The Sura Al-Hajj (xxii) contains the revelations enjoining the duty of
performing the Hajj. Thus:—
Proclaim to the people a Pilgrimage.
Let them bring the neglect of their persons to a close, and let them pay their
vows and circuit the Ancient House (i.e., Ka'ba).
Ye may obtain advantages from the cattle up to the set time for slaying them:
then the place for sacrificing them is at the Ancient House. Sura Al-Hajj (xxii)
28, 30, 34.
This Sura is a composite one: part was revealed at Mecca and part at Madina.
It is not easy to say when the words just quoted were revealed, but in all
probability they are Madina verses, given about the time of the 'Umra, or the
Lesser Pilgrimage, which was made in the sixth year of the Hijra.
Anyhow, to these commands given some years before, Muhammad now gave the
sanction of his own action, and henceforth the Hajj, or Pilgrimage, became one
of the necessary religious acts of every Muslim. At that time this was
undoubtedly a politic thing to do, for this recognition of the national
sanctuary as the local centre of Islam and the annual rendezvous of its votaries
appealed to the sentiment of all the Arab people, and especially to the Quraish
who lived in Mecca. It was the one thing they all had in common with the
Muslims, and so the continued existence of the pilgrimage pleased them well and
drew them towards Islam. It was from Muhammad's then standpoint a wise thing
also to retain
