This year, more than 5,428 Ghanaian pilgrims will join an estimated 3.8 million on the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in a religious journey that is viewed as one of the Muslim faith's greatest acts of worship.
In preparation for a successful trip to the Holy land, the Hajj Board, chaired by Alhaji Ibrahim Abdul Rauf Tanko, has assured prospective pilgrims that this year�s hajj will be better organised than last year�s which was largely hailed as the most successful organisation of hajj in Ghana since 2006.
The number of pilgrims from Ghana is based on the Saudi Arabia quota system. Every Muslim country has a hajj quota of 1,000 pilgrims per million inhabitants and the biggest contingent of 200,000 pilgrims will come from Indonesia.
So, for Ghana that has 25.5 million inhabitants, we will have a quota of 5,428 allocated and so any excess is likely to be turned down by the Saudi Embassy in Accra, as was the case with some 45 prospective pilgrims last year.
Already, the Hajj Board has secured 12 flights from a Saudi Airline, NAS Air, to ferry prospective pilgrims to the Holy land from September 16, 2014 to September 30, 2014.
Each flight is expected to ferry 450 pilgrims to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and each pilgrim will be entitled to 56 kilos for his or her luggage.
Accommodation has also been secured for the would be pilgrims in areas within the precinct of the Holy Mosque in Mecca and in Medina for the weak and the elderly while other pilgrims will be accommodated elsewhere.
Already, an advance team of medical personnel and other administrative contingent are in Saudi Arabia to receive and attend to the needs of Ghanaian pilgrims.
�We will ensure that Ghanaian pilgrims who will go to hajj this year are given the best of attention and care�, the Hajj Board Chairman said in an interaction with some journalists in Accra.
Alhaji Rauf Tanko said last year, the pilgrims were served the best of meals but because the food served did not match the local taste, some pilgrims complained.
But Alhaji Rauf Tanko has assured those who will embark on the pilgrimage to Mecca this year that the meals that will be served this year will taste differently this year because the cooking will be supervised by locals.
What is significant this year, according to the board chairman is that pilgrims should not hustle to carry gallons of the holy water (Zamzam) because each pilgrim will be given a gallon of the water at the expense of the hajj board.
Again, Ghanaian students studying in Saudi Arabia are expected to educate the pilgims on the chains of hajj and what is expected of them throughout the period of the rituals.
Era of botched hajj over
Until 2013, the organisation of Hajj in Ghana had been botched with disappointment and poor organisation leading to several prospective pilgrims stranded in Accra and sometimes left in the open space and at the mercy of the weather.
But that has since changed and last year, almost all paid pilgrims were successfully airlifted to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia drawing commendations from President John Dramani Mahama and other Islamic Scholars like Sheikh Ishaaq Nuamah.
The chairman said he wanted to leave a legacy of organising the best hajj in the annals of the pilgrimage in Ghana.
Significance of Hajj
Hajj is no doubt the world's largest annual gathering of Muslims from every ethnic group; colour, social status, and culture gather in Mecca and stand before the Kaaba praising Allah together.
Hajj is not a pilgrimage to the shrines of saints no or to the monasteries for help from holy men, or to sights where miracles are supposed to have occurred; even though some Muslims do this.
Pilgrimage serves as a penance - the ultimate forgiveness for sins, devotion, and intense spirituality. The pilgrimage to Mecca, the most sacred city in Islam, is required of all physically and financially able Muslims once in their life.
It is a ritual that is designed to promote the bonds of Islamic brotherhood and sisterhood by showing that everyone is equal in the eyes of Allah.
The Hajj makes Muslims feel the real importance of life here on earth, and the afterlife, by stripping away all markers of social status, wealth, and pride. In the Hajj all are truly equal.
The pilgrimage rite begins a few months after Ramadan, on the 8th day of the last month of the Islamic year of Dhul-Hijjah, and ends on the 13th day.
On the 7th of Dhul-Hijjah the pilgrim is reminded of his duties, and the rituals commence on the 8th of the month.
The pilgrim visits the holy places outside Mecca - Arafah, Muzdalifah, and Minaa - prays, sacrifices an animal in commemoration of Abraham�s sacrifice, throws pebbles at specific pillars at Minaa, and shortens or shaves his head.
The rituals also involve walking seven times around the sacred sanctuary, or Kaaba, in Mecca, and ambulating, walking and running, seven times between the two small hills of Mt. Safaa and Mt. Marwah
Mecca is the center towards which the Muslims converge once a year, meet and refresh in themselves the faith that all Muslims are equal and deserve the love and sympathy of others, irrespective of their race or ethnic origin.
The Hajjis or pilgrims wear simple white clothes called Ihram. During the Hajj the pilgrims perform acts of worship and renew their sense of purpose in the world. Mecca is a place that is holy to all Muslims. It is so holy that no non-Muslim is allowed to enter.
Abraham built Kaaba for worship
Pilgrimage is made to the Kaaba, found in the sacred city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the �House of God,� whose sanctity rests in the fact that the Prophet Abraham built it for the worship of Allah. Allah rewarded him by attributing the House to himself, in essence honouring it, and by making it the devotional epicenter which all Muslims face when offering the prayers (salah).
The rites of pilgrimage are performed today exactly as was done by Abraham, and after him by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon them.
Allaah The Almighty Ordered the pilgrims to be provided with piety. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Hajj is [during] well-known months, so whoever has made Hajj obligatory upon himself therein [by entering the state of Ihram], there is [to be for him] no sexual relations and no disobedience and no disputing during Hajj. And whatever good you do - Allaah Knows it. And take provisions, but indeed, the best provision is fear of Allaah. And fear Me, O you of understanding.} [Quran 2:197]
Hajj trains people to be obedient and submissive to Allaah because the pilgrims perform certain acts of worship that have unclear meanings. For instance, they do not wear their normal clothes, they avoid adornment, perform Tawaaf and Sa�y for seven rounds, stand at certain places on certain times, go to certain places at certain times, throw the pebbles and spend the night at Mina and other rituals of Hajj that the pilgrims perform without realizing their meanings.
The Umrah and Hajj
Apart from Hajj, the "minor pilgrimage" or umrah is undertaken by Muslims during the rest of the year. Performing the umrah does not fulfill the obligation of Hajj.
It is similar to the major and obligatory Islamic pilgrimage (hajj), and pilgrims have the choice of performing the umrah separately or in combination with the Hajj. As in the Hajj, the pilgrim begins the umrah by assuming the state of ihram.
They enter Mecca and circle the sacred shrine of the Kaaba seven times. He may then touch the Black Stone, if he can, pray behind the Maqam Ibrahim, drink the holy water of the Zamzam spring.
The ambulation between the hills of Safa and Marwah seven times and the shortening or shaving of the head completes the umrah.
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