What is Hajj all about?

The pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia is an obligation for men and women, once in a Muslims lifetime, for those who are physically and financially able to visit. Hajj consists of a series of ritual acts, symbolic of the lives of Abraham (Ibrahim), his wife Hagar (Hajar), and their son Ishmael (Ismail). On Hajj, all male pilgrims, regardless of nationality or wealth, are required to dress in a garment consisting of two sheets of white unhemmed cloth. It is a pilgrimage of absolute equality between men and women, and between different races and classes. Malcolm X wrote about Hajj: During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug)-while praying to the same God with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of the blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana. We are truly all the same brothers. The close of Hajj is celebrated with a holiday known as Eid ul Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice. This festival celebrates Abrahams willingness to sacrifice his son, as God had commanded, as a sign of his devotion. Once Abraham had demonstrated his devotion, God stopped him from sacrificing his son and told him to sacrifice a sheep instead. In commemoration of Abrahams unwavering belief, Muslims everywhere arrange for a sheep to be slaughtered and the meat is then distributed to the poor.