Encyclopaedia of religion and Ethics Incorporation of hajj and umrah into Islam by Muhammad-Muhammad had seen the hajj since
his youth. When he began to preach, he had no reason for enjoining the old Arabic rites as a religious duty on his followers. For in the revealed books of the Jews and Christians no divine prescripts were given as to the hajj feast. After the hijrah, however, as Muhammad had
persuaded himself that the Jews and Christians had changed the true sense of their sacred books, he concluded that the Ka’bah and the
ritual connected with this 'house of God' had belonged originally to the true religion, and were founded according to the will of Allah by Ibrahim (Abraham) , the great prophet of the Jews and Christians as well as of the Arabs. As a consequence of this theory, the pilgrimage to Meccah now became a religious duty for the Muslims at Medinah, in the second year after thehijrah. Several verses of the Qur'an, all relating to the Ka’bah and the ceremonies which must be performed there, were now revealed (see, e. g. , ii. 185199, iii. 89 ff. , xxii. 25ff. ). But the unbelieving inhabitants of Meccah refused to admit the Muslims into the sacred city, and it was not till A. H. 6 that Muhammad tried to go with his followers to Meccah. The first attempt failed. As soon as the Meecans heard that the Muslims were approaching, they prepared themselves for stern resistance. The two parties met at Hudaibiyah, on the frontier of the sacred territory. Negotiations were opened there, and it was settled that the Muslims should return to Medinah, but should be allowed to celebrate their feast in Meccah the next year. According to this treaty, the Prophet came in A. H. 7 with many of his
followers to Meccah, and made the so-called 'umrat al-qadha (i. e. 'the 'umrah whereby was performed at last what was neglected till this time, ' or perhaps ‘the ‘umrah of the treaty') . Since Meccah was conquered by Muhammad in A. H. 8, many Muslims joined in the hajj, at first along with the unbelieving Arabs and without the Prophet
himself. But, in A. H. 8, Qur’an ix. 1 ff. and 28 were revealed. In these verses Allah declared that all treaties between the Muslims and unbelievers must be revoked, and that nobody who was not a true Muslim might approach Meccah or the hajj. Ali ibn Abi Talib (afterwards the fourth khalifah) was sent to Meccah by the Prophet to promulgate this revelation among the pilgrims assembled at the hajj of that year. Thus, in A. H. 10, all unbelievers were excluded from the feast, and now the Prophet came from Medinah to Meccah in order to partake himself in the hajj and to reform the old heathen ceremonies
into a good Muslim service. All later Muslims have conformed to the example set by the Prophet at this pilgrimage-the so-called hajjat
al-wada' (i. e. ‘the farewell hajj, ' because it took place in the year before his death) .
