Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage

Muslim pilgrims the world over observe the same rules when performing the hajj but attach different allegorical meanings to the ritual depending on how local beliefs and understanding of Islamic myths are built into the ritual. Drawing on stories concerning the trials that God imposed on Prophet Ib...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan
Format:	Article
Published:	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2002
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1709/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1709/

id	ukm-1709
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-17092011-06-08T08:13:28Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1709/ Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan, Muslim pilgrims the world over observe the same rules when performing the hajj but attach different allegorical meanings to the ritual depending on how local beliefs and understanding of Islamic myths are built into the ritual. Drawing on stories concerning the trials that God imposed on Prophet Ibrahim to abandon his wife, Hajar, and later, to sacrifice his son, Ismail, Malay pilgrims see in the hajj a means to achieve transformation for the better in terms of character, wisdom and individual piety. Throughout the haj process, a Malay pilgrim attempts to transcend his body and base desires so the heart stays focus on Allah. The main emotional work for him is to channel his fear and anxiety into a sense of determination so he can empathise with the missions and experiences of past prophets and be eternally grateful to Allah. Thus, the goal of the hajj to the Malays is not to acquire power or material benefits but a special experience which produces a stream of religious consciousness to allow them to come to grips with their inner conflict as well as recognise the integrative function of the values of equality, humbleness, perseverance and selflessness that Islam strongly upholds Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2002 Article PeerReviewed Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan, (2002) Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage. SARI: Jurnal Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, 20 . ISSN 0127-2721 http://www.ukm.my/sari/index.html
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
description	Muslim pilgrims the world over observe the same rules when performing the hajj but attach different allegorical meanings to the ritual depending on how local beliefs and understanding of Islamic myths are built into the ritual. Drawing on stories concerning the trials that God imposed on Prophet Ibrahim to abandon his wife, Hajar, and later, to sacrifice his son, Ismail, Malay pilgrims see in the hajj a means to achieve transformation for the better in terms of character, wisdom and individual piety. Throughout the haj process, a Malay pilgrim attempts to transcend his body and base desires so the heart stays focus on Allah. The main emotional work for him is to channel his fear and anxiety into a sense of determination so he can empathise with the missions and experiences of past prophets and be eternally grateful to Allah. Thus, the goal of the hajj to the Malays is not to acquire power or material benefits but a special experience which produces a stream of religious consciousness to allow them to come to grips with their inner conflict as well as recognise the integrative function of the values of equality, humbleness, perseverance and selflessness that Islam strongly upholds
format	Article
author	Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan,
spellingShingle	Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan, Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage
author_facet	Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan,
author_sort	Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan,
title	Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage
title_short	Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage
title_full	Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage
title_fullStr	Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage
title_full_unstemmed	Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage
title_sort	drawing close to god: malay perspective of the pilgrimage
publisher	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2002
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1709/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1709/
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:34:05Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:34:05Z
_version_	1777405154511814656

Drawing close to God: Malay perspective of the pilgrimage

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