Speaker Muhammad Atif

Atif told us about his recent visit to Mecca. He said that he had been on pilgrimage once before for the Hajj. This time he went because, when his father died, he did not feel that he had had chance to properly grieve. He had to organise his father’s funeral. But had ended up arriving too late to say his farewells as the plane arrived 6 hours late, so everything was a big rush as his father had already died and the Muslim culture is for a quick burial (within 24 hours of death if possible).

This time he did the Umrah which is only about 20% of what is involved in the Hajj. Men are only allowed to wear 2 pieces of white cloth and must not have on any fragrances or under clothing. Also, the 2 pieces of white cloth must not be stitched and you cannot wear any shoes This is so everybody is the same. Only men follow this dress code whilst women wear modest clothes. 

After performing various cleansing rituals, the pilgrims must complete 7 circles of the Ka'bah in an anticlockwise rotation whilst baring the right shoulder. They then walk 7 times back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah. This is to replicate Abraham’s wife Hagar running between the 2 mountains 7 times looking for food & water for baby Ishmael. It is said that the baby then hit the ground with his foot and a spring sprang from the ground at that point which still provides millions of gallons of water today.

The Ka'bah was originally built by Abraham and Ishmael but has been rebuilt several times since then. It is the size of 24 football fields and has more than 200 doors to the Mosque. So, worshippers carry their shoes with them, unlike at a normal Mosque, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to find them afterwards. The Mosque is the most important in the Muslim religion as it is the symbolic home of Allah.

Atif did more than 10,000 steps doing the Umrah in his bare feet which meant that his feet were sore and swollen The last ritual is to either shave your head or, as Atif did, have a very short haircut. Following his pilgrimage Atif said that he felt very relaxed and realises that he is not in charge of anything. His return flight home was cancelled and the journey took 40 hours but he was so relaxed that this did not bother either him or his wife.