hajj

noun \ ˈhaj \

variants: or less commonly hadj

|Updated on: 7 Jun 2018

Definition of hajj

: the pilgrimage to Mecca prescribed as a religious duty for Muslims

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Recent Examples of hajj from the Web

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five obligatory pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayer, annual charity and performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.

— Washington Post, "Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to start Thursday," 15 May 2018
The border crossing at Arar was reopened this month for trade and travelers, just in time for Iraqis to make the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, now under way.

— margherita stancati, WSJ, "Saudis Open Iraqi Border and Forge Ties to Counter Iran," 23 Aug. 2017
Before his hajj, the African and the Muslim worlds had heard little about the emperor who was uniting many parts of modern-day Mauritania and Mali (Melle), and the tale was unknown to most of Europe.

— michael harriot, The Root, "When Wakanda Was Real," 6 Feb. 2018
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims perform the tawwaf on any given day during the hajj.

— mona eltahawy, chicagotribune.com, "#MosqueMeToo: What happened when I was sexually assaulted during the hajj," 19 Feb. 2018
Those meetings came as Riydah allowed Qataris pilgrims over the border in August for hajj, a pilgrimage required of every able-bodied Muslim once in their lives.

— jon gambrell, The Seattle Times, "Qatar exile says he’s held by UAE; Abu Dhabi denies claim," 14 Jan. 2018
As the hajj and Love Parade disasters have shown, organizers should try to avoid bottlenecks and areas where flows in different directions are likely to cross each other.

— evelyn lamb, Smithsonian, "How Fluid Dynamics Can Help You Navigate Crowds," 17 Jan. 2017
President Joko Widodo’s hard-line Islamist opponents have seized on the rising number of allegations of fraud by companies that organize trips to Mecca on the umrah, which is known as the minor pilgrimage in comparison with the hajj.

— anita rachman, WSJ, "Mecca Swindlers Prey on Pilgrims, Testing Faith in Authority," 23 Oct. 2017
More than 80,000 Iranian pilgrims are now in Saudi Arabia to perform the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest sites, after they were barred last year from making the trip.

— erin cunningham, Washington Post, "Iranian pilgrims return to the hajj as Iran-Saudi rivalry eases," 2 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hajj.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.