Hajj is an imperative duty for all Muslims who have the resources. It is to be performed during the month of hajj once in a lifetime. Umrah can be performed anytime during the year.

Many of us take the history of Hajj and Umrah very lightly even though we are well versed with its facts...

Muslims celebrate the life of Ibrahim (AS) every year during Hajj and Umrah. We also know his special status with Allah as Khaleel-Ullah (Intimate Friend of Allah).

What did Ibrahim (AS) do to get such a high status from Allah?

It is because he placed Allah above everyone else in every moment of his life starting from the time when he was a boy..

Throughout his life he was faced with one trial after another which only increased his faith in Allah and brought him closer to him.

The Hajj and Umrah rites became distorted for nearly two and a half thousand years after the pagans began to rule Makkah. Ultimately, however, the time arrived for granting the Du'a (prayer) of the Prophet Ibrahim which he had invoked while raising the walls of the Ka'bah.

Hajj and Umrah after the arrival of Prophet Muhammad:

Consequently, a man arose from the progeny of Ibrahim whose name was Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah. In the course of 21 years he completed the mission of purifying the Ka'bah and establishing Allah's religion as the law of the land, and he again declared the Ka'bah as the universal centre for worshippers of the one True God.

Along with the revival of Hajj and Umrah, all the deviant and idolatrous customs of the period of ignorance which had become rampant since the time of Prophet Ibrahim were completely eliminated.

To this day people from all over the world come to the house of Allah to worship and praise him and fulfill their duty of Hajj and Umrah...