Online Encyclopedia
Make a correction
Your email address will not appear on the site. Note, comments may take some time to be approved.
Back to article:
HAJJ
Your email:
Article name:
Article content:
HAJJ or HADJ, the Arabic word, meaning literally a " setting out," for the greater pilgrimage of Mahommedans to Mecca, which takes place from the 8th to the loth of the twelfth month of the Mahommedan year; the lesser pilgrimage, called umrah or omra, may be made' to the mosque at Mecca at any time other than that of the hajj proper, and is also a meritorious act. The term hajji or hadji is given to those who have performed the greater pilgrimage. The word hajj is sometimes loosely used of any Mahommedan pilgrimage to a sacred place or shrine, and is also applied to the.pilgrimages of Christians of the East to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem (see MECCA; MAIIOMMEDAN RELIGION).