Some interesting facts about Umrah! (Part-4)
The three parts of this blog have been sequential and stated some operation facts of Umrah. We had reserved this last part for some more interesting facts, not necessarily connected with each other – just plain facts you will love to know about.
The first thing we want to talk about is Zam-Zam. We have all heard about Zam-Zam, and know it is the blessed water from a well in Mecca. The well sprang beneath the feel of Prophet Ismail after Hagar – his mother, and wife of Prophet Ibrahim – had spent hours running between two mountains (Safa and Marwa) to find water.
The water gushed out of the well and overflowed before Hagar asked it to stop. “Zam-Zam” she said, which means stop and the water stopped gushing out of the well but has remained giving blessed water for hundreds of years now.
We are telling you about this incident because there is a tenet in Umrah, which Allah included after Hagar’s running between the mountains. The ritual is called Saee or Sa’i with a literal meaning of “Walking”. This ritual is about walking briskly between the two mountains of Safa and Marwah.
Another tenet of performing Umrah is praying two Rakats in front of the Maqam-e-Ibrahim. There is an interesting fact about Maqam-e-Ibrahim, which is in fact a stone. The stone softened when our beloved Rasulallah (SAW) sat on it and called people from Hajj and Umrah. That is the reason, the stone has the beloved Prophet’s footprints on it, and can be seen to this day.
We think it is important to tell you about the rituals of Halq and Taqsir. It is required of men to shave their heads after completion of Umrah, while women are supposed to cut hair equivalent to a fingertip after they complete the Umrah. This act of curing hair in men and women is known as Halq and Taqsir.
If a man does not have hair on his head, he still needs to clean his scalp with a razor after completion of Umrah.
So, we have finally come to the end of this four-part series “Interesting facts about Umrah”. We will In Sha Allah return with more facts about Hajj and Umrah. In case you have any queries, please reach out to us by phone or through our social media handles. We will love to hear from you.
