HAJJ IS JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME FOR MAN NORTHRIDGE RESIDENT VISITS GREAT MOSQUE.Byline: BRAD A. GREENBER Staff Writer NORTHRIDGE -- At the start of hajj hajj (häj), the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, one of the five basic requirements (arkan or "pillars") of Islam. Its annual observance corresponds to the major holy day id al-adha, , Zauman Kahn stood on the third floor of Mecca's Great Mosque and stared below at the sea of Muslims moving counter-clockwise around the sacred Kaaba. His eyes welled with tears, overcome by the submission to God millions were showing by traveling to the holy city for the annual pilgrimage, which Islam instructs each able follower to do once in a lifetime. ``I was truly there,'' the 34-year-old accountant said Sunday after returning home to Northridge. ``God finally accepted me in his house to do the pilgrimage.'' Kahn was jet-lagged and running a fever after a journey home with his wife, Sarah, that began Thursday morning in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (sä  `dē ərā`bēə, sou`–, sô–), officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom (2005 est. pop. , with stops in Germany and Washington, D.C., and ended with customs' checks at LAX early Saturday morning. But his spirit was energized and his conviction to be a better Muslim stronger. ``The real test comes when you go back to day-to-day life and you have to deal with people,'' said Kahn, who was due back at work today and anticipated several hundred unread e-mails and a mountain of work to balance year-end financial figures. Hajj, the five-day Islamic journey to the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad, is the fifth pillar of Islam Noun 1. pillar of Islam - (Islam) one of the five religious obligations accepted by all Muslims pillar - a fundamental principle or practice; "science eroded the pillars of superstition" shahadah - the first pillar of Islam is an affirmation of faith . Pilgrims walk seven times around the Kaaba, a large, black cube they believe Abraham and his son Ishmael built and which Muslims face when praying. They drink from the Zamzam well The Well of Zamzam (or the Zamzam Well, or just Zamzam; Arabic: زمزم) is a well located within the Masjid al Haram in Mecca, 20 meters east of the Kaaba,[] the holiest place in Islam. and stone the three walls that represent Satan. Hajj commences with Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice Noun 1. Feast of Sacrifice - the 10th day of Dhu'l-Hijja; all Muslims attend a service in the mosques and those who are not pilgrims perform a ritual slaughter of a sheep (commemorating God's ransom of Abraham's son from sacrifice) and give at least a third of the , a celebration of Abraham's submission to God. ``The rituals are symbolic gestures of following and tracing his footsteps, but the real honor to him is to follow his legacy,'' said Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council, which overseas Southern California mosques. ``And his key most legacy was to reject the idol worshipping of people at the time and establish the oneness of God and the universality of God.'' The father of monotheistic religion and a common thread of Christianity, Islam and Judaism
Unlike Christians and Jews, who believe Abraham bowed to God's call to sacrifice his son Isaac, Muslims believe the chosen one was Ishmael, whom God spared when he saw Abraham's faith. Isaac's line gave way to the House of David This article is about a twentieth-century religious commune. For the ancient House of David, see Davidic line House of David was a religious commune founded in 1902. The group was founded by Benjamin Purnell. and Jesus, Ishmael's to Muhammad. Kahn, a Qatar national with Pakistani descent, came to the United States when he was 19, enrolling in California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an . He said he returned with a greater awareness of the comfortable life he lives in the United States. On the trip, food was digestible digestible having the quality of being able to be digested. digestible energy the proportion of the potential energy in a feed which is in fact digested. digestible protein see digestible protein. but not enjoyable. Traffic was so bad because of the five-day population surge that on one occasion it took eight hours to travel four kilometers. And the 150 people he boarded with shared three bathrooms. ``Rich and poor, we all wear the same (white robes) and eat the same food. You sleep on the ground in tents like anyone else,'' Kahn said. ``There is no difference between the king and the servant.'' brad.greenberg(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3634 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Nauman Khan of Northridge, on his prayer rug, returned Friday night from Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) journey every good Muslim tries to make at least once. [Islamic Religion: WB, 10: 374–376] See : Journey , Saudi Arabia, that all able-bodied, financially secure Muslims are supposed to make once in their lifetime. David Sprague/Staff Photographer |
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