of the so-called ancillaries of the faith for Shīʿa, and one of the seven pillars for Ismāʿīlism, a branch of Shīʿa Islam. Although regarded as obligatory for the faithful, the hajj is only supposed to be performed by those Muslims who are healthy in mind and body, mature, and able to afford the expense of traveling there (Quran 6:25–37; Ḥadīth; Hamedani, 1983, p. 145). Muslims are instructed to travel to Mecca during the first ten days of the last month of the Islamic calendar (dhū al-Ḥijjah) to join other pilgrims from around the world at least once in a lifetime. The hajj begins on the 8th of dhū al-Ḥijjah and ends on the 13th of the same month.
