Islam does not tolerate non-Islamic beliefs because it condones them; it definitely does not. It does so because it discriminates between beliefs and believers. Thus while it tolerates the latter and calls for treating them nicely, it does not waver in condemning the former and criticizing them severely.
The project, 1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage of Our World, supported by the British Home Office and the Department for Trade and Industry, uncovers the Islamic civilization’s overlooked contribution to science, technology and art during the dark ages in European history.
The Hajj is essentially a re-enactment of the rituals of the great prophets and teachers of faith. Pilgrims symbolically relive the experience of exile and atonement undergone by Adam and Eve after they were expelled from Heaven, wandered the earth, met again and sought forgiveness in the valley of Makkah. They also retrace the frantic footsteps of the wife of Abraham, Hagar, as she ran between the hills
It is a celebration of love and joy for practicing one of the most beloved acts to Allah, fasting! Allah said in the holy Hadith: “All acts of the son of Adam are for himself but fasting, it is for Me and I shall reward by it.”
Hajj was and still is the place of security where souls feel at ease in the land of revelation, where the conscience becomes tranquil in the birthplace of creed and where feelings delight in the divine blessings of this heavenly land. Hajj was and still is the meeting for Muslims from all over the world at `Arafah
Abraham (peace be upon him) set off with his wife Hajar and newborn son on a long journey. They arrived at Makkah. Hajar looked around her. She could see nothing but a barren wasteland in all directions. There was no life. The silence was unbearable.
During this ritual, Muslims throw pebbles at the three pillars called ‘jamarat’ in Mina, just east of Makkah. During the night spent in Muzdalifah, pilgrims gather 70 stones to pelt the three pillars representing Satan on the 10th of Dhul Hijjah, i.e. the day of Hajj.
Sure enough, a man by the name of Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah was born in the very city that Prophet Ibrahim had made this supplication centuries earlier. For twenty-three years, Prophet Muhammad spread the message of Tawhid [true monotheism] – the same message that Prophet Ibrahim and all the other Prophets came with – and established the law of Allah upon the land.
Pilgrimage is viewed as a particularly meritorious activity. Pilgrimage serves as a penance – the ultimate forgiveness for sins, devotion, and intense spirituality. The pilgrimage to Makkah, the most sacred city in Islam, is required of all physically and financially able Muslims once in their life. The pilgrimage rite begins a few months after Ramadan, on the 8th day of the last month of the Islamic year of Dhul-Hijjah, and ends on the 13th day. Makkah is the center towards which the Muslims converge once a year, meet and refresh in themselves the faith that all Muslims are equal and deserve the love and sympathy of others, irrespective of their race or ethnic origin.