Discuss the significance of the pilgrimage for Islam.
What will be an ideal response?
This discussion can begin by referencing the flight of the prophet Muhammad from Mecca to al-Medina in the north and his return to Mecca when he and his army defeated the polytheists of Mecca. Mecca is the holiest city in Islam. At the center of Muslim practice is the Kaaba, a square structure that contains the sacred Black Stone, probably a meteorite. The Kaaba is thought to mark the site of the first “house of God” that was built at God’s command by the biblical Abraham and his son Ismael. Muhammad’s intervention in the rebuilding of the Kaaba established him as a political as well as a spiritual leader. Today, practitioners of the Muslim faith from all over the world face toward the Kaaba when they pray. One of the five pillars of Islam is the undertaking of a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in every Muslim’s life. Walking around the Kaaba is a key ritual in the pilgrimage, for the cube represents the physical center of the planet and the universe. It is the physical center of Muslim life.
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