symbolic portion for themselves, they donate most of the meat, which is frozen, packaged and shipped to the poorer parts of the world.

Male pilgrims have their heads shaved or merely trim a lock or two, as the women do. This marks the end of their state of ihram, and they change into their regular clothes, reverting to their colorful heterogeneity as quickly as they had embraced the homogeneity of the ummah (community).

The Haj is not over. The pilgrims must stay two more nights in Mina in meditation, sleeping in tents or on the open ground. During that period or following it, they return to the Ka’ba for one more round of circumambulations. The site and the ritual by now familiar, they are more relaxed, partly because they have fulfilled their lifelong dream.

They celebrate the Eid al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice. So do Muslims around the world, in congregational prayers in their communities, sacrificing an animal, donating most of the meat to food banks for use by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and celebrating with family and friends.

The pilgrims in Mecca and Mina, physically exhausted but spiritually uplifted, start to depart — but not before their third and final visit to the Ka’ba for their farewell tawaf.

As of that moment, each male graduate of the Haj will be known as a Haji and each woman a Hajiyah, the honorific eliciting respect from fellow Muslims for the rest of their lives, regardless of where they go. It is a calling card exclusive to Muslims.

On to Holy Medina

Though not part of the Haj, pilgrims also visit the Masjid-e-Nabawi, the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina. They go there either prior to the Haj or immediately after it. Medina is where the Prophet and his companions found refuge after fleeing persecution in his native Mecca. It was during his decade in Medina (622-32) that Muhammad consolidated the Muslim community, propagated Islam and controlled territory — the only prophet to have founded a state. Deeni wa dunyavi, the spiritual and the worldly.

His mosque stands at the spot where he ended his arduous journey of escape from Mecca. He insisted on paying for that land even though the owners offered it to him for free. He laid the first brick of the mosque and joined the volunteers in building it, carrying construction material on his back. He lived in an adjacent room, from where he would step into the mosque to lead the prayers and conduct the affairs of his nascent state.

It was in that modest abode that Muhammad died in the lap of his wife Ayesha, and that’s where he was buried. The site has ever since been a magnet for millions who keep coming from the far corners of the earth — not just during the Haj season but year-round, every hour of every day and every night. Such has been the unremitting love of Muslims for their Muhammad.

HALAL AND HARAM

The Permitted and the Prohibited