My particular package for this hajj journey is called “40 salawat,” or prayers. What that means, basically, is that I will stay in a hotel less than 100 meters from the grand mosque (masjid al-haram: the one which encircles the ka’abah) so that I can pray all five daily prayers there for eight days. After that, the “time” for the greater hajj will commence. I’ve been going over and over the “requirements” and as I said, considering memorizing the few du’a that should accompany certain movements before I get there, leaving me to focus more on being present than on a piece of paper or a small booklet.
Now Ihram is not just putting on the clothing (I described it before: men with two seamless cloths, and women usually in white) but also entails a few other prescriptions. First, it must be donned before you’ve passed one of five miqat: locations designated by the Prophet to denote the beginning of one’s intention to perform lesser or greater pilgrimage. All of these are cities are in Saudi Arabia and so one can take up ihram before departing their home country; or if traveling to Madinah first, then before departing from Madinah heading to Makkkah.
If a pilgrim (hajji or hajjah) fails to take up ihram before passing one of these miqat, then he or she must go back again to one of them, and then put it and make the intentions. That means you have to know where your flight is going.
As it happens my flight will enter Saudi Arabia from a non-Muslim majority country, France, so will land in Jeddah, the transitional port. However, since my next stop is Makkah, and Jeddah is closer to it than any of the five miqat, then technically I have to make my intention and take on the ihram before I leave the U.S. (or in France, or mid-air). Everybody says it is great to clean up again in Jeddah where they’ve got these really wonderful shower rooms, but the real transition has already begun, and this would just be to wash away the drudge of hours of travel.
The Ihram obligations are as follows: put on the ihram (that’s the only positive obligation—the rest are prohibitions). No haircut or shaving, no nail clipping, no perfumes or colognes, no scented soap, no killing or hunting animals, no sexual intercourse, no marriage proposals or contracts. Most of these are pretty easy to follow, but that “no-killing” prohibition includes insects. I worry about mosquitoes, which I tend to swat at even in my sleep! The only other thing would be if I had a hangnail—could I resist it? But it is suggested to clip your nails before you don the ihram, and since I keep mine pretty short anyway, they should hold up for a few days.
It is also recommended to shave other body hairs, trim the mustache (for the men who have one), and shower before taking on the garments. It is recommended to do all of this after completing one of the daily prayers. This too will be tricky for me because my departure time is almost exactly two hours after the midday prayer, zhuhr. Either I do it after fajr (early morning prayer) and run around finishing my last-minute preparations in all white, or I’m gonna have to think of something creative. I mean, do I pass through security the recommended two hours ahead, go to the public ladies room, pray at the airport, and then make my intention? We’ll have to revisit this later. But you get why these things need to be thought out in advance. Fortunately, this is only a recommendation, so I may just go with the logistically simple option.
Before the outward garment is donned, the inward intention is made. This is where the details start to unfold. There are several types of hajj and then there are umrah types as well. This latter will not concern me, but the three types of hajj will. For example, a person could only come to perform the hajj, in the hajj time, by making the intention for what is called Hajj Ifrad. A person could make the hajj and umrah at the same time. This is called Hajj Qiran. The third type, Hajj Tamattu’ is to make umrah and then to make hajj in the same trip. Okay, so with eight days in Makkah before the time for hajj begins, I am, without question, making the third type. So although my first intention includes the wording for this type of hajj, implying that I will make umrah first; in fact I will complete the umrah, take off ihram, and wear my regular clothes before making intention to continue to the hajj itself. I will already be there for that.
You don’t know how much of a relief this is for me. I guess it is all those literature warnings: If you reach Makkah without having made your intention and donning the ihram, you have to go back to one of the miqat, and you have to sacrifice and animal then proceed to make hajj. If you do not follow the ihram obligations accurately, you might have to redo your hajj, or make a sacrifice. Be careful—any sexual intercourse with one’s spouse nullifies the whole hajj ritual. To say nothing of random hangnails and mosquitoes in the night!
So I feel a little better that I get to go there make umrah, go out of ihram, and then make ihram again for hajj. Maybe I will be out of the excitement and exuberance. Sorta like skydiving tandem before following up my lessons for free-fall skydiving. That way I can focus on the details I am trying to learn now and be better prepared.
As far as umrah, the lesser pilgrimage, goes; it stands to reason that people can visit the ka’abah any time of the year. And so it is. There are still the same ihram prescriptions. There are still certain rites that should be performed. But unless a journey to Makkah corresponds with the sacred months, then one would make intention only to perform umrah.
It was my ardent wish to make umrah at some time of the year way, way off of the sacred months. Sort of like a dry run, but most importantly without the crowds. I mean there are always people, locals and visitors, so there would also be people there. Some people have said that the ritual circumambulation of the ka’abah goes on endlessly throughout the day and night, stopping only for the performance of prayer itself. But with fewer than three million people, I have the suspicion that I would be more like myself and not so overwhelmed by the sheer numbers.
I had stuck with this plan—umrah any time of the year, the further from the three sacred months the better, and then hajj some other year—until my recent stay in Indonesia. I met an Indonesian fashion designer who had one of those life-altering experiences about 15 years ago, after flaunting around in Milan, Italy, where she studied fashion. From that moment on, she had made umrah every year and has made hajj a few times. I could not imagine what it would be like to do this every year, even while her children were too small to walk or were infants, and still be doing it now; her daughter just entered puberty. But I liked Tina a lot, and she was so clear, that despite at least two decades of my own best-laid plans, I was persuaded. Now here I am.
She said, you might as well make your first time inclusive of the prescribed major ritual. She said, you will still be as excited the first time whether hajj or umrah, might as well let the excitement go along with performing the major ritual. I do remember that skydiving tandem was indeed exciting enough that it was actually counterproductive that I had taken the class so I could go free-jump. It made so much sense when she described it that way.
But then, I guess she didn’t know how much I worry about things like mosquitoes and hangnails. The type-A perfectionist in me not only craves a correct performance, but also a transformative one. And yet, having gone around the block/globe so many times before this, I am not sure what I will be looking for that cannot happen or has not happened within the divine presence anywhere else in the world, and at any time. How does one believe in the unconditional presence of God and at the same time make it a special sacred occasion to perform hajj? I don’t know. I’ll keep you posted.
All the books say, once you have donned the ihram you should head straight to Makkah. Good thing too—I have nothing that recommends Jeddah to me. It is sort of like an inflatable Eiffel tower. I will be both anxious and excited about the real thing. Then, the books say, once you get to Makkah you should go straight to Masjid al-Haram, entering gate al-Salaam. There I will perform the tawaf, circumambulate the ka’abah seven times, starting at the corner with the black stone. Then I will perform sa’iy, walking and running seven times between Safa and Marwa.
I only know that I arrive in Jeddah at 9:30 p.m. No other real information from that recalcitrant tour company about how long we will be at this transition point before moving on—but here I am, jumping ahead of myself, again.
What I meant to say was once these two rites have been completed, I am done with umrah. I can then clip my hair one finger’s length (the guys are recommended to shave their heads) and then go back to my regular clothes. Now thinking about these eight days before the hajj time, of course I will visit these rites again, but this is one type-A personality which is happy to have time when I do not have to be on task. This way I can observe some of those gender constraints I am worried about.
I also have enough time to do it all over again if I want. So, the thing that makes it hajj will have to come in another blog. This will include a number of other rites, coincidently not performed in Makkah at all but between Mina, Muzdhalifah, and Arafat. The stay at Arafat is the one thing you can only do during the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. That is what makes it hajj, the greater pilgrimage. Otherwise it is umrah, as it is at any other time of the year.
